Evening star., 1917-12-23

moment later that I realized the full
import of the affair. when l saw Ken
nedy standing near the table IN the
position Karaton had assumed, look
of perplexity on his face. Slowly real
ised what was the cause. The papers
on which were written the requests Tor
the exhibitions of karatons skill were
gone!
Whatever was done must be done
quickly, and Kennedy looked about with
a glance that missed nothing. Before
could say word about the papers ne
had crossed the room to where mar
chant had been standing In the Httie
group about Edith Gaines as we en-
Tered. On side table stood the teacup
from which he had been slipping. with
his back to the rest. Kennedy ore"
from his breast pocket little emer-
Eency case he carried containing a lew
thin miniature glass tubes. Quickly ne
poured the few drops of the dregs OF
the tea into one of the tubes; then into
others tea from the other cups.
The cIang of bell outside threw US
all into worse confusion ana a molneni .ad
later, almost together. white. coated
surgeon and a blue-coated policeman
burst into the room. 1t seemed almost
no time, in the swirl of events, beiofs
the policeman was joined by a oe'ee
tive. assigned by the central ONCE 10
that district.
..Weu. doctor" demanded the detec-
I tive as he entered, whats the YER
dict?" ,..a
the Young surgeon. They tell me there
was some kind of hypnotic scene gong
ON. One of them named Enrol struck
at him with a rubber dagger. and
The policeman handed the detec.lss
up, FORGOTTEN, on the floor. where Enrol
had dropped it when he came out from
the hypnotization.
The detective took 1T gingeriy anu
IL xx-tf
the point OF this analyZed. 1t may be
well. we won't say what may be. But
! can tell you what is. You: Or. Kara
toff. or whatever your name is, ana you
Mr. Errol. are under arrest. It's a
good deal easier to take you now tnan
it will he later. Then. if you can get a
Judge to release you, wen at least
know where you are.
This is outrageous preposterous!
stormed Karaton.
Cant help it," returned the oficer.
coolly.
"Why," exclaimed Carita Belteville.
excitedly. projecting herself before the
two prisoners. Its ridiculous. Even
the ambulance surgeon says 1t was ar
teroio sclerosis. an accident -
Very we'll, madam calmed the de-
tective. $50 much the better. They'll
get out Of our hands that much quick
er. Just as present it is my duty.
Very weak and trembling still from
the triple shock she had received,
of her husband
II told you, Edith. ii was a danger
Gus business" ] heard him utter. Only
/ never contemplated that they'd carry
1t this far. Now you see what such
foolishness can lead to.
Kennedy seemed well contented. for
the present at least. to allow the police
a free hand with Errol and Karatoff
As for me. Mrs. Gaines and Carita
Believille presented a perplexing prob
lem but / said nothing. for Kennedy
was hurrying back now to his rooms.
At once he drew forth the little tube
containing the few drops Of tea. and
emptied drop or two into a beaker
of freshly distilled water as carefully
as IL the tea had been some elixir of
life. AS he was examining the con-
tents of the beaker his face clouded
with thought.
Did you find anything" / asked
Kennedy shook his head There's
something wrong" he hazarded. Per
haps it's only fancy. but I'm sure that
there is something with a slight color
in the tea: something tea-like. but with
more bitter taste: something that
would be nauseous IL not concealed in
the tea. There's more than tannin and
sugar here"
Then you think that some one pres
ent placed something in the tea?" I
inquired, shuddering at the thought
that we had run some unknown dan
ger.
Il can't Just say. without further in
vestfRation of this and the other sam
ples I took ] began to suspect some
thing the moment | noticed that those
notes which we all wrote were gone
When we find ont about this tea. we
may fnd who took them"
AS for the autopsy that was perform
ed on Marchant. 1t did indeed show that
he was suffering from hardening OF the
arteries, due to his manner of living. as
Karaton had asserted. Indeed. the po-
lice succeeded In showing that 1t was
going to Karato1.
Even to my lay mind the treatment