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Show ? G fol G T? n m r- nnn p re t? BY TALBOT MUNDY i;;. Bl inhUWI lUUIIUI o TALBOT MUNDY WNU SERVICE If we can blame his death on the priests, that could be made to hold water. The priests bribed him. By this time, they probably know that the news of the bribe is out. It would be natural for them to murder Norwood, to stop his mouth." "Well, why not let them! Why not leave it to them?" the Bengali're-torted. Bengali're-torted. "Because they won't do it, you fool! Did you ever know a priest to do a thing at the right -time to suit someone else? It will have to be done for them. Now here's the idea: they keep a hospice where mendicants mendi-cants may live as long as they please, for no payment. There are three men in that hospice, who would kill their mothers and anyone any-one else for an ounce of opium. For two ounces, they would murder ten children apiece. You know my man Gulbaz?" "Too well. Some day that bad-mash bad-mash will turn on you." Rundhia smiled: "Long before that, dear doctor, he shall swallow one of your prescriptions! Summon Gulbaz. Give him money. I will mean to do it. If I could cut out my tongue! But I said it. I can't unsay un-say it." "Lynn darling, did you promise Captain Norwood not to speak about those diamonds?" "No. He didn't ask me to promise. prom-ise. He took it for granted that I wouldn't mention, what any idiot could guess he hadn't wanted me to see. Captain Norwood saw me kissing kiss-ing Rundhia. I know he did." "Did he say so?" "Of course he didn't. And of course he won't mention it, ever, to anyone else. The man is a gentleman. gentle-man. I don't want him to despise me, yet it wouldn't bother me if Rundhia did." "Perhaps you don't yet understand under-stand Rundhia." "Oh, yes I do. Rundhia is a beautiful beau-tiful savage." "Darling, did you ask him not to tell?" "I made it quite clear I was sorry I had told him." "Well, you must remember that you told him something that concerns con-cerns the State of Kadur. You uncovered un-covered to him the existence of a bribe that might have changed the destiny of Kadur by legalizing the priests' possession of the diamond mine. I haven't told you much about the diamond mine. It is supposed to be a secret. Do you call it a betrayal betray-al that I have mentioned it to you?" "Don't worry. I won't tell!" Lynn answered. "I never want to hear diamonds mentioned again. How long will it take that messenger to reach Captain Norwood?" "That depends on where Captain Norwood is. The messenger will have to look for him. He has gone on horseback. I ordered him not to spare the horse. It might take him half an hour an hour." "I can't wait for an answer! I wish I had gone in search of him, myseM. I haven't any pride left. His career will be ruined, won't it?" "But darling, he deserves to be ruined if he accepts bribes. And, if he is innocent he can prove it." "Do youbelieve that? I can easily doubt it," Lynn answered. "I have never once been able to prove iriy innocence, against Aunty's accusations. accusa-tions. Not one single once! Not one time ever. To this minute, she believes everything she has ever said against me." Then, suddenly: "What is Rundhia doing?" "I don't know." "Does he like to be despised?" "Lynn dear, if you should despise him, I don't know what might happen. hap-pen. Rundhia loves you." "Does he? You think so? Tell him I despise him! And I will, until he proves to me that he has done his absolute, utmost best to undo the cowardly wrong he has done to Captain Cap-tain Norwood." "Lynn" "Maharanee dear, won't you please tell him? I mean it. He might believe you." The Maharanee sighed. She left Lynn and walked out of the room to find Rundhia. Lynn was seated in the armchair by the window, staring at an illustrated illus-trated magazine, when the Maharanee Maha-ranee came back. "Darling, Rundhia has promised." "What did he promise to do? What can he do?" "I mean that Captain Norwood can be cleared of the charge of bribery," brib-ery," the Maharanee answered. "However, Rundhia made a condition." condi-tion." "Maharanee dear! Tell me. Don't prepare me for it. I can take it without our pretending it's something some-thing else." "Very well," said the Maharanee. "Let us be quite frank with each other. Rundhia loves you." "So says Rundhia." "And I love you." I "I can believe that," Lynn answered. an-swered. "Why else should you be so kind? I haven't influence or money." mon-ey." "You have personality," the Maharanee Ma-haranee answered. "You have imagination im-agination and spirit. You can redeem re-deem Rundhia. So that when the day comes that he shall be Maharajah Maha-rajah of Kadur, he will be a great man. Rundhia will do anything for you anything. Your influence will persuade him to do good things, of that I am sure. Even now, having known you only one day, for your sake he is willing to save Captain Norwood. But he makes conditions." "Can't he tell them to me?" "He has gone in search of that creature Gulbaz. Rundhia has taken tak-en it for granted that you will accept ac-cept the conditions, since he has accepted, ac-cepted, as a command, your wish that he should help Captain Norwood." Nor-wood." Lynn almost lost her temper. She retorted: "I was treacherous. So was Rundhia. I don't Oelieve Captain Cap-tain Norwood has been! I won't believe it until they prove it." The Maharanee returned to her subject: "Rundhia insists that you mustn't tell Captain Norwood whose influence it was that saved him. He demands and I think that is fair, isn't it? Rundhia can't afford to be compromised he demands that if Captain Norwood should characteristically character-istically force his way into your presence, you will not answer Norwood's Nor-wood's questions." "But I have asked Captain Norwood Nor-wood to come and see me." The Maharanee's sympathy looked genuine. Lynn didn't doubt it: "Lynn dear, Rundhia thinks that jCajitain Norwood probably believes "you told about the diamonds because be-cause you knew that Captain Norwood Nor-wood was embarrassed by your having hav-ing seen them, and you wished to punish him for . remarks he had made, in the garden, last night. Rundhia Run-dhia thinks that perhaps Captain Norwood won't answer your letter." Lynn was silent for a long time, thinking. The Maharanee watched her, reading, on Lynn's face, the course of the struggle between pride, humiliation, anger and some other, western emotion that not even Lynn could have put into words. It was too simple. Too elementary. It escaped analysis. At last Lynn spoke: "I promise. I won't tell Captain Norwood that Rundhia is helping him. But will Rundhia do it?" "For you he will do anything," the Maharanee answered. CHAPTER XIV Norwood sat in his tent and checked Stoddart's survey figures, found a couple of mistakes, corrected correct-ed them, admonished Stoddart and gave the sergeant instructions for the following day. Nervously he walked the distance between the horse line and his tent. After the third of his pacings to and fro, he sat at the table in his tent and wrote a letter to Lynn Harding, tore it up, and made several sev-eral more attempts. He tore up the last one, gathered all the scraps of paper into one heap, carried them to a cook-fire and burned the lot. He returned to his tent, scraped out a pipe, wrote another letter to Lynn Harding and tore up that one. It was getting on toward dark. The Kadur River was a splurge of crimson. crim-son. He heard the hoof-beats of O'Leary's horse at about the hour when he had first seen Lynn Harding Hard-ing in the Maharanee's carriage. Norwood's servant came and lighted light-ed the lamp in the tent. (TO BE CONTINUED) i i CH-VPTEB XII Continued -S,. LvIin stared: "Do you think I could rsUade Rundhia to try to prove VCaPlain Norwood's innocence?" ';. "But Lynn dear, if Captain Nor-"stood Nor-"stood has been guilty of taking a P,v. bribe-" i Lynn interrupted: "I don't believe "Captain Norwood is guilty." fij": "But what do you know about )T; "Maharanee dear, what do you ji 'ow about me? How do you know -m not a criminal?" Utt "Lynn " -"Maharanee dear, even if Captain forwood could be guilty of an un-i" un-i" tntlemanly, mean thing like taking bribe, it was I who betrayed him S E5 jd I want him to know it. If he jSyt guilty" i aft.fhe door opened suddenly. Run-,h Run-,h "lia entered, followed by an attend-si-;',; the Maharajah's livery. """Yes," said the Maharanee, "that CHOC, an can be trusted. Lynn dear, I ZTJ give him both your letters. He i-'ia ;'ll find Captain Norwood, even if ?v'-"-,has to hunt all over Kadur." --She gave the man emphatic orders VE )': his own language, told him to go -once, watched him along the cor-otejV cor-otejV lor and led Lynn through the brass N;rf;te to the women's quarters. --Jundhia waited, standing. When mu-. heard the messenger's footfall -ioirning along the corridor, he ifsb it ffled the door, admitted him, "tic' sed the d00r' held 0Ut h'S hand. wed both letters, glanced at p J (;; m and returned to the messen- the one that was addressed to S ?:. ' s. Harding. . cia'"; Deliver that one. After that, i Wm t ;p out of sight for an hour. Then - Sii-ura and say that you have de- vrn'fired the other letter to Captain .Mum': , nn ,, .wood. uo. g.jindhia opened the letter that 41 ir'-1 addressed to Norwood. He led. There was no heading: ' HuR L- your unkindness about what you t.s Ejii'this morning does not make me .1 to hurt you in return. There o jsl-'omething I wish to tell you. It a fe-'mportant. I hate myself for ; l'j5;:T ething that I said unintentional- under great strain. I can ex- ( FINI11 Won't you see me? "Lynn." Y FILMS CHAPTER XIII I Dele!:?:'- 15 ' " " ie Bengali doctor entered Run-jjj Run-jjj (jp 's suite at the palace with the J0HNSI' a crook who is afraid of a KRAFT-I" ler-crook. He assumed an air jke cn.f-importance that he didn't "vv of confidence that didn't exist. - . .""lidn't wait for Rundhia to tell i. If'-; to be seated, and he began to ILL T :;:k in Bengali. t'3 ndhia interrupted him: "You - discontinue dosing Mrs. Hard-.a,..7". Hard-.a,..7". Miss Lynn Harding has ac-U ac-U S IN ESS an invitation to remain here UttCn! :Je Palace, so the sooner the -clears out of Kadur the better, er get well." !nel 'K has refused medicine. I had iriiins j,t it on her breakfast food 'i3J:pPw she won't eat. She wiU 2s Quickly enough! There is ' IOut V mUCh 01(5 matter with her- 1 E S AL1 Relieved. I do not like to do RDW'lhings to western people." ic COAljfdd you get at Captain Nor- hink you'd better. Last night Norwood watched your i n U"'y by-play when you gave that SE TJto Mrs. Harding. The way . LIT t-wtched the pellets wasn't clev- jj, orwood suspects you." iS V Kliim Norwood is himself un- - a bspicion," the Bengali an-antisep an-antisep 1. "jje stands accused, does GUA ui'' f havinS accepted a bribe? ,g STOF- -ild me to say SQ tQ Mrs Hard urn ?, ' I did." . refund"' .' , Dru'i'' Was cominS to that," interrupted. "I thought the miht influence her to keep away. Now, look here: -' caught taking bribes, espe-nCU espe-nCU f they're Popular and well ptll ''H very often commit sui-Norwood's sui-Norwood's suicide would be )nate, convenient and, in the stances, not suspicious. How T 6 about it?" in't!" the Bengali an-. an-. ' without a second's hesita- s toia stared at him scornfully: . t he remarked at last, "it t- J. dangerous to do. You and , be careful." T ' VkEen8ali folded his hands , . -f. , ttis stomach: "Very careful." ' ' fi"115111'4 be traced back to . ' 'o Rundhia. "There is noth-"'. noth-"'. ' 11,31 can be traced back u 1 have tne gods on f 30 by God, if you don't do eu you, you're in trouble." N'At p- il v forth from the Ben' V'l-s, but he said nothing. He 00 V't . knees and waited. v.-bV' '0i has got to be killed," 33o 8'f,;"dhla- "He is in love with 'b'V "nHarding- He hates me. rCole&- 7,'C10US nature. He is io-- ft'K eIensive. And he is the r,'-lTn whose idea of self- I0 lttack with every scrap btr?, ''ihl Sl That kind of per-lTe per-lTe ? t0 dangerous. You Jyj- aflord to let him live. "No, he didn't ask me to promise." give you three hundred rupees, and you may keep the change. Tell Gulbaz he is to hire those three men to assassinate Norwood tonight. I don't care how they do it, and I hope they get caught. They have been living for months in the temple hospice. Everyone will believe they are in the pay of the priests. Do you understand?" "I understand you. I won't do it. I have done what I have done, because be-cause you knew of former indiscretions, indiscre-tions, for which you could have betrayed be-trayed me to the law. And I will do what I will do, because I need the money. There it ends. I wish you wouldn't keep me waiting. I am becoming nervous. I have drugged his medicine until he needs it five times daily. Now he is demanding de-manding one at bedtime. Why wait?" "Are you sure of the poison?" "Quite sure. It is the same that I gave you to test on the monkey that you packed in ice and sent to Delhi to be autopsied. It is a vegetable vege-table poison. It escapes analysis by all known methods. It is one of five poisons that baffle analysis, once it has become absorbed by the blood. They will find in your uncle's stomach, if they look, some traces of marijuana, which it can be proved that he himself bought, and which I added to his tonic at his own written writ-ten request. I advise you to act quickly." Rundhia nodded: "If you will attend at-tend to the killing of Norwood, I will let you do the other job tonight. But I want Norwood out of the way." There was a chill at Lynn's heart. As she walked beside the Maharanee Mahara-nee into the room, that was called the boudoir but retained the sumptuous, sump-tuous, old-fashioned splendors of a royal bibi-kana, she felt morfe self-critical self-critical than ever before in her life. Not even Aunty Harding's crudest accusations had made her feel as guilty, and as impotent to undo wrong. "Lynn darling, why are you silent' si-lent' I can almost always count on you for chatter when I feel despond- ent-" , . "Maharanee, did you ever betray anyone?" . Let us sit here by the window, said the Maharanee. "Tell me how it feels. Perhaps I can help you to eel differently. You have helped me in so many ways. There is a taw of compensation. Perhaps comes now my opportunity to do for you what you have done for me. hate myself," Lynn answered You can't change that I don t wan" it changed. If I didn't hate if for what I've done, I TS Wt be flUo live. The dread- LTpart is that I can't undo what I ful part is put her hdedad between her hands "-I didn't |