St. Tammany farmer., 1922-08-26

masquerade costume When he wat
ready to act, he doffed his outer cos
tune, appeared as the Midnight
MasQuer, effected his purpose, then
calmly donned his outer costume
again and resumed his place among
the guests. Y0r understand?
well, then! Maillard yesterday re
ce1ved a note from the Masquer, bra.
zenly stating that he Intended to eall
during the evening. / have that note.
1t was written with an extremely
hard pencil, such as few men carry,
because 1t does not easily make very
legible writing, Last night asked
Mr.. x. for a pencil, and he produced
one with an extra hard lead-men-
tioning that he had borrowed 1t from
Bob Maillard, as indeed he had.'
"What! Surely you don't mean
"Of course don't Mr.. X. is very
clever, that's all. Here is what took
place last night. Mr.. K brought us
another note from the Masquer, say
ing that he had found 1t pinned to the
library door. AS a matter Of fact,
he had written 1t on leaf torn from
his notebook. took the note from
| him, observing at the time that the
| paper had no pin holes. Probably
! Mr.. x. saw that there was something
amiss; he presently went back down.
stairs, took the remainder of the torn
leaf from his notebook, and pinned 1t
to the door. A little later met him
and mentioned the lack Of pin holes;
he calmly referred me to the piece on
the door, saying that he had merely
torn off the note without removing
the pins. You follow me?"
"Of course" murmured the girl, her
eyes wide In fascinated interest. "And
he knew that you guessed him to be
the MasQuer7'
He suspected me. think" said
Fell, mildly. ut is understood that
you will not go about tracing these
little c1ues?''
Don't be silly, Uncle Jachln!" she
broke In. you know I'll do nothing
Of the sort. Go on, please! Did you
find the airplane7'
'Yes." Jachin Fell smiled dryly. II
was thinking of that as I left the
house and came to the Nne Of waiting
automobiles A word with one Of the
outside detectives showed me that one
Of the cars in the street had been test
Ing its engine about midnight l found
that the cal, belonged to Mr.. K.
"How simple, Lucie, and how very
clever! The chauffeur worked pow
erful motor with muffler cutout at
about the@ time Mr.. K, inside the
house, was making his appearance. It
scarcely sounded like an airplane mo-
tor, yet frightened and startled, people
would imagine that-it did Thus arose
the legend that the Midnight Masquer
came and departed by means Of air
plane-a theory aided ingeniously by
his costume. Well, that Is all know
or suspect, my dear Luciel And
now
"Now, suppose said the girl,
thoughtfully, ''you'll put that awful
Creole Of yours on the track Of Mr.. X.7
Ben Chacherre is a good chauffeur,
and he's amusing enough-but he's a
bloodhound! I don't wonder that he
used to be criminal. Even If you have
rescued him from life Of crime, you
haven't. improved his looks
''Exactly-Ben is at work." asserted
Jachin Fell. 1.-THE gentleman under
suspicion Is very prominent To ac-
cuse him without proof would be
utter folly. To catch him in f1agrante
delicto will be difficult So I am in
no haste. Besides, I can as yet dis
cover no motive for his crimes, since
he is quite well off financially. Well,
10 matter! Now that I have fully
unbosomed myself, my dear, it is your
turn"
"All right, Uncle Jachin." Lucie
took large morocco case from the
chair beside her, and extended It.
You lent me these things to wear last
night, and +"
"No, no." interviewed Fell. II gave
them to you, my dear-ln fact, I
gave them to you two years ago. and
kept them until now! You have worn
them; they are yours, and you be-
come them better than even did poor
Queen Hortensel So say no more"
= Lucie leaned forward and imprinted |
kiss upon the cheek Of the little |
gray man. There! that is all the |
thanks can give you, dear uncle; the
gift makes me very happy, and I'll
not pretend otherwise. Only, feel az
though had no right to wear them
they're SO wonderful
"N0nsense But all this isn't why
you summoned me here, You bundle
Of mystery! What bothered you last
night, or. rather, Who?'
Lucie laughed '.There was a Fran.
clscan who tried to be very mysteri-
GUS, and to read my mind. He talked
about oil, about grasping, hard man,
and mentioned you as my friend.
Then he warned me against pro-
posal that Bob might make; and sure
enough, Bob did propose to buy what
land is left to me on Bayou Terre-
bonnie, saying he'd persuade his oil
company that there was OIL on it, and
nat they'd buy or lease It. told him no.
The franciscan, afterward, proved to
oe Henry Gramont; wondered II you
had mentioned"
Heaven forbidr exclaimed Mr..
Fell, piously. II never even met Gra-