The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-28

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 crsinlnal; ,he footsteps were cffaced. as I say; there would have appeared 1 nothing extraordinary in a man or a woman travelling with a little child" You do not know whether it was a man or a woman?" said Reeee quick B. Surely you have your suspicion! Mine went at once directly to the for mer lover of Sir Mortimer's wife, the man of whom he had robbed her." Quite so." responded MT, Lexham That suspicion should be directed to- wards him was only natural. No- body knew him, knew what he was like"
 "You sent to Italy, the place where he 1iVed% put in Reece swiftly. "Of course. It was one of the first things we did--to learn that the man was dead. He. left his native place, Ficonza'--Dexter Reeceis lips moved as they mutely formed the word. and [ he indelibly impressed it on his mem | ory-"soon after the flight of his bride. He had gone to sea in one of the small vessels trading from Venice, which went down with all hands. The man was dead. drowned, and so be- yond suspicion"
 1 Then I cannot see the motive. the object, in stealing the ehild,'' said Reece thoughtfully. There was the ruby, of course; that was temptation enough for an ordinary criminal, a burglar; but why should such a man run the awful risk of hampering him. self with an infant? The presence of ! the child rendered his escape more difficult his detection almost cer- l tain."
 I ''That is so." assented MT. Lexham. l There is only one way of account ing for the abduction of the child remarked Reese. "The man who stole her,. who murdered Sir Morti- mer. must have been something more than an ordinary burglar; I mean that he must have been a personal foe, an enemy of Sir Mortimer's and bitter and ruthless one"
 | "A very reasonable conclusien,' P said Mir. Lexham; but, so far as We could discover, Sir Mortimer had no personal foes, no enemy who would go so far in his desire for revenge as to commit murder. With all his faults and vices, he was a most pop ular man. The whole of his past hts- tory was raked up. closely examined and We failed to find a single human being whom we could suspect of hay ing committed the crime"
 Dexter Reece pondered in silence for a moment or two, then he said: l "You are sure that the ruby was stolen?"
 Mir. Lexham shrugged his shoulders Why, yes; as sure as one can be ol a negative. The case which ha6 held it and the other jewels was I found in a small iron box which stood on a cabinet beside Sir Mortimer's bed, He could have reached it with his hand. The key, on bunch with | others, was under his pillow, was found there on the morning after hi: l death. The iron box was locked; the were there, and had apparently not even been disturbed. The case which held the giant ruby was empty Search was made for it in every like, ly and unlikely place; but, as l have said, it was never found"
 Then somewhere, held by some one, is the great Desborough ruby, murmured Dexter Reece. almost tt
 himself. Great heaven, what g nystery!"
 1 Mr. Lexham nodded. merely nod
 ded, as if words were superfiuous.
 Wed better go to bed" he said
 they keep very early hours here And you will have to be up betime:
 to-morrrow."
 They parted in the corridor. Reecs
 closed his door in the quiet wa, WHICH cHdTacteFIzeu ail HIS HloVo
 ments. He did not begin to undres:
 himself, but dropped into a ehair,and
 leaning forward with his hands sup
 porting his sharply defined chin, gaA
 ed before him in profound reflection He was haunted, obsessed. by thu
 story which he had heard; the glow
 of the great ruby seemed to dance like a mist before his eyes. The stu
 pendous gem was-somewhere.
 Of course he knew that he was no
 the first man by scores whose mint had beeen agitated by the loss of thu jewel. the vague desire of finding it He knew that some of the most as