The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-02-18


ter than two. I said I wanted that
fl.OOO; my friend here wants the other.
We are both cursedly hard up, and we
so into this thing together or not at
AL Must you have his name too? I
should give him my real one, Bunny"
Mr.. AddenbrOoke raised his eyebrows
over the card I found for him; then ne
drummed upon it with his finger nail.
and his embarrassment expressed It
self in puzzled smile.
The fact is find myself In a diff
iculty," he confessed at last. yours
is the first reply have received. Peo-
! pie who can afford to send long tele-
/ grams don't rush to the advertisements
in the Daily Telegraph: but, on the
/ other hand, was not quite prepared to
hear from men like yourselves. Can
didly and on consideration 1 am not
sure that you are the stamp of men
/ for me-men who belong to good clubs.
I rather intended to appeal to the-er-
/ adventurous classes"
We are Adventures" said Rafies
I gravely.
But You respect the law?"
The black eyes cleaned shrewdIy.
/ I'VE are not professional rogues, If
/ that's what you mean" said Raf1es.
/ smiling. But on our beam ends we
are. We would do a good deal for
+ $1,000 apiece, Ell, Bunny2'
Anything" I murmured. I
The solicitor raped his desk. 49,
I'll tell you what 1 want you to do.
/ You can but refuse. It's illegal, but it's,
( illegality in a good cause That's the
risk, and my client is prepared to pay
for it. He will pay for the attempt in
case Of failure. The money is as good
as yours once you consent to run the
risk. Ny client is Sir Bernard Deben-
ham Of Broom Hall. Esher" ri
Il know his sen" remarked.
Raffies knew him, too but said moth
ing, and his eye dropped disapprovaI
in my direction. Bennett Addenbrooke
turned to ne
Then" said he, won have the priv
ilege Of knowing one Of the most COM
plete young blackguards about town
and the fons ct Origo Of the whole trOu-
bic. As yOu know the son, you may.
know the father, too. at all events by
reputation, and in that case 1 needn't
tell you that he is n very peculiar man.
He lives alone in a stOrehouse of treas
ures which no eyes but his ever be-
hold. He IS said to have the finest col
lection of pictures in the south Of Eng
land. though nobody ever sees them to
nio4rrvos GHTTo1 onI fr,rr, ftt1ro
are his hobby, and he is undoubtedly
very eccentric. Nor can one deny that
there has been considerable eccentric
ity in his treatment Of his son. For
years Sir Bernard paid his debts and
the other day, without the slightest
warning, not only refused to do so
any more. but absolutely stopped the
lads allowance. Well. I'll tell you
what has happened, but first Of all
you must know, or you may remem-
Der, that 1 appeared for young Deben-
ham in a little scrape he got into
a year OF two ago. I got him of all
right. and Sir Bernard paid me hand
somely on the nail. And no more did
I hear or see Of either Of them until 1
one day last week.
The lawyer drew his chair nearer :
ours and leaned forward with a hand
on either knee.
ION Tuesday Of last week l had a /
telegram from Sir Bernard. was to .
go to him at once. I found him wait /
ing for me in the drive. Without a |
word he led me to the picture gallery, /
which was locked and darkened, drew .
I'D a blind and stood simply pointing
to an empty picture frame. 1t was .
long time before 1 could get word out
of him. Then at last he told me that
that frame had contained one Of the
rarest and most valuable pictures in
the world-an original We
I have checked this" said the
LAWYER. land ii seems literally true;
the picture was a portrait Of the In
fanta Maria Teresa. said to be one or
the artists greatest works, second only
TO another portrait of one Of the popes
in Rome-sO they told me at the Ma
tionaI gallery, where they bad its his
tory by heart. They say there that the
picture is practically priceless. Ana
Young Debenham has sold 1t Tor
$4,000" -.F
1.-THE deuce he has, said Raffles. s.
I INQUIRED who had bought 1t.
"a Queensland legislator OF the
name OF CraCCs-the- Hon. John Mon
.agu Craggs. NJ. L. c., TO give him his
nil title. Not that we knew anything
about him on Tuesday last; we didn
wen know for certain that young
Debenham had stolen the picture but
10 had gone down for money on the
Monday evening. had been refused ana 7
{ was plain enough that he had helped
himself in this way. He had threat
ned revenge. and this was 1t. Indeed
when I hunted him up in town on the
Tuesday night he confessed as much
IN the most brazen manner imaginable: