Evening star., 1921-05-24
Copyright, by Little. Brown 4 Coz

! ne h-s friend. or I may he his enemy
| AZ least ! possess the key of his fat.
| presumably with his permission. My
! presence here ! have explained. can
aSSur" YOU that it is entirely acci-
, dehtaI You have no right to detain
: me for moment"
! The clock on the mantclpiece struck
! midnight. \ sudden passion surged
! in his veins. passion which. al
! lhouSh at the time he could not have
: c!aS aSsIhed 1t. was assurediy "A pa SIS: :on
of jealousy. He remembered the man
! Barnes whom he hated.'
You shall not go to his rooms-at
| this hour" he exclaimed. You don't
! know the man. If YOU were seen-''
! She laughed mockingly
Let me pass she insisted.
He hesltated. She saw Very clearly
| that she was conquerins. \ moment
| before she had respected this man
After ali. though. he was like the
, others.
Il will go with YOU and wait out
/ SIDE. he said doggedly. Barnes. at
ms hour-is no; always sober
! Her lips cured.
BE wise" she said. land let me go.
do not need Your protection Or
! She broke off suddenly. The in
terruption was certainly startling
off came the shrill tinkle of tel--
! phone bell. WraySon mechanicallv
/ stepped backwards and took the re-
/ ceiVer into his hand.
| Nv no is it, he asked
! The voice which answered him was
, faint but clear. 1t seemed to Wray-
| son 10 come from a long way off
Is that Mr.: Wrayson's fiat in Ca
vendish Mansions" it asked.
! Yes. Wrayson answered. who
are youH"
81 am friend of Mr. Morris Barnes"
the voice answered. May | apologies
Tor calling YOU up. but the matter is
urgent. Can YOU tell me if NJ. Barnes
Il am not sure. but I believe he is
never in before one or two o'clock"
Wrayson answered
viii YOU write down message
and leave it in his letter-box:" the
important or l would not trouble YOU"
Very we'll" Wrayson answered
What is it,
Tell him instantly he returns to
leave his fiat and go to the Hotel
Francis. A friend IS waiting there
for him. te friend whom he has been
expecting"
"A LADY, Wrayson remarked lit
tie sarcastically.
No" the voice answered. "A friend
VIII you do this" Will you promise
to do it,
Very we'll" Wrayson said. WHO
are you. and where are YOU ringing
Remember YOU have promised"
was the only reply.
"All right. Tell me your name"
Wrayson demanded.
No answer. Wrayson turned the
handle of the instrument viciously
Exchange" he asked. who was
that talking to me just now"''
Don't know" was the prompt an
swer We can't remember all the
calls we get. Ring off. please"
"rayson laid down the receiver and
turned round with a sudden sense of
apprehension There was q feeling of
heard sound. but he knew very well
what had happened. The door was
slightly open and the room was emp
~. She had taken advantage of his
momentary absorption TO slip away
He stepped outside and stood by the
lift. listening. The landing was de-
serted and there was no sound of
any one moving anywhere. The lift
itself was on the ground floor. II had
not asce2ded recently or he must have
and softly closed the door. Again the
sense of emptiness oppressed him A
faint perfume around the place where
she had stood came to him like a
whiff OF some delicious memory He
set his teeth. lit a cigarette, and sit
ting down at his desk wrote few
lines to his neighbor, embodying the
message which had been given him.
With the note in his hand he ascended
to the next floor.
There was apparently no light in
fat number II. but he rang the bell
and listened. There was no answer
no sound of any one moving within
For nearly ten minutes he waited
listening. He was strongly tempted
to open the door with his own key
and see for himself if she was there.
Then he remembered that Barnes was
d man whom he barely knew, and cor
daily disliked. and that if he should
return Unexpectedly the situation
would be little difficult to explain.
Reluctantly he descended to his own
fiat. and mixing himself a whisky and
soda. Ii; pipe and sat down, deter
mined TO wait until he heard Barnes re-
turn In less than quarter of an hour
he was asleep.