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Show MOUNT PLEASANT . . UTAH JelusiveI T ISABELf By JACQUES FUTRELLE lllajtrallon by M. KETTNER OuprluUt 1009, bjr Tiie Uahh MrrUl ComtwuAj. 15 8YNOP8I3. Count dl Roslnl, the Italian ambaa-Jor. ambaa-Jor. Is at dlnnt;r with dlplomnts when a mes.senKir fliimmona him to the. em-baaay, em-baaay, whoro a beautiful younfr woman aku for a ticket to the embtisfiy ball. The ticket la made out In the name of Miss Isabel Thorne. Chief Campbell of the lecret service, and Mr. Grimm, hla h.Nirl detective, are warned that tt plot la brewing In WdHlilnKtcn, and Grimm goes to the state ball for Information. His attention at-tention la called to Miss Isabel Thorne. who with her companion, disappears. A shot la heard and Senor Alvarez of the Mexican legation, Is found wounded. Grimm Is assured Miss Thorne did It; he visits her, demanding knowledge of the affair, and arrests Pletro Petrozlnnl. Miss Thorne vlalta an old bomb-maker, and they discuss a wonderful experiment. Fifty thousand dollars Is stolen from the office of Henor Rodriguez, the minister from Venezuela, and while detectives are Invest In-vest lgatlng the robbery Miss Thorne appears ap-pears as a guest of the legation. Grlmni Accuses her of the theft; the money Is restored, but a new mystery occurs In the disappearance of Monsieur Bolsseerur the FYench ambassador. Elusive Miss Thorne reappears, bearing a letter which fates that the ambassador has been kidnaped kid-naped and demanding ransom. The ambassador am-bassador returns and again strangely disappears. dis-appears. Later he is rescued from an old house In the suburbs. It Is discovered that Pletro Petrozlnnl shot Senor Alvarez and that he Is Prince d'AbruzzI. Grimm figures In a mysterious Jail delivery. He orders both Mlas Thorne and d'Abruzal to leave the country. CHAPTER XIX. By Wireless. They paused In the office, the three of thern, and while Miss Thorne was giving some Instructions as to her baggage the prince went over to the telegraph, booth and began to write a message' on a blank. Mr. Grimm appeared ap-peared at his elbow. "No," he said. "Can't I send a telegram If I like?" demanded the prince sharply. "No, nor a note, nor a letter, nor may you speak to any one," Mr. Grimm Informed him quietly. "Why, it's an outrage!" flamed the prince. "It depends altogether or! the viewpoint, view-point, your Highness," Baid Mr. Grimm courteously. "If you will pardon par-don me I might suggest that It is needless to attract attention by your present attitude. You may T say you may compel me to humiliate you." The prince glared at him angrily. "I mean handcuff you," Mr. Grimm added gratuitously. "Handcuff me?" "I shouldn't hesitate, your Highness, If it was necessary." After a moment Miss Thorne signified signi-fied her readiness, and they started out. At the door Mr. Grimm stopped ead turned back to the desk, as if etruck by some sudden thought, leaving leav-ing them together. "Oh, Miss Thorne left a message for some one," Mr. Grimm was saying to the clerk. "She's decided it is unnecessary." un-necessary." He turned and glanced toward her, and the clerk's eyes followed fol-lowed his. "Please give It to me." It was passed over without comment. com-ment. It was a sealed envelope addressed ad-dressed to Mr. Charles Winthrop Rankin. Ran-kin. Mr. Grimm glanced at the superscription, su-perscription, tore the envelope Into bits and dropped it into a basket. A minute later he was assisting Miss Thorne and the prince Into an automobile auto-mobile that was waiting in front. As the car moved away two other automobiles auto-mobiles appeared from corners nearby near-by and trailed along behind to the station. There a private compartment-car was in readiness for them. It was a long, dreary ride a ride of utter silence save for the roar and clatter of the moving train. Mr. Grimm, vigilant, Implacable, sat at ase; Miss Thorne, resigned to the Inevitable, whatever it might be, studied the calm, quiet face from beneath be-neath drooping lids; and the prince, 6ullen, scowling, nervously wriggled in his seat. Philadelphia was passed, and Trenton, and then the dawn began be-gan to break through the night. It was quite light when they rolled into Jersey City. "I'm sorry for all the Inconvenience I have caused," Mr. Grimm apologized to Miss Thorne as he assisted her to light. "You must be exhausted." "If it were only that!" she replied, with a slight smile. "And is It too early to ask where we are going?" The prince turned quickly at the question. "We take the Lusitania for Liverpool Liver-pool at ten o'clock," said Mr. Grimm obligingly. "Meanwhile let's get some coffee and a bite to eat." "Are you going to make the trip with us?" asked the prince. Mr. Grimm shrugged his shoulders. Weary and spirttless they went aboard the boat, and a little while later they steamed out Into the stream and threaded their way down the bay. Miss Thorne stood at the rail gazing back upon the city they were leaving. Mr. Grimm stood beside her; the prince, still sullen, itlll scowling, sat dozen feet away. "This is c wonderful thing you have done, Mr. Grimm," said Miss Thorne at last. "Thank you," he said simply. "It was a destructive thing that you intended in-tended to do. Did you ever see a more marvelous thing than that?" and he Indicated the sky-line of New York. "It's the most marvelous bit of mechanism mech-anism In the world; the dynamo of the western hemisphere. You would have destroyed it, because In the world-war that would have been the first point of attack." She raised her eyebrows, but was silent. "Somehow,11 he went on after a moment, mo-ment, "I could never associate a worn-' an with dfistructlveness, with wars and with violence." "That Is an unjust way of saying It," she Interposed. And then, musingly: musing-ly: "Isn't it odd that you and I staEding here k? have in a way held the destinies of the whole great earth in our hands? And now your remark makes me feel that you alone have Btood for peace and the general good, and I for destruction and evil." "I didn't mean that," Mr. Grimm said quickly. "You have done your duty as you saw it, and " "Failed!" she Interrupted. "And I have done my duty as I saw It" "And won!" she added. She smiled a little sadly. "I think, perhaps you and I might have been excellent friends if it had not been for all this." "I know we should have," said Mr. Grimm, almost eagerly. "I wonder if you will ever forgive me for for V "Forgive you?" she repeated. "There Is nothing to forgive. One must do one's duty. But I wish It could have been otherwise." The Statue of Liberty sMd by, and Governor's Island and Fort Hamilton; then, in the distance, Sandy Hook light came into view. "I'm going to leave you here," said Mr. Grimm, and for the first time there was a tense, strained note In his voice. Miss Thome's blue-gray eyes had grown mistily thoughtful; the words startled her a little and she turned to face him. "It may be that you and I shall never meet again," Mr. Grimm went on. "We will meet again," she said gravely. "When and where I don't know, but it will come." "And perhaps then we may be friends?" He was pleading now. "Why, ye are friends now, aren't we?" she asked, and again the smile curled her scarlet lips. "Surely we are friends, aren't we?" "We are," he declared positively. As they, started forward a revenue cutter which had been hovering about Sandy Hook put toward them, flying "Isn't It Odd That You and I Standing Stand-ing Hero by the Rail Have, in a Way, Held the Destinies of this Whole Great Earth In Our Hands." some signal at her masthead. Slowly the great boat on which they stood crept along, then the clang of a bell in the engine-room brought her to a standstill, and the revenue cutter came alongside. "I leave you here," Mr. Grimm said again. "It's good-by." "Good-by," she said softly. "Good-by, "Good-by, till we meet once more." She extended both hands Impulsively Impulsive-ly and he stood for an instant staring into the limpid gray eyes, then, turning, turn-ing, went below. From the revenue cutter he waved a hand at her as the great Lusitania, moving again, sped on her way. The prince joined Miss Thorne at the rail. The scowl was still on his face. "And now what?" he demanded abruptly. "This man has treated us as If we were a pair of children." "He's a wonderful man," she replied. re-plied. "That may be but we have been fools to allow him to do all this." Miss Thorne turned flatly and faced him. "We are not beaten yet," she Bald slowly. "If all things go well we we are not beaten yet" The Lusitania was rounding Mon-tauk Mon-tauk Point when the wireless brought her to half speed with a curt message: "Isabel Thorne and Pietro Petro-zinni Petro-zinni aboard Lusitania wanted on warrants war-rants charging conspiracy. Tug-boat will take them off, Intercepting you beyond Montauk Point. "CAMPBELL, Secret Service." "What does that mean?" asked the prince, bewildered. "It means that the compact will be signed In Washington In spite of Mr. Grimm," and there was the glitter of triumph in her eyes. "With the aid of one of the maidB in the depot at Jersey Jer-sey City I managed to get a telegram of explanation and Instruction to De IToa in New York, and this Is the re- r suit. He slgued Mr. Campbell's name I suppose, to give weight to the message." mes-sage." An hour later a tug-boat came along' side, and they went aboard. CHAPTER XX. The Light In the Dome. From where he sat, in a tiny alcove al-cove which jutted out and encroached upon the line of the sidewalk, Mr. Grimm looked down on Pennsylvania? Avenue, the central thread of Washington, Wash-ington, ever changing, always brilliant, splashed at regular Intervals with light from high-flung electric ares. "The early theater crowd wras in. the street; well dressed, well fed, careless care-less for the moment of all thing3 sav physical comfort and amusement; automobiles, au-tomobiles, carriages, cabs, cars flowed flow-ed past endlessly;and yet Mr. Grimm saw naught of it. In the distance, at one end of the avenue the dome of the capital cleft the shadows of night, and a single light sparkled at its apex; in' the other direction, at the left of the treasury building which abruptly blocks the wide thoroughfare, were the shimmering windows of the White House. Motionless, moody, thoughtful, Mr. Grimm sat staring, staring straight ahead, comprehending none of these things which lay before him as In a panorama. Instead, his memory was conjuring up a pair of subtle, blue- i gray eyes, now pleading, now coquet- ! tlsh, now frankly defiant; two slim, white, wonderful hands; the echo of a pleasant, throaty laugh? a splendid, elusive, radiant-haired phantom. Truly, Tru-ly, a woman of mygfery! Who was this Isabel Thorne who, foj months past, had been the storm-center and directing mind of a vast international intrigue which threatened the ' world with war? Who, this remarkable young woman who with ease and assurance as-surance commanded ambassadors and played nations as pawns? Now that she was safely out of the country Mr. Grimm had ' leisure to speculate. Upon him had devolved the duty of blocking her plans, and he had done so merciless alike of his own feelings and of hers. Hesitation or evasion had never occurred to him. It was a thing to be done, and he did it. He wondered if she had understood, under-stood, there at the last beside the rail? He wondered if she knew the' struggle it had cost him deliberately . to send her out of his life? Or had even surmised that her expulsion from the country, by his direct act, was wholly lacking in the exaltation of triumph to him; that It struck deep-, er than that, below the listless, official exterior, into his personal happiness? And wondering, he knew that she did understand. . . A silent shod waiter came and ' placed the coffee things at his elbow. He didn't heed. The waiter poured . a demi-tasse, and inquiringly lifted a lump of sugar In the silver tongs. Still Mr. Grimm didn't heed. At last the waiter deposited the sugar on the edge of the fragile saucer, and moved away as silently as he had come. A newspaper which Mr. Grimm .had placed on the end of the table when he 6at down, rattled, a . little as a breeze from the open window 'caught it, then the top sheet slid off and fell. to the floor. Mr. Grimm was still staring out of the window. . ; : Slowly the room behind him was thinning of its crowd as the theater-: bound diners went out in twos and: threes. The last of these disappeared finally, and save for Mr. G.rimmthere were not more than a dozen'' persofis left in the place. Thus for a few minutes, min-utes, and then the swinging doors leading from the street clicked, and a gentleman entered. He glanced around, as if seeking a seat near a window, then moved along in Mr. Grimm's direction, between the 'rows of tables. His gaze lingered on Mr. Grimm for an instant, and when he came opposite he stooped and picked up the fallen newspaper sheet. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |