Evening star., 1918-04-14

worth of jewels in the house, 1t Will be
nothing less than national disgrace,
of bunglers will be covered with de-
served ridicule."
Narkom swung round. smarting under
these continued taunts. these filings"
at the efficiency of his prided depart
ment: his nostrils dilated. his temper
strained to the breaking point.
We'll. he won't keep 1t this time-1
promise I, you that" he he @ raped lr;as, out
nal. no matter how clever. meets his
Waterloo, and this shall be his! I'll
take this affair in hand myself. Sir
Horace. I'll not only send the pick of
go with them. and if that fellow crosses
the threshold Of Wyvern House tonight,
by the Lord. I'll have him. He will
have to be the devil himself to get away
from me! Miss Lorne." recollecting
himself and bowling apologetically. II
ask your pardon for this strong Ian
guage-my temper got the better of
my manners"
1T does not matter. Mr.. Narkom, SO
that you preserve my cousins wedding
gifts from that appalling man." she an
sWered. with gentle inclination of the
head and with smile that made the
superintendent think she must certainly
be the most beautiful creature in all the
world. it SO irradiated her face and add
ed to the magic of her glorious eyes.
1T does not matter wnat you say what
you do, SO long as you accomplish
that"
And will accomplish it, as I'm living
man, l will! You may go home feeling
assured of that. Look for my men some
time before dusk. Sir Horace, l will ar
rive later. They will come in one at a
time. See that they are admitted by the
area door. and that, once in, not one of
them leaves the house again before / put
in my appearance. I'll look them over
when arrive to be sure that there's no
wolf In Sleeps clothing among them.
With q fellow like that. a diabolical ras-
ton. one can't be too careful Meantime.
1t Is just as well not to have confided this
news to your daughters. who. naturally,
would be nervous and upset; but / as
sumo that you have taken some one of the
servants into your confidence, in order
that nobody may pass them and enter the
house under any pretext whatsoever"
mo, l have not. Miss Lorne advised
against it, and as l am always guided by
her. l said nothing Of the matter to any
body"
WAS that wrong, do you think, Mr..
Narkom?" queried Ailsa, anxiously. "I
feared that il they knew they might lose
their heads. and that my cousins, who
are intensely nervous and highly emo
tional. might hear it and add to our diff
ficulties by becoming hysterical and de-
manding our attention at time when
we ought to be giving every moment to
watching for the possible arrival of that
man. And as he has always lived up TO
the strict letter of his dreadful promises
heretofore, L knew that he was not to be
expected before nightfall Besides. the
jewels are locked up in the safe in Sir
Horace's consulting room. and his assist
ant. Mr.. Merfroy. has promised not to
leave the room for one instant before we
return
"Oh, well, that's all right then. I dare
say there is very little likelihood of our
man getting in while you and Sir
Horace are here and taking such a risk
at stopping in the house until night
fall to begin operations. Still. It was
hardly wise, and l should advise hur-
rying back as fast as possible and TAX
ing at least one servant-tne one you
fael least likely to lose his head-into
your confidence, Sir Horace, and put
ting him on the watch for my men.
Otherwise keep the matter as quiet
as you have done. and look for me
about o'clock. And rely upon this as
q certainty: The Vanishing Crack ksman
those jewels If he enters that house to-
night. and never get out of it un-
shackledn'
With that he suavcly bowed his Wis
itors out and rang up the pick of his
men without an instants delay.
Promptly at 9 o'clock he arrived. as
he had promised, at Wyvern House and
was shown into Sir Horace's consulting
room, where Sir Horace himself and
Miss Lorne were awaiting him and
keeping close watch before the locked
door of a communicating apartment in
which sat the six men who had pre-
ceded him. He went in and put them
all and severally through rigid ex-
animation in quest Of any trace of
makeup or disguise of any sort. ex-
amining their badges and the marks
on the handouts they carried with
them to make sure that they bore the
si r. q
upon them In the privacy Of his own
room couple of hours ago.
mo mistake about that lot" he an
nounced. with a smile. Has anybody
else entered or attempted to enter the
house?"
Not a SOUL" replied Miss Lorne 'T
didn't trust anybody to do the watch
ing, Mr.. Narkom. / watched myself"
Good: Where are the Jewels? In
that safer