Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-08

| De doie 10 SEES iISHt "Iltil we We tii aS'ieu
this out and talked it over. l know | had
| a green letter-case 1t never left my pocket.
| I thought OF II and guarded 1t every mo-
| ment Gould those diamonds have been In
side 1t? Could the foreign secretary have
| given me the necklace instead of what you
! expected?"
| NO, no. she answered with desperate
| impatience. He knew that the only thing
! which could save me was the document L d
| sent him. l wired that l must have 1t
| back again Immediately for my own sake
| for his---:or the sake of England Ivor!
! Think again. Do you want me to go mad
II will think" I said, trying to speak
| reassurngly. Give me a moment-a quiet
moment"
"A quiet moment" she repeated, bitterly,
when for me each second Is an hour, It's
J late and this is the night Of my new play.
| Soon I must be at the theater, for the
| makeup and dressing of this part for the
! first act are a heavy business. l don
want all Paris to know that Maxine de
| Renze has been ruined by her enemies.
Let keep the secret while We can. for
others sakes, and so gain time for our
| own. if all's not lost-if you believe still
that there's any hope. oh. save me, 1vor-
somehow. My whole life is in this
Let your understudy take your part to-
! night. while We think and work. ! sug-
| gested You cannot go to the theater in
| this state
For an actress there's no such word as
cannot" she said bitterly. L could play
part to the finish and crawl off the stage
| to die the next instant: yet no one would
have guessed that 1 was dying. | have no
underStudy. What use to have one? What
| audience would stop in the theater after an
announcement that their MaXine'S under
study would take her place? Every man
and woman would walk out and get his
money back. No: for the sake of the man
i l love better than my life. or twenty lives
the man I've either saved or ruined-Il
play tonight. if go mad or kill myself to-
| morrow. Don't think quietly, 1vor Think
| nj IA 1,NI 1at foil %
Of your mind. We may help each other So
Let us go over together everything that
happened to you from the minute you took
the letter-case from the foreign secretary
up to the minute l came into this ROOM
1 obeyed, beginning at the very begin
ming and telling her all, except the part
that had to do with Diana Forrest. She
had no concern in that. l told her how l
had slept with the green letter-case under
my pillow. and had walked to feel and look
| for it once or twice an hour How when
morning came had been late in getting to
| the train; how l had struggled with the
| two men who tried to keep me out of the
reserved compartment into which they were
| intruding. How the man who had right
| to it. after wishing to prevent my entering
! helped me in the end, rather than be alone
! with the pair who had forced themselves
| upon him. How he had stumbled almost
into my arms in a panic during the confu-
sion after the false alarm on the boat S
gangway. How he had walked beside and
|
the Care du Nord. How had avoided and
lost sight of him; but how 1 had many
times covertly touched my pocket to be
sure that, through all, the letter-case was
still sa &c there.
Maxine grew calmer though not, think,
more hopeful as l talked; and at last she
folded up the diamonds neatly In the red
case. which she gave to me. Put that
into the same pocket she said, land then
pass your hand over your coat, as you did
often before. Now. does it feel exactly as
if it were the green letter-case with which
You started out?'
YES think 1t does" answered. doubt
fully: I'm afraid I shouldn't know the
difference. This may be a little thicker
than the other, butt can't be sure. And.
you see. never once had a chance to I'M
button my coat and look at the thing
had in this inner pocket. 1t would have
attracted too much attention to risk that;
and, a matter of fact, l was especially
warned not to do 1t. l could trust only to
the touch But even granting that, by a
skill almost clever enough for sleight of
hand-a skill which only the smartest pick
pocket in Europe could possess-why should
a thief who had stolen my letter-case give
me instead string of diamonds worth
many thousands of pounds? If he wanted
to put something into my pocket OF much
the same size and shape the thing he
stole so that 1 shouldn't suspect my loss,
why didn't he slip in the red case empty,
Instead of containing the necklace?'
This necklace, too, of all things in the
world.' murmured Maxine, lost in the
mystery ITS like a cream. Yet hereby
some miracle-it is in our hands And the
treaty is gone"
THE treaty is gone" 1 repeated miser-
ably.
1t was Maxine herself who had spoken
the words which 1 merely echoed yet 1t
almost killed her to hear them from me.
No doubt it gave the dreadful fact kind
of inevitability. She flung herself down on
the sofa with a groan, her face buried in
her hands.
My God. what punishment she STAN
mered. I've ruined the man l risked
everything to save 1 will go to the theater
and l will act tonight, my friend, but UNI
less you can give me back what is lost,
when tomorrow morning comes l shall be
out of the world
Don't say that" implored, sick with
pity for her and shame at my failure. "All
hope isn't over yet: it can't be. I'll think
this out. There must be a solution. There
must be q way Of laying hold Of what
seems to be gone. If by giving my life
could get 1t, I you l wouldn't hesi-
tate for an instant now; so, you see, there's
nothing 1 won't do to help you. Only l
wish the path could be made little palmer
for me-unless for some reason It's neces-
sary for you to keep me In the dark. The
word treaty 1 heard for the first time
from you. 1 didn't know what 1 was
bringing you, except that 1t a docu-
ment of international Importance, and that
you'd been helping the British foreign sec
retary-perhaps Great Britain as power
in some ticklish maneuver of high politics.
He said that, SO far as he was concerned.
you might tell me more If you liked. He
left 1t to you. That was his message.
Then l will tell you more!' Maxine ex-
claimed. 1T will be better to do so. 1
know that it will make 1t easier for you to
help me. The document you were bringing
me was a treaty-a quite new treaty be-
tween Japan, Russia and France: not
copy, but the original England had been
warned that there was a secret under
standing between the three countries. I'M
known to her. There was no time to make
copy. And 1 stole the real treaty from
Raoul du Laurier. to whom l am engaged
whom 1 adore, Ivor. as l didn't know 1t
was in me to adore any man. You know
his name, perhaps-that he's under secre-
tary in the foreign Office, here in Paris. Oh.
l can read in your eyes what you're think
ing of me now. You can't think worse o"
me than l think of myself. Yet I did the
thing for Raouls sake. There's that in my
defense-only that"
Il don't understand 1 said. trying not
to show the horror of Maxines treachery
to man who loved and trusted her, which
l could not help feeling.
How could you?-except that I've be-
trayed him! But III tell you everything
I'll go back long way. Then youll pity