The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-31
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 "He is no luo4, she interrupted quickly. That's why I am afraid. If he is plotting against the crown, you may depend upon it he is laying his plans well. John Tullis, that man is a devil-a devil incarnate!' She turned her face away. A spasm of utter re- pugnance crossed her face.
 '1 am afraid of Peter Brutus. He is here to watch-everybody."
 She leaned against the great carved mantel post, a tall, slender, lissom creature, exquisitely gowned in rarest Irish lace, her bare neck and shoulders gleaming white against the dull tim bers beyond, the faint glow from the embers creeping up to her face with the insisterice of a maiden's flush. He gazed in rapt admiration, his heart humping like fury in his great breast. She was little more than a girl, this wife of old Marlanx, and yet how wise, how clever, how brilliant she was!
 She was we'll named Ingomede the Beautiful.
 Does Baron Dangloss know this man BrutusY' asked Tullis, arising to stand beside her.
 'I don't know" she said thought fully. 'I have not spoken to him con- corning Brutus. Perhaps he knows. The baron is very wise. Let me tell you how I happen to know that Peter Brutus is still serving Count Marlanx and why I think his presence signifies a crisis of some sort''
 Her voice, always low and even, seemed lower still. "In the first place, I have a faithful friend in one of the oldest retainers at Schloss MarlanX. His daughter Is my maid. She is here with me now. The old man came to see Josepha one day last week. He had accompanied Count Marlanx to the town of Balak, which is in Ak phain, mile beyond the Graustark line. Peter Brutus was with my hus- band in Balak for two days. They were clOseted together from morning till night in the house where MarlanX was stopping. At the end of two days Brutus went away, but he carried with him a vast sum of money pro- vided by my husband. It was given out that he was on his way to Serros, in Dawsbergen. where he expected to purchase business block for his mas ter Marlanx waited another day in BaIak. permitting Josepha's father to come on to Edelweiss with a message for ne and to see his daughter. He"-
 And Josepha's father saw Brutus in Edelweiss?'
 "No. But he did see him going into Balak as he left for Edelweiss that morning. He wore a disguise, but Jacob says he could not be mistaken. Moreover, he was accompanied by sev- eraI men whom he recognized as Grau- stark mountaineers and hunters of rather unsavory reputation. They left Rrutus at the gates of Balak and went off into the hills All this happened before I knew that Peter was living in Edelweiss. When I saw him here I knew at once that his presence meant something sinister. I can put many things together that once puzzled me the comings and goings of months, the secr"t reports and consultations, the queer looking men who came to the castle, the long absences of my hus- band and my-my own virtual impris- onment-yes. imprisonment. I was not permitted to leave the castle for days at time during his absences"
 "Surely you will not go back againp' he began hotly.
 ''Shp' She put a finger to her lips. A manservant was quietly crossing the hall just off the library. "He is a new man. I do not like his appear ance."
 The servant disappeared through a door at the end of the hall.
 "Then there were the great sums of money that my husband sent off from time to time," she continued, 'and the strange boxes that came overland to the castle and later went away again as secretly as they came. MT. Tullis, I am confident in my mind that those boxes contained firearms and ammu- nition. have thought it all out. Per haps l am wrong, but it seems to me that I can almost see those firearms stored away in the caves and cabins outside of Edelweiss, ready for instant use when the signal comes."
 "Godi An uprisingl plot so huge as thatr' he gasped, amazed. It is for tunate that he was not facing the door. The same servant, passing once more, might have seen the telltale consterna- ton in his eyes. Tt cannot be possi- bleI Why, Dangloss and his men would have scented it long ago."
 q have not said that I am sure of anything. remember that. 1 leave it to you to analyze. You have the foun- dation on which to work. I'd advise you to waste no time. Something tells me that the crisis is near at hand"