Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-14
THE MESSAGE
BY LOUIS TRACY.
Copyright By caede,
Copyright, 1905. By EDWARD J. cede.,

solemnly to his SON. "Wot did I tell
yer? You see. miss" he went on. II
looked in at the lodge. an med friends
with servant or two, an it KEN out that
to you was it himportant?' seq one
chap. Reel important seq l; 1T was
from 'er young man. Beg pardon, miss.
but that's the way we talks among our
selves. 90 is hep seq the other fellow.
Capt. Warden seq I. Not Capt. Arthur
Warden of Ostend? seq e. The very
that's queer. Mrs. LANG wanted let
ter out Of the box one day Wen / was
goin' to the post, an that's the very
game? Is e a-playin. up to both of 'em?
Young man. seq l, you don't know i'm.
Els the straightest gentleman as ever
wore shoe leather l axed i'm Wen the
newspapers. an e tole me it was just
arter Mrs. Laing KEN to Lochmerig. In
fact. e wouldn't ha' known 90 she was
If she admit bin standin' in the all talk
in to-to-wot's is name Chris?'
Lord Fairholme?" broke in Evelyn.
mo. miss, that wasn't it-not in the
same street"
BILLY Thring?
Tally! I've got it all logged up in my
cabin. I wasn't sartin I'd see you to-
'im-Billy Thring-it sounds familiar like.
If he's swell, but that's wot they called
i'm at Lochmerig.'
Peter. you are a wonder. You have
found out the one thing I wanted to
know"
Excuse me, miss. but you're bit Of q
wonder yourself. If that was the Only
missin' link, wy didn't you write to me,
care O. the pilots Office, Cardiff? l could
ha. put you straight within week. Any
ships skipper would ha' guessed my ad-
dress, If you tole i'm about the Nancy
an gev i'm my name.''
II fear 1 am very much to blame said
Evelyn, contritely But you hardly real
ize yet how I have been victimized. Now
1 must go. 1t is very late. Where are
you staying?"
Chris an me will turn in with our en-
gineer friend on board ,the Cid. At least
that's wot I call the old tub, but these
Spanish jokers make it into Thith. Did
y ever ear anythink funnier'n that?"
She laughed bfithely, arranged an early
hour to meet the two at the mole next
day and sped back to the hotel. She
wanted to read that thrice-precious letter
again. Seen in the moonlight it seemed
to be fantastic, unreal. The words danced
before her eyes. Her brain had only
half grasped it's extraordinary meanings
In the privacy of her own room she
should go through 1t slowly, weighing it's
srsE taking to her
fences that assured her of Warden's de-
votion, and planning with new zest the
means whereby she might circumvent her
enemies and his. Warden had been de-
ceived even more grossly than she her
self. His faithful record of Rosamund's
malicious innuendoes during the dinner at
the Savoy Hotel gave ample proof of
that. 1t was quite true she had talked
with Figuero in the garden at Lochmerig.
The man naturally interested her; his
manner of speech was quaint, and he
told her strange things about the country
in which the whole of her lovers active
career might be passed. Was. that
crime? And how shameful that any
truth as to say that she had gossiped to
Thring and others about the men of Oku!
OF course, Mrs. LANG had obtained her
information from the stolen letter. Eve
lyn remembered perfectly well the, .un-
fortunate postscript, in which she alluded
to the negroes and the calabash She
meant only to soften the harshness of
her comments on Rosamund and the two
foreigners. but it was obvious now that
she could have written nothing more
harmful to Warden's mission.
And then. with sudden horror that
made her white to the lips, she realized
what it meant-that Warden had never
received her letter. that Rosamund hao
adroitly availed herself of the details it
contained, and that her lover had gone
to Africa with a lurking doubt in his
heart of the one woman in the world
whom he trusted. Did he think her really
the base creature she was depicted? On,
it was intolerable! She would never for
give Mrs. Laing-no, never! Her rival
had stopped to a meanness that could not
be borne-she must be punished, with a
vengeance at once swift and merciless.
All this was very un-Christian, and
wholly unlike the delightfully."- shy yet low
able girl to whom Warden lost his heart
during the midsummer madness of Cowes
and Plymouth, but Evelyn was stirred to
the depths OF aepassonate nature: not for
the first time in Las Palmas she cried
herself to sleep.
(To be continued tomorrow