Evening star., 1922-08-04

position OF the Russian government
since the Russian dancers have won
| International popularity"
mad not thought much about 1t
, pefore, but now that he mentioned it
l could not help nod of assent.
why. l have heard" he continued
Win the air of man who Is i'm
parting big piece of informa tion.
that the beautiful young women of
the imperial ballet mingle in the
society of capitals Of the world, maze
! friends with politicians. social lead
ers, high officials, and exert a great
| influence in favor of their own coun-
try wherever they go. No doubt"
| he added. they sometimes convey
valuable information to the foreign
| office which would not be obtained In
any other way"
l was not paying much attention
to him. but still the doctor ratified
on in an undertone: Some of these
/ dancers are past masters in the art
OF intrigue. Do you suppose Rawa
ruska and the rest have had the task
set FOR them to win back the public
opinion of your country, which de-
j parted from it's traditional policy or
fr!endliness during the Japanese
| war;"
made no answer. was en-
crossed in considering the primary
/ a
/ eide, after all? Surely she had re-
moved the evidences of it much bet
| ter than in any other case l had ever
seen.
Or had there been a triangle"
| perhaps quadrangle, here? ; could
cared greatly for his wife, except,
perhaps. to be jealous of any one else
! having her. He was too attentive to
Elsa Hoffman. and she. in turn. was
not of the type to care much for
any one. AS for Dr. Preston, although
he seemed to have had a friendship
| for Rawaruska, l could not exactly
mt him into the scheme of things.
| We proceeded up the bay on the
Sylvania, but were able to discover
nothing further that night. AS we
left the ship at the dock in the morn
ing we ran across Wade. who was
quietly directing a dozen or so of his
| men.
| ANY trace yet of the Invincible?'
asked Craig, stopping in an unosten-
! tatious corner.
! The customs man shook his head
gravely: Not yet" he replied.
But I'm not discouraged. If we
| miss it here in the customs inspec-
tion it will be sure to turn up later.
There's shady jeweler on Fifth
Antwerp people pretty we'll. 1 have
man working there. a diamond cut
| ter. and other agents in the trade
Oh. III hear about it soon enough. II
1t is here. Only I'd like to have done
something spectacular. something
that would count for me at WASH
ington: Have you found out any
thing?"
| Briefly Kennedy told him some Of
the scattered facts we had discov-
ered-5ust enough to satisfy him with
! out taking him into our confidence.
| in ha 10 ~
ratory, Walter" remarked Kennedy
as our taxicab extricated itself from
the ruck Of the river-front streets.
II don't know that there is anything
that you can do-excert-well. yes.
l wish you'd try to keep an eye on
some Of these people-that maid
Cecilie especially"
| We had learned that De Grerre
| was to stop at the Vanderveer. and
! later in the morning 1 dropped into
! ister De guerre was registered there
and Cecilie had little room also, pend
| ing the disposal he would make OF
her. Miss Hoffman had rooms of her
own, which she had evidently re-
engaged, with family in a residen-
tial street not far from the hotel.
| The clerk told me that De Guerre
was out, but that the maid had re-
turned after having been out alone
| for a short time also. The lobby Of
the SduQeTVeof was 1alfly crowded
with people by this time and I found
no difficulty in keeping in the back
ground and still seeing pretty much
everything that went on.
1t was rather tame, however, and
I was still debating whether I should
not do something active, when /
happened to glance up and catch
sight of a familiar face. It was Dr..
Preston making inquiries for some
one of the room clerk. I lodged
back of a pillar and waited, covering
| myself with an early morning war
extra that repeated tho news Of the
night before.
A few moments later Preston, who
| had received an answer from who
ever he was calling, edged his way
toward one of the deserted little
reception rooms near a side carriage
entrance. Carefully I trailed him,
1t was some minutes before I could
make up my mind to risk passing
the door Of the little parlor and be-
ing discovered, but I was growing
| impatient: AS I glanced in I was
astonished to see him talking ear
nestly to Cecilie. I did NOT dare
stop for fear one or the other might
look up, but I could see that Preston
was eagerly questioning her. Her
face was averted from me and I
could not read even her expression.
The passa geway was deserted and
II l paused I would inevitably attract