Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-10-01

pretty fiat of mine will bc Il sham
hlcs." she added. with an uncontrol.
able shudder.
Lambert" You mean tho Diamond
King chap that La Rue has been hav,
ing YOU dazzle SOS we could get him
finish him here? If n mans found In
Your Hat with the finger necklace
marks on his throat"
He won't be. The blame will be
shifted. don't know just now. It's
all horrible. And Harold Sunalcy's
coming here. too"
"H'm!" commented Tanner. Even
as sharp guy as Pierre will have his
hands full with an afternoons pro.
gram like that. Eut think OF the
cicVerness of him. Lambert. Stanley.
Florence Montrose-all three in one
smash. And without the iinGer-ncck-
lace: Wei, let Pierre play n Iona
hand or II. It's too big u job for mo
to INIT i'm on without orders. I'm
GlAd to be out of it
She led the way down the nat's long
hall toward the kitchen. Robert Clay.
Ton at the same moment arrived at the
apartments front door. Nanya had me-
elected to shut il tightly when she
admitted Tanner and Florence 1t had
swung ajar.
one of the idiotic impulses that in
Fest the brains of otherwise sane men
when they are in love now occurred
To Clayton. Without ringing the bell
he slipped noisclcssly into the apart
ment. closing the door behind him. and
made his way to the livinE-room. Van
VA was not there
He passed through the curtains into
an alcove beyond and drew the cur
tains together behind him. Standing
there. he opened his mouth to call
Nanya. preparing to enjoy her surprise
at hearing his voice and not seeing
him.
His lips parted. but no word was
spoken. For ut that instant the door
bell rang. Clayton heard Vanya's light
step come along the hall He heard
her open the from, door and, with an
exclamation of delighted welcome, led
IA visitor into the livinE-room
CLAYTON pcnred through Il tiny gan
in the curtain. Nanya was entering
the livinC-room. talking with gay ami
nation TO an overdresscd. animal-faced
man, who stared a; her in evident wor-
ship.
y throh of hot jealousy tore through
claytonS heart. ClenChinE his fists
he took a step forward. His hands
went up 10 tear aside the curtains and
tn reveal himself to the woman and
her admirer.
Just then a tap on the shoulder made
Clayton spin about He had thought
himself alone i'm tho tiny. dim-lit alcovc
Flu; as no turned he saw man who
had appeared seemingly from nowhere
and who Was pccriHC fiXcdly into his
eyes.
Clayton sought to speak. to demand
the reason Of the others mysterious
presence there. But for some reason
he was dumb. He tried to move. hut
his body would not respond to the
cal. Of his will.
For moment tho artists feeble
Will power tried 10 comb at the weird
grip that the strangers eyes were hav.
ing uron him. But he felt himself
helpless, anG weakly gave up the strug-
gle
was saying something to him. Then,
to all intcnts and purposes, Robert
CLAYTON fol! asleep.
lIarol! stanley. mounting the steps
Of tho apartment house, heard him
self addressed, eivily enough. by a man
III the street behind him. He turned,
and recopnizcd Award. one. of Par
iish's ,stants-a plain-clothes de-
tectiv" who had been working for some
weeks OH the Crimson Stain case
Good afternoon, Mr.. stanley" the
man was saying, and he added: That
was pretty fierce slap YOU handed
my chief in the Examiner this morning.
Hc-''
They both wheeled and with one
impulse dashed into tho house. For
in the middle of Awards words
heavy -callber revolver had been fred,
almost directly above their heads.
That's from Vanya Toscas apart
ment' The second floor front" thought
stanley as he raced up the single
flight Of stairs at the plain clothes
mans side. The window was open.
on tn" hvinE-room floor. face up.
ward. sprawlcd Trnxton lambert q
bullet wound through his head Sense
less and lying asprawl on rug. Just
in front OF the alcovc curtains. lay
Robert Clayton. His clothing was
awry. One hand clutched n revolver
Stanley cnt over him as Award
and tho policeman knelt beside Lam
bert Listening at Clavtons heart
Stanley found the artist was still liv-
ing. No wound was on his body. In
decd he seemed more like a man who
was fast asleep than like the "ictim
Of a swoon.
Presently. Award rose from Lam
hcrts side and crossed over to CLAY
ton. Taking the revolver from tho
artists ncrvclcss fingers. he broke"
il. One cartridge alone had been fired.
That seems to settle it," pro-
nounccd Award. The shot that other
fellow. and then keeled over from
shock ut what he'd done r:ut what
can't understand is how he had
time 10 roo him. too, before we got
here. The other mans watch ana
ring and studs are gone and his
pockets are inside out"
Then Clayton didn't do it," de-.
clar"d f!arold positively. 1--WE known
hir' all his life. He might or might
not shoot "A man in anger. But he'd
never rife the body. pcsidc. yon
yourself see Ia" couldn't have done il
in The time he had. And there is no
sign az ;hc loot anywhere about him.
No we'll have to look further. I'll
%tak" my life on his innocence And
III be responsible for his appearance
III court If he is wanted"
out st"ppcd-parrish. The great dc
t"ctiv" shut the door behind him, ST
-icrced his scbcrdinatc's amazed queries
with n gesture and said impcratively:
come and help ne search this
Hat
With the dumfounded Award fol-
lowing. Parrish led the way down the
hall toward the dining-room at tho
rear At the dining-room threshold he
halted
There at fun length lay Vanya Tosca
Around her white throat showed faint