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Show ((ilt i!S.wv7 Author of Cardigarftrie Conspirators"" Maids-at -Arms "etc V Mlfl musiMnoNs s o. ikwin avers o a (.jJmviS- COPYRIGHT RQBT. W CHAtEBRS COPyRKrflT gy P.F. COLLIER p XT i ii i SYNOPSIS. fViirlftlt. an Ann'ilran (ioiltt;r of fortune for-tune In th employ of tlie Krinh Im-nerlul Im-nerlul Poll' al the outbreak of tha Kran-.-o-l'riiHHtuii wiif. Is onlwreil to arrest John llii'kliiirnl. fl Iciuii'r of tlie I'oiu-nuiilHts I'oiu-nuiilHts and suapfi-lad of l.uvins Molen Ihn l-Ynli rown Jpwt'lM. Vv'liilt sfarcli-InK sfarcli-InK for Bii'khilisl. Si-iirlett Ih ord.-red to lu-rrxt I'onntens da V assart and per Rioup of so.lnllslH and rxrort - them to the He.1-Klan He.1-Klan holder Hiailett llnds Sylvia Klven of the Oileon disguised as a peasant and i-arrleu her to Jf Trnppe where the lountiiss and her friends are assembled. All are arrested. The iijunless saved H.arleit from a fatal rail from the roof of the house. He denounces Rnekhiirst as the leader of the Reds und the countess coun-tess conducts him to where lUickhllrsc is secreted. German llhlans descend on the place and Hinkhinst escapes durinff ttie melee. Scarlett Is wounded. He re-rovers re-rovers consciousness in the countess' house at Morshronn. where lie is cared for by the countess. A tierce battle is foiiRht in tlie streets between Krench and I'russlan soldiers. Kllektiurst professes pro-fesses repentenee and returns the crown Jewels to Scarlett. He declares he will jclve himself up to the aulhoi Itles. Scarlett Scar-lett doubts bis sincerity. Huckhurst nrpes the countess to ko to Paradise. Buck-hurst Buck-hurst admits that be receives pay from the Prussians for In forma lion which he does not Rive. If secures passports to the French lines for Scarlett, the countess coun-tess and himself. Scarlett reports to the secret service In Puris and llnds Mortise, Mor-tise, shadow of the emperor. In charge, fie deposits the crown Jewels and later, when tnaklnp a detailed report, finds that pebbles have been subsl ituled for the real stones. Speed, a comrade In the service, warns Scarlett that Mornnc Is dangerous. 'He also lnl'ornis him that all tlie government govern-ment treasure is helns transported to tlie .coast for shipment nut.,of the country. 'Scarlett and Speed escape to Join a circus. cir-cus. The circus arrives at Paradise. An order Is received by the mayor callinK I he citizens to arms. ,Iaea uel ine. dauKii-ter dauKii-ter of the Lizard, offers to join the circus to Klve exhibitions in the character of a mermaid. Scarlett makes friends with 'the I.l'.ard. Scarlett calls on the countess at her home In Paradise, Tie finds Sylvia Klven also there. He learns the countess lias withdrawn from the socialists. They wear eternal friendship. Tlie Lizard learns for Scarlett, through one Tric-Trac, Tric-Trac, that Morna'c Is bead of a communistic communis-tic conspiracy. Scarlett learns something of Sylvia Elven through a fellow performer per-former named Kelly. Orders regarding the treasure trains are charged, owing to the discovery of a plot al I. orient. CHAPTER XVII. Continued. "Where's the mayor?" I whispered o Eyre. "In his house; Speed is with him." "Come on, then," I said, pushing my way around the outskirts of the crowd to the mayor's house. The mayor was lying In his armchair, arm-chair, frightened, sulky, obstinate, his fat form Bwathed in a red sash. "O-no!" I said, sharply, "so you already al-ready wear the colors of the revolution, revolu-tion, do you?" "Dame, they tied it over my waistcoat," waist-coat," he said, "and there are no gen- - darmes to help me arrest them " "Never mind that just now." I interrupted; in-terrupted; "what I want to know is -why you wrote the governor of Lorient Lori-ent to expel our circus." "That's my own affair," he snapped; "besides, who said I wrote?" "Idiot," I said, "somebody paid you to do it. Who was it?" The mayor looked slyly at me out of the corner of his mottled eyes, but he remained mute. "Very well," said I; "when the troops from Lorient hear of this revolution rev-olution in Paradise, they'll come and , chase these communards into the Bea. And after that they'll stand you up against a convenient wall and give you thirty seconds for absolution " "Stop!" burst out the mayor, struggling strug-gling to his feet. "What am I to do? This gentleman, Monsieur Buckhurst, will slay me If I disobey him! Besides" Be-sides" he began to bluster. "I'm mayor of Paradise, and I won't be bullied! You get out of here with your circus and your foolish elephants! ele-phants! I haven't any gendarmes just now to drive you out, but you had better start, all the same before night." "Oh," I said, "before night? Why before night?" "Wait and see then," he muttered. "Anyway, get out of my house d'ye hear?" "We are going to give that performance perform-ance at two o'clock this afternoon," 1 said. "After that, another tomorrow at the same hour, and on every day at the same hour, as long as It pays. Do you understand?" "Perfectly," sneered the mayor. Then I asked him what he would do If the cruiser began dropping shells Into Paradise: he deliberately winked at me and thrust his tongue into his cheek. "So you know that the cruiser is gone?" I asked. He grinned. "Do you suppose Buckhurst's men hold the semaphore? If they do, they sent that cruiser on a fool's errand," whispered Speed. Here was a nice plot! I stepped to the window. Outside in the square Buckhurst was ranging a dozen peas ants in line. The peasants were not Paradise men; they wore the costumes cos-tumes of the interior, and somebody had already armed them with scythes, rusty boarding-pikes, stable-forks, and one or two flintlock muskets. An evil-looking evil-looking crew, if ever 1 saw one. They were the scum of Morbihan. "Well!" muttered Speed In amazement. amaze-ment. After a long silence, Kelly Eyre looked at his watch, "It's time we were in the tent," he observed, dryly; and we turned away without a word. At the bridge we stopped and looked back. The red flag was flying from the mayor's house. "1 think," I said, "that we had better bet-ter ride over to Trecourt after the show not that there's any immediate danger " "There is no Immediate danger," said Speed, "because Bhe is here." My face began to burn; I looked at him miserably. "How do you know?" "She is there in the tent. I saw her. Don't misconstrue her presence. Don't be a contemptible fool. If I have read her face and I have never spoken to her, as you know I tell you, Scarlett; that young girl is going through an ordeal! Do women of that kind come to shows like this to be amused?" And he turned on his heel, leaving me speechless. I dp not remember dressing. When I came out into the passage-way By-ram By-ram beckoned me, and pointed at a crack in the canvas through which one could see the Interior of the amphitheater. am-phitheater. The show was on. ' I stood in the shadow of the stable-tent, stable-tent, dressed in my frock-coat, white stock, white cords, and hunting-boots, sullen, embittered, red with a false 6hame that better men than I have weakened under, almost desperate in my humiliation, almost ready to end it all there among those tawny, restless rest-less brutes pacing behind the bars at my elbow, watching me stealthily with luminous eyes. She knew what I was but that she could come to see with her own eyes I could not understand, I could not forgive. Because Bhe had, in her gracious gra-cious ignorance, given me a young girl's impulsive friendship, was I to mistake her? "Have you seen her?" whispered Speed, coming up to me, long whip trailing. I shook my head. He looked at me In disgust. "Here's something for you," he said, shortly, and thrust an envelope into my hand. In the envelope was a little card on which was written: "I ask you to be careful, for a friend's sake." On the other side of the card was engraved en-graved her name. "Where is Bhe?" I said, steadying my voice, which my leaping heart almost al-most stifled. He drew me by the elbow and looked toward the right of the amphitheater. amphi-theater. Following the direction of his eyes, I saw her leaning forward, pale-faced, grave, small, gloved hands Interlocked. Beside her sat Sylvia Elven, apparently amused at the antics an-tics of the clown. "I will be careful," I said to Speed, in a low voice. "If It were not for Byram I would not go on today but that is a matter of honor. Oh, Speed." I broke out, "is she not worth dying tor?" "Why not live for her?" he observed, ob-served, dryly. He let go of my arm and stood back as my lion-cages came rolling out, drawn by four horses. "It's your turn," he said, in a dazed way. "Look out for that lioness." I entered the cage, afraid. Almost Instantly I was the center of a snarling mass of Hons; I saw nothing; noth-ing; my whip rose and fell mechanically. mechan-ically. I stood like one stunned, while the tawny forms leaped right and left. Suddenly I heard a keeper say, "Look out for Empress Khatoun, sir!" And a moment later a cry, "Look out, sir!" Something went wrong with another Hon, too, for the people were standing up and shouting, and the sleeve of my coat hung from the elbow, showing my bare Bhoulder. I remember saying, say-ing, aloud: "I must keep my feet; I must not fall!" Then daylight grew red, and I was on my knees, with the foul breath of a lion in my face. A hot iron bar shot across the cage. The roaring of beasts and people died out in my ears; then, with a shock, j my soul 6eemed to be dashed out of me Into a terrific darkness. PART THIRD CHAPTER XVIII. A Guest-Chamber. A light was shining in my eyes and I was talking excitedly; that and the odor of brandy I remember and something else, a steady roaring In my ears; then darkness, out of which came a voice, ' empty, meaningless, finally soundless. After a while I realized that I was in pain; that, at intervals, somebody forced morsels of Ice between my lips; that the darkness around me had turned grayer. Years and years later a yellow star rose and 6tood still before my open eyes; and after a long while I saw-it saw-it was the flame of a candle: and somebody spoke my name. "I know you. Speed," I said drowsily. drow-sily. "You are all right, Scarlett?" "Yes, ... all right. What time is it?" I heard the click of his hunting-case. hunting-case. "Eleven o'clock." "What day?" "Saturday." "When was I hurt? Many days ago many weeks?" "You were hurt at half-past three this afternoon." I turned on the white pillow. "Where is this bed? Where is this room?" "Shall I tell you?" I was silent, struggling with memory. mem-ory. "Tell me," I said, "whose bed is this?" "It is hers." The candle-flame glimmered before my wide-open eyes once more, and "Oh, you are all right," he muttered, then leaned heavily against the bedside, bed-side, dropping his arms on the coverlet. cover-let. That is all I remember that night, al! I remember clearly, though it seems to me that once I heard drums beating in the distance; and perhaps I did. Dawn was breaking when I awoke. Speed, partly dressed, lay beside me, sleeping heavily. "Idiot, get up!" I cried, hitting him feebly. He was very angry when he found out why I had awakened him; perhaps the sight of my bandaged head restrained re-strained him from violence. He stumbled to the floor; bathed, grumbling all the while, and then, to my surprise, walked over to a flat trunk which stood under the window and which I recognized as mine. "I'll borrow some underwear," he remarked viciously. "What's my trunk doing here?"1 I demanded. "Madame de Vaseart had them bring it." "Had who bring It?" "Horan and McCadger before they left." "Before they left? Have they gone?" "I forgot," he said, soberly. "Of With th Foul Breath of a Lion In My Face. course you don't know that the circus cir-cus has gone." "Gone!" I echoed, astonished. "Gone to Lorient Buckhurst is in town again with a raft of picturesque ruffians," he said. "They marched in last night, drums beating, colors unfurled un-furled the red rag, you know and the first thing they did was to order Byram to decamp. "Byram's people, elephant and all, struck the road a little after three o'clock this morning, in good order, not a tent-peg nor a frying-pan missing. miss-ing. They ought to be in Lorient by early afternoon." "Gone!" I repeated, blankly. I lay looking at him. striving to realize real-ize the change that had occurred in so brief a time trying to understand the abrupt severing of ties and conditions condi-tions to which, already, I had become accustomed perhaps attached. "They all sent their love to you," he said. "They knew you were out of danger 1 told them there was no fracture, only a slight concussiou. Byram came to look at you; he brought your back salary all of It. I've got It." After a moment I said: "Has Jacqueline Jacque-line gone with them?" "Yes. They sail today from Lorient. Lori-ent. The governor made money yesterday yes-terday enough to start again. Poor Byram! He's frantic to get back to America; and, oh, Scarlett, how that good old man can swear!'1 "Speed, did you say that little Jacqueline Jac-queline went with Byram?" He looked at me miserably. "Yes," he said. I was silent. "Yes." he repeated, "she went, lugging lug-ging her pet cat in her arms. She would go; the life has fascinated her. I begged her not to I felt 1 was disloyal dis-loyal to Byram, too, but what could 1 do? I tell you, Scarlett, I wish I had never seen her, never persuaded her to try that foolish dive. She'll miss some day like the other one." He walked to the window and stared moodily at the sea. "Meanwhile," I said, quietly, "I am going to get up." He gave me a look which I interpreted inter-preted as, "Get up and be damned!" I complied in part. CHAPTER XIX. Trecaurt Garden. About nine o'clock we were summoned sum-moned by a Breton maid to the pretty breakfast room below, and I was ashamed to go with my shabby clothes, bandaged head, and face the color of clay. The young countess was not present; pres-ent; Sylvia Elven offered us a supercilious super-cilious welcome, and we ate in constrained con-strained silence. "Will the pensive gentleman with nine lives have a little more nourishment nourish-ment to sustain him?" she asked, as the meal drew to an end. Looking up from my empty plate, I declined politely; and we followed her signal to rise. She led the way into that small room' overlooking the garden where I had been twice received by Madame de Vassart. Here she took leave of us, abandoning us to our own designs. On the wall a cat sat, sunning her sleek flanks. Something about the animal ani-mal seemed familiar to me, and after a while I made up my mind that this was Ange Pitou, Jacqueline's pet, abondoned by her mistress and now a feline derelict. I watched the cat for a few moments, then sat down on the bench. The inertia which follows recovery from a shock, however light, left me with the lazy acquiescence of a convalescent, willing to let the world drift for an hour or two, contented to relax, apathetic, comfortable. And then my reverie ended abruptly; abrupt-ly; a step on the gravel walk brought me to my feet. . . . There she stood, lovely In a fresh morning gown deeply belted with turquoise-shells, her ruddy hair glistening, colled low on a neck of snow. For the first time she showed embarrassment em-barrassment in her greeting, scarcely touching my hand, speaking with a new constraint in a voice which grew colder as she hesitated. "We were frightened; we are so glad that you were not badly hurt. I thought you might find It comfortable here of course I could not know that you were not seriously injured." "I think you did the most graciously unselfish thing a woman could do," I said, quickly. "You offered your best: and the man who took it cannot dare not express his gratitude." "We brought you here because we thought It was good for you," she said, reverting to the theme that had at first embarrassed her. "We were perfectly certain that you have always been unfit to take care of yourself. Now we have the proofs." 1 leaned on the back of the bench, resting my bandaged forehead on my hand. "Are you suffering?" she asked. "Your face is white as my sleeve." "I feel curiously tired," I said, smiling. smil-ing. "Then you must have some tea. and I will brew it myself. You shall not object! No it is useless, because 1 am determined." The tea was hot and harmless; I lay thinking while she sat In the sunny sun-ny w iudow-corner, nibbling biscuit and marmalade, and watching me gravely. "I suppose," said I, thinking aloud, "that I had better go to England." "When?" she aBked, without raising her head. "In a day or two. 1 can find employment em-ployment there, I think." "What will you do?" "Oh, the army horses something of that kind. Riding-master, perhaps perhaps Scotland Yard. If 1 ever save enough money for the voyage, perhaps you would let me come, once in a while, to pay my respects, ma-dame?" ma-dame?" "Yes, . . . come, If you wish." She said no more, nor did I. Presently Pres-ently Sylvia appeared with a peasant woman, and the young countess went away, followed by the " housekeeper with her keys at her girdle. I rose and walked to the window; then, nerveless and depressed. I went out into the garden again to smoke a cigar. The cat had disappeared; I traversed trav-ersed the garden, passed through the side wicket, and found myself on the cliffs. Almost immediately I was aware of a young girl, a child, seated seat-ed on the rocks, her chin propped on her hands, the sea-wind blowing her curly elf-locks across her cheeks and eyes. A bundle tied in a handkerchief lay beside her; a cat dozed in her lap, "Jacqueline!" I said, gently. "I thought you were to sail from Lorient today?" The cat stepped purring from her knees; the child rose, pushing back her hair from her eyes with bold hands. "Where is Speed?',' Bhe aBked, drowsily. "Did you want to see him, Jacqueline?" Jacque-line?" "That is why I returned." "And you are going to give up the circus forever, Jacqueline?" "Y-es." "Just because you want to see Speed?" "Only for that." She stood rubbing her eyes with her small fists, as though just awakened. awak-ened. "Come into the garden," I said; "we can talk while you rest." The young countess was standing at the window as we approached in solemn sol-emn single file along the path, and when she caught sight of us 6he opened the door and stepped out on the tiny porch. "Why, this is our little Jacqueline," she said, quickly. "They have taken your father for the conscription, have they not, my child? And now you are homeless!" "I think so, madame." "Then you will stay with me until he returns, won't you, little one?" "We thank you, and permit ourselves our-selves to accept, madame," said Jacqueline. Jac-queline. "We are very glad because we are quite hungry, and we have thorns from the gorse in our feet " She broke off with a joyouB little cry: "There is Speed!" And Speed, enter ing the garden hurriedly, stopped short in his tracks. The child ran to him and threw both arms around his neck. "Oh, Speed! Speed!" she stammered, over and over again. "I was too lonely; 1 will do what you wish; I will be Instructed In-structed in the graces of education truly I will. I am glad to come hack and I am so tired, Speed. I will never go away from you again. . . . Oh, Speed, I am contented! ... Do you love :ne'" "Dearly, little sweetheart," he said, huskily, trying to steady lt voice. "There! Madame the countess is waiting. All will be well now." He turned, smiling, toward the young countess, and lifted his hat, then stepped back and fixed me with a blank look of dismay, which said perfectly per-fectly plainly that he had unpleasant news to communicate. The countess, I think, saw that look, too, for she gave me an almost imperceptible nod and took Jacqueline's hand in hers. "If there are thorns in your feet we must find them," she said, sweetly. "Will you come, Jacqueline?" "YeB, madame," said the child, with an adoring smile at Speed, who bent and kissed her upturned tace as she passed. "Well." said I turning to Spt-e-i. "what new deviltry is g.-;tng on in Paradise now?" ITO BE CONTINUED.) |