Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1916-03-18

| But even as he laid hold of it he
dropped the garment in sheer surprise
to find 1t 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 near his feet arrested Lanyard's
| questioning vision. He stared, incred-
I ulous. moved forward. bent over. and
| picked it up. clipping it gingeriy be-
| tween his fingers.
1t was one of his razors-a heavy
| hollow-ground blade-and it was foul
| with blood.
| With low cry. suddenly smitten
| with understanding. Lanyard wheeled
and stared fearfully at the door com
municating with Roddy's room.
| 1t stood ajar, an inch or so, its spIin-
| tered lock accounted for by a small
but extremely efficient steel jimmy
which lay near the threshold.
| Beyond the door-darkness-si
| 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 apprehensions.
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
1 Roddy, somehow 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 the
| floor. twin crufnpled wads OF blood
| stained channels skin.
He had now little choice; he must
either fee Paris and rely on his wits
to save him. or else seek De Morbihan
and trust to his protection, to his in
f1uence in high quarters
l He must and would find another
4 way; but his decision was frightfully
hampered by lack of ready money. the
few odd francs in his pocket were no
store for the war chest demanded by
this emergency
True, he had the Omber jewels; but
they were not negotiable-nOt. at
| least, in Paris.
And the Huysman plans?
He pondered briefly the possibilities
of the Huysman plans.
In his fretting, pacing softly to and
! fro. at each turn he passed his dress
i ing table. and, CHANGING once to OBJ
| serve himself in the mirror, he
stopped short, thunderstruck by some
&
\ counterfeit presentment of his coun-
tenanee, heavy with fatigue as it was.
| and haggard with contemplation of
this appalling contretemps.
And instantly he was back beside
the American. studying narrowly the
! contours of that Iivid mask Here,
| then, was that resemblance that had
baffled him; and now that he saw it
he could not deny that it was unfiat-
/ teringly close-feature for feature the
face of the murderer reproduced his
| face; coarsened, perhaps, but recog
nizably replica of that Michael Lam
| yard who confronted him every morn
| ing in his shaving glass, almost the
| only difference residing in the scrubby
black Iaastache that Swallowed the
Americans upper lip
After all. nothing wonderful in this:
| Lanyara's type was not uncommon;
he would never have thought himself
a distinguished figure
Before rising he turned out the
pockets of this casual double But
this profited him 1ittle-quite evident
~ the assassin had dressed for action
| with forethought to evade recognition
in event Of accident
With this harvest OF nothing for his
pains Lanyard turned again to the
washstantf and his shaving kit, mixed
stiff lather. stropped another razor