The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-12-08
And you have no trace of any yes

And 20 have no trace of any ves-
SELF"
"Lloyds can tell US nothing"
1t remained to see what Baron LOUIS
! de Rothchild would have to say: and
when 1 had reminded hurry of that, I
took my leave.
And this will bring me to the last and
picking mystery. Baron Louis eS-
pressed the greatest i~ncreduiiiy when
he heard of the loss of his famous
jewel. 1t was at his bankers in Paris,
he declared. A telegram to the French
house brought the reply that they had
the stone sure enough, and that it was
in safe keeping: both literally and in
metaphor. To this 1 answered that II
the bankers would cause the stone to
be examined for the second time, they
would find it to be false. One more
fact confirmed my suspicious. The
jewel in Paris was a coarse stone, of
littla value, and as unlike the real gem
as any stone could be. Plainly. the
baron had been robbed, though when
and by whom he had not the remotest
idea.
l waited three years to meet a man
with three fingers, and met him at last
in a ballroom in K~ensington.
Seven Bohemians went at my charge
to the Fancy Fair and Fete at Ken
''tS go L iNliietiIlGd llIGe tOuIS. Ii
you say that q woman solved the rid
die, VIII answer; In a measure, yes"
Joan Fordibras introduced herself to
me by thrusting a bunch of roses into
my face. Some story in the girls ex-
preston, some power OF soul shining
in her eyes, enchanted me and held me
fast. The story, l said, had no moral to
it. They We're not the eyes of an inno-
cent child of 10, as they should have
been. They We're the eyes of one who
had seen n known the dark side of
the lantern of life-who carried a great
secret and had met a man who was
prepared to fathom 1t.
Joan Fordibras, thai was her name.
Judged by her iinpulsive manner the
brightness of her talk and the sweet
ness of her laugh, there was no more
light hearted girl in England that
night. [ alone, perhaps, in all that
room could tell myself that she carried
a heavy burden and would scape from
IT by force majeur of an indomitable
will.
When I had danced twice with her
she presented me to her father, Cen.
era Fordibras-a fine military figure of
q man, erect and manly and gifted with
eyes Whlch many a woman must have
remembered. General Fordibras. it
appears, had but three fingers to his
left hand. 80
~ - NhNS hi4io 'ClItIdl f~OrQlDTaS. and
what did the daughter know of his lifea
invited them both to my house in
Suffolk, and thither they came in the
spring of the year. Okyada. the
shreWdest servant that ever earned the
love and gratitude of an affectionate
master, could not help me to identify
the general. L concluded that he was
just what he pretended to be, French
man naturalized in America; a rich
to boot, and the owne of the
steam yacht Connecticut, as he him
self had told me. One less persistent
would nav put suspicion by and ad-
lnltted that circumstances justified no
DOUBT ABOUT these people; that they
were truly father and daughter travel
ing for pleasure in Europe. and that
any other supposition must be an out
Indeed, I came near to believ-
ing so myself. The pearls which had
been stolen from me in Paris, was it
not possible that the general had
bought them in market overly. To saw
tla ms agents mad stolen them, and
MS daughter wore them under
my very nose, would be to write him
a maniac. In moments of sen+i-
ment could recall the womanlv ten
derness and distress of little Joan For
and wonder that I had made so
snght a response. There were other
when / said: Beware. there ia
danger; these people know you; they
are setting a trap for YOU" Let us
blame m nature alone if this lat-
ter view came to be established at no
distant date. Three men burglarinr
house in Suffolk in the month Of
june. Two Of them escaped; the third
put ms hands upon the brass knob of
my safe n the electric wires had
there held him as by a vice
Of fire. He fell sfrieking at rny feet.
and in less than an hour I had his
story. OF course, I had been waiting
FOR these men. IN instinct such as
nine can be diverted by no suggestions
either romantic or platonic. From the
my reason had said hat General
might have come to Deem
for no other reason than to pre-
the way for the humber instru-
-nents who should follow after. Ok
lada my little Jap. he of the panther's
read and the eagle eye-he stood SEN
incl during these weeks, and no blade
81 grass in all my park could have been
but that he would nave known
t.. We We're twice ready for all that
occur.
l dragged the thief to his feet and
to threaten and to question him.
He was a lad Of 20, I should saw.
latchet-faced. and with tousley yellow
aair.
Now, come" I said, here is seven
years penal servitude waiting for you
the doorstep. Let me see that there
IS some spark Of manhood left in you
yet. Otherwise" but here l pointed
% the electric wires which a burned
his hands, n he shuddered at by
gesture.
ooh, I'll play the game" he said;
you won't get anything out Of me.
what you like-I'm not afraid Of
(Continued Next Week