Evening star., 1925-04-08
THE SEVEN SLEEPERS
A-Thriling Nouel Of By FRANCIS BEEDNG
international Intrigue oon,5s, 100, sry,. ,u.co,
By FRANCIS BEEDNG
Copyright. 1925, sysLrtl.. Brpwa 4 Co.,

dived into a cellar. lain in a hearse,
scrambled into the costume OF g. red
Indian and out of It again and finally
measured my length in the vestibule
Of the secretariat. I began to feel
'nat in all probability my tie was
no longer straight
what have you been doing with
yourselfT she exclaimed.
I'm getting tired Of that question:
I said. The fact Is" continued, II
appear to be two days late. which
seems to account for the fact that at
the present moment I probably look
ike a man who has been badly
nustled."
/ finished my cognac, rose, walked
the mirror over the mantelpiece.
md was there confronted by q pale
face, hectic eyes, a collar hopelessly
:rumpled, a neck which faithfully re
corded the fngerprints OF Karl Won
Gmmerich, hair disordered, q tie that
mad almost ceased to exist and shoul-
ders badly In need of the brush.
The truth of the matter Is" said
as tried to repair the worst of abe
damage. that for the last two hours
| I haven't been devoting any very Sc
Ious attention to my personal ap-
pearance.'
But your neck" exclaimed Bea-
rice. what horrible bruise."
She drew in her breath sharply be-
ween her teeth. l noted with pleas.
lre that she did not like me to be
iurt.
That was my grandmother" ak
claimed. First she tried to strangle
ne, and I was finally obliged to hang
nyself in order to escape from her
sffectionate embraces"
And then and there ! told them the
whole story. -.
They listened attentiveiy. and as
old them what had happened to me
| in the Rue Etienne Dumont I must
confess that was myself consider
| ably impressed. It.appeared stranger
| in retrospect than"it had seemed IN
the heat of the moment
Obviously" concluded. the doeu-
| ment which came into my possession
| in SO curious q manner Ia of supreme
| Importance to some one, but do not
know at all who 1t can be. though
| my uncles ordered me to take IL 20
| Hanover. where there is apparent
Z. parsonage anxiousiy waiting 70 r.
| ceive IT. What do you make OF a.
Lavelle?"
He shook his head.
Il don't know what 10 think -
| !ooks like the kind OF Conspiracy
| which short while ago was pretty
general throughout Germany, but that
| sort of thing has beer completely
| discredited since the celebrated KaP-
| Putsch. We hoped II was a thing @
| the past. The German Eoyernmeat
| as you know. has capitylated and ap-
piled for admission to the League
The secretariat here Is humming wit-
| this new development and the opti.
| mists among us are already rejoicing
| over the prospect of a general Euro
| pean settlement Personally ! capt
! quite believe IL, though ! must cor
| fess I have no real evidence to go
| upon. Things are quiet everywhers
| and we have lately ceased to hesr.
| ties" =
| Tell me about them" begged
] II thought most OF 1t was comm ::
knowledge" said Lavelie.
| You forget, my dear cid boy" ]
| protested, I've no time or use fol
common knowledge these days. Tn
merely a wholesale tinker"
| I'm a drawer here" said Lavells, 'I
have list OF SO German secret soeiea
| ties, which will show you to wha;
extent Germany is honeycombed witt
| these organizations. Some of then
| masquerade as gymnastic societies
sporting clubs. associations of com
| rades of the war, or of civil ser
wants Hardly a month passes tha
| one or other of them is not dissolve6
by the government. but they are snvarl
ably reconstructed under another name
l suppose you've never heard of the
| Consul Murder Club or the Oberiar !
Free Company, led by the notorious eS
Capt. Ehrhardt, with whom the German
government has never been able To COPE ,
| No one knows the full extent os their
numbers. Their adherents are mostly
young. They are all well disciplined
| and they have only one object Ia
| view. which Is to tear up the Treaty
OF Versailles and wipe out the Ger
man Republic"
We talked for some little time ots
| the German secret societies, and /
became very interested In tha picture
drawn by Laveile. He made me real
ize as never before that there were
vast forces In Germany. burning with
resentment at their ceuntry's hunili-
atinE defeat in the war and eager for
revenge. These forces were under
| capable subordinate control. but they
had hitherto lacked q leader OF ade-
quate ability and prestige. and had
failed to secure any sound financial
| backing.
CONTINUED In Tomorrows sIar.J