Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1916-02-24

But aver as he laid hold of II be
dropped the garment in sheer surprise
to find it damp and heavy in his grasp,
sodden with viscid moisture. And
when, in a swift flash Of intuition, he
examined his fingers, he discovered
thereon a faint discoloration-a red
dish stain.
Then the shape of an object on the
floor neal his feet arrested Lanyard's
questioning vision. He stared, incred-
ulous, moved forward, bent over, and
picked it up, clipping it gingerly be-
tween his fingers.
1t was n of his razors-a heavy,
hollow-ground blade-and it was foul
with blood.
With a low cry, suddenly smitten
with understanding, Lanyard wheeled
and stared fearfuIly at the door COM
municating with Roddy's
1t stood ajar, an inch or so, it's splin-
tered lock accounted for by a small
but extremely efficient steel jimmy
which lay near the threshold.
Beyond the Observation-Disclosures.
Mastering all his courage, the ad-
venturer strobe determinedly into the
adjoining room.
The first flash of his hand-lamp dis
covered to him sickening justification
for his ap~prehensions.
After a moment he returned, shut
the door, and set his back against it,
as if to bar out that reeking shambles.
He was very pale, his face drawn
with horror, and he was shaken with
nausea.
Now he knew why his dressing
gown had been requisitioned-to pro-
tect a butchers clothing.
The plot was damnably patent
Roddy, somehow a menace to the
Pack, required elimination; not only
had his murder been decreed, but that
the blame for it should be laid at Ian
yards door. Hence the attempt to
drug him that he might not escape be-
fore the police could be sent to find
him there.
Lanyard could no longer doubt that
De Morbihan had been left behind at
the Circle of Friends of Harmony
solely to detain him, afford Smith time
to finish his hideous job, and set the
trap for the second victim.
And the plot had succeeded despite
it's partial failure, despite the swift
reverse chance and Lanyard's cunning
had melted out to the Packs agent
In was his dressing gown that was
saturated with Roddy's blood, just as
those were his gloves, pilfered from
his luggage, which had measurably
protected the killers hands, and which
Lanyard had found in the next room
stripped hastily off and thrown to thu
floor, twin crumpled wads of blood
stained chamois skin.
He had now little choice; he nus
either flee Paris and rely on his wits
to save him, or else seek De Morbiha1
and trust to his protection, to his in
fluence in high quarters.
He must and would find anothe
way; but his decision was frightfull.
hampered by lack of ready money, tn,
few odd francs in his pocket were n,
store for the war chest demanded b.
this emergency.
True, he had the Omber jewels; bu
they were not negotiable-not, a
least, in Paris.
! And the Huysman plans?
I He pondered briefly the possibilitie
of the Huysman plans.
/ In his fretting, pacing softly to an
fro, at each turn he passed his dress
! ing table, and, CHANGING once to oil
/ serve himself in the mirror, h
I stopped short, thunderstruck by some
1 thing he thought to detect in tina
4 counterfeit presentment of his couI
4 tenance, heavy with fatigue as it wal
! and haggard with contemplation c
1 this appalling contretemps.
! And instantly he was back besid
4 the American, studying narrowly tn
contours of that livid mask. Herr
4 then, was that resemblance that ha
4 bafled him; and now that he saw
A he could not deny that it was unfia
teringly close-feature for feature tn
\ face Of the murderer reproduced hi
face; coarsened, perhaps, but recol
i nizably a replica Of that Michael La
4 yard who confronted him every NOR
ing in his shaving glass, almost tn
only difference residing in the scrubt
black mustache that Swallowed tt
Americans upper lip.
= After all, nothing wonderful in this
Lanyard's type was not uncommon
he would never have thought himse
+. a distinguished figure.
al Before rising he turned out Il
pockets of this casual double. b
this profted him little-quite evider
- ly the assassin had dressed for actic
: with forethought to evade recognize
in event of accident.
a With this harvest OF nothing for b
II pains Lanyard turned again to Il
washstand and his shaving kit, mix,
a stiff lather, s%tropped another raz
!. to the finest edge he could manag
d fetched a pair Of keen scissors fro
his dressing case. and went back
" the murderer.
II He worked rapidly, at a high pit
"a Of excitement-as much through she
,e desperation as through any appeal
herent in his scheme, either to }