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Show fT"-- ....ii -aaTS. fsERlALf elusive T ISABEL) JACQUES FUTKELLE I I L Jtlajlra tions by M. KETTNER I Lomnlil. 11' lv Tlie At.xiu-Iii tel Mm. Lay Miiiizlncu. Uoyyrltfht ItkW, by Tlie llobbs-ilerrill Company. K SYNOPSIS. fount ell Rnslni, the K.-iliMn nmbas-Fiuior, nmbas-Fiuior, is at dinner with diplomats when li messenger summons hiiu to the embassy, em-bassy, whore a beautiful younst woman asks for a ticket to the embassy ball. The ticket is made out in the name of Miss Isabel Thorne. Chief Campbell of Hie secret service, and Mr. Grimm, his head detective, are warned that a plot is Weving in Washington, and Grimm goes i'lo the state ball for information. "His attention at-tention is called to Miss Isabel Thorne, who with her companion, disappears. A pilot is heard and Senor Alvarez of the yexican legation, is found wounded, rinm is assured Miss Thorne did it; he ;isits her. demanding knowledge of the liffair, and arrests Pietro Petrozinnl. Miss IThorne visits an old bomb-maker and they ilscuss a wonderful experiment. Fifty housand dollars is stolen from the oflice pf 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. Klusive Miss Thorne reappears, bearing a letter which ptates that the ambassador has been kid- Caped and demanding ransom. .The am-.issodor am-.issodor returns and again strangely disappears. dis-appears. CHAPTER XIV. (Continued.) "The house is two blocks west, along that street there," he explained, and he indicated an intersecting thoroughfare thor-oughfare just ahead. "It is number ninety-seven. Five minutes after we enter you will drive up in front of the door and wait. If we don't return in fifteen minutes come in after usl" "Do you anticipate danger?" Miss Thorne queried quickly. "If I had anticipated danger," re-j re-j plied Mr. Grimm, "I should not have .permitted you to come with me." They entered the house number ninety-seven with a key which Mr. Grimm produced, and a minute or so later walked into a room where three men were sitting. One of them" was of a coarse, repulsive type, large and heavy; another rather dapper, of superficial su-perficial polish, evidently a foreigner, Had the third--the third was Ambassador Ambassa-dor Boissegur! "Good morning, gentlemen!" Mr. Grimm greeted them, then ceremoniously: ceremoni-ously: "Monsieur Boissegur, your car riage is at the door." The three men came to their feet instantly, and one of them he of the heavy face drew a revolver. Mr. Grimm faced him placidly. "Do you know what would happen to you if you killed me?" he inquired, pleasantly. "You wouldn't live three V minutes. Do you imagine I came in X here blindly? There are a dozen Smen guarding the entrances to the house a pistol shot would bring them ' in. Put down that gun!" , Eyes challenged eyes for one long tense instant, and the man carefully laid the weapon on the table. Mr. Grimm strolled over and picked it up, after which he glanced inquiringly at the other man the ambassador's second sec-ond guard. "And you are the gentleman, 1 dare say, who made the necessary trips to the ambassador's house, probably using his latch-key?" he remarked Interrogatively. In-terrogatively. "First for the letters to be signed, and again for the cigarettes?" ciga-rettes?" There was no answer and Mr. . Grimm turned questioningly to Mon-sieur Mon-sieur Boissegur, silent, white of face, motionless. "Yes, Monsieur," the ambassador burst out suddenly. Ills eyes were fixed unwaveringly on Miss Thorne. "And your escape, Monsieur?" continued con-tinued Mr. Grimm. "I did escape, Monsieur, last night," the ambassador explained, "but they knewOt immediately they pursued me into my ovn house, these two and another and dragged me back here! Mon Dieu, Monsieur, c'est !" "That's all that's necessary," remarked re-marked Mr. Grimm. "You are free to go now." "But there are others," Monsieur Boissegur Interposed ' desperately, "two more somewhere below, and they "will not allow they will attack!" Mr. Grimm's listless eyes narrowed slightly and he turned to Miss Thorne. She was a little white, but be saw nough in her face to satisfy him. 1 "I shall escort Monsieur Boissegur to his carriage, Miss Thorne," he said, ialmly. "These men will remain here v intil I return. Take the revolver. If Either of I hem so much as wags bis head shoot! You are not not afraid?" "iN'o." She smiled faintly. "I am not fraid." Mr. Grimm and the ambassador went down the stairs, and out the front door. Mr. Grimm was just turning turn-ing to re-enter the house when from ahove came a' muffled, venomous "a-as-ash! a shot! He took the Meps going up, two at a time. Miss Thorne was leaning against the wall e if dazed; the revolver lay at her feet. A door in n far corner of the ' room stood open; and the clatter of footsteps echoed through the house. "One of them leaped nt me and 1 fired." she gasped In explanation. "He struck me, but I'm I'm not hurt." She stooped quickly, picked up the revolver and made as if to follow the dying footsteps. Mr. Grimm stopped her. "it doesn't matter," he said quietly. "Let them go." And after a while, earnestly: "If I haa dreamed of such a such a thing as this I should never have consented to allow you". "I understand," she interrupted, and for one instant her outstretched hand rested on his arm. "The ambassador?" ambassa-dor?" "Perfectly safe," responded Mr. Grimm. "Two of my men are witli him." CHAPTER XV. Master of the Situation. As the women rose and started out, leaving the gentlemen over their coffee cof-fee and cigars, Miss Thorne paused at the door and the blue-gray eyes flashed some subtle message to the Flench ambassador, who, after an instant, in-stant, nodded comprehendingly, then resumed bis conversation. As he left the room a few minutes later he noticed no-ticed that Mr. Grimm had joined a group of automaniacs of which Mr. Cadwallader was the enthusiastic center. cen-ter. He spoke to his hostess, the wife of the minister from Portugal, for a moment, then went to Miss Thorne and dropped into a seat beside her. She greeted him with a smile and was still smiling as she talked. "I believe. Monsieur," she said ,in French, "you sent a code message to the cable office this afternoon?" His eyes questioued hers quickly. "And please bear In mind that we probably are being watched as we talft." she went on pleasantly. "Mr. Grimm is the man to be afraid of. Smile don't look so serious!" She laughed outright. "Yes, I sent a code message," he replied. re-plied. "It was your resignation?" "Yes." "Well, it wasn't sent, of course," she informed him, and her eyes were sparkling as if something amusing had been said. "One of my agents stopped Hp "Nothing Can Stop Us Nothing." it. I may add that it will not be sent," The ambassador's eyes grew steely, then blank again. "Mademoiselle, what am I to understand under-stand from that?" he demanded. "You are to understand that I am absolute master of the situation in Washington at this moment," she replied re-plied positively. The smile on her lips and the tone of her voice were strangely at variance. "From the beginning be-ginning I let you understand that ultimately ul-timately you would receive your instructions in-structions from Paris; now I know they will reach you by cable tomorrow. tomor-row. Within a week the compact will be signed. Whether you approve of it, or not it will be signed for your country by a special envoy whose authority au-thority is greater than yours his Highness, the Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi." "Has he reached Washington?" "He is in Washington. He has been here for some time, incognito." She was silent a moment. "You have been a source of danger to our plans," she added. "If it had not been for an accident you would still have been comfortably kept out in Alexandria where Mr. Grimm and I found you. Please remember. Monsieur, that we will accomplish what we set out to do. Nothing can stop us nothing." At just about the same moment the name of Prince d'Abruzzi had been used in the dining-room, but in a different dif-ferent connection. Mr. Cadwallader was reciting some incident of an automobile auto-mobile trip in Italy when he had been connected with the British embassy there. "The prince was driving, he said, "and one of the best I ever saw. Corking Cork-ing chap, the prince; democratic, you know and all that sort of thing. He was one scion of royalty who didn't mind soiling his hands by diving in., under a car and fixing it himseir. At that time he was inclined to be wild thai was eight or nine years ago but thev suv now be. has settled down to work and is one of the real diplomatic diplo-matic powers of Italy. I haven't seen im for a half dozen years.' "How old a man is he. asked -Mr. Grimm carelessly. Thirtv-five. thirty-eight, perhaps; I don't know." replied Mr. Cadwalla-rtp,- "It's odd vou know, the number f nrinces and blue-bloods and all that ,rt of thing one can find knocking '.bout in Italy and Germany and Spam never hears of half of them. , never had heard of the Prince d Abruz- j zi until I went to Italy, and I ve heard jolly well "ttle of him since, except I indirectly." Mr. Cadwallader lapsed Into silence as he sat staring at a large group photograph which was framed on a wall of the dining-room. "Isn't that the royal family of Italy?" he asked. He rose and went over to it. "By Jove, it Is, and here is the prince in the group. The picture pic-ture was taken, 1 should say, about the time I knew him." Mr. Grimm strolled over idly and Stood for a long time staring at the photograph. "He can drive a motor, you know," said Mr. Cadwallader, admiringly. "And Italy Is the place to drive them. They forget to make any speed laws over there, and if a chap gets in your way and you knock him silly they arrest him for obstructing traffic, you know. Over here if a chap really starts to go any place in a hurry some bally idiot holds him up.1' "Have you ever been held, up?" queried quer-ied Mr. Grimm. "No, but I expect to be every day,'' was the reply. "Ive got a new motor, you know, and I've never been able to see how fast it is. The other evening eve-ning I ran up to Baltimore with it in an hour and thirty-seven minutes from Alexandria to Druid Hill Park, and that's better than forty miles. I never did let the motor out, you know, because be-cause we ran in the dark most of the way." Mr. Grimm was still, gazing at the photograph. "Did you go alone?" he asked. "There's no fun motoring alone, you know. Senorita Rodriguez v.as with me. Charming girl, what?" A little while later Mr. Grimm sauntered saun-tered out into the drawing-room and made his way toward Miss Thorne and the French ambassador. Monsieur Mon-sieur Boissegur rose, and offered his hand cordially. "I hope, Monsieur," said Mr. Grimm, "that you are no worse off for your your unpleasant experience?" "Not at all, thanks to you," was the reply. "I have just thanked Miss Thorne for her part in the affair, and " "I'm glad to have been of service," interrupted Mr. Grimm lightly. The ambassador bowed ceremoniously ceremoni-ously and moved away. Mr. Grimm dropped into the seat he had just left. "You've left the legation, haven't you?" he asked. "You drove me out," she laughed. "Drove you out?" he repeated. "Drove you out?" "Why, it was not only uncomforla-ble, uncomforla-ble, but it was rather conspicuous because be-cause of the constant espionage of your Mr. Blair and your Mr. Johnson and your Mr. Hastings," she explained, still laughing. "So I have moved tc the Hotel Hilliard." Mr. Grimm was twisting the seal ring on his little finger. "I'm sorry if I made it uncomfortable uncomforta-ble for you," he apologized. "You see it's necessary to " "No explanation," Miss Thorne interrupted. in-terrupted. "I understand." "I'm glad you do," he replied seriously. seri-ously. "How long do you intend to remain in the city?" "Really I don't know two, three, four weeks, perhaps. Why?" "1 was just wondering." Senorita Rodriguez came toward them. "We're going to play bridge," she said, "and we need you, Isabel, to make the four. Come. I hate to take her away, Mr. Grimm." Mr. Grimm and Miss Thorne rose together. For an instant her slim white hand rested on Mr. Grimm's sleeve and she stared into his eyes understanding un-derstanding with a little of melancholy melan-choly in her own. They left Mr. Grimm there.' (TO BE CONTINUED.) |