Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-31
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70 ~ EE!Z@aPETH' N'RARR@w

self the luxury OF rest. AS walked rapid
ly along toward the goal to which I was
bound forced myself to think rapidly over
my adventure and some circumstances
with which 1t was connected The chief of
them was my familiarity with madams
wonderful voice. popularity in the hui
man voice was something 1 had trained
myself never to forget. 1 had no difficulty
in recalling the time and place in which a
voice singularly like hers, but proceeding
apparently from very different source,
had first attracted my attention.
Some eighteen months before 1 had been
in England, where l had been so fortunate
as to gain the friendship and esteem of
man whose pleasure it was. with the genius
which had been given him and the great
skill which he had acquired, to unravel the
mysteries and to discover the dangers
which too often surround our fellow MEN
and women. At the time of my visit he
had been engaged in unearthing an afro
cious plot which had threatened the exist
ing government. The scheme had develop
ed almost to the point of the perpetrati ton
of a great crime, when my friends fore
sight succeeded in capturing and bringing
to the bar of Justice the ringleaders them
selves. With the usual caution and con-
servatiyeness of the English nation, the
whole affair had been handled with ex-
IRENE secrecy and fear of public knowl-
edge Being kept almost entirely out of the
newspapers, few people knew anything of
1t and the details of the case went little
further than the court. Through the inter-
est of my friend by whose sagacity the
L
to witness the trial. One of the prisoners
had strangely interested me. He was sim
gularly prepossessing in appearance; a curl
ing mass of dark hair worn rather long,
eyes that burned like veritable fire, the con-
tour of his face Heightened by the addition
of a well-groomed beard cut closely in the
French fashion. his hands and feet small
and finely cared fer, his figure slender. In
fact, the very opposite in personality and
tradition to the usually accepted anarchistic
idea. Yet devotion to the cause he had
adopted seer,ed the very breath he drew
His voice. high in quality of tone for man
as was hers low for a woman, was, as l re-
called 1t, very strangely similar to that in
which madam of the White Shoulders had
but lately addressed me. l distinctly re-
membered the particulars of the trial and it's
strange outcome. The boyle seemed
scarcely more-had been convicted and SEN
fenced to life imprisonment at hard labor,
with other members of the gang. They
were taken at once to Portsmouth Upon
the third n Forming after their incarceration
his cell, together with those of one or two
of the others, was found empty. The bars
had been neither filed nor broken, but sim
ply unlocked Suspicion attached itself to
one OF the jailers, who, in turn, was arrest
ed, tried for conniving at the escape of the
several prisoners, found guilty upon strong
circumstantial evidence although stoutly
protesting his innocence). and condemned
to long term of Imprisonment. The only
trace of the convicts which could be found
was the several suits of prison stripes which
.
shop in Portsmouth during the night for
more modish costumes.
There was but one link connecting this
affair with the one in which l was now
mplicated-a human voice; but yet, to me,
from the study had given the subject. it
was no slight correction. l had seen
enough to know that plot of some grave
import was Matching in the House with
Green Blinds, and that my own appearance
upon and disappearance from the scene
would by no means retard matters. What
ever the nature of II might be (and l had
my own opinion as 20 this l had seen and
heard enough to know that they could
scarcely draw back now.
There was no time to lose, therefore.
My goal was the shop Of a well
known 10 our professional CoStumer and
secret dealer in professional DISCUSSES. In
half an hour l issued from 1t as well Sc.
up a clergyman as one could wish to see.
My next move was to trace the girl who
had spoiled madam's aim, and in doing so
had undoubtedly saved my life. | had no.
ticed as she stood under the brilliant glare
of light in the drawing room of the House
with Green Blinds. that her hat and veil
and gown were covered with shining par
ticleS Of black duSt-a kind which collects
rarely but during a railway journey. She
had entered the room hurried and breath
less, as though she had been walking rap
idly. Had she come in from any station
other than the Grand Central, which was
but few blocks away, 1t seemed to me,
from her evident desire for haste, that she
would scarcely have taken time for walk
ing. l possessed myself working upon
these suppositions, of timetable, and
found that an accommodation train which
had P (whither madam had commanded
me to go the next day. for one of its sta
tionS, had arrived but a few minutes before
the time of the girls appearance at the
House with Green Blinds. No other for the
same station was scheduled to depart with
in six hours. 1t was now nearly II o'clock,
and there remained but one thing to do be-
fore allowing myself a few hours of much
needed rest. This was to have an interview
with my chief and explain to him the de-
tails of affair which it had grown out Of
my power to control unaded. I found him
just leaving his club, and explained the
thing to him carefully. together with my
own plans and ideas. He was kind enough
to commend them and to allow me to go on
as 1 had intended, leaving practically the
entire management in my hands, but giving
me the benefit of his advice and placing
wha tever assistance l desired at my dis
posal. l sent Ray of the department. there
fore, together with another young fellow
from our own office to my rooms to watch
whatever might go on in the opposite house
and to dog any one who might issue from
it, though the latter seemed to me need
less precautfon.
Before o'clock having in the meantime
been refreshed by a few hours sleep at the
Hotel B, I was strolling, without appar-
emily other aim than that Of waiting for my
train, up and down through the waiting
room of the Grand Central station. 1t was
ed. The girl entered the waiting room and
went Immediately to the ticket office. where
she purchased a ticket to P. What set
me back, however. was the appearance of
the person who followed close behind her.
l could not have sworn to his identity, but
the resemblance was a marked one. The
hair. escaping from under his soft hat In
wavy richness: the well-groomed appear
ance; the small hands and feet, We're all
in evidence. The chief difference lay in the
fact that now his beard was worn rather
long and of a jet black color whereas the
man whom 1 had seen tried and convicted
Of grave charge in her majestys criminal
court some eighteen months before had
worn a light brown imperial. This, of
course. was matter easily changed by one
who wished to disguise himself, and after
l had caught glimpse of his eyes, as they
flashed for an instant brilliantly into mine,
the resemblance, even the very identity of
the man with the one had seen, was borne
more forcefully upon me. And yet, l had
seen those eyes, others like Them more
lately. Through the holes Of the satin mask
they (or was it but a resemblance0 had
questioned me not yet twelve hours before,
and tn. same strange attraction in them
held me now as then.
He did not seem to be In company with