The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1913-03-13

4u0 OAACSIS are uSIes 0As AS
formed me. matter-of-factly.
"The of1cers?" I repeated, and then,
memory r%easserting itself, / added:
"Oh, yes, Of course. Ask them to wait
Just a moment, Checkabeedy."
Into the mental marshalling Of facts
which ensued there came a vivid mem
ory Of that weird scene in the sick
chamber when Cameron had raved in
q strange tongue, mingled with words
of pidgin-English and q few phrases
discriminating phrases, in the light OF
tonight's revelation-of vigorous YER
.nacular. If what Bryan had said was
true-and for him to lie about a mat
ter as readily demonstrate was hard
ly to be considered-I must conclude
myself beaten at all points. From first
to last, then, l had been defending q
creature unworthy Of defense.
1t was difficult to accept this con-
clusion. Mind and heart alike were
arrayed against it. Yet, thinking
clearly now, I recognized fully the po-
sition in which I had placed myself. I
had been willing to swear. to wager,
there was no tattoo mark, and the best
evidence-my own witness-had
proved me wrong. Certainly I could
expect no mild judgment from these
Asiatics. Honest as I had been, they
must believe that I had known, and
had meant to deceive them. They
probably thought that I had signalled
to Bryan to endorse me in my lies, and
that the nurse had either misunder-
stood or openly rebelled.
Before Checkabeedy had reached the
door, / recalled him.
ION second thought" I said, "the Of
flcers need not wait. Tell them that
it was a mistake. I shall not require
them"
Turning to Yup Sing and his COM
panion, I added:
What Mr.. Bryan has told you ia the
greatest surprise to me-. Even yet l
can scarcely believe it. unless the
mark and the scar were obtained while
my friend was a prisoner in the hands
Of your countrymen."
Tattoo marks and scars show age
no less than faces" the merchant re-
piled. Both of these are years old.
Any capable Judge of such things will
tell you that. Possibly Mr.. Bryan can
tell" ,
1.-The seal is not a fresh ons," said
the nurse. "As to tattoo marks. I am
not experienced; but I shouldn't think
the mark on Mr.. Cameron's arm was
put there recently"
Gentlemen" l said, making a final
stand. while l do not question Nj.
Bryan's entire honesty in this matter.
nevertheless l prefer to see these
marks of Identification, myself. II you
will excuse us for five minutes. I shall
not be longer"
At the foot of the grand staircase.
Evelyn joined me. Bryan, at my sug-
gestion, went to the elevator and as
cended that way, while she and l slow
ly climbed the broad, velvet-carpeted
marble steps to the floor above.
II thought you were eve coming
out of that room," she declared. nerv.
ously. "Once, I was on the verge Of
going after you. The first time you
rang for Checkabeedy. I near. .
What did you have him telephone for?
He absolutely refused to tell me.
Was it the two policemen? . I.
What did you want them for?. . /.
Why did you let them go away again?
Aren't those Cinnamon ever
going? . What on earth did you
want with Mr.. Bryan? What
are you going upstairs for, now?"
How tactfully l answered these ques-
lions and others I shall not attempt to
decide. l know only that l set my
teeth to guard the n problem which
absorbed me, and which for worlds I
would not have her know.
ut Is all right, Evelyn" I assured
her, over and over again. "There is
not the smallest danger. . They
came to give me information. . {.
You must be very tired, little girl.
Go to bed, now, and forget 1t
all until morAing. . Yes, Ill
tell you everything, then"
I wonder how many women there
are who, burning with curiosity as she
was, would have obliged me at she
did! Is it p%ardonable, then, II again I
say that throughout all this trying ex-
p%erience she proved herself q girl Of a
thousand?
Bryan was waiting for me in the
passage outside Cameron's door.
IT left him sleeping" he explained,
"and. If possible, I don't wish to dis.
turb him; so we'll go in quietly to-
gether."
Slowly and with infinite care lest
he make the least noise he turned the
knob. Quite as cautiously he opened
the door, and tiptoeing softly, we en-.
tered.
It was the first time I had been in
the room since the day of that terrible
outburst, and. 1t still held for me an at
mosphere as grewsomely forbidding
as that of a tomb.
Only n lowered light burned. over
q tall, antique bureau between the
darkly c~urtained windows; the cham.
Der was in semi-gloom. But scarcely
had I passed Bryan, who stopped to
close the door with the same adroit
silence with which. he had accom-
plished its opening, than a stealthily
moving white figure defined itself, is