The Washington times., 1920-08-15

sending his golden shafts into
the cosey apartments. Robert
could hear Jowett in the tiny
dressing room preparing the bath,
and a thrill OF anticipation ran
through him as he thought OF the
refreshing coolness of the limpid
water That, together with fresh
linen, breakfast and a cigarette,
was all that he needed. -. %
At nine O'CLOCK Mr.. Robert Bax-
enter, after dispatching hfs cable
gram. entered his office feeling as
mt as though he had retired to bed
at ten the evening before.
And then for three days he went
on in the even routine OF the work
of the law. Each evening found
him at the little dingy suburban
stage door, but after that trst
night he was able to time his ar
rival more precisely, thus avoiding
the weary wait In the sordid sur
roundings, and taxi soon ran them
out into streets where 1t seemed
possible to breathe. Each evening.
too, a dainty little supper would be
awaiting them at the nat, and Rob-
ert tried to, and In part succeeded
in, driving the problem of Mr.. Oar
tin and the Chauville inheritance
from his mind, giving himself up
unreservedly to his reunion with
Stella and to taking up again the
threads of his interrupted love af-
fair.
The girl, too, feeling as though a
weight had been suddenly lifted
from her heart, became again the
radiant creature she had been when
the young solicitor first met her
and loved her at the river party.
For her life was now all sun
shine on which there was no
shadow, and It seemed as though
her cup of happiness was fully
charged.
Her stage career was to her now
a thing of no moment, and her
evening work was as distasteful as
it formerly had beens fascinating.
Her contract with Haverton had
but another two months to run, and
by its wording, could not we'll be
set aside without large monetary
sacrifice; after its conclusion
Stella hoped she would never see
the inside of a theatre again-ex-
cept from the other side of the
footlights.
1t was on Friday morning that
Robert found the reply to his
cablegram awaiting him when he
entered his office. His Canadian
correspondent stated that he was
still pursuing his inquiries and was
writing at length by the next mail.
The cable stated simply that a
gentleman of the name of Baptiste
Dartin arrived on the s. 8. Tou.
raine from Hayre in February of
last year, and had left for London
by the Anconia, which sailed from
Quebec on June a. AS far as Mr..
lie Page was. aware. he-was pre-
viously unknown In the Dominion.
He was said at the hotel to be a
man of rather dissolute habits and
one who possessed but few friends.
Robert sat with the slip Of paper
hanging Imply In his hands. From
the wall old Adam Baxenter looked
down upon him, and now the other
fancied that he had read reproach
in the painted eyes. He left his
chair and nervously fell to pacing
I'D and down the carpeted room.
His suspicious took on a more
definite shape as he read and re-
read the message. Dartin had not
mentioned to him that he knew
Paris; more, Robert seemed to re-
member the man had distinctly
said he had never been in France.
Why, too, should he spend the time
between February and June in
Quebec? He must have had some
reason for putting off the claiming
of the inheritance.
Whatever game 1t was that the
owner of ,Adderbury Towers was
playing, It was certainly not alto
gether a straight one. Robert
thought of, and bitterly resented,
the many ways in which Dartin
had deceived him, and he regis
tered a vow in his mind, then and
there, that nothing should be al.
lowed to stand in his way Of prob
ing the secret to the bottom.
It might not altogether be play
ing the game, on his part, to
spy upon the man whose hospitality
he was about to accept, but for
Stella's sake, and for the sake, OF
right, he could not afford to be nice
in choosing the weapons with which
to fight Mr.. Baptiste Dartin. IL
there was any fraud, then 1t should
he met with fraud IL need be. By
7 o'clock that evening he would
be at Adderbury Towers; he would
enter the enemy's camp as an hon
ored guest, but with the Arm re-
solve to miss no single. chance that
promised a solution OF the matter
in hand'
On the Journey northward Rob
ert leant back and gazed steadily
out over the flying landscape, let
ting his mind run at random among
the facts and suspicious he had ac-
cumulated, and steelipg his heart
l. ~