The newspaper., 1909-02-19
By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE
tCopyright iso1. Tie boebshsrri
SYNOPSIS.

CHAPTER I-"Mad" Dan Maitland. on
reaching his New York bachelor club.
door Janitor O'Hagan assured him no
one had been within that day. Dan dis
covered a woman's finger prints In dust
on his desk. along with letter from his
attorney.
CHAPTER u.-MaitIand dined with
Bannerman. his attorney. Dan set out
for Greenfields. to get his family Jewels
During his walk to the country seat, he
met the young woman in gray. whom
he had seen leaving his bachelors club.
Her auto had broken down. He fixed IL
and by ruse she lost" him
CHAPTER III.-Maitland. on reaching
home. surprised lady in gray. cracking
parently. took him for well-known
crook. Daniel Anisty.
CHAPTER Iv.-Half-hypnotized. Matt
land opened his safe, took therefrom the
Jewels. and gave them TO her. first form,
world. appeared on the same mission.
girl outside the house and they sped on
to New York in her auto. He had the
Jewels and she promised to meet him
that day.
CHAPTER v.-Maitland received .
Mr. Snaith,' introducing himself as a
Maitland. about to show him the jew
els. supposedly lost; was feIsd ny "A
blOM from lut
proved to be Anisty himself and he
cured the gems.
CHAPTER vI.-Anisty. who was Malt
lands double. masqueraded the latter.
CHAPTER vII-The criminal kept
Maitland's enlightenment with the girl In
gray. He gave her the gems. after fall-
ing in love at first sight They were
to meet and divide the loot
The girl placated him with an insig-
n.ficant remark which led both into
maze of meaningless but Infinitely d.
verting inconsequences: diverting. at
least. to Anisty. who held up his head.
giving her back look for look. Jest for
jest. platitude for platitude when the
waiter was within hearing distance).
altogether. he felt. acquitting himself
very creditably.
As for the girl. In the course Of the
next half or three-quarters OF an hour
she demonstrated herself conclusively
4 person OF amazing resource. de-
veloping with admirable ingenuity
campaign planned on the spur Of
chance observation. The gentle man
nered and self-suficient crook was
taken captive before he realized II.
however willing he may have been
Enmeshed in hundred uncompre-
hended subtleties. he basked. purring.
the while she insinuated herself be-
meath his guard and stripped him OF
his entire armament of cunning. vigil
lance. invention. suspicion. and dis
trust.
He relinquished them without
sigh, barely conscious OF the spolia-
ton. After all. she was OF his trade.
herself mired with guilt: she would
never dare betray him. the conse-
quences to herself would be SO dire.
Besides. patently-almost too much
so-she admired him. He was her
hero. Had she not more than hinted
that such was the case. that his ex-
ample. his exploits. had fired her to
emulation-however weakly feminine
He saw her before him. dainty.
alluring. yielding. yet leading him on
altogether desirable. And so long had
he. Anisty, starved for affection!
Il am sure you must be dying for a
smoke"
Beg pardon," He awoke abruptly.
to find himself twirling the sharp
ribbed stem of his empty glass. Alb
s,ractedly he stared into this. as
though seeking there clue to what
they had been talking about. Haziiy
he understood that they had been
drifting close upon the perilous shoals
OF intimate personalities. What had
| he told her? What had he not?
No matter. II was clearly to be seen
that her regard for him had waxsd
rather than waned as . result OF their
conversation. One had but to look
into her eyes TO be reassured ~ to
that. One did look. breathing heavily.
| s.. What an ingenious child u
was, to show him her heart 10 freely!
He wondered that this should be 10.
feeling II none the less Just and
| graceful tribute to his fascinauons-
She repeated her arch query. she
was sure he wanted to smoke.
| Indeed he did-if she would permit!
And forthwith Maitland's cigarette
case was produced. with a flourish.
What q beautiful easel"
In an instant 1t was in her hands.
beautiful" she iterated. inspecting
the delicate tracery of the monogram
engrayer's art-head bended forward,