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Show W1 BULL-DOC 1 llDRUMMOND BspHMgk The Adventures of A fcSl KSk Demobied Officer HrJK PkJVho Found Peace Dull Kr?08k CYRIL MNHLE Bclsl 9Vlm J'sappeit 4 HKS!7 rlk IllutttattoMs btj m tWnCi - Copyright by Geo H Doran Co Ho rose and stood with his bask to them by tho tire,- and for several minutes no ono spoke. Each man was busy with his own thoughts, and Showed It In his own particular way. Comte do Guy stared unconcernedly at tho Are, us If Indifferent to tho result of their thoughts. In his uttltudo at that moment lie gave a truo expression to his attitude on life. Accustomed to play with great stakes, ho had Just dealt the cards for the most gigantic gnmble of his life. . . . What matter to the thrco men, who were looking at tho hands ho had given them, that only .'n master crlmlnul could havo conceived con-ceived such a game? The only question ques-tion which occupied their minds was whether ho could carry It through. And on that point tliey had only their Judgment of his personality to rely on. Suddenly the American removed tho toothpick from his mouth und stretched out his leg. "There Is n question which occurs to me, Count, bcforo I inuko up my mind on the matter. Are you dlspobed to ho a little moro vommunlcatlvo about yourself? If we agree to come In on this bund, It's going to cost big money. Tho handling of that money Is with you. Wnl who are you?" Von Urntz nodded his hend In agreement. agree-ment. Stelnemnnu raised his eyes to the Count's face us ho turned and faced them. . . . "A very fair question, gentlemen, nnd yet one which I regret I am unable to answer. I would not Insult your Intelligence In-telligence by giving you the fictitious address of n fictitious Count. Enough that I urn n man whoso livelihood lies In other people's pockets. As you sny, Mr. Uocklug, It Is going to cost big "I Will Return In Ten Minutes. By That Time You Will Have Decided One Way or-the Other." mom'y; but compared to tho results the costs will bo n llea-blte. You will have to trust me, even as I shall havo to trust you. . . . You will have to trust mo not to divert tho money which you give me us working expenses Into my own pocket. ... I shall have to trust you to pay mo when the Job Is fin-ishiMl. fin-ishiMl. . . ." "And that payment will be how much?" Stftlneinnun's guttural volco broke tho xllcnce. "Onu million pounds sterling to bo split up bftwewi jou In any proportion you may decide, and to be pnld within one month f completion of my work. After that Iho matter will pass Into your hands . . . und mny you leuve that cursed country groveling In the dirty dir-ty T . ." Ills eyes glou-d with a fierce, vindictive fury; and then, as If replacing replac-ing a mask which hud slipped for a moment, tho Count was once ugaln the suave, courteous host, lie had stated Ids terms frankly nnd without haggling; stated them as ono big man states them to another of tho sumo kidney, kid-ney, to whom tlmo Is money and indecision inde-cision or beating uhout tho bush una-thema. una-thema. "Perhaps, Count, you would bo good enough to leave us for a few minutes." Von tiraiz was speaking. "The decision deci-sion Is u big one, und . . ." "Why, certainly, gentlemen." The-Count The-Count moved toward tho door. "I will return In ten minutes. Ily that tlmo you will havo decided ono way or tho other." flenlus that ho was In the reading of men's minds, ho felt that ho know the result of that teu minutes deliberation. deliber-ation. . . And then . . . What then? ... In his Imagination he saw him-bolf him-bolf supremo In powor, glutted with It 11 king, tin autocrat, who hud ouly to lift his fluser to plunge hls kingdom Into destruction nnd anninilation.-. And when he had done It, and the country ho hated was In ruins, then h would claim his million nnd enjoy It as a great man should enjoy a great reward. re-ward. . . . Thus for tho space of ten minutes did the Count see visions and dream dreams. That the force he proposed pro-posed to tamper with was a dangerous force disturbed him not nt all: he was a dangerous man. That this scheme would bring ruin, perhaps death, to thousands of Innocent men and women caused him no qualm: he was a supreme su-preme egoist. All that appealed to him was that he had seen the opportunity oppor-tunity that existed, nnd that ho had tho nerve nnd the bruin to turn that opportunity to his own advnntnge. Only the necessary money was lacking . . . nnd . . . with n quick movement he pulled out his watch. They hud had their ten minutes . . . Tho matter was settled, the die was cast. . . . He rose and walked across the lounge. For an appreciable moment the Count paused by the door, and n faint btnllo came to his lips. Then he opened It, nnd passed Into the room. The American was still chewing his toothpick; Rtelnemnnn wns still breathing hard. Only on Grntz had changed his occupation nnd ho was sitting at the table smoking u long thlu cigar. Tho Count closed tho door, nnd walked er to the fireplace. . . . "Well, gentlemen," he bald quietly, "what have jou decided?" It wns the Amcrlcnn who answered. "It goes. Willi ono amendment. The money Is too big for three of us: there must be n fourth. Tlmt will bo n quarter of n million each." The Count bowed. "Have you any hiiggcitlons as to whom the fourth should be?" "Yep," bald the Amerlcun shortly. "These two gentlemen agree with me that it should be another of my countrymen coun-trymen so that we get equal numbers, lhe man we huo decided on Is coming com-ing to England In n few weeks Hiram C. I'otts. If you get him In, you can count us In, too. If not, the deal's oft." The Count nodded, and If he felt nny annoyance at this unexpected development develop-ment ho fchowed 110 sign of It ou his face. "I know of Mr. Potts," he answered quickly. "Your big shipping man, Isn't he? I ncreo to your reservation.". "Good," said tho Amerlcun. "Let's discuss home details." Without a trace of emotion ou his face the Count drew up n chnlr to tho table. It was only wlnjn hu sat down that he started to play u tattoo ou his knee with his left hand. . . . Half on hour Inter ho entered his luxurious suite of rooms nt tho Hotel Magnificent. A girl, who hud been lying by tho Uro reading a French novel, looked up ut the bound of the door. She did not speak, for the look on his fuco told her all she wanted to know. Ho crowed to the fcofa and smiled down at her. "Successful ... on our own terms. Tomorrow, Irmu, tho Cointo do Guy dies, and Carl Peterson and his daughter daugh-ter leave for England. A country gen-tlcinan, gen-tlcinan, I think, Is Carl Peterson. He might keep hens, nnd possibly pigs." The girl on the sofa rose, yawning. "Mon Dleu I what a prospect I Pigs and hens und In Englundl How long Is It going to tuko?" The Count looked thoughtfully Into the fire. "Perhaps n year perhaps sir months. . . It Is ou the lap of the gods, . . ." CHAPTER I In Which He Takti Tea at tho Carlton and Is Surprised. ONE. Captain Hugh Drummond, D.S.O., M. O., late of His Mujcsty's Royal Lonmshlres, was whistling In hls.morn-Ing hls.morn-Ing bath. Uelng by naturo of a cheerful disposition, tho symptom did not surprise sur-prise bis servant, lute private of the famous regiment, who was laying breokfast In on adjoining room, After n while iho whistling ceased, nnd the musical gurglu of escaping water announced that iho concert was oter. It was the signal, for James Denny tho square-jnwed ex-batman 10 disappear Into the back regions aoA get from his wife the kidneys and oa-con oa-con which that most excellent woman hod grilled to n turn. Hut on this par-tlculur par-tlculur morning the Invariable routlno was broken, James Denny seemed preoccupied, dlstruit. Onre or twice lie scratched his head and stared out of the window with a puzzled frown. "What's you looking for, James Denny?" Den-ny?" The Irato volco of his wife nt tho door made him look round guiltily. "Them kidneys Is ready and wultlng lhoio Itvu minutes," Her eyes fell on tho Inblo, and she advanced Into the room wiping her hands on her apron, .. ...... jr. uu. l--jli "Did you ever see such a buncn of letters?" aim sold. "Forty-five," returned her husband, grimly, "and more to come." Ho picked up tho newspaper lying beside the chair nnd opened it. "Them's "the retult of that," he continued con-tinued cryptically, indicating a paragraph para-graph with a square finger, and thrust-Ing thrust-Ing the paper under his wife's nose. "Demobilized olllcer," she read slow-ly, slow-ly, "finding peace Incredibly tedious. yuar "Demobilized Officer," Bha Read Slow-ly,' Slow-ly,' "Flndlno Peace Incredibly Tedl-out, Tedl-out, Would Welcome Diversion." would welcome diversion. Legitimate, If possible; bill crime, It of u comparatively compara-tively humorous description, no objection. objec-tion. Excitement essentlnl. Would bo prepared to consider permanent Job If suitably Impressed by applicant for tils services. Reply nt onco Hox X10." Shujiut down the paper ou a chair nnd stared llrst at her husband nnd then at the rows of letters neatly arranged ar-ranged on the table. "I caljs It wicked," slio announced nt length. "Fair Hying In the fuco of Providence. Pro-vidence. Crime, Denny crime. Don't you get 'living uotiiliig to do with such mad pranks, uij man, or you and mo will bo having words." tihu shook an admonitory linger at him, uud let I red slowly to the kitchen. A moment or two Inter Hugh Drummond Drum-mond canto In. Slightly under six feet In height, lie was liroiid In proportion. Ills best friend would not huvu called 1 1 tin good-IooMng, but he was tho fortunate for-tunate poscMr of thut cheerful typo of ugliness which inspires immediate coulldencu In Ita owner. He paused us he got to the table nud glanced' at the rows of letters. "Who would have thought It, James?" hu remarked. re-marked. "Great "Scot 1 1 shall have to get u partner." Willi disapproval showing In every line of her face, Mrs. Denny entered the room, carrying the kidneys, und Drumuiund gluuced ut her with a smile. "Good morning, Mrs. Denny," he snld. "Wherefore this worried look, ou your face? Has tlmt reprobate James been misbehaving himself?" Tho worthy woman snorted. "Ho has not, sir not yet, leastwise. And If so bo that ho does" her eyes traveled trav-eled up uud down tho buck of tho luipless Dctiiiy, who was quite unnecessarily unneces-sarily pulling books off shelves and putting them buck again "if so be thut hu does," she continued grimly, "hljn and mo will huvo words as I've told him ulreudy this morning." Shu stalked from the room, ufter staring pulutedly ut tho letters In Drummoud's hand, und the two meu looked ut one another. "It's that there reference to crime, sir, that's torn It," suld Denny lu a hoarse whisper. "Thinks I'm going to lead you ustroy, does she, James?" He Was opening the tint cuvelope, und suddenly sud-denly ho looked up with a twinkle lu his ejes. "Just to set her mind at rest," be remarked gravely, "you might tell bur that, as far as I cau see at present, I shall only undertake murder In exceptional cases." He propped the letter up against tlio toast-ruck and commenced his brcukfast. "Where Is I'udllngtou, James? and one might almost ask-why ask-why Is Pudllugtoii? No town has nny right to such an' offensive name." He glanced through the letter and shoo!' his head. "Tush ( tush I And the wife of the hunk manager too tho bank mutineer of 1'udllngton, James I Can you conceive of anything so dreudful? Hut I'm afraid Mrs. Rank Mntiuger Is h (Hiss a distinct puss. It's when thoy get on the smil-mnto stunt that the f'inilture begins to tly." Drummond tore up tho letter and dropped the pieces Into tho basket be-(jje be-(jje him. Then he turned to his servant ser-vant und handed hlui tho remainder of the envelopes. "Go through them, James, while 1 as-mult as-mult tho kidneys, uud pick two or thrco out for me. I see that you will have to become my secretary." "Do yon want me to open them, sir?" usked Denny doubtfully. "You've hit It, Jnines hit It In one. Classify them for me In groups. Criminal; Crim-inal; sporting; amatory that tueuiis of or pertaining to love; stupid and merely boring; and us n last resort, miscellaneous." lie stirred his coffee thoughtfully, ;i feel that us ft first venture lu our new carcur ours, I sold, Jamci love appeals to me Irresistibly, Find mo a damsel In distress ; a beautiful beau-tiful girl, helpless In the clutches of knaves. Lot mo foci that I can fly to her succor, clad In my now grey suiting." suit-ing." Ho finished the last piece of bacon and pushed away his plate. Denny was engrossed In a letter he had Just opened. A perplexed look was spreading over his face, and suddenly sud-denly ho sucked his teeth loudly. It wns n suru sign that James Was excited, ex-cited, and Drummond glanced up quickly, and removed tho letter from his hands. "I'm surprised at you, James," ho remarked severely. "A secretary sec-retary should control Itself. Don't forget that the perfect secretary Is an It; an automatic machine a thing Incapable In-capable of feeling. . . ." Ho read the lottor through rapidly, and then, turning back to the beginning, begin-ning, he read It slowly through-again "My dear Box X10. I don't know whether your advertisement was a Joke: I supposo It must have been. Rut I read It this morning, and It's Just possible, X10, Just possible, you mean It. And If you do, you're the man I want. I can offer you excitement and probably crime. "I'm up against It, XIO. For a girl I've bitten off rather moro than I enn chew. I want help badly. Will you como to the Carlton for tea tomorrow afternoon? I want to have a look at you and rcc If I think you are genuine. genu-ine. Wear a white flower In your buttonhole." but-tonhole." Drummond laid tho letter down, nnd pulled out his cigarette case. "Tomorrow, "To-morrow, .Tnmes," lib murmured. "That Is today this very afternoon. Verily I believe that wo have Impinged upon the goods." Ho rose and stood looking look-ing out of tho window thoughtfully. "You think It's genuine, Blr?' snld James. His master blew out n cloud of smoke. "I know It Is," ho answered dreamily. "Look at that writing; the decision In It tin chnrocter. Bho'll be medium height, and dark, with the sweetest little nose nnd mouth. Her coloring James, will be" Rut James hnd discreetly left tho room. TWO. At four o'clock exactly Hugh Drummond Drum-mond stepped out of his two-senter at tho Haymnrket entrance to tho Carlton. Carl-ton. For n few moments after entering enter-ing the hotel he stood nt tho top of the' stairs outsldo tho dining room, while his eyes traveled round the tables ta-bles In the lounge below. Slowly nnd thoroughly ho continued his senrcli. It was early, of course, yet, nnd sho might not havo arrived, but he wni tnklhg no chances. Suddenly his eyes censed wandering, nnd remained fixed on u table at tho fnr end of tho lounge. Half hidden behind a plant u girl was seated alone, and for n moment she looked straight nt him. Then with the faintest suspicion sus-picion of a smile, she turned away, and commenced drumming on tho table with her lingers. Tho table next to her was unoccupied unoccu-pied and Druiumond miido his way toward to-ward It and sut down. Ho felt not Iho slightest doubt In his mind that this wns tho girl who find written him, nnd, having gUcn an order to tho waiter, he started to study her face as unobtrusively as possible. pos-sible. Ho could ouly sec the prollle, but Hint was quite sulllclent to make him bless tho moment when moru us a Jest than anything else ho had sent his advertisement, to tho paper. Her eyes, he could see, were very blue; und great nuiBses of golden brown hnlr colled over her cars, from under u smnll black hut. Hu glanced at her hands, and noted, with approval, approv-al, Jlio absence of any ring. Then he looked ouco moro nt her face, und found her eyes were llxed on him. This time she did not look away. She seemed to think that It was her turn to conduct the examination and Drummond fumbled In his waistcoat pocket. After a moment hu found what he wanted, and taking out n card lio propped It against tho teapot so that the girl could see whut was on It. In large black capitals he hud written Box XIO. She spoke almost at ouco. "you'll do, XIO," she snld, and bo turned to her with n smile. "It's very nice of you to say so," he murmured. "If I mny, I will return the compliment. So will you." She frowned slightly. "Tills Isn't foolishness, you know. What I said In my letter Is literally true. I want you to tell roe," uud there was no trace of Jesting In her volco, "tell me, on your word of, honor, whether that advertisement ad-vertisement way bona fide or u Joke." He answered her In tho same vein, "It started more or less as a Joke. It mny now hu regarded as absolutely genuine." Shu nodded as It satisfied. "Are you prepared to risk your life?" Drummoud's eyebrows went up and then he smiled. "Granted that tho Inducement Is sulllclent," ho returned slowly, "I think I mny say that I am." Ho saw that she was staring over his shoulder at some ono behind his back. 1)on't look aroiitid," sho ordered, "and tell me your name quickly." "Drummond Captain Drummond, Into of the lonmshlres." Ho leuned back In his chnlr, uud lit u cigarette. "My dear Phyllis," said n voice behind be-hind his back, "this Is a plenwmt surprise. sur-prise. I hud no Idea thut you weiu in London." A tall, clean-shaven man stopped beside be-side tho table, throwing u keen glance at Drummond. "Tho world Is full of such surprises, Isn't It?" answered tho girl lightly. "I don't suppose you know Captain Drummond, Drum-mond, do jou? Mr, Luklnjfton nrt connoisseur nnd or collector." w The two men bowed slightly, und Mr. Laklugton smiled. ','1 do not re-uiUliiboj; re-uiUliiboj; sucr ba.vipg heard my harm- T IT H less pastimes more, concisely 4ff M scribed," hu remarked suavely. "Am M you Interested In such matters!" M "Not very,. I'm afraid," answer Drummond. "Just recently I hav 1 been rather too busy to pay much at M tcntlon to nrt." M Tho other man smlcd again, and It fl struck Hugh that rarely, It ever, ba4 1 he seen such ti cold, merciless face. M "Of course you've been to Franc,' M Laklugton murmured. "Unfortunately, M a bad heart kept me on this stdo ot tfci M water. Sometimes I cannot hehj H thinking how wonderful It must hav H been to be able in kill without fear C M consequences. There Is nrt In kllllnc M Captain Drummond profound art." M He looked nt his watch and algtwdL M "Alas 1 I must tear myself away. Are) 1 you returning home this aventngf M Tho girl, who had been glaacbsj M round tho restaurant, shrugged M shoulders. "Probably," sho answseaeL M "I haven't quite decided. I might B with Aunt Kate." "Fortunate Aunt Kate." With H bow Iiklngton turned away, aael M through the glass Drummond watched M him get his hat and stick from the fl cloakroom. Then he looked at tha M girl, and noticed that she had gone M little white. (Continued Next Week) H |