Evening star., 1917-10-14
BY Arthur Somers Roche.

"a telegram, SIR" said Kelcey. 1oath
to interrupt his chiefs brown study.
Herkomer took It; he read 1t me-
chanfcally: then. his eyes burning, he
ran through 1t again. It read:
York:
Peter Randall. government agent in
farls. cabled today great plot against
finances of the world frustrated by ar
rests made by him. Says has been en-
ploying this end discredited agent this
government named Chesley. Advises
US disregard Chesley's former record,
place yourselves his disposal and advise
metropolitan police departments obey
Chesley and place forces at his disposal
randall trusts Chesley and department
Will do as he says. Plot concerns kid
naping of financiers. Has New York
panic spreading all over country any re-
lation to this information? Randall
states sent two agentsSrecently to work
with Ches1ey. girl named Claire Sorel
and French stool pigeon named Car
vaJal. Latter just arrived this country
via Montana. Travelled under name of
Garnot and was to report arrival to you
and disclose details. Have yop heard
from him?
OF the secret service of the United
states government. and even as Her
komer was feverishly composing a re-
ply another telegram arrived from the
same person. This one stated that
cable just received from the French
police stated that Peter Randall had
been assaulted by persons unknown
Just outside a cable office in Paris, and
was now unconscious in his apart
ments.
The business was narrowing down
but narrowing down to what? Once
again the commissioner dropped into
a study. Light began to filter through
the mystery here and there. For in
n Afato ofn1y
had said that the Conybear appeal for
rescue was written on a note paper
peculiar to the secret service branch
OF the government. The discredited
agent. Chesley. might have had such
paper in his possession. But il Ches-
ley had written the note, why hadn't
he merely called the police on the
telephone? 1t would have been much
simpler and there would have been no
kidnapings, no murders. Herkomer
shook his head. puzzled.
And Claire Sorei! II she were
government agent, why had she dis
appeared from the Plutonfa this morn
ing? And was her failure to recognize
ever had been the underlying cause of
what Sinsabaugh had described as her
peculiar manner toward Waring-was
that important or unimportant? Did
was so hard to know what was impor-
tant and what was not. 1t was safer
perhaps to figure everything as i'm
portant Peter Randall could explain,
but if the French police. who undoubt-
edly knew of Randalrs part. in the
exposure of the plots in Europe. stated
that he was unconscious. Randall was
surely unable to explain. For the
French police would be only too ready
to give information to their colleagues
across the ocean. That they did not
volunteer it was proof sufficient that
they had none to give-none. at least
bearing upon Randalrs or Chesley's
activities in America,
Herkomer scratched out the mes
sage that he had begun. message
that contained a demand that the
secret service head cable Paris at once
and get definite details. Instead he
wrote the laconic sentence:
"Petter catch the first train to New
York"
Kelcey left the room. He returned
in moment bringing another tele-
from the chief of nolice of Grand Rap-
ids. and conveyed information that
Herkomer already knew-that no Pierre
Carnot was known in that Michigan
town.
Herkomer smiled wanIy No one
knew anvthing-incIUdin" himself
But the mention of Pierre Canot's
name in the telegram made Herkomer
think again of Pelletier and Of War
inR's assumption Of that name. And
then he thought of the real PelIetier's
description of his fellow passenger. the
description that corresponded to War
ing. Tho height. the coloring Of hair
and eyes, that Herkomer would him
warinE-the same description that
was. or should be. in the mind of
every police officer in New York
flashed through HerkomeTs brain.
And unconsciously he began fitting
that description to some one else-to
the unidentified man. apparently a
Frenchman. who had been picked UP
dead. killed by an automobile in front
Of Warnings apartment house.
PeIletiers description would fit this
man Carnot. or Carvajal. And Car
yajars description, then. would fit the
victim of the automobile accident. Was
there a connection? The man had been
killed in front Of Warnings apartment,
be a connection-in which case it was
possible that Waring was playing Car
vajars part. But why. then. had he
chosen the name of Jacques Pelletier?
Herkomers brain. travelling all
around the edges of this mystery of
mysteries. touched again at a salient
point. The man who had given Peter
Perkins the note was apparently. from
what Peter said. one of the COnybear
household. Only one member, besides
Conybear, of that household was miss
ing. That one was Henderson, the sec
retary-valet. with whom Herkomer had
himself talked regarding Conybears
note. Could Henderson, the secretary
valet, be Chesley the secret agent?
But il so-and Herkomer was up
against the everlasting questions
again. Why hadn't Henderson. or Ches-
ley. told Herkomer about the note-that
he had himself written it--when Her
komer telephoned?
Herkomer bethought himself of some-
thing. He telephoned Portsmouth and
told the police department there to
meet the Portsmouth chief and Peter
Perkins on their arrival home, and tell
the chief to take Perkins to the Cony-
bear country house and have the half
wit endeavor to identify any member of
the household as the person who had
given him the note. But the commits
sioner instinctively felt that this was a
waste of effort; Henderson, the missing
man. was the one that had written it.
SO instinct told him. and Herkomer be-
lieved instinct.
The hours passed. Portsmouth re-
ported that Peter Perkins recognized no
member of the Conybear household as
the writer of the note. 1t must have
been Henderson.
A deputation of the governors of the
stock exchange, headed by President
Symons of Amalgamated Products Conn
pany, called, to beg, to beseech, to pray
Herkomer for information which he
ening to have his political head if the
missing financiers were not produced.
as Herkomer had promised Symons
they should be, before the exchange
opened in the morning.
The mayor. luckily, was on his vaca-
ton and the governor was confined to
his bed with the after effects of an op-