The Portland daily press., 1898-04-13
~ WILLIAM LIE QUEUx,
WILLIAM LIE QUEUX.

w 4AOoNO', IllCJ IOOh % i.ahstscAA-N
house, furnished it luxuriously, and gave
a number OF brilliant entertainments.
At one of these the pretty Sonia, whose
jewels We're tie admiration OF Eaf ths
city, met the young Prince Alexis GaZar-
in, mere youth o. twenty two, who had
only few months before inherited II
huge fortune from his father, the we'll
known promoter of the oil industry at
Baku. Alexis fell violently in love with
her, made her many costly presents, pro-
posed marriage land was accepted, the
parental consent being extracted only
when he had deposited in the bank in
Sonia's name one hundred thousand
roubles as settlement upon her. week
before the marriage. the body of Alexis
VolRa near Kostroma, but whether his
death was due to accident, suicide, or foul
play has never been ascertained. The
fact, however. remains that Anton koro-
lenko and his pretty daughter left Mos
COW week later carrying with them one
hundred thousand roubles of the dead
mans money"
''Do you alege that the pair actually
murdered him?" l inquired, astounded
at this story
The detective smiled mysteriously.
gave his shoulders q significant shrug,
but did not reply.
"Ihis," exclaimed Paul, lis the sort OF
woman you are trying to befriend No
doubt she has told you most touching
story of persecution, and all that, but
can anyone be surprised if our p9lice en-
deavor to arrest her? 1 tell you plainly
she's mere adv enturess, with plausi
BILE story ever upon her tongue"
"Do you refuse to do what I ask?" 1
inquired at last, when Renouf, pleading
an appointment, had bowed and depart
ed.
81 can really see no satisfactory reason
why should he answered, standing
in the center of the Persian rug spread
before the fireplace.
"You are my friend, Paul. I urged.
SAT all times am, as you are aware,
ready to perform you any personal SER
vice.
at is not rendering you personal
service if, by giving the passport. | in
duce her to tell you a tissue Of untruths. "
"But it is evident, even from Renouf's
report, that Ella visits her. 1t is to OBJ
tain an calculation of a secret that am
striving. for I am convinced Sonia knows
the truth"
she will not tell it to you, but substitute
some romantic fiction or other" he
laughed. "It is really astounding to find
you so confident in her honesty"
Paul Verblioudovitoh' attack of i'll
temper vanished as he threw himself
back in his chair and showed all his
white teeth in a hearty guffaw.
Il am not confident . declared. 81
have assisted the girl to obtain her free
dom, therefore cannot see that she can
have any object in wilfully deceiving me.
Her promise to reveal the truth regarding
Ella in exchange for the passport is but u
mere business arrangement.
"You apparently suspect the woman
you love of some terrible CRIME or other, "
d., l114- anil fnS-
stand you, Godfrey, l must confess. -
eff you were in my place, fondly
loving woman who was enveloped in
beWildering mystery, y1u would l have
noSdouht, acted quite as strangelyras my
SELF" I exclaimed, sssmiling grimly. II
only want to discover light in this chaos
of pfrplexity; then only shall be con-
TENT
"But if circumstances have SO con-
spired to produce problem, why not re-
main patient until its natural calculation
is effected? The police, when baffied,
frequently adopt that course, and often
very effectually, too
"Truth to tell, old fellow" [ said con-
fidentially, II am anxious to marry Ella.
but cannot until have ascerta1ned some
substantial truth
"Of what do you suspect her-of a
crime?" he inquired, smiling.
l paused.
Yes 1 answered grayely, "of a
ori me.
I fancied he started as I spoke, almost
imperceptibly perhaps, yet I could have
sworn that my words produced within
him some nervous apprehension.
"a crimsI' he echoed. "Surely she
cannot be guiltySof anything more serious
than some little indiscretion.
cit is more than mere iDdiscretion that
1 suspect 1 said in low tone.
"Well," he observed mechanically as,
after a pause, he stood at tho window
gazing ixedly into the street. ~ cer-
tainiy would never accept as truth any
thing whatever told me by Sonia Koro-
lenko."
l was, however, memorable in my de-
mand, more than ever determined to hear
Sonia IS Estory. The strange hesitating
manner in which my friend had endeav-
ored to avoid complying with my request
had aroused suspicion within me; of
what, I could not tell. 1t struck me as
curious that he should thus defend Ella
SO strenuously, although he knew her but
slightly. He was, perhaps, acting in my
interests as his friend, but If SO, his in
tense hatred of Sonia was more than the
mere official denunciation of an evil-doer.
did not believe his declaration that he
had never met Sonia. but it seemed
rather as If he had cause to well remeln
recollection still ranked bitterly within
him.
The admission by Renouf was little
disconcerting. Sonia certainly did not
dream that the Cars spies were even
now watching her every action and care
fully scrutinizlng each person who called
at Pembroke Road. 1 saw that this
knowledge had acquired might prove
extremely useful to her, for it was plain
that even If she obtained the passport she
would have to leave England secretly to
avoid the vigilance Of the secret agents OF
the Embassy. Again, why did Ella
visit her? Instead of cycling in the Park
she went to Penn broke Road, according to
the report furnished TO Renouf, nearly
every day. For what purpose, won
dered. The more 1 reflected, the more
deeply it became rooted within me that
through Sonia 1 might ascel tain tho truth
I sought.
Therefore, l abandoned none OF my
efforts to persuade my friend to issue the
document that would pass the sad-eyed
girl across the frontier into the land she
loved. For fully half an hour we dis
cussed the situation, but he would not
consent. She was an adventures and
criminal, he said, and he was not pre-
pared to risk the consequences If she were
tod tp,-r -. Ft< at.11