Show CA 5 pathe I 1 P roq TC C J ia dramatized AND in PICTURES lyme COMPANY COn PAMY COPYRIGHT 19 16 EIGHTH EPISODE s the glove and nd the ring VI 1 I ask nothing of life except death 11 said bald marchese barla the one thing life cant give answered christopher race they were werd sitting together at flor tans lans in venice atone of the out of doors dwors ta tables batiles tiles they had met for the first time that evening at nine when the place had bail been been crowded and they had been forced to sit bit down at a table together if f they would sit at all the marchese barla had find talked more than christopher because every inch of christopher kace was english while ahe he marchese barla was half italian andrad and had lived in italy for more than half his twenty six years he knew th athIs new friend was a gentleman chauffeur who mho had conducted a party of american Amerlean ladles froni from london to venice where they had embarked in a friends yacht and left their guide to go home alone in ills car scarlet runner but of him christopher had been told far fai more ile he knew that barla had loved a lady the most beautiful ti fulon on earth ne cording according to her lover that they had been engaged and that then he had lost some thousands of pounds and had received an adverse opinion tori concerning ills his health from an eminent doctor the lady admired strong men and threw darla barla over oyer to take one whose lungs and whose bank account were both more satisfactory than hta his she was now the wife of this person who happened to ta be a prince and the marchese barla baria wished to forget her ber as soon its as possible the only way vay in which he hyfelt felt himself able to td do this ads w as by death and at present he NY was a s e engaged in shortening the short lease of life given him by his doctor by taking too much huoh alcohol ile he had promised his english mother on her deathbed that never in tiny any circum stances Bt ances would he follow the example set by one or two of his fathers hot blooded anc ancestors ancestor eitor s and commit suicide noxious microbes mic robes had refused to infect him he could not take uphold fever or any other disease warranted to carry offa off a delicate patient buhe but he had hopes of pneumonia that ans I 1 ns why he had chosen to sit out of doors on an unseasonably chill cold rainy dalny night clad inthe in the lightest of garments it Is really very ery damp and the mist gets into ones bones it ile he asked cheerfully christopher assented so far as the Mar Ilar cheses chege s bones were concerned he refrained from adding that according to the newest theories cold hurts nobody bedya and ad chilled chalk il nothing but intrusive microbes mic robes albiny all my people are dead you see except a few particularly healthy ones whom I 1 dislike extremely went on barla so 5 ou see ive no one to live for ifan ican ilo do more for society by making a wilf will than by existing I 1 suppose you by any chance be induced er to Ve b e charitable and put an end to me glad as I 1 should ile be to give you ou pleasure said christopher im afraid 1 I must draw drav the line at murder Is it murder to annihilate a person whose onex one wish vIsh Is to die I 1 im inclined to think the law would regard li it so but and christopher Chil stopher spoke poke slowly as ifon if on mature deliberation ill tell you what whai I 1 can do you say youre trying a course of freezing treatment to hurry up matters matter well this is june but its more like october y we weather a ther and I 1 can give you a long N strong dose of cold air lu in my motor t 0 N V 1 I am afraid I 1 must draw the line at murder what about coming on with me until you pick up pneumonia or tar it not that a violent attack of inflammation of the lungs or even pleurisy as midy do if it soon stop raining mining you ard a good fellow I 1 exclaimed baran i the moment we exchanged our first words I 1 felt you would be a friend they started next morning their ray lay led through southern country where the days should have been sum eum but the weather bei was ab normal there were cold winds a and nd bursts of ritia which delighted the marchese marchee barla ile he would wear no overcoat and insisted upon sitting in front beside christopher each night lie he ex e to be 11 ll if but tie lie lind had instead ain an enormous appetite and slept as helian he and not slept since the marriage of his faithless lady they drove through padua and verona and on to alessandria so across the plain of lombardy to cuneo all by easy stages and when tile the sun clione on them again barla no longer coughed now scarlet runner was set to climb the mighty barrier of the alps which shuts off piedmont from the mediterranean ra llean and darkness had fallen for the third time since her start when she had passed through the long tunnel of the col dl di tenda and had bogun begun to descend past san dalmazzo into the valley of the royal roya christopher would have stopped fit at tenda while it was still dusk tor for great a as was his faith in fit the healing power of fresh air he knew it would be cold in that narrow pass among the mountains perhaps dangerously cold for the patient lie he was secretly doctoring but the marchese wis wished lidd to go on scarlet runners Eun ners lamps and searchlight threw a blinding glare ahead as the car picked its way round sharp curve after sharp curve of rock down the slippery road they had met no vehicle since passing the gloomy barracks far away up the col and no pedestrian since san dalmazzo nevertheless christopher was prudent and caused ills his siren to send out a melancholy wall wail of at each turn odthe narrow road yet suddenly taking a quick curve tile the car all but dashed into the IL loader ader of three horses drawing a market cart instantly christopher put on the brake and stopped tile the motor just in time to save disaster but not in time to avoid frightening the horses the leader swerved and would have plunged over the precipice dragging dr agal n g the other two horses and the great covered cart with him had not barlit sprung butof out of the car and seized him by bi the rein k it w was as admirably done not the act of a world weary invalid but of alert youth quick to think and do because full of interest in life christopher began scolding in french the invisible driver of the cart deserve to be in the river lie he shouted bor or in jail for not lighting up I 1 and on a road like this I 1 the matter with you are you drunk or only asleep still no answer nothing moved in the darkness under the big white hood which arched over theeart th the ecart cart As barla held the head of the gray leader who seemed anxious to get on christopher peered under the cover of the cart for a moment he wits was silent then theft lie he gave an exclamation theres nobody to be seen in tile the cart yet something holds the reins its so dark I 1 cant see what lie he hurried back to scarlet runner anil and got out the electric lantern ile he flashed its white rity ray into the dark tunnel under the calivas canvas roof empty egg boxes were piled and tumbled in confusion on the broken bicken heap lay iny a womans comans cloak of blue cloth torn from collar to hem and half hidden under the olds folds of this garment which had bad not been made to cover cover the shoulders of a carters wife a handsome though small mail traveling bilig bag of alligator skin gaped wi empty as if it had ben wrenched open in mad bind haste or fury and on the back of the drivers seat a little gray gauntleted glove held the reins and was itself kept in place by a knife which pinned ft fast both the delicate kid and heavy leather the glove seemed so clearly to r retain e the shape of the fingers it had once protected that at first glance it was as lf if aw a omans hand cut from tile the arm were nailed to tife the wood by that dagger like knife and a dark smeared stain on the back of the glove added an ugly realism 40 to the illusion christopher climbed on the step of the cart and was peering within it is blood on the glove he said a light smear of it dry or almos almost adry dry whatever has happened here must have happened an hour or more ago and theres something in one of the algers fingers something small and hard with an effort he wrenched out the knife which scabbed glove and reins and wood the dainty bit of gauntleted gray suede was released release d its a ring I 1 he exclaimed A queer ring with a shield of red enamel and a raised black and gold crest on it IL As lie he spoke he gathered the reins into his own control and clambered on to the seat at once the horses knew that they were under guidance the leader ceased to start and tremble but stood still barla let go the animals head and as keenly alert with curiosity as if lie had never lost interest in the things of this world he ran to see what lie he had heard described she was a gentlewoman young and beautiful perhaps lie he said staring nt at ring and glove glow sapt maria I 1 we must got get to the bottom of this shall we go on in your sour edras car as gewere we were going and trace tho the mystery step by step along the road by which this cart has come have you no planel plan a asked the marchese titillation impatiently nily wo we m must us t do something ive a thought not a plan did you notice anything pec peculiar ullar about the gray lender leader only that lies hes an unusually good horse to draw a market cart iles hes got wod blood in him what I 1 meant lies iles almost as mysterious as everything else about the cart more like ilke aa n riding horbe than a cart horse favorite favori tb well liell hell lead the others tind and the cart back to where w here lie he c came a in from mackto where that somebody Is waiting for him 11 good I 1 said the 11 marchese are liege thrilling at the thought of the danger the mystery 7 ahad good I 1 buethe but the car ar well tow her lights out behind the ille cart so sa eliat she may make no noise you shall sit jn her to steer put on the brake brak e if necessary ill ile he low in the cart ready tor for anything with my revolver demay we may be going into a den of thle thieves and assassins said barla cli cheering bering up as he prepared to change pla places ces with alth race ilace if to so said christopher trailing the ray of ills his lantern along the canvas cover of tile the cart it may not be long before wo get there look I 1 heres the name of the owner or alleged owner Bavel ll Val Va eglo legio va logios that village you remember whose lights wo we saw twinkling far above us about halt half an tour bour ago as we came down the pasi pass christ christopher oilier lying among the file egg boxes the reins held loosely in ills his hand ills his revolver ready let the gray lender go at its ills own pace and in ills own way soon as he had prophesied the gray horse turned without hesitation at a rough branch branchi road lending leading steeply uphill par far above hung the lights of high Va Val legio eglo like a thin crescent made of yellow stars but the cart was wag still a long distance below the level el of the mountain village when the gray horse hoise hoi se abruptly took another turn confidently he walked through tin an open gateway yawning yarning black in a rough stone wall and in the darkness race knee was aware that a man lunn lidid leaped up and out of some hiding hole to lead the horse as the gray shape glimmered towards him soon the bulk of a house loomed a blacker mass against the blackness of the sky A halt half open door let a flood of yellow light flow out into a stone paved courtyard and huddled in the doorway race could see several figures looking out the man who had glitt guided led the leader came towards the cart asking a question as he approached but lie he spoke no language which christopher race had L ver ever heard before when no answer some inner limer door opened and for an instant a tall and magnificent old man with long white hair falling ow on the collar of a curiously fashioned brown cont coat appeared on the threshold whatever happens dont let him be seen 1 cried ono one of the men quickly in italian at this the woman ran ahead into the houss house pushing the tall old manewith roan man with her hep hands on his breast then shutting the door lie he had opened bolted it it preventing his appen appearance rance they were now nil all inside the lighted room a big farm kitchen with whitewashed walls and only one other door besides the door of exit dirl stopher nikl and burin barlit saw themselves yelves s tit at the mercy of fl live e young men nil fill tall and broad shouldered beyond the common and not one beyond the ugo ago of thirty the woman stood before the door she had just locked pale and trembling are you sou going to kill them she asked we are going to execute them answered the oldest of the five men whose age could not have been much beyond thirty what else they are spies and worse then having quiet withe edthe girl lils ills young wife perhaps in her native tongue lie he had be begun gunto to speak again in ills own language to his brothers when barla baria interrupted in italian you had find better make sure first that we are aie spies my friend can speak only french and english he Is an englishman from london 1 I half E english ng halt half italian ills his name Is christopher race I 1 am lorenzo arnese marchese Mai cheso darla barla of venice we came liere here as av engers not ns as spies bples it if you ou miss any ft lends friends of yours from the cut cart you ou had better question us then if we see reason to think you as innocent as we nye are aie we will answer and meanwhile if you doubt our identity we w e have ha e papers s as well w ell ais as an automobile to prove it ills impudence was impressive TI the e few men consulted together asked a few questions and got dramatic answers nn with a description of the meeting of cart and car on tile the road and what had been found under the canvas earn as cover coer As lie he finished barla baria showed the glove gloe and ring and at tile the sight of them the tide of angry suspicion turned tinned against him and ills his friend again until christopher Chil stopher whipped out ill alio knife which ila had held the reins fast tell them where we found it and win why we came hoie here lie he said to barla the men still guarding their prisoners but no longer wholly antagonistic looked at the knife it is russian commented the eldest in a low voice to ills his comrades con nades that one word woid russian spoken in italian was a clue instantly In seized by both itice and darla barla the hin which they had find not been able to com coin W ww V g 41 al pe 01 MO 4 what he saw was christopher his revolver cocked and aimed followed he sprang forward to cart what lie saw raw was christopher sitting up his revolver cocked and aimed with a roar of rage he risked death and leaped at the stranger as a tiger leaps aind christopher did not fire in an instant the courtyard was echoing with cries and footfalls barla fearless and excited had bad dashed out of the car and run forward at tile the sound of the first cry waving a revolver 1 but he could not fire for three tall men had torn christopher race ence out of the cart and wrenched his weapon awny away then suddenly someone seized his armi arms front from behind tind and snatched ills fe revolver volver its as it inadvertently in the air and at the same panic moment a Nv omans voice shrieked in italian an automobile an automobile I 1 baria and christopher were dragged towards the house unarmed now and well nigh helpless in the grasp of four or five strong men was russian these mens features were russian why did you jou come to us the last speaker asked in italian and darin barla prompted now and then by christopher to explained with perfect frankness we elwe wanted to know who had plotted the murder if |