Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-05-18
A Mystery
Of T w O
Continents
By
BURTON E.
STEVENSON |
Copyright. 1905, by
Henry Hoh and
Company

to attend her But hope that she Is
we'll now. poor child, for she Is again
with her mother"
Her mother came after her"
asked
"Oh, yes: ten days ago. and together
they drove away By this time they
are again In the good France"
l pretended to be inspecting ward
robe, for felt sure my face would be-
tray me. At Il flash l saw the whole
story. There was nothing more Nine
Jourdain could tell me-
"Yes." l repeated. steadying my
voice, 1.-THE good France"
M. Bethune has himself been absent
for a week." she added. ION affairs OF
business. He was not certain that he
would return, but he paid us to the
18th"
l nodded. "Yes-tomorrow-I will
take possession then"
every well, monsieur" she assented.
II will have it in readiness"
For an instant hesitated. Should
use the photograph? Was It necessary?
How explain my possession Of it, Did
] not already know all that Nine. Jour
dain could tell me? I turned to the
stair.
Then 1 must be going" I said. 81
have some business affairs to arrange"
and we went down together.
The place was filling with a motley
crowd OF diners, but paused only to
exchange a nod with NJ. Jourdain ana
then hurried away. The fugitives had
taken the French line, Of course, and
FASTENED on to the foot of Morton
street, where the French line pier Is.
A ship was being loaded for the voy-
age out, and the pier WAS still open. A
clerk directed me to the sailing sched.
ule, and n glance at 1t confirmed my
guess. At 10 o'clock on the morning Of
Thursday, April 3. La Savoie had sail
ed for Havre.
MAY 1 see La Savoie's passenger
list" I asked
Certainly, sir" and he produced 1t.
l did not, Of course, expect to find
Miss Holiday entered upon 1t: yet ]
felt that study Of 1t might be repaid.
and was not mistaken. A Mrs. G. r.
Folsom and two daughters had occu-
pied the cabine de luxe. 1856 43S. 40
On the cOmpany's list which had been
given me I saw bracketed after the
name Of the youngest daughter the sin
gle word "invalide"
la Lorraine sails day after tomor.
row, believer" asked.
"Yes. SIR"
"And Is she fullT'
mo, sir; 1t is a little early in the sea.
son yet" And he got down the list OF
staterooms, showing me which were
vacant. I selected IN outside double
one and deposited half the fare In order
| to reserve It
There was nothing more to be done
that night, for glance at my watch
showed me the lateness Of the hour.
As emerged from the pier suddenly
found myself very weary and very
hungry, SO called a cab and was driv.
en- direct to my rooms. A bath and din.
ner set me up again. and finally set.
tied down with my pipe to arrange the
events Of the day.
Certainly I had progressed. I had
undoubtedly got on the track Of the
fugitives; had found out all that !
could reasonably have hoped to find
out. And yet my exultation was short
lived. Admitted that I was on their
track, how much nearer success had !
got? knew that they had sailed for
France. but for what part of France1
They would disemnark at Havre. How
was I, reaching Havre two weeks later.
to discover which direction they had
taken? Suppose they had gone to
Paris, az seemed most probable. how
could ever hope to find them therel
Even II I did find them, would I be
In time to checkmate Martigny7
For a time paused. appalled, at the
magnitude Of the task that lay before
: me-in all France to ind three peoplel
But, after all, 1t might not be 80 great.
Most probably these women were from
one of the towns Holiday and bis
wife had visited during their stay In
France. Which towns they were !, OF
course, had no means Of knowing. YET
I felt certain that some means Of dis
covering them would present itself
That must be my work for the morrow
A half hour passed, and I sat lost IN
speculation. watching the blue smoke
curling upward. striving vainly to pen
citrate the mystery. For was. as far
as ever from a solution Of 1t. Who
were these people? What was theiI
aim7 How had they managed to win
Miss Holiday over to their side, to
persuade her to accompany them, ia
fee from her friends-above all. from
our Junior partner7 How had they
caused her change of attitude toward
him? Or had they really abducted her
Was there really danger Of foul play
danger that she would fall a victim az
well as her father? Who was Mar.
tigny2 And, above all. what was the
plot1 What nd he hope to gain7 What
was he striving for? What was this
great stake for which he risked x
mucha
To these questions could find NJ
reasonable answer. was still cropping
aimlessly in the dark, and at last ir
sheer confusion put down my pipe
turned out the light and went to bed.