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Show TOE Hi f ANTHONY III . to B.. . CHAPTER VIII 16 Pierre Redlich Meets a Master Mr. Yeatman was consulting the barometer us Trent passed him in the outer hull. The glass was falling. 'Blowing up for a storm," said Trent, reading the Instrument. "1 much fear It," returned the other. "Why should a storm bother you?" Trent demanded. "I get a headache when thunder comes." 1'lerre liedllch was not In a mood to talk. Ills head ulready ached from his experiences of last night The barometer reading was most unsatisfactory. unsatis-factory. If a storm sprang up his steamer dare not lie In close to the shore; also he would not be able to get to her with his little launch. lie did not like to think about last night Redlich was convinced that It was some member of the gang controlled con-trolled by the "Countess" who had rescued her. It was disturbing to know that men as brave and determined deter-mined as be were also after the Strauss diamonds and the Fisher pearls, and already suspected him of a similar errand. Dow would they set about the task? Lie had a list of the Invited guests for tonight's dance. It was not a complete one. Some of the more Important Im-portant visitors had permission to bring with them certain of their own house guests. Of these added names he nor his employers had any knowledge. knowl-edge. Such blanket Invitations could be turned to dungerous uses. Mademoiselle Dupln's former associates asso-ciates had been of the kind who could pass' In any society. It was such a gang on the Riviera he remembered. They had not been crooks who masqueraded mas-queraded as men and women of position posi-tion ; they had been men and women of birth and breeding who had elected to follow criminal paths. A dangerous danger-ous set, and difficult to unmask. He did not think anyone else would choose the marine path to safety. They would work, he supposed, with high-powered automobiles. Tbey would be many, and he but one. Yet he bad the tremendous advantage of being unsuspected un-suspected and free of the house. His actual zone of danger was that which lay between the mansion and the edge of the sea. It was exactly a quarter of a mile. He would need to take five hundred paces In the dark with his precious loot There was a man who watched for his signals on the steamer who could be useful in an emergency. He was a sailor and as strong and active as a gorilla. But Pierre had found thai participation In a crime of this sort invariably led to a demand for too large a division of the spoils. All the help that Redlich Deeded was an armed escort from the house to the boat The steamer was undermanned. under-manned. The fewer the crew the less danger. Once at sea Redlich would , take bis spell with the rest So far only GImbert bad seen bis launch; nnd he had explained it satisfactorily. sat-isfactorily. It was a nine-foot boat fitted with one of the removable engines en-gines which may be affixed to any small boat. In the surf it would have little chance, but the big sailor would be waiting Just outside the surf line to pick him up. When he saw Anthony Trent coming toward bim he assumed his squarest and most policeman-like pose. "The glass is going up," said Trent "I don't think we shall nave a storm tonight I'm mighty glad of it I'm afraid of lightning. I don't suppose a bold accountant like you Is afraid of anything, eh?" "I fear only dyspepsia," Redlich said. He turned away to greet Mr. Gimbert "Better tuck all your valuables away carefully," said the indiscreet old man. "We may have a visitation' tonight" Trent noticed that Redlich found it difficult to answer. "1 do not understand," he said at last. "We think," Gimbert said, "that to-Dight's to-Dight's the night I'm laying for 'em. Grant wanted me to sleep all the afternoon after-noon so as to be ready to keep watch when the ladies have gone to bed and the burglars get busy. I don't have to have moie than four hours' sleep any night" "This may be very serious," Mr. Yeatman remarked. "Nothing to it" Trent declared. "I'm going to have a swim while the tide's right" He strolled away with elaborate unconcern. un-concern. "He don't know that 1 know Vftn'ro I a detective," Gimbert remarked. "What I want to do is to help yon any way I can. Do these fellows bunt In couples?" "They have various methods. Always Al-ways they employ a man outside who watches. Sometimes two meD to guard their getaway." "That's Trent's job to look after them. Grant bluffed him into it." "Explain, If yon please," Mr. Yeatman Yeat-man spoke very deliberately. Gimbert told him of the talk at luncheon. It was all vastly disturbing to Pierre Redlich. He could send this old man on a wild goose chase as he had, last night, sent the butler. But to have this active younger man prowling around the premises promised him a great deal of trouble. He cursed Mademoiselle Dupln under bis breath. If be bad foregone his boasting and put all thought of her aside he might by now be steaming south to safety YVYNDHAM MARTYN Copyright by Barse & Hopklna WNU Service He was walking slowly past the garage when Trent's big car backed out "Do you not swim here?" Redlich asked. "Sure," Trent grinned amiably. "I'm going to get a new bathing suit first at Asbury. Want to come along?" "I have my work," Yeatman answered. an-swered. He verified Trent's words when, an hour later, he walked down to the Grant bathing pavilion at the end of the garden Anthony Trent was disporting dis-porting himself In the water and his bathing suit was new. Redlich watched his antics scornfully. He himself had swum professionally, and he was looking look-ing at a man who dared not go out of his depth. "A fierce undertow," Trent shouted. Pierre Redlich grunted some reply nnd then turned toward the house. He would h.ave been surprised to see what a changed swimmer Trent became be-came when he found himself alone. He swam out a hundred yards and then dived to the bottom. A score of rimes he dived in as many different spots. When he returned, weary, to the hot sands, he had satisfied himself him-self that a boat drawing fifteen feet ol water would have no difficulty in coming com-ing within twenty yards of the shore. In the house Thorpe and his staff were making elaborate preparations Anthony Trent Was Disporting Him self In the Water. for the entertainment Only old Gimbert Gim-bert was to be seen. Other men were lying In hammocks, resting. The ladies la-dies had gone to their rooms. In his room, as he dressed for din ner, Trent took out the sbeaf of notes Sutton had written for him. One seemed to give him especial pleasure, and he put it tn his pocket. None saw him go out of a side door onto the terrace. From the center of a clump of rhododendrons where he was completely hiddeD from the house and unobserved from the gardens, now bare of workers, he could Just see the open window of Grant's room through the leaves. He wrapped the piece oi paper around a pebble, tying it with common white string, and hurled It with perfect aim. It chanced to fall noiselessly on Grant's bed. Payson Grant saw it Just as he was ready to go downstairs. The sight of It robbed him of the pleasant confidence he nad tried so hard to cultivate. Without touching the thing, he knew from whom it was. He could hardly bear to pick it up. "No matter how you protect yourself, your-self, you are not safe from me. 1 shall choose my moment and strike. It may be tonight I may be behind any door you open or around the first corner you turn. "F. W. S." Natica looked up crossly as he burst Into ber room. Her maid was frightened fright-ened at the wild gestures with which he ordered her to go. "Look at this," be said, his hand shaking. "It was on my bed. Some one must have thrown it through the window." "Tell Regan to search the grounds at once," she commanded. "Have yoo done so?" "I couldn't think of anything but this," he confessed. "I'm shot to bits. Frank's somewhere quite near. He's laughing at us. He says 1 can't protect pro-tect myself from him, and it.looks like It I wish I'd never put up such a game on him." "Don't be silly," she said sharply. "You put up no game, as you call It He was proved guilty and sentenced. Nothing can be brought against us unless un-less you lose control of yourself. Have you thought what might happen if you were overheard talking like that? Pull yourself together. One of us must be down to receive these people. Shall I tell them my husband has a nervous headache?" Her tone was biting. Grant was not without bis share d normal courage. But he had a vivid imagination and was susceptible to suggested terrors. The unknown had always frightened him. Had he known that around some definite corner Sutton Sut-ton stood, or that behind a designated door he would find him, he would have nerved himself to the encounter. But not to know behind which door or at which corner, provoked in him fears that Natica could not comprehend. She was of a direct uncompromising, materialistic nature. "I'll go down," he said sullenly, "and I hope to God he's there so it can end one way or another. I'm armed, too." Almost a feeling of despair seized his wife. She would not admit that her Erst husband had been unjustly condemned. She had refused to be a party to Grant's forgeries, but she had not refused to benefit from them. Her whole energies were bent on so cial success, and any scandal such as the shooting of Sutton or Grant would render them null. She aimed at a set that would have none of these sensational sen-sational methods. She was one of those women who asserted that hell came here on earth. She began to be afraid her theological judgments were true. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Her main reason for disbelieving that Sutton was not looking for her j husband was due to the knowledge of his chivalrous nature. He bad never shown any disposition to vengeance. She had often been angered at it He had been too soft-hearted. Essentially he was not a man to bear long grudges. But she could not tell to what a mood his brooding over the outcome of the trial had b-ought him. If his thoughts were directed toward avenging himself, him-self, assuredly Payson would be the victim. Her husband had more right than she accorded him for being fearful. fear-ful. ; Before going downstairs she glanced at herself in a mirror. "1 look fifty I" she cried. But she did not show the strain un der which she labored at the very successful suc-cessful dinner. Nor did her husband. She could guess from the occasional slurs in bis speech to what he owed his courage. At a certain alcoholic pressure Pay-son Pay-son was highly diverting. Frank Sutton Sut-ton was at his worst at a function such as this. He was a man's man, happier at camp-fire conversation than among such a company as was gathered gath-ered here. If Payson could keep bis entertaining chatter going It might win them an invitation to Lakewood. All steps ii) the great, game. Later in 'the evening Natica saw that Anthony Trent was Mrs. Bixel's entertainer. "Swithin dined with us a few days ago," Mrs. Bixel said, "and couldn't quite understand why you were here." "Polo, mainly," he told her. "Do you know," she said, "you have quite a remarkable Influence over Swithin. 1 came here Just to find out why, although George thinks be persuaded per-suaded me to pay a business obligation." obliga-tion." "What have you found out?" be asked. "1 think the reason is that you are strong and have a certalD element of ruthlessness about you." "That's the character that might belong be-long to any successful man of busl oess." "Like my husband, for instance," she laughed. "1 suppose that's true. I didn't ineaD exactly that type. I think you would look well In those swashbuckling clothes men wore In Tudor times. 1 am giving a costume ball next month. I'll Invite you only II you promise to wear a plumed bat and sword." Natica Grant would have given a great deal for such an opportunity, but Trent was not as gratified as he pretended to be. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |