Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-09
Chapter XLIII.
The Lost Beloved.

The Lost Beloved.
Weeks had dragged by. To Max
Barclay they had been weeks of keen
anxiety and unceasing search to dis
cover traces of his lost beloved.
Once, and only once, had he seen
Jean Adam against whom Sam Stat
ham had warned him. He had met
the man of brilliant financial ideas
at lunch at the Savoy, and had told
him plainly that he had reconsidered
the whole matter Of the Turkish con
cession, and had decided to have moth.
ing to do with it.
His excuse was lack of funds at
he owed a good deal for giving him
the Tip" regarding the plausible
Anglo Frenchman Adam, alias Adams
received Max's decision without the
alteration of muscle of his face. He
was perfect actor, and betrayed nc
sign of surprise or of chagrin.
well, my dear fellow" he remark
ed, raising his glass of Brauneberger
and contemplating it before placing
It to his lips; you're losing the
chance of lifetime. If Baron Hirsch
had been alive he wouldn't have al.
lowed such a thing to slip When old
Statham knows of it he'll move heav.
en- and earth to come in. .
Max was silent He did not allow
his companion to know that old Stat
ham had been responsible for his re-
fusai to join in the project.
''I'm sorry, too" he said. But just
now I'm rather pressed. was hard
hit last week over those Siberians."
But the money required is a mere
bagatelle: have mine ready"
II regret" answered Max, "but my
decision is final"
Very we'll, my dear fellow" replied
Adam lightly. 81 don't want to per
suade you. There are thousand men
in the city who'll be ready to put up
money tomorrow morning
And the pair finished their luncheon
and parted, Adam, of course, entire
ly unsuspicious Of the part Stathan
had played in upsetting his deeply
laid plans.
To every address which Marion's
brother had furnished he had gone al
post-haste, only to draw blank every
time. Charlie had, at Statham's in
structions, gone first to CONSTANT
nople, then to Odessa and Batoum
after which he had returned direct tc
London.
In Odessa he had been met by 8
special messenger from the London
Office bearing a number of documents
and his business in that city had oc
cupied him nearly fortnight. There
fore it was early in October when, ar
irving by the evening train at Char
ing Cross, he took a cab straight tt
Park Lane.
In greeting him, old Sam was rath
er curious in his manner, he thought
There was lack of cordiality. Usual
ly, when he came off a long journey
the old fellow ordered Levi to brins
the decanter of whisky and syphon
But on this occasion the head of the
great financial house merely sat il
his chair at his desk and heard his
secretary's report without even sug
costing that he might be tagged BY
his rush across Europe.
Rolfe related, briefly and plainly
the various points upon which he had
failed, and those upon which he had
been successful Some of his decis
ions had brought many thousands Of
pounds into the already overflowing
Golfers of Statham Brothers, and We.
the old man made no sign He heard
all without any comment save now
and then a grunt of satisfaction.
The younger man could not dis
guise from himself the fact that the
millionaire was not himself. His face
was paler and more transparent
while the green-shaded electric lamp
shed upon it hue that was unreal
and CHASTITY. Old Lewis, too, as he
fitted in and out like a white breasted
shadow, seemed to regard him with
unusual suspicion and distrust
What could it all mean?
He looked from one to the other in
puzzled surprise.
He was unaware that only on the
previous night a thin. dark bearded
man had been ushered into that very
room and had sat for two hours with
the great financier. His countenance
his gestures, the cut of his clothes, al
showed plainly that he was not Eng
lish. Besides, the consultation was II
French, a language which old San
knew fairly well.
The man was spy, and he was
from Belgrade.
From the moment Charlie Rolfe
had descended at the station to the
moment he had left it, secret observa
ton had been kept upon his move
ments. And to furnish the report t.
his master the spy had travelled from
Servia to London. Samuel Stathan
trusted nobody. Even his most conf
Dental assistant was spied upon. ant
his own reports compared with thos
of spy's.
More than once, as Charlie Rolf
all unconscious of the surveillanc
upon him, related what had occurred
In King Peters capital, the old mai
smiled-in disbelief. This the younge
man could not understand He was il
ignorance of the great conspiracy il
progress, or of the millionaire's utter
Tor motives The old mans face wa
sphtnx-like, as it ever was-a counte