The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-11-03

My plan is a simple one. 1t is merely
to lure Gordon to the Mariners Joy and
serve him as Taras was served-of course
employing other men than those who made
Taras prisoner. The less complicated the
scheme is, the better" he pursued, seeing
possibly the reluctance felt. "If you can
suggest anything simpler, shall be only
too happy to adopt it, providing. of course.
that it Is equally practicable"
wouldn't it be easier to give him a
sleeping draft and carry him off in the
same way as you did Tarasf',
He shook his head dubitatively and said:
sit might be easier, simpler and better
in one respect, but we must look beyond
the mere act Of getting Gordon away.
Now, what would the consequences be2
Gordon would be missed and inquiries
made. 1t would be found that the same
accident had befallen him which overcame
Taras short time before and that he had
last been seen with me- What account
could give that would satisfy his friends
and Taras2 Slow as Taras is to suspect,
his doubts must be raised by the peculiar
coincidence, and'-
'No, no, that wouldn't do" said, inter
rupting him. your plan is better-the
first; how are you going to get George Cor
don to the Joys"
when the time comes, you must take
him there on pretense that Taras has been
seized and may be found in the cellar
where he was confined before There is
nothing to fear" he said, again noticing
my hesitation
II myself shall come as seldom as possi-
Bile to Lambeth in order to avoid any sus-
picion of collusion. II any simpler scheme
presents itself, will let you know, and of
course you shall have timely and definite
instructions when the moment comes for
action.n
.That won't be long, will its"
mo longer than Is absolutely necessary.
You must have patience meanwhile A
single false step would ruin everything.
Undue haste would awake Rudersdorfs
suspicion and then" he added, with sigh,
"there are my own affairs to wind up
property to be realized, belongings to dis
pose of, friends to be hunted up for the last
time possibly" He was silent awhile, and
then breaking away from reflections that
seemed to shake his purpose he concluded:
81 shall bolt the very day that Gordon is
taken on board the Volga 1t will be
thought then that he and have simply run
away together for a holiday-till the truth
is known"
This reference to the sacrifice he was
about to make silenced me and precluded
further discussion. felt great confidence
in the success of Kavanagh's scheme. 1t
was evident that he would have succeeded
before but for my Intervention. Now every
effort that made would be to carry out
his design. My only fear was that consid-
Grafton of his own interests would change
his purpose.
An unusual expression of gravity In Cor
dons face when he called the next morning
told me that he had already received some
intimation of Taras' danger.
"Mademoiselle,n said he almost as soon
as Mere Lucas had closed the door on us,
'do you think you could understand me II
spoke in English!n
~ dare say can," replied.
.tYou can answer in French, you know,
which is Il lot easier to understand than to
speak II you can't follow me, we'll give
it up and try the other way. But the fact
is have something of n delicate nature to
tell you, and Pm so confouIidedly bad Mt
French that it's doubtful If / could explain
1t Just as want to, you know, in that Ian
guage."
/ agreed to this proposal, and he, after
/ pulling his beard in silent meditation for II
minute said with an uneasy laugh:
ITO tell you the truth, mademoiselle,
| now that toe the line, so to speak, | find
it's not such an easy matter to tell you in
English as l thought it would be. Well,
the long and short of it is, heard some
thing last night which has made me feel
ueueelly anxious ana uUcOullOTtdulc, anu
though | should be awfully sorry to alarm
you think you ought to be made acqnaint-
ed with the facts of the case. That is Barry
Kayanaghis opinion also and he's n man of
| the world, You know, and a deuced long
| headed fellow
.tIf it concerns our friend Taras," said
In low voice, II beg you not to hesitate
In telling me anything you have heard.n
.'It does concern him." he replied, drop
min re t1it a1e oar1na l.
that he is In danger of being seized by the
secret police of Russia"
IT have every reason to know it. Two
! attempts have already been made to take
him away
"Kavanagh told me that, and also that
in each case the attempt was knocked on
the head, SO to speak, by you. Doyou think
| Taras ought to be warncdf"
/ what would that dor If you told Taras
that RudGrsdorf was waiting out there on
the bridge to shoot him, Taras, without a
second thought, would go out on the bridge
| to face him."
| Gordon nodded assent.
81 think that's what l should do myself"
he said.
sBut that is not what we want Taras to
do"
mo, We want to keep him out of danger
as much as possible; but, as Kavanagh
| pointed out, anything that we can do must
be done without his knowledge"
| "All that we can do is to be on the alert
! for anything that occurs lean only watch
as l have watched before"
You will let me know II you see any
thing won't your I'll drop in pretty fire.
quently, and should you want help at any
| time when Pm not in the works or at the
| office you will find me at my diggings at
the Adelphi terrace. shall look in every
night until l feel sure that l may not be
wantedn
just then we heard Taras coming down
4 the passage He entered the room before
| Gordon could beat retreat or even assume
| the natural attitude OF u visitor. A worse
| actor never existed than this honest sim
pie fellow, nor one less capable of conceal
ing anything, and his clumsy efforts to APP
pear unconstrained and easy gave him such
an air of guilty embarrassment that any
one less acquainted with his amiable char
acter than Taras would have certainly sus-
pected him of some wrongdoing. An ir-
repressible smile broke over Taras' face as he
| shook hands with his friend and congratll-
lated him on looking SO rosy and well. 1t
was trying time for poor Gordon, but
fear of the ordeal did not deter him from
keeping his word. Every day he called in
and always at an hour when Taras was
working in his atelier.
Mere Lucas was delighted. She saw in
these visits the realization of her hopes and
gave me to understand by many encourage
ing winks and sly observations that she
knew perfectly well Gordon came only to
make love to me.
1t seemed to me that Taras put the same
construction on these visits and the awk-
ward behavior of Gordon. He gave me no
verbal hint of his belief drew my con-
clusions rather from his reserve on the sub
ject. Always he spoke of Gordon with
warm Affection and vet l fancied with a