Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1902-06-26

the family secret Is a sacred one; the
second, because ary disclosures would
land me in great physical danger.
Therefore they put their heads to-
gether and evolve this scheme. Call
It mad venture II you like. but II you
consider the history Of your own coun-
try you can fiEd wilder schemes
evolved and carried out by men who
have had brains enough to be trusted
with the fortunes of the nation. If
these girls had been less considerate
for my safety"
But" Bell broke in. eagerly, "they
failed in that respect at the very outset.
You must have been spotted instantly
by the foe. who has cunningly placed
you in dangerous position. perhaps as
warning to mind your own business In
future. And If those girls come for
ward to save you-and to do so they
must appear in public. mind you-they
are bound to give away the whole thing.
Mark the beautiful cunning Of it. My
word we have foe worthy of our steel
to meet"
1--WE? Do you mean to say that your
enemy and mine is a common one?"
Certainly When found my foe I
found yours!"
"And who may he be, by the same
token?"
"Reginald Henson. Mind you, I had
no more idea of it than the dead when
went to Longdean Grange tonight. I
went there because had begun to sus-
pect who Occupied the place, and to try
and ascertain how the Rembrandt en-
craving got into 21S Brunswick Square.
Miss Gates must have heard us talking
over the matter and that was why she
went to Longdean Grange tonight"
VT hope she got home SAFE" said Da-
vid. 1.-The cabman says he put her down
opposite the Lawns
81 hope So Well. found out who the
foe was. And have a pretty good idea
why he played the trick upon me. He
knew that Enid Henson and myself
were engaged; he could see what a
danger to his schemes it would be to
have a man like myself in the family.
Then the second Rembrandt turned up,
and there was his chance for wiping me
off the slate. After that came the terri
bile family scandal between Lord Litti-
mer and his wife. I cannot tell you
anything of that, because I cannot
speak with definite authority. But you
could Judge of the effect Of it on Lady
Littimer tonight"
IT haven't the faintest recollection of
seeing Lady Littimer tonight"
"My dear fellow, the poor lady whom
you met as Mrs. Henson is really Lady
Littimer. Henson is her maiden name.
and those girls are her nieces. Trouble
has turned the poor woman's brain.
And at the bottom of the whole mystery
is Reginald Henson, who is not only
nephew on his mothers side. but is also
next heir but one to the Littimer title.
At the present moment he is blackmail-
ing the unhappy creature, and is ma
neuvering to get the whole of her large
fortune into his hands. Reginald Hen
son is the man those girls want to cir
cumvent, and for that reason they came
to you. And Henson has found it out.
to a certain extent, and placed you in
an awkward position"
Witness my involuntary guest and
the notes. and the cigar case" David
said. "But does he know what advised
one of the girls-my princess of the dark
room-to do?"
II don't fancy he does. You see, that
advice was conveyed by word of mouth.
The girls dared not trust themselves to
correspondence, otherwise they might
have approached you in more prosaic
manner. But confess you startled me
tonight"
"what do you mean by that?"
when you sent me that note. What
you virtually asked me to do was to
countenance murder. When I went in
to the sick room saw that Christiania
Henson was dying. The first idea that
flashed across my mind was that Reg
inald Henson was getting the girl out
of the way for his own purposes My
dear fellow, the whole atmosphere lit
orally spoke Of albumen. Walker must
have been blind not to see how he was
being deceived. I was about to give
him my opinion, pretty plainly, when
your note came up to me. And there
was Enid with her whole soul in her
large eyes, pleading for my silence. II
the girl died was accessory after and
before the fact. You will admit that
that was a pretty tight place to put a
doctor in"
That's because you didn't know the
facts Of the case, my dear Bell"
''Then, perhaps you'll be so good as
to enlighten me-" Bell said, drily.
Certainly. That was part of my
scheme. In the synopsis of the story
obtained by the girls, by more or less
mechanical means, the reputed death Of
a patient formed the crux of the tale.
The idea occurred to me, after reading
charge against a medical student
some time ago, in the Standard The
man wanted to get himself out of the
way; he wanted to be considered as
dead, in fact By the artful use of albu-
men in certain doses he produced symp-
toms Of disease which will be quite IA
miliar to you. He made himself so i'll
that his doctor naturally concluded that
he was dying. AS matter Of fact, he
was dying. Had he gone on in the same
way another day he would have been
dead. Instead Of this, he drops the dos
ing and, going to his doctor, in dis
guise, says that he is dead. He gets a
certificate of his own demise, and there
you are. I am not telling you fiction,
but hard fact, recorded in high-class
paper. The doctor gave the certificate
without viewing the body. Well. it
struck me that we had here the making
Of good story, and vaguely outlined