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Show Secret Adversary I j ssisw . by.AgafhaChristie j A. CARTER SYNOPSIS Realizing that he has a possible chance of being saved, an the Lusitanla la sinking, a stranger gives a young American girl a package which he a3ks her to deliver to the American ambassador ambas-sador In England. She IB saved. In London, former Lieut. "Tommy" "Tom-my" Bere.Hford and Miss Prudence Cowley "Tuppence" discharged army nurse, form an organization. "The Young Adventurers, Ltd." They are both broke and consequently conse-quently ready for unorthodox methods. They write out an advertisement. ad-vertisement. Tuppence makes a bualneas appointment with a man, lcdward Whlttlngton, who offers her easy employment, but on giving giv-ing her name as "Jane Finn," which she had heard on the Btreet, Whlttlngton shows agitation and Tuppence Is told to return next day. CHAPTER II Continued. 3 "Th-tliank you," faltered Tuppence. "I suppose you don't know Mr. Whlt-tlngton's Whlt-tlngton's address?" "Afnild I don't. They left rather auditorily." "Thank you very much," snld Tommy. "Come on, Tuppence." They descended to the street, where they gazed nt one another blankly. "That's torn It," said Tommy at length. "Cheer up, old thing, It can't he helped." "Can't It, though !" Tuppence's little chin shot out defiantly. "Do you think this is the end? If so. you're wrong. It's just the beginning begin-ning !" "The beginning of what?" "Of our adventure! Tommy, don't you see, if they are scared enough to run away like this, it shows that there must be a lot In this Jane Finn business busi-ness ! Well, we'll get to the bottom of it. We'll run them down !v We'll be sleuths in earnest !" "Yes. but there's no one left to sleuth." "No, that's why we'll have to start nil over again. Lend me that bit of pencil. Thanks. Wait a minute don't Interrupt. There!" Tuppence handed back the pencil, and surveyed the piece of paper on which she had written with a satisfied eye: "What's that?" "Advertisement." "You're not going to put that "thing In after all?" "No, it's a different one." She handed him the slip of paper. Tommy read the words on It aloud: "Wanted Any information respecting respect-ing Jane Finn. Apply Y. A." The day of disillusionment had been a Wednesday. On Thursday the advertisement had duly appeared. On Friday letters might be expected to arrive at Tommy's rooms. He had been bound by an honorable honor-able promise not to open any such letters If they did arrive, but to repair to the National gallery, where his colleague col-league would meet him at ten o'clock. Tuppence was first at the rendezvous. rendez-vous. She ensconced herself on a red velvet seat until she saw the familiar figure enter the room. "Well?" "Well," returned Mr. Beresford pro-voklngly. pro-voklngly. "Which Is your favorite picture?" "Aren't there any answers?" Tommy shook his head with a deep and somewhat overacted melancholy. "I didn't want to disappoint you, old thing, by telling you right off. It's too bad. Good money wasted." He sighed. "Still, there It is. The advertisement adver-tisement has appeared, and there are only two answers !" Tuppence snatched the two precious envelopes from him unceremoniously, and scrutinized them carefully. "Thick paper, this one. It looks rich. We'll keep It to the last and open the other first." "Right you are. One, two, three, go !" Tuppence's little thumb ripped open the envelope, and she extracted the contents. "Dear Sir: "Referring to your advertisement In this morning's paper, I may be able to be of some use to you. Perhaps you could call and see me at the above address at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning. "Yours truly, "A. CARTER." "27 Carshalton Gardens." said Tuppence, Tup-pence, referring to the address. "That's Gloucester road way. Now for the other letter. I'll read It: "'Dear Sir: " 'Re your advertisement, I should fce glad If you would call round iomewhere about lunch-time. " 'Yours truly, "JULIUS P. HERSHEIMMER.' "Hai" said Tommy. "Ds. I smell a Boche? Or only an American millionaire mil-lionaire of unfortunate ancestry? At all events we'll call at lunch-time. It's a good time frequently leads to free food for two." Tuppence nodded an eager assent. "Now for Carter. We'll have to hurry." Carshalton terrace proved to be an unimpeachable row of what Tuppence called "ladylike looking houses." They rang the bell at No. 27, and a neat maid answered the door. She looked so respectable that Tuppence's heart sank. Upon Tommy's request for Mr. Carter, she showed them into a small itudy on the ground floor, where she left them. Hardly a minute elapsed, however, before the door opened, and a tall man with a lean, hawklike face and a tired manner entered the room. "Mr. Y. A.?" he said, and smiled. His smile was distinctly attractive. "Do sit down, both of you." They obeyed. He himself took a chair opposite to Tuppence and smiled at her' encouragingly. There was something in the quality of his smile that made the girl's usual readiness readi-ness desert her. As he did not seem Inclined to open the conversation, Tuppence was forced to begin. "We wanted to know that Is, would you be so kind as to tell us anything you know about Jane Finn?" "Jane Finn? Ah!" Mr. Carter appeared ap-peared to reflect. "Well, the question is, what do you yourself know about her?" Tuppence drew herself up. "I don't see that that's got anything to do with it." "No? But It has, you know, really It has." He smiled again in his tired "Hal" Said Tommy, Djo 1 Small a Boche?" way, and continued reflectively. "So that brings us down to It again. What do you know about Jane Finn?" "Come now," he continued, as Tuppence Tup-pence remained silent. "You must know something to have advertised as you did?" He leaned forward a little, his weary voice held a hint of persuasiveness. "Suppose you tell me. ..." "We couldn't do that, could we, Tommy ?" But, to her surprise, her companion did not back her up. His eyes were fixed on Mr. Carter, and his tone when he spoke held an unusual note of deference. def-erence. "1 dare say the little we know won't be any good to you, sir. But such as it Is, you're welcome to It." Mr. Carter slewed round in his chair. His eyes asked a question. Tommy nodded. "Yes, sir, I recognized you at once. Saw you In France when I was with the Intelligence. As soon as you came Into the room, I knew " Mr. Carter held up his hand. "No names, please. I'm known as Mr. Carter here. It's my cousin's house, by the way. She's willing to lend It to me sometimes when It's a case of working on strictly unofficial lines. Well, now" he looked from one to the other "who's going to tell me the story?" "Fire ahead, Tuppence." directed Tommy. It's your yarn." And obediently Tuppence told It, telling the whole story from the forming form-ing of the Young Adventurers, Ltd., downwards. Mr. Carter listened In silence with a resumption of his tired manner. Now and then he passed his hand across his Hps as though to hide a smile. When stv had finished he nodded gravely. "Not much. But suggestive. Quite suggestive. If you'll excuse my saying say-ing so, you're a curious young couple. I don't know you might succeed where others have failed. ... I believe in luck, you know always have. . . ." He paused a moment, and then went on: "Well, bow about it? You're out for adventure. How would you like to work for me? Expenses paid, and a moderate salary?" Tuppence gazed at hlra. "What should we have to do?" she breathed. Mr. Carter smiled. "Just go on with what you're doing now. FIND JANE FINN." "Yes, but who IS Jane Finn?" Mr. Carter nodded gravely. "Yes, you're entitled to know that, I think." He leaned back In his chair, crossed his legs, brought the tips of his fingers together, and began In a low monotone: mono-tone: "In the early days of 1915 a certain document came Into being. It was the draft of a secret agreement treaty call it what you like. It was drawn up ready for signature by the various representatives, and drawn up in America at that time a neutral country. coun-try. It was dispatched to England by a special messenger selected for that purpose, a young fellow called Dan-vers. Dan-vers. It was hoped that the whole affair had been kept so secret that nothing would have leaked out. That kind of hope Is usually disappointed. "Danvers sailed for England on the Lusitanla. He carried the precious papers In an oilskin packet which he wore next his skin. It was on that particular voyage that the Lusitanla was torpedoed and sunk. Danvers was among the list of those missing. Eventually his body was washed ashore, and Identified beyond any doubt, the packet was missing! "The question was, had it been taken from him, or had he himself passed It on into another's keeping? After the torpedo struck the ship, in the few moments during the launching of the boats, Danvers was seen speaking speak-ing to a young American girl. No one actually saw him pass anything to her, but he might have done so. It seems to me quite likely that he entrusted en-trusted the papers to this girl, believing believ-ing that she, as a woman, had a greater chance of bringing them safely to shore. "But, If so, where was the girl, and u-liat had she done with the papers? We set to work to trace her out. It proved unexpectedly difficult. Her name was Jane Finn, and it duly appeared ap-peared among the list of the survivors, but the girl herself seemed to have vanished completely. Inquiries into her antecedents did little to help us. She was an orphai, and had been what we should call over here a pupil teacher in a small school out West. Her passport had ben made out for Paris, where she was going to join the staff o fa hospital. She had offered her services voluntarily,- and after some correspondence they had been accepted. Having seen her name in the list of the saved from the Lusitanla, Lusi-tanla, th staff of the hospital were naturally very surprised at her not arriving ar-riving to take up her billet, and at not hearing from her In any way. "Well, every effort was made to trace the young lady but all in vain. No use was made of the draft treaty as might very easily have been done and we therefore came to the conclusion conclu-sion that Danvers had, after all, destroyed de-stroyed It. The war entered on another an-other phase, the diplomatic aspect changed accordingly, and the treaty was never redrafted. Rumors as to its existence were emphatically denied. de-nied. The disappearance of Jane Finn was forgotten and the whole affair was lost In oblivion." Mr. Carter paused, and Tuppence broke in Impatiently: "But why has It all cropped up again? The war's over." "Because It seems that the papers were not destroyed after all, and that they might be resurrected today with a new and deadly significance." Tuppence stared. Carter nodded. "Yes, five years ago, that draft treaty was a weapon in our hands ; today to-day It Is a weapon against us. It was a gigantic blunder. If Its terms were made public, It would mean disaster. disas-ter. ... It might possibly bring about another war not with Germany this time! That Is an extreme possibility, possi-bility, and I do not believe in its livelihood, live-lihood, myself, but that document undoubtedly un-doubtedly Implicates a number of our statesmen whom we cannot affo'rd to have discredited In any way at the present moment. He paused, and then said quietly: "You may perhaps have heard or read that there Is Bolshevist influence at work behind present labor unrest?" Tuppence nodded. "That Is the truth. Bolshevist gold is pouring. Into this country for the specific purpose of procuring a Revolution. Revo-lution. And there is a certain man, a man whose real name Is unknown to us, who Is working In the dark for his own ends. The Bolshevikl are behind the labor unrest but this man Is BEHIND THE BOLSHEVIKL BOLSHE-VIKL Who Is he? We do not know. He Is always spoken of by the unassuming title of 'Mr. Brown.' But one thing Is certain, he is the master mas-ter criminal of this age. He controls a marvelous organization. Most of the peace propaganda during the war was originated and financed by nlm. His spies are everywhere." "A naturalized German?" asked Tommy. "On the contrary, I have every reason rea-son to believe he Is an Englishman. He was pro-German, as he would have been pro-Boer. What he seeks to attain at-tain we do not know probably supreme su-preme power for himself, of a kind unique In history. We have no due as to his real personality. It Is reported re-ported that even hla own follower! are Ignorant of It Where we have come across his tracks, he has always played a secondary part. Somebody else assumes the chief role. But afterward after-ward we always find that there has been some nonentity, a servant or a clerk, who has remained In the background back-ground unnoticed, and that the elusive Mr. Brown has escaped us once more." "Oh I" Tuppence jumped. "I wonder won-der " "Yes?" "I remember In Mr. Whlttlngton' office. The clerk he called him Brown. You don't think " Carter nodded thoughtfully. "Can you describe him at all?" "I really didn't notice. He was quite ordinary just like anyone else." Mr. Carter sighed In his tired manner. man-ner. "That Is the Invariable description of Mr. Brown ! Brought a telephone message to the man Whlttlngton, did he? Notice a telephone In the outer office?" "No, I don't think I did." "Exactly. That 'message' was Mr. Brown's way of giving an order to his subordinate. He overheard the whole conversation of course. Was it after that that Whlttlngton handed you over the money, and told you to come the following da.y?" Tuppence nodded. "Yes, undoubtedly the hand of Mr. Brown !" Mr. Carter paused. "Well, there It Is, you see what you are pitting pit-ting yourselves against? Possibly the finest criminal brain of the age. I .don't quite like it, you know. You're ' such young things, both of you. I shouldn't like anything to happen to you." "It won't," Tuppence assured him positively. "'I'll look after her, sir," said Tommy. "And I'll look after you," retorted Tuppence, resenting the manly assertion. as-sertion. "Well, then, look after each other," said Mr. Carter, smiling. "Now let's get back to business. There's something some-thing mysterious about this draft treaty that we haven't fathomed yet. We've been threatened with It In plain and unmistakable terms. The revolutionary element as "rood as declare de-clare It's In their hands, and that they Intend to produce It at a given moment. mo-ment. On the other hand, they are clearly at fault about many of Its provisions. pro-visions. The government .considers it as mere bluff on their part, and, rightly or wrongly, have stuck to the policy of absolute denial. Tm not so sure. There have been hints, Indiscreet Indis-creet allusions, that seem to indicate that the menace is a real one.. The position Is much as though they had got hold of an Incriminating document, docu-ment, but couldn't read It because It was In cipher but we know that the draft treaty wasn't In cipher couldn't be, in the nature of things so that won't wash. But there's something. Of course, Jane Finn may be dead for all we know but I don't think so. The curious tiling is that they're trying try-ing to get Information about the girl from us." "What?" "Yes. One or two little things have cropped up. And your story, little lady confirms my idea. They know we're looking for Jane Finn. Well, they'll produce a Jane Finn of their own say at a pensionnat In Paris." Tuppence gasped, and Mr. Carter smiled. "No one knows In the least what she looks like, so that's all right. She's primed with a trumped-up tale, and her real bustaess Is to get aa much Information as possible out of us. See the Idea?" "Then you think" Tuppence paused to grasp the supposition fully "that It was as Jane Finn that they wanted me to go to Paris?" Mr. Carter smiled more wearily than ever. "I believe In coincidences, you know." he said. "No one could have mistaken Julius P. Hersheimmer for anything any-thing but an American." (TO BE CONTINUED.) |