Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1916-05-12
CONTINUED from previous issue.)

says they were made that way because
they were worn only by heroes. And
hero must always be brave enough 10
stand facing his enemiesi"
Wen. swing it round then. for I'm
its enemy all right l hate the
thing" -
Three hours later he was pers,o
torily summoned to the billiapyy,, s1i,,
where he found Enoch GolSsa %
pers and dressing g99Ssv stared in.
pacing the floor. - - nanor W ,vh;rb
terrogatively doY. 'nS 49,. Pape' ,ra,,,,
the older mapseiu ~ siisn''' . GU
lous fngey So,
war.Irgs!" explained Golden. in
ice heavy with apprehension.
Did you speak to Da Espares about
this?" Manley asked.
mo. Da Espares went to bed an
hour ago
"And Margery?"
"Margery IS with her mother
"Are you sure?"
They were there thirty minutes
ago.
But are you sure?
"Yes: / saw them"
Then the first thing to do is to
make sure that she is still safe"
Yet hurried as Manley's flight was
through that quiet house, he took time
to circle about to his own room and
there thrust an automatic pistol into
his pocket. Then he called Celestine,
who was promptly sent to investigate
Margery's boudoir. She returned with
the disquieting report that the girl
was not there.
Manley, with a sinking of the heart,
continued his search through the low
or regions of the house. And he did
not breathe freely until, quietly open
ing the side door into the library. he
caught sight of Margery herself, in a
narrow-backed Jacobean chair, bent
low over book which lay open on
her lap.
She sat clearly outlined in the
bright fulcrum falling over her care
lessly-posed body, leaving her in a
light, which she had left turned on
Immediately above her. This silvery
shaft of light brought out the beauty
OF her heayily-massed hair: it brought
out the tender lines of the white
throat and neck, the wistful girlish.
ness of the slender figure. Then Man
ley for the first time noticed that she
was sitting directly in front of the
suit of Japanese armor. He could see
the polished metal of that armor fash
venomously in the strong sidelight.
AS he stood there, clinging to the
portiere and continuing to stare at
those two strongly-divergent figures,
he found something almost hypnotic
in the virulent brightness of the pol
ished metal Then a gasp Of incred-
ulity burst from his lips. For as he
stared at the metaled hand holding
the long -bladed dagger, he saw, or
thought he saw that hand slowly
raise, as though some miracle had en-
dowed it's insensate links and plates
and vambraces with life Then the
very blood in his body seemed to cur
die with sudden horror, for now there
was no doubt about it. The mailed
hand holding the glimmering knife
blade above the softly-breathing girl
was slowly but surely being lifted
/, higher and still higher. And in an
other moment, Manley felt, it would
surely strike.
Quick as a flash he caught the au
/ tomato from his pocket, swung it up
and trained the barrel on the glinting
| high lights along the mailed fist. Then
| he fired.
There was a muffied shout of pain
a short scream of terror from the
startled girl, and answering calls from
| above-stairs as the uproar echoed
| through the midnight house. But to
all of these Manley paid scant atten
ton. With ten steps he had crossed
the room. Then he flung himself on
| the suit of mail, twisting it about and
sending il toppling from its stand
| But one glance showed it to be empty
The framed canvas that stood behind
| it he jerked from the wall. Then ar
exclamation of wonder burst from his
lips. For, in the wainscoting at eacf
| side of where the canvas had hung he
| discovered two holes cut, not yard
| apart, and sufficiently large to admit
| of mans arms being thrust through
them. And as he saw them. and be
| gan to batter on the hardwood vain
scoting with his heavy pistol-butt, he
realized what had taken place.
Some enemy, secreted behind tha
wainscoting, had thrust an arm into
| the metal shell of an arm holding the
dagger, and had lifted 1t to strike
down the girl so close beside it. AnC
that enemy, Manley resolved as h
battered down the panel and crowded
his way through into a narrow pas
| sageway, he would discover and cap
| ture or know the reason why.
Yet that passage. which led to th'
abandoned conservatory and from
there back to a long unused butler
pantry, proved to be entirely empty
All that rewarded Manley's frantic
search was a sleeve button and
shred of cloth torn from a servic
coat, caught on nail where the pas
sage itself ended against the vain
seoting And by the time he hat
pushed his way back to the librar
Golden and Da Espares and Wilson
were already there.
4