Evening star., 1925-10-11
Intangled Threads.

N
- M IL at the door of A
N founding hospital. But
i it was a pretty child.
liked little girls for Fan
ny's sake ! thought it would he
good for the baby to grow up lady
She was druGged with soothing sirup
! had her in an old school box OF
Sir Rawdon's. I'd made ventilation
in it. | stopped the cab before an
other house. Then | carried the box
a few doors farther on. where the
Hastes lived. and left ii. My husband
had come home some days before
lie was in London, with money I'd
given him. ready to go back to Can
ada. | gave him more money-an nd
the boy The young woman-the
mother-I'd passed off at the Court
aS cousin of mine. We had hel
buried at Ardry-le- Mare. The serv.
ants supposed I'd taken the children
to their relations in London. And the
affair was forgotten. But never by
me, l was not a murderess. Yet
suffered remorSe. Sometimes
thought l should so mad. l was
fascinated by the room where that
Italian girl had died My lady had
10 pension me off and send me away,
for | was no longer of use to her
/ brought Fanny up-and ] support
ell myself through the years. My
lady died. leaving word with her son
to he good to mel deserved graft
tude. And he was good-thouSh he
never knew why Id been left as a
charge upon him But few months
a-n what money | had saved was lost
through my husband. Sir Rawdon
offered me a place here as house
keeper Fanny wished me to aC-
cept. and | Welded to her. All. if l
had not. The old horror was soon
back upon me,
One day | could not keep my
tongue still-after all those years.
hlurted out the truth TO Fanny. And
! was overheard. 1t was in the tap
estry boudoir l talked. Mr.. Magnani
was visiting in the house. He heard
somethins-not all-but enough for
him to use as blackmail. l became
his slave I've been his slave ever
since"
Again Dagon had been right in say
Ing that all-even the affair Of Eve
Carroll's disappearan - could be
traced back to the same cause.
Masnani had always hated Raw
don. grudging him his place in the
world and the money which would
have belonged to him if his mother
had not been Tilted by the rich Eng
die: but when he learned Mrs. Gill
let's secret. he would have tried to
marry Pan for the sake of the Court
if the papers proving her rights had
not been destroyed. AS for the money,
II could come to him only through
Eawdon's death. for 1t had mostly
been made by Raw6on's father. Then
Eve Carroll arrived upon the scene.
and Magnani had fallen in love with
her-in the one way he knew how
10 love. Besides, she was great
heiress. Even Rawdon's fortune was
nothing compared with hers. But she
had f1irted a little, and-engaged her
self to another man.
Mrs. Payntor was left as a last re-
sort, but by this time Magnani was
deeply involved in A plan that. with
luck, should win him everything he
wanted Hidden Hall Court, Rawdon
Wells money The meant to change
his name legally to Wells later, for
he'd already been naturalized as a
British suhjs6, and perhaps Eve
Carroll. the great heiress. for his own.
all without fear of suspicion falling
upon him.
The awkward part, where his plans
for Eve and himself were concerned,
lay in the fact that they could not
mature till the day she had become
the wife of another man. This was
because she could not be brought
down to the Court until then. Her
marriage to Haste, however. would
not be an insuperable objection. for
Magnani looked far ahead. He hon
estly believed Gf it were in him to
do anything honestly that Eve had
liked him once. All women liked him.
Besides, he had discovered about her
that she was not physically brave.
Once he got her into the place he
had prepared. and threatened her
with a violent death IL she resisted,
he could force the girl to follow out
2 certain program. When it should
he safe to do so. he would smuggle
her In disguise out Of her hiding
place. and out of England. With his
own mother Cwho still lived in small
town near Naples, supported by HIM
Eve could be safely left until Rawdon
had been hanged for murder. and he
-Paolo Magma ani-had come into his
inheritance.
After that-months after. when the
affair had been half forgotten-the
dead could return to life. Even that
act in the drama was arranged in
Magnani's mind. Mrs. Haste was to
he found in a village in France, haV-
Ing lost her memory. What had hap
Dened on the nlenl OF the WednlnS
would forever remain a mystery. She
would recall nothing since a certain
moment when she had left the music
room and run out of doors to frighten
Kennedy Haste. because they had
talked Of the vanished bride. She
would have taken A bitter diStaste for
her husband, and would refuse to re-
turn to him. She would go to Amer
ica with her aunt, spend some months
in a Sana torium. She would desire
divorce and get one in Reno. where
such matters can he settled easily.
No one would blame her for Rawdon's
fate, as apparently she would have
lost her reason temporarily.
After a decent interval. he. PaoIo
would make love openly to Eve, and
they would he married.
To bring these results to pass. Mag