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Show Ihe RETURN VwYNDHAM ftg:4 COPYRIGHT by BARSE 4 HOPKINJ W.N.J. SERVlCEi STORY FROM THE START Anthony Trent returns to New York after nearly four years' absence. ab-sence. Once known as the master mas-ter criminal, Trent Is going straight. The purser accuses Trent of Jumping overboard from the Poltlania at Liverpool, but Is disappointed when Trent shows no surprise. He learns his friend, Capt. Frank Sutton, Is In Sing Sing. CHAPTER I Continued-Anthony Continued-Anthony Trent crossed the room to a trunk and took from It a photograph In a black morocco frame. Brunton Warne looked at it with respect "Surely that Is the earl of Rose-carrel?" Rose-carrel?" Lord Roseearrel was England's secretary sec-retary of foreign affairs, a statesman and diplomatist of International renown. re-nown. Trent drew the photograph from Its frame and showed the purser the Inscription In-scription on the back. On it was written, writ-ten, "To my dear friend, Anthony Trent, the most chivalrous and courageous cour-ageous gentleman I have ever known." "It was to meet Lord Rosecarrel's son that I made that suspicious Jump at Liverpool. He saved my life In the war, and I simply had to see him. If It will ease your mind you can write and ask him." "My dear sir, I should not dream of it," said Warne, much impressed. "This inscription Is sufficient to satisfy sat-isfy me. I'm exceedingly sorry I've bothered you." Trent watched him close the door and then sank into a seat. He had lived an hour which had been more filled with dread and fear of the future fu-ture than the amiable purser would ever guess, but now for a moment clear weather seemed ahead. Then he thought of his city of New York, where most of his exploits had been achieved. During his absence, what piecing together of scraps of evidence evi-dence might not have been made fritien should at length fashion themselves them-selves Into definite clews to his undoing? undo-ing? Although he could easily enough satisfy the law that he had nothing to do with Sutton's unbelievable crimes, he did not court investigation. The fabric he had reared with such Ingenuity could be torn down If once the processes of Justice were set In motion. And these same processes had caught Sutton, the wealthy clubman, lawyer and capitalist, cap-italist, and had sent him to Sing Sihg prison for a long term. It was a blow to Trent to learn of his friend's disgrace. But he could jot fail to remember re-member that such an Incarceration , - added to his own safely. The one man who might by an idle word denounce him, was now behind stone walls and iron bars. CHAPTER II The Man Who Made Himself at Home. No Inconveniences attended Trent's debarkation. He went to the rooms lie had engaged by wireless In a fashionable fash-ionable hotel. In Central Park, West, his own ,.. apartment had awaited for some years his coining. It was In these rooms at tli e top of a browu-stone mansion, now converted to flats, that he had begun his predatory career and continued in It until he had gone with his regiment to France. Just before he sailed he had bought the place and was returning return-ing to It as owner, but this ownership was not allowed to' he known. It had its main usefulness In permitting him to discriminate as to the tenants be-ueath be-ueath and enabling him indefinitely to remain in his eyrie next to the sky. His desire to see his home again did not make Trent abandon his cautious habits and calculated prudence; although al-though ne was uot again to cuter the metropolitan world of crime, what be had done In the past still hung over his head, and he, who had left New York in HU" as the uncauglu master criminal, mlj;ht return to find that he was known. There had boon rewards offered for his apprehension aggregating a half million of dollars. Never In his line of industry had a nameless man gained sncl. notoriety. It was late nfteinonn when he sauntered along a path h. the park's western wall and ascended the si.ven steps to the glass paneled entrance ot Ms home and made his way quietly up the broad, well-carpeted stairs. The ultimate, flight, up which none went who had not business with him. led to a plain mahogany door. But underneath the wooden veneer was a sheet of steel capable of resisting the onslaught of men with axes. The door was opened by two keys. The lock of one was In the otnioue place. Where the other key fune- I Iond vas known only to his old housekeeper and himself. He would have no agent whose master key might embarrass him. There was a certain excusable Interest In-terest In Trent's commonly expressionless expression-less face as he flung open the heavy door. He -went through all of the five rooms and found them Incredibly free from dust Once a month Mrs. Kinney, the housekeeper, came down from her home In Wareham, on the Cape, and saw everything was right Until ber master returned she waited. He bad talked with her, fragmentarily, on the long distance telephone only yesterday and told her to come within the week. It was when he had flung himself in the great winged chair before a window In the front room that the problem recurred to him as- to what he should do with his life. The vow that never again would he be of the great dilettanti of crime was not to be broken. What should he do with the many years that remained? Then, with a peculiar vividness, he became aware of the aroma of newly made coffee. Its Invigorating fragrance fra-grance was permeating, the air; It "Come In, Mr. Trent," He Said Cour. teously. "I Have Been Expecting You for a Long Time." floated toward him from the kitchen in the rear, the kitchen that had been empty an hour ago. For a moment he supposed that Mrs. Kinney had hurried to the city from Wareham. She would have had time to do so. He was glad ; he would be able to leave the hotel whose noise and crowds he disliked. Suddenly Sud-denly be realized that It ould not possibly be the old housekeeper. The brewer of coffee bad entered the flat while Trent had sat in the chair by the window. And to enter tiie flat the unknown must have passed along the passage aftei opening the heavy door. To one whose senses have been trained to a special and vocational alertness this was impossible. Trent would have heard any person, no matter mat-ter how lightly he trod. The front door was the only entrance en-trance to the flat. That Is to say, it was the only entrance designed by the builder. But above Trent's rooms was the rocf; entrance to It could be gained by a ladder In a large closet in the passage. The rear wall, of Trent's house was separated by some five feet from the side wall of a small apartment house in a street lending form Central Park, West, to Manhattan Manhat-tan avenue. Long ago Trent had seen in this an admirable way of escape. While men might try to force his front door he would be leaping from his own roof to that of the apartment house. It was one of those five-story dwellings, without elevator or hall service. A number of times Trent had made Hs tt and entrance thtl way to demonstrate Its practicability. The maker of coffee In his kitches could only have entered by this unauthorized un-authorized method. What did this mean? Trent sat back, motionless, and tried to think it out The first Inevitable thought was that dread oi the law which chills the hearts ol those who have operated outside It It might well be that a detective was waiting. Perhaps Scotland Yard had cabled New York that he had sailed on the Brabant They might wait for blm here, knowing full well he would come back to his house. He strained his ears to catch what noises were coming from the kitchen. A group might be taking its evening meal for all he knew. His hearing was acute, and he had little difliculty in recognizing the sounds of footsteps. He could plainly distinguish them. He Judged they were made by one man who had no reason to feel the need for caution or the fear of Interruption. Inter-ruption. This dispelled the theory of police occupation. Central office men would not openly advertise their presence. pres-ence. Along the corridor, with a silence and stealth born of a hundred desperate desper-ate situations, Trent made his way to the kitchen. Sitting at the white kitchen table, his back to the house's owner, was a man In a purple dressing-gown. Trent recognized the garment as one of his own. The room was Illuminated solely sole-ly by a reading-lamp placed In the center of the table, against which was propped an evening paper. The unknown's un-known's meal was made up of boiled eggs, brown bread and butter, and a pot of coffee. He was a broad-shouldered man, but the neck which Trent gazed at was wasted, as though Its owner had formerly carried more flesh. The hand lifting the cup to. the unseen face was white and well-kept He perused his paper with the leisure of one who fears no Interruption. I "Why not use the dining room?" Trent said pleasantly. The man put down his coffee cup with no appearance of haste; he did j not seek a weapon and he did not glance behind him. "Come In, Mr. Trent," he said courteously. cour-teously. "I have been expecting you for a long time." In answer to this amazing greeting Trent took a few paces forward and looked his visitor In the face. He was certain he had never seen him before. The physical appearance of the invader was a strange one. A large and thin nose of the high-bridged, high-bridged, Roman type was the most marked feature of his face; there was something asymmetrical about It but what? Trent could not for the moment mo-ment determine. The eyes were small and gray, and they were shrewd eyes. They contradicted the nose, which was not the nose of action and daring such "as Trent himself possessed. The cheeks were fat and the skin tight and glistening. ' Anthony Trent lighted a cigarette and kept his eyes fixed on his visitor. First and foremost was the fact that he knew Trent and evidently had no fear of detection. And , Trent was certain he had never looked on this man before. "Now," said the stranger, rising, "let us adjourn to that delightful front room, where we can discuss those problems which puzzle you as to my presence here and lis effect on your immediate actions." His impudent self-possession nettled Trent "The Immediate effect ma" be that 1 shall Invite the police to investigate you." The stranger did .not Immediately answer. Apparently he was fearless, for he turned his back on the younger man and walked calmly through the dining room to the larger room In front. He settled himself In Trent's favorite chair after lighting a floor lamp. "You were speaking of Informing the police, were you not? I suggest that would be most ill-advised. An investigation Is a double-edged weapon weap-on which often turns upon the one who wields It You would make your case good to a certain point Then your difficulties would commence. I should cast doubts upon you. I should demand an investigation. You would do one of two tilings. You ' would permit this or you would fight against it. 11 you permitted It, you would be lost. If you fought against it, you would be' suspected. I should admit a natural curiosity about you. I should inform the police that the ways of Mr. Anthony Trent bad interested in-terested me for some years." The younger man yawned a little. There was an air of perfect fearless- ! ness and serenity about him. (TO BE CONTINUED.) J |
