Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-03-10


ton and apparently without the least
ambition to be anything else. Certain
| ly he won't enrich himself by making
/, a public fad of what all sensible PEG
pie are agreed upon as it is. Then sud
! denly one gets ones own old idea-the
alternative profession. My cricket-his
rational drink! But it Is no use jump
| ing to conclusions. l must know more
than the newspapers can tell me. Oui
| aristocratic friend is forty and unmar
ried. What has he been doing all these
years? How the devil was I to find
outY"
How did you?' asked, declining to
spoil my digestion with a conundrum
as it was his evident intention that
should.
interviewed him. said Rallies, smil.
ing slowly on my amazement.
sYou-interviewed himY I echoed
"When-and whereY
Last Thursday night, when, If you
remember, we kept early hours because
l felt done. What was the use of tell
ing you what had up my sleeve. Bun
ny? 1t might have ended ia fizzle, as
it still may. But Lord Ernest Belville
was addressing the meeting at Exete-
hall. 1 waited for him when the show
was over, logged him home to King
Johns mansions and interviewed him
in his own rooms there before he tuned
in"
My journalistic jealousy was piQued
to the quick. Affecting a skepticism I
did not feel flor no outrage was beyond
xhn Df I innrIifs1d
dryly which journal RaffieS had pre-
tended - represent. 1t Is unnecessary
to report his answer. l could not be-
lieve him without further explanation.
II should have thought" he said,
that even you would have spotted a
practice / never omit upon certain oc-
casions. 1 always pay visit to the
drawing room and fill my waistcoat
pocket from the card tray. 1t is an
immense help in any little temporary
imperSonation. On Thursday night l
sent up the card of powerful writer
connected with a powerful paper. liz
Lord Ernest had known him in the
flesh should have been obliged to con-
fess to journalistic ruse. Luckily he
didn't, and 1 had been sent by my ed
ing What could be better for the al
tentative professionT
l inquired what the interview had
brought forth.
!, Everything" said Rallies. Lord
Ernest had been wanderer these
twenty years. Texas, Fiji, Australia.
1 suspect him of wives and families in
all three But his manners are a lib
eral education. He gave me some beau
tiful whisky and forgot all about his
fad. He is strong and subtle, but l
talked him off his guard. He is going
to the Kirkleathams' tonight. l saw
the card stuck up. l stuck some wax
INTO his keyhoIe as he was switching
off the lights"
And with an eye upon the walters
Raff1es showed me a skeleton key new
u twisted and filed, but my share of
the extra pint II am afraid no fair
share) had made me dense. L looked
from the key to Raff1es with puclsered
forehead, for happened to catch sight
of 1t in the mirror behind him.
1.-The dowager Lady Kirkleathan,"
he whispered, has diamonds as big
as beans and likes to have 'em all on,
and goes to bed early and happens to
be in town.
And now 1 saw
The villain means to get them from
herr
And 1 mean to get them from the
villain said Rallies, ''or rather, your
share and mine"
"Will he consent to partnership"
He daren't refuse"
Rallies plan was to gain access to
Lord Ernest's rooms before midnight.
There we were to Ire in wait for the
aristocratic rascal, and if / left all de-
tails to Rallies and simply stood by in
case of rumpHs 1 should be playing
my part and earning my share. 1t was
a part that l had played before, not
always with good grace, though there
had never been any question about the
share. But tonight l was nothing
loath. / had had just champagne
Rallies knew my meas
ure!-and 1 was ready and eager for
Indeed, 1 did not wish to
wait for the coffee, which was to be
strong by order of Rallies.
But ON that he insisted, and it was be-
tween 10 and IL when at last we were
in our cab.
at would be fatal to be too early"
he said as we drove. "On the other
hand. it would be dangerous to leave
it too late. One must risk something.
How 1 should love to drive down Pic
cadilly and see the lights. But I'M
necessary risks are another story"
King Johns mansions, as everybody
knows, are the oldest, the ugliest and
the tallest block of fats in all Lon
don. But they are built upon a more
generous scale than has since become
the rule and with a less studious re-
gard for the economy, of space. We
were about to drive into the spacious
courtyard when the gatekeeper check
ed us in order to let another hanson
1riyo ont II coufaiuod a middle God