The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-10
CHAPTER V.
 An AdVaDfnra

With regard to his quest after his alleged wife the first conclusion Lord Athlyne came to was that he must go ncognito-"under an alias he express
 ed it to himself. Otherwise he would give warning of his presence, and that was the very thing which he wished to avoid. The woman must be an unscru- pulous one or she would not have en- | tered on such scheme of fraud; and | she would naturally be quick to pro- tect herself by concea1ment or flight An ordinary individual would have left such an investigation to his solicitors who would have procured the services
 of local detectives. But then Athlyne was not an ordinary individual. He liked to do things for himself in most
 matters which interested him; and in | this case there was so distinctly a. per
 sonal bearing that he would not have been satisfied to leave it to any one else.
 When, however, he began to work
 out details of his alias he found that
 he had landed in perfect hornets
 nest of difficulties. The mere matter
 of clothing and luggage was. he found, l almost enough to turn his hair prema- turely grey. What was the use of talk ing a false name when his true one
 was engraved on the brass plates of his portmanteaux and bags so that ev- cry porter would know everything about him within five minutes of his arrival; the chambermaid and laun- dress would see the marking of his linen. He very soon found that he would have to set about this branch of his effort very systematically if he did not want to give himself away hope1essly even before he started. He had already come to the conclusion that he must not take a valet with him. It would be quite enough to sup port an alias amongst his equals, whose
 habits and breeding had at least cer- tain amount of reticence, without run ming the risk of the world of servants
 1Sc4k fIrn
 their employers and much more skilled in matters of suspicion and detection. First he had to decide on the name and to get familiar with it in all sorts ing it spoken. The latter he could only effect by hearing his own voice; he was conscious that he must, for sometime at all events, be open to the danger of surprise. He Shrank in a
 certain way from using name not his own; so he sa1ved his conscience by se- lecting two of the simplest of his many names. Thus he became for his own
 purposes Richard Hardy. He fixed his domicile as Sands End,' small place
 in the middle of Wiltshire which he had inherited from his mother. It was too small to be included in his wered his purpose. Then he got quite a fresh store of linen from new shop and had it marked R. Hardy or R. H. He bought new trunks and kit of all klnoS. lie naO them InarkeO Wltn the same letters, and sent to lodging which he had taken for the purpose un- der a awnew name. He had cards print ed and got plain notepaper as he had to avoid a crest. Then he found that all his sporting things, which had already been packed. had to be unpacked and
 overhauled lest the real name should remain anywhere. When all this was done, and it took weeks to complete, he began to feel an unmitigated fraud and a thorough scoundrel. To man who takes honour to be a part of gen tlenan's equipment any form of dis stimulation must always be obnoxious.
 (To be Continued.l