Evening star., 1919-06-29

else. Instead of watching Rear Ad-
miral Trevor Ferris vanishing dress
ing gown 4 stared at Winkfred Ea-
land. | stared at him as he stood
tied to the enameled iron rail where
the stairway cascaded down to the
ground floor. He stood i'm silence, for
almost half a portiere seemed to have
been crammed into his mouth as a
gag. And close beside him was his
adoring Miss Blanchan. in severely
plain long sleeved nightgown that
made her look like cross between
a scarecrow and a Carmelite abbess.
She kept emitting faint and periodic
bleats deep down in her throat. for
two-thirds of cashmere stocking
had been wedged in between her
large and equine teeth. And what
made things much worse. l noticed
that she was tied there with strips
from Wrinkles ridiculous old rosa
dressing gown.
Winkie himself was arrayed in
nothing more than his pajamas. The
attire Of both of them. in fact, struck
me as being shockingly intimate and
shockingly inadequate. though neither
of them, / imagine, was giving much
thought to the matter. Seven way
ward little devils Of retaliation leap
ed up in me as l beheld them tied
there side by side. I fixed poor VIM
kie with cold and challenging stare.
80 that's the kind of a man you
are:" l deliberately said to him, with
as good an imitation of his own man.
ner as | was able to manage. And
I could see his writhe of disgust az
he rolled his eyes from me to the
bony lady on his right But had no
time to explain or even to sympathize
with him. for Ferrie, re-emerging
from the darkness, caught me by the
arm and hurried me on. He seemed
to be having trouble with his breath
ing.
Il did it," he announced in his stri-
dent stage whisper, as he stared back
at the two prisoners. II sent 'em
down together. Told 'em there was
a burglar somewhere in the house!
And they rather seemed to have
bumped into him, don't they?"
1t didn't seem as funny to me AZ
Ferrie expected. There were toe
But the jewels" 1 reminded him.
you're sure they are safe?"
He stopped and stared at me.
Safe: They're up in my room. Of
course" he retorted.
You're certain of that?"
We'll, we can very soon make sure,~
he said. And off we scurried for his
room, passing the still-wheezing
Benchley on the way. The old but
Ter tried to stop US. but there was
too much at stake just then.
1 followed Ferrie into his room.
saw him cross to the bed and throw
his two big pillows aside. He stood
there a second or two without moving.
Then he turned to me.
Good gad!" he gasped. They're
gone! l put 'em under my pillow here.
never-never dreamed any ono
would think OF looking for 'em in
such a place. Never dreamed it"
Begging your pardon, sir" ven
tured the baggy-eyed Benchley. II
be'eld that slip OF jools there on your
bed. and seeing there was burglars
about. I took the liberty Of 'iding
them. sir, in the fire-b box Of the 'ouse
furnace. And they're down there, sir,
'eaped over with clinkers sir. as safe
as though they was in the Bank Of
England. And l think 1t would be
best II we didn't 'appen to waken Mrs.
Obden Beipont, as she's fair done out
with what she's 'ad to go through
today"
You are quite right. Benchley." I
said. as solemn as a judge.
Copyright. 1919. by Mcclure Syndicats.1