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Show 1MWZ fid MARGIN BARBm, , "I Had No Thought of Clvlnj Up tho Quest jj . . she had done him that she saw him from her partner's shoulder before he picked her out from a score of other comely young women on the floor. Miss March InBtautly wearied of the waltz, to the dlHinay of the youth whose arm encircled her, and who rather fancied himself aa a dancer. She lost no time In having herself escorted es-corted to a small conservatory, where she dismissed her partner with scant ceremony, and where, a fef moments afterward, she was Joined, by Grls-wold. Grls-wold. Even then tho debutante's unwitting tangling of the threads of Grlswold's fate might not have had such Influence upon lifs future If she had approached her subject with directness. HaJ she told Grlswold at once what she had said to the. detective concerning his skill as a draughtsman, the clubman's simpletons would have been arofjsed", and he might have taken steps that would have had a marked effect upon the development of the great Mission-er Mission-er mystery. Hut Dorothy was too fluttered, flut-tered, too prettily remorseful, to go straight to the heart of the subject, and in her innocent endeavor to post Grlswold In respect of ber chat with Hrltz without making him think the was a gossiping little busybody, she protracted her Interview with the clubman club-man through so many dances that when It ended Grlswold persuaded himself him-self the morning would be ample time to do that which he felt must be done i to avert the probable consequences of : Dorothy's girlish frankness. His vanity van-ity again played Its part, too, for when i he had thanked little Miss March for what he pleaded to consider her Interest Inter-est In him, and when Dorothy, having i signally failed to Impress upon him the Impersonal nature of her conscience i stroke, found herself in a further flutter flut-ter of bewilderment, Curtis Grlswold proceeded to parade her up and down the dancing floor as effectively as he had shown off the rich and beautiful widow in the larger ballroom a little farther up the avenue. Grlswold prided himself on bis versatility. He argued that It was as easy for him, as he would have expressed it to bis club Intimates, "to put a filly through her paces" as it had been to advertise the fact before the whole ballroom that Doris Missioner. the fastidious beauty and worshiped possessor of many millions, apparently was on the point of accepting him aa her second matrimonial venture. All of which resulted in Grlswold's long stay at the dance. In his ride with Dorothy to her home In an automobile otherwise occupied only by a aatlsfac-torlly aatlsfac-torlly seireentered chaperon; and In his waste of further time at one of his clubs after parting with Miss March , and her duenna a waste of hours any one of which might have been made as , useful to him aa a year of ordinary time. He was further disposed to procrastinate pro-crastinate In this crucial moment by the success of the Headquarters man In throwing all suspected persons off , their guard by keeping Elinor Hoi-comb Hoi-comb in the Tombs. Through all his work on the Missioner case, Iiritz hail ' been beset with requests from Mrs. Missioner. Sands and other friends of the widow's secretary, to permit them ! to give ball for her. Sands and Mrs. Missioner were particularly Insistent In their desire to see Kllnor at liberty. Fitch, though normally his wish to see his fiancee free must have been stronger than that of anyone else, was j partly reconciled to her protracted lm-priHonment lm-priHonment by the detective's frequent assurance of her ultimate vindication. Moreover, the doctor, in consequence , of his work on the case with Hrltz, had direct knowledge of the Importance , that the suspic ions of others should , not be alarmed, lie had been with the , detective when the card of Hruxton , Sands was discovered In the posses- , Rlon of the old curiosity shop man; he j knew of the note a. (dressed to "Curtis dear" and signed "Milllcent." and also of the desperate attempts made by the Hindoos to find the diamonds. So Fitch did not bother the sleuth as much aa did other friends vt Elinor's, and It was well; for HrlU M'titl times was at his wits' end to dissuade Mrs. Missioner Mis-sioner and Sauds from going to the District Attorney and offering a heavy security for Miss Holcomb's appearance appear-ance In the trial court. However, Drltz bail held them off, and It followed fol-lowed that Grlswold nursed the dolu-slon dolu-slon that Elinor and Fitch und Sands were suspected so strongly by the Central Otflce men that no search for evidence against anybody else was la progress. Donnelly and Carson also had fostered that misconception on the clubman's pnrt by their upabatcj activity ac-tivity in hunting broofs of the girl retary's guilt. Those worthies spent every day of their work pn the ca? In tracing Elinor's past, and In effort! to couple Fitch with her suspicious theft of the Jewels. Furthermore, being be-ing the sort of men who would rather win credit for detoctlve work than do anything quietly In the way of real detection of crlins or criminals, they could not refrain from expressing their belief In Elinor's dishonesty at every turn. They talked liberally to the seasoned sea-soned reporters hi the newspaper rookeries opposite Police Headquarters, Headquar-ters, to the newspaper men in the police po-lice stations, and the magistrates' courts, and to the several star reporters repor-ters of the more enterprising papers who had been assigned especially on the case. Every word they uttered hinged on their evidence in the return of a verdict against Miss Holcomb, anil, with the exception of two or three unusually sapient newspaper men who discounted the opinions of Donnelly and Carson becnuse they knew Hrltz was doing the real work, and because Drltz had as yet made no revelations, the reporters quoted them at great length. Therefore, practically all the New York papers published stories in which Elinor Holcomb was tried, convicted, and sentenced in advance of her arraignment ar-raignment for the theft of the Missioner Mission-er necklace. Over-enterprising Sunday papers went so far as to publish page stories, purporting to be jisyclwloglcal studies of the mental bent that made the trusted secretary of a multimillionaire multimil-lionaire society woman, with a comfortable com-fortable career In expectation, throw all chances to the winds by yielding to a momentary feminine Impulse to possess herself of glittering baubles. Those psychological studies were Interesting In-teresting to the multitude, and might have been worth publishing had they been based on either psychoolgy or truth. They had their effect on Grlswold, Grls-wold, though, and a consequence of that fact was that the clubman's mind was at ease so far as the possibility that he would be connected with the disappearance of the gems was concerned. con-cerned. So Grlswold did not go to the Renaissance that niKht, nor did he disturb dis-turb Mrs. Delarocho with a telephone message, although an Instrument stood :n a convenient desk in her boudoir, nnd an extension wire connected it with a duplicate device that rested :in a little Russian table beside her bed. It would have been tho work af a moment for Grlswold to get Into onversatlonal touch with Mrs. Dela-roche, Dela-roche, and he would have had the ex-;ue ex-;ue of replying to her urgent and somewhat petulant note If he had received It; unfortunately for him, he fi ver had seen that missive. Kanan-la's Kanan-la's guess In regard to the activity of lis followers, Chunda nnd Gazlm. was iccurate, for these adroit Orientals ind stolen the missing note from Grlswold's Grls-wold's apartment before It came un-ler un-ler the observation of "Curtis dear," o whom It was addressed. Altegeth-t, Altegeth-t, once more, as he would have ex-iretsed ex-iretsed it, things were not "breaking" or the suave secretary of the Iroquois frust Company. (to re co.xTiNunn) " SYNOPSIS. The story opens with a scream from Imnilhy March In thn opi-ra box of Mrit. Mlnliiiirr, a wealthy whlow. It lit "-tiiiicitit-d wlinn Mr. MliMliim-r' n'-klure 1re.ik, acul li-rlng Oio illiniiiiniN nil nvt-r the lliKir. t'urtln UrimvoM ntul Jtruxton hiiniU, siM-lpty min In lv with Mm. Mis-i.iiM-r. KHtluT up seina. (tiiHwnM t"-m nn whitt la supposed to b tha r-l-braii'il MuliHrnnrn ami clunlii-n ll. A million mil-lion ilflclKrea It w not the genuine. An xprt Iniir pronounces all tha atone Hulmt ll nies for tha oriKlnul. One. of tha iiiihkIiik tlhtiimml la found In the room of Kllnor llolcomh, conrtdentlnl companion compan-ion of Mr. Missioner. Hhe I arrisl'il. nolwllliHlHiiillriK Mr Missioner belief In her Innocent-. Meniitlmu, In an uptown up-town tnuiislon, two Hindoos, who ara In Aineiha to recover the Miihnranee, ill-Toss ill-Toss thn arrest. Detectlva Hrll takea ip the cb. He ask the co-operation of lr. I 'Itch, Kllnor lUin e. In runnlnif town the renl irlmlnnl. Ilrlts lenrri Unit duplicate of Mr. Mission. T illumonit were iii.iilo In I'arls on the order of Kllnor llolcomh. While wiilklnx Ilrlts Is leiacd. hound and gitKKed by Hindoo. He Is Imprisoned In a deserted house, hut make his escape. Ilrll discover an In-Nnnn In-Nnnn tlhiumud expert whom ho believe wo employed by either Hiind of Orl-wolii Orl-wolii to iniilie counterfoils of the Missioner Mission-er Kerns, (irlswold Intimates that Hunds Is on the verxe of failure. Two Hindoo burglarize the home of Hand and are captured by Hrltl (Mi one of them he tlnds a note slicneil by "Milllcent" and ad-drcMscd ad-drcMscd to "1'ortl " Hrll locate a wo-jnan wo-jnan named Milllcent Ieluroche. CHAPTER XX. Kananda's Mission. Kananda and the Swaml, In the uptown up-town bachelor apartment whither they Kpod from the Fifth avenue ballroom, bent about a table on which were spread various diagrams. All, Mrs. Mlsnloner's servant, stood at a respectful re-spectful distance. He wore a concerned con-cerned look that Intimated ho bad been subjected to some pretty stiff questioning by bis masters. The high-caste high-caste Orientals paid little attention to hltn. They leaned over the table until un-til their heads almost touched, studying study-ing diligently the papors that lay upon It, occuxlohully following the lines with enclls. and punning to make hurried calculations on the margins ot tho sheets. At length the Swanil leaned back and gazed fixedly at tho prince. "It Id evident we're on the right truck at last," he said. "Chunda nnd Gnxlm could not have done their work thoroughly." "They didn't do It at all. when it conies to that," answered the prince. "Instead of finding only a loose end of the thread, they ought to have un-Wangled un-Wangled the whole skein." "However," ald the Swaml, "this note shows my original suppositions were accurate. The Jewels were ta-Jsen ta-Jsen by the man who trod on the false .diamond In the opera box." "It looks as if It were so," Kananda replied. "The question Is, where are they cowT' "The woffetin has them," returned tho scholar. "Unless," sneered Nandy, "she Is beating our enterprising clubman at his own game. How do you know .he hasn't sold them?" "This note" "Oh, I know all about that." laughed the prince. "It Is plain you have not given sufficient thought to the ways of these western women. If only you would take your bead out of those esoteric clouds once In a while, and ciunc to earth for a look around, you wouldn't be quite so Ingenuous." "Hut she says In this note she will have to sell some of the Jewels." the Swaml perslsled. "That certainly indicates in-dicates they are still In ber possession." posses-sion." "On the surface it does," said Nandy. "Hut the woman when she wrote It could not have supposed It was to be read by anyone save Grlswold." "How do you know she didn't Intend In-tend to deceive him?" asked Kananda. "It's a good thing you chose the scholar's schol-ar's life In early youth, my friend. As a society man, you'd make an exceedingly ex-ceedingly Interesting, but distressingly distressing-ly hopeless 'Innocent abroad.'" Nandy had learned his philosophy of femininity in one of the swiftest ets of Cambridge town; in the most exclusive Umdon clubs; in the Olymp-iHn Olymp-iHn gatherings of Heidelberg stu- ' dents, and in the most On de-slecle circles of the gay capital. Whatever his theory, there was nothing hesitant hesi-tant about It. tie held in retard to 1 the sex otily the most settled opinions. opin-ions. "It seems to me," said the Swaml, 1 "that your conclusions are pretty far : fetched. Hut I bow to you, prince. In 1 the matter of social law. I'erhap I 1 know a little more about the higher 1 mysteries, but when It comes to cotll- 1 Ions, you take the bacoulaureate de- 1 gree." I There may have been a shade of 1 Irony In his wards. If so. Kananda. 1 for all his subtlety, failed to notice tt- . "I think you t.rw clouding the que- tlon needlessly when you take It for j I granted the womHn who wrote this' note Is not true to Curtis GrUwoia's 1 1 Interests.' And the Swaml tapped i 1 tfee table roediu'Jvely with the scrap j of paper the m0 with the glistening eyes had filched frqtu the cannrs ' board to flurWn's workshop. ' "Wouldn't It be s good deal siore cl rect." sard the Swfttpl, "to continue to I Uk It for granted sae Is slnoersj ttfat i she recNved t Jewels from Otis- I wold, tltat she still has them, aad Utat I . be will act part with any of t&em I sntil the clubman has refused to cm-,ply cm-,ply with ter rsquest for money?" ' "Yes." Kananda admitted. "We'll work along that line for the present. Now, then, w here's tho woman?" He turned to All with a piercing look. The servant salaamed. "Excellency," said he, "we have verified tho address heading the second sec-ond note. She is there." "It Is well," said the prince curtly. "Go!" He turned to the Swaml and, standing stand-ing with one foot on bis chair, raised his elbow to his knee and lowered his chin to his hand. "I believe we're close to the end of our quest," he mused. "I have a feeling feel-ing we must get the Maharanee tonight, to-night, if we are to recover It at all. We have played a waiting game for many months, and It Is time now to act. Are you prepared?" "I am prepared." "You will not stay your hand when It comes to the point?" The Swaml did not answer. He sat with folded arms staring at the documents docu-ments on the talk'. It was In an altered al-tered voice that at length he spoke: "I'rlnce," he said, "already the sacred sa-cred gem should be ruby red with the blood that has been spilled for It. There la something In the air of this strango land that makes It distasteful distaste-ful to me the thought of further bloodshed. Regain the Jewel we must; but I would tt could be done without new racrlflee of life." An expression of demoniacal scorn overspread Kanada's features until he confronted tho suge with the fac of a gargoyle. "And the brethren?" he asked angrily. angri-ly. "Can It be you have a thought for these western dogs when your own brothers of the faith are suffering suffer-ing the shame and pit 1 n In which we left them? Has your heart turned to water?" Tho Swnml did not answer. Still with folded arms, he kept his gaze on the papers, his features set In quiet determination. "Are you nfrnld?" pursued tho prince. "Does your soul shrink, your hand draw back, now that the appointed ap-pointed hour Is nigh? Are you a true believer and master of the faith, or " and ho almoet screamed, "an apostate?" apos-tate?" The Swaml's copper face turned a darker shade. A flaah of fury seared his eyes as he raised them to those of the prince. He lowered them again, however, and said, stolidly: "I ara unable to conquer the feeling ( that It cannot be for the good of the brothers to wade through blood as , did our fathers for possession of what, after all, Is simply a stone. I know j what It means to the chosen ones to have that stono taken back to the Temple. I feel more keenly than you can feel the yearning they send j across the seas for the success of our ( mission. Hut, prince, the Maharanee diamond, In its Journey across the world, has been purged perhaps of the f st arlet stains that were upon It Can f we not take it back In all Its present f purity? Aro we not skilled enough c In the ways of the East to recover our own without bearing death to the t men of tho West?" Kananda spurned the chair away j and, gripping tho table with both -j hands, leaned toward the scholar. ( "Listen to inc. master!" be said c savagely. "It was all these pnsslbill- ties my father anticipated when ho t, M-nt me bs your companion In this en- terprlso. He knew I was experienced r, in the wiles or theHe Western dogs. II) was aware that In the English mil- j versily and the Hrlilsh capital, as well c as in the cities of the European contl- nent, I bad mingled with them in j; their pastimes and In their homes that 1 had seen and beard their puer- p He philosophy that I ' bad studied n their womanish religions, and that I n had experienced all the soul poison , by which their so-called civilization turns men to children. Can you guess the orders the Maharajah laid upon t me when he bade me come with you?" c The Swaml still maintained a dignified dig-nified 'silence. n "I will tell you." continued the n prince. "My father said: 'The time a may come, my son, when your friend. 0 the great teacher, quails from that , which Is before hltn. If It comes, then )( when It comes, strike as swiftly and , surely as you would strike to save n your throne.' And I will strike, my -master!" Kananda added grimly resolute. res-olute. "If you flinch from any necea- r ilty that arises in carrying out this , task of ours, I will warn you once Men as I am warning you now and (i then. If you still stay your hand or seek R lo save the least of those whi may Hand between us and the sacred ( lew el. by God 111 kill you!" t The scholar's Imperturbability was j, proof against Kananda's violence of j, word and manner. The only sign ha tl Cave was a slight tightening or his p ringers as they clasped his arms, and , a lightning look straight Into the eyes y or the young man across the table. It (, was la a tone of perfect control that c be replied; "Death, when It comes to myself. Is the least cf my concerns. Tou may rr itxlkt when you will. Your Highness. I ara a master of tha faith, but. bods tl Lhe less, a servant of the throes. My e. life belongs to your royal father to do i with It as ho pleases. And since you T 111 mo that you aro tho long arm at w the Maharajah, It Is at your disposal, too." His calmness reminded the Prince of his own Oriental origin. The vehemence ve-hemence be had acquired In western lands slipped from hltn like a loosened robe. In an Instant, under bis outward out-ward seeming of an English or American Amer-ican man uhoul tow n, he repossessed the composure of his race. "Sorry," he said with a little forced laugh. "Kather bad. you know, to take things to heart that way, but this really Is a nerious proposition, and we mustn't fall down on It. As we are so near success, I will tell you It Is a question not only of piety, but of politics. There Is a dash or mild statecraft in It- The Maharajah has a pretty well-rooted Idea that the permanence of his reign depends on restoring the diamond to the Temple." The sage looked at him Interrogatively. Interroga-tively. "Funny, I know," continued Nandy, "but, alter all. It Is the twentieth century, and the I. and O. boats take iome pretty restless people to India, rhose busy-bodies have stirred up a good deal of discontent In our part of tie world, and my father is an ob-icrvsnt ob-icrvsnt man." "I had no thought of giving up the juest." the Swaml explained. "All wished to do was to move more de-iberately. de-iberately. I believe we can recover he stone without great violence, and Incline to these Westerner's views ar enough to think It would be better or our religion, for your father, and or the brethren to say nothing of mnielves If we could do so. The aslest way sometime naKy is tho est." "I know all that," Insisted the 'rlnce, "but we have not the time, 'his hunt is drawing close to a hot iilt.h. You forget that we have the leverest detective in New York one f the cleverest In the world 0 beat. If he got the diamond, he .ould not recognize our claim to it rr an instant. He'd turn It over to Irs. Missioner, and we would not tand the ghost of a chance In any otirt of law. This is a case where r'e must help ourselves to our own. lesides. there Is Grlswold. How do e know be Is not getting ready to ee with the Jewels tonight? They tay be In his possession, or he may ave given them to the woman who 1 Igns herself Milllcent." The I'rlnce paused, framed his fitters fitt-ers tip to tip, and looked between 1 hem at the note as If peering Into a rystal gazer's globe. "1 am convinced the woman has the 1 ecklace," he went on. "Our men 1 avo had time to search Grlswold s 1 partment from end to end, and tho ther men's, too. If they round tho 1 jwels In either place, we would know ' ; by now. The whole question pre- ' ents ltseir clearly enough to my 1 ilnd. The old French proverb holds ' ood. cherrhez la femme." ' 1 The Swaml arose. As he did so. All 1 p-entered tho room with more ' alaams, and extended toward his ' taster a silver tray on which lay a 1 Iny scroll, written In minute hlero- ' lyphs of the Orient. The scholar ' roke the seal and scanned the paper ' wiftly. A slight exclamation be- 1 ayed that the Information contained 1 the little scroll broke through even ' la msgniricent reserve. Ills band 1 rfmbled a little aa he handed the I aper to the I'rlnce. A hurrkd read- ' ag sufficed to destroy all of that oung man's recently gained calm. 'He ilrly hurled himself Into a sealskin oat. and thrust his head Into aa " pera hat. I "Quick!" ho said, wo have not a mo- I lent to lose!" I It would bav Veen wett for Brtti If ' to young photographer had acquaint- ! hlro promptly with tho fart of tha 1 appearance of tho Milllcent aota. ho detective's acute iDtslligeoco ' culd have argued from that incident 1 the need or even greater haste than he was making In pushing his pursuit ol the Missioner diamond to a close. Hut Uurlen, conscience-stricken though he was, was loath to send the Information to the Headquurters man until he could have time to make further and more exhaustive search of his shop, as well as of the courtyard in tho rear of the building on which its windows gave. It was dark In the court, and the Imperfect Imper-fect light of his candle made his search so slow that by the time he was sure the note was gone beyond possibility of Its recovery, It was too late for blm to find Detective Hrltz at I'ollce Headquarters. When his messenger mes-senger returned with the report that the Central Office man had left his room, and that no one In the Mulberry street building knew where to find him, Iturlen became so alarmed that be hastened to Headquarters to try to take up the hunt for Brits from that point lie was as unsuccessful as bis emissary, and he spent many anxious hours In the waiting room hoping for the detective's return. The photo engraver en-graver tried to console himself with the thought that the negative had been spared, and he therefore had been able to send to Drltz's office the hundred facsimiles of the "Curtis dear" missive his customer had ordered. Cut It was poor consolation when he recalled the earnestness with which the detective had enjoined upon him not to let the original leave Xis hands. Uurlen was an exceed Uigly uncomfortable young man during all the time he awaited the sleuth's return. His discomfort did not decrease as the hours dragged by. Hut It would have been well for Drltz to have that knowledge in regard re-gard to tho strange vanishment of the Grlswold note, It would have been better bet-ter for Curtis Grlswold If Dorothy March had not become conscience-stricken conscience-stricken In respect of blm that same evening. For little Miss March, being of 1'uritan stock, as soon as she pr-suaded pr-suaded herself that she might have made trouble for Mrs. Missloner's admirer ad-mirer by tafulng too freely to the bland man from Mulberry street In the cozy corner of tho Forrest theater, resolved to repair the mischief as rap-Idly rap-Idly a possible. She, therefore, sent a little note to the clubman, asking that he make It a point to see her in the course of the evening; and In the note she gave blm a list of the several functions she intended to take In. The bait Mrs. Missioner attended, and at which Grlswold scored what he regarded re-garded as a distinct gain In parading the wealthy widow before many of their acquaintances as a receptive recipient re-cipient of his attentions, was only one ot the affairs on Dorothy's list. Grls wold received the note too late to rome up with Miss March before the ball, so he decided to meet her at a later dance. That decision upset one :f his plans the most Important he iad formed In many months, although n did not know Its Importance at the Ime. It had been his Intention to go 'rom the Fifth Avenue ballroom to the Hotel Renaissance, and if he had not ecelved tho note from Miss March, he s-ould have done so even though he night have escorted Mrs. Missioner to ter home and passed a short time with jer In the Interval. Dorothy's request flattered the club-nan's club-nan's vanity so greatly, however, that le did not hesitate to defer his visit o the Renaissance In order to keep he Interesting appointment the debu-ante, debu-ante, with more conscience than discretion, dis-cretion, made for him. The conse-juenre conse-juenre was that by tho time Grls-rold's Grls-rold's Interview with little Dorothy March was at aa eed. tho hours had massed beyond a point to which even lis ingenuity could stretch con v anion an-ion allty far enough to make It practl-ablo practl-ablo for him f eeo Mrs. Delarocho hat night Dorothy was dancing abstractedly then Grlswold found her. he was so inpatient to adjust tho harm she felt |