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Show THE RETURN of 1 I ANTHONY TRENT I j By WYNDHAM MARTYN i Coprrtiht by Bara A .Hopklna " -wjjTj Service J W ' w w - w 8T0RY FROM THE START Anthony Trent' returns to New York after nearly four yearn' absence. ab-sence. Once known as the master mas-ter criminal, Trent Is srofnff straight. The purser accuses Trent of jumping overboard from the PoiUanla at Liverpool, but Is disappointed when Trent shows no surprise. He learns his friend, Capt. Frnnk Sutton, Is In Blngr Bin. At Now York Trent Is startled to find somebody occupying oc-cupying his house. The stranger ts Sutton Campbell, the brother of his best friend, who Is eervlng ten years In prison. i ' .. i i . i CHAPTER II Continued "No doubt," he said equably; "but the police are not here to satisfy the vagrunt curiosity of burglars, as you will find." There was do question In his mind but that this amazing stranger had In-'deed In-'deed been waiting for him and was undismayed by the encounter. There was. In fact, an air of triumph about him now which spelled disaster for Trent. "Perhaps the police may be Incurious," Incuri-ous," the singular personage replied. "But the public Is avid for sensation. It would Keni an Intrlgulug problem for a newspaper man or preferably a newspaper woman. I should remind them of the Anthony Trent who wrote entertainingly of a crook he created and styled Conway Parker. I should lament the sad fact that the death of a very wealthy uncle In Australia gave him a fortune and robbed Dctlon of an ornament." This mention of Australia was disquieting. dis-quieting. Years ago Trent had Invented In-vented the legend of the rich uncle to account for the sudden alteration In his fortunes. lie had long been aware that he had begotten something which might prove very dangerous. Uncles must be accounted fix In family genealogies. It would be easy enough to prove that no will had been probated pro-bated In the Island continent which had Anthony Trent of New York as Its beneficiary. "I could assert that your lamented uncle had been my partner and that the money he left you belonged by right to me. It would be a simple matter to compel publicity." "You know very well you Rre talking talk-ing nonsense," Trent said, keeping his temper under control. "Of course," the stranger agreed, "1 admit it; and so are you when you speak of calling In the police. Come, let us chat In a more friendly fashion. After all. It Is your house, and you are entitled to consideration." "You are very kind," Trent said acidly, "but I am going to get out of you what you mean by camping here, and what you want." "A legitimate curiosity," the other agreed. "Very well. You are Anthony Trent, master criminal. You stole the great Takawaja emerald from Andrew Apthorpe, the Mount Aubyn ruby, the Edgecomb sapphire and the hundred carat Nizam's diamond, and Innumerable Innumer-able other things of value. And you have worked fo cleverly that you have flouted the police for eight years. Only once were you In danger, and that was In France, when Lieutenant ' Devlin, Dev-lin, formerly of the New York police, denounced you to his adjutant." Trent sat motionless. Here was a chapter of the dead past rising to condemn con-demn hiiu. What more might this mysterious man not know? "Before Devlin died," Trent said, "he tore up the depositions he would sot sign, and 1 was absolved." "But not before the documents were read and remembered. Your adjutant ad-jutant was a lawyer, a man trained to marshal evidence, and kept it In bis brain." So it was Captain Sutton who had betrayed . him. The Captain Sutton who had fallen Into disgrace and was now In Sing Sing prison. Trent looked at the strange man and determined to talk. There were no witnesses. "So It's Sutton who gave me away?" Trent's face hardened as he considered this treachery. Since that day when Captain Sutton had put his hand on Trent's arm and said kindly, "You played In tuck this time, Trent- 1 wouldn't risk It again," he bad done nothing to bring himself In danger of the law. And yet he had been denounced. de-nounced. "You are wrong," the stranger said, reading his thoughts. "Ue ts not your enemy ; you should not harbor hard thoughts of him. You knew him as a very rich man. He is now penniless and In prison for ten years. They no longer know him as Captain Sutton with an honorable war record. He Is called by a number now." "Nevertheless, he has given me away to a stranger; and If he has betrayed me to you, how ninny more hold my destiny In their hands?" "I alone know what was contained In Devlin's depositions. 1 am your friend's elder and only brother. I am Campbell Sutton." Trent tried not to betray his enormous relief. A brother of his former adjutant's, no matter how far he trespassed on the definition of a welcome euest. would not be as dan gerous as the police. And, conversely, he would not be as easily disposed of as a burglar. "I came as by brother's emissary. 1 am here to remind you of a law which, while It It as old as mankind, bas found Us way Into no statute books. It Is the law of compensation between man and man. My brother saved you from many years of prison ; that you cannot deny. He thinks enough of you to suppose you will admit this." "I do," Trent said. "Ordinarily my brother would never have given another thought to what he did for you. Personally he liked and admired you. When he was confronted con-fronted with this appalling disaster he called first upon those men with whom for many years he had been Intimate. They failed him. Then he thought of you, and put me In possession posses-sion of those facts of your career which I have mentioned." "What can I do?" Trent demanded. He recognized that he Indeed owed much to the unfortunate Sutton, and he was ready to pay the debt; he had no thought of evasion. "How can I help? If It's money for a new trial, I can certainly be of assistance." His recent investments had been fortunate ones. "It Is not money." Campbell Sutton returned. "I have that. It Is something some-thing that none of his friends bad. In choosing you my brother was not selecting you as the best of a group ; he was picking you as the only Individual Indi-vidual of that group." Marked uneasiness preyed upon Anthony An-thony Trent What qualities had he that raised him above his fellows? Unwillingly he was forced to admit that there was one thing should he call It a sport or vocation? where be had been pre-eminent and without a peer. "Your brother rates me too highly," he said. "On the contrary he assigns you your rightful position. You are the only man he knows, or has heard of, who can bring to a successful Issue the desire of his heart Do you know why my brother received that monstrous mon-strous sentence?" "I heard It was attempted murder and embezzlement I could not believe be-lieve It of him." "Nevertheless a judge and jury convicted him of using trust monies to cover market losses. It was proved that he had falsified entries." "Why did he attempt murder? Was that charge justified?" "He did not try to murder Grant, he tried to injure him, I admit. He found that the man he trusted had betrayed him. Mrs. Sutton was a very beautiful woman who loved gayety. My brother provided for her lavishly. He thought it a high and noble quality qual-ity In her that she did not, like many other wives, seek to hold her husband back from going oversea. But he had a premonition that he would never return, and deeded nearly all his fortune for-tune to her. It is not a pleasant tale, Mr. Trent She sent him off because she had grown fond of Payson Grant; and Payson Grant, having control of my brother's business, sought ti effect ef-fect his ruin. That Is the, whole story. "Unfortunately my brother conducted conduct-ed his own defense. He could have chosen no poorer counsel. The sight of Grant made him forget everything. He insulted the judge; he contradicted contradict-ed his own testimony. I believe he was for the time insane. He threatened threat-ened when the trial was over he would kill Grant In view of the amazing mess he made of it ten years was a light sentence. He is now doing do-ing what he can to prepare enough evidence to justify petitioning 'or a new trial." "Surely that won't be easy?" "Almost lmposoi'jle for him, situated situ-ated as he is; and just as difficult for me, who am a quiet man, averse to society so-ciety and unused to mixing with my kind." Trent started to cross-examine. "You are his only brother. Are you, also, afraid of justice?" "There la nothing In Campbell Sutton's Sut-ton's life that can cause him alarm." The manner was rather grandiose, almost al-most absurd. Trent leaned forward and watched his expressions. "Then why does an honest man t' Mnyn ii'w wirxij need to clamber over roofs and enter like a burglar?" "For two very excellent reasons," said Campbell Sutton, . without that momentary pause which would tell his hearer that he was lying. "Om. Is that your front door defied my efforts. Another, that I should not be surprised sur-prised if Payson Grant had m shadowed. shad-owed. He knows I have sworn to make him pay; In his place I should keep an eye on an enemy likely to be dangerous." .... Trent thought there was no good purpose served by evading the Issue Campbell Sutton had come neither foi money nor sympathy. "What do you want me to do?" "In brief, this; you must force t confession from Payson Grant whici will exonerate Frank." "Grant won't make any statement," i Trent said. "Why should he? The law has given him ten years to enjoy stolen property." "It Is the only way. For my part I ! should be forced to give up the problem prob-lem as Insoluble. With you It Is different ; you have at your fingers' tips the technique of crime. For you It should merely be entertainment." "I have abandoned, forever, what you term the technique t crime. What money I have iB at Captain Sutton's Sut-ton's disposal," Trent said coldly, "and any other legitimate effort will be given gladly, but I will not go back to the old ways." "One appreciates these delicate scruples and honors you for them. I expected them, In fact But what con-.cern' con-.cern' ns now Is how soon you can start to pay your debts to a man unjustly un-justly condemned to ten years of Imprisonment Im-prisonment Yon would have got more than that but for him." "I am not going to dispute your brother's services," Trent said quietly. "But If I am forced to It I must point out the difference. It cost him no more than a momentary twinge of conscience to do what he did for me. Consider the situation. It was at a time when every man was needed, and I had a definite use. If your brother had sent me back Lome under guard he would have lost . man he relied on, and also the men detailed to guard me. He shut his eyes to what I had done because he had a shrewd Idea I had finished with that sort of thing. And, pet Laps, he thoujht the work I was doing was risky enough to offer small chance of my getting through. For that I am asked to take the risks of blackmailing blackmail-ing Payson Grant I don't welcome that sort of thing now. I efuse to put my head In a noose for any man." "You will admit that you could, by some method yet to' be determined, abduct Payson Grant and hold him until he confessed." : ' "It would be difficult, but I suppose It could bodone,'" "Then you admit the task Is not impossible.. You have conceded that you might accomplish It and remain undetected." If that 1 so, Mr. Trent, ' why not accept it as the lesser risk?" "Less than what?" "Than going to. ;prison for the Apthorpe Ap-thorpe robbery, for instance." Trent's v eyes narrowed. "You would denounce me for the things that are past after knowing I am through with that life?" "I ani sorry, but that Is the only way." Trent laughed. It was an unpleasant unpleas-ant laugh that should have warned the other man he was In danger. "I thought I had finished with violence vio-lence and crime. God knows I want to forget it But there's a limit beyond be-yond which no man living shall push me. I will not do as you say even for your brother, and I will not go to Jail because you denounce me to the police." po-lice." "What course Is left to you?" "One that I would rather not take, but one 1 will readily accept rather than what you propose. Listen for a moment. You are here in my rooms. Technically at least you are a burglar. There Is no reason that I should not shoot a burglar. Is there?" "My brother rather thought yon might be inclined to violence, and perhaps per-haps anxious for my safety, arranged if" anything prevents by communication communica-tion with him on or before a given date to call In the warden. Naturally he would claim the rewards that have ' been offered for you." I (TO BE CONTINUED.) |