Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-29

In the next room Maxine raised her voice
to cover the sound, 1 was sure. Then 1t
had been worse even than l fancied. l
dared not begin again. / would grope
about once more and see Il l could hit upon
some other way out, which possibly l had
missed.
No. there was nothing. No other win
dow. except a small one. which apparently
communicated with a buffers pantry. and
even If that had not seemed too small for
me to climb through, 1t apparently
fastened on the pantry side
What to do did not know. 1t would be
calamity for Maxine II du Laurier should
hear a sound and insist on having the door
opened. after she had given him the i'm
preston IF she had not said Il In many
words) that there was no stranger In the
house.
Probably she hoped that by this time l
was gone; but how could l go? l felt like
rat in a trap: and II | had been
nervous woman ! should have imagined
myself sitting In the small. hot ROOM with
its closed doors and windows. AS It was /
was uncomfortable enough. My forehead
grew damp. in the first moments OF
Turkish bath. and Extraordinarily / felt
in pocket after pocket for my handker-
chief 1t was not to be found ! must have
lost 1t at the hotel, or the detectives. or in
the automobile | had hired. In an outside
pocket of my coat, however, l CHANGED upon
something for the existence of which !
couldn't account. 1t was very small
something, only bit of paper. but very
neatly folded bit OF paper and / had not
put It there myself.
At ordinary times I should most likely
not have given II a second thought, but to-
night nothing unexpected could be dis
missed as insignificant until it had been
thoroughly examined. / put the bit of pa
per back into my pocket and, as did 80,
heard Maxine give an exclamation. APP
parently of distress. l could not dtstin-
guish all she said. but l thought that l
caught the word diamonds"
For a moment or two she and du Laurier
talked together so excitedly that I might
have made another attack on the window
without great risk. and I was meditating
the attempt when suddenly the voices
ceased. door opened and shut. There
was dead silence. except for football
overhead. which sounded heavier than
Maxlnes. Perhaps It was her maids.
For a few seconds more l stood still.
awaiting developments, but there was no
sound in the next room. and decided to
take my chance before II should be TOO late.
/ jerked at the window, which yielded
with a loud squeak that would certainly
have given away the secret Of my presence
If there had been ears to hear. But all was
still in the drawing room adjoining. and /
dropped down on to flower bed some few
feet below. Then l skirted round to the
front Of the house. walking stealthily on
the soft grass, and would have made
noiseless dash for the gate had not seen
a stream Of light flowing out through the
open front door across the lawn. l checked
myself just in time to draw back without
being seen by woman and a tall man
moving slowly down the path. They were
Maxine and. no doubt. du Laurier. They
spoke not word. but walked with their
heads bent. as II deeply absorbed irs search
ing for something on the ground.
Down to the gate they went. opened 1T
and passed out. only half closing it behind
them. that l knew they meant presently
to come back again.
1. should have been thankful to escape.
hlit the chance of meeting them TOO
imminent. Accordingly l waited. and 1t
we'll I did. for they reappearcd in
three or four minutes. they could not have
gone far enough to be out Of sight from the
gate.
There's wtchcraft In It, Maxine said.
as she and her lover passed within a few
yards of me. where / hid behind little
arbor.
Du Lauriers answer was lost to me. but
his voice sounded Respondent. Evidently
they had mislaid something of Importance
and had small hope of finding it again. l
could not help being curious, we'll
sorry for Maxine that further m!sfor-
tune should have befalen her at such
time. But the one and only way in which
l could help her at the moment was 10 get
away soon as possible.
They had left the gate unlocked, and I
drew in q long breath of relief when 1 was
on the other side. l hurried out of the
street. lest du Laurier should. by any
chance. follow on quickly, and my first
tlOuSul was 10 go lH1ileuldltiS Ddck 10 my
hotel. where Grard might by now have ar
rived with news. l was just ready to hall
cab crawling by at distance when l re-
membered the bit OF paper Id found and
put back into my pocket. II occurred to
me to have n look at 1t by the light o. a
street lamp nearby. and the instant had
Strengthened out the small crumpled wad
/ guessed that here link IN the
mystery.
The paper was leaf torn from a note
book and closely covered on both sides with
small uneven writing done with q sharp
black pencil. The handwriting was that of
an uneducated person and was strange to
me. | could not make out the words by
the light OF the tall lamp. l lii a wax
match from my matchbox and. protecting
the 1amc in the hollow of my hand. began
studying the strange message.
The three first words sent my heart up
with bound. "On board the Queen"
had crossed the channel in the Queen, and
me hope that the bit of paper might do
mystery.
I'm taking big risks because I've got to-
l read on. Its my only chance. And If
you find this. bet can trust you. You're
a gentleman. and you saved my life and
lot more besides by getting into that rail-
way carriage when the other chaps did.
The minute I seen them l thot l was done
for. but you stopped there game. I'm a
jewelers. assistant, carrying property worth
thousands for my employers. From the
lob. On this bote I'm safe. for the villions