The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-11-08

suspicious Of this sleepy-eyed reporter She
never eousd tell now much he knew But of
Florence she WIS reasonably certain and so
long as she could fool the pretty infant the
suspicious of the reporter were Of a neg
ligibe quantity. She greeted them effusiyely
and offered them chairs For half an hour
they sat there, chatting inanities. all the
while each mind busy with deeper cofceTAs
When the man in search of Florence evan.
taalIy arrived and asked the manager Of the
garden if he knew Miss 1Iargreave By sight
the manager pointed toward the boxsesEie
wound his way in and out Of the oilers
and by the time he reached the box Jim and
Florence had made their departure. The
man bowed approached ami asked if she
was Miss Hargreave For a moment the
countess suspected a trap Then ii appealed
to her mind that II there was no trap it might
be we'll to pose as Florence, if only to learn
what the outcome III sht be.
Yes. What is wanted?" she asked.
The man took letter from his pocket and
banded il to Olga, saying: Give this to
your father. lie knows how to read it."
Before she could reply the man had turned
and was hurrying away.
Olga opened the note. her heart beating
furiously. 1t was utterly blank It first
she thought it was noax. Then she hap
pened to remember that there was such
thing invisible ink, At last. Hargreave
was alive; this letter settled all doubt in her
mind on this question. Alive! And not only
that, but the girl and Jones we're evidently
in communication with him. She summoned
a waiter, made a secret sign, and he bowed
and approached She slipped the letter into
lis hand and whispered: Show that at
the cave tomorrow. 1t is in invisible lux and
meant for Hargreave."
He's alive?"
Positively"
Every we'll The water bowed and
strolled away nonchalantiy.
Braine was In Boston over night, other
wise the countess would have taken the mys-
terious note at once to him. She remained
for perhaps a quarter of an hour longer and
then left the garden. She would have taken
the letter to her own apartment but for tne
fact that the chemicals needed were hidden
In the cave.
Now it happened that Florence went out
for her early ride the next morning, and
crossing a field she saw a man with bundle
under his arm. The sun struck his profile
and limned it plainly, and Florence uttered
low cry. The man had not observed her.
So, very quietly, she slipped from the horse.
tethered it to a tree, and started after the
o.. Inar I,o@ H. .3r.x. g.
the city. She would never forget that face
She had seen ii that dreadful night when the
note had lured her into the hands of ner
enemies. The face belonged to the man who
had impersouated her father.
1t occurred to her that she might Just as
well do little detective work on her own
hook. She bad passed through so many terri
flying episodes that she was beginning to-
crave for the excitement, strange as this may
seem. Like n gambler wno has once played
for high stakes, she no longer found pleasure
in thimbles and needles and pins She fol-
lowed the man with no little skill and at
length saw him approach a knoll, stoop,
apparently press n spring, and hole sud-
denly yawned. The man vanished quickly,
and the spot took on again its virginia. ap.
pearance. A cave, Florence had the patience
to wait BY and by the man appeared again
and skunk away
When she was sure that he was beyond
range. she came out, from the place of con-
ecalneat, crept up tho knoll, and seqrcacd
about for the magic rardlc of this strange