The Washington times., 1911-10-31
CHAPTER XVI (continued) .
<x n n AID or sane, TX he knows our
M signs and secrets he must
IVY not be set free to tell

IVY not be set free to tell
others. He might find a
listener who would take the trouble to
'Eoceiensa," asked sebaste. again ad-
Get me hear the fellows story
At a second signal from sebaste the
cloth was slipped from the captlve's
Speak" ordered sebaste. "And speak
or insult, you shall be gagged, and" he
no second opportunity for speech"
The captive. with an effort tnat was
revilings that were trembling on his
lips. He forced his tense muscles to re-
lax and his distorted face to cease Its
convulsive twitchings.
The battle for self-control was really
splendid. And in the end he won 1t.
For when he spoke 1t was with
forced slowness and coherency.
orimonte." he began, "nobleman of the
Milano province and for fourteen years
a member OF high standing in the
1h s% e sese wsana Of Of yn'h ha middle
three fingers Of the right handy lis the
sign Of recognition. Three weeks ago I
was chosen by the head council as le,
Viscount Barberi.'' l..
Again that faint murmur Of surprise
and incredulity swept the room. At
sound Of it the flush once b3 more ,n son
trolled himself and went on:
THE scarlet scarab was conferred
upon me by the Grand Duke Ossip OF
Russia himself. and l came at once 10
Naples. On arriving In the city l put
the scarab into my tie, when, to my
chagrins found 1t was SO loose In its
setting that 1t threatened at any mo-
ment to fall out. dared not take it
to one of the better known jewelers. to
have the stone reset, SO l went to a
man had heard of who has q national
reputation for skill at setting and pol
his name is Dardo. left the scarab
with bin, and was told 1t would be
ready for me by the following morn
@ @brshren aaTfd oSt Sc to wa
until next day before making myself
known to Count Sebaste, commandant
of the Naples Chapter
at each other and smiled, as though
they found the tale unexpectedly ingen-
uous.
time" continued the marchese. land l
awoke next morning with sharp at
tack Of Roman fever. ! was delirious
for some days, and too weak to leave
my room for week or more ,s after I, r
Straight to Dardos shop. Crepe was on
the door and the place closed.
from Stroke k oPe1ssi 81 apopiexy ef made & many many
inquiries, and at last found an old deaf
yagabond who said that he had some
times tended the shop in Dardo's alb
eence, and who CHANGED to have the key
to the place.
II paid him heavily to open the shop
and to let me search for an article mad
left to be repaired. did not wish, OF
course, to mention what that article
was, But by the time l had gone over
the entire stock in trade and found no
trace Of my scarab l was forced to tell
the caretaker what sought.
He declared at once that he remem.
bered the scarab; but, to my horror. he
added that 1t had been called for more
than two weeks ago. He even showed
me Dardo,s ledger and pointed out the
Called for March is, 1906. Paid
THAT was the exact form on the
ledger. I am not likely to forget It. for
ened to the Hotel Masanillo. where ]
had heard that Count Sebaste was
stopping. The, rest he has told you"
Here was the whole truth at last
had been left with Dardo personally
and when ready had been placed in a
tray with other completed bits of reset
ting and urbishing.
The stupid old caretaker, seeing. me
walk confidently up to that tray. draw
out the pin, and inquire the price, had
naturally supposed ! was the rightfu
owner and that / wished merely to pay
for the resetting. Hence that puzzllng
low price Of 60 cents for a pin who's.
Intrinsic value was probably fifty times
that sum.
"And now" broke out Fuorimonte
his former rage struggling for the up
per hand. "after being overpowered py
force and dragged of to that dark
hole 1 am suddenly brought into this
room and confronted by a man seated
in the chair Of state and wearing the
scarlet scarab. Brethren Is 1t strange
control? l appeal to-
"I think" said Sebaste, with master.
ful suavity. that we have heard quite
enough. Gag him"
Before the luckless marchese I. .coulo
voice the hot protest that was upon
his tongue the guards deft hands had
replaced the cloth over half of his face
'his story is too circumstantial for our
safety. II he Is sane, and this Is :,
desperate ruse to gain control of the
funds such as are at the disposal of a
legate, there Is all the more reason why
we must silence him. In either case
brothers; l think there can be but one
He glanced about, and everywhere
met looks of approval.
''Then." he resumed 'it only re-
mains for his excellency, the legate, to
formally pronounce sentence. The fei-
low must die"
But had sprung from my chair
My resolve was made.
"Wait!" cried. Listen. first to mel!
CHAPTER XVII.