The Washington weekly post., 1899-07-25

The window l. securely fastened. your
exeeliency. unless be breaks the glass"
''Oh, he will not think Of doing that
| until II is too lstsi The English are a
law-abiding people. How many other
passengers are there in the carr
-Oh. forgot to tell you. eKcellency. that
room y had been taken by an English
| lazy, who is there now
Ten thousand deviIsr' cried the Rus
sian in hoarse whisper. why did ycu
not say that beforsg
The voices now fell "a so low murmur
that Jennie could not distinguish the
words A moment later there was a rap
at the door. and she had presence Of mind
enough TO get in the farther corner and
say in sleepy voice:
Come i'm
The conductor opened the door
"Votre billet. s'il vous plait. ruadane. -
Cant you speak Ecglish?" asked Jen-
ME
The conductor merely repeated his cues
| ton, and as Jennie was shaking her head
! the big Russian looked over the conduc-
tors shoulder and said in passable Ing
lish:
He is asking for your ticket, madame.
! Do you not speak French?'
In answer 10 the direct question Jennie,
| fumbling in her purse Tor ner tickets, -e-
I Piled:
81 speak English. and have already
| shown him my ticket"
| she handed her broad sheet sleeping :ar
! ticket 10 the Russian. who mad pushed
the conductor aside and now stood within
I the compartment.
There has been mistake" he said.
[ no Fg q
Cd for you"
I am sure there isn't any mistake. -
/ said Jennie. Il booked berths ) and
/ see there are the numbers -
the metallic plates by the door-"and he, g
ar tne same numbers on the ticket"
! The Russian shook his head.
The mistake has been made at the Of
nee OF the sleeping car company. i ana a
director Of the company"
'Oh, are you?' asked Jennie innocently.
I rs room c as comfortable as this one.''
/ 1t is a duplicate of this one, madame.
and is more comfortable because it is
nearer the center Of the car
| Well, there is no mistake about nv re-
serving the two beths, is there?'
| "Oh, no, madame. The room is entire
! ~ at your disposal"
"Gh, well, then, in that case" said
Jennie, Il have no objection to making
/ change"
She knew that she would be compelled
| to change, 10 matter what her ticket rec
orded, so she thought it best to play the
simple maiden abroad and make as little
| fuss as possible about the transfer. She
had 30 rearrange the car in her mind.
She was nov in room c., which had been
/ first reserved by the British Embassy. 1t
was evident that, at the last moment the
messenger had decided to take room A,
four berth room at the end of the car
| The police then would occupy room y,
which she mad first engaged. and from
the bit of conversation she had overheard
Jennie was convinced that they intended
| TO kill or render insensible the messenger
who bore the important letter. The police
were not to protect, but 10 attack. The
amazing complication in the plot concen-
trated all the girls sympathies on the
unfortunate man who was messenger be-
! tween two great peTsonageS, even though
he Travelled apparently under the protec
tion of the British Embassy al ST. Peters
burg. The fact. to put II BADLY. that she
had intended to rob him herself if oppor
tunity occurred rose before her like an
accusing ghost. II shall never undertake
anything like this again." she cried to
herself, never, never!' And now she re-
solved to make reparation to the man she
had intended TO injure. She would watch
for him until he came down the passage
and then warn him by relating what she
had heard. She had 'taken off her hat
when she entered the room. Now she
put it on hurriedly, thrusting a long pin
though ii. As she stood up there was
a jolt of the train that caused her TO sit
Gown again somewhat hurriedly. Passing
her window she sa~ the lights of the
station. The train was IN motion. Thank
heaven!" she cEed fervently. He is too
late! Those plotting villains will have
all their trouble for nothing"
She glanced upward toward the ceiling
and noticed a hole about an inch in di-
ameter bored on the thin wooden parti-
ton between her compartment and the
next. Turning 10 the wall behind her,
she saw that another hole had been bored
in a similar position through to room B.
The car had been pretty thoroughly pre-
pared for the work in hand, and Jennie
laughed softly to herself as she pictured
the discontinue of the conspirators. The
train was now rushing through the SUBJ
urbs of ST. Petersburg, and Jennie was
startled by hearing another voice say in
French:
Conductor, | have room A. Which end
of the car is that?"
This way, exceUency," said the con-
ductor. Every one seemed to be excel
lency' with him.
A moment later Jennie, who had again
risen to her feet, Mortified to know that
after all the messenger had come, heard
the door of his room click. Everything
was silent save the purring murmur of
the swiftly moving train. She stood there
for a few moments tense with excitement,
then bethought herself of the mole be-
tween her present compartment and the
one she had recently left. She sprang up
on the seat and placing her eye with some
caution at the hole peered through. First
she thought the compartment was empty.
Then she noticed there had been placed
at the end by the window a huge cylinder
that reached nearly to the ceiling of the
room. The lamp above was burning
brightly, and she could see every detail of
the compartment except toward the floor.
AS she gazed mans back slowly rose.
Eie appeared to have been kneeling on the
floo~, and he held in his hand the loop OF
a rubber tube. Peering downward. she
saw that il was connected Eith the cyiin-
der and that il was undoubtedly pouring
whatever gas the cylinder contained
through the hole into room a. For mo-
ment she had difficulty in repressing a
shrek, but realizing how perfectly help
less she was, even if she gave the alarm,
she repTessed all exclamation. she saw
that the man who was regulating the es-
cape Of gas was not the one who had
spoken TO the conductor. Then, fearing
that he might turn his head and see her
eye at the small aperture, she reached up
and covered her lamp, leaving her own
room IN complete darkness. The double
covering. which closed over the semi i-glob-
ular lamp Ike an eyelid, kept every ray
Of light from penetrating into the COM
paTtment.
As Jennie turned to her espionage again
she heard a blow given 20 the door in
'o0m A that made il clatter. Then there
was a sOUnd Of 2 heavy fall on the foor.
The door OF room z was flung open, the
head Of the first Russian was thrust in,
and he spoke in his own language a sin
gle sruG word. His assistant then turned