The Yale expositor., 1909-07-09
Z0cyEPf1
VANCE,


reasonable. after all, TO presume that
Maitland should prefer to hold his
own. Possibly Anisty had seen the
girl slip the canvas bag into Maitland's
pocket while the latter was kneeling
a1d binding his captive. However
that was, there was no denying that
he had trailed the treasure to it's hid
ing place, unerringly; and succeeded
in taking possession of 1t with consum-
mate skill and audacity. When Matt.
land came to think of ii, he recalled
distinctly the trend of the burglars
inquisition in the character of Mr.
SEaith,' which had all been calculated
to discover the location of the jewels
And. when he did recall this fact. and
how easily he had been duped, Matt
land could have ground his teeth in
melodramatic rage-but for the cir
cumstance that when first It occurred
to him, such 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
OHagan presently brought him, the
young man pondered the case; with
no pleasure in the prospect he fore
saw. If Higgins had actually COM
municated the fact of Anisty's escape
to the police, the entire affair was likely
to come out in the papers-all of it,
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
stock of his circle of friends, to say
nothing of a city that had been ac-
customed TO speak of him as Mad
Maitland" for many day. Unless
All. he had il! He could pretend
$50 long as ii 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 nat.
ural ebullition of indignation. the sub.
! sequent flight to hare-brained notion
| of running down the thief. And yet
even that explanation had its difficult
ties. How was he to account 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 OHagan
and, grading his head In his hands
racked his brains in vain for a salts.
! factory tale to tell There were SO
many things to be taken into consid-
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 impotence
though he was. Now, his tongue un.
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 Teddy, sor, be the
/ vice av her, askin' were We in, and
mesilf havin' seen We go out no longer
ago thin wan o'clock and yersilf sayin'
not a worrud about comm back at all
az all. pwhat was to be tellin' her,
aven If We were lynn there on the die.
van all unbeknownest to me, which
the samc mesilf can not"
"Help" pleaded the young man
feebly. smiling. "one thing at a time,
please, O'Hagan. Answer me one ques-
ton: Did she give a name?"
"She did not. sor, though mesilf-"
There, there! Wait bit. 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.
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
time And obviously the first thing
that lay to his hand was the silencing
! OF O'TIagan.
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 loaded cane, and, | sus
pect. went through the fat stealing
everything he could lay hands on.
Hand me my cigarette case, please"
"'Tis gone, sorts not on the desk.
at Taste, pwhere | saw ut last"
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