The Washington times., 1920-05-09

Iyhat fhs Fye.eA Msid Hsd 10 Tel
r. Ut Celeste was very firm.
She could be. ] am sure.
- That thin. tight-shutting line
OF mouth and those straight brows
nIs. be the sign OF some qualities
within. Although Sergeant Crisp
did his best with her. and although
he had much experience with the
reluctant kind OF witness, she would
not speak. Finding himself per
force obliged to appear to drop the
point, he did so with q grace which
gave him the better hope OF return
Ing to II with more success another
time.
after ALL" he said. sit is not for
me to press mademoiselle" The had,
as matter OF fact. just been press
ing her as hard as he knew howl
ito tell that which she does not
wish to tell. may be more frank
perhaps with mademoiselle than
she is with me--the suspicion OF
the police" and here his little gray
eyes would naturally take on their
most gimletty look, has fallen on
q ioafng. poaching gypsy fellow
name of Jim Heasden."
It was his fancy to put 1t in this
way, giving the idea that he had
no notion OF any knowledge Of such
\ fellow on the part Of the lady's
maid. just to see how she would
take It.
As q matter Of fact she did not
take Il welE II was extremely OBJ
vious to the sergeant's practised
eye that the information hit her
badly. But SO far as words went
she did tolerably: "Ah. Jim Heas-
denim Heasden! All, yes" fall
Ing IN excellently with the ser.
geant's suggestion that he would
be personally unknown to her. HE
IN the one that milady found In the
shrubbery after the rabbits, is II
not?"
Then Sergeant Crisp hazarded q
venturous shot.
HE IL that one" he said. Then
added, HE is the one whom her
ladyship found--whom her lady
ship met" he spoke slowly, giving
the corrected phrase its chance to
sink with its full significance into
the French girls mind. more than
once, in the shrubbery," and, with
another pause, after rabbits.
The shot at a venture hit. The
girls eyes flashed, her brows went
even straighter, her bosom heaved
"Milady met him-saw h'm-once.
only once, no more" she asserted,
with an emphasis that the occasion
did not seem to require.
Sergeant Crisp allowed his face
to put on something as much like
a smile as was possible for 1t. And
mademoiselle," he said ironically,
twas so much in the confidence OF
her ladyship!"
But I know know" said the
girl impatiently. "Ah-it Is no
matter how l know. but l know"
well, WE'LL" the sergeant said,
as il humoring her. ut is no mat
ter, as you truly say, mademoiselle.
What does 1t matter to you or me
how often her ladyship met Jim
Heasden in the shrubbery, eh?"
He had her right off her poise
now, which, of course, was the re-
suit to which he had been aiming
ever since he had found her con-
cealing something from him. Then
he raped out directly:
AT what time was 1t that you
met Jim Heasden last night?"
He had thrown her of the bal
ance, but she was not quite so far
perturbed as to be plastic to that
suggestion. He had made a mis-
take in his judgment of her psy-
chology and knew it even before
she answered with a perfectly re-
covered occurrences:
"Plalt-il?"
The question had shown her her
danger; shown her how dangerous
was the extraordinarily innocuous-
looking little man who was asking
her questions, shown her that he
was a weaver Of snares. The van
ity of setting snares before the
eyes of any bird has been told us
on highest authority. Celeste was
as the DlTQ WHOSE eyes udu Deeu
opened to the snares. She was
quite a match for her fowler now,
and the fowler realized it.
He cackled with a real apprecia-
tion of the excellent piece Of acting
in that "Plait-il?" but he did not
trouble to answer 1t otherwise. He
realized that he was not likely to
get anything else of value out Of
Mademoiselle Celeste for the mo-
ment. After all, he had got much.
He had discovered that she was
capable Of being stirred to fires
of jealousy by the bare suggestion
that another woman, even her own
mistress, for whom she expressed
deep affection and admiration, had
been meeting this rustic Adonis.
SO doing, she had sufficiently re.
vealed her own sentiments toward
that young Egyptian.
Neither did 1t seem at all OBJ
sCure to the detective why she.