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Show 7?:U?: . .... ..; q Illui.rat&d tij lrwltyevy Copyright tyGeorqo HDoranCo. JED ABDUCTED. HynophU, Ur. John A! Iihi-lson, r.i.Hiil.;rit (itiMl'-ian and cuiiip inlm of iitniT Hnliiy at il:iril-y liou.se. Mr. HMfiny 1m ui Anierit ;in, a H. riil-hivullii, riil-hivullii, old and rich anl vr;ry ilir-Minms ilir-Minms to livt. Mrs, .Sidney i.s a hpuiifih woman, (JitfniMnl ami reticent. reti-cent. Je'i, the btitler, iu-t.s Hko a rrlvllk'Ci(l iiH-niher oT tl.e family. Ttm r'.tmlly Iiuh (nine from Monle-vhl. Monle-vhl. , Son tli Ami' -U-.i. Marl ley lionwo 1m a line Old isolated cutinlry Itlac, with a inn i d. r story, a "haunted pool," and many watch-d'ii,'M, watch-d'ii,'M, iind mi atmosjihi-ri; of mystery. mys-tery. 'J'lie "h'tunted iool" its win-re Itieliard Joti 'on, son of a former owner of Hartley turns--, had killed his brother, Arthur iJobson. Jnd tieK'Ins op;i'ii UmiH by lucki iltf the doctor In hi.s room the wry lirst in hl. I 'or l or Jul in i.-vi-N his door so he can't he lucked in. lie meets lsobtil, daughter of the house, and falls In luv..- at Hist siht. In the nwht. he limb", t!m butler lniuk and holding M rs. Hidn.-y by the wrist. Mi' Interferes. M rs Sidney m;'.kes llht of It. John buys a revolver. John overhears Jed telling Mrs. Sidney ho will have his way. In reply sh says she will not hesitate to hill him. Airs. Sidney asks John to consent to the annoti ncemeii t of his cni,r;iK!iiiuiiL to Isobel. The yniniK peutde consent to the make-believe make-believe ttiu'.a.enient. Later they find it In to head off Jed. who would marry lsohel. Jed tries to kill John, but the matter Is smoothed over. John, though "en-Kaed" "en-Kaed" to Isobel, conceals his love. Mr. Sidney visits a nearby prison and has Dobson, the murderer, pointed out. Jed tells the story of the Dohson murder. The family go to South America for the winter. John Is l?ft at home, but the "en-pa "en-pa emen" Is not broken. John hears thfl story of a tragedy "that might have happened In Montevideo." Monte-video." The family returns. A mysterious Spanish sailor n ppears. Jed recognizes him and wants to kill him. The sailor plays burglar. Mr. Brown, "attorney" for the sailor, calls on John and makes demands. de-mands. Q Q CHAPTER VIII Continued. 10 "I cannot correct your convictions," I said. "You nuit use your best judgment. judg-ment. You have our permission to do anything that suggests itself to you." "You're going to brazen it out," he cried. "We are not going to do anything at all," I said, "not seeing any necessity for doing anything. I might merely suggest to you that there are legal provisions against blackmail." The quiet little man, with his notions no-tions of profit evaporating, suddenly became savage and desperate. "I can't be fooled with," lie cried. "I know you. You won't assail me with a blackmail charge, because you do not dare. I know I am guilty and can be punished unless I have a real hold on this family. I have taken the chance that I have a real hold. It was cot certain, but now I know it. It 1 r-Jf ip1"' "You Are in for Trouble," He Said. "We Know What You Have, and We'll Get It." Is not enough ot a hold, but it Is enough to keep you from making trouble trou-ble for me. and I'll see that soon it will he enough to make you listen to me." "You may do anything you want to do," I said. He became ouiet and cunning again. "Then, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak to Jed," he said. I rang for him. When Jed came, the 1'ule shabby lawyer became excited again and got up out of his chair to shake his Anger Ht Jed. "You are In for trouble," he said. "We know what you have, and we'll pet It. They don't dare stop us, and I want to give you notice that you are marked. That's all. You'll be followed follow-ed and hounded and run down in the end. and there'll he an end to this superciliousness here. It may be when fot're dead. "That's a threat, and the people In this house can make the best of It. I'm in thi case to stay, and my Spanish Span-ish client is not easily discouraged or controlled. You have chosen to" deal Willi us in till fashion. We'll get the rest of this evidence, and we'll make you pay ten times more than we'd he willing to settle for now. We've got an equity In this matter, and we're going to collect It. We know all about you. my friend Jed. an., we'll show you I hat we do. Where's my cane and hat? I'm. going to get out of here. You'll regret it." ".led," I said, "show the gentleman where the door Is and don't let the dogs attack him on the way out." A disappointed shyster went away In a hurry. I was not only perplexed hut alarmed. Of the rapacity of the li:tle nam, of his lack of conscience and morals, I had no doubt at all. My only question was whether he could make his malevolence and cupidity effective. Jed showed him to the door and then came hack. 1 could see that lie was frightened nearly to death. CHAPTER IX. We had seen nothing of Dravada or the lawyer for nearly three weeks. I was tillable to think that we had heard the last of them. Dravada's purpose had been too long nourished and the lawyer's cupidity was too great for either to abandon his intent. Jed's disposition was resilient, and soon lie recovered his poise. He thought his enemies had abandoned their intent. It was a relief to me when going to bed and lying a few minutes awake, to hear the rush and scurry of the dogs about the place. They were active at night. Rabbits, coons, weasels and occasionally a fox kept them moving. Jed's courage returned and with it, I was disturbed to observe, a threat of another fit of temper. It showed itself first in moodiness and then in insolence. inso-lence. I was glad to find that Jed In this mood this time was not directing himself against Mrs. Sidney. He had turned against me. I knew that he was in torment again. He had nothing noth-ing to say to me unless he saw me in Mr. Sidney's room. Then he was pleasant. "Jed," I said to him one morning, "I know you better than you think I do. You'll torment yourself until you do something you'll regret." "Go to the devil," said Jed. Isobel and I had been progressing as rationally as two young people could, situated with regard to ach other as we were. One evening I had been reading and Isobel had gone to the piano. I had put my book down on my knees as she began to play. Then I was aroused by perceiving, without seeing, that somebody was near me. I turned suddenly and saw Jed. He was not three feet behind my chair. His face revealed disorder of mind. "Do you want a cocktail?" he asked. "Xo," I said. Isobel touched the keys of the piano, as a player done with a mood may do to express surfeit or conclusion. "Not a mild one?" Jed asked, persisting. per-sisting. "Well, then, very weak," I said. I took up my book again and forced myself, as discipline, to read. I had not been able to do it so long as Isobel played, but now that she had stoppsd I might at least try. I made an effort. I tried to keep my attention on the type. It was no use. After fifteen minutes' reading 1 found that I had not turned a page. Neither had Jed brought the cocktail. I got up and walked about the library. I went to the front entrance to Iind if a few deep breaths in the open would not produce tranquillity. As 1 stood at the entrance .Isobel came running toward it. I heard her before 1 saw her. She was running and gasping. She came up the steps, saw me. controlled herself and tried to appear undisturbed. She might have succeeded, but a sleeve of her gown was torn from iter waist and had fallen to her wrist. "What lias happened to you?" I asked. "Nothing," she said. "You are running." "A little exercise." "Look at your sleeve." I said. She clutched at it as if she had become be-come conscious of it for the first time, and then ran by ir.e and indoors. We nnt at dimer twenty minxes lat-?r. Isobel had on another gown. Jed did not serve us. Pinner was delayed de-layed ten minutes. Then two maids undertook the service. Mrs. Sidney asked for Jed. One of the maids said that he had not appeared and they were doing the best they could without with-out him. "Why. what can have happened to Jed'.'" Mrs. Sidney exclaimed. "What did happen to Jed?" I asked Isobel after dinner when we were alone. "I don't know," she said. "Who tore joux sleeve?" "Jed," she said with resolute frankness. frank-ness. "Where is her "I don't know." "Where were you when lie did It?" "At the edge of the woods. I had gone out for a bit of air just across the lawn. Jed appeared." "What did he say?" "I don't know something Incoherent, Incoher-ent, violent; and he took me by the sleeve. I was not frightened, but I drew hack suddenly. My sleeve ripped out. We were at the edge of the woods. Three men appeared, strangled Jed he-fore he-fore he could cry out, picked him up and carried him off." I spent the evening with Mr. Sidney anil told him that Jed was ill. lie was concerned, and I made the lie a kindly one. "It is insignificant," I said. "With his habits lie must occasionally pay a price. A touch of indigestion this time." To extemporize a few lies to get through the night was easy enough; hut Jed was not back in the morning, and Mr. Sidney had to be deceived in more enduring fashion. I explained to him that Jed had been called away on an urgent matter, which seemed to Mrs. Sidney to justify justi-fy his going at once. Mrs. Sidney, at my request, made the same explanation explana-tion later, and Mr. Sidney accepted it. This explanation seemed very lame to me, hut it served. Mr. Sidney did not know of any reason why Jed should disappear. We offered him an explanation expla-nation of the servant's absence, and he accepted It-It It-It was apparent that the Spaniard and the lawyer had been two of the men concerned in Jed's plight, and I thought It best to telephone a discreet detective agency and have the lawyer put under scrutiny. Mrs. Sidney thought this was a proper course or at least that no better one was available. avail-able. , Two days later the detectives reported report-ed that the lawyer had disappeared from all his accustomed places and that it might require some time to get trace of him. Jed had been gone four days when one of the maids asked for a month's leave. Her mother was very sick, she said. Mrs. Sidney agreed willingly, although al-though disliking to have an unfamiliar servant in the house to fill this maid's place for the time she would be gone. Anna, the maid, said that a very close friend of hers would be glad of an opportunity op-portunity to have a month in the country. coun-try. Mrs. Sidney took Anna's recommendation recom-mendation with some relief. The day Anna went away a very pretty girl was met at the train by the chauffeur. She was the thirty-day maid. I saw her as she came in. I thought her manner did not indicate domestic service, but afterward I found that in spite of appearance she was very deft and competent. With Jed gone, such of his duties as could be done by the maids were given them ; and this new servant, Agnes, was so efficient in the dining room that she took over what Jed had done there. Mr. Sidney liked attractive women about him, and Agnes pleased him with her bright, pretty appearance and good-humored good-humored serviceability. In three or four days he was glad to have her assigned as-signed to duties which Jed had done for him. In little over a week Agnes had fitted into the routine of the house perfectly. Up to this time nothing had been heard of Jed, but on the ninth day of his disappearance the detectives telephoned tele-phoned that they had the lawyer. Mc-' Guire was the detective-superintendent's name. "I am not to understand what 1; back of this case." he suggested, telephoning. tele-phoning. "It Is not necessary," I said. "If he is willing to come here in your custody, cus-tody, that is enough." The next day McGuire, the detective, detec-tive, came with the lawyei , who apparently ap-parently was trying to . eop from looking as frfghtened as he felt. "I'll have you understand I came of my own volition." he said. "With Mr. McGuire representing your volition." I suggested. "I think I'll look about the grounds for a while," said McGuire. "What do you expect to gain by this?" the lawyer asked when the detective de-tective had gone. "What did you fear tj lose by not coming?" I asked. "Suppose we make our dealing plain. You were one of a party of three that abducted the servant Jed. We want him released and returned here where he is needed." "Y'ou are talking nonsense," said the lawyer. "I came with your detective because I thought that at last this household was prepared to deal reasonably rea-sonably with a reasonable man." "Where is Jed?" I asked. "That's none of my business." "It will he made yours." 'T.arking dogs moonshine things to scare babies." said the little man. McGuire came back. "I guess I've seen all I want of the grounds," he said, "and there's a train back in half an hour. We've our rig waiting." "I'm not going rxek," nid the lawyer. law-yer. "I stay at Burnley." "What is he to do?" asked McGuire. "Merely leave tho house," I said, and I rang for a maid "I'll not be butldozed," said the lawyer. "Y"ou are not rieinr" I suggested. "The maid will show you out." lie was at a loss bu! had nothing else to do but go when the maid came. I held McGuire for only a moment and asked him to have operatives watch the lawyer constantly, with an idea that he actually would remain in Hartley, Hart-ley, and to continue to search for Jed. Mr. Sidney, Isobel and I had a cheerful cheer-ful dinner that evening. Worried as Mra. Siduey was by Jed's disappear ance, she was relieved by his absence. I had a pleasant two hours with Mr. Sidney, and after that the night produced pro-duced an occurrence. Ever since Jed had disappeared I had been accustomed to taking certain responsibilities with regard to the house. The element of security entered en-tered as a question. I knew we were' in circumstances which demanded at least asked precautions. So I went about the house at night to see to locks, in a supervision of the duties the servants performed in closing the place one I took on myself without saying anything about it. Hartley house was large, with many wings. It wa nearly a half-hour's work to visit all the entrances and see to bolts. Many of the halls and corridors cor-ridors were dark, and 1 carried au electric Hash to use when needed. I did not say anything of my assumed as-sumed duties, hut I suggested to Mrs. Sidney that, considering the state of i it! "I'll Not Be Bulldozed," Said the Lawyer. Law-yer. the house, it would be wise to tell the household that all doors would be locked lock-ed .ft ten o'clock. Mrs. Sidney thought this good policy and the servants were so informed. The night which had our ' i phenomenon as a development I started start-ed through the house at midnight. I had gone from Mr. Sidney's ijoom to my own, had put on a smoking jacket and slippers, put my revolver in my pocket and had laid my watch on the dresser. I went downstairs and examined the bolt, lock, and chains on the doors at the main entrance. In the halls leading lead-ing from these doors there were electric elec-tric buttons, and the house being presumably pre-sumably closed for the night and darkened, dark-ened, I went from hall to hall, from door to door, lighting my way by pushing push-ing the buttons and turning off the lights when I had satisfied myself. In two wings, one to the north and one to the south, there was no electric wiring. In the halls of these wings I went along easily enough with an occasional oc-casional flash of the little light I carried. car-ried. Jed's room was in the south wing on the second floor. The windows of the hall toward the east showed the waning moon just rising above a grove of oak mixed with larch, and I stopped at one of the windows to admire ad-mire the quiet scene. I was attracted not startled but turned by a noise at the farther end of the hall. At that end of the hall were the stairs to the second floor, where Jed had his room. There were no windows at that end. and it was in complete darkness, although al-though three faint rays of moonlight ..raversed the hall from the windows nearer me. I listened, and it seemed that the sound I heard was the creaking of old stairs under a light and stealthy step. That interested me. and I went as quietly as I could toward the sound. I must have made some noise. The creaking stopped. I stood stil in one of the shafts of moonlight. There was an instant of silence. I took another step toward the stair and hit my foot against a chair, almost losing mj balance. bal-ance. There was a scurry of feet and a rustling of skirts from the bottom of the stairs across the dark hall. I flashed my electric light, and within its rays saw a glint of white which Instantly In-stantly disappeared down a side corridor cor-ridor which led to a small door used by servants. I started in pursuit, but a blow on the head, sharp but not powerful, pow-erful, coming from behind, knocked me down. It dazed me n bit and felled me. hut was not enough to make me unconscious. uncon-scious. Nevertheless I got to my feet unsteadily and made my way slowly down the corridor into which the flash of white had turned. I came to the door with my electric light illuminating illuminat-ing the hall, and thus I knew no one was in it it had no recesses or furniture furni-ture to offer concealment and found the door locked from the outside. I "Agnes, the new maid, can I ! not be found." I! ! H (TO BE CONTINX'ED.) |
