New Ulm review., 1906-06-20
A Mystery
OF I " O
Continents
By
BURTON E.
STEVENSON
Copyright. 1905, by
Henry Holt and
Company

uySIeI1d LOU must Drlng Qer TO US az
Paris, Mr.. Lester"
saw the wisdom Of her words.
That's very kind Of you,'' I said.
II am sure Mr.. Royce will agree. But
we have first to find her"
! was glad for my own sake too.
The parting Of tomorrow would not,
then, be final one.
She left me presently, and for an
hour or more sat there and looked, in
every aspect, at the theory she had sug-
gested. Certainly there was nothing
to disprove it, and yet, as she had said,
it merely served to deepen the mys
terry. Who were these people, asked
myself again, who dared to play 50 bold
and desperate game? The nlegth
mate daughter might, Of course, i'm
personate Miss Holladay, but who was
the elder woman-her mother? Then
the liaison must have taken place in
France-her accent was not to be mis-
taken-but in France Mr.. Holiday
had been always with his wife, Be-
sides, the younger woman spoke Eng
lish perfectly. True, she had said only
q few words-the hoarseness might
have been affected to conceal differ
ence in voice-but how explain the
elder woman's resemblance to Hiram
Holidays daughter? Could they both
be illegitimate? But that was non
sense, for Mrs. Holiday had taken
her into her life, had loved her
And Martigny? Who was he? What
was his connection with these women?
That the crime had been carefully
planned I could not doubt, and it had
been carried out with surprising skill
Doubtless it was Martigny who had
arranged the plot, who had managed
its development. And with what bold
ness! He had not feared to be pres
ent at the inquest or even to ap-
proach me and discuss the case with
me. tried to recall the details of our
talk, impatient that I had paid so
little heed to 1t. He bad asked, remem-
bered, what would happen to Frances
Holiday if she were found guilty. He
had been anxious, then, to save her.
He had-yes, I saw it now-he had
written the note which did save her; he
had run the risk of discovery to get her
free!
But why?
If I only had clew-one thread to
follow! One ray Of light would be
enough. Then could see my way out
Of this hopeless tangle. should know
how to strike. But to stumble blindly
onward In the dark-that might do
more harm than good.
Yes, and there was another thing for
me to guard against. What was to
prevent him the moment he stepped
ashore wiring to his confederates,
warning them, telling them to fee? Or
he might wait, watching us, until he
saw that they were really in danger.
In either event they must easily es-
cape. Miss Kemball had been right
when she pointed out that our only
hope was in catching them unprepared.
The impulse was too strong to be
resisted. In a moment I was on my
feet. But, no! To surprise him would
be to make him suspect l called
steward.
'Take this card up to NJ Martigny,"
I said, "in 375, and ask If he is well
enough to see me-"
AS be hurried away sudden doubt
seized me. Horrified at my hardihood.
[ opened my mouth to call him back
But did not call. Instead sank back
flnto my chair and stared out across the
water.
IN. Martigny," said the stewards
voice at my elbow, answers that he
will be most pleased to see M. Lester
at once"