Show map im 1 A awash CHAPTER IX continued 15 1 I 1 cabled to england tor for some boine in hi formation in tact fact I 1 did dad sl BO on tuesday th day after yuu you first flowed nie me the book bookplate If he edrew drew from tits his pocket a blue huff finif sheet of papel and landed h it to ake tia jus to make a beginning he wenton assumed from the medical bookplate and from the frigate that colfax might have had some customer who hart with ships or doctors su so I 1 cabled my iny secretary to tind find out what tie fie could for rue me abata till bit answer 1 I 1 read tb the cablegram made thorough dolfax Invest ign HOD stop family died out eighteen sixty nine step last member It Itle Ichard hurd colfax son of hugh eighteen hundred eighteen sixty nine stop served chile dardanelles Darda nelles stop no cull connect lm loi among family or clientele His stor torys ys always to he into account in studying bookplates ol of course I 1 agreed 1 I am are there was a crimean war I 1 have even heard beard of the british fleet passing the dardanelles Darda nelles in 1848 but i must fiut he be troy tray my ignorance as to when great brinnin gnp at war with will chile the colit aln most politely refused the opportunity presented to him to smile she never was he rejoined 1 I 1 believe though gb tit that at a brifil british sh fleet went to the aid of chile title whet when that country revolted front from spain then sald said 1 a little surer ot ol m mi ground hut but not quite ready to ault quote exact dates since those south american countries revolted in the early part 0 the nineteenth century that was st about the time too no when richard colfax was beginning hla his naval career if he entered the service in suppose he served in that heet fleet you mention suppose he be mode made some so sort rt of connection in ahlf hemisphere what about some borne ground in that event for there being an original colnai book bookplate just what I 1 surmised 1 J wanted to see ii if confirm it cried the captain delighted even if its south american and not north the points worth looking into and ill do that at once once 1 A rapid search through reference catalogues cataloguer catal revealed that Clarl hews notes had bad been issued in an edition of three hundred numbered copies the number of our copy which oppe ored on the title page was but bubbo iso far ai I 1 could go back baci in sales reports a thorough search brought no trace whatever Q of INi number aw 11 9 I 1 however Ip wever athis this fact prove proved 4 one thing ng of at bleuit beust number tind had very seldom changed banged hands hands it had be longed to judge budge I eacott then why were family so resolved to get possess possession lion of it for the key was that connected with avith charles clinkles Clin rles hinel vors offer ol of a liberal settlement the night before did tie he know of n some treasure ati hidden dpn condet lock loch and keys key to which he allu dedi but why should a key belonging to the grosvenor connect connection lon he be 10 cota b cealey ceci led in a law ina hook there were no lawyers in that annilly no there were ivere not annl and then as a I 1 reread its title for the the live hundredth time in thelast the lust six datys 1 suil suddenly denly got art an idea tills this title wits was notes note on medical Sta statutes lutes in the virginia code and mr brog lenors father had h id neen been n doctor a virginian he hurt had practiced nt a time when he would awl need just such a pro reference hook and the he reni or fir counterfeit was a physIc hins book bookplates 14 I 1 nearly eldoi cliot out of my chilli chair wn addressed cd the clerks collectors nil all ahert you are folks I 1 lust just give nie me time I 1 dont need eternity after till nil when smi denly my joyful emol lims iino ailt mid all with paralysis for mr case who nad hod hardly ap alp t lifred li ired in the shop oil all morning usi usually jully on saturdays he bp was wn jowh nowhere ere else was wap last cuing past roe me out ol ni ohp front door 1119 ah truce siire was so quiet that 11 see seemed med almost stealthy ile he within wit lil n ii a yard ot of tile me und dirt not bof nil n alee me ine I 1 nevet never lind hurt seen been any fave so s terribly ns nr tits his bijai in tile the world haipt ti ned to hins him now or what had tie he atine bowl now I 1 felt fell mure alj el lually I 1 ian I 1 had seen him biro RI B L ny my desk day night tir for now it would havi been impossible wit not to pity him what ever ones one CHAPTER X shocks assorted I dispatched Vii janin note ng as tile clock begun to strike noon of af in wilkert mr almy eimil ing eva more alive titan than ever bin bill before he fie hd had the d amr owr the tele lele I 1 phone rang yes ves hit arts said L yes yea thul that Is currert correct it nut hu turned up it la Is here vea delalis will be when I 1 see you you wh h hata hat oh mr jal lily valt mr almy pl Misel ait vey eo yes yea I 1 ansler stolid I 1 will do so I lin merence frence could it muke make to me ane all right I 1 bilog oil u mr hir hubert has ha just inquired it 11 you ym it 11 ve tir rived 1 11 iju 0 mr altu ivill louril calla tuv aroll 1 I 1 tell teli maddea mill th a 8 hornet and elal altig to H message b at mr r doherta flobert lo herta it ile HP united alike alke lr le see you ot of once in M mr r tn v ril fiak jp in it if we mij maj hate tt it yu YIU nui lier he be has tiac gone atul by AGNES MILLER IL L JE R service serle SS 0 by the century C co GUBB out yes just a few in ego ago and ADO if you so BO der desire ire mr roberts huberts suggests my air joining the two of you there later very well we may have quite a session I 1 should be glud glad it if urt come as soon cs as you vua can please mr almy nodded and passed on then I 1 took my bug bag and from it I 1 toots took Clarl hews notes and from that I 1 took the key the bookplate plate anti and the lie key I 1 then returned to the hag bag I 1 next rose and at random snatched for I 1 was growing less calm a file of it print from froin one of the shelves near my deshond ran through it searching for some ocre bookplate of small value A laurel arenth encircling a with a navarre like ilke plume boiling off one ne side and and tile the inspiring motto rather pleased my janod I 1 swept the paste brugh across it t and pd it ft down on the first inside cover of the law book entirely covering the marks ol of the original book plate and the hiding place of the key such indeed had bad just beep m ray orders from froin mr me roberts huberts and their purpose none other than to prepare the book for hp hands of miss wll wil lesl kesi for she would shortly appear to demand it it mr darrow bad been re reached achec by her plea and had viewed the uffer of her cousin magistrate buddes with will favor and I 1 was to be the agent to deliver the prize to her mr roberts Il had even even chuckled about it it well here she come came I 1 could hear icicles swaying in the gale i oh bliss wilkes I 1 cr cried led before she was half halfway way up the aisle it perfectly glorious 1 you know what I 1 mean I 1 waved tle the book bholi coyly S h hl I 1 tucked it into her hand the icicles were slightly less audible miss wilkes majestic countenance proclaimed that while she had bad much to forgive she could afford to be magnanimous if it was not nol in deed her duty now be th the e last person on earth to find fault with anyone for being over I 1 suggested blandly especially responded miss interpreting this remark ni as she was intended to one of my own gra graduates as I 1 call them well by hyl bagood be good to yourself fl 1 the same to you I 1 sold bald 1 I feeling certain my would be fulfilled and pick g up my bag b ig I 1 went to n join mr almy nad and mr roberts Il at the rear may we have the lie key and the bookplate book plate please miss bliss fuller requested quested al mr r almy admy without preliminaries 11 ll in oh do you know all about them I 1 I f exclaimed producing them ile he knows what you told me yesterday said mr roberts Ito beris and how did the lost book come coine to light again I 1 stuffed smiled and butt both men who were extremely se serious ilous looked surprised perhaps I 1 begun began mr almy allay has told you he met me in miss bliss gros lenors apartment lust last night I 1 had bad gone aone to stay will miss bliss burton the saving feature of the occasion caslon ur in a double sense was miss bliss burton herself she stole that hat book I 1 miss bliss burton stole etole that billat bobki ejaculated both mr air roberts and mr almy equally dumfounded dum founded I 1 silo she took it at lauon yesterday I 1 when my back was turned tu to keep as aa she thought miss walkes kes from froin it her brother bud also warned het hei that brandou Bran diu rower tidd had goinie to the shop und anti she tl mutt tie be va the bork book tou au liny inai of ailin mr almy he fie nodded tonkins boking up from the pinte and do you yon know hannd ht and shurles macivor ire the same that thai time I 1 certainly gut got tin an effect mr roberts birts bon tided out fl ef his chair nud nod repented repeated my wh h haar ot of a few minifies previous lous while mr almy auld down the bookplate honk plate and looked loo lel tit at me lie without moving a muscle thet he said well I 1 thought so eo but bul I 1 was ivae not certain bank you miss bliss fuller how flow did yuu you because ne caubo nuncy nancy burton identities him when mr appeared appen red through the window she thought him sir mr to IV lr in search of the book and disappeared through the doo to tier her own apartment site she hid tile the b twit bk k under tinder her buttress mut tress and went rent to steep on top of iti she gave me the in formation when 1 i camp came upstairs hot hill may maj I 1 ask ash how you associated mr with air tower 1 I 1 suspected a connection from the of 0 mr towers efforts extorts to tit gel miss Bur totts or ruthei mr air flur Bl irions tons suitcase replied mr allay mabl ams 0 of tills this morning I 1 spent trying to A trigger Trl I 1 echoed dear me that sounds lika a gun 11 11 identify with tower hul but without success I 1 admit tj n tj I 1 youl st statement just now cow sprit ant IRs night for or tits hla lawyer M mr r billiard and declined absolutely to talk tie he has been formally chu charged aged with sell ing the stolen bonds and Is nw nony out on ball I 1 tried to have iden tiby him as the low student customer nod and also as the felloe fello burton at ached here on monda hut but he c do tl it the passage of sev eral days ninde him too uncertain why you ask me to I 1 de in nan ded you your 1 I can do it I 1 after I 1 had looked at alm naru a few min minutes tiles last iasi night in Nori nandy terrace ter ruce I 1 him not only as that customer but also as the mun man who came in here on thursday whom I 1 saw at in desk at a quartee past ten en when I 1 was standing up on the abe south gallery lo in the dark mr aliby afify pondered a wiatte to in aill jl ence lence then he said well its as long as wat was seen and here night tieh liell chiave to callip arross with the rest of the sooner or of loer infer at al youve told us Is very unexpected ani and useful 1 I always felt miss burton to tw be ty ta x t Y iett it afa tt rather on an intelligent girl observed mr roberts with ills his native tact see here broke to in mr allay on t this bix revised version resuming his study of the bookplate the sixteen tits silts on till this X yellow ellow slip do correspond to the slots on that cube in the picture just its as miss bliss fuller noticed I 1 believe they could have been made by that instrument for it if I 1 might venture it a guess after looking at this hla very small picture I 1 should say there might be blades concealed inside it one for each cube and this tiling thing on tot top like a bandle any how Is it a trigger I 1 wonder A trigger I 1 echoed dear me I 1 sounds like it gun now I 1 hoard heard agun a gun last night where in the grosvenor Grosve nur apartment mr almy allay pricked up his ears tell me about it he ordered you mention it before why not ot 7 it passed out of my mind see why I 1 heard it just after charles macivor entered the room through the window I 1 heard this loud click and nut knowing who he was of course I 1 jumped to the conclusion that be was it a housebreaker and armed miss bliss burton also recognized tho the sound in the excitement of oil nil that had bad hii happened since I 1 forgot about the noise mr albiny ind been listening carefully now abw he said 1 I wanted to see you not only about the matter of the returned taw law book miss fuller I 1 am going to request you to accompany me this afternoon to miss Grosve nors especially in inthe tha light of these new facts you hove have re ported she must be urged to tell everything she knows about this mystery of her grandfathers death she he Is quite plainly concealing information and does herself more harm I 1 each day that passes ashes sacrificing herself said eald I 1 and if its not for that wretched cousin of hers im much mistaken but mr almi sold said nothing further except that he would join ms titter niter luncheon for the visit to Nor manily terrace and I 1 had risen to go when the door opened without warning and there stood daisy abbott in her street things thing st I 1 oh portion pardon mell mel she exclaimed 1 I saw you going in here miss fuller I 1 know any one else was here I 1 thought you yon must be doing some special work but ventured to interrupt you yon to say goodby good pond by I 1 stretched my coy hand abrossi the desk beginning good hy and good luckl luck I 1 dont forget all about when I 1 was suddenly aware that dabsys hand hail had dropped back to her side that her eyes eye had fallen past my outstretched hand to the desk that they were riveted on that much handled yellow note which had find been lying unheeded for fer some minutes 11 tea beside the bookplate where did that come from burst from dabsys lips involuntarily in a perfectly unearthly whisper it fell out of a book in the history section why did you yon put it there miss abbott demanded mr almy vigorously springing up answer roe me I 1 oh dear she moaned 1 I did wish I 1 ahad had thrown it away afterward but I 1 find the hook book I 1 put it t binl in I 1 anyway I 1 did keep beep it I 1 knew it would he v wicked to destroy it ile he ans always so nice I 1 belleve believe it meant anything really especially when mr vase nee oh dear and I 1 thought I 1 ws was going to get oly off all right after nil fill ive suffered so hor rdv this whole dreadful week and mr almy s adjurations to stop talking nonsense ond and tell everything she knew about that yellow note passed unheeded she proceeded to go into the finest fines t nt fit of hysterics I 1 have ever been privileged to witness arven mr almy when he and I 1 set forth for Noru tandy terrace somewhat later admitted that it was in its way a masterpiece 1 moreover they did us ns a good turn he observed quite truly alluding to the hysterics for when dalsy daisy had ultimately been restored to coherence her innumerable subs and sniffs and tears brought the happy climax of a confession fess ton that oe he had been bad but auf willi was good now well then if youre good now you arent afraid to tell nip me all you know inow nebout it are you mr alroy almy asked oh no not youl soul murmured daisy melted by tile his sweet virility and seeing her game waa vae up anyhow well the first I 1 saw of it was when professor harrington gave it to me lost monday morning with that list of books he wanted written on it IL ile he aid he would look over fiction U alon in 4 enter center aisle while I 1 got the books I 1 brought jilin him the first four laying them on the table beside him with the list on top so lie he could see they were lust chrit he ordered and sold said I 1 would bring the fifth as soon poon as possible |