The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-08-11


man can go through this battle with
out mental and physical sears.
Dexter Reece had been fighting
for his very existence. had strug
gled from sheer poyery-he had
spent his boyhood in a charitable
institution, an orphanage-int his
present position, an exceedingly pre-.
Carious one, and one in which he
gained bare living. The man was
ambitious, and always on the watch
for some opportunity of improving
his condition; he was possessed of
extraordinary mental acuteness, was
capable of a dogged persistence in
gaining his own ends and was alb
soutely INSCRIPTIONS in seizing on
anything which would turn TO his
| advantage. Not villain yet, but
simply a man with a capacity for
| villainy lying dormant within him.
/ Tonight his mind was stirred and
/ excited by the tragic story which
| the old lawyer had related; he seem
| ed to have plunged into a region of
mystery; the house seemed throb-
bng with it. A problem had been
presented to his acute mind. and
he was literally aching and fret
ting with the desire to solve it, And
now, here was the daughter OF the
house stealing out, evidently to keep
an Appointment. 1t was just possible
that her action was connected with
the mystery, the murder, the abduc-
tion of Sir Mortimer's child, the
theft of the great ruby. The temp
tation to follow her and gain some
clue would have been strong to most
men; Dexter Reece, after mo-
ment's hesitation, found it irresist-
ible
He opened the door noiselessly.
paused a moment to look up and
down the corridor and listen; then
stole down the stairs. He had his
excuse ready if he were met by one
of the household; he would say that
he was going down for something he
mad left in the smoking room. But.
as Mr. Lexham had said they kept
early hours at Thorden, and he
reachei the hall unseen; his sharp
eyes, which nothing, however triv-
ial, escaped, had noticed small
door at the garden end of the hall
leading to the terrace. Ii was lock-
ed and heavily bolted but slowly
and carefully he unfastened it. and
stepping out as CAREFUL, closed it
behind him
He found himself at the end of
the terrace, which was in the shad-
ow; he dropped over the stone rail
into some shrubs, and, completely
protected from observation by them,
he followed their course round the
lawn and gained the park. Here he
paused to listen, but there was no
sound of an opening window or
door; he had not been seen. He
made his way Trough the trees in
the direction of thes pot in which
Evelyn Desborough had disappeared
from his view and, though he went
cautiously through the underwood, |
he did not stink; for he knew that
he might be met or seen by Evelyn |
or the person she was going u |
meet, and that he would heYe to |
account for his presence by assert |
ing that he could not sleep and had |
come out for a stroll in he c9Jl |
air.
Every now and then he stopped to
listen, but he could hear nothing, no .
sound or footsteps or voices, and his !
conScience-perhaps his fear of dis
covery-made itself felt, and he was
actually about TO return to the .
house when the scent of a cigarette
was waited towards him. lie was
all keenness again in a moment; .
crouching low, he made a circular
progress towards the spot from
which the cigarette smoke came, and
suddenly found himself face to face
with an old rustic summer house.
Fortunately for him, he had arrived
at the back of it, and was not seen
by a young man who was pacing UP
and down the front.
Dexter Reece lowered himself to
the ground until he was in a lying
position, and scanned the young |
man keenly. He was a splendid spec
linen of manhood-tall, broad-shoul- /
dered and graceful. As he turned, /
Reece saw the young fellows face .
plainly, and noticed it was a singu- I.