The Detroit times., 1914-10-26

Alice, And not only that. but the
girl and Jones were evidently In com
munication with him. She sum
moned o waiter. made secret sign,
and he bowed and approached. She
slipped the letter into his hand and
whispered: Show that at the cave
tomorrow. II Is In invisible ink and
meant for Hargreave."
Hes alive?"
Positively"
Very WE'LL The waiter bowed
and strolled away .nonchalantly.
Braine was In Boston over night,
otherwise the countess would have
taken the mysterious note at once to
him. She remained for perhaps O
quarter Of an hour longer and then
left the garden. She would have
taken the letter 20 her, own apart,
ment but for the fact that the chemi-
Now IL happened that Florence went
out for her early ride the next morn
Ing, and crossing q field she saw .
man with q bundle under his arm.
The sun struck his profile and
limned II plainly, and Florence ut
tered q low cry. The man had not
observed her. SO. very quietly, she
slipped from the horse, tethered Il 70
q tree. and started after the man to
learn what he was doing 30 FAR from
the city. She would never forget
that face. She had seen Il that dread
full night when the note had lured
her into the hands of her enemies.
The face belonged to the man who
had unprecedented her father.
II occurred to her that she might
just as well do little detective work
on her own hook. She had passed
through so many terrifying episodes
that she was beginning to crave for
the excitement, strange as this may
seem. Like a gambler who has once
played for high stakes. she longer
found pleasure in thimbles and
needles and pins. She followed the
man with no little skill and at length
saw him approach q knoll, stoop, APP
parently press a spring, and a hole
suddenly yawned. The man vanished
quickly. and the spot took on again
Its virginia. appearance. 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 concealment. crept up the
knoll. and searched about for the
magic handle of this strange door.
Diligence rewarded her. and she soon
found herself In large, musty earth
smelling cave. Loot was scattered
about. and there were boxes and
chairs and large chest. Men evil
IDENTIFY met here. possibly after some
adventure against society.
She found nothing to reward her
and as she was In the act
Of moving toward the caves door she
beheld with terror that IL was NOV.
ing!
She was near the chest at that mo-
ment. The cave was not a deep one.
There was no tunnel, only a wall. Res
olutely she raised the lid OF the chest,
stepped inside, and drew the lid down.
She was just In time. The door open.
ed and three men entered, talking
volubly. They felt perfectly secure
in talking as loudly az they pleased.
To Florence Il seemed almost impos-
sible that they did not hear the thun-
der OF her heart. Strain her ears as
she might. she could gather but little
OF what they said. except:
III Hargreave had this paper we
might all be put on the defensive. To
an outsider Il In a blank paper, But
the boss will be able to read Il. -
The speaker moved away from the VI
cinity OF the chest and she heard no
more.