The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1911-03-22

| fectly for Monsieur Boissegurs disap-
pearance."
1T gives one explanation, at least"
| Mr.. Grimm assented musingly kid.
| napped-held prisoner-fifty thousand
| dollars demanded for his safety and
rc'ease" A pause. And to whom,
may ask, was this demand ad.
/ dlt ssed?'
"To Madame Boissegur," replied Miss
Thorne Il have the envelope in
Which it came. 1t was mailed at the
general post office at half-past one
o'clock this afternoon, so the cancel
ing stamp shows. and the envelope
vas addressed, as the letter was writ
ten. on a tvpew writer
ana now, inquired Mr.. Grimm.
fter long pause, how did it come
into YOUR possession He waited a
little. why didn't Monsieur Rigolot
erort this development to me this
afternoon when !. was here?"
Monsieur Rigolot did not inform
you of it because he did not know Of
t himself" she replied, answering the
last question first 1T came into my
possession directly from the hands
IF Madame Boissegur-she gave It to
me-"
"Why?"
Mr.. Grimm was peering through the
inscrutable darkness, straight into her
eace-a white daub In the gloom.
,hapeless, indistinct
II have known Madame Boissegur
or half a dozen years." Miss Thorne
continued, in explanation. I'VE have
zen friends that long. met her In
'okio, later in Berlin, and within
ew weeks. here in Washington. You
ee | have travelled in the time
lave been an agent for my govern
nent. Well, Madame Boissegur re-
.eived this letter about half-past four
o'clock this afternoon; and about half
past five she sent for me and placed
in my hands, together with the
singular details following upon the am
oassador's disappearance. So, II
would seem that you and ] are allies
for this once, and the problem is al
ready solved. There merely remains
the task of finding and releasing the
ambassador
Mr.. Grimm sat perfectly STILL
And why" he asked, slowly, are
YOU here now?'
For the same reason that you are
here" she replied readily, ito see for
myself if the-the person who twice
came here at night-once for the am
bassador's letters and once for his
cigarettes-would, by any chance,
make another trip. knew you were
here. of course
You knew | was here" repeated
Mr.. Grimm musingly. And may II
Just as you knew that |, or some
one, at least, had entered this house
a few minutes ago." she interrupted.
The automobile horn outside was
signal, wasn't it? Hastings was in the
Mr.. Grimm did not say.
Didn't you anticipate any person
al danger when you entered?' he
queried instead. Weren't you afraid
| might shoot?"
mo"
There was a long silence. Mr..
Grimm still sat with his elbows on his
knees, staring at the. vague white
spotch which was Miss ThOrne's face
and bare neck One of her white arms
hung at her side like a pallid serpent,
and her hand was at rest on the seat
of the couch.
| at seems, Miss Thorne," he said
at length casually, that our paths of
duty are inextricably tangled. Twice
previously we have met under cir
cumstances that were more than
strange, and now-this. Whatever in
Justice / may have done you in the
past by my suspicious has, | hope,
been forgiven; and in each instance
we were able to work side by side to-
ward a conclusion. / am wondering
now If this singular affair will take
a similar course"
He paused. Miss Thorne started to
speak, but he silenced her with a
slight gesture of his hand.
at is only fair to you to say that
we-that is, the Secret Service-have
learned many things about YOU" he
| ltSuHeu III the same CASUAL IOue. we
nave, through our foreign agents,
raced you step by step from Rome
10 Washington. We know that you
are, in a way, a representative Of a
sovereign of Europe; we know that
YOU We're on secret mission to the
Spanish court, perhaps for this sover
9ign, and remained in Madrid for a
month; We know that from there you
went to Paris, also on secret mis-
,ion-perhaps the eame-and re-
naIned there for three weeks; we know
| that you met diplomatic agents of
! hose governments later in London
We know all this; we know the man
ler of your coming to this country;
Of your coming to Washington. But
we don't know why you are here"
Again she started to speak, and
again he stopped her.
I'VE don't know your name, but that
is of no consequence. We do know
that in Spain you were Sonora Cas-
savant, In Paris Mademoiselle d'Aubi-
non, in London Miss Jane Kellogg,
mt