Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1909-07-29
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WAMCEo

And, when he did recall this fact, and
how easily he had been duped, Matt
land could have ground his teeth in
melodramatlc rage-but for the cir.
cumstance that when first ii occurred
to him, such a feat was a physical i'm
possibility, and even when ungagged
the operation would have been painful
to an extreme.
Slipping the grateful drink which
O'Hagan presently brought him, the
young man pondered the case; with
no pleasure in the prospect he fore
saw. II Higgins had actually com.
municnted the fact Of Anisty's escape
to the police, the entire affair was likely
to come out in the papers-all of 1t.
that is, that he could not suppress. But
even figuring that he could silence
Higgins and O~'Hagan-no difficult task
though he might be somewhat late
with Higgins-the most discreet mag
Unable explanation of his extraordinary
conduct would make him the laughing
nothing of a city that had been ac-
customed to speak of him as Mad
Maitland for many a day. Unless
All, he had il! He could pretend
$50 long as it suited his purpose, at
all events), TO have been the man
caught and left bound in Higgins care.
Simple enough. The knocking over of
the butler would be ascribed to a nat.
ural ebullition Of indignation, the sub
sequent flight to a hare-brained notion
of running down the thief. And yet
zen that explanation had It's Difficult.
ties. How was he TO recount for the
fact that he had failed TO communi.
cate with the police-knowing that his
treasure had been ravished?
1t was all very involved. Mr.. Matt
land returned the glass to 0'Hagan
and, grading his head in his hands,
racked his brains in vain for n salts.
factory tale to tell. There were 50
many things to be taken into consid.
el grafton. There was the girl in gray.
Not that he had forgotten her for an
instant; his fury ragged but the higher
al the thought that Anisty's interfer.
! ence had prevented his (Maitland's)
keeping the engagement. Doubtless
the girl had waited, then gone away
in anger. believing that the man in
whom she had placed faith had proved
himself unworthy
But that telephone call?
"O'Hagan," demanded the haggard
and ~distraught young man, who was
that on the wire just now?"
Being a thoroughly trained servant.
O'Hagan had waited that question in
silence, a-quiver with impatience
though he was. Now, his tongue IN.
leashed, his words fairly stumbled on
one another's heels in his anxiety to
get them out in the least possible time
Sure, an twas a Teddy, sor, be the
vice av her, askin' were we in, and
mesilf havin' seen we go out nc longer
ago thin wan o'clock and yersilf sayin'
not a worrud about comm back at all
a: all. pwhat was | to be tellin' her.
aven If We were lynn there on the die.
van all unbeknownest TO me, which
the same mesilf can not"
"Help!" pleaded the young man
feebly, smiling. One thing at a time,
please, O'Hagan. Answer me n ques.
ton: Did she give a name?"
"She did not, sor, though mesilf-"
There, there! Wait a bit. / want
to think"
OF course she had given no name; 1t
wouldn't be like her. What was he
| thinking of. anyway? 1t could not
have been the gray girl; for she knew
him only as Anisty; she could never
have thought him himself, Maitland.
But what other woman of his acquain-
lance did not believe him to be out OF
town?
With a hopeless gesture, Maitland
gave it up, %conceding the mystery too
deep for him, his intellect too feeble
to grapple with all its infinite ramifica-
lions. The counsel he had given
O'Hagan seemed most appropriate to
his present needs: One thing at a
time. And obviously the first thing
that lay to his hand was the ~silencing
Of O'Hagan.
Maitland rallied his wits to the task.
"O'Hagan," said he, "this man, Snaith,
who was here this afternoon, called
himself a detective. AS soon as we
were alone he raped me over the
head with a loaded cane, and, | sus-
pect. went through the fiat stealing
everything he could lay hands on.
Hand me my cigarette case. please"
TITS gone, sorts not on the desk,
at Taste, pwhere | saw ut last"
"Ah! You see? Now for reasons of
my own, which | won't enter into. I
don't want the affair to get out and be-
come public. You understand? /
var you 10 keep your mouth shut,
until ! give you permission to open it,"
CTo BE CoNTINUED)