Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-09-03


sonable. after all. to presume that Matt
land should prefer to hold his own. Pos
sibly Anisty had seen the girl slip the
A canvas bag into Maitland's pocket while
the latter was kneeling and binding his
captive. However that was, there was
no denying that he had trailed the treas
ure to it's hiding place, unerringly; and
| succeeded in taking possession of 1t with
consummate skill and audacity. When
Maitland came to think of it, he recalled
distinctly the trend of the burglars in
QUESTION in the character of Mr.. Snaith' "
| which had all been calculated to discover
the location of the Jewels. And, when
he did recall this fact, and how easily he
1 had been duped, Maitland could have
Il ground his teeth In melodramatic rage
but for the circumstance that when first
II occurred to him. such a feat was a
| physical impossibility, and even when
| Engaged the operation would have been
painful to an extreme.
sipping the grateful drink which OLA
gan presently brought him, the young
man pondered the-case; with no pleasure
! in the prospect he foresaw. If Higgins
had actually communicated the fact Of
'Anisty's escape to the police, the entire
! affair was like to come out In the papers.
all of it. that is, that he could not sup
press But even figuring that he could
silence Higgins and O'Hagan,--no difhcult
| task: though he might be somewhat late
| with Higgins-the most discreet imagin-
able explanation of his extraordinary con-
duct would make him the laughing stock
/ Of his circle of friends, to say nothing of
a city that had been accustomed to
speak of him as Mad Maitland" for
many a day. Unless
All, he had it! 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 natural ebullition
| Of Indignation, the subsequent flight to a
| hare-brained notion of running down the
, thief And yet even that explanation had
I its difficulties. How was he to account
for the fact that he had failed to COM
| nnunicate with the pollce-knowing that
his treasure had been ravished?
! 1t was all very involved. Mr.. Maitland
returned the glass to O'Hagan and, Grad
ling his head in his hands, racked his
brains in vain for a satisfactory tale 10
tell. There were so many things to be
taken into consideration. There was the
girl in gray
Not that he had forgotten her for an
instant; his fury ragged but the higher at
the thought that Anisty's interference
had prevented his CMaitland's) keeping
the engagement Doubtless the. girl had
| waited, then gone away in anger, believ-
ing that the man in whom she had
placed faith had proved himself I'M
\ worthy And so he had lost her forever,
in all likelihood: they would never meet
| again.
/ But that telephone call?
"O'HaRan," demanded the haggard and
distraught young man, who was that
on the wire just nowP'
/ Being a thoroughly trained servant,
O'Hagan had waited that question in ST.
lence. a-ouiver with impotence though he
was. Now, his tongue unleashed, his
words fairly stumbled on one another
heels in his anxiety to get them out In
the least possible time.
Sure. an twas a Teddy, sor, be the
| vice af her, askin' were we in, and
| mesilf hayin' seen, We go out no longer
! ago thin wan o'clock and yersnf sayin'
not a worrud about comm back at all at
all. pwhat was I to be tellin' her, aven
IL We were lynn there on the dievan all
unbeknownest to me, which the same
mesilf can not"
''Help!' pleaded the young man feebly,
smiling. lone thing at time please
O'Hagan. Answer me one question: Did
she give a manner"
''She did not, sor, though mesilf-"
There, there! Wait a bit. 1 want to
think"
OF course she had given no name;. II
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. g..
ance 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 Crap
pie with all it's infinite qualifications
The counsel he had given O'Hagan seem
ed 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 him.
self a detective. AS soon as we were
alone he raped me over the head with a
loaded cane. and, l suspect, went through
the flat stealing everything he could lay
hands on. Hand me my cigarette
case, please"
'"Tis gone. sorts not on the desk
at Taste, pwhere 1 saw ut last
"Ahl You see? Now for rea-
sons of my own, which 1 won't enter in
TO- 1 don't want the affair to get out
and become public. You understand?
want you to keep your mouth shut, unit
1 give you permission to open it.
VERY good, sor." The janitor-valet
had previous experiences with Maitland's
generosity in grateful memory; and shut
his lips tightly in promise of yirtuous
!. / reticence.
You won't regret it. Now tel
, me what you mean by saying that you
saw me go out at one this afternoon
Again the flood gates were lifted; from
the deluge of explanations and protesta
lions Maitland extracted the general drift
; of narrative. And in the end held up his
hand for silence.
; Il think understand, now. You say
he had changed to my gray suit?'
O'Hagan darted into the bedroom
whence he emerged with confirmation OF
his statement.
'"Tis gone, sor. an"
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