The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-04
5A WOMAN'S { { ENCHANT MENT { ( By William Le Queux Z ! Copyright, 1909, by
 William Le Queux
(Conttnued.t

I The scoundrel Garshore had caused his arrest!
 When the London newspapers arrlV- ed I searched eagerly for any mention of the eRedcliffe Gardens Mystery" There was but little. merely a state ment that the police were in possession of clue. and that an arrest was only a matter of a. few hours.
 | In deepest anxiety remained in the neighborhood of the house until mid day, assisting Myra to pick flowers TOT the table. and walking with her father 1 in the rose garden But no servant l came out with the familiar orange l colored envelope.
 l What should do? I could confide in nobody, but act solely upon my own initiative.
 I had been drawn into the vortex or doubt and mystery by reason or my firm friendship with a man who. though an adventurer, was such TOT the pure love of adventure Illogical as it may seem. Granny was an hon- est adventurer. who preyed only upon the scroundrally fsnancier. the corrupt foreign statesmen or the promoters or | rotten companies. To others he was scrupulously upright. to the poor even generous and to his friends firm and unwavering.
 l With myself, may as well at once T admit that there was no woman III the case. A love episode when l was twenty-one-an idyl with tragic end- ing, for my well-beloved had died sud- denly of heart-failure at a dance-and warped my affections and from that day I had gone through the world with heart hardened, preserving the memory of the one face that had been so very dear to me
 As regards means was fairly well off, and as regards birth I was justly proud of being a Ralston. We, the Ralstons "of that ilk." were descended
 from the MacDuffs. Thames or Earls of Fife, one of whom had a son Ralph The latter. obtaining a grant of land | in Renfrewshire. called it after his own name, Raiphs-toune. In process of time, according to Lower in his Patronymica Britannica. his descend i. l ants continuing on the same estate, lwrote themselves De Ralphs-toune. or, | by softened pronunciation. Ration. III My friends had, I think. often won | dered that I had not married. But l \ was in the habit of airily assuring them that I was perfectly content in | the freedom of bachelorhood. In my | cratic nderings hither and thither in two hemispheres I had met many 2 lpretty and attractive girls. but car IonIy suppose that my masculine blum : ldering and blindness had prevented 7 the love miscrobe from attacking me How strange it is that we all. womer as well as men. declare ourselves in vulnerable to Love. and yet sooner o1 later we all. without exception. fall the
 victims of Cupid,s darts! Even th' tmost vinegar-faced spinster of our ac
 auaintance has. if the truth be told
 suffered once from the twinge of tnt
 tiny arrow shot by the cherub.
 Curious though it may be. at nool lon that well remembered summers day I was heart-whole and a ferven -I Iadherent to an easy bachelor life. Ye
 an hour later occurred an inciden
 which changed my whole being ant
 bade fair to entirely revolutionize m. future.
 To luncheon that day arrived Mrs u Maynard, pleasant. gray-haired lady with her daughter Elfrida-
 ! They came over III Inelr DIE. Ie
 six-cylinder Minerva" from Maltor lwhere they lived. and Elfrida was ap
 parently Myra's greatest friend.
 As she introduced me and stretch | ed forth my hand was conscious o
 a slim. neat-waisted figure in an em D broidered gown of white cotton and - close-ftting motor-hat and veil. Tn
 face, showing through the half draw - veil of champagne-colored silk. wa
 the most perfect that I had ever seer
 A pair of bright brown. mischivou
 eyes, pair of dimpled cheeks. swee
 mouth and brow which showed hig intelligence arose before me. My gag met hers and she dropped her eyes ii
 stantly. Upon her cheeks was th
 faintest flush of shyness.
 took the little hand she offered
 and its contact thrilled me. I, Philip Ralston, the man who ha
 so long prided himself upon his in
 nunity from feminine wiles and blar - dishments. was at that instant in lov lo I struggled against 1t. But I WE 1s already enmeshed.
 was actually in love! t4:
 | CuA ToTER XVIII