The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-06-10

eral murmured, as the sound of wheels
drew him at last from the age-worn but
tress back to the portico. elf he g
turned up all right L III try and persuade
him to .confde the secret before we 60
to bed.' .@s
But when the brougham stopped, it
disgorged no duke, but only Alec For
syth, pale Of face, and for once in his
| life half afraid Of meeting his uncle IS
expectant eye. But he kept his pres
ence Of mind sufficiently to control his
voice as he informed the .general-the
information being really for the serv
ants who. had appeared at the. hall door
silence the general led the way to the
dinin groom, and it was not until he had
dismissed the butler with the assurance
that they would need nothing more that
night that he found speech in the curt
monosyllable, "Well?0.
For answer Alec handed him tele-
graph form conveying the message: .
"To A. Forsyth, passenger by S:45, St.
Pancras terminus.
"Come back at once, urgent. Am in
great distress. Persons threatening
duke detained here. He will be quite
safe if he goes on, tho not if he returns
With yso,u-sybil Hamburg, Beaumanoir
The general glanced thru it and
"Beaumanoir was in the s:459' he
snapped. ''That telegram is 6! forgery,
and you show it to me to explain your
sent to both questions.
IT am, Of course. to blame for trust
, ing that internal thing" he said. "But
l had better put you in possession of
the facts at once, for until I reached
Tarrant Road station and learned of
Beaumanoir' non-arrival from the
> coachman had hoped that he had come
! penden, where I first heard Of the
l smash, that no one had suffered serious
= The facts as related by Forsyth were
a very simple in themselves, tho greatly
E duke $ Disappearance: The two friends
!. had left Beaumanoir house in hanson
!, giving themselves, as had been arranged
- barely time enough to catch the. trai1
: at, st. ,Pancras. They had already
= ment on which the guard had, at .thei1
!, request, placed an engaged" label
' when a telegraph-boy came along the
. line OF carriages, inquirlng for Forsyth
{, by. name. On reading the message hi
2 had acted on the impulse Of the moment
o and asking the duke to excuse him OF
> > the s. score e1 Of urgent private business
n Beaumanoir. house, to find the tele
d gram repudiated by Sybil as not eman
L ating from her and its contents quit,
d unfounded. 49,
$ IT expect she let you have it, tn,
: general remarked, .grimly.
She was a little cross,' admitted
F9rsXth flushing at the minis
3 ignored what purported to be an ap
4 peal for assistance from woman il
distress-leaving aside my personal re
< lations with her.
lei ".Don It kick, laddie. I m to blam
4 for leaving our precious vanishing
e. love. What nextY"
n. IT hurried back to St. Pancras, and
70 just missing the fast train which after
10 wards picked up the 8:45 passenger
IS at the scene of the accident, had t
N kick my heels until the last trail
&c started. But it was no accident, Uncl
5, Jem. A big baulk of timber had bee
: placed across the rails, they told m
Sc at Harpenden.'
le The general knitted his brows an
4, pondered the problem, presently sue
Il costing, tentatively that there was n
proof that the duke had after all gon
II in, the s:45. He might, on finding hin
b, self suddenly deprived of his con
eq panion, have gone out before it started
ie But this theory was at once knocke
k, on the head by Forsyth Is assertion tina
no the train had begun to move before b
I'd left the platform, and that Beaumanio
ed still seated in the 9 engaged compar
II. ment, had waved him farewell. If th
id duke had not gone out at an interim
he diate station, he must have disappeare
NIB at the place of derailment, the latte
a contingency being the more probabl
in Also the most alarming, because tt
stranded passengers had had to wa
If, for three quarters of an. hour at tt
to side Of the line in the dark, at a remot
ad spot surrounded by woods.
en- ssHumph It looks very much as
Ike they'd got him this time, was Il
lst generals final comment. And !
in straightaway walked over to the sid
ar- board and poured himself out gla
Ii, Of wine, motioning his nephew to io
he him. The action was significant
conclusiveness. and seemed to say tia
ty doom having overtaken the duke. the
al was nothing more to be done. The O
! Z 3