St. Tammany farmer., 1922-09-02

appear to trouble anyone, the carni-
val season having come to an end,
and with it my little jest.
'"THE MIDNIGHT MASQUER."
Gathering up these notes In his
hand, Gramont went to the fireplace.
He tossed the pencil into the fire, fol
lowing 1t with the notebook.
Cant take chances with that man
Fell" he explained. "All ready, SER
geant. Let's 60 down the list one by
one"
From the trunk Hammond produced
ticketed packages. which he placed
on the table. Gramont selected one,
opened 1t, carefully packed the con-
tents In one Of the boxes, placed the
proper addressed note on top, and
handed tt to the chauffeur
WRAP 1t up and address it. Give
the return address Of John Smith,
Bayou Teche.'
One by one they went through the
packages Of loot in the same manner.
Before them on the table, as they
worked, glittered little heaps Of rings,
brooches, watches, currency; jewels
that flashed garishly with colored
fires,f historic and famous jewels
plucked from the aristocratic heart Of
the southland, heirlooms of q past gen
GRAFTON side by side with platinum
crudities Of the present fashion.
There. had been heartburnings in
the loss Of these things Gramont
knew. He could picture to himself
something Of what had followed his
robberies: family quarrels, new pur-
chases in the gem marts, bitter re-
proaches, fresh mortgages on old her
itages, vexations Of wealthy dowagers
shrugs Of unconcern by the nouveaxx
riches; perchance lives altered =
divorces
There's a lot Of human life behind
these baubles, sergeant" he reflected
aloud, a cold smile upon his lips as
he worked. "When they come back to
their owners, I'd like to be lowering
around in an invisible mantle to watch
results! Could we only know it, we're
probably affecting the lives Of a great
many people-for good and i'll. These
things stand for money; and there's
nothing like money, or the lack of 1t,
to guide the destinies of people"
"You said It," and Hammond
grinned. 'I'm here to prove 1t, amt
II / amt pulling no more gunplay,
now l got me steady job"
"And a steady friend, old man."
added Gramont. did 1t occur to you
that maybe ] was as much IN need OF
friend as you were?"
He had come tn the last box, now
that which must 90 to Joseph Mail
lard. On top of tie money and scarf
pins which he placed in the box he
laid a thin packet Of papers. He
tapped them with his finger.
Those papers, sergeantl To get
them, I've been playing the whole
game To get them and not to let
their owner suspect that I was after
them! Now they're going back to
their owner"
who's he?" demanded Hammond.
Young Maillard- son Of the banker.
He roped me into an Oil company;
caught me, like sucker, almost the
first week was here. / put pretty
near my whole wad into that company
Of his"
NYnl1 rnnQn hn afr1no xyf&11
Z 'Not yet" Gramont smiled coldly,
II fell right enough-but I'll
come out on top of the heap
The other frowned. Il don't get
you, cap'n. Some kind O. stock deal?''
''Yes, and no." Gramont paused; and
seemed to choose his words with care.
Miss Ledanois, the lady who was
driving with us this afternoon, Is an
old friend Of mine. I've known for
some time that somebody was fleeing
her. l suspected that it was Maillard
the elder, for he has had the handling
Of her affairs for some time past.
Now, however, those papers have given
me the truth. He was straight enough
with her; his son was the man.
HE worked on his father, made his
Eather sell land owned by Miss Leda-
lofs, and he himself reaped the prof
is. There are notes and stock issues
among those papers that give his
whole game away, to my eyes. BY the
way, get that tin box out Of my trunk, !
Will you? l want to take my stock
certificates with me in the morning,
md must not forget them"
Hammond disappeared into the adj
oining room.
Gramopt sat gazing at the boxes be-
ore him. He shook his head gloomily, |
md his eyes clouded.
"All Wasted-the whole effort r he |
II thought 1t might lead
o something, but all 1t has given me
s the reward Of saving myself and |
possibly retrieving Lucie. AS for the
arger game, the bigger quarry-it's
Ill wasted. haven't unrayeled q |
single thread; the first real clue came /
Q me tonight, purely by accident.
Memphis Izzy Gu.nberts! That's the |
cad to follow! III get rid OF this |
Masquer foolishness and 60
lfter the real game
Gramont was to discover that 1t is
lot nearly so easy to be rid OF folly
$ It is to don the TESTERS cap and
elisa fact which one Simplicissimus
ad discovered to his sorrow three
undred years earlier. But, as Gra-
mont was not versed in the line Of
70 f1iE IAtaI In i