Arizona republican., 1911-01-21
THE ADVENTURES OF
 MIR. PETER RUFF By E. Phillips Oppenheim-Delilah from Streathsm. CCopywright, 1909. by the Pearson Pub
 fishing Co.)
(ConfisrsG /yosu ySstsrdaJ)

! to escape from the clutches of the ! law than the law will to secure its | victims. Scotland Yard expects them ! to come into its arms automatically regards them as a perquisite of It's ex- istence."
 "I wish my husband were in your | profession, Mir Ruff" Maud said, with | a sidelong glance of her blue eyes | which she had always found so effec- | tive upon her various admirers. "I am sure that I should be a great deal fonder of him.
 Peter Ruff leaned forward In his chair. He, too, had expressive eyes at | times.
 Madam" he said-and stopped. But Maud blushed, all the same.
 She looked down into her lap. We are forgetting Mir. Fitzgerald" she murmured.
 Peter Ruff glanced up at the clock.
 "It is a long story" he said. Are you in a hurry, Mrs. Dory?"
 Not at all," she assured him. un- less you want to close your office, or anything. It must be- nearly one o'clock"
 "I wonder" he asked, " if you would do me the honor of lunching with me? We might go to Princes or the CGrl- ton-whichever you prefer. I will promise to talk about Mir. Fitzgerald all the time"
 "Oh. I couldn't! Maud declared, with a little gasp. At least-well, I'm sure l don't knowi
 "You have no engagement for luncheon?" Peter Ruff asked quietly. Oh, no, !" she answered.; but, you see, We live so quietly: 1 have never been to one of those places. I'd love to go-but if We were seen! Wouldn't people talk?"
 Peter Ruff smiled Just the same dear, modest little thing!
 q can assure you" he said. that nothing whatever could be said against our lunching together. People are not so strict nowadays. you know. and a married lady has always a great deal of latitude"
 She looked up at him with dazzling smile.
 "Td simply love to go to Prince's!" she declared.
 Cat" Miss Brown murmured. as Peter Ruff and his client left the room together.
 Peter Ruff returned from his lunch con in no very jubiiant state of mind. For some time he sat in his easy-chair. with his legs crossed and his fingertips pressed close together, looking steadily into space. Contrary to his usual custom, be did not smoke. Miss Brown watched him from behind her machine.
 Disenchanted? she asked calmly.
 Peter Ruff did not reply for several moments.
 "I am afraid" he admitted, hesi- tatingly. "that marriage with John Dory has not had a beneficial effect She allowed me, for instance, to hold her hand in the cab! Maud would never have permitted a stranger to take such liberty in the old days"
 Miss Brown smiled curiously.
 "Is that ail?" she asked.
 Peter Ruff felt that he was in the confessional.
 She certainly did seem," he ad- mitted, ito enjoy her champagne a E. eat deal. and she talked about her dull life at home a little more, per haps. than was discreet to one who was presumably a stranger. She was curious, too, about dining out. Poor little girl. though. Just fancy. John Dory has never taken her anywhere | but to Lyons or an A B c, and the | pit of a theater!
 (Which evening is it to be?" Miss Brown asked.
 Something was said about ThurB- | day" Peter Ruff admitted.
 And her husband?" Miss Brown | inquired.
 "He happens to be in Glasgow for i a few days" Peter Ruff answered.
 Miss Brown looked at her employer l steadily. She addressed him by his | Christian name. which was thing she | very seldom did in office hours.
 Peter" she said, "are you going | to let that woman make fool of | you?"
 He raised his eyebrows.
 "Go on,' he said: say, everything | you want to-only. if you please, don't | speak disrespectfully of Maud"
 Hasn't it ever occurred to you at | all," Miss Brown continued, rising to | her feet. that this Maud. or what ever you want to call her, may be | playing a low-down game of her hus- bands? He hates you. and he has vague suspicious. Cant you see that | he is probably making use of your in- fatuation for his common. middle-class little wife, to try and get you to give yourself away? Can't you see 1t, Peter? You are not going to tell me that you are so blind as all that!
 "I must admit" he answered. with a sigh, that, although I think you go altogether too far. some suspicion of the sort has interfered with my perfect enjoyment of the morning."
 Miss Brown drew a little breath of relief After all. then. his folly was not so consummate as>it had seemed!
 What are you going to do about 1t, them" she asked.
 Peter Ruff coughed-he seemed In an unusually amenable frame of mind, and submitted to cross-examination without a murmur.
 The subject of Mir. Spencer Fitz- gerald" he remarked, " seemed. some how or other. to- drop into the back ground during our luncheon. I pro- pose. therefore, to continue to offer to Mrs. John Dory my most respectful admiration. If she accepts my friend