Evening star., 1918-06-30

q " % it.n bs from the yard,"
sasd DoIlops. coming into the room Win
. doaghnut IN one hand and square
envelope In the other.
Geek. who had been sitting at his
writing table with Q litter OF folded
documents. bits Of antique 3ewslry
and what looked IIke odds and ends
Of fAdsd ribbon lying bssore him.
. swept the whole collection into the
tahae drawer a. Dollops spoke and
stretched forth his hand for tho let-
tsr.,
It was one Of Narkom's chAracterfs-
tio cosnmunications. albeit somewhat
shorter than those communications
usually were, fact which told Cleek
at once that tho matter was one Of
Immense Importance. It ran:
Ny Dear Geek; For. the love Of
into going out tonight. / shall call
about ten. Foreign government af-
fair-feward simply enormous. Watch
out for me. Yours in hot haste:
MAVERICK NARKOM.
sBe on the lookout for the red ltmou-
sine" said Ceek. giancing over at
Doilops, who stood waiting for or
dars. 1T will be along at ten. That's
an. You may 60"
Right you are, gunner. TIL keep
my eyes peeled. sir. Lori do hope
it's summink to do with . restau-
rant or q cookshop this tme.
could do with a Job Of that sort, my
word, yes! I'm fair famishin': And,
begEin' pardon, hut you don't look
none too healthy yourself this even
ing. guv'ner. Amt ct summink wots
II What nonsense! 1m as at as a
hddle. What could make you think
"Oh. ] dunno. sir-onfy.--- Wen.
II you don't mind my sayin&' & Of It: SIT
that drawer and lookin' at them
things you keep in there-wotever
they ts--you always gets sort OF
soiemnenoly look IN the ins EYES is.s ana ana
your lips has pucker to 'em what
'sTomryrot. Imaginatton's q splen-
did thing for detective to possess.
with you in that fashion: my lad. or
you'll never rise above what you are.
Toddle along now and look out for Mr..
Narkom's arrival. It's after nine al
SAnybody a-comin' with him. sir7''
II don't know, he didn't say. Cut
along now; I'm busy" said Cleek.
Nevertheless, when Dollops had gone
and the door was shut and he had the
room to himself again. and, II he
there was no reason in the world
why he should not have set about 1t,
he remained sitting at the table and
idly drumming upon 1t with his
finger tips, a deep ridge between his
brows and a far away expression in
his fixed, unwinking eyes. And SO he
was still sitting when. something
like twenty minutes later, the sharp
"Toot-toot!" Of motor horn sound
Cd.
,Sss % s.: nsts so lay he on took se Il t'S's p
crumpled It into a bail, and threw it
into his waste basket. "A foreign
government AFFAIR" he said with
curious one-sided smile. "A strange
coincidence, to be sure!' Then, as II
drawer, looked at the litter Of things
he had swept into IT, shut it up
again, and locked It securely, put
ting the key into his pocket and ris-
ing to his feet Two minutes later.
when Narkom pushed open the door
leaning against the edge Of the man
telpiece and smoking q cigarette with
the air Of one whose feet trod always
upon rose petals, and who hadn't
throu&ht beyond tho enaafS OK Lno
moment, nor q care for anything but
tho flavor Of Egyptian. tobeeeo.
sAh, my dear fellow. you can't
think what relief it was TO catch
you. I had but . moment In which to
dash on the note, and was ON thorns
with. fear that II would miss you:
that ON q glorious night Ike this
you'd be or for . pull up the river
or somethia9 Of that sort" sa3d tho
, superintsndent - hA hustled tn And
shook hands with him. You are such
: eesssr for sestias on BY yourself
: well, to tell you tho truth, lrr.
NArkom, I came within an AGO Of do
ing the very thing you speak Of" re-
piled Geek. IT'S full moon, for one
thing, and It's primrose time for an
other. Happily for your desire TO
. catch me, however. I-er-got m.
terested in the evening paper and that
delayed, me-"
: ''Very glad, dear chap: very glad IN.
dee6,s began Narkom. Then, as his
eye fell upon the particular evening
paper In question lying on the writ
ing table, o little cfumpled from use,
but with a certain displayed headed"
article of three cofumns' length in full
view, he turned round and stared at
. Cleek with an air of awe and mystif-
cation. my dear fellow, you must be
under the guardianship Of some un-
canny familiar. You surely must,
Cieekr he went on. do you mean to
tell me that IL what kept you at
home? That you have been reading
60 hA