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Show jEIjJSiyEjJi 7l S ABElTf ' I By I JACQUES FUTRELLE I -&g 8 Illustrations by M. KETTNER I - ML J Copyright 1W8. bv The Associated Httmlav Mficrnzlnea, - Copyright lfioa. by The Bobha-Merrlll Company. It) SYNOPSIS. Count dl Roslni. the Italian ambas-, ambas-, sador. Is at dinner with diplomats when a messenger summons him to the embassy, em-bassy, where- a beautiful young woman asks for a ticket to the embassy ball. The ticket Is made out In the name of Miss Isabel Thorne. Chief Campbell of the secret service, and Mr. Grimm, his head detective, are warned that a plot Is brewing In Washington, and Grimm goes to the state ball for Information. His attention at-tention Is called to Miss Isabel Thorne. who with her companion, disappears. A shot Is 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 Pietro Petrozlnni. Miss Thorne visits an old bomb-maker, and they discuss a wonderful experiment. Fifty thousand dollars is stolen from the office of Senor Rodriguez, the minister from Venezuela, and while detectives are investigating in-vestigating the robbery Miss Thorne appears ap-pears as a guest of the legation. Grimm accuses her of the theft; the money is restored, but a new mystery occurs In the disappearance of Monsieur Boissegur the French ambassador. Elusive Miss Thorne reappears, bearing a letter which states 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 Pietro PetrozinnI shot Senor Alvarez and that he Is Prince d'Abruzzi. Grimm figures in a mysterious jail delivery. He orders both Miss Thorne and d'Abruzzi to leave the country; they are conveyed to New York and placed on a steamer but return. Grimm's coffee Is drugged ind upon regaining consciousness he finds a sympathetic note from Isabel Thorne. The conspirators against the government are located and their scheming is overheard. over-heard. Grimm orders d'Abruzzi to destroy de-stroy the unsigned compact. Isabel compels com-pels him to obey and is termed a traitress trait-ress by the conspirators. CHAPTER XXIV. (Continued.) "I personally caused the destruction destruc-tion of the compact after several signatures sig-natures had been attached," Mr. Grimm amended. "Throughout I have acted under the direction of Mr. Campbell, of course." "You were in very grave personal danger?" the president went on. "It was of no consequence," said Mr. Grimm simply. The president glanced at Mr. Campbell Camp-bell and the chief shrugged his shoulders, shoul-ders, t . "You are certain, Mr. Grimm," and the president spoke with great deliberation, de-liberation, "you are certain that the representatives of the Latiu countries have not met since and signed the compact?" "I am not certain no," replied Mr. Grimm promptly. "I am certain, however, how-ever, that the backbone of the alliance was broken its only excuse for existence ex-istence destroyed when they permitted per-mitted me to learn of the wireless percussion cap which would have placed the navies of the world at their mercy. Believe me, gentlemen, if they had kept their secret it would have given them dominion of the earth. They made one mistake," he added in a most matter-of-fact tone. "They should have killed me; it was their only chance." The president seemed a little startled star-tled at the suggestion. "That would have been murder," he remarked. "True," Mr. Grimm asqulesced, "but It seems an absurd thing that they should have permitted the life of one man to stand between them and the world power for which they had so long planned and schemed. His Highness. High-ness. Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi believed be-lieved as I do, and so expressed him- self." He paused a moment; there was a hint of surprise in his manner. "I expected to be killed, of course. It seemed to me the only thing that could happen." "They must have known of the far-reaching far-reaching consequences which would follow upon your escape, Mr. Grimm. Why didn't they kill you?" Mr. Grimm made a little gesture with both hands and was silent." "May they not yet attempt it?" the president insisted, j "It's too late now," Mr. Grimm ex-i ex-i plained. "They had everything to gain by killing me there as I stood in ! the room where I had interrupted the signing of the compact, because that would have been before I had placed I the facts in the hands of my govern-j govern-j ment. I was the only person outside , of their circle who knew all of them. I Only the basest motive could inspire J them to attempt my life now." I There was a pause. The secretary ! of state glanced from Mr. Grimm to Mr. Campbell with a question in his deep-set eyes. "Do I understand that you placed a j Miss Thorne and the prince under ! that is, you detained them?" he queried. "If so, where are they now?" , "I don't know," was the reply. "Just : before the explosion the three of us 1 i entered an automobile together, and . then as we were starting away I remembered re-membered something which made it necessary for me to re-enter the house. When I came out again, just a few seconds before the explosion, the prince and Miss Thorne had gone." The secretary's lips curled down In disapproval. "Wasn't it rather unsual, to put it mildly, to leave your prisoners to their own devices that way?" he asked. "Well, yes," Mr. Grimm admitted. "But the circumstances were unusual. When I entered the house I had locked lock-ed a man in the cellar. I had to go back to save his life, otherwise- " "Oh, the guard at the door, you mean?" came the interruption. "Who was it?" Mr. Grimm glanced at his ciief, who nodded. "It was Mr. Charles Winthrop Rankin Ran-kin of the German embassy," said the young man. "Mr. Rankin of the German embassy embas-sy was on guard at the door?" demanded de-manded the president quickly. "Yes. We got out safely." "And that means that Germany was ! " The president paused and startled glances passed around the table. After Aft-er a moment of deep abstraction the secretary went on: "So Miss Thorne and the prince escaped. es-caped. Are they still in this country?" coun-try?" "That I don't know," replied Mr. Grimm. He stood silent a moment, staring at the president. Some subtle change crept into the listless eyes, and his lips were set. "Perhaps I had better explain here that the personal equation enters largely into an affair of this kind," he said at last, slowly. "It happens that it entered into this. Unless I am ordered to pursue the matter further I think it would be best for all concerned to accept the fact of Miss Thome's escape, and " He stopped. "Personal equation," mused the president. "Just how, Mr. Grimm, does the personal equation enter into the affair?" The young man's lips closed tightly, and then: "There are some people, Mr. President, Presi-dent, whom we meet frankly as enemies, ene-mies, and we deal with them accordingly; accord-ingly; and there are others who oppose op-pose us' and yet are not enemies. It is merely that our paths of duty cross. We may have the greatest respect for them and they for us, but purposes are unalterably different. In other words there is a personal enmity and a political enmity. You, for instance, might be a close personal friend of the man whom you defeated for president. pres-ident. There might" he stopped suddenly. sud-denly. "Go on," urged the president. "I think every man meets once in his life an individual with whom he would like to reckon personally," the r -?s it i 1 "This Note, Mr. Grimm, Is Surprising." young man continued. "That reckoning reckon-ing may not be a severe one; it may be less severe than the law would provide; but it would be a personal reckoning. There is one individual in this affair with whom I should like to reckon, herice the personal equation enters very largely into the case." For a little while the silence of the room was unbroken, save for the steady tick-tock of a great clock in one corner. Mr. Grimm's eves were fixed unwaveringly upon those of the chief executive. At last-the secretary of war crumpled a sheet of paper impatiently im-patiently and hitched his chair up to the table. "Coming down to the facts it's like this, isn't it?" he demanded briskly. "The Latin countries by an invention of their own which the United States and England were to be duped into purchasing, would have had power to explode every submarine mine before be-fore attacking a port? Very well. This thing, of course, would have given them the freedom of the seas as long as we were unable to explode their submarines as they were ablo to explode ours. And this is the condition condi-tion which made the Latin compact possible, isn'tit?" He looked straight at Mr. Grimm, who nodded. "Therefore," he went on. "if the Latin compact is not a reality on paper; pa-per; if the United Slates and England Eng-land do not purchase this this wireless wire-less percussion cap, we are right back where we were before it all happened, aren't we? Every possible danger from that direction has passed, hasn't if? The world-war of which we have been talking is rendered impossible, isn't It?" "That's a question," answered Mr. Grimm. "If you wil pardon me for suggesting it, I would venture to say that as long as there is an invention of that importance in the hands of nations whom we now know have been conspiring against us for fifty years, there is always danger. It seems to me, if you will pardon me again, that for the sake of peace we must either get complete control of that invention or else understand it so well that there can be no further danger. And again, please let me call your attention to the fact that the brain which brought this th !;-,! in'c existence is still to be reckoned with. There may, some day, come a time when our submarines may be exploded explod-ed at will regardless of this percus sion cap." The secretary of war turned flatly upon Chief Campbell. "This woman who is mixed up in this affair?" he demanded. "This Miss Thorne. Who is she?" "Who is she?" repeated the chief. "She's a-secret agent of Italy, one of the most brilliant, perhaps, that has ever operated in this or any other country. She is the pivot around which the intrigue moved. We know her by a dozen names; any one of them may he correct." The brows of the secretary of war were drawn down in thought as he turned to the president. "Mr. Grimm was speaking of the personal equation," he remarked pointedly. point-edly. "I think perhaps his meaning is clear when we know there is a woman in the case. We know that Mr. Grimm has done his duty to the last inch in this matter; we know that alone and unaided, practically, he has done a thing that no living man. of his relative position has ever done before prevented a world-war. But there is further danger he himself him-self has called out attention to it therefore, I would suggest that Mr. Grimm be relieved of further duty in this particular case. This is not a moment when the peace of the world may he imperiled by personal feelings of of kindliness for an individual." Mr. Grimm received the blow without with-out a tremor. . His hands were still idly clasped behind his hack; the eyes fastened upon the president's face were still listless; the mouth absolutely ab-solutely without expression. "As Mr. Grimm has pointed out." the secretary went on, "we have b?en negotiating for this wireless percussion, percus-sion, cap. I have somewhere in my office the name and address of the individual in-dividual with whom these negotiations negotia-tions have been conducted. Through that it is possible to reach the inventor, inven-tor, and then ! I suggest that we vote our thanks to Mr. Grimm and relieve him of this particular case." The choleric eyes of the president softened a little, and grew grave as they studied the impassive face of the young man. "It's a strange situation, Mr. Grimm," he said evenly. "What do you say to withdrawing?" "I am at your orders, Mr. President." Presi-dent." was the reply. "No one knows better what you have done than the gentlemen here at this table," the president went on slowly. "No one questions that you have done more than any other man could have done under the circumstances. circum-stances. We understand, I think, that indirectly you are asking immunity for an individual. I don't happen to know the liability of that individual under our law, but we can't make nny mistake now, Mr. Grimm, and so and so " He stopped and was silent. "I had hoped, Mr. President, that what I have done so far and I don't underestimate it would have, at least, earned for me the privilege of remaining re-maining in this case until its conclusion," con-clusion," said Mr. Grimm steadily. "If it is to be otherwise, of course I am at" "History tells us, Mr. Grimm," interrupted inter-rupted the president irrelevantly, "that the frou-frou of a woman's skirt has changed the map of the world. Lo' you believe," he went on suddenly, "that a man can mete out justice fairly, fair-ly, severely if necessary, to one for whom he has a personal regard?" "I do, sir." "Perhaps even to one to a woman whom he might love?" "I do, sir." The president rose. "Please wait in the anteroom for a few minutes," he directed. .Mr. Grimm bowed himself out. At the end of half an hour he was again summoned into the cabinet chamber. The president met him with outstretched out-stretched hand. There was more than mere perfunctory thanks in this there was the understanding of man and man. "You will proceed with the case to the end, Mr. Grimm," he instructed abruptly. "If you need assistance ask for it; if not, proceed alone. You will rely upon your own judgment entirely. entire-ly. If there are circumstances which make it inadvisable to move against an individual by legal process, even if that individual is amenable to our laws, you a-re not constrained so to do if your judgment is against it. Th're is one stipulation: You will either secure the complete rights, of the wireless percussion cap to this government gov-ernment or learn the secret of the invention in-vention so that at no future time can we be endangered by it." "Thank you," said Mr. Grimm quietly. quiet-ly. "I understand." "I may add that it is a matter of deep regret to me," and the president presi-dent brought one vigorous hand down on the young man's shoulder, "that our government has so few men of your type in its service. Good day." CHAPTER XXV. We Two. Mr. Grimm turned from Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania Avenue into a cross street, walked along half a block or so, climbed a short flight of stairs and entered en-tered an office. "Is Mr. Howard in?" he queried of a boy in attendance. "Name, please." Mr. Grimm handed over a sealed ! envelope which bore the official im- ! print of the Department of War In the 1 upper left hand corner; and the boy disappeared into a room beyond. A : moment later he emerged and held 1 open the door for Mr. Grimm. A gen- j tleman Mr. Howard rcsa from his , seat and stared at him as he entered. : "This note, Mr. Grimm, is surpris- j ing," he remarked. j (TO BE CONTINUED.) |