The Carlisle independent., 1917-08-16

that he should be.
 The note that she had thrust into his hand when he gave her pack her fan said simply:
 Follow me if yor are interested in obtaining a certain paper" Sebastian had needed no second invi- tation, and when he had followed her to the door of her house he had found Blanca waiting for him. ''W ont you come in, Senor Ma varre?" inquired Blanca, smiling. In her sumptuOusly furnished recep- ton room Blanca had coffee served by Chinese servant.
 "Senor Navarro" she said, "a cer- | tain paper has come into my hands in 1 which I believe your are interested. It is matter of business. How much ] is it worth to you?"
 .I offered a hundred dollars for it this morning." answered Sebastian
 Suppose we say fifty thousand dol 1 lars" she said.
 Sebastian shrugged his shoulders. Madame, let us put business aside" he said. T like to leave these mat ters to my lawyer"
 Come, senor, let us finish this deal" she said. "Is it fifty thousand? 1 do not bargain.
 He saw that he was dealing with woman of stronger character than he had imagined.
 Well, I'll give you ten thousand, he said, decisively. '"That is positively my last word"
 .No," answered Blanca, rising.
 That was the moment when the pis- tol shot sent them hurrying into the anteroom. A moment afterward the attendants entered, bearing the body of i the suicide.
 Sebastian's eyes fell upon Romanoff. At once he realized that Romanoff and Blanca were in the deal together.
 Then it was that Leontine was car ried in and placed on the couch. The whelmed him. He started back in ter TOT as his wife sprang to her feet and stepped forward toward Blanca.
 Give me that paper" said Leontine.
 Blanca stepped back and nodded i'm perceptibly to one of the attendants, who seized Leontine by the arm. And then a strange thing happened. Sud- denly the paper was wrested from Bi- anea's hand by some invisible agency and transferred to Leontine's.
 Blanca sprang forward to snatch it, but then she staggered and then reeled back; at the same instant the hand of the attendant was torn from Leon tines arm and he was hurled to the floor. A stream of blood poured from his cut lip.
 Leontine, clutching the precious doc ument, moved toward the door. She was half way toward it when Blanca recovered her self-possession.
 "Stop herl'' she cried. Don't let her gol Get that paper from herr"
 The second attendant and RomanOff leaped forward. Just as the attendant was about to pinion Leontine, he, too, went reeling back under the impact of a terrific blow which knocked him, stunned, to the ground. Romanoff seemed lifted bodily and cast upon the prostrate form of the other man.
 The room was in an uproar. Two Chinese servants ran between Leontine and the doorway. The attendants, ris- ing from the floor, at Bianca's signal, flung themselves upon Leontine again.
 Then it seemed as if an invisible devil were at work in the room.
 Leontine stood beside the door, un- touched, the precious paper still in her hand. She alone had kept her self-pos- session.
 Quietly she stepped toward the se- cret panel, pushed it open, and passed into the gambling house. Thence she made her way leisurely toward the head of the flight Of steps that led down to the street. She went down slowly, and, believ- i ing herself safe, stopped under the nearest street lamp to read the rest of the confession, in order to learn the truth.
 AS she did so, man came down the steps behind her.
 Louis Lamb, or "One-Lamp Louie," had made his way back to New York with his hoard after the earthquake | devastated Whites village.
 On reaching the metropolis he i'm mediately got in touch with the un- ! derworld; and that in itself required 1 certain habit of mind.
 Blanca, recognizing that he had money to spend. permitted him to 1 spend it. Romanoff, who had planned 1 to rob him, did not recognize in the 1 frequenter of the gambling house the hermit of Whites Village. | And Louie had not the slightest rec ollection of the confession of forgery which he had committed in company with Sebastian,
 When he spoke to Leontine at the | side of the suicide he had not the least l idea that he had ever seen her before. He drifted back to the table and wait