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Show I The anriaxd Diamond I W B5 Horace Haelthae I I Ton inches higher, and It would bav loosened a looth or two. As It was. ?o he discovered later. '.oo3ened the set-ting set-ting of the big black rc-arl which adorned his shirt bosom, and lefl a tiny, round bruise whore tlie underside under-side of the stud had struck sharply over hl6 breast bone The immediat' affect, however, on Mr Gramercy Van Braun wa- a momentary one of startled astonf-Oinicnt. The thing, whatever it was. had come hurtling, apparently, Ten inches higher it would have loosest a tooth out nf i be sheer, ethereal ambient of Fifth Avenue, at two O'clock in the morning. I .Tauniei inc. somswnai leisurely, for the night wtm unseasonably mild, Hum I his cluh towards his apartment hia mood one of preoccupation, he hau ! I eon brought to a sudden stand by this then Indistinguishable mlsnle. flying I not from abov, UU rather on an up- I ward e.n; from the level Into swift percussion iritfa his broadly capacious OWM: chest; whence It had dropped, lightly I enough now, to the pavement Holding his curiosity as to the na ture or the object rigidly In check, he made n hasty uarvey of his surround.-ings. surround.-ings. He baC Just crossed Forty-sec-ond Street, going northward; and he had the entire block to himself. In neither direction was ihere a single pedestrian pe-destrian In sight But, down the avenue ave-nue possibly half a blo-K distant, be saw the rear lights of what were evidently evi-dently a limousine and a taxlcab rapidly rap-idly fading Into the ptght shadows. For an Instan his gaze searched the , recessed doorwa; s of adjacent shops for some lurking creature upon whom to fl the li'amr- some Jovial reveler. Prhaps but the doorways were clearly clear-ly tenant le?s A sf-onrl or two accomplished this: and then, be picked up the thine that nad struck him To hi added perplexity, per-plexity, it was a lady's sflnner. a very 1lny one of white satin, and elaborately ornamented with seed pearls An Inspiration, In-spiration, rather than suspicion caused him to far off a glove and thrust as much of his hand as this dainty piece of footwear would accommodate Into Itj- Interior As be had fancied might be possible, thp lining was distinctly warm A minute ago. the slipper had encased the delicate foot of Its fair wearer V rue iteovery awofce In him an addi H tJonal interest. A score of questions j now took the place of one. and claro- H ored for answer Who was she" Was H hp young' Was she beautiful? Was H shp In thp limousine, or in the taxlcab" B Why did She throw thp slipper away? Hi Did she throw It at him'' Or, was its H striking hlra an ar-cMent" Was it pos H slble that she had recognized him' B DM she do It in a spirit of mischief? H Did she have some serious purpose' "Would he ever learn her name? Would H And so they multiplied H He was still propounding them as ho Hi turned the corner of Fortyfourfh H Street, and notel the unmistakable H signs of a dance at Sherry's. He won riered whether she might have been Hl In attendance th'-re. and going home B 'hu early Two rloak-w rapped figures ere entering an electric brougham as H passed For six months or more. Van Braun na'' boon ranching In Wyoming Only HMR yesterday, be had dropped quietly back KSSa 'n,o town, and not more than a hand- "f Mi friends knew of his un-ERb un-ERb heralded return. Otherwise he might BEM WW ,p'"n gueat here himself. He ffiSiff iai' ret'irned to his old rooms, in the Wfcfi Regina. near the Bar Association, at the other end of the block. And now. raaKf as be entered tb an, I 'witched on HKH ,Le "?lfs. he drew the mysterious sllp- iCP Per from bla pocket, and placed it, con- mWM I plcuonely. atop a little pile of books, on the renter table, in bis study. H J j While In the act of removing his h J overcoat, the sudden, sharp, reverber- ant cnll of the telephone arrested him. BK'' a woman's voice came to him over KgaJ the wire: a rather light, thin voice. Sjfejf high pitched, n vain, he nnclc effort s j ,0 Identlf) It, as, Interrupted only by its on rippling laughter, it ran splr-mmj splr-mmj Itedly th-ough its fancy-framed narra LWM "ThU is Cinderella speaking." It fl was so the iehJe?l was Introduced. LmM j "Flyinr from a haM at Sherry's, oh, H w loni. long. irnbappSI long after mid- ni-i5t. my crystal allpQcr was Fped mlraculouajy from my foot and HJ , through tbf op":i ..io.'o' l my golden HH chariot; fuel an Iriattnt before that gio- jT rlOUl chic!t turned ou .e more into 'he pumpkin from which It sprang And you. my fait Frincp t'harming if that rmel old witch my fairy godmother god-mother Is to be believed, now have it in your possession Pray, p pra, dear Prince, for the sake of romance, promise prom-ise that you will not hold It as a keepsake, keep-sake, but return if to your poor little arid woefully distressed Cinderella," Young Van Braun hesitated Just a breath before he made reply It seemed quite evident to him that the speaker was some one he knew; and yet. so far as his rcrollecilon went, the voice was totally strange "You will havo to prove our property prop-erty you know," he told her, with a teasing Chuckle. "II la a very tiny, lairylike slipper, and to be quite exa i prosaic mortal that I am, I may tell you at once that It is neither crystal nor glass." I ichtlv. hpr laughter flowed over the prosaically utilitarian wire Oh. voj goosey gander " she i blrruped Don 1 you know anything about fairies at all? It was crystal when It left my foot, but H might have been any one cf a hundred things when it reached you Falrle simply love to practise transmutation " 'Oh. I see." he re' irnpd. is If ilmr OUghly convinced. "Ami can tbey change the size, too. Just as read! these twentieth century fairies? Glass sllpners always stayed glasa slipper; when I was a boy. And their si:r? never varied ' ' Your ideas were gleaned from the story book-.' she told him with an effort ef-fort at trravity f'and the fairy atory writers m i -represented the little pixy people terriMv There's really no limit to the fairies' power." "You alarm me." he r rled "Am 1 liable, then, to gel ln:o trouble over Ibis little matter.' Would the fairies spproVe of my giving the slipper back Lo you?" "Oh. I am sure they would. Other nle my fairy godmother wouldn't ave given me your name and ad "And did Hie do thai?" "To be s:ire How else do yon sup nose I should ever have learned who han' iho slipper?" "I neer thought or that." he fooled "Will you come here after it? fir do you wish me to hring It to you?" Probably v.e had better meet each other half way." sbe suggested. Capital! You shall lunch with me to-morrow, at th" Pla;-i and I II hand you the slipper between courses." ' You're a dear " was her appreria live rejoinder. "And the time?" Will two o'clock r,e agreeable?" "It will be delightful." And how shall I re ognlze you?" he asked "Will you wear a blue rosc-in rosc-in your hat. or" But only a deafen ing bussing answered him. He waited h moment hoping it would ceast and then he called ' Hello!" and repeated It He repeated it a?aln and again and again, and played a lively tattoo with iVp book of the Instrument, but the only answer was from the clerk In the office downstairs who said that his " parly" hod rung off. The incident annoyed him more than It perplexed him It was all very mysterious, mys-terious, to be sure bul he frit that, in spite of the woman's seeming gayety ihe adventure held an element of the unpleasant Throughout it all. he had bern at a disadvantage, clearly eno igtl she knew him. but he was utterly at a loss to conceive her Identity More over, the whole con-, ersat Ion. pitched as ii had been, In the key of the fanciful, fanci-ful, rang false, and. it seemed to him, sinister. Me took up the slipper again and held it olmoft caressingly For tho life of him, he could not have explained the feeling that swept over him He only knew that, for 3ome strange reason, rea-son, the voice and the slipper did not fit. In his eagerness to delve to the core of the mystifying problem to test it, bitter or sweet Gramercy Van Braun. slim sinewy, rareh regular and pleasing pleas-ing of feature, and Inconspicuously well dressed anticipated his appointment appoint-ment by nil of fifteen minutes. He had. however, taken the precaution of securing a table by telephone; for which, discovering tho restaurants overflowing, and every chair in the adjacent ad-jacent passages occupied by a more or less impatiently waiting lnncher. he now congratulated himself. Since his rflle was to be that of the discovered rather ihan of the discover er. he bought an early edition of one of the evening papers, at the newstahd and then flung himself down on one of the most conspicuously placed of the upholstered benches, to await the coming com-ing of the puzzling if not wholly attractive. at-tractive. Cinderella And. as if magnetized mag-netized for his eyes' attraction, a small advertisement under the "Lost and Found" heading, sprang out before the flaunting news headlines, and grapoled his attcntlou What he read was this: LOST. Last night, somewhere between Sherry's and the Ritz- Carlton. a white satin slipper. IK-arU-mbroldered Finder return ing same to Diner man - i uo- tel Plaza, will be prosecuted. Van Braun read it through twice, and then, lowering the paper to his lap, sat thoughtfully staring at nothing, while the mystery deepened. How was It possible, he aske l himself, lo reconcile recon-cile Cinderella's plea and this sonie-whai sonie-whai cryptic warning of "X V Z"? Could i hoy. bv any possibility, be one aud same? Or was it that each wa9 endeavoring to .i-cure possession of tbar which belonged only to one' nd. In either ecnt. what wes there about a slipper, extraordinary In neither material ma-terial nor making, to excite so muuh covetous regard' He saa still immersed in thp growing grow-ing Intricacies of the problem, when a Land laid lightly on his arm arrested him. and he turned abruptly to SM sitting on the bench beside him fairly handsome, dark, and rather smartly dressed young woman, who greeted him with smiling recognition. "You'll excuse me. won't you Mr Van Braun?" she look for granted. "Don't you remember me' I reallv believe be-lieve you don t. I'm Miss Williams of " But Van Braun had by this recovered himself, and he hastened to interrupt her v. iih: "Of course I remember you Yo t're ihe young lady from one of the newspapers, that I used to meet at my friends' weddings, when I played the part of usher. And I used to see you at 't'e Opera, too; and at the Horse Show, and at dances, and you were always asking me questions thai, had they been asked by anyone else, would have seemed rudely Imperttnen' " The girl laughed at this, and the young man's interest suddenly quickened. quick-ened. "And yon always answered my ques tions vep fully and enlightenlnly," she told hire "Yes," be said with a smile; "yet not always truthfully, I fear. ince sometime-;, i didn't know ;t.-l a' o'her times I doubted your right to ask. or mine ,o tell " She laughed again, and he smiled with self-satlsfaciion "I'm going to ask you a question nov " she announced. "If it weren't that you are so much prettier and nor a bit round .hon .Wei I'd eall you a human interrogation point." be chaffed. Now. what can I tell you?" She moved several inches cloer to him. bent her lustrous dark eyes ap-pealingiy ap-pealingiy upon him, and, with lowered ob-c Inquired: "Have you seen X Y Z'? advertise ment in that inner?" If a doubt remained. Hip quest'on dissipate.i It. 'And who is X Y Z? he evaded. That s what I want to know." she ;oid him. "I've been assigned to find out " She opened the rapacioMs handbag hand-bag she carried and, takjiug from It a small newspaper clipping, parsed it lo him. "I impii.c tba in tome vrzv he is connected with this." The young man examined the clip-liner clip-liner with Interest It wi-- a ra'rle ries-iar-h from London. And It 'o!d of bootmaker iherc who had esei iired an odd commission for a mysterious customer. cus-tomer. He had removed the her; jron a small white sathi slipper; had if' lo?ed It out and ihen repla ei it. An "t'Dt of the United States Customs Service had leirned i hip. and as.-.c ia e, t with r.n effort of whicli he wa-; ognfisant to smuggle some exceptionally exception-ally valuable diamonds through the Po-t of New York. When he Icol.ed al the young woman agcin. he ta smiling broadly 'But why ask nfe?" was his query. ' I'm neither a smuggler nor a customs officer." of-ficer." "Very true'he replied, giving him back smile for smile; "but the tec of n white satin slipper Is. eVc;i ;l: -)- moment, protruding, from youi oat pocl.et." Instinctively. a it were Van Braun's hand clutched tlie pocket in question, and his manner for the moment a; least, aopeared to reflect a sudden cm-ba cm-ba r-nasament "I fancied," his companion coniln-ued, coniln-ued, "thai yon might have been the fortunate finder." lie turned to her with a fresh frenk-nesf. frenk-nesf. i was the finder but whether fortunate or not I have yet to learn 1 A lady was bowing to hitu across the corridor "And you are waiting, now. for the Kentlenian of tin initials?" "On the contrary be said, i am waiting for the lady of the telephone a e-rtain Miss Cinderella who was 'o prove Lei .iaim to the slipper, and Is Mentally l- my guest at luncheon." Tfce look he gave her was .;lfnin. an1. 11 'I h. Ignored It. "I hope I am not detaining Fuggourpj "N'o," he returned enigmatically. "On the contrarv, you have mere!;- ex pedited matters I shall wait for the lad no longer " He looked at his watch, "It Is throe minutes after the hour of appointment and I am a stick lor ior punctuality. As he was speaking his gaze wri a' trailed A lady was bowing to him from across the corridor: a younr lady, t whose delicate creamy complexion was enhanced by the Jetty black brim of the large picture hat which framed the pure oval of her race rnstantly Van Braun was on hia feel pleasure- beaming In every linea-men' linea-men' "Pe.rdon me just one moment lie flung the request back to Miss Williams Wil-liams as he strode away "Fam.y meeting you here'' he addressed ad-dressed the other, taking her hand i thought " "That I was forever lost In the fogs of London"" hc Interrupted gayly. "Oh, dear, no 1 arrived two days ago, for the Minturn wedding Sftlllc is marrving a connertlon of mine, yon know . the Due de Vaurlgard. They ten rne vou have been away'" Yes," he answered; "foi nearly two years, a'l told. For the past six months I ve been ran' hing in oni-Ing. oni-Ing. I know absolutely nothing of he paused If the look he bent upon her held reproach, i. whs also rife with a tender seni imentallty "of what was once our world." he added. "I am shopping with the Vestiys" she told him "Come and ee me. I will tell you all I can Why not this afternoon, for tea? I oak you now by lip. sin.e you evidently didn't get my w rii en word." Surprise was in his eyes. "You wrote me, Edith?" Ve : lo your club." "I havcn"i been there." he said, "but ! shall now. for the sake of seeing your writing once again." "And you'll come?" she pressed, a lltt'e anxiously "UmI vlnAlv " V. hen slm i,a(i gone, he stood, for a momentt garln? admiringly after htr. Ho--- si'ly he had been to quarrel with her! What a world of regret it had cost him, in the last two years! As he was about to turn, ho found the o :ng newspaper woman again at bis elbow. I inquired at the office for X Y 7.." she announced. ;"' the moTtent he had forgotten X Y '.. HO had forgotten Miss Williams. Wil-liams. And ct the in idem of the slim r, regarded from an altogether different angle, was vividly before him. He Unew. now what had been sug-KOStcd sug-KOStcd by Its linv. deli.ste beauty why ;1ip warmth of its soft lining had thrilled nim Unreason Ingly it had tern te-rn nderi him ol her, or Edith La Fon taine. who. he believed, had passed o::t of bis life forevpr. who wac living somewhere abroa''- married, the rumor ru-mor h2d reached him. He knew, now. too, why ho hat' resented that voice on the telephone; it bad !.pcn her voice that; unconaoJOusly he crupd "They won't g e ,0 ?,ivr7U?..? osne." the dark gill was going on. "They say h Is In Suite 713. Don't you want lo go up and ret;irn the jllp. per'" ' And he dragged Into a customs in-rcstlgaUojo? in-rcstlgaUojo? I an t ca;. that I crave that. Perhaps I hed better wait a little lit-tle while longer for Miss Cinderella after a'l " "1 ot 1 ly 'he ins seen the cable, and teen frightened off Why not let me pby her parf Give me the ,-lipprr ami let r-- tal e It up. I ll make Mr. X Y 7. tell me his 3tory prora his property, so to speak " Ihe young man looked al bei sharply, sharp-ly, again. So. that phrase could hardly be just a coiu i ! 'nee "Very well," he said, drawing the loosely wrapp-,i slipper from his pocket pock-et and placing it In her hand "And I'll go with you fani I ring In as a fello-,- reporter, artist or something0' She seemed delighted Her dark eyea shone "Oh. djtrjdv' she evcmed. Toother tU ': ' clc.-'.or to the- seventh floor A chambermaid directed di-rected them to the suite thev sought Before Miaa illlams rapped lightly. be secreted her small parcel in her large handbag A flight, dapper, clean-Bhaveri clean-Bhaveri youth, evidently a valet, responded re-sponded to her summons, and admitted them to a conventionally furnished ho te si.i'f parlor In Just one moment, miss.'' he said; and disappeared Into a room beyond Yan Braun walked to a window, and stood looking out across the tree tops of Central Pari. When he turned, it was at the sound of a man s voice, and to see a rather florid, dissipated looking look-ing young man. with bristling waxed mustaches bowing in the exaggerated foreign manner to ihe newspaper woman. wo-man. "My advertisement." Van Braun heard him say, "was Intentionally a little niislea.nnc I offered no reward, foi instance because I did not wish to he called upon to examine scores of old sllppprs And I widened the boundaries boun-daries of locality in order that I might by a single question discover whether the slipper v. as being returned by the Tiual finder or at -second hand " "But vou sir'1" Miss Williams returned re-turned "How am I to be sure that you represent the loser?" The flo Id man smiled "I will tell you just how the slipper came to be lost Then, if you know the circumstances circum-stances under w-hleh It was found, ws fball both I maintain, nave established our temporary right to Its possession. Bister and I had been attending a dance at Sherry's, where, ud for tuna te-! te-! -i o chanced to sprain her ankle. In our -ir she removed her slipper, and banded ft to me to hold My hand In whi.-h it rested Hghtlv. lay loosely along the ton of the lowered window, when a sudden jolt of the car there must ha.e becn an awkward hole In the roadway senl the slipper flying I wished to return for it; but on ac-co. ac-co. ml of her arhlrg ankle 3I10 would llilen to no delay I ha,! a wb.m. nevertheless, to recover it; and hence the advert isement ' He paused and the newspaper wo man bean fumbling With, the catch of her handbag "Now. whore did you Pnd h?" be asked. "I saw It fly from the window of your car." 'he answered. 'You bad not yet crossed Fort j second Street." Van Braun, listening, realised the 1 Inverness of the deduction And jrel questioned whether the answer wa-so wa-so obtained. He turned Bufllclentl to a her pass ihe slipper to the claimant You recognise jr.-" she aa" He wes turning It about iu hia hands-: gloat inglv. It sseined to the watcher when abruptly, the door from the passage was swunc " Lie and two bi rly men rudely Invaded 'he room. Without a word of exnlanatlon or apology and before any one of the occupants oc-cupants was able even fo conjecture their Objec the leader had ilunc him-sell him-sell upon the young man of the waxed rottfita hec. and snatched tne sipper trom his surprised tinge---. "Customs officers! " Yan Braun raui-mured raui-mured "And they havo probably heard even word ' The eusving conversation verified his conjecture. "I m .orr. sir." was the conclusion of the offlcer who was thrusting the riipner Into his pocket, "but 1 II have to nsk you to go along down town with me." -t "Bu Why?" ranted the ar;cused. "What is the charge ' You surely don't accuse me of stealing " "You are accused of being a party to an attempt to smuggle ino the Fnitpd States one of the most famous and valuable gems In all Europe the Vaurlgard red diamond, which is hid den In the heel of this slipper " 'But, my dear man," was the an swerins protest. "I give you my word that " Oraraercy Van Braun, stepping for ward, Joined the group. And It was at sight of him that the speaker hesl tated That slipper belongs to my sister. Bliss Edith La Fontaine," he concluded boldly "Surely." he added, "you would not dare accuse her of such a thing." With fist clenched Van Braun gave emphasis to his first words. "One more cowardly lie like that from you. and there II be nothing left of you to arre3t." ho cried. "Miss La Fontaine's brother1 She has but one, and he and I have been friends from boyhood." He turned to the cU3toms men. "You'll find this persons portrait por-trait and record af Police Headquarters. Headquar-ters. Those who know him best I believe be-lieve call him 'Billv the Duke' He s a confidenco man grafter, and crook In general. Thr.u? years ago he was working the transstimfi. n, j be seems still engaged In the old game. The accused offered no defense. He simply summoned his valet and requested re-quested that his bai. coat and walking stick bo brought to him Miss Wll Hams, meanwhile, was making rspid notes on a roll of copy paper she bad extracted from her handbag The officers of-ficers were thanking Van Braun When, a few minutes later, that gen tleman entered the elevator Mi- Wll Hams, hastily pursuing, became hi- fe' low passenger in spite of a seeming outward composure, he noted that she was very pale "Its turned out a cracking good itorj " -v de larcd, "but there are a io- of details st iu to be cleared n Miybe you 1 an tell me where I nn find Miss La Fontaine " The young nr.-sn regarded h?r with an interep' that wa the reverse of friendly. "II 1 were you," he said his accents measured "I'd let well enor.h alone So long as 1 don't bother about certain details, why need you" So long as I don't ask whv yon called me up early this morning, made nn engagement en-gagement to lunch with me and then chose to Ignore that phae of the little affair why should you bother either Miss La Fontaine or myself further?" Edith La Fontaine was alone In the Vestry library whon Van Braun came to her The day, thus far had been for htm a succession of surprises and bewilderments Perplexity had followed fol-lowed perplexity; but the most dls-'nrblng dls-'nrblng of all was the connection, so alleged at least, of Edith with, not u ----t Wfrn alone the secret custody of 'he famous Vaurlgard red diamond, but ?o infatri o;;s a character as Billy the re.;., " The cordiality of her gVgetiug lh:9 afternoon made, it seemed lo him, a "icir p".th to the re-establfshment of teeir old relations If flict v-33 anything any-thing left to forgive !. either. ea. h chose to ignore its mention ncd concede con-cede both confession and pardon "And hist to thiol. "---he was 3''tlng :o- I eside him. her hand In his "ibat we should both have arrived lack In New fork on the same day. Never was there for me suit a momnt of intent deifgV. 1 Irani dear. ?s vhen I saw and recogui:;ed vou at two o'clock 1 hi-- morning sauhterJicg up the aenuc. If might only arrest your attention. I tboughi I could not cry out I was dumb with joy. But how 1 did It I shall never know in the briefest in.-inm I had Snatched o.7 my slipper and rlung It at you I saw i; strike you. saw you stand still in ninar.e. and then though I craned my neck near to breaking ou were again, out of st"ht " The revelation, eminently simple awoke, nevertheless. In the lover's mind, a score of questions, not the least pressing of which was hnV j came that both "Billy the Duke" and Miss Williams could hao learned of the incident under these circum-'tci circum-'tci nces. "You won't mind te'Hng me who was in the car with you, will you?" he asked, promptly. 'in the car with me''' she repeated in evident, surprise Why no on.- Then how did It happen that the fact that you threw the slipper was Known to at least two persons'' The hand that he bold all at once grew tense. A startled look came into Edith's wonderful violet eye? She rook a quick breath before 3he spoke "How how do you know that?' she almost gasped "Eecause I have seen them. Because Ors( one ant then the 0)h(?r r,aJmed' the slipper." At his words the last vestige of color Bed her face. She leaned toward him tremblingly "But you didn't tell me vou didn't ghe It up!" "And why shouldn't I?" fc one.;, tloncd. "There was no way I could know If vsas yours. A girl claimed It over the telephone, the moment I l reached mv mma " Th V.Mn? v'on,an W beside hjm in Infinite despair "And I depended on you.' she murmured, hooelesa'v 'They were following in a tax,, bad no Idea they would see it r0,r now whj they irae up tha, . base Kni l felt all along that your presence there at the moment was providential " II!s Interest, already alert, still further fur-ther quickened. ' You kuow of them? Both of them" " "Oh yes. yes I met hinj on the bo' t coming over He was charming to me we ail liked him Immensely, 'if was terribly indiscreet. I see ii nov. ),!,, be seemed to read my anxiety, r.nd I confessed 1 had it tbat it was hidden in tbe heel of my slipper. After that be rarely left me lis -a.!I he would be my I Ig brother I might need m when it came lo gerring by the customs cus-toms men who bad a way of knowing about such " Van Pruun Interrupted bar "You were trying to evade paying duty?" "No. no. Pon't you see? Ind'yet how can you? It was a gift a wed ding gift from Aunt Jeanne to Sr.llle tUs Minturn the Vaurlgard red diamond. Mm4 She didn't want Sallie to wait until -Kp she got to France to see It. although Tgi she Is r.olng over right af'er the wed- lwi ding, and Is to make her home tbore. Kj So I volunteer nl at the last, minute to bring it or u3t for Sally to look at eL It was a foolhardy undertaking from Vl the hr-r. and the responsibility got on iyj my uerves awfully " She paused for a moment. Her right IB toe was tapping the floor and her 'IL hands were busy, the one with the JSgj other. J Once we landed," she went on, "I '. '; mar. a- .' t., ,--t;,.;, yr,- -,-, re f wh. n t lefl Sherry's h sic.hr, 1 cn-fl can fan'-y my surprise ; :H l:or-or on seeing him Btau ing co;-? beside tbofl door." I "But why?' asked the vounc man 1 "Had he " I ' No he had oe nothing. But 1 Franklin "ost, who met t:s ru the dock his r'Oiher r :, n , pa 't ; fold J US he 'fis a notoriiuv .rni-r of some I Iciud, and you in imagine how the in-fl ' ' I "I'i "1 -:P- I kne- the,, that be .-ou!.l never rest until he got ii:e .lia.-.vv, :. fnuu i. e. if bv auy Mssssj chance it was possible." : '" "He va3 waiting there alone9" "No, ihere .-.as a woman with hlm.li She had l e.en hoerlng about the rooms up?talr all the night. She was s:ip-posed s:ip-posed to be a -o. letv reporter for one 1 t of the dailies l l ad to wait a little for t-e Vestry's ear. and meanwhile that man and woman engaged a taxi- cab I saw them start, but thev evi- I dently waited v.ithln 'ph fn.- car turned into the a.eoue I caught I a glimpse of the taxlcab in pursuit. " I For a second or more silence lav be- ; riDt 1 ween them f.'ramerrv Van Braun I reached for Edith's hind again and re- j U covered IL hi "It h.33 made me wret.he.j ' n hiV mourned The stone ran never be re-1 placed. There's not another like it In fV the world." j V "J "Whj didn't you spalc of l when "Cn we met at the Plaza?" he asked her. "The slipper was In my pocket, then. I left the woman you gpeak of to come and speak to 3 on." 1 "And yon gave It fo her. after that'" 1 she rrled in dismay. "You must find j her again Promise rae. Gram, dear, that you will find her and recover it." "But she no longer has It " He was 1 snulmg. and she sat up In sudden' acute amazement "She gave it to tha wily Mr Reynard " "Then, you mean you will get It! back from him'"' No. my darling." his smile growing broader, "for the customs people have mode that impossible." She sprang up with 3 little cry. fifc ' Then it ,'. ,are, the diamond Is J-,, XXn wax not eYen have to par ly Van Braun stood up. too. "Doni misunderstand me" h ii Pleaded 1 gave MMS wuii.'uns a shipper She gave that same slIpperjH.li '" ,;' ' Til" '"'"' - om-.-r took " Tom Rc-.nard befor. be had 9. M 'lianee to look a' . ; j, 1)3p. pened, 11 wa.-n'f your -Upper" p The girl stood as one stricken m stone, mot ,on tes and silent with llnsfl Slightly parted Ami from an InnerS po . et of his coat Van Braun. laugh- I ing nov ,lrpw- fortl, the 'iny .:alnty "ng 'ha' had tun. a 1 .-,.,. v.. Kigfl 1 reast bone. 1 "Give up th!o'" ho rric-i raining It i IU ' "s '': "''ri1 while f, v as a 1 lm hlp' " '' " tb " I' I e'onged to 1 ifH ' "' ; 1 - 1 "'e-w r-itb a foot I ( ''1,J " bis ?rms -y, 0w he- 1 Ml an.; the ilippe,- stiM .,-hfJv hollJ' lull re tel against her rlht i,;,r. ' ttttV But lb- other - murmurpd be. I UuM -en kL,.. JOu mSl mm 'be other-- " uu fc yl .u!'000"'" ',flir ' -0l- ' the first I 1 thing his morrlne Yo. " WX h ''I ' r !;,. , .,!l03, 0l'C 1 S |