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Show c.Mardi Gras Mystery By H. BEDFORD-JONES Copyright by DOUBLEDAY t PAGE AND COMPANY Twelfth Night Revelers suon after Christmas, and is closed by that of the Krewe of Coinus on JIardi Gras night. I'pon this evening of "Fat Tuesday," Indeed, both Rex and Comus hold forth. Rex is the popular ball, the affair of the people, and is held In the Athenaeum. From here, about midnight, mid-night, the king and queen proceed to Conius hall. Comus is an assembly of such rigid exclusiveness that even the tickets to t he gallery are considered social prizes. The personae of the Krewe, on this particular year, as in all previous previ-ous ones, would remain unknown; there is no unmasking at Comus. This institution, a tremendous social power and potentially a financial power also, during decades of the city's life, is held absolutely above any taint of favoritism fa-voritism or commercialism.. Even the families of those concerned might not always be certain whether their sons and brothers belonged to the Krewe of Comus. Henry Gramont did not attend the ball of Proteus on Monday night. Instead, In-stead, he sat in his own room, while through the streets of the French Quarter outside was raging ''-e carnival carni-val at its height. Before him were maps and reports upon the gas and oil fields about Bayou Terrebonne Melds where great domes of natural gas were already located and iu use, and where oil was being found in some quantity. Early on Wednesday morning morn-ing Gramont intended to set forth to 1 1 is work. He had been engaged to make a report to Bob Maillard's company, com-pany, and be would make it. Then lie would resign bis advisory job, and be free. A smile curled his lips as he thought of young Maillard and the company. "The young gentleman will be sadly surprised to discover that I've gotten out from under and that his respected respect-ed father holds my stock !" he reflected. reflect-ed. "That was a good deal ; I lost a thousand to old Maillard in order to have the balance of thirty thousand !" A knock at his door interrupted the thread of his thought. Gramont opened, to find the concierge with a note which had been left at the door below by a masked Harlequin, who had then disappeared without awaiting await-ing any reply. Gramont recognized the writing on the envelope, and hastened to the note inside. His face changed, however, as he read It : "Please call promptly at eleven tomorrow to-morrow morning. I wish to see-you upon a matter of business. "LUCIE LEDANOIS." Gramont gazed long at this note, his brows drawn down into a harsh line. It was not like Lucie In Its toe, somehow ; lie sensed something amiss, something vaguely but mostly decidedly decided-ly out of tune. "Eleven tomorrow morning, eh?" he murmured. "That's queer, too, for she's to lie at the Proteus Pro-teus hall tonight. Most girls would not be conducting business affairs at eleven in the morning, after being up all night at Proteus! It must be something important. Besides, she's not in a class with anyone else. She's a rare girl ; no nonsense in her full of n deep, strong sense of tilings ' He forced himself from thoughts of Lucie, forced himself from her personality, per-sonality, and returned to his reports willi an effort of concentration. When Gramont went to bed that night it was with a startling and audacious auda-cious scheme well defined in his Wain ; n scheme whose first conception seemed ludicrous and impossible, yet which, on second consideration, appeared ap-peared in a very different light. It deserved de-served serious thought and Gramont had made his decision before he went to sleep. The following day was Tuesday Manli Gras, Shrove Tuesday, the Inst day before Lent began, and the final culminating day of carnival. Henry Gramont. however, was destined to lind little in Its beginning of much personal pleasure. At eleven In the morning Hammond drove Mm to the Ledanois home, where Gramont was admitted by one of the colored servants ami shown into the parlor. A moment later Lucie herself her-self appeared. At first glance her smiling greering removed the half-sensed half-sensed apprehensions of Gramont. Almost Al-most immediately afterward, however, lie noted a perceptible change in her manner, as she led him toward the rear of the room, and gestured toward a Mahogany tilt-top ruble which stood in a corner. "Come over here, please. I have sot..?:hing which I wish to show you." She needed to say no more. Grn-motii, Grn-motii, following her, found himself staring blankly down at the symbol of consternation which overwhelmed him. For upo.-i that table lay all those boxes which he himself had packed with the loot of the Midnight Masquer the Identical boxes, apparently unopened, un-opened, which bad been stolen from his automobile by the supposed thief, Chaeherre ! "A CARNIVAL JOKE" SYNOPSIS. During the height of tile New Orleans carnival stason Jsichln Fell, wealthy though somewhat some-what mysterious citizen, and Dr. Ansley, are discussing a series of robberies by an individual known as tile Midnight Masquer, who, invariably in-variably attired as an aviator, has long defied the poll'-e. Joseph Mail-iar.i, Mail-iar.i, wealthy banker, is giving a ball that night, at which the Masquer Mas-quer has threatened to appear and rob the guests. Fell and Ansley, on their way to the affair, meet a glri dressed as Columbine, seemingly seeming-ly known to Fell, but masked, wl.o accompanies tliem to the ball. Lucie Ledanois, recently the ward of her uncle, Joseph Maillard, is the Columbine. At thp ball. Bob Maillard, son of the banker, again proposes to her and Is refused. He offers to buy some of her properly. A Franciscan monk Interests her. He turns out to be Prince Gramont. In his library Joseph Maillard and a group of his friends are held up and robbed by the Midnight Masquer. Mas-quer. Lucie Ledanois, the last of an old family, is in straitened circumstances. cir-cumstances. Joseph Maillard's handling han-dling of her funds lias been unfortunate. unfor-tunate. Fell Is an old friend of her parents and d-'.'ply interested in tlie girl. Henry Gramont. really the Prince de Cramont. is enamored of Lucie. I.ucte talks with Felt about her affairs and the Masked Masquer. Gramont'B chauffeur. Hammond, sergeant In the A. E. F., lives with him. He was the original Midnight Masquer, and Gramont had assumed the role. Where Hammond had been a robber rob-ber for financial gain, Gramont, of course. Is not. He arranges to return re-turn the "loot" to those whom he has robbed. Gromnnt and Hammond Ham-mond put the jewels and monev in individual packages to he returned the next day. An explanation is Inclosed In each. CHAPTER VI Continued. 9 Hammond stood staring after the swaggering figure; for once lie was speechless. The jaunty words had sent terror, thrilling into him. lie started impulsively to pursue that impudent im-pudent aceoster then tie checked himself. Had the man guessed something? some-thing? Hud the man known something? some-thing? Or had those words been only ft bit of meaningless impertinence a chance shaft which bad accidentally flown home? The last conjecture Impressed Itself on Hammond as being the truth, and Ills momentary fright died out. He concluded that the Incident was not worth mentioning to Gramont. who purely had troubles enough of bis own at this juncture. As for Ben Chncherre, he sauntered from the alley, a careless whistle upon his lips. Once out of Hammond's sight, however, he quickened Ills pace. Turning into a side street, he directed his slep toward that part of the old quarter which, in the days before prohibition, pro-hibition, had been given over to low cabarets and dives of various sorts. Coming to one of them, which appeared ap-peared more dirty and desolate than the rest, Chaeherre opened a side door and vanished. He entered what had once been the Red Cat cabaret. At a table In the hnlf-drrkened main room sat two men. One tif them, who was the proprietor, jerked his chin in an Invitation to join lilm. A man famous in the underworld circles, a man whose renown rested on curious feats and facts. Ibis proprietor; pro-prietor; few crooks in the country bad not heard the name of Memphis Izzy Gumberts. He was a grizzled old hear now, but in times past be hail been the head of n far-Hung organization which, on each pay day. covered every army post in the country and diverted Into its own pockets about two-thirds of Uncle Sam's payroll a feat still related in criminal circles as the up plus ultra of success. Those palmy days were gone, but Memphis Izzy, who hnd never been "mugged" In any gallery, sat in his deserted cabaret and still dltl not lack for power ami Influence. The man nt bis side was apparently not anxious to linger, for he rose and made bis farewells as Choehorre approached. ap-proached. "We have about eighteen cars left." lie sidd to Gumberts. "Charley the Gaog can allend to them, and the place is safe enough. They're up to you. I'm drifting back to CM." "In'.ft along." and Gunilii-rts nodded, nod-ded, a leer In his eyes. His face was broad, he..vy-jowled. filled with a keen and forcvful craft. "It's a cinch that nobody iu this state is goin' to Interfere Inter-fere willi us. About them cars from Texas any news?" "I've sent orders to bring 'em in next week." Gumberts nodded again, and the mini departed. Into the chair which he bail vacated dropped Ben Chaeherre. Cha-eherre. and took from his pocket the money he had obtained at the hunk. M He laid It on the table before Gum-Si Gum-Si berts. r "There yon are," he said. "Amounts you want nnd all. The boss says to gimme receipt." "Wouldn't trust you. eh?" jeered Gumberts. "Why wouldn't the boss 'enve the my come out of the tak-ln's, tak-ln's, hey?" "Wanted 0 Keep separate accounts." ald Chaeherre. Humberts nodded and produced two large sealed envelopes, which lie pushed across the table. "There's a rakeoff for week before last." he announced. "Last week will be the big business, judgin' from early report s."' Chaeherre pocketed the envelopes, lighted a cigarette, and leaned forward. for-ward. "Say. Izzy! You got to send a new man down to the Bayou Lntouche right away. Lafarge was there, yon know; a nigger shot Id m yesterday. The nigger threatened to squeal unless he got his money buck Lafarge was n fool and didn't know how to handle him. The boss says to shoot a new man down, there. Also, he says, you'd better wutch out about spreadin' the lottery into Texas and Alabama, account ac-count of the government rules." The heavy features of Gumberts closed In a scowl. "You tell your boss," be said, "that when it comes to steerin' clear of federal fed-eral men, I don't want no Instructions from nobody ! We got every man in this state spotted. Every one that can be fixed is fixed and that goes for the legislators and politicians clear up the line! Tell your boss to handle the local gov'ment as well as 1 handle other tilings, nnd he'll do all that's necessary. What he'd ought to attend to. for one thing, is this here guy who calls himself the Midnight Masquer. I've told him before that this guy was playing h 1 with my system sys-tem ! This Masquer gets no protection, protec-tion, see? The quicker Fell goes after lu'i i the better for all concerned " Chaeherre laughed, not without a swagger. "We've attended to all that, Izzy we've dropped on him and settled We've Attended to All That, Izzy We've Dropped on Him and Settled Him!" him ! Tlie (rny vns doln' it for a onr-nivjil onr-nivjil joke, tli:it's sill. II is loot is nil jroin' Imck to the owners todny. It needn't worry yon, iinyhow ! There wjis imthln much to it jewelry tlmt eonldift lie disposed of, for the most part. We couldn't take chances on (lint sort o' Junk." "I should say not," Chimherts regarded re-garded him with a scowl. "Vuu've yot the stuff?" "The hoss hiis. Look here. Izzy, I want you to use a little influence wilh heantinarlers on this deal the boss doesn't want to show his hand there," and leaning forward. Ren Chaeherre spoke in a low tone Then, (lumherls heard him out. chuckled, and nodded assent. At two that afternoon Henry Ora-niont Ora-niont was summoned to the telephone. He was greeted hy a voice which he did not recognize, but which announced an-nounced Itself proutplly. "This is Mr. Cramont? Police headquarters head-quarters speakin'. You laid a charge iliis mnniing against a fellow named Chncherre 7" "Y es." answered Gramnnt. "Must lia' been some mistake, then." came the response. "We thought the prints titled, but found later they didn't. We looked up the Chaeherre guy and fnmul he was workitf steady and st -i' i ly O. K. What's more to the point, he proved up a dead sure alibi for the other night." "eh!" said Cramont. "Then there's not hing to be done?" "NiK yet. We're workln' on It. and may he we'll have some news later. Goodhy." Cramont huiiu' ifp (lie receiver, a puzzled frown creasing his brow. Rut. after a minute, he laughed softly a trace of anger in the laugh. "Ah :" he murmured. "I congratulate congratu-late you on your etlicieney. Mr. Fell! But now wait a little and we'll meet again. I think I'm getting somewhere at last, und I'll have a surprise for you one of these days I" CHAPTER VII. In the Open. In New Orleans rhe carnival season Is always opened by the ball of the |