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Show II Me iLvill . Slroepltam. . E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM Coprrif hi by Little, Bra and Csbdu "NO, REMORSE" " BTNOPSI3. Francis Ledsam fle-' fends Oliver Hilditeh, a business man, tn a murder case and succeeds suc-ceeds In getting- him oft, only to be told by a, young, prepossessing woman, who says that aha Is Oliver HUdltch's wife, that Hli-ditch Hli-ditch is an arch-crlmlnal and that Ledsam has turned loose a dangerous man to resume his preying upon society, Ledsara dines with his best friend, Andrew An-drew Wllmore meets Hildltch and bla wife. . . , : CHAPTER II Continued. ; 2 Wllmore was puzzled. ' "But she passed you Just now without with-out even a glance or" recognition, and I thought you told me at the club this afternoon that all your knowledge of hli evil ways came from her. Besides, she looks at least twenty years younger than he does." "I can only tell you what I know, Andrew," he said, as he set down his mpty glass. "The woman who Is with Iblm now is the woman who spoke to ma outside tbe Old Bailey thlsejfter- "That work can be well done or 111," the other reminded gently. "In your cane, my presence here proves how well It was done. I wish to present you to my wife, who shares my gratitude." grati-tude." Francis bowed to the woman, who now, at her hushund's words, raised her eyes. For the first time he saw her smile. It seemed to him that the effort made her less beautiful. "Your pleading was very wonderful, Mr. Ledsam," she said, a very subtle note of mockery faintly apparent In ber tone. "We poor mortals find it difficult to understand that with you all that show of passionate earnest-ness earnest-ness Is merely what did you call It a chapter In your day's work? It Is a great gift to be able to argue from the brain and plead as though from the hcurt." "We will not detain Mr. Ledsam," Oliver Hildltch Interposed, a little hastily. "He perhaps does not care to be addressed In public by a client who still carries with him the atmosphere atmos-phere of the prison. My wife and I wondered, Mr. Ledsam, whether you would be good enough to dine with us one night. I think I could Interest you by telling you more about my case than you know at present, and It would give us a further opportunity, and a more seemly one, for expressing our gratitude." Francis had recovered himself by this time. He knew very well that the Idea of that dinner would he horrible hor-rible to him. He also knew that he would willingly cancel every engagement engage-ment he had rather thnn miss It, "You ie very kind," he murmured. "Are . we fortunate enough to find Jou disengaged,"; Hildltch suggested, tomorrow evening?" "1 am quite free," was the ready response. "That suits you, Margaret?" niidltch asked, turning courteously to his wife. For a single moment her eyes were fixed upon those of her prospective guest. He read their message which plended for his refusal, and he denied Is a relief to me to come Into contact with a man who Is free from that bour geols incubus to modern enterprise- a conscience." "Is that your estimate of me?" Fran els asked. "Why not? You practice your pro-fesslon pro-fesslon in the criminal courts, do you notr "That Is well-known." was the brief reply. "What measure of conscience can a man have," Oliver Hildltch argued blandly, "who pleads for the Innocent and guilty alike with the same simulated simu-lated fervor? Confess, now, Mr. Ledsam Led-sam there Is no object In being hypocritical hypo-critical In this matter have you not often pleaded for the guilty as though you believed them Innocent?" "That has sometimes been my duty," Francis acknowledged. ' Hildltch laughed scornfully. "It Is all part of the great hypocrisy of society," he proclaimed. "You have an extra t-luss of champagne for dinner din-ner at night and are congratulated by your friends because you have helped some poor devil to cheat the law, while all the time you know perfectly well, and so do your bigh-mlnded friends, that your whole attitude during those two hours of eloquence has been a He. That is what first attracted me to you,-Mr. Ledsam." "I am sorry to hear It," Francis commented com-mented coldly. "The ethics of my profession" pro-fession" Hi host stopped hira with a little wave of the hand. "Spare me thut," he begged. "While we are on the subject, though, I have a question to ask you. My lawyer told me, directly after he had retained you, that, although It would make no real difference to your pleading, It would be Just as well for me to keep up my bluff of being Innocent, even In private conversation with you. Why was that?" "For the very obvious reason," Francis Fran-cis told him, "that we are not all such rogues and vagabonds as you seem to think. There Is more satisfaction to me, at any rate, In saving an Innocent Inno-cent man's life than a guilty one's." Hildltch laughed as though amused. "Come," he threatened, "I am going to be Ill-natured. You have shown signs of smugness, a quality which I detest. I am going to rob you of some part of your self-satisfaction. Of course I killed Jordan. I killed him In the very chair In which you are now sitting." There was a moment's Intense silence. si-lence. The woman was still fanning herself lazily. Francis leaned forward In his place. "I do not wish to hear this!" he exclaimed harshly. "Don't be foolish," his host replied, rising to his feet and strolling across the room. "You know the whole trouble trou-ble of the prosecution. They couldn't discover the weapon, or anything like It, with which the deed was done. Now I'll show you something Ingenious." Ingeni-ous." Francis followed the other's movements move-ments with fascinated eyes. The woman wom-an scnrcely turned her head. Hildltch paused at the further end of the room, where there were a couple of gun cases, some fishing rods and a bag of golf clubs. From the latter he extracted ex-tracted a very ordinary-looking putter, put-ter, and with It In his hands strolled back to them. "Do you play golf, Ledsam?" he asked. "What do you think of that?" Francis took the putter into his hand. It was a very ordinary club, which had apparently seen a good deal of serv- ; during one of the brief pauses In the conversation, "have you ever tried to analyze this Interest of yours In human beings and crowded cities, this hatred of solitude and empty spaces?" Oliver Hilditeh smiled thoughtfully, and gazed at a salted almond which he was Just balancing between the tips of his fingers. "I think," he said simply, "it is because be-cause I have no soul." The three diners lingered for only s short time over their dessert. Afterwards, After-wards, they passed together Into a very delightful library. Hildltch excused ex-cused himself for a moment. "I have some cigars which I keep In my dressing room," he explained, "and which I am anxious for you to try. There Is an electric stove there and I can regulate the temperature." He departed, closing the door behind him. Francis came a little further into the room. His hostess, who had sul sided Into an ensychalr and was holding a screen between her face and the fire, motioned him to seat himself opposite. He did so without words. He felt curiously and ridiculously tongue-tied. He fell to studying the woman instead of attempting' the banality ba-nality of pointless speech. From the smooth gloss of her burnished hair, to the aulntlness of her low. black brocaded shoes, she represented, so fur as her physical and outward self were concerned, absolute perfection. No 6rnament was amiss, no line or curve of her figure other than perfectly perfect-ly graceful. Yet even the fire's glow which she had seemed to dread brought no flush of color to her cheeks. Her nppenrnnce of complete ltfelessness remained. It was as though some sort of crust had formed about her being, a condition which her very physical perfection seemed to render the more Incomprehensible. "You are surprised to see me here living with my husband, after what I told you yesterday afternoon?" she said calmly, breaking at last the silence si-lence which had reigned between them. "1 am," he admitted. "It seems unnatural to you, I suppose?" sup-pose?" "Entirely." "You still believe all that I told you?" "I must." She looked at the door and raised her head a little, as though either listening or adjudging the time before be-fore her husband would return. Then she glanced across at him once more. "Hatred," she said, "does not always drive away. Sometimes It attracts. Sometimes the person who hates can scarcely bear the other out of his sight. That is where hate and love are somewhat alike." The room was warm, but Francis was conscious of shivering. She rulsed her finger warningly. It seemed typical of tho woman, somehow, that the message could not be conveyed by any glance or gesture. "He Is coming," she whispered. Oliver Hildltch reappeared, carrying cigars wrapped In a gold foil, which he had brought with him from Cuba, the tobacco of which was a revelation, to 10 b, Hill Street, regretting his Inability Inabil-ity to dine that night, and each time he destroyed It. He carried the first message around Richmond golf course with him, Intending to dispatch his caddy with It Immediately on the conclusion con-clusion of the round. The fresh air. however, and the concentration required re-quired by the game, seemed to dispel the nervous apprehensions with which he hnd anticipated his visit, and over an aperitif In the club bar he tore the telegram Into small pieces and found himself even able to derive a cetrain half-fearful pleasure from the thought of meeting aguln the woman who, together to-gether with her, terrible story, had never for one moment been out of his thoughts, Andrew Wllmore, who had observed his action, spoke of t as they settled down to lunch. "So you are going to keep your engagement en-gagement tonight, Francis?" he observed. ob-served. The latter nodded. "After nil, why not?" he asked, a little lit-tle defiantly. "It ought to be Interesting." Interest-ing." "Well, there's nothing of the sordid criminal, at any rate, about Oliver Hilditeh," Wllmore declared. "Neither, If one comes to think of It, does his wife appear to be the prototype of suffering virtue. I wonder if you are wise to go, Francis?" "Why not?" the man who had asked himself that question a dozen times already, demanded. "Because," Wllmore replied coolly, "underneath that steely hardness of manner for which your profession Is responsible, you have a vein of sentiment, senti-ment, of chivalrous sentiment, I should say, which some day or other Is bound to get you Intd trouble. The woman Is beautiful enough to turn any one's heud. As a matter of fact, I believe that you are more than half In love with her already." Francis Ledsam sat where the sunlight sun-light fell upon his strong, forceful fuce, shone, too, upon the table with its simple but pleasant appointments, upon the tankard of beer by his side, upon the plate of roast beef to which he was already doing ample Justice. He laughed with the easy confidence of a man awakened from some haunting haunt-ing nightmare, relieved to find his feet once more firm upon the ground. "I have been a fool to take the whole matter so seriously, Andrew," he declared. "I expect to walk back to Clarges street tonight, disillusioned. The man will probably present me with a gold pencil case, and the woman " "Well, what about the woman?" Wllmore Wll-more asked, after a brief pause. "Oh, I don't know!" Francis declared, de-clared, a little Impatiently. "The woman wom-an is the mystery, of course, Probably Prob-ably my brain was a little over-excited when I came out of court, and what I Imagined to be an epic was nothing more than a tissue of exaggerations from a disappointed wife. However, I'm sure I'm doing the right thing to go there." The two men returned to town together to-gether afterwards, Wllmore to the if . "Tomorrow evening will suit me as well as any other," she acquiesced, aftpr a brief pause. "At eight o'clock, then number 10 b, Hill Street." Hildltch concluded. Francis bowed and turned away with a murmured word of polite assent. as-sent. Outside, he found Wllmore deep In tno discussion of the merits of various va-rious old brandies with an Interested maltre d'hotel. "Any choice, Francis?" his host Inquired. In-quired. "None whatever," was the prompt reply, "only, for God's sake, give me a double one quickly!" The two men were on the point of departure when Oliver Hilditeh and his wife left the restaurant. As though conscious that they had become the subject of discussion, as Indeed wss the case, thanks to the busy whispering of thevarlous waiters, they passed without lingering through the lounge Into the entrance hall, where "I. HaveTJever Listened to So Hor-. Hor-. , rible a Recital In My Life." noon. We went to a tea-shop together. She told me the story of his career. I ' have never listened to so horrible a recital In my life." "And yet they are here together, dining din-ing tete-a-tete, on a night when It must bave needed more than ordinary courage cour-age for either of them to huve been seen In public at all," Wllmore pointed out "It Is as astounding to me as It Is to you," Francis confessed. "From the way she spoke, I should never have dreamed that they were living together." to-gether." "And from hli appearance," Wllmore remarked, as he called tho nuitor t Mmwm Ice, so much, Indeed, thnt the leather wrapping at the top was commencing (to unroll. The maker's name was on the back of the blade, also the name of the professional from whom It had been purchased. Francis swung the Implement mechanically with his wrists. "There seems to be nothing extraordinary extra-ordinary about the club," he pronounced. pro-nounced. "It Is very much like a cleek I putt with myself." "Yet It contulns a secret which would most certainly bave hanged me," Oliver Ol-iver Hilditeh declared pleasantly "See!" lie held the shaft firmly In one hand and bent the blade away from it. In a moment or two It yielded and he commenced to unscrew It. A little exclamation escaped from Francis' lips. The woman looked on with tired eyes. "The Join In the steel," Hildltch pointed out, "Is so fine as to be tin-distinguishable tin-distinguishable hy the linked eye. Yet when the blade 'comes off, like this, you see that altlmuch the weight Is absolutely adjusted, the Inside Is hoi-low. hoi-low. The dagger Itself encased In this cotton wool to avoid any rattling I put it awny In rather a hurry the last time I used It, and as you see I forgot to clean It." Francis stairgered back and gripped at the mantelpiece. His eyes were filled with horror. Very slowly, and with the air of one engaged upon sniiie Interesting task. Oliver Hildltch had removed the blood stained sheath of cotton wool from around the thin blade of n marvelous-looking stiletto, on which was also a long stuin of encrusted en-crusted blood. "There Is a bundle," be went on, "which 1m perhaps (be most Ingenious thing of nil. You touch a spring here, and behold !" He pressed down two tiny supports which opened upon hinges about four Inches from the top of the hnndlo. There wis now a complete hilt, "My death Is the one thing In the world which would make my wife happy." (TO MB CONTINUED.) bring some cigarettes, "I should never bave Imagined that he was anything else save a hlgh-prlnclpled, well-bora tralghtforward sort of chap. I never aw a less criminal type of face." They each In turn glanced at the subject sub-ject of their discussion. Oliver 1111-ditch's 1111-ditch's good looks had been the subject of many press comments during the last few days. They were certainly . nndenlable. Ills face was a little lined, but his hair was thick and brown. His features were regular, his forehead blgh and thoughtful, his mouth a trifle thin but straight and shapely. Francis fazed at him like a man entranced. The hours seemed to have slipped away. He was back In the tea shop, . listening to the woman who poke of terrible things. He felt again his shivering shiv-ering abhorrence of her cold, clearly narrated story. Again he shrunk from the horrors from which with merciless fingers she had stripped the coverings. He seemed to see once more the agony In ber white fsce, to hear the eternal pain aching and throbbing In her monotonous mo-notonous tone. He rose suddenly to . his feet. "Andrew,',' he begged, "tell the fel- . low to bring the hill outside. We'll have our coffee and liqueurs there." Wllmore acquiesced willingly enough, but even as they turned towards the door Ftancls realized what was In store for him, Oliver Hildltch bad risen to his feet. Willi a courteous little gesti're lie Intercepted the passerby. pass-erby. Francln found himself standing sld by side with the man for whose life he bad pleaded that afternoon, within a few feet of the woman whose terrible story seemed to have poisoned the very atmosphere he breathed, to have shown him a new horror tn life, to have temporarily, at any rate, un- . dermlned every Joy and ambition be possessed. "Mr. Ledsam," Hilditeh snld, speaking speak-ing with quiet dignity. "I hope tlmt yoo will forgive the liberty I take In spi'iiklni; to you here. I looked for yon the moment I was free this afternoon, after-noon, but found that you bad left the court. 1 owe you my good name, probably prob-ably my life. Thniiks are poor things but Ihey must be spoken." j "You owe me nothing nt n II. Francis Fran-cis replied, lu a tone which even lie found harsh. "I hud a brief before me and a cause to plea I. It wus i hauler out ff my dl'y wofsv Francis and Andrew Wllmore were already al-ready waiting for a taxlcab. Almost as they appeared, a new arrival was ushered through the main entrance, followed by porters carrying luggage. He brushed past Francis so closely that the latter looked Into his face, half attracted and half repelled by the waxen-like complexion, the piercing pierc-ing eyes, and the dignified carriage of the man whose arrival seemed to be creating some stir In the hotel. A reception re-ception clerk and a deputy mnnaeer had already hastened forward. The newcomer waved them back for a moment bareheaded, he hnd taken Margaret HUdltch's hands In his and raised them to his lips. "I came as quickly as I could," he said. "There was the usual delay, of course, at Marseilles, and the trains on were terrible. So all has ended well." Oliver Hildltch, standing by, remained re-mained speechless. It seemed for a moment as though his self-control were subjected to a severe strain. "I had the good fortune," he Interposed, Inter-posed, In a low tone, "to be wonderfully wonder-fully defended. Mr. Ledsam here ". He glanced around. Francis, with some Idea of what was coming, obeyed an Imaginary summons from the head porter, touched Andrew Wllmore upon tbe shoulder, and hastened without s backward glance through the swing doors. Wllmore turned up his coat collar and looked doubtfully up at the rain. "I sny, old chap," he protested, "you don't really mean to walk?" Francis thrust his hand through his friend's arm nnd wheeled Mm round into Pavis street. "I don't care what the mischief we' (io. Andrew," he confided, "but couldn't you nee what was going to happen? Oliver Hildltch was going to Introduce me as his preserver to the man who had Just arrived !" "Are you aflllcted with modesty, nil of a sudden?" Wllmore grumbled. "No, remorse," was the terse reply. re-ply. CHAPTER III Indecision boil never been one of Francis Ledsarn's faults, but four times during tbe following day he wrote out a carefully worded telegraphic telegraph-ic message to Mrs. Oliver Hildltch, club and Francis to his rooms In Clarges street to prepare for dinner. At a few minutes to eight he rang the bell of number 10 b, Hill street, and found his host and hostess awaiting him In the small drawing-room Into which he was ushered. It seemed to him that the woman, still colorless, again marvelously gowned, greeted him coldly. His host, however, was almost too effusive.' There was no other guest, but the prompt announcement announce-ment of dinner dispelled what might huve been a few moments of embarrassment embar-rassment after Oliver HUdltch's almost too cordial greeting. The woman laid her fingers upon her guest's coat sleeve. The trio crossed the little hall almost In silence. Pinner was served In a smull white Georgian dining room, with every appurtenance ap-purtenance of almost sybaritic luxury. Tbe only light In the room was thrown upon the table by two purple-shaded electric lamps, and the servants who waited seemed to pass backwards and forwards like sbndows In some mysterious mys-terious twilight even the faces of the three diners themselves were out of the little pool of light until they leaned forward. The dinner was chosen with taste nnd restraint, tbe wines were not only costly but rare. A watchful butler, attended now nnd then by a trim parlor maid, superintended the service, only once, when she ordered a bowl of flowers removed from the table, did their mistress address either of them. Conversation after the first few amenities speedily became Hlmost a monologue. One man talked whilst tbe others listened, and the limn who talked was Oliver Hlltlltch. He possessed pos-sessed the rare gift of Imparting color and actuality In a few phrases to the strange places of which be spoke, of bringing the very thrill of strange happenings hap-penings Into the shadowy room. It seemed thut there was scarcely n country coun-try of the world which be bad not visited, vis-ited, a country, that Is to sny, where men congregate, for he admitted from the first that be was a city worshiper, that the empty places possessed no chnrm for him. "I am not even a sportsman," he confessed con-fessed once, half apologetically, In reply re-ply to a question from bis guest. My only desire hns been to reach the next place where men and women were. Some day we will talk of them." "Tell me," Francis asked his host, "Sometimes the Person Who Hates Can Scarcely Bear the Other Out of His Sight." his guest. The two men smoked and sipped their coffee nnd brandy. The woman sat with half elos.-d eyes. It was obvious that Hildltch wus still In the mood for speech. "I will tell you, Mr. Ledsam," be wild, "why 1 am so happy to bave you here this evening. In the first place, desire to tender you once more my thanks for your very brilliant efforts on my behalf. Tke very fact that I nm able to offer you hospitality nt all Is without a doubt due to these." "I only did what I wr-s paid tn do," Francis Insisted, a little harshly. "You must remember that these things come In tbe day's work with us." Ills host nodded. "Naturally," he murmured. "There was another reason, too, why I wn$ anxious to meet you, Mr. Ledsam," he continued. "You have gathered already al-ready that I am something of s crank. I have u profound detestation of all sentimentality and affected morals. It |
