Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-09-15

straight enough. =.
That's not quite all Of my plan'
pursued Fell, as though reading era
mont's unuttered thoughts. "Ihe MIN
ute This news becomes public, the min
ute your statement is published, there
will be a tremendous boom IN that
whole section. l shall take charge OF
Lucie's money. and within three weeks
7 should double it, treble 1t, for her.
Before the boom bursts she Will be
of II all. and wealthy. Now, my dear
Gramont, l do not presume that o
will still refuse to vote with meE l
have been quite frank, you see."
GramOnt stirred in his chair.
"Yesl" he said, low-voiced. Eyes,
by heavens, / do refuse!
With an effort he checked hotly i'm
nulsiye words that were on his tongue.
One word now might ruin him. he
dared not say that he did not want to
see Fell's money pass into the hands
of Lucie-money gained by fraud and
theft and crimel He dared not give
his reasons for refusing. He meant
now to crush Fell utterly-but one
wrong word would give the man full
warning. He must say nothing.
eIt's not straight work, Fell. Re
CARELESS of your motives, l refuse to
Join you"
Jachin Fell sighed slightly, and laid
down his cigar with precision.
"Gramont," his voice came with the
softly purring menace of a tigers
throat-tone, 81 shall now adjourn this
company meeting for two days, until
Saturday morning, in order to give you
a little time to reconsider. Today is
Thursday. BY Saturday"
"I need no time" said Gramont.
"But YOU will need it. l suppose
you know that Bob Maillard has been
arrested for parricide? You are aware
of the evidence against him-all cir
cumstantial?"
Gramont frowned. what has that
got to do with our present b~usiness?'
quite a bit, I fancy" A thin smile
curved the lips of joachim Fell. Mail
lard is not guilty of the murder-but
you are"
"Liar!' Gramont started from his
chair as those three words burned into
him. Liar! Why, you know that ]
went home"
"Ah, wait !" Fell lifted his hand for
peace. His voice was calm. "Ansley
and l both saw you depart, certainly.
We have since learned that you did
not reach home until some time after
midnight. You have positively no
alibi. Gramont. You may allege, of
course, that you were wandering the
streets"
GAS 1 was!" cried Gramont, heat
eddy.
''Then prove it, my dear fellow /;
prove tiff you can. Now, we shall
keep Lucie out of all this. What re-
mains? l know that you were the
Midnight Masquer. My man, Ben Cha
cherre, can prove by another man who
accompanied him that the Masquer's
loot was taken from your car. A die
tograph In the private office, yonder'
has a record of the talk between us
of the other morning, in which you
made patent confession to being the
Masquer.
"Once let me hand this array of
evidence over to the district attorney,
and you will most certainly stand
trial. And. if you do stand trial. l
can promise you faithfully that you
will meet conviction. l have friends
you see, and many of them are intlu
entail in such small matters"
1t was not a nice smile that curveo
the lips of Fell.
Gramont choked back any response
holding himself to silence with a firm
will. He dared say nothing, lest he
say too much. He saw that Fell
could indeed make trouble for him
and that he must strike his own blow
at Fell without great delay. 1t was a
battle, now; a fight to the end.
Fell regarded Gramont cheerfully.
seeming to take this crushed silence
as evidence Of his own triumph.
Further" he added. 'your man
Hammond is now in jail at Houma, as
YOU know, for the murder of the sher-
if. Now. my influence is not CON
fined to this city. Gramont I may be
able to clear Hammond Of this charge
if you decide to vote with me. ]
may keep what 1 know about the Mid.
night Masquer from the press and
from the district attorney-iF you de-
eide to vote with me. YoA compre-
hend?'
Gramont nodded. He saw asV why
Fell wanted to ''get something" on
Hammond. Fell had rightly reasoned
that Gramont would do more to save
Hammond than to save himself.
you think 1 murdered Maillard.
then?' he asked.
"Gramont. l don't know what to
think. and that's the honest truth J!
answered Fell, with a steady regard
Put | am absolutely determined to
-"'a IL deal ari",ss. to make Lucie