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Show Ue Fatal Necklace - (Continued from Last Sunday) CHAPTER XVII. In the Ambulance RENSHAW. having posted the units of his cordon at all Mpj the salient points, took up wXH a concealed post of observation H from which he had a clear view of VB the front of the shop. Escape, ho H t knew well, was luiu impossible in IjnKJ any direction. True, he had no rv!S. r-ian waiting in a boat on the river, wJBB which ran hy Mi " southern side of jH the liouse. But egress to the river H being possible only through a win-FH win-FH dow, the man at the nearest point RH had orders to give the alarm should an attempt be made that W way. For upwards of half an hour he waited. Then: ,s ' Wh "Hullo!" he exclaimed "What's BjBfl the. game?" ' : L Suddenly Mi upper window In the 'fij house above the shop was thrown up. There sounded a hoarse scream I 'bat might hav come from a man "-BJ or a woman, am column of :4mj smoke issued from the open wln-jffi wln-jffi dow A second window was opened 'Rf by a man of youngish appearance. Sjt "Good enough," muttered Renshaw Ren-shaw to himself and. crossing the j road, entered the shop and shouted. 1 he aged proprietor Issued from jjsffij Llie house In answer to his shout "Your house is on tire." said Ren-I Ren-I ihink not." was the answer. - "We have had an accident with a I spirit stove But the flames have iJ I n exiiigulshed after burning a curtain That explains the smoko wBfl you saw from the street." ?WX$ 'iear(l someone scream ' V 4, ' That m my nlere." said the old iSsB man gravely. "I regret to say that flfcMI sbe is badly injured In the face. ; My uephew has telephoned for an J&fiffl ambulance. I thank you." be HH added, ' for your Inquiries " Renshkw could do nothing but withdraw. Ho know well that the hiTsB only circumstances In which a policeman po-liceman may forcr cntrv in a house BH arc those in which he has reason to iBBJ believe that felony Is being com-"Its com-"Its five hundred dollars to a HMfl doughnut it's a plant." muttered Renshaw to himself, as he returned Kfl to his point of observation. 'SBB When the motor ambulance ?BB9 turned the corner of the street, fwjpfl Renshnw gave a signal and three umB members of the cordon closed VSss around the van as it stopped. The driver stopped the engine-, :?jffj climbed down and opened the door wide Weam appeared In the door iP way of the shop "Can you bring the patient down I" asked the driver. "No, no," answered Weain. "She cannot wall; Haven't you a stretcher'" "I've got a stretcher but I haven't brought a helper." replied the mau "Thev told me that you'd telephoned it was a walking case " The man produced a stretcher from the interior of the van In a dilemma, he turned to the nearest of the growing knot of on looker, a man oi muscular appear- HE 35Gf "P'raps yon wouldn't mind lend Renshaw nodded to the man ad dressed and the latter consented. Weam led the two men Into the 9Em bouse. Three minuter la'er the men re-appeared re-appeared On the stretcher lay a figure covered with a rug and heavily heav-ily swathed about the head. Be-vyd Be-vyd twoen the bandages, as Renshaw J5fj looked, a stray tendril of hair HE gleamed in the sunshine gleamed to wine. I As the driver and his voluntary I: assistant placed the stretcher in imb position in the body of the ambu lance. Renshaw addressed the driver and handed his official card "The man who has Just helped m". jl! you w ith the stretcher Is a detee ) tlve llfco myself." he said In a low ' ) tone. "He will accompany the pa tient on the Journey tnslde the van. -j and I will sit beside you in front." As the driver started his englir. 'J? Renshaw parsed the word to one of -. Jo; his men that the cordon was wlth- drawn and that report must be . Jrt made at once by telephone. The Journev to the hospital oc-cupled oc-cupled little more than ten min-Mfl min-Mfl )i utos The journey would have been made even more quickly but for I'mI tno lnTWDk block in the dook- k jBfl bide traffic. As the car came to a standstill in th" courtyard of tho hospital. Ron -haw Jumped down and stood by the door of the van until the : tiendants came to open it "What in thunder" BBB j. Renshaw thrust his shoulders HL into the van Reside the attendants the van had but a rlagle occupant ifci hie own man he had ordered to ride Inside. The man was lying bound on the stretcher His mouth kj, was gagged with a tress of bair, luxuriant and wine red. CHAPTER XVIII. Rosemary's Story. A T Ave o'clock David Sorran was knocking at tho door of his sister's house in Fifty-event Fifty-event h street Doctor Violet Sorran had given orders that her brother was to bo shown into her consulting room when he arrived She was waiting there to receive him "is Miss Wilding here?" were IhR hiH first anxious words Miss Sor ran nodded, and noting tho look of relief on her brother's face asked: " she an exceptionally dangerous danger-ous criminal, David?" "She is not a criminal at all." retorted David with a heat that told hin slater all she wished to know "But there are one or two lunatic at the Police Headquarters who think she is." "I (iihe undergo: nd." said his sis-tor sis-tor ''Yon will find her in the drawing draw-ing room " Without more ado Sorran hurried upstairs. "Oh. I am so glad you have come" said Rosemary Impulsively. "It was getting so late " 'I am BOiry," said Sorran "but you see, I had to shake off my man without his knowing that I had in tended to do go And its time wo had a serious talk. Are you ready ?" The girl assented. They sat together to-gether on the sofa "I want you to toll me everything that happened to you from the moment mo-ment Mr Belfrage camo to East Pennacook to ghe you nur legacy of 2,500 1 know he persuaded yo'i to come to tho Astorbllt with it and see life. What Inducement did he give you to come to New York""' "He said be would put me in touch with a man who could certainly cer-tainly give me news of my poor later Lucy." "And that man was ?" "Prince Mpak. of Auratla. You see, Lucy went to Salonika as a Med ("ro.-s nurse So v. e thought at any rate, but wo heard nothing more from her from the day she left America I wrote to tho Red Cross headquarters, but they had never heard of Lucy By a curious coincidence I met by chance at the Astorbllt the very man. when I was Irving to book a room, to whom Mr Belfrage had Intended to introduce in-troduce me It was a Captain Gll-llngharn, Gll-llngharn, who said he had seen Lucy when ho was an attache after the armistice, at the court of Auratla. f couldn't get him to say oxaotlv what she was doing there, hut I knew It was Lucy, because he described de-scribed her hair, which Is the same color as mine "Captain Gilllnghara told me that Prince tfpak was coming that jilght to the hotel and he also told me why ho hail conio to New York That was the afternoon that he brought the chain." "The chain?'' "That chain vou saw me wearing It is a most extraordinary thing I thought it must be Lucy's, as she li?d one made of our grandmother's hair, hut I know she took It to Salonika with her Besides, this was slightly different it was set with emeralds, and Lucy's wasn't. Well, he told me to wear this chaia and to smile at tho Prlrre he came in and that the Prlmo w -uld then come up and speak to me and tell me all about Lucy. But he dldn t and after that" She paused In obvious distress Sorran determined to save her from Ihr- ordeal of telling thai whhh he had already deduced ' Don't tell me any mor.," bo said. "Just trubt me. Will you '' "Yes," she said "Then come with me," said Sorran CHAPTER XIX. An Important Clue. AT six o'clock of the same evening eve-ning inspector Dolan leaned back In his chair with a contented con-tented sigh. He had digested the last of the voluminous reports that had poured In on him in a steadv stream since the beginning of the affair Ho was now In possession of every Ballent fact in the case He picked no tho mouthDh" . 'f I I - dl laphone "Memorandum to Mr. Lester," he spoke into the receiver. "It is os niial that you should concentrate your energies on finding the means hy which the door was locked after the crime had been committed." There followed similarly curt directions direc-tions to every detective in charge of any particular line of investigation. investiga-tion. Then he pressed the electric button A clerk removed the cylinder cylin-der and within ten minutes his various vari-ous instructions, typewritten and duplicated wore on their way to the recipients. An hour later Lester himself entered en-tered the room. In his hand he was holding an envelope somewhat gingerly. "This Is the answer to your que Hon." he said as he handed the Inspector the envelope which the latior promptly opened. Inside was B long hair. Dolan la!d the hair against his coat-sleeve. Against the dark background it gleamed to a dull wine red. "Where did you find this?" demanded de-manded the Inspector. "In the lock Itself, sir." wn the answer "I don't mind confessing that until I received your tnemoran dum I had completely overlooked the impossibility of the Prince rising up to lock the door after he had been strangled Whereas, of course, it is quite obvious that the thieves themselves must have re-locked re-locked tho door behind them." "Exactly." said Inspector Dolan, "and we find that they did it with tliis. And yon can see ut a glauce where that halt camo from. How did they actually use it?" "As nearly as I could see, sir, they had lied one end of the hair round the lever that controls the bolls. The hair was theu threaded above the firat bolt and through tho Yale lock on the dummy wooden door. I tested the lever and found fs fP "Because I love you," armS and the'r lipS it requires a pressure or two pounds to move It " 'A hair of such thickness as this." said tho Inspector, "would stand a weight of about fifteen pounds with a steady pull. See how elastic it Is." Lester wa bout to withdraw hut Inspector Dolan stayed him. "I shall probably call you and Hall Into ronsultaUon to-night." he said. "I think the groundwork is about complete i lmv been through all Hall's work. He has missed nothing and ho has produced pro-duced nothing which, of course, is not his fault. He has certainly -ucceeued in narrowing do.vn out lield of investigation." 'IS there ans clue as to the whereabouts of the jewels7 : asked Lester. "No" replied tho Inspector "We know, of course, that. glvfVi that tho door was opened, the whole thing could have been done in less than three mlnuu.- The Jewels COUld have been removed to one of the bedrooms and there repacked In ordinary travelling trunks. Thej hotel records show that no fewer than two hundred and sixty trunk1-and trunk1-and bags loft the Astorbilt between seven and eleven thirty of the morn ing on which the murder was discovered. dis-covered. We know that the jewels are not in the hotel, as every corner cor-ner has been searched We do not know how tin v were taken out of the hotel We are driven bacli t. tho murder, where at least we have something solid to go on." "May 1 ask what, Inspector0" said Lester. Dolan indicated the hair in the envelope "We have this." he replied, "and we have the fact that the tel. -phone was tapped in her room. Put the facts together. The hair necklace that strangled the Prince, tho hair that tefastened the bolt, the hair of the woman herself who occupied the room in which the telephone was tapped by means of which the wholo crime was committed! Add that the same woman baa proved adept at throwing off our men Add that the chambermaid in ohargo of that room has been in a drugged state for twonty-rour hours during which she is not missed obvlouBly because someone some-one has taken her place Add that this very afternoon I drew a cordon cor-don of men rouud the house In which I knew that girl to be and that she sailed through that cordon and got clean away ' "But ' exclaimed Lester, "I thought that she was dead that sho had been picked up at the Battery, drowned." "I don't care whether Rosemary Wilding has been drowned or not," reformed Inspector Dolan, heatedly. "Whether her name is Rosemary' or Lucy or ueither, I know that the girl 1 want for the murder of-Prince of-Prince Mpak uf Auratia the girl with that strange wine colored hair is alhe at this moment and being protected from us by none other than David Sorran himself." Lester made a gesture that be trayed his astonishment at his .chiefs words "Sorran " he exclaimed incredu lously. "Yes " declared the Inspector, positively. "I want the girl and I want Sorran. If " He broke off as there came a knock on the door "Come in,' he commanded irritably. irri-tably. The door opened. The next instant in-stant Inspector Dolan stood face to taco with David Sorran and the girl sho at least appeared on the hotel lists as Miss Rosemary Wilding. CHAPTER XX. A Voluntary Confession. INSPECTOR DOLAN'S amazement amaze-ment was almost ludicrous. He stared from Rosemary Wilding to Sorran and back again to Rose man . and still he could find no words He had declared to Lester (hat he had brought home the murder mur-der of Prince Mpak to the girl with tho wine-colored hair, and that, if It were not for Sorran. she would be now have been charged with the crime. Into the middle of his angry accusation against the famous fam-ous detective Sorran the man himself him-self had walked bringing with him the woman for whom every' member of a highly organized police po-lice force was on the watch. Sorran BUrveyed the stupefied Dolan quizzically. "I'm afraid we've startled you, Inspector." he said, "This is Miss Wilding Miss Rosemary Wilding." Inspector Dolan collected himself him-self sufficiently to rise to his feet. He dismissed Lester with a nod and placed a chair for Rosemary. "Miss Wilding s appearance hero is certainly unexpected as unexpected unex-pected as your own. Sorran." he said, grimly "There is a good deal that it would be as well for you to clear up as soon as possible." "I am quite ready to tell you anything you want to know " replied re-plied Sorran. "and Miss Wilding is prepared for the most searching cross-oxamlna'.ion. She has nothing noth-ing to conceal." , Inspector Dolan's keeu eyes turned to the girl's face. "It would bo most unwise for Miss Wilding to attempt to conceal anything now," he said. His tone implied that he hold both of them iu the hollow of his hand. He reseated re-seated Jiimaelf in his swivel chair and referred to a memorandum sheet. Sorran smiled encouragingly encourag-ingly at the girl. "My first question, Miss Wilding." Wild-ing." began the luspeetor, "is do you admit having slept in your room, No 718, m the AatorOilt Hotel, on the night of the late Prince Mpak's arrival'' It Is my duty to warn you that your answers will be used in evidence against you." "If necessary' put in Sorran. "I am going to admit everything Mr. Sorran told me to," answered an-swered Rosemary, with a simplicity simplic-ity that made Dolan heartily dislike dis-like his task. "I slept in my room that night. I returned to it about midnight, after I had been to a dance with a Captain Glllingham." "Did anything out of the ordinary ordi-nary happen that night'" asked the Inspector. "Yes," answered the girl with a Wholly delightful blush "I I couldn't unfasten my dress. I rang the bell, hut no one answered. So I thought I would try the telephone. But I am not used to telephones, and I must have done it wrongly, because a man's voice answered, and he seemed rather angrv " The Inspector's eyelids flickered The telephone had been tapped from Rosemary's room If it had been done while she was out and without her knowledge, her attempt to coin munioate with the domestic staff of the Astorbllt had resulted in ringing ring-ing up no less a person than Prince Mpak. locked with his gold and jewels into the room diagonally opposite hers. "I was wondering what to do." continued Rosemary, "when there came a knock at tho door and a chambermaid came In not the one that had been there the night before. be-fore. She had a very kind and pleasant manner, and she brought a cup of coffee. I told her I never took coffee at night and she seemed quite hurt, so I drank it so as not to seem unappreeiatlve. I think she must have been unused to her work, for 6he did not turn the sheets back or provide hot water, and when I asked her to unfasten my dress she looked surprised and almost frightened I had to explain the fastenings to her and she did very badly, with fumbling fingers " "That chambermaid was, of course, a man," put in Sorran. "A man'" cried Rosemarv in di- may. "Oh, how dreadful! What must he have thought of me?" Her eyes filled with tears and she looked helplessly at Sorran "I think you are probably alarming alarm-ing yourself needlessly. Miss Wilding." Wil-ding." said the Inspector with a dry smile "Mr. Sorran has a knack of Jumping to conclusions." "It won't take you long to check that conclusion, Inspector." said Sorran "The mao Is in your custody cus-tody at the present moment and will probably confess If you give him a chance as State's evidence " "Who is he? What have we got him for?" Dolan was compelled to ask. "I don't know hia name," replied (C) lO'.'O. lutcrnjtlonal Peat Hit t' n-irp, inc. Ureal Britain Kifhln Kcsnreo. Sorran. "but you have him on a harge of assaulting one of your nen in a motor ambulance on its vay to the hospital If I am cor-ectly cor-ectly informed, he was again im-orsonatlng im-orsonatlng one of the opposite ;ex. The policeman on point duty crabbed him as he made his escape, 'roni the van in a block in the raffle. I commend that officer to .our attention, Inspector" This oblique reminder of how lis cordon had been fooled did not improve Dolan's temper "Wo will leave that point for the present," said the Inspector testily 'There are others to be settled of fqual Importance. What time did vou leave your room on the following follow-ing morning, Miss Wilding?" "Tho same maid, whom you now Bay is a man, brought my breakfast break-fast to my room about eight o'clock, although I had not ordered it." replied Rosemarv "1 was very sleepy and had a bad headache and could not wake up, and 1 have a dim memory of the maid giving mo something to drink which did me a lot of good, and in about half an hour I was all right On the break fast tray was a noto. I havp It here, if you would like to read it " From her vanity bag she took a crumpled envelope and handed It to tho inspector "Dear Miss Wilding," Dolan read. "I was able to see your sister last night after I left you I gave hor back her chain as agreed. It is Just possible that I may be able to arrange a meotlng to-day but it will be very difficult and I must ask you to follow my directions very closely. As soon as you get up. go to the ladles readiug room on the first floor if neither your sister nor myself appear before ten forty-five, immediately leave the hotel and take a tail to the Lafayette. Lafay-ette. Times Square. Go to the front entrance, pass through tho hall, turn at right angles to the left, and you will come to tho side entrance. Drawn up outside this you will see a car Get Into this car without speaking to any one. I shall be inside." "Do you mean to say. MIbs Wilding." Wild-ing." said tho Inspector, as he returned re-turned the noto, "that it did not strike you that the object of this little movement was to throw off any detective that might be shad owing you?" mary "Captain Glllingham explained ex-plained that that- was what it was for. and that If the police were to see my sister anywhere about while Prince Mpak was In New York they would probably arrest her. and that, through my likeness to my sister our hair, you know the various detectives would prqb ably make frequent mistakes and take me for her. "Well, the motor-car took me to the curiosity shop whero Mr Sorran Sor-ran found mo. Here I met the man whom I had known a3 Mr Belfrage the man who had brought me my legacy, and I found that he was known here by the name of Weam. I had no moans of knowing which was his real name Mr Weam explained ex-plained that unfortunately it had been found impossible at the last moment for my sister to come to the bouse to meet me I was going to return to the Astorbilt. Mr. Weam told me that if 1 were to do so I should certainly be arrested 1 asked what for. and he told me that Prince Mpak had been mur dered. I said I was aorry, hut that it had nothing to do with me, at which he seemed very embarrassed, asked me to sit. down again, then told mo that Prim e Mpak had been strangled with the very chain, belonging be-longing to my sister Lucy, which I bad been wearing the previous evening. " 'That is Impossible.' I said, 'because 'be-cause Captain Glllingham returned thechain to my sister after ho left me, about midnight last, night "'Exactly,' said Mr Weam; 'now do you understand that If you go back to the Astorbilt Hotel, you will be arrested for tho murder, and you will have to clear yourself by proving thnt It was your sister Lucy and not yourself who killed Prince Mpak. You will find It very easy to prove, because your sister had the very strongest possible motive a woman can have for doing do-ing so.' "I was terribly upset at hearing this, and I could not talk about it for some time. When I felt better, Mr Weam explained that the very best thing I could do would be to keep out of the way of tho police and let them go on thinking that I had done it In the meantime, he would do all in his power for my sister Lucy and would try to get hi r safely out of the country. I agreed, as it seemed tho only thing to do It was arranged that ; should stay in the house and not go out. And then Mr Sorran came and found mo and told me that my sister Lucy was dead It is all very terrible, and I don't know what I shall say to my mother " Inspector Dolan's attitude was non-committal. "If you believe all that was told you, Miss Wilding by Weam and by Mr Sorran you must have reasoned that, your sister being dead, no harm could have come to you had you been arrested Why then, did you allow them to make that elaborate subterfuge In order to get you from the house?" "That was my doing, Inspector," put In Sorran "I knew, of course that you would be bound to arrest her iu the light of your facts. And 1 happen to have made a promise to Mrs Wilding concerning th-welfare th-welfare of her daughter which intended and intend to keep." r "I see," said 'he other man coldly. cold-ly. "You considered yourself free to conspire with men you knew to be criminals in order to defeat the )ollce." Sorran had no intention of letting let-ting thai pass "I consider that my position as a private detective gives me a freedom free-dom of action which would be impossible im-possible tb o'ne In an official position," posi-tion," he said impressively. "i have always used that freedom as I havo used it in this case to assist as-sist your department. If you are dissatisfied with my methods, Inspector, In-spector, yon can arrest Miss Wilding Wild-ing for the murder and myself for being an accessory. Your depar. nient will thus be relieved of the embarrassment at my eccentric methods." Sorran's plain hint that he would throw up the case unless an apology was forthcoming made the Inspector realize the extent to which he was depending upou the private detective. ' "I don't think that's Justified. Sorran," h said amicably. "You know perfectly well that the only thing I object to In your method your habit of keeping them dark. If I implied otherwise Just now. I ask you to accept my apology." ' No ill feeling" said Sorran. offering his hand: "but I'm getting horribly hungry Miss Wilding has kindly consented to dine with me to-night Will you come along and join us and I'll tell you the whole Inwardly Inspector Dolan fumed. It was the most important case his department had ever handled, and here was tho man who knew more about it than anybody proposing what amounted to a sheer waste of time. He would hao liked to refuse, re-fuse, but he had alreadv had a foretaste fore-taste of the penalties for putting Sorran In bad humor "Thanks, I'd like to," he said, glancing anxiously at the clock over his desk. "Where did you think of going, may I ask'" "The Astorbilt," replied Sorran promptly, "it you have the nerve to face It in morning dress." As he spoke there was that in his eye which made the Inspector answer: an-swer: Sure, let's make it the Astorbilt." CHAPTER XXI. The Chain of Evidence. TO Dolan's unconcealed annov-ance annov-ance Sorran refused to discuss dis-cuss the case over dlnnet After dinner Sorran suggested thnt they sit a while in the lobby Thoy chose a low divan iu the central hall, near the swing doors. A stream of guests and habitues passed before them, many casting cold glances at the morning dress of the two men, aa many feasting their eyes upon the strange beauty of the girl A foreign ambassador, pretending to be interested In a Jeweler's show-ca9e wa- making such open attempts to force himself him-self upon Rosemary's attention as to draw a reproving scowl from Sorran before he began his tale. To Inspector Dolan It seemed the most unsuitable place in the world for their discussion He was only prevented from protesting hy an instinctive feeling that Sorran had chosen the place with a definite ob-jtM ob-jtM i. of which he w;ould know tha reason later Sorran. as was his custom, plunged Into his account without preliminary. I "The brilliant blackguards whc planned this stunt made one mistake mis-take only. They omitted to ascer-tain ascer-tain at what time the houseman of the Lafayette is In the habit of polishing the brass-work of tho outer door. But for that mistake nothing short of a miracle would have prevented your department from carrying out their scheme for them, namely, that you should secure the arrest and ultimate conviction con-viction of Miss Rosemary Wilding for the murder, of which even now she knows considerably less than you and 1 As a result f that mistake mis-take I was able to get from tho houseman, a fellow of unusually alert intelligence, a description of the car to which Miss Wilding ha already referred, which, in spite or a change of name-plate en route, eventually enabled me to find my way to the curiosity shop in Christopher Chris-topher street I h Sorran paused. He had caught himself in the act of describing the details of his detective work a breach of professional etiquette in view of the fact that ho was talking talk-ing to the Inspector. A good detective detec-tive reports his results HI methods of obtaining those result should only bo referred to upon special request I I "I am BOiry,' he 6ald to Inspector Dolan. "I will give you a clean report, re-port, and if yon are Interested in the groundwork we can talk about it later. 1 think I have the wholo story, and although I got the end first and gradually worked back to the beginning. I'll tell it the right way up. "The whole crime both the murder mur-der and the robherv. revolves on the personality of Kflss Lucy Wilding. Wild-ing. Miss Lucy during the war was mployed by the War Department as a special secretary She was . their star girl, being able to take shorthand In fmir ESuropeaq languages. lan-guages. When Prince Mpak was in Europe at the time of the armistice she was lent to him for some special spec-ial work. The Prince seems to have developed a violent infatuation infatua-tion for her. which, one eathers, was (Continued on Nest Page) I A Sscimtix Nev Detective Mystery Story I l I j (Continued from Prccrdlnn P,jr) reciprocated. Miss Lucy was I wholly ignorant of the state of af. falrsfin Auratia, and of Hip kind of man this blackguardly Prince rea' y was. The lamentable result was I that Miss Lu v consented to return to Auratla with hitn under promise of marriage, winch was to be kept secret until the political crisis I caused by the armistice had I passed "To fulfill the promise of sc. rei Miss Lulv had no choice but to dell de-ll ceive her people, with the result j, that she announ.ed that she wad going to Saloniki as a Red Cross nurse. On their arrival in Auratia there seems to have or en some sort of faked mairiage, the true nature j of which she was allowed to dlB cver sorno three or Tour months later, when the 1- -In. ;m , "The shock of discovery wa- so great that It nearly drove her out of her mind. She refused to receive ! any assistance whatsoever troiu the perfidious Prince, even to the payment of her passage home, With the utmost d ffleult, and on- I during every kind of privation, she worked her passage home on a tramp steamer. She landed in New York penniless and in a deplorable condition. She was unwilling to I return to her people. She was too I ill to work. H "Face to face with destitution. she decided to raise money on 1" r f one possession that had th.- least marketable value. It was her hair necklace, which at their mock he. trothal Prince Mpak had had studded stud-ded with gems, according to tho , custom of his country. "She tried It at tho dock-side I pawnshops, but they unanimously refused it. It was In the nature of a curiosity, and so, almost Inevitably, Inevit-ably, she came to the curiosity shop in Christopher street, which is run by one of the most finished rogue3 In Christendom Woam, I the proprietor, befriended her. He I made an adequate advance on tho H security of the hair chaiu, and. in- I cidentally, extracted its story He won her confidence, even as ho won Miss Rosemary's And then I he perceived a way of exploiting her tragedy. "His foreign agents had told him of Prince Mpak's proposed visit to New York and Its object. In Lucy Wilding he hod a woman read) equipped with the strongest possi-ble possi-ble motive for wishing to bring death and dishonor on the man who had ruined her. He was not j slow In linking the two elements together. There Is no doubt tha. he tried to make Miss Lucy an active accomplice, but without sue j cess He knew that In tho circum stances It would be foolish to at-J at-J tempt to pet Miss Lucy to stay in the same hotel as the Prince, so his thoughts turned at once to her sister, sis-ter, of whom he had already received re-ceived a description from Miss I Lucy." Rosemary, sitting by his side was drinking In every" word of his I explanation. The deathly white of '4' her fnco. the expression of sup-lreL-ed suffering, made him t?Ht his teeth "1 am doing my best for you, he whispered to her. "The whole pang shall be brought to Justice that I promise you ." Then he continued to the Inspector: Inspec-tor: "We know the method'by which Miss Rosemary was Induced to come to New York. You can see from her account and mixta that, under the promise of being taken to her sister, she was lured Into performing a series of acts which In their sum total made as string a chain of evidence against hex as any snui' jury would rerfuire. However, How-ever, they would not have made a cent more of profit had Miss Rosemary Rose-mary been arrested and eventually convicted. A police description of Miss Rosemary is exactly the same as a de.4cripl.ion of her slab i " Miss Lucy at this time was fast dying as the result of her privations. priva-tions. Whether or not the) hastened has-tened her death I am at present unable to say. But that can only be settled by medical evidence. Miss Lucy, at any rate, died, and her body was thrown into tho rivet after her clothing had been marked with her sister's name, the object of this being to suggest that Mls; Rosemary had committed the murder mur-der and afterward had killed herself. her-self. "You percoive the Ingenultv of the plan. They laid a powerful chain of evidence against a dea 1 woman. The Incidental suffering they have caused is, of course, a matter of no concern to them.'' There was a short silence, during WB cfa Inspector Dolan digested the facts supplied by Sorran. "We can set Weam any time w w mt him " he said, half to himself. "I have put a couple of men on to thai curiosity shop." "Yes." replied Sorran, "and you've got the man I had to use this afternoon for that motor aui- - : v -. $ Dill uce stunt. There are only two more, and they will be here directly." di-rectly." "Here?" echoed the puzzled inspector. in-spector. "What the dickens do you mean, Sorran? I beg vour pardon. Miss Wilding" "They 11 come here to collect the swap.' replied Sorran. For a moment he enjoyed the In-ppectors In-ppectors mystified expression, and then. "Apparently I put a great deal more trust In your reports than you do yourself," he went on. "Your own report, whloh was sent to me in duplicate, proves that It was absolutely impossible for the jew els to have been taken out of the hotel, for tho simple reason that every kind of package that left the hotel after the crime has been accounted ac-counted for Therefore, tho jewels must be In the hotel still. And a--I have received satisfactory proof that all the gang ozcepl Weam intend in-tend to lave the country to night it stand to reason that they will not go before they have collected the reward of their labor. Therefore. There-fore. GUllngaam. in disguise, and a fourth confederate, whoso name I don't know, are certain to come here this evening. As the removal will take time they will probably be here in a few minutes." Inspector Dolan looked at Sorran as if he doubted his san'ty. "Oh, I know your men have been through this place with a tooth comb." said Sorran. "I know that if anything had been concealed anywhere In this hotel they would have been bound to find It. That's what makes it so easy. The old formula works evry time: If you want to hide a thing put It lu such un obv.ous position that th.- archers arch-ers are bound to miss it. The jewels jew-els are not hidden at all they are displayed And they are In suca un obvlou position that you your-Kelf your-Kelf aro staring at therii at the present moment and do not know iL" tCl l!2o Intcii ' 5iT v "Good Lord'" exclaimed the Inspector. In-spector. He was staring at the Jeweler's show-case some fifty feet across tii. lobby, before which the foreign am assador had ogled Rosemary. "I like the way they have fitted the electric light to show the Jew. els off better," said Sorran "That's what I call a really artistic touch " CHAPTER XXH. Arrested for Murder llT T'RE tney are. sai'l Sor- n ran- Inspector Dolan, with the old skill he liad acquired in earlier days, looked unobtrusively in the direction of the swinging doors and perceived a couple of men, in badly cut clothes, making ' V i at nut with just the right touch of nervousness ner-vousness toward tho reception office of-fice Here for a moment they held parley with the reception clerk, produced some papers, waitc. while a consultation took place, and then together approached tho show-case. "Don't let those men see that you aro looking at them,' Sorran whis pered to Rosemary To the Inspector Inspec-tor he said: ' You can send a note to one of your men In this place. I presume? There's plenty of time. It will take them twenty minutes at least to shift that show-case." As he spoke he nodded to a page-boy , Inspector Dolan tore a leaf from his pocketbnok. made a note on It and handed it to the page-boy. "Take that to No. 727." he said, for the steel-walled suite had become be-come the headquarters of the detectives de-tectives who were working In the hotel itself. The two men were busy now with the back fastenings of the case. "You sac how they have done Beginning Here Next Sunday FIRE OF YOUTH By Henry James Forman A Throbbing Vital Romance of A merican Life It," Bald Sorran to the Inspector. "There is a display 0f pearl and diamond necklaces and bracelets, probably about a quarter of the whole lot. The remainder, you may be sure. Is concealed beneath the floor of the show-case. "When Weam advised you to come to New York to see life." said Sorran in an undertone to Rose-ni? Rose-ni? "I don't think he reckoned tii SU would actually witness '1- rest of two of his confederal, confeder-al, a charge of murder. you will see It done in a couple of minutes." min-utes." "It's terribly exciting." whispered whis-pered Rosemary "Suppose they show fight?" "If they do that thev will be un lucky." replied Sorran, as ho fingered fin-gered the automatic pistol in his pocket. Here are a couple of our detectives." detec-tives." said the Inspector in an un dertone to Sorran. as two men emerged from the elevator "I sent for four ' The other two detectives arrived within a couple of minutes, and, skilfully avoiding observation,' made a circle round the two nu n at the show-case a circle which slowly converged. ' They'll start work in a minute," said Sorran to Rosemary. "I may be wanted Good-by for the pres. ent." Rosemary laid a detaining hand on his arm. "Be careful, please," she said and there wa that In her voice aa she spoke which gave him the wild thought that she cared quite a lot what happened to him. Sorran reached the show-case as the first of the four detectives stepped forward and addressed the two men. The other three hovered in the background. "I arrest you both on a charn of murder and robberv " said the detective. "Are you going quietly?'" For a moment the an- . r to the question seemed doubtful, whereupon where-upon Sorran. stepping behind the show-case to where they were standing. vt, that he was screened from observation In the lobby, pro. duced his automatic pistol. "I hope you're not going quietly." ho said, "It would be the greatest pleasure In life to kill you both hfre and now. I perceive you are going to rofi me of that nleamire " he added disgustedly, whereupon the other detectives who had come up produced handcuff, to which Ollllneham. fa ntly recognizable through his make-up. and his companion com-panion submitted without a word of protest. Sorran returned to Rosemarv and Inspector Dolan. "Three of the men who exploited your sister's sufferings are now In custody." he said to Rosemary. "The fourth. Weam. will he arrested arrest-ed as soon as the Inspector thinks it necessary." "And that Will be to-night." said Dolan quickly. "It Is all too horrible." said Rosemary. Rose-mary. Turning to the Inspector, she ssfed: "Am I going to be arrested, ar-rested, too?" "No. my dear, you are not." said Inspector Dolnn in his most fatherly father-ly tone, "and you can thank Mr. Sorran lhat we have been saved from making that tragic mistake." Rosemary looked at Sorran us It she were about to speak, but her eyes spoke for her; her lips said Ink nothing. , "It you want to go Into the de- aLQ falls with me. Inspector," said Sor- IR ran hastily, "I am Just going to flw take Mis Wilding back to my sis- J ter, with whom she will spend tho night, and I will tako her home to- K'iL. morrow If she will let me. I will 3 j be with you in your office in half H'gX an hour " Be in HH On tho following day Sorran kept B & his promise to Mrs. Wilding and RH brought Rosemary safely home. To IkJh redeem that promise he had had to Bl outwit not only the smartest com- R9 Mnatlon of crooks in New Yorl- HHi but also th pollc themselves He deemed it the better course to LwS leave Rosemary to break the news K of her sister's death, therefore he aVI stayed in the house but a few min- BJPJ utes. A week later, accompanied by his sister, Doctor Violet Sorran he returned to Past Pennacook with the ostensible object of In- J2 W quiring after Mls Wilding s health His sister's duties were very clear- ly defined, although they had doi been put into words. Doctor Sor- ran's task was to occupy Mrs Wild- j lng's attention and create a favor- j able impression concerning Sor- BmJ!' ran s t'amllv She did her work so well that tS vSonan soon found himself alone with. Rosemary n a secluded cor- IfPv ' 'iJ ner of the garden. She was wear- Kgr-'a mg black, mourning for her sister Hi Her dress threw into vivid c ontrast j the n h coloring of her wine-red 'M hair, the cream whiteness of her Hf a face and throat, of her eves blue-green blue-green as an Irish sea. f Sc'lHi "How I envy yo.i the quiet of this HHri fine old gard.n"' said Sorran feo. ingly. "To think that vou live hero i k, T always, cut ofT from all the turmoil R5 W and excitement of city life!" Sfi'fll Rosemary smiled, and Sorrau Ml watched the smile with quiet on- 2 joyment frjlwSr. "It's beautiful, of course." she said; "but to be quite frank with 3 M X you, it's just a little dull some- IWi -: times " iwi 1 "pull?" echoed Sorran. "Surely fFi you've had enough excitement tu llJfc last you a lifetime. You have been entangled in one of the most LmBIl extraordinary crimes of modern liVLi times- " FVHV "And would "be In prison now If fc sional reputation to save me" she (M broke In passionately. "Why did you take thai risk. Mr Sorran0 Why did you do It?" For answer Sorran looked at her, HHS. and as their eyes met each knew LjFSK-fhe LjFSK-fhe answer to her question. IL made a step toward her and sht Hsf ' did not shrink from him. Kfs . fc "Because I love Vou " ho I breathed. Bt&il The gentle fragrance of her caressed his nostrils, and the next rvSsf? instant he had gathered her In hi-- KVc- arms and crushed her to him. UP-1 Their lips met. IftfTlK "Another score against Inspector Hsl Dolan.' ald Sorran. as he thrust her arm throuch hts and led her Hf 1 to the house, with the Intention of L'f H la;-l-iR before her mother their great decision. HF,r THE END. I Coprribt 10'. o tn totanuMUoul Tcturs Wfc- k |
