The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-07-27

| ported that even his own followers
are ignorant of II. Where we HaNe
come across his tracks, he has always
played a secondary part. Solneoous
| else ssumes the chief role. But alter-
ward we always find that there mas
been some nOnentity, a servant ol
| clerk, who has remained in the oach-
ground unnotlced. and that the elusive
Mr.. Brown has escaped us once more
"Oh!" Tuppence jumped. i Won
der"
"YeS?"
81 remember in Mr.. Whittingtons
office. The clerk - he called MN
Brown. You don't think"
Carter nodded thoughtfully. can
you describe him at all?"
~ really didn't notice. He was quite
ordinary-just like anyone else"
MI. Carter sighed in his tired man
ner.
THAT is the invariable description
Of Mr.. Brown! Brought a telephone
message to the man Wilmington, did
he? Notice a telephone in the outer
Officer"
"No, l don't think / did"
Exactly. That message was Mr..
Browns way Of giving an order to
his subordinate. He overheard the
whole conversation Of course. Was II
after that that Wilmington handed
you over the money, and told you to
come the following day?"
Tuppence nodded.
"Yes, undoubtedly the hand Of Mr..
Brown!" Mr.. Carter paused. well,
there it is, you see what you are pit
ting yourselves against? Possibly the
finest allhnal brain of the age. 1
don't L.Ste like it, you know. You're
such young things, both of you. l
shouldn't like Anything to happen to
you"
1T won't" Tuppence assured him
positively.
'Tl look after her, sir" said
Tommy.
"And I'll look after you" retorted
TIppence, ~resenting the manly as
Sertion.
well, then, look after each other"
said Mr.. Carter, smiling. "Now let's
get back to business. There's some
thing mysterious about this draft
treaty that we haven't fathomed yet.
We've been threatened with tin
plain and unmistakabie terms. The
revolutionary element as good as de-
clare it's in their hands, and that they
intend to produce it at q given mo-
ment. On the other hand, they are
clearly at fault about many Of its Pro-
visions. The government considers
it as mere bluff on their part, and,
rightly or wrongly, have stuck to the
policy Of absolute denial. I'm not so
sure. There have been hints, indiS-
Greet illusions, that seem to indicate
that the menace Is a real one. The
position is much as though they had
got hold Of an discriminating docu-
ment, but couldn't read 1t because Il
was in cipher-but we know that the
draft treaty wasn't in cipher-couldn't
be, in the nature Of things-so that
won't wash. But there's something.
OF course, Jane Finn may be dead for
all we know-but / don't think so.
The curious thing is that they're try
ing to get information about the girl
from u.s."
"What?"
"Yes. One or two little things have
cropped up. And your story, little
lady confirms my idea. They know
we're looking for Jane Finn. Well,
they'll produce a Jane Finn Of their
own-say at a pensionnat in Paris"
Tuppence gasped, and Mr.. Carter
smiled. mo one knows in the least
what she looks like, so that's all right.
She's primed with a trumped-up tale,
and her real business is to get as
much information as possible out Of
US. See the ideaT
"Then you think"-Tuppence paused
to grasp the supposition fully-"that
IL was as Jane Finn that they wanted
me to 60 to PARISH
Mr.. Carter smiled more YEARLY
than ever.
II believe in condolences, you
know" he said.