Evening star., 1918-07-14

cleared of its odd assortment of peo-
pie. AS he turned to take a look at
crossed his time-worn face. BY this
scheme, which he may be .pardoned
for looking upon as stroke of gen.
ius worthy of his brilliant prime, he
had set back time a full hour, re-
storing as by magician's wand the
initial alarm. Surely, with the knowl-
edge of that hidden bow In his mind,
he should be able now to place his
hand upon the person who had made
No one. however ely Of foot and
quick Of action, could have gone far
from the gallery where that bow lay
In the few minutes which were all
that could have elapsed between the
Ing cry which had HM brought I all with
in hearing to the Apache section. The
man or woman whom he should find
nearest to that concealed door In the
northern gallery would }have to give
even the curator would escape sus-
picion under those circumstances.
However, 1t Is only fair to add that
Mr.. 'Gryce had no fear OF any such
embarrassing end to his inquisition
couple who had betrayed their alarm
so ingenuously to every eye. and had
already decided within himself that
the man was Just such fool as might
in a moment Of vacuity, pick up a
given mark. Such things had been
and such results had followed. The
man was a gawk and the woman a
ninny; a few questions and their
guiltiness would appear-that Is. II
the tapestry to warrant his suspicion.
II not-the alternative held an in
terest all Its own. and sent him in
haste toward the stairway.
TO reach 1t Mr.. Gryce had to pass
had fixed them among the statuary
grouped about the court, and had his
attention been less engrossed by what
he expected to discover above, he
would have been deeply interested in
Of them at least, had SO thoroughly
accepted the situation that they had
taken the exact position and the ex-
act attitude OF the moment preceding
the alarm. Those who were admiring
the great torsos or carved chariots
OF the ancients made q show of adj
miring them still. The man or wom-
an who had been going In an east
erly direction faced east: and those
who had been on the point Of enter
the doorways with their backs to the
court.
Unfortunately, he did not take note
Of all this, or give the poor pawAs
thus thus parading for his purpose more
think. which was when he was half
way up the staircase, 1t was to look
back upon changed scene. For with
his going. interest had tagged and
the tableau lost Its pointedness. No
place, but all had turned their faces
his way, and on many of these faces
could be seen signs Of fatigue IL not
OF absolute impatience. He had or
s,aed sered them the to - stand la1 and they had
went above was certainly trying. The
one spot which. held the interest was
in the southern gallery. If they could
only follow him there
and possibly the cunning old man
read 1t there; but If he did, it was
to ask himself If their conclusions
were quite correct. The locale of in
terest had shifted in the last half hour;
and while most of these people be-
lieved him to be searching for the
witness who could tell him what had
occurred in the death gallery, he
really was hunting for one who could
add to his knowledge Of what had hap
witness might not be found in the
gallery, or even on the upper floor,
It was we'll among the probabilities
that there might be among the va
frious persons he saw posing in the
court below some who by an upward
look might take in a part Of IL not the
whole broad sweep of that huge
square of tapestry upon which his
thoughts were centered. 1t was for
him to make note Of these persons
A diagram Of the court as 1t looked
to him at that moment is shown for
your enlightenment.
Sixteen persons! Ten in view from
the steps and sig not. OF the sixteen,
only the following seemed to afford
any excuse for future Interrogation:
Numbers two, six, ten, seven, eight
and thirteen. Making q mental note
OF these, during which operation the
poor unfortunates who had Just been
considering themselves as quite out
OF the, game revived in a startling
manner under his eye, he proceeded
on his way.
the upper floor, a diagram of this
second story is now in order.
AS you Will see, a straight glimpse
is given down either gallery from the
arches opening into the broad cor
ridor into which Mr.. Gryce had step
ped on leaving the, central staircase.
He had, therefore, only to choose
which Of the two would better repay
his immediate Investigation,
which you will remember was the
one holding the tapestry; since to
hnd anybody there, no matter whom.
would certainly settle the identity Of
the person responsible for that flying
arrow. For, as all conceded, too lit
tie time had elapsed between its de-
livery and the discovery of the VIC
tim for the quickest possible attempt
at escape to have carried the con-
a M 30