Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-02-12

OF the part. BY d1nt OF repeated questions
and not little fattery, Stuyverant elected
the information that she was not the land
lady. that the latter was out, and had been
for two or three days, and also that some
perfect lady" had occupied the room once
rented to Miss Steck for several days.
The perfect lady" had been yelled when
she came and had never been seen by this
informant, who was merely servant.
This was deception number one; for she
herself was proprietor of the utterly ne
elected house. Stuyverant paid her dollar
to take him to the room in question, alleging
that young woman friend had called there
that morning and had left tri1e behind.
The "trife" was on the floor, when he
came to the place-the bunch of roses Thur
ley had carried to comfort comfortless soul!
Convinced that no one else could have taken
them there, Stuyverant took them eagerly;
then glanced about the place.
1t was simply wretched little back-hall
cave dirty. i'll smelling, abominably fur
nished with rickety old junk, and Uttered
everywhere with half smoked cigarettes.
There was nothing, absolutely nothing, to
furnish the slightest clue as to recently de-
parted occupants, save the roses already Sc
cured. What other parcels Thurley had
brought had been carried away with herself.
When Stuyverant left he possessed the
meager intelligence that the perfect lady
of the veil was tall, and that several men had
called to pay her their respects at various
times. His most skilful corkscrew methods
could extract no more than that. AS mat
ter of fact, the wizened little woman knew
almost no more herself.
Stuvverant acknowledged to himself that
he was almost as much in the dark as he had
been half an hour earlier. He felt certain
that Thurley had actually been to the room
and dropped her roses at the moment OF
some attack He was convinced it was she
who had been seen placed helplessly in an
automobile. But concerning the motive,
Thurley's condition when abducted, where
she was taken, and the perpetrators OF the
outrage, he was helplessly at sea.
He telephoned to Alice, relating the little
he had managed to discover; then, inform
ing her that he would call by eight at the
latest, deliberately set to work to discover,
if possible, the abiding place of Wenck and
Baron Won Hochhaus.
He only knew he loved this glorious girl
who had come to his assistance in the park.
He only knew he must serve her now, II 1t
Law in his power, with the final drop of blood
in his heart.
But his search was vain. For more than
two hours he was driven up and down, from
one small high class hosiery to another, be-
fore at last he was rewarded by the lntor1na
ton that two Germans, neither one named
Wenck or Baron Hochhaus, but who might
have registered under pseudonyms, and
might have been the parties sought, had
stayed in this house two days They had
gone together; but no one knew where, as
neither received or expected letters here and
had left no future address.
1t was nearly half-past eight at night, and
the storm still ragged savagely, when he came
again to Alice Van Kirk 's-to be Knocked by
his evenings search.
Both Wenck and Baron Won Hochhaus had
arrived five minutes before him, and Alice
had Just come down.
TEMPTED to send in his name and re-
quest admission to the conference, Stuy
verant curbed the impulse and went to the
great empty drawing room to wait 1mpa
tiently the outcome of this wholly uneX-
pected development.
Alice, in the reception room, had scarcely
more than greeted her distinguished visitor
concealing as best she might her state of
agitation, when the servant, acting on in
structions, quietly announced Robley's ar
rival.
She hesitated a moment, on the point of
asking Stuyverant in; then resolved on a
course whereby she might sound the Baron
a little and possibly discover vital facts by
the policy of permitting him to reveal the