The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-02
A MAKER OF HISTORY

you this much, at any rate" Monsieur
Louis continued smoothly. Your mas
ter, through no fault of his own, got
mixed up in a very unpleasant affair
in Paris, and he will have to appear
in the courts there. l am his friend.
and wish to do all that I can to help
him. We have been talking the mat
ter over, and 1 have strongly advised
him to produce some papers which
think will help him materially. The
police officer in whose charge he is
would not allow him to return. so he
handed me his keys and asked me to
fetch them. I can assure you that
am your masters friend, and wish to
do all that I can to help him. II he
had not trusted me he would not have
given me his keys, which no doubt you
recognize
Groves reluctantly stood on one side.
Il suppose / must let you in. sir"
he said, but i wish that the master
had sent me line
I'VE had neither pencil nor paper"
Monsieur Louis said. land the affair
was urgent. / must be back in Nor
wich by s o'clock"
'I will prepare the coffee, sir"
Groves said, turning away. IF you re-
quire more light the switches are be-
hind the door"
Very good" Monsieur Louis said
You need not have the slightest anx
iety. 1 am here on your masters be-
half"
Groves hesitated. and looked for
moment curiously around the room.
He seemed as though he had some-
thing else to say, but checked himself
at the last moment and withdrew.
Monsieur Louis drew little breath of
relief
He did not Immediately proceed to
work. He threw off his overcoat and
liNa cigarette. His fingers were steady
enough, but he was conscious of an
unwonted sense of excitement. He was
face to face with destiny He had
played before for great stakes, but
never such as these. A single false
step, an evil turn in the wheel of for
tune. spelled death-and he was afraid
to die. He moved to the sideboarG.
Everything there was as they had left
it. He poured out some brandy and
drank it off.
With fresh courage he moved to the
safe. which stood in the corner of the
room. 1t must be there. if anywhere,
that this precious document lay. He
tried his keys one by one. At last
ne found the right one. The great dpor
swung slowly open.
He was spared all anxiety There,
on the top of a pile of Iegal-lOoking
documents, leases, title-deeds, and the
like, was a long envelope, and across
it in Duncombe's sprawling writing
these few words:
Entrusted to me by Miss Poynton.
Sept. 4th."
He grasped it in his fingers and tore
open the envelope. AS he read the
single page of closely written writing
his eyes seemed almost to protrude.
He gave a little gasp. No wonder
there were those who reckoned this
single page of manuscript worth
great fortune. Every sentence, every
word told its own story. 1t was a
page of the worlds history.
Then a strange thing happened. Some
part of him rebelled against the in |
stinct which prompted him carefully
to fold and place in his breast pocket
this wonderful find of his. His nerves
seemed suddenly frozen in his body.
There was a curious numb sensation
at the back of his neck which forbade
him to turn around. His hands shook
his teeth chartered. The sweat of
death was upon his forehead and de-
spair in his heart He had heard moth