The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-11-04

Of service TO his daughter shall con-
slider if a privilege"
81 have reason to believe, Mr..
Romero" said Cleo, that you can be
Of very great service, indeed and she
proceeded to tell him the story OF her
fathers mysterious death. OF the lost
formula and Of how much depended
on its recovery, Of the clue given in
the letter which she discovered in her
fathers desk, OF the encouragement
and periIs which they had encountered
in their search for the book which she
had found in the cabin on the ledge
$50 have my fathers word for it"
she concluded, that the formula is
hidden in the philosophy and that it
can be deciphered by reading every
seventh word on page sixty-tw0- And
believe, Mr.. Romero, that the phi
1OsOphy which you bought at Dawson's
auction rooms contains the secret"
MY dear child said Romero. who
had listened to the long recital with
the utmost sympathy and interest,
you must prepare yourself for q great
disappointment. 1t is true that
bought a philosophical work at the
sale OF your fathers Hbrary-but, IN
fortunately have lost it''
Hope and Cleo, their high hopes thus
suddenly destroyed. uttered exclama-
tons OF encouragement and despair
cit was a small book" continued the
naturalist, $50 last week, Just as ]
was starting on a camping trip, I
slipped it into my pocket, intending TO
read it that night in camp. But when
nj r h-I owl
IDENTIFY fallen out OF my pocket some
where on the trail. To have searched
for it in the mountains would have
been a hopeless task, even had real
lied its value, which, OF course, did
not
do you remember the title of the
bOOk?" Hope asked eagerly. ''Who
was the author? Or the publisher?"
1T sounds absurd. I know" con-
fessed the naturalist, ''bdt I don't
know the title OF the book or who
wrote it. Indeed, my chief reason for
bidding it in was because II had be-
lOnged to my old friend, Doctor Burke
They wrapped it up for me at the
auction rooms and did not take the
trouble to unwrap it before slipping
4 L
the trip. All that I can tell you about
it is that it was quite a small book
and, from its condition, evidently an
old one. It is indeed a great SORROW
to me, Miss Burke. that you should
have suffered so great loss through
my carelessness."
SIN afraid, dear" said Hope, as,
having taken leave OF Romero. they
were riding down the trail which led
to the railway, 'that this puts an end
to our hope OF finding the secret. at
least for the present If we only knew
the title OF the book that Romero lost
we could obtain a duplicate copy, but,
as we don't know it, the only alterna-
tive we have left is to apply the key
TO all the philosophical works we can
find in the hope that we may eventu-
ally strike the right one. It may take
Us a long time, though"
Il won't have you worry any more
about that old book said Cleo You
told me the other day that I would
be very rich when the secret was
found but I am already very
rich in having your love, dear heart.
Believe me, Jarvis. secret or no secret,
am perfectly content"
eff you count my love as wealth. -
said Hope, then you are quite the
/ richest person in the world, for 1
know no one ever loved a woman as
much as I love you. And If can't
/ give you many Iuxuries, dear. I can
! ut least make you very, very happy
I'm the happiest girl in the world,
| already" Cleo told him.
1t was with singing hearts, there
fore, that, the loss of the book already
/ forgotten, they boarded the train for
San Francisco.
As they entered the hotel Cleo was
| chatting gayly about her plans for the
wedding. which was TO take place the
first of the following week
%Of course she was saying. now
/ that the secret of the submarine is
probably lost forever, we viii have TO
live on your pay, Jarvis, so we must
have a very simple wedding. .
/ I'm going to married in a dove-gray
suit do you think you viii
like me in doye-gray suit, Jarvisf'
Like your he repeated; why.
dearest, you're the world and the sun
and the moon and the stars TO me /;
you're"
BEG pardon, Lieutenant Hope" in
terrupted the clerk, ''but here's q
special delivery letter for you. It
came in this morning"
CHANGING. with some surprise at the
superscription, which was in d dashing
hand, Hope tore open the envelope and
drew out the sheet of crested and
scented note paper. At first he glanced
| cuTiously at the closely written sheet /;
then, as though he could not credit
| the evidence OF his eyes, he read ii
! again. as the significance OF the mes
sage dawned- upon him he turned
deathly pale; the hand holding the
letter dropped Hfelessly to his side ;
a hOarse exclamation escaped him
MOtiOnless, as though carved from
stone, he stared before him With IN
seeing eyes, the image OF a man COM