The Irish standard., 1916-09-16

i { Continued from last weekly
window. He felt his way to the door
without again turning on the light.
he stood and listened there, opened
the door a crack and peered into a
handsomely decorated. dimly lighted
hallway with polished hardwood floor
and with a rich oriental rug down the
middle.
Enough light glowed in from the
hall to show Jim that he was in the
dining room-a large room with
heavy, fashionable furniture. The rug
upon which he stepped was soft and
thick. There was another door at the
other end, and as Jim crept cautious
~ toward this he heard voices. They
were the voices of women as well as
men, speaking in quiet, guarded tones.
In the air was the odor Of cigarettes
and cigar smoke.
A girls voice suddenly rose in a
reckless, excited exclamation which
Jim could not make out, but at which
a man laughed. Another with deep,
heavy voice-it was not the voice Of
the "sir'' who had visited the rear
room-rebuked the girl, and there was
silence. Jim gained the front Of the
dining room. Velvet hangings half
covered the doorway, which opened
into q front hall. Directly across this
hall was another room, lighted and
evidently much larger than the dining
room-a salon with delicate paper and
pretty gilded chandeliers and wall
lights, with graceful table and chairs
and with grand piano Of a CORE
spending style. Brocaded curtains
were drawn close over the windows.
and at the larger table near the center
Of the room and also at q smaller
table at the side men and women were
at work.
There was heap of papers upon
one end Of the larger table, and a tall
man, who stood. with his back to the
door, sorted over this pile, put some
sheets aside and passed others along
the table, giving a verbal direction
with each. In some cases the direc-
ton was brief-only word or two
in other instances 1t was longer, and
twice while Jim watched the tall man
himself bent and wrote upon the pa
pers which he took from the pile.
Jim could see as the sheets were
held up that they already bore writ
ing. There was no possible question
Of the nature Of the work going on.
Under the direction Of the tall man at
the large table the others were pre-
pairing letters Of the sort found on
Ingouf's body. The papers in the pile
which the tall man was sorting were
undoubtedly just the ordinary form
letters Of life insurance solicitation,
and the great majority Of them would
remain no more than that. They
would be addressed to persons who
had no connection with the plots Of
the regents agents, and they would
be offered life insurance in the regu-
lar manner if they applied for it at
Marlatt's office. The letters which the
tail man passed down the table un-
questiOnably looked the same as the
others, but they were addressed to
spies, and at the tall mans direction
orders were being written in invisible
fluid between the typewriter lines,
orders which the spies would develop
by some chemical.
Jim crouched and crept closer, for
getting his impulse merely to attempt
escape. If he could cause the capture
Of those in the rooms across the hall
he would have the chief Of the re-
gents spies there, together with the
lists Of the agents and designation of
the work each was ordered to do. The
letters. between the lines of which the
secret instructions now were being
written, evidently had been ut Mar
latt's office when he had learned after
midnight of developments which made
1t imperative for him to issue new
orders, SO Marlatt had gone to his
Office and directed another to meet
him there. When Jim had surprised
them they had overpowered him and
brought him unconscious to this house,
where they had impressed the family
to the work required.
And more than the family Of this
house were at work. Two men be-
sides the tall man at the end were
writing at the larger table. Three wo-
men assisted them. At the smaller
table were young man and two girls.
These three apparently had spent the
earlier hours Of the night at a dance
or some formal entertainment. The
young man was in evening clothes,
and both the girls wore decollete
One of these girls faced the door, and
as she looked up and laughed at some
remark of the young mans Jim stared.
He knew that girl. He knew her
not as an acquaintance, but as one
whose picture often appeared in pa
pers accompanying accounts Of social
affairs, one who was pointed OUT at
the opera or among the spectators at
polo or tennis match. Where he had
seen her Jim could not remember, but
that he had seen her under some such
conditions and that she was one of
the popular debutantes of the year be-
fore he was certain.
The sight of her laughing and
bantering with the man across the
table from her struck Jim aghast.
Could such as she be there among the
spies Of the regent planning betrayal
Of the country, or since he had broken
INTO the office in the city had he been