Evening star., 1925-09-21

know who kidnapped her, and where
| she is now"
s"You think she was kidnapped" An
son asked doubtfully.
well, she couldn't anesthetize her
self,''
MO-, I suppose not"
"One would think, to hear you, that
you thought she could do almost any
thing-like a young WITCH
Anson laughed uneasily. well,
! Mr.. Dagon, if it was the sixteenth
/ and seventeenth century, instead of
| the twentieth, that's just what I'd
think this-this girl was: A young
witch"
Gee! I'm beginning to be mighty
| interested in her!" exclaimed the Cana
| dian. I'D like to get hold of her
photo and see how much like the
brain image she really is. AS Miss
Haste is friend enough of Sir Raw
don Wells to take a present of
watch from him, she's probably given
him portrait of herself in silver
frame, and shall come across it over
/ at the Court"
Yes, that's just what you will come
across in a room called Sir Raw
don's den.'" said Anson, "a portrait
in a silver frame. 1t stands on his
desk; and on the opposite side" he
stead, pretending to have swallowed
! the wrong way" OF course, he
wanted to help the London detective
all he could, and it was his business
| to do so. But he didn't feel like add
| ing another straw to the burden of
suspicion against Sir Rawdon Wells.
| The silver lining of that cloud had
turned leaden again with Dagon's
pronouncement. This new anesthetic
of Sir Rawdon's on Mrs. Haste's
handkerchief had precisely the same
in cell 5. No need for him to ex-
press his opinion that a blank place
on Sir Rawdon's desk had probably
been adorned until lately by a
framed picture of Evelyn Carroll!
1t was difficult, however, to put
that Canadian off a scent.
Yes" said Dagon, with the dreamy
air which seemed now and then to de-
scend suddenly upon him. Yes, no
doubt Miss Haste's silver frame was
/ t1anked on the other side of the desk
! beautiful Miss Carroll-until she
, threw over Sir Rawdon for his
/ friend"
so you know all about that al
ready, do you?" grunted Anson.
We'll, I must say, Scotland Yard
doesn't seem to let much grass grow
| under its mems feet. I didn't call
the Yard up on the phone from the
| Court last night till fairly late hour,
and you must have started off on
your motor bike at a fairly early
| one, Mr.. Dagon. Yet you're up IN
the details of that little scandal which
we folks in Ardry-le-Mare thought was
only neighborhood gossip
II mustn't take too much credit for
| the Yard or myself" said Dagon,
I'm afraid I didn't get up in those
details between last night and this
morning. I knew 'em beforehand.
Perhaps you've heard that l was with
Pinkerton for while. l might have
been there to this day. as l was doing
pretty well, if it hadn't been for the
war 1 was a kid; but 1 had some
| luck and was put on one or two big
| jobs under Pinkerton. One of them
was to find a string of pearls that
| belonged to Miss Carroll's aunt-the
| Aunt Jean who's been chaperoning
her in England since the war broke
out-Mrs. Payntor."
"Oh, then you met Miss Carroll!"
exclaimed Anson, interested.
| Dagon laughed. II didn't exactly
| meet her." he said, except in the
front hall of her aunt's house some
times. I was acting as Mrs. Payntor's S
footman while 1 watched for the pearl
thief. 1t took me several weeks to
polish off the job-yes, l did polish
! it off!-and 1 had plenty of time to
| fall in love with the fair Evelyn. She
was my first love, so far as l can
remember. I've had three since, one
French girl, one Belgian and one Eng
lish V. A. D. Now I'm about ready
| for the fourth! But I've never for
gotten Miss Carroll, and the pleasure
of a really hopeless passion.
II can jolly well. sympathize with
| Sir RaWdon Wells. I tell Youi Natur-