The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1914-05-02

MIN In spite OF everything; yet ne
kept them so encircling, without
touching her. Looking down into
her face. he breathed softly:
"Oh. my dear, IL seems as II
must hold you close and kiss
yont"
She looked up with bated
breath. II can trust you" she
whispered.
mot until you know ALL" he
said, and put her gently from him
into the great armchair.
Then tell me quickly"
He sat down, his head droop-
ing, his eyes down. He dreaded
to begin.
She waited for the revelation,
her eyes upon his bowed head.
At last Gordon drew a deep
breath and launched forth.
II am not the man you think"
he said, and looked at her to see
how she would take 1t. my
name is not George Hayne. 1t is
Cyril Gordon.
I'm a member of the secret
service, headquarters here in
Washington, and day before yes
terday l was sent to New York on
an important errand. A message
of great import, written in q pri-
vate code, had been stolen from
one of our men. | was sent to
get 1t before they could decipher
1t. The message involved matters
of such tremendous significance
that | was ordered to go under an
assumed name, and on no account
to let any one know of my mis-
sion. My orders were to get the
message, and let nothing hinder
me in bringing 1t with all haste to
Washington. went with the full
understanding that | might even
be called upon to risk my life"
He looked up. The girl sat
wide-eyed, with hands clasped to-
gether at her throat.
II won't weary you with de-
tails. / carried out the program
laid down by my chief, and sue
ceeded in getting possession of
the message and making my es-
cape from the house of the man
who had stolen 1t. AS l closed
the door behind me. knowing that
1t could be but a matter of a few
minutes at longest before six fur
ious men would be on my track,
saw carriage standing almost
before the house. The driver took
me for the man he awaited, and
lost no time in taking advantage
of his mistake. jumped in, tell
ing him to drive as fast as he
could. l intended to give him
further directions, but he had evil
IDENTIFY had them from another
quarter, and l thought l could
call to him as soon as we were
out of the dangerous neighbor-
hood. Pa.
"He drove like mad, while I
hurried to secrete the message so
that it would be safe, and to put
on a slight disguise - false eye
brows and things the chief had
given me. Before l knew where
l was, the carriage had stopped
before church"
The girl gave low moan, and
Gordon, not daring to look up,
hurried on with his story
There isn't much more to tell
that you do not already know.
What happened afterward was the
result of my extreme perturbation
of mind, l suppose. l cannot ac-
count for my stupidity and subse-
quent cowardice in any other way.
Neither was 1t possible for me to
explain matters satisfactorily at
any time during the whole mixup,
on account of the trust which
carried. and which l could on no
account reveal even in confidence,
or put in jeopardy in the slightest
degree.
Some one threw open the car
riage door, and | heard a voice
call, Where is the best man?'
Then another voice said, Here he
isl / took 1t that they thought
was best man. but would soon dis
cover that / wasn't when I came
into the light. There wasn't any
chance to slip away; everybody
surrounded me, and seemed to
think was all right. l soon saw
by their remarks that the man I
was supposed to be had been away
from this country for ten years.
I tried IN ayplain that fhara uau a
mistake, but they misunderstood
me and just turned me over from
one man to another and took
everything for granted. And ],
finding that l would have to
break loose and flee before their
eyes If | wished to escape. reflect
ed that there would be no harm In