The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-20

from bed and was about 70 descend.
Down the stairs came,thig ponderous
man, yawning. muttering, swearing. he
swung blunderingly through the parfofe
and with a greedy CRY snatohed the flask
and gulped down two glasses OF raw
spirits with scarce a breath between.
The action was characteristic OF the
man; as o strong, handsome brute OF
masterful will and uneovernable passions.
self absorbed. ~self-centred. ID tho deduo-
tive mind Of the detective he stood re-
vealed plainly enough. j
Yet Cronkite. as he took this new
comer's measurement. felt himself dis
concerted. almost damaged. Where.
then, was the other a the younger
mar In the rough. ready made clothing
with broad, padded shoulders and for
midable boots, whose instin ctive way OF
carrying his rolled umbrella az he alighted
from the train had etruck him as incon-
~sistent. 1t Was 90 feminine?
Where was that other, younger man
who he had gradually come to believe
must have been listening at and looking
In the library window. from whose hand,
as he made good his escape. the wind
must have whirled the dainty lace hand
kerchief which had seemed 30 indefinite
O detail to the scene he had looked out
upon? Where was that other, younger
man who he had also come to oeheve
very pitcher of water. walking firmly,
steadily into the solitude and gloom.
vet screaming as q rat had scurr1ed by!
Where was that other, younger man VINO
therefore was not what he seemed. but
a woman In disguise?
n-I- a. - NL2 WAN OF fha tahIQ
the man who vas 10Y sitting at ease
smoking over his third glass. diverted
Cronkite from his self-examination; 1t
did more, it restored his self-confidence.
1t set his trained intellect again on the
trail Of little things.
"A good one.' unused this burly man.
keen and resouroeful and as plucky. as
the devil. | wouldn't have believed q
silk skein twisted at will around my little
finger could have such substance In It.
by the Lord Harry, she'll do the lob
for me and be back again before 1 finish
this bottle. Power? Why. the very gods
did not have so much! in
@They sent messengers to do their Will
who often failed completely or made a
mess Of it. while I. while ]. Big Marvin
Lessler, IL you please, al make q slip
Of a girl more CLEVER, more daring than
! ever could be myself. Shes invaluable,
damme. she's invaluable; but yet what
an Internal nuisance when she's hersen
onoe more" ass
The mans face. agleam with boast.
fulness, darkened under memory until
Il was all n scowl. He brought down
his fist with a bang.
Invaluable OF not, j won't stand f9r
her tantrums.. he declared. ,Who 10
other blind instrument with which q MIN
like me works out his fate and then throws
on the scrapheap? Carrie What's-her-
name; Carrie Nobody; picked out Of the
slums or account OF that eonfounded
sensibiiity that was making he too un-
happy e live: By Jove; l might en m,9ht
There was the rattle Of a side window.
II was raised. Into the room leaped the
young man in the rough, ready made
suit with broad padded shoulders. whose
feminine action ct tha- stattop bad caught
Cronkite's notice, the young man who
was not q man at all.
There could be no doubt Of the dis
guise as this young woman flung down her
dripping cap and let her long dark locks
hang in q startingly black background TO
her startlingly white face as she stood
ingly on his shoulders as the brute CURLY
demanded:
Well, Carrie, have you done your
work.
In the great black eyes set as IL In a
waking sleep, q sleeping w~akefulness,
there came not a gleam OF responsive
thrust her hand into her bosom and threw
Good, better, best!' fairly screamed
Lester. by Heavens! l wouldn't have
believed she could do 1t II ] had been
there to see it; I wouldn't have believed
that could make her do what I couldn't
do myself; no, not IL I had been at her
heels as she entered the house. found the
safe, turned the combination. fetched
out this fortune, working in the dark,
all unconscious. like vitalized electricity,
by. Jove. ,,w ,.u
true they'll cut up into q hundred thou
sand at Amsterdam and not half trying:
What a fling. what a fling I'll have. IL
only this
He gave the girl a vicious look even
in the midst OF his exultation, and then
his fingers into the cottony interior.
while she stood motionlees without one
flicker OF interest in her black, set eyes.
Lessler picked out one Of the twin stones
and held it to the light. II. glimmered
DULY, sombreiy. as II clouded with milk.
and it's inertness cast a deepening SHADOW
and then closed savageiy. The Joy faded
from his eyes; they covered dangerously
with disappointment and rage.
You fool" he stormed, you have been
cheated, gulled, led by the lose. This Is
a fax stone; a fax box, doubtless, set az a
decoy to draw all risk from the Van Die
men Jewels. That for your mystic
power! That for my power over you!
Any idiot would have known. who could
see as you pretend to see, that this is but
a worthless bit Of quartz. cut and polished
for some clown at a county fair. Oh.
curses on you n i'll
Lessler cast the diamond violently from
him. 1t dashed against the wall and fell
on the floor at Cronkite's feet. Once
again he thrust his fingers into the cot
tony interior; ono again he picked out a
twin stone and held 1t to the Light. Once
again its opacity derided him.. Once
again In a paroxysm OF fury he cast a
priceless gem from him. 80,
AS If In homing fight for its mate. the
diamond dashed against the opposite wall
and fell or the floor at Cronkite's feet.
The detective stopped and gathered the
twin stones, and as he lifted them to his
pocket they shone like the brightest
constellation Of the fairest night.
III.
"You are wrong. said the girl, speaking
for the first time. .Those are the dia-
monds you willed me to get. The old
gentleman locked the box In the safe;