Evening star., 1920-02-08
THE NEITHER STEEPS

purchased attempt to draw any pos
sible afterpur suit upon himself Pre-
sumably he must have run right into
bad luck at the very outset"
Yes. he did. His furtive exit from
the house was noticed by policeman.
He was accosted. ran away. was
hunted for a couple of hours. God
knows what the poor boy suffered
during that time. AS for the Jewels
he flung them away in the darkness
He was captured. The footmarks in
the house were his. The Jewels We're
found. He might or might not have
saved himself by relating the whole
affair. Probably he would not have
been believed. Almost certainly he
would not. In any case he accepted
the risk, and when 1T defeated him he
could not go back upon his temptress.
She also kept quiet. She was bound
to do that for the sake Of her reputa-
tion, to prevent the scandal which
must have ensued."
At this point Tredways, who had
been leaning forward with most in
tent interest sharpening his features,
suddenly drew himself back with q
chuckle of unrestrained enjoyment.
And the man who was knocked
silly?" he questioned.
Nothing more was heard of him.
AS Arthur believed he recovered his
sense and held his tongue"
Tell me. dear young lady, what it is
you want me to do"
MY poor friend is gultless," was
the wistful response. He took what
was given to him, The woman prose-
cuted because she could not help it. l
thought that some way of helping him
might suggest itself to you"
"Why, certainly" said Tredways.
getting up with a laugh. I'VE have
only to find your terror-stricken veiled
woman and your dying man. Two
wonderfully smart jewel crooks, Miss
Bassett. Two stars in their neither
armament, sta " of a rare magnitude"
The girls lips parted, but amaze
ment deprived her Of utterance. 1
am bound to admit that I shared her
bewilderment.
Il recall the case now" went on
Tredways, beaming with satisfaction.
1T was fixed in my memory because
one of the stones was missing. That
seemed natural enough since Wrayson
flung the lot away. But the jewel
which was lost was worth all the
others over and over and over again.
and lump on top Of that. Was it not
beautiful unset rose diamond called
The Lady Of Sharon"
Yes. 1 believe So" answered Miss
Bassett, perplexedly.
"Oh. 1t was. Now 1 am absolutely
convinced that the scene in the house
was bogus affair ski1lfully arranged
by two jewel sharks who were actual
guests staying in the house. See the
ideal simplicity OF the scheme; they
sent off,. via their .duper the bulk OF
far less valuable gems which they
stole from the. house knowing that
suspicion and pursuit must inevitably
all run after the midnight intruder.
They let 60 that relatively poor junk
in order to keep safe possession of
The Lady of Sharon Perhaps the
dupe, Arthur Wrayson. would not
have been caught, in which case SO
much the better for them. But II he
was hunted by the police they reckon
ed upon him-a mere tyro--chucking
away the spoil, as tyros do, in which
case the rose would be regarded as
lost. The scheme ran to it's close on
oiled wheels"
"And the two rogues were really
guests in the house?" asked
Certainly. as said. They moved in
decent set, as clever rogues do. The
jewels were the property of the host
css. The latter probably appeared in
the court at the prosecution. Why did
not Wrayson see, then. that that lady
was not the one who had tempted
him? Because his fair temptreas had
been heavily veiled. as we have heard
She took care Of that.
"But-but this is terrible" gasped
Miss Bassett. IF Arthur was duped--
and must believe you. then his situa-
tion is worse than before. 1t Is now
hopeless!"
Patience. my dear young lady
soothed Tredways. II do not think
SO. Let us wing our two birds and
get the entire story out of EN-. Let us
do this first. l say. But We will do
more than that: we will make them