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Show Be CMS 5PY The Nysfery of a Silent Love Chwilkr WILLIAM II QlJtUX o c (J AUTHOR J"THC CLOSED DOOK," ETC- fS ILLUSTRATIONS C-MWODK Jm mpYtlGHT BY TM SMART- SET PUBUSMffCr CO VStfS) I W W W W (jHpilsS! SYNOPSIS. 5 The yacht I.ola narrowly escapes wreck In Leghorn harbor, (iordon (Ireg, lorum tenens for lite British consul, is called upon by Hornby, the IaiIji's owner, and dines aboard with hint and his friend, Hylton ('hater. Aboard the yacht he accidentally ac-cidentally sees a room full of arms and tuninunition and a torn photograph of a young girl. That night the consul's safe Is robbed and the l.ola puts suddenly to sea. The police find that Hornby Is a fraud and the Ilia's name a false one. ;regg visits (.'apt. Jack Durnford of the marines aboard his vessel, and is surprised sur-prised to learn that IHirnl'ord knows, but will not reveal, the mystery of the Lola. "It concerns a woman." In London Lon-don Gregg is trapped nearly to his death by a former servant. Ollnto, who repents in time to save him, but not to give a reason rea-son for his treachery. Visiting in Dumfries Dum-fries tlregg meets Muriel l.eitheourt, who is strau.gely affected at the mention nf the t.ola. Hornby appears. Muriel introduces in-troduces Hornby as Martin Woodroffe, her father's friend. Gregg finds that she is engaged to Woodroffo. I.eitlieourt's actions ac-tions ami connection with Woodroffe are mysterious. Gregg sees a copy of the torn photograph on tho I.ola and tinds that the young girl is Muriel's friend. Woodroffe disappears. Gregg discovers the body of a murdered woman in Ran-noeh Ran-noeh wood. CHAPTER V Continued. And .Muriel, a pretty figure in a low-cut low-cut gown of turquoise chiffon, standing stand-ing behind her father, smiled secretly at me. I smiled at her in return, but it was a strange smile, I fear, for with the knowledge of that additional mystery mys-tery within me the mystery of the woman lying unconscious' or perhaps dead, up iti the wood held me stupefied. stupe-fied. I had suspected Leithcourt because of his constant trysts at that spot, but I had at least proved that my suspicions sus-picions were entirely without foundation. founda-tion. He could not have gone home and dressed in the time, for 1 had taken the nearest route to the castle while the fugitive would be compelled to make a wide detour. I only remained a few minutes, then went forth into the darkness again, utterly undecided how to act. My first impulse was to return to the woman's aid, for she might not be dead after all. And yet when I recollected that hoarse cry that rang out in the darkness, dark-ness, I knew too well that she had been struck fatally. It was this latter conviction that prevented me from turning back to the wood. You will perhaps blame me, but the fact is I feared that if I went there suspicion might fall upon me, now that the real culprit had so ingeniously escaped. Whether or not I acted rightly in remaining re-maining away from the place, I leave it to you to judge in the light of the amazing truth which afterwards tran- . spired. I decided to walk straight back to my uncle's, and dinner was over before I. had had my tub and dressed. Next day the body would surely be found; then the whole countryside would be filled with horror and surprise. Was it possible that Leithcourt, that calm, well-groomed, distinguished looking man, held any knowledge of the ghastly ghast-ly truth? No. His manner as he stood in the hall chatting gayly with me was surely not that of a man with a guilty secret. I became firmly convinced con-vinced that although the tragedy affected af-fected him very closely, and that it had occurred at the spot which he had eath day visited for some mysterious purpose, yet up to the present he was in ignorance of what had transpired. But who was the woman? Was she young' or old? A thousand times I regretted bitterly bitter-ly that I had no matches with me so that I might examine her features. Was the victim that sweet-faced young girl whose photograph had been so ruthlessly cast from its frame, and destroyed? de-stroyed? The theory was a weird one, ;. But was it the truth? I retired to ray room that night full of fevered apprehension. appre-hension. Had I acted rightly in not returning to that lonely spot on the brow of the hill? Had I done as a man should do in keeping the tragic secret to myself? At six I shaved, descended, and "went out with the dogs for a short walk; but on returning I heard of nothing unusual, and was compelled to remain inactive until near midday. I was crossing the stable yard where 1 had gone to order the carriage for my aunt, when an English groom, suddenly sud-denly emerging from the harness room, touched his cap, saying: "Have you 'eard. sir, of the awfui affair up yonder?" "Of what?" I asked quickly. "Well sirthere seems to have been a murder last night up in Rannoc'h wood," said the man quickly. "Holden, .. the gardener, has just come back from lhat village aud says that Mr. Leith-court's Leith-court's under gamekeeper as he was EOing home at live this morning came upon a dead Kay." "Call Holdei- I'd like to know all he's heard," 1 baid. And presently, when the gardener emerged from the grapehouse, I sought of him all the particulars he had gathered. "1 don't know very much, sir." was ' the man's reply. "I went into the inn for a glass of beer at eleven, as I al ways do, and heard them talking about it. A young man was murdered last right up in Rannoch wood." "The body was that of a man?" I asked, trying to conceal my utter bewilderment. be-wilderment. "Yes about thirty, they say. The police have taken him to the mortuary at Dumfries, and the detectives are up there now looking at the spot, thev say." A man! And yet the body I found was that of a woman that I could swear. After lunch I took the dogcart and drove alone into Dumfries. The police constable on duty at the town mortuary took me up a narrow alley, unlocked a door, and I found myself my-self in the cold, gloomy chamber of death. From a small dingy window above the light fell upon an object lying upon a large slab of gray stone and covered with a soiled sheet. The policeman lifted the end of the sheet, revealing to me a white, hard-set hard-set face, with closed eyes and dropped jaw. I started back as my eyes fell upon the dead countenance. .1 was entirely en-tirely unprepared for such a revelation. revela-tion. The truth staggered me. The victim was the man who had acted as my friend the Italian waiter, Olinto. I advanced and peered into the thin inanimate features, scarce able to realize real-ize the actual fact. But my eyes had not deceived me. Though death distorts dis-torts the facial expression of every man, I had no difficulty in identifying Jiim. "You recognize him, sir?" remarked tne orncer. "Who is he? Our people are very anxious to know, for up to the present moment they haven't succeeded succeed-ed in establishing his identity. "I will see your inspector," 1 answered an-swered with as much calmness as I could muster. "Where has the poor fellow been wounded?" "Through the heart," responded the constable, as turning the sheet farther down he showed me the small knife wound which had penetrated the victim's vic-tim's jacket aud vest full in the chest. "This is the weapon," he added, tak ing from a shelf close by a long, thin poniard with an ivory handle, which he hauded to me. In an instant I recognized what it was, and how deadly. It was an old Florentiue misericordia, with a hilt of yellow ivory, the most deadly and fatal of all the daggers of the middle ages. It was still blood-stained, but as 1 took the deadly thing in my hand I saw that its blade was beautifully damascened, dam-ascened, a most elegant specimen o& a medieval arm. Yet surely none but an Italian would use such a weapon, or would aim so truly as to penetrate the heart. And yet the person struck down was a woman and not a man! I looked again for the last time upon the dead face of the man who had served me so well, and yet who had enticed me so nearly to my death. In the latter incident there was a deep mystery. He had relented at the last moment, just in time to save me from my secret enemies. Could it be that my enemies were his? Had he fallen a victim by the same hand that had attempted so ingeniously in-geniously to kill me? Why had Leithcourt gone so regularly regu-larly up to Rannoch wood? Was it in order to meet the man who was to be entrapped and killed? What was Olinto Santini doing so far from London,, Lon-don,, if he had not come expressly to meet someone in secret? With my own hand I re-covered the face with the sheet. I accompanied the constable to the inspector's office some distance across the town. Having been introduced to the big, fair-haired mart in a rough tweed suit, who was apparently directing the inquiries in-quiries into the affair, he took me eagerly into a small back room and began to question me. I was, however; wary not to commit myself to anything any-thing further than the identification of the body. "The fact is." I saia confidentially, "you must omit me from the witnesses at the inquest." "Why?" asked the detective suspiciously. sus-piciously. "Because if it were known that I have identified him all chance of getting at the truth will at once vanish," van-ish," I answered. "I have come here to tell you in strictest confidence who the poor fellow really is." "Then you know something of the affair?" he said, with a strong Highland High-land accent. " know nothing," I declared. "Nothing "Noth-ing except his name." "H'm. And you say he's a foreigner - Italian eh?" "He was in my service in Leghorn for spveral years, and on leaving me he came to London and obtained an engagement as waiter in a restaurant. His father lived in Leghorn; he was doorkeeper at the prefecture." "Hut why was he here in Scotland?" "How can I tell?" "You know something of the affair. 1 mean that you suspect somebody, or you would have no objection to giving evidence at the inquiry." "I have no suspicions. To me the affair is just as much of an enigma as to you," I hastened at once to explain. ex-plain. ' "My only fear la that If the assassin knew thai I had identified him he would tuke care not to betray himself." "You therefore think he wi'.l betray himself?" "I hope so." "By the fact that the man was attacked at-tacked with an Italian stiletto, it would seem that his assailant was a fellow-countryman," fellow-countryman," suggested the detective. "The evidence certainly points to that," I replied. "Someone who waited for him on the edge of that wood and stepped out and killed him that's evident," he said, "and my belief is that it was an Italian. Ital-ian. There were two foreigners who slept at a common lodging house two nights ago and went on tramp towards Glasgow. We have telegraphed after them and hope we shall find them. Scotsmen or Englishmen never use a knife of that pattern." "I know not whom to suspect," I declared. "It is a mystery why the man who was once my faithful servant should be enticed to that wood and stabbed to the heart." "There is no one in the vicinity who knew him?" "Not to my knowledge." "Wre might obtain his address In London through his father in Leghorn," Leg-horn," suggested tho officer. "I will write today if you so desire," I said readily. "Indeed, I will get my friend the British consul to go round and see the old man and telegraph the address if he obtains it." "Capital!" he declared. "If you will do us this favor we shall be greatly indebted to you. It is fortunate that we have established the victim's identity iden-tity otherwise we might be entirely in the dark. A murdered foreigner is always more or less of a mystery." Therefore, then and there, 1 took a sheet of paper and wrote to my old friend Hutcheson at Leghorn, asking him to make immediate inquiry of Olinto's father as to his son's address in London. We sat for a long time discussing the strange affair. In order to betray be-tray no eagerness to get away, I offered of-fered the big Highlander a cigar from my case and we smoked together. The inquiry would he held on the morrow. Revealing" to Me a White, Hard, Set Face With Closed Eyes and Dropped Jaw. he told me, but as far as the public was concerned the body would remain as that of some person "unknown." "And you had better not come to my uncle's house, or send anyone," I said. "If you desire to see me, send me a line and I will meet you here in Dumfries. It will be safer." The officer looked at me with those keen eyes of his, and said; "Really, Mr. Gregg, I can't quite make you out, I confess. You seem to be apprehensive of your own safety. Why?" "One never knows whom one offends of-fends when living in Italy," I laughed, as lightly as I could, endeavoring to allay his suspicion. "He may have fallen beneath the assa'ssin's knife by giving a small and possibly innocent offense to somebody. Italian methods are not English, you know." "By Jove, sir, and I'm jolly glad they're not!" he said. "I shouldn't think a police officer's life is a very safe one among all those secret murder mur-der societies I've read about." "Ah! what you read about them is often very much exaggerated," I assured as-sured him. "It is the vendetta which is such a stain upon the character of the modern Italian; and depend upon it, this affair in Rannoch wood is the outcome of some revenge or other probably over a love affair." "But you will assist us, sir?" he urged. "You know the Italian language, lan-guage, which will be of great advantage; advan-tage; besides, the victim was your servant." "Be discreet," 1 said. "And in return I will do my very utmost to assist you in hunting down the assassin." And thus we made our attempt. Half an hour after I was driving in the dogcart through the pouring rain up the hill out of gray old Dumfries to my uncle's house. As I desfcended from the cart and gave it over to a groom, old Davis, the butler, came forward, saying in a low voice: "There's Miss Leithcourt waiting to see you. Mr. Gordon. She's in the morning room, and been there an hour. She asked me not to tell anyone else she's '".ere, sir." 1 I walked across the big hall and along the corridor to the room the old man had indicated. And as I opened the door and Muriel Mu-riel Leithcourt In plain black rose to meet me, 1 plainly saw from her white, haggard countenance that something had happened that she had been forced by circumstances to come to me in strictest confidence. Was she, I wondered, about to reveal re-veal to me the truth? CHAPTER VI. The Gathering of the Clouds. "Mr. Gregg," exclaimed the girl with agitation, as she put forth her black-gloved black-gloved hand, "I I suppose you know you've heard all about the discovery today at the wood? I need not tell you anything about it." "Yes, Miss Leithcourt, I only wish you would tell me about it," I said gravely, inviting her to a chair and seating myself. Who is the man?" "Ah! that we don't know," she replied, re-plied, pale-faced and anxious. "I wanted to see you alone that's the reason I am here. They must not know at home that I've been over here." "Why, is there any service I can render you?" "Yes. A very great one," she responded re-sponded with quick eagerness, "I well the fact is, I have summoned courage to come to you and beg of you to help me. I am in great distress dis-tress and I have not a single friend whom I can trust in whom I can confide." con-fide." Her lips moved nervously, but no sound came from them, so agitated was she, so eager to tell me something; some-thing; and yet at the same time reluctant reluc-tant to take me into her confidence. "It concerns the terrible discovery made up in Rannoch wood," she said in a hoarse, nervous voice at last. "That unknown man was murdered stabbed to the heart. I have suspicions." suspi-cions." "Of the murdered man's identity?" "No. Of the assassin. I want you to help me,- if you will." "Most certainly," I responded. "But if you believe you know the assassin you probably know something of the victim?" "Only that he looked like a foreigner." for-eigner." "Then you have seen him?" I exclaimed, ex-claimed, much surprised. My remark caused her to hold her breath for an instant. Then she answered, an-swered, rather lamely, it seemed to me: "From his features and complexion I guessed him to be an Italian. I saw him after the keepers had found him." "Besides," she went on, "the stiletto was evidently an Italian one, which would almost make it appear that a foreigner was the assassin." "Is that your own suspicion?" "No." "Why ?" She hesitated a moment, then in a low, eager voice she said: "Because I have already seen that knife in another person's possession." "Then what is your theory regarding regard-ing the affair?" I inquired. "It seems certain that the poor fellow fel-low went to the wood by appointment, and was killed. The affair interested me, and as soon as I recognized the old Italian knife in the hand of the keeper, I went up there and looked about. I am glad I did so, for I found something which seems to have escaped es-caped the notice of the detectives." "And what's that?" I asked eagerly. "Why, about three yards from the pool of blood where the unfortunate foreigner was found is another small pool of blood where the grass and ferns around are all crushed down as though there had been a struggle there," "There may have been a struggle at that spot, and the man may have staggered stag-gered some distance before he felt dead." "Not if he had been struck in the heart, as they say. He would fall, would he not?" she suggested. "No. jl iic puiicc aeem veiy utilise, auu Lina plain fact has not yet occurred to them. Their theory is the same as what you suggest, but my own is something some-thing quite different, Mr. Gregg. I believe be-lieve that a second person also fell a victim," she added in a low, distinct tone. I gazed at her open-mouthed. Did she, I wondered, know the actual truth? Was she aware that the woman who had fallen there had disappeared? "A second person!" I echoed, as though 'in surprise. "Then do you believe be-lieve that a double murder was committed?" com-mitted?" "I draw my conclusion from the fact that the young man, on being struck in the heart, could not have gone such a distance as that which separates the one mark from the other." "But he might have been slightly wounded on the hand, or in the face at first, and then at the spot where he was found struck fatplly," I suggested. sug-gested. She shook her head dubiously, but made no reply to my argument. Her confidence in her own surmises made it quite apparent that by some unknown un-known means she was aware of the second victim. Indeed, a few moments later she said to me: "It is for this reason, Mr. Gregg, that I have sought you in confidence. Nobody No-body must know that I have come here to you, or they would suspect; and if suspicion fell upon me it would bring upon me a fate worse than death. Remember, Re-member, therefore, that my future is entirely in youc hands." "I don't quite understand." I said, rising and standing before her in the fading twilight, while the rain drove upon the old diamond window panes. "But I car. paly assure you that whatever what-ever confidence you repose in me, I shall never abuse, Miss Leithcourt." "I know, I know!" she said quickly. "I trust you in this matter implicitly. I have come to you for many reasons, chief of them being that if a second victim has fallen beneath the hand of the assasin. it is, I know, a woman." "A woman! Whom?" ' "At present I cannot tell you. I must first establish the facts. If this woman were really stricken down,1 then her body lies concr-Jed some-where some-where su the vicinity. A must find it 3ii'i bring home tho '..-line to the guiity one." "But if we succeea tn finding it. could we place our hand upon the assassin?" 1 asked, looking straight at her. "If we find it, the crime would then tell its own tale it would convict the person in whose hand I have seen that fatal weapon," was her clear, bold answer. "Then you wish me to assist you in this search, Miss Leithcourt? My search may bring suspicion upon me. It will be difficult to examine the whole wood without arousing the curiosity of somebody the keeper or the police." "I have already thought of that." she said. "I will pretend tomorrow to lose this watch bracelet in the wood," and she held up her slim wrist to show me the little enameled watch set in her bracelet. "Then you and I will search for it diligently, and the police will never suspect the real reason of our investigation. Tomorrow I shall write to you telling you about my loss, and you will come over to Rannoch Ran-noch and offer to help me." I was silent for a moment. "Is Mr. Woodroffe back at the castle? I heard he was to return today." to-day." "No. I had a letter from him from Bordeaux a week ago. He is still on the continent. I believe, indeed, he has gone to Russia, where he sometimes some-times has business." "I asked you the question, Miss Muriel, Mu-riel, because I thought if Mr. Woodroffe Wood-roffe were here he might object to our searching in company," I explained, ex-plained, smiling. Her cheeks flushed slightly, as though confused at my reference to her engagement, and she said mischievously: mis-chievously: "I don't see why he should object in the least. If you are good enough to assist me to search for my bracelet, he surely ought to be much obliged to you." 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