The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-30

| earlier accounts
| His suspicious that there was Something
sinister in the affair grew stronger. and he
| felt he could not rest until he knew the
whole truth
| You told me last night. said he as he
sat down TO breakfast with her and the
children in the brilliant. sunny apartments
overlooking the Pare Monceau. you told
me Miss Trent left you without so much
as saying goodbye, or applying for her
| salary. Yet you had said the other day
that she was so poor she used even to 'bor-
| row postage stamps from Cecile. here.
How, in that case, did she manage to pay
| her passage to England?
| You seem to take tremendous interest
10 my discharged governess." said Madame
| Rail-, bitterly. Lately you can talk of
nothing else
Yes. L do take an immense interest in
her. Conway confessed. "All the more,
| perhaps. that you tell me something diff
ferent concerning her every time you open
| your lips. Hitherto you have said that she
left you of your own accord without even
saying goodbye. Now you speak of having
| discharged her"
An ugly light glttered in Madame Ralli's
| fine eyes.
Would you like to know the real TRUTH"
| she said
| II desire nothing so much"
| Then she neither left me voluntarily nor
did L discharge her. She was taken away
by the police. The girl who interests you
so much is in prison. What for? For the
vulgar. common theft of a diamond. Will
tell you the whole story? Certainly
will. with great pleasure" sneered Madame
| Ralli, and she told it with evident enjoy
ment and infinite detail.
| The children hung on their mothers
words with eager faces, and forgot to eat.
| 1.-The diamond was found i'm the girls
| pocket" concluded Madame Rail-, land
no one but herself, L imagine, could have
| put ii there"
| "Oh, mammie. / put it there, you know
| l did," cried Cecile's little, piping, re-
| proacnful voice. You give it TO me and
| told me to put it into the pocket of Made
| moiselle Mees, as surprise for her.
| Madame Rali turned CHASTITY white, but
said with gay little laugh: you're silly
child, and Sir Claude knows better than to
| listen to your nonsense But Conway,
| glancing from the woman's guilty, tell-tale
| face into the pure, limpid eyes of the little
| girl, knew i'm an instant that he had found
| the truth
| He pushed back his chair and rose
This must be investigated at once" he
| pronounced
| IF you take a single STEP" cried Madame
Rail-, with virulence, "you shall never
| see me again."
| He turned upon her with frowning, dark
| blue eyes.
| Perhaps said he, significantly that
might be the best thing for us-both."
And he went out of the room and down
the velvet-carpeted staircase in a tumult
| Of emotion.
| Outside the porte cochere glittering in
| the sunshine was the beautiful Panchard
/ car, all crimson lacquer and shining brass,
| quivering with the speed pent up in it's
| metal veins. The mechanician sat ready
with folded arms.
| THE expedition is off,' Conway told
| him, briefly. Go up and get Madame
Rallis orders about the car, and send some
one down at once TO look after it, for
cannot stay"
He stayed a moment, however, gnawing
at his mustache, and muttering words
which seemed to burn the air.
| His wide open, angry eyes, which saw
nothing actual, rested unconsciously on the
| person of little nun Fastening timdly up
the street Her gown, and cloak. and hood.
| drawn well over her face, made a blot of
| black upon the sunny scene.
| She seemed to be making for the Ralli
mansion, but he never realized her pres
| ence, and was on the point of turning
| away. when she suddenly stopped in front
| of him and lifted a piteous gaze to his.
''Save me!' she said. IT am innocent.
1 have just escaped from prison. Don't
you remember me? 1 am Lillian Trent. For
heavens sake help me to get away to Eng
| land"
You! You!" he stammered. Poor child!
/ have only just heard the truth-a most
| horrible plot-a most infamous piece Of
work; but"
81 came here to find Elsie, the chamber
maid" she murmured, "for Elsie was good
natured, and 1 knew one else in Paris
I thought she would lend me money for
my fare to London. i would go to ST.
Lazare--the train to Dieppe-''
Conway pulled out his watch. 1.-TWO min
utes past TO- the train has started he
| said. and stood a moment motionless while
| the odd incongruous thought struck him
| that the top of the little nuns head was
| just on level with his heart Then he
pulled himself together, and a light blazed
| in his sombre blue eyes.
You shall catch the boat at Dieppe all
the same" he said, briefly. Jump on
| here"
| In a moment he had bundled the little nun
| into the motor car, and with a touch of
| the levers, the Panhard was flying up the
| Avenue Hoche towards the Etoile.
| An expert motorist, with one hand he
| guided the car, with the other helped Lii
| ian to put on the leather coat and silk
| mask and hood which awaited Madame
| Rail- on the seat; then he drew on his own,
produced pair of goblin motor spectacles
from his pocket, and now completely dis
guised the two went fearlessy forward.
Down the avenue of the Grande Armee,
out by the Porte Maillot, over the Pont de