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Show JR1NX v rVf-a 0Pmi6KT ey 6ARSE HuPrONJ . WN.U. 5 E Rv ICE u '"' ffppfjjj i. "'-Ill I "Tir-lil lnrfii..u.iiJJiCTmnlini3i CHAPTER X Continued 21 "That 1 canDot sny. Colonel Ogilvlt was killed Id the war and so was Von Schonbrunn. The man who was my secretary In Old Westbury you re member Edward Conway? he Is dead. Madame de ISerlaymont, who was with me in Long Island, she is Jn prison In England for a long term of years. No, I think 1 am iD no .great danger, except from your police." po-lice." Lying back In her chair she stared out to sea. Trent wondered what of the past she was I tying to capture or forget, lie would have given a great deal to know how much of her heart was filled by the two men she had loved. I'robahly she was a romantic ro-mantic girl when she met de Beaulieu and married him. The feeling had almost certainly been genuine. And then there was the ex-officer of Ian cers, Captain Monmouth. Perhaps Id the bitterness of finding his pride .greater than his love, she had put aside all thought of him. "There were statements about you In the papers yesterday," she said, after a long Interval of silence, "which Interested me very much. There was a reference to a certain lady of rank to whom It was said you had been engaged." "It was true," he said quietly. "Some day i may have the opportunity opportu-nity to tell you of the extraordinary circumstances which took me to her home." "It was said that she died very suddenly." "Yes," he said slowly, "that Is true. 1 have never spoken of It before. 1 have never felt able to. Looking back it seems like a dream. You know what 1 had been. Well, 1 was taken Into the heart of one of those old. exclusive English families who do not welcome strangers or open their gates to wealth. II was there 1 felt the agony of being trusted when 1 was not worthy. One can't tight oft love. 1 tried to, but It was too big for that. I was safe there. I felt like a battered bat-tered ship which has come unexpectedly unexpect-edly Into a sheltered harbor. Because Be-cause I was a guest in such a home none suspected me or even Inquired. Yet, my own country folk did, because be-cause 1 did not grace the pages of their social registers. ... I won--der If anyone will be able to understand under-stand me wen 1 say that I was thankful she died Lefore she could find out the life I had led. A score of times 1 wanted to tell her, but she wouldn't listen. She thought I want ed to confess some conventional Indiscretions Indis-cretions such as gambling debts. It was not in her heart to believe the man she loved had been a professional thief. 1 do not mean she was too proud to believe that Rather it was her love which had cast out all doubt "We were to have been married in a few weeks. We were riding to gether. She was a very daring horse woman and put her hunter at one oi those granite boundary fences they have In Cornwall. She had taken the leap before, but perhaps this was the moment when her beautiful life was marked to end. I am not a religious man, mademoiselle; I have been one who sneered and disbelieved ; It was not any fear of hell that made me give up the old ways. It was to keep faith with her." The woman listening said no word She could see that to such a silent, reserved man as this the relief ol being able to speak of what he had kept hidden was very great. "And yet I am glad that she died then, for It would h..ve broken her heart to find me out. Her father had great properties In Australia, and we were to have gone there to live. 1 think he knew th-re were secrets I dared not tell hitu. He was a very wise and sad old man. Sometimes I think we might have lived wit horn the shadow falling on us. But this meeting meet-ing of yours with I'lerre Redlich reminds re-minds me of what might have been In etore. 1 do not think 1 could ever have had complete rest of mind. Tere is a high seDse of honor which will not permit Itself to be betrayed even by love. . . I realized that as 1 went Into the church, my head bowed as a mourner, and saw wee Ing men and women there Instead of wedding guests." Ue did not speak again until the launch came to Its dock. At the door of the Central Park apartment he left her. "1 don't feel tike talking to them tonight. You have been very good to listen to me." Be pressed her hand and turned away abruptly. CHAPTER XI Trent Becomes a Producer. David More returned to Fort Lee with a list of five houses which might rult his employer. One of the Ave seemed to be exact ly what Trent required. It was an old frame mansion of sixteen rooms standing In twenty acres of land. The rental was low because the absentee owner had allowed his property to get Into a bad condition of repair. To the west the gardens came to an end on a bluff about twenty feet above the railroad. An Iron bridge crossed the tracks from this bluff. There was a flight ol steep steps, with a padlocked gate at the bottom which descended to tiie flat land by the Hudson side. A feature of the place which seemed to impress Trent was a Dower garden, gar-den, a hundred yards square. In tho center of this wastp was an old ru- 1 mL "I Shall Be In the Soup," Trent Con-fesced. Con-fesced. ined summer house. From this nothing noth-ing of the house or road couid be seen. In front of It was the broad river. "I like privacy," Trent told the agent. "You'll surely get It here," said the man. "You are not overlooked and you've no near neighbors. There's Iron gates to keep the crowd out, and there's one of the few outlets to the river which Is legally yours to use. I haven't a more desirable property on my lists. If you want to buy I can make you a very low price." "1 might even do that In six months' time," Trent said. The situation was delightful, and be had long been thinking about giving up city life. It would be a pleasing Jest to make his home within a few miles of the famous prison. It was plain the agent was Impressed Im-pressed by Trent's way of doing business. busi-ness. "I'd like to have you In this part of the world." he said. "Take It from me, this side of the river can't be beat for beauty and convenience. As to train service, there Isn's such a good one anywheres." Trent gave him a check to stem the flood of eloquence which was let loose. "Are you able to leave the store for a couple of weeks, maybe more?" Trent asked More. "1 want you to come here and have the place cleaned up I don't want jnn to have your family here. You can get what yon want at t lie local stores. Don't en courage tradesmen In call. Is that clear?" "Absolutely," said More. "I'll keep em off, Mr Trent. A little exercise won't hurt me now I'm all rested up." "1 shall he hack in a few days. I want you to get here before noon tomorrow." A quality Trent appreciated in Da vid More was his lack of Inqulsi llvenoss. None of the unusual errands er-rands upon which Trent had sent him elicited surprise. His not to reason why. It was three o'clock when Trent stopped before the brown-stone house where Clarke lived. "Clarke," he said, after a short conversation, con-versation, "did anybody ever tell you you looked like a cop?" "It's been a godsend to me," be was told. "I could get through the police lines any time at all Just on uiy face. Having to lick a bunch of cub reporters report-ers Into shape began It. Why?" There was a gravity about Trent's manner which he had not before revealed. re-vealed. "Have I ever asked a favor 6f you?" he demanded, Clarke looked at him " puzzled. Trent had done him innumerable good turns, as this very house proved. He had asked nothing In the way of repayment. re-payment. "No. son, yon never have, and you could have asked quite u plenty What's on your mind now?" Anthony Trent talked to him for ten minutes. Clarke Interrupted him now and then with a pertinent question. "Will I do It?" he said, when Trent finished. "Boy, you know d n well I will." "That's a tremendous relief." Trent s-aid gratefully. "When everything Is ready I'll phone you and send a car for you. Tell your wife you are tour-. Ing with me If she seems anxious." "You've got a hard assignment ahead," Clarke commented, "and there's a raft of difficulties to overcome. Suppose Sup-pose lie doesn't come through?" "I shall be In the soup," Trent confessed. con-fessed. "I'm not disguising the fact that this isn't exactly legal, but 1 feel we can pull it oft. 1 wouldu't ask you and the others if I thought .there was much danger. I'll admit the risk, though." "He ought to be a tough bird," Clarke commented. "He got away with it all right at the trial." On the face of It, the Weems comedy com-edy seemed dead loss. But Trent had Ideas concerning pictures which he did not share with Ills partner. It was to the Fort Lee studio he took his way after dinner. Weems was "shooting" at uight, and the six-reel special would also be In course. of production. Trent spoke to the technical director. di-rector. "Which of those carpenters you're laying off do you recommend?" He had learned that with the completion of the feature's big sets not so many hands would be required. "Those four," said the technical director. di-rector. "Stafford, Clancy, Cleveland and Dale." When Messrs. Stafford, Clancy, Cleveland and Dale were paid oil they secured instantly other positions. They knew Trent had an Interest In a production. pro-duction. They presumed he was to be one of the new lights In filmdom. They had seen many such In a heaven where comets and falling stars were common phenomena. Stafford was the foreman. He was a superior sort of mechanic who aimed at being a technical director some day. There were conditions in this new Job which were unusual, but board and lodgings, plus pay, seemed too good to peril with questioning. The Grant house party on his second sec-ond visit was of a different character, as Anthony Trent recognized. Only Kathryn Holland remained of those who had been there before. Less attention was given to linger ing dinners and more to dancing and tennis. Payson Grant greeted Trent with effusion. Ue felt rather out of It with the younger men. He had played tennis only to find hi wind was gone and his heart fluttering. La Belle Alliance bad been floated off on the highest tide of the year; she was undamaged and now In charge of harbor authorities. Investigation had discovered stolen property of all sorts, liedllch and his companions would not be brought to trial for some t'me. One of the problems which perplexed per-plexed Trent was how to deliver another an-other of Sutton's messages to Grant without attracting suspicion to himself. him-self. It was unlikely that Grant would think one of his guests culpable; but there was always the possibility of It. As before, he was struck with the lavish richness of the house and Its appointments. It represented part of the fortune Sutton had amassed and laid at the feet of the woman who betrayed be-trayed him. A lawyer had told Trent that Iter position was secure. The gift had been made freely and without compulsion. com-pulsion. From the covert looks she continually gave Payson, Trent did not thiuk the second husband was proving any more satisfactory than the first. Under the steady Influence of the stimulants Grant found he could not do without, he was developing a coarseness coarse-ness of face and manner which gave her increasing Irritation. Before long she knew she would hate him. Tliere were thorns with her roses. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |
