Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1906-04-02
By E. W. HORNUNG

over the card l found for him: then he drunllnci upon it WitH his finger nail, and his embarrassment expressed it. self ill a pEZzleI smile.
 "1he fact is I find myself in diff ficultY." Ii confessed it last. Yours i>, the first reitiy I lave received. reo- pie who eall afford to send long tele- grams don't rUsh t. the advertisements ill the Daily TciesfHph: but. on the other hand, WAS no5 quite prepared to hear from men like yourselves. Can GiGll and on ceasi; tcration l am not sure that ..ou ase tla stamp of men for n9e-:aan who bal@u-s to goo: clubs! 1 rather intended to q, i'eal to thc-er- adventurous classes.
 We a-a adventurous. said Rallies gravely.
 ''But you respect the law:
 The b!acE e.eS g.e,s.9el sl"ewGly.
 We 2He Hot poe sso;Eil .o&tues. if that's what you mean" said Rallies smiiing "Hut Gil our beam ends We are We would tio q good deal fo: f1,COO apiece eh, BunEy:"
 Anything" nl!. m4"ed
 TIe solicitor raoqe,i Ri t,esil.
 T Il tel yoa what i want yon to do You e. Iu refuse. It's ille"al. but it's illegalitN in I good cause. That's the risk. alsl mr client is prepared tp pa> for it. He will pu> for tie a.,2alpt in case of failure Iise money is ls .,a1l as yours once Nou consent to run tb" risk My client is Fir Bernard Denen- ham of Broom IIaH Esher.'
 T know hS SOIL" remarked.
 Rafi!es knew him. too, bat said noth ing. .li1 h's eye dropped disapproyaI in my direction Emmett Ad1lenbroaie tuiEed to lie.
 Then s;g.d Ee you have the priv ileee Of Knowing ore of the most coin piete yedz@ f,5&e1lsss:Jrds about town and the f915s ct eri@o of the whole troll 5le .ts yeu kneW the sen. you n4sty know the father too, at all events by reputation, and in that case I needn't tell you that he is q very peculiar man He lives alone in q storehouse Of treas ures which no eyes but his ever be hold. He is said to have the finest col lection Of pictures ill the south of Eng land, though nobody ever sees them to judge. Pictures. fddles and furniture 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 reneln- Der, that appeared for young Deben- ham in a little scrape he got into a year or two ago. l got him off all right. and Sir Bernard paid me hand- somely on the nail. And no more did hear or see of either of them until one day last week.
 The lawyer drew his chair nearer ours and leaned forward with a hand on either knee.
 "Cn Tuesday of last week l had telegram from Sir Bernard. 1 was to go to him at once. l found him wait
 
 word he led me to the picture gallery, which was locked and darkened. drew up a blind and stood simply pointing to an empty picture frame. It was long time before I 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 England-in the word-an original Ne lasQueZ. 1 have checked this" said the lawyer, and it seems literally true; the picture was portrait of the h. fanta Maria Teresa, said to be one of the artists greatest works, second only to another portrait of one of tie popes in Rome-so they told me at the Ma tional gallery. where they had it's his tory by heart. They say there that the picture is practically priceless. And young DebenAam has sold it for f5,OOo!"
 "The deuce he has!'' said Rallies. inquired who had bought it.
 "A Queensland legislator of the name of Craggs--the Hon. John AIon- tagu Craggs. M L. C., to give him his full title. No. that we knew anythi' about him on Tuesday last; we didn't even know for certain that young Debenham had stolen the picture, but he had gone down for money on the Monday evening, had been refused and 1t was plain enough that he had helped himself in this way. He had threat ened revenge, and this was it. Indeed. when 1 hunted him up in town on the Tuesday night he confessed as much in the most braZen manner ina ginable But he wouldn't tell me who was the purchaser, and finding out took the rest of the week; but I did find out and a nice tine I've had of it ever since-backw and forward between Hsher and the Netropole, where the Queenslantler is staying, sometimes twice a day; threats, offers, prayers, entreaties-not one of them bit of l qOOdp'