Cut Bank pioneer press. [volume] (Cut Bank, Mont.) 1909-current, 1911-07-07
.MRM;|E
The Robe OF Peace
B Y O. e N IL Y
Copyright by F. L. Nelson)

NlO1Cly III q 5tNoI SASJ NAAoS NA> NNN
ing public and the friends of Johnny
Bellchambers have ceased to marvel
at his sudden and unexplained dis
appearance nearly a year ago. This
particular mystery has now been
cleared up, but the solution is so
strange and incredible to the mind Of
the average man that only a select
few who were in close touch with
Bellchambers will give it full Gre
dence.
Johnny Bellchambers, as is we'll
known, belonged to the intrinsically
inner circle of the elite. Without any
of the os%tentation of the fashionable
ones who e~ndeavored to attract notice
by eccentric display of wealth and
show, he still was au fat in every
thing that gave deserved luster to his
high position in the ranks of society.
Especially did he shine in the mat
ter of dress. In this he was the de-
spair of imitators. Always correct,
exquisitely groomed, and possessed of
an unlimited wardrobe, he was con
coded to be the best-dressed man in
New York, and, therefore, in America.
There was lot a tailor in Gotham who
would not have deemed it a precious
boon to have been granted the priv
ilege of making Bellchambers' clothes
without a cent of pay. AS he wore
them, they would have been a price
less advertisement. Trousers were
his especial passion. Here nothing but
perfection would he notice. He would
have worn a patch as quickly as he
would have overlooked a wrinkle. He
kept a man in his apartments always
busy pressing his ample supply. His
friends said that three hours was the
limit of time that he would wear these
garments without exchanging.
Bellchambers disappeared very sud-
denly. For three days his absence
brought no alarm to his friends, and
then they began to operate the usual
methods of inquiry. All Of them fail
ed. He had left absolutely no trace
behind. Then the search for a motive
was instituted, but none was found.
He had no enemies, he had no debts,
there was no woman. There were
several thousand dollars in his bank
to his credit. He had never showed
any tendency toward mental eccentric
ity; in fact, he was of a particularly
calm n well-balanced temperament.
Every means of tracing the vanished
man was made use OF, but without
avail. 1t was one of those cases
more numerous in late years-where
men seem to have gone out like the
flame of a candle, leaving not even a
trail of smoke as a witness.
In May. Tom Eyres and Lancelot
Gillian, two of Bellchambers' old
friends, went for a little run on the
other side. While pottering around in
Italy and Switzerland, they happened,
one day, to hear of a monastery in the
Swiss alps that promised something
outside of the ordinary tourist-beguil-
ing attractions. The monastery was
almost inaccessible to the average
sightseer. being on an extremely rug
ged and precipitous spur of the moun-
tains. The attractions it possessed
but did not advertise were, first, an
exclusive and divine cordial made by
the monks that was said to far sur
pass benedictine and chartreuse. Next
a huge brass bell so purely and &C
curately cast that it had not ceased
sounding since it was first rung three
hundred years ago. Finally, it was
asserted that no Englishman had ever
set foot within its walls. Eyres and
Gillian decided that these three re
ports called for Investigation.
1t took them two days with the aid
of two guides to reach the monastery
of st. Gondrau. 1t stood upon a froz
en-, w~ind-swept crag with the snow
piled about it in tr~eacherous. drifting
masses. They were Hospitality re
ceived by the brothers whose duty j
was to entertain the infrequent guest
They drank of the precious cordial
finding it rarely potent and ~reviving
They listened to the great, ever-echC
ing bell, and learned that they wer
pioneer travellers. in those gray ston
walls, over the Englishman who's
restless feet have trodden nearly e1
. cry corner of the earth.
At three o'clock on the afternoo
they arrived, the two young Gotham
ties stood with good Brother CristC
fer in the great, cold hallway of tn
monastery to watch the monks marc
past on their way to the refectory
They came slowly, pacing by two
with their heads bowed treadin
noiselessly with sandaled feet upo
the rough stone flags. AS the proce
sion slowly filed past, Eyres suddenl
gripped Gillian by the arm. Look
he whispered, eagerly, lat the one jul
opposite you now-the one on til
side, with his hand a. his waist
that isn't Johnny Rellchamhers the