The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1912-1984, 1916-04-07

du COul0 Jul, u 4ulCCOyO Gu WOlAoh "AAO
had crept up to her, with tears we'll
ing from her eyes and smile OF pity
ing tenderness about her lips.
"Margery, don't you know me? Don't
you remember your own mother?"
that quiet-eyed woman had asked as
she had taken her in her arms. And
as she stared up into that motherly
face, bent so close over her own, she
had said, with gasp of bewilderment,
Are you-you the Laughing Mask?'
But her mother, she remembered. had
smiled, almost sorrowfully, and had
put finger to her lips.
The Tower of Destiny.
Enoch Golden, anxious and worn
out, sat waiting for some further word
as to the fate of his daughter Margery.
Nothing had come to him since Trains
startling message of the collision and
the even more startling news of the
girls mysterious disappearance. He
would have got little consolation from
a talk that was taking place over the
servants telephone below stairs. Part
of that guarded conversation was car
ried on by Wrench, the new footman,
situation so disturbing the aged million
aire in the room above. For it was Le-
gar explaining that a masked stranger
at the last moment had snatched the
girl from their hands and had apparent
ly carried her off to some hiding place
of his own. This was followed by the
command to deliver still another mes
sage to Enoch Golden, with the final
warning that every wire leading into
the Golden house must be cut as soon
as possible
The new footman, in obedience to
these orders, quietly traced out the
telephone circuits to the basement and
there severed the wires with pair of
scissors purloined for the purpose
from Mile. Celestine's workbag. Then,
watching his chance, he carefully
penned note, wording it as Legar
had duly instructed him to do. Then
he returned to the neighborhood of the
library door, with his ferretlike alert.
ness masked under his customary inn
mobility of face.
1t was not until his restless master
| discovered the telephone wires to be
dead. and went storming through the
house to determine the reason for this
| misadventure. that Wrench realized
his chance had come. Slipping into
the deserted library on the pretext OF
adjusting the rugs, he stopped before
the rosewood table, hesitated a mo-
ment, and then lifted the heavily.
chased lid of Golden's cigar case and
| dropped the note inside. A moment
later he had left the room, unobserved
and unsupported.
1t did not take many minutes OF
waiting to confirm the wisdom OF
Wrench's movement. For Enoch Gold
en-, striding restlessly back into his
| library, sank with a sigh of WEAKNESS
into the armchair beside the rosewood
table. For a moment or two he stared
abstractedly and unhappily about him
| Then, with still another sigh, he
reached out and lifted the heavily
chased lid of silver His fingers, in
stead of coming in contact with a per
fecto corseted in gold, rustled against
sheet of paper. Automatically he
picked it up and unfolded it.
Written on that mysterious sheet he
found the following:
ITO fight me further In this is use
less. And unless you open your eye.
to this fact it will soon be worse thar
useless. 1t will be fatal. repeat that
want your half of that chart. If you
want your daughter to live, want heI
sent back to you, take that chart te
the twenty-fourth floor of the Contra
Tower building, within the next hour
and hand it to the man in the blacE
ulster who will be waiting there. Ns
trickery can succeed. And this is YOU
last chancel JULES LEGAR."
Silently the beaten man stared dowI
at this strange missive. Slowly as b.
did so, the last of his once iron will
melted away.
He rose heavily from his chair ant
crossed to the vault. From this vaul
he took the map, the time-yellowe,
square of MANILA about which so man.
of the SORROWS and troubles of all hi
life seemed to revolve. Then, callin,
for his hat and coat and ordering
car, he tremblingly made ready for hi
midnight visit of capitulation to tn
Central Tower building.
While these events were takin
place, however, there was one membe
of the Golden household who remaine
far from inactive. When David Mar
ley so abruptly left tranquil bungs
Low at Cedarton and so stealthiI