The St. Mary banner., 1914-09-19

| she cried.
| Yes. You are not the person for
| whom this room was intended" Which
was half truth and perfectly true.
paradoxical as it may seem. Eat your
| breakfast in peace. You are free.
mademoiselle."
Free? You will not hinder me If I
walk through that door,"
No, mademoiselle. On the con-
trary. shall be very glad. and so will
my brother, who guards you at night
l repeat, there has been frightful mis-
take. Monsieur Champeaux
Monsieur Champeaux?" Nora was
| bewildered She had never heard this
name before
He calls himself that" was the dip
| lomatic answer
All Nora's suspicious took firm
ground again "Will you describe this
| Monsieur Champeaux to me?" asked
the actress coming into life.
He is short, dark, and old, made
| moiselle."
Rather is he not tall. blond and
young?" ironically.
The jailer concealed what annoy
ance he felt. In his way he was just
as capable an actor as she was. The
| accuracy of her description startled
him; for the affair had been carried
out so adroitly that he had been posi-
tive that until her real captor ap-
peared she would be totally in the
! dark regarding his identity. And here
she had hit it off in less than a dozen
words. Oh, we'll; it did not matter
now She might try to make it un-
! pleasant for his employer, but he
doubted the ultimate success of her
attempts. However, the matter was at
an end as far as he was concerned.
Have you thought what this means?
1t is abduction. 1t is crime you have
committed, punishable by long impris-
onment."
Il have been mademoiselle's tailer,
not her abductor. And when one is
poor and in need of money!" He
shrugged.
Il will give you thousand francs
for the name and address Of the man
who instigated this outrage"
All. he thought; then she wasn't SO
sure? Il told you the. name, mademoi-
selle AS for his address, l dare not
give it, not for ten thousand francs.
Besides | have said that there has
been mistake"
For whom have been mistaken"
who but Monsieur Champeaux's
wife, mademoiselle. who is not In her
right mind?" with inimitable sadness
Very WELL" said Nora. You say
that l am free. That le all want,
freedom"
in twenty minutes the electric tram
leaves for . Paris. You will recall.
mademoiselle," humbly. that we have
taken nothing belonging to you. You
have your purse and hat and cloak
The struggle was most unfortunate
But, think, mademoiselle, think: we
thought you to be insane!"
Permit me to doubt that! And you
are not afraid to let me go?"
Not in the least, mademoiselle. A
mistake has been made, and In telling
you to 60 at once. we do our best to
rectify this mistake. 1t is only five
minutes to the tram. A carriage Is at
the door Will mademoiselle be pleased
to remember that we have treated her
with the utmost courtesy?"
II shall remember everything"
ominously.
Very good, mademoiselle. You will
be In Paris before nine." With this
he bowed and backed out of the room
as though Nora had suddenly made
distinct ascension In the scale of i'm
portance.
"Wait!" she called.
His face appeared in the doorway
again.
DO you know who ann"
Since this morning, mademoiselle."
THAT is all"
Free! Her veins tingled with
strange exultation. He had lost his
courage and had become afraid of the
consequences. Free! Monsieur Cham
peaux indeed! Cowardice was a new
development in his character He had
been afraid to come. She drank the
tea. but did not touch the toast or
fruit. There would be time enough