The evening world., 1911-02-28

shf' A'llON y 'l' N'NNAhflly hNFb
upon me. Not one of my most secret
Thoughts escapes him. 1 Am behaving
Ike an actor, whose steps are ruled BY
the strictcst stage directions. who
moves here or there and says this or
that because n superior will has %
determined II. DO you understand. VIII
SOM
Wilson would no doubt have under
stood had he not been sleeping the
sound sleep OF n man whose temperature
is iluctuating between lu2 and iH de-
x ees. Blu whether he heard or not
made no difference to Shears. who con
tinued
1T will need all my energy and an my
resources not to he discouraged. For
~tunately. with me. these little gibes are
only go many pin pricks which stlmu-
late me to further exertions. once the
stlng IL allayed and the wound IN my
self-respcct closed. | always end by
saying: Laugh away. my lad. Sooner
or later YOU will be betrayed sy your
WI hand For. when all is said. Will
sou. wasn't II Lupin himself who. with
his first telegram and the reflection
which IL suggested to that little Hen
%riette. revealed to me the secret OF his
correspondence with Alice Demun? You
forget that detail. old chap"
lie walked up and down the room.
/ WIN rtNOlIul1k ttIlNfss ~ llt IisA VI
waking oid chap:
However, things might be worse: and.
though the paths which ! nm following
appear n little dark. ! am beginning TO
see my way. To start with, I shall soon
know all about Master Bresson. Gani-
mard and | have ~ appointment on the
bank OF the Seine. at the spot where
Bresson nuns his parcel. ana we shall
find out who he was and what he want
ed. As regards the rest. it's a game 10
he played out between Alice Deinun
and me-. Not a very powerful cdver-
sary. ch. wilson? And don't you think
| shall soon know the sentence in the
album and what those two single letters
mean, the G and the II? For the whole
mystery Hes In that. Wilson,"
At this moment. mademoiselle entered
the room and. seing Shears wave his
arms about, said:
MIR. Shears. | shall be very angry
with you II you wake my patient. It's
not nice of you to disturb him. The
doctor insists upon absolute calm."
He looked at her without a word.
astonished. as on the first day. at her
inexplicable composure.
why do you look at me like that.
Mr.. Shears7 80 You always seem 20
have something at the back OF your
mind 80 What Is II? Tell me.
please"
She questioned ham with an her bright
face, with her guileless eyes. her sinking
lips and with her attitude too. her
hands Joined together. her body bent
slightly forward. And so great wal hor
candor hat II reused the E~nglishman's
anger. lie came up to her and said. in
a low voice:
Ericsson committed suicide yestsr-
day"
She repeated. without appearing 10
understand:
"Bresson committed suicide ysstsr-
day?'
As a matter of fact. her features IN
dsrwent no change whatever: nothing
revealed the effort Of a lie.
You have been told" he said irrftahey.
IF not. you would at least have started
An, you are ~cleverer than
thought But why pretend?"
He took the picture book. which hs
had placed on a table close at hand.
ana. opening II at the cut page:
Can you tell me-" he asked. IN
what order I am TO arrange the let
ters missing here. so that / may un-
derstand the exact purport OF tho note
which you sent TO Bresson four DAYS
before tho theft OF the jewish Lampr'
In what order? Bressonf
$50 The theft of the jewish Lampf'
She repeated the words slowly. -
though to mako out their meaning.
He Insisted
Yes, here are the letters you rcd
on this scrap OF paper. What
were you saying to Bresson?'
"The letters | used what
was ! saying to ?"
suddenly she burst out laughing:
II seel | understand! am an 10.
complete In the theft, There Is a NJ.
Bresson who stole the Jewish Lamp
and killed himself And am the
gentleman's friend Oh, how anus
Ing
Then whom ala you go to see yes
terday evening, on the second floor OF
a house I'm the Avenue des TernesP"
Whom Why. my dressmaker. Mile.
Langeais! DO YOU mean to imply that
my dressmaker and my friend NJ. Rres-
son are one ana the same person."
Shears began to doubt, in spite OF
all II Is possible to counterfeit al
most any feeling In such a way as to
uu' another utr.,H ..rHu.. .... ana
icty. but not t~tiNfcrerce. not happy
and careless l1ugHacr.
zone last word. Why ara you ac-
cos, me az the Care du Nord the other
evening? And Why did you beg me
10 go back az once without busying
myself about the robbery?'
'Oh, you're much too curious, Mr..
Shears" she replied. san laughing In
the most natural way. To punish you,
I viii toll YOU nothing and, In addition.
you shah watch the patient while | go
10 the chemist There's an
urgent prescription TO be made up. I
must hurry
She left the room.
Il have been trlckel." muttered
shears. I've not only got nothing out
OF her, Nut 7 nave giveH myself away
And ne remembered the case OF the
blue diamond and the cross-eXamina-
ton 70 which he had subjected Clotilde
Destange, Mldemol,e,le had encc IN
tered him with tho same s@ereaity as the
blonde lady. and he FELT hat he was
again face 10 face with one OF those
creatures who, protected by Arsene
Lup.n and under the direct action OF
his influence, preserved the most IN
scrutable ealmness amid the very sgoay
OF danger.