Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-28

grown desperate enough to invade the
house itself has driven Lady Chepstow
were Immediately given to the servants
that no stranger, no matter how well
dressed. how well seeming. nor what
the plea, was, from that moment, to De
allowed pest the threshold a a.. we we s Ie.t
want Of the household would betray
his trust, and that all would be on the
constant watch for any further at
tempt. The unknown enemy must have
found out about these precautions: ior
But-last night a thing We had never
counted upon happened.
'sIn the dead of the night the un-
known broke into the house, into the
very nursery itself. and but that Lady
Chepstow, impelled she does not know
by what, rose and carried the sleeping
child into her own bed. he would as
suredly have been murdered. The nurse.
awakened by horrible h Die s1 IN end
man bending over her with chloro-
form soaked cloth. which he was about
to lay over her face. She shrieked and
tainted. but not before she saw the
man spring to the little bed On tho
other side Of her own. hack furtously
at It with q long, murderous knife. then
dart to the window ana vanish. In the
darkness he had not, Of course. been
able to see that the child's bed wcs
shadow. and hearing the household
stir at the sound of the nurses shrek,
he struck out blindly and few to save
himself from detection. The nurse
states that he was undoubtedly for
eigner-a dark skinned Asiatic-and
her description of him tallies with that
Cedric gave Of the man who attempted
to kill him that day in the park. There,
MI. Cleek." she concluded. that's the
whole story. Can't you do something
slant state Of dread and to remove this
s,a1!a nt d:Essr from little Lord chep-
"Tll try. Miss Lorne: but It is = most
extraordinary case. Where is the boy
nowT'
"At homo, closely guarded. We ap-
pealed to Mr.. Narkom and he gener-
ously appointed two detective officers
to sit with him ana keep constant
watch ataa oyer " hi. him while We are sway;"
Narkom. I've issued orders for a gen.
eral roundup Of all the Cingalese who
can be traced or are known to be In
town. Petrie and Hammond have that
upon any Asiatic who answers to the
description Of this murderous ras-
Il don't believe they WILL" inter-
Rosed ,e Clssk; or, IL they DO. don't
70 be the guilty party. In other words.
have an idea that the fellow will
prove to be q European
But. my dear fellow. both the boy
and the nurse saw the man, and. as
you have heard. they both agree that
he was dark-skinned and quite oriental
in appearance"
"One Of the easiest possible disguises,
Mr.. Narkom. A wig. a stick of grease
paint, threepenny twist of crepe hair
and there you are! No. l do not be-
leve that the man is n CIngalese at
all: and. far from his having any oon-
nection with what you were pleased to
term Just now change OF front on the
part Of the Buddhists who have so
long held the little chap as something
sacred. / don't believe that they know
anything about him. base that upon
the fact that the child 10 still treated
according to what Miss Lorne says.
and that. with the single exception Of
that one woman who tried to poison
him. nobody but one man--this par
ticular one man-has ever made any
attempt to harm the boy. Fanatics
like the Cingalese cleave to an idea
to the. end, Mr.. Narkom; they don't
cast II aside and go Off at another
tangent. You have heard what Lady
Chepstow says the native women told
. herthe boy was sacred; their priests
had commanded them to appease
Buddha by doing homage to him until
the tooth was found, and the tooth has
not been found up to the present day!
That means that nothing on earth could
change their attitude toward him; that
not orc of III" Euddsts' act "-~u'1
harm a eo'it"r.- -, ~.l
KINKS ranepm: su you ma. ,.lin.inpt.