Evening star., 1918-04-21

got'!" interjected Cleek. ST guessed
the identity of this Countess de la Tour
doche and that secret trap. Her knowl-
edge of those two betrayed her to me.
Clodoche is a renegade Alsatian. a spy
in the pay of the German government,
and an old habitue Of The Inn of the
Twisted Arm,' where the Queen of the
quent revels. I can guess the remain
der of your story now. You carried this
news to the Baron de Carjorac, and he.
breaking down. confessed to you that
he had lost something"
Yes, yes-a dreadful something, Mr..
Cleek-the horrible thing that has been
making life an agony to him ever
since. On the night when that abom-
Unable Red Crawl first overcame him
there was upon his person a most i'm
draft of the maps of fortif1cation and
the plan of the secret defenses of
France. the Identical document from
which was afterward Transcribed the
parchment now deposited in the secret
archives of the republic. When Baron
de Carjorac recovered his senses after
his horrifying experience
That document was gomez"
Part of it. Mr.. Cleek. thank God,
only part. If it had been the parch-
ment itself, such merciful thing
could possibly have happened. But the
paper was old. much folding and ham
ding had worn the creases through,
and when. in his haste. the secret rob-
ber grabbed 1T, while that loathsome
creature held the old man down, it part
ed directly down the middle. and he
got only vertical section Of each Of its
many pages"
victoria! And the fool hath said in
his heart. There is no Cod" quoted
Cleek. $50. then, the hirelings OF The
enemy have only got half what they
are after; and. as no single sentence
can be complete upon paper torn like
that, nothing can be made of it until
man friends are still up a gumtree' 1
know now why the baron stayad on at
the Chateau Larouge. and why The Red
Crawl is preparing to pay him another
visit tonight. He hoped, poor chap. to
find clue to the whereabouts of the
fragment he had lost, and that thing is
after the fragment he still retains.
Well. it will be long. long :ay before
either of those two fragments falls into
German hands
''Oh, Mr.. Cleek. you think you can get
the stolen paper back? You believe you
can outwit those dreadful people and
save the Baron de Carjorac's honor and
his life?"
Miss Lorne"-he took her hand in
his and lifted it to his lips Miss
Lorne. 1 thank you for giving me the
chance: If you will do what l ask Won
be where 1 ask you in two hours time
minute, l will put back the German cal
endar by ten years, at least Thew
drink ITO the day. those German John
nies. but by tomorrow morning the
English hand you are holding will have
given them reason to groan over the
night"
1t was half-past eleven o'clock. Mad
anne la Comtesse. answering a reputed
call to the bedside Of a dying friend,
had departed early, and was not to be
expected back, she said, until tomor-
row noon. The servants-given per-
mission by the gentleman known in
the house as NJ CASTOR Merode,
and who had graciously provided a
huge char -hanc for the purpose-had
gone in. body to a fair over in the
neighborhood of Sevres, and darkness
and stiffness filled the long, broad cor
ridor of the Chateau ,Larouge. OF
sudden, however, a mere thread of
sound wavered through the silence. and
from the. direction of Miss Lorne's room
a figure in black, with feet muffled in
thick woolen stockings. padded to an
angle. Of the passage. lifted g trap
carefully hidden beneath a huge tiger
skim rug and almost Immediately
Cleek's head rose up out of the gap.
Thank God. you managed to do 1t.
was horribly afraid you would not"
said Ailsa in a palpitatihg whisper.
You need not have been," he an
swered. II know a dozen places beside
The Inn OF the Twisted Arms from
which one can get into sewers. I've
screwed a bolt and socket on the inner
side Of this trap in case of an emer-