The evening world., 1914-11-17

bending over this table
BY the light Of . solitary candle.
There was q wan reflection Of the
name from the polished tabletop. but
elsewhere all was darkness and the
shadows crowded in close. The most
brilliant thing in the room was that
wonderful, jewel. glowing and scintii.
latins like blood-rsd IRE.
''It was constdcrably larger than the
end Of my thumbs large a. . big
hickory-nut and. my uncle avorred.
hawless. Rubies Of such siss and
without naw are extremely rare, I
believe: IN fact. there are only one or
two known 10 b In existence. The
old gentleman declared that one of
ave oarats was worth Ave times 40
much - . diamond Of equal weight.
and that the value increased proper.
uonatsly with each additional carat,
but ! could only cit and stare at it
ana wonder. and now and then pinch
myself to So whether l was In real
ity awake and not the victim Of Q fan.
tAstic Arabian Nights sort Of dream"
After . while the conference be.
tween uncle and nephew ended. Mr..
Page would not allow the young man
to depart from the house ct that hour
out REASONABLY enough) that nobody
but a fool would be abroad at such
. time with $4,000 on his person;
though. In his anxiety to secure the
ruby and b away before his uncle
had an opportunity to change his
mind. Maillot might have rctortsd that
q fool would not have had Il at oil.
There are men who have left no
stone unturned 20 discover where !
have kept this stone" Mr.. Page had
concluded. with another chuckle,
and they have BY no means given Il
up yet" Then. with grim Significance
In view of the tragedy which 20
swiftly followed--"Fd have been
murdered long ago II II would have
helped EN- to finding where keep the
Tho leather Jewel box-shabby. 90:
oordins TO Maillots description. and
plainly showing the marks Of ago
young man was shown to his room
By M. Page
Maiiiot declared that. asoribins the
circumstance TO reaction from the
evenings powerful excitement. he Al
most Immediately sank Into . deep
sleep.
II was a. exhausted" he amplinsd.
as u had been all day digging
ditches or shovslling coal. could
scarcely realize that my mission had
succeeded: I feared the entire pro.
cesdIng was only . stupendous. ghast-
ly hoax, which my uncle had In
hsaN 40 ho hA a
intended victim. could not In the
least conceive.
And then came . crash that made
mo think the house had COLLAPSED.
and knew ] had been asleep. was
only dimly sensible that tho noise.
whatever IL source. had been loud
and decidedly out Of place In this
household 1t such an hour.
II spranS from bed. and first thing
banged against the door Of . ward
robe, which bad swung open. II
noise, and aftsr grobins q while Tor
matches presently found one and
lighted the candle. Then I filled the
basin on the wssh-stand and bathsd
What followed was something more
than corroborativs OF Burke's stats
ment. After the secretary had raped
and Maillot thrown open tho door.
the latter was considerably surprised
at Burks's very patent fright.
THE plain truth Of the matter II
mat the fellow was in . condition Of
covering terror" was Maillot's lam
Fuage. and when I learned that he
ascertaining the cause OF the DISTURB
ance. why I simply pushed him to one
side and went to see about II myself"
And now. too. I recalled tho tri-
umphant light in Burxe's pale eyes.
while We were inspecting the con-
cealcd safe--the only time had de-
tected any expression In thomas II
he had already anticipated the pre-
dicament Mallot would DO In after re-
lAting his story OF what had brought
him TO this house. and the occurrences
OF last night. How could he have had
an inklinE Of all thisr
Have you any idea what your
uncle did with tho ruby after having
shown II to your
"Wen," he returned. with thought
full elaboration. "there's the safe.
suppose whom he disappeared through
the curtained alcove last night he
went at once to his bedroom. got the
box from the safe. and when we sep
aratea for the night-well. I don't
know: can't guess. When he left
me In my room he was stiil carrying
the box In his hand"
You are positive OF thctr
Yes. positive: for after all that
had hsppensd between w. and know.
Ing - 61d what the boz contained,
rems1abey very distinctly thae I
1920 o1>0R - r 49, Z ~ - -