Middletown transcript., 1914-06-20

erty. He's heavily mortgs red, and It
seems only matter of few months
now before father gets even with the
old fool. He'd have done it long ago,
only he was bringing of a coup Of his
own which meant millions to him"
My heart was hammering so hard it
scarcely seemed possible that 1 could
control my emotion. The plot was
thickening- and l was in the very
heart Of it,
YES he continued, putting up his
feet on the ships rail, there's only
three Of them alive in the direct line
today; the comte, a very old man now,
daughter by a second marriage, and
her son, the comte's grandson, young
fellow Of twenty-five. There was a
son by an earlier marriage, but he
went to America and died there. l
traced him to California and lost him
there. The burning Of San Francisco
had destroyed all the records. l ad-
vertised in all the Pacific coast papers
without result. There had been a mar
riage, and believe there was one
daughter. But she has vanished COM
pletely."
The uneven glow Of his words, and
sudden suspicious odor on the night
air, convinced me that the scoundrel
had been drinking-not enough to rem
der him tipsy, but just sufficient to un-
lock the doors of his secrets.
$50 told the old donkey''-by that
phrase interpreted him to mean Mag
niff, Sr.-" you'd better hurry up with
that revenge of yours I said, or
they'll all be dead He'd cut my al
lowanee to beggarly ten thousand a
year. He told me I was a bad egg,
as he elegantly phrased it, and had dis
appointed all his hopes of having me
succeed him in the banking business
All right, old boy thought, I'll show
you something original in the financial
field You see, Miss Howard" he con.
tinued, lurching toward me. II knew
the secret of the bonds"
'Yes, what was it?" I cried.
He sobered Immediately. Now
you'd like to know, wouldn't your he
drawled. you tantalizing little
devil"
I rose with great dignity and walked
away, leaving him calling miss How
ard! Miss Howard" in desperate
apology.
Thereafter, although my curiosity
was burning, avoided him sedulous-
ly, cutting him directly when we met
and ignoring his advances at the din
ner table. But he was so persistent
that I was driven to all sorts of ex-
pedients to avoid him, and, when my
need of walk became urgent, 1 re-
sorted to the long deck of the steer
age, which was practically deserted,
since few steerage passengers were re-
turning to Europe at that season of
the year.
1t must have been on the third night
after when, while pacing the steefage
deck after successfully eluding my pur:
suer, 1 became aware of stir in the
shadows of the sailors fore-cabin, un-
der the stern. Then a black shape
came flying toward me, clasped me by
the arm, and fell on its knees behind
me, whirling me round to shield it
against its pursuer, who came. cat-like,
out of the darkness. Before had time
to be afraid recognized that it was
Zeuxis clutching me. zeuxis in des-
perate fear, while, like a panther, his
wife followed him, knife in her hand,
crouching for spring.
safe me, safe me, Miss!" the
Greek babbled frantically.
Well, Mary, to whom wrote the in
cident, said 1 was brave, but l haven't
taught in the immigrant class for
nothing. 1 simply stepped forward and
took the knife out of her hand. She
gave it up like a lamb and burst into
tears.
what is this about?" 1 demanded
of Zeuxis, in my most scholastic tones.
"She's jealous Of you, Miss How
ard he explained, rising sheepishly
to his feet. "She's got it into her head