The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-11-04

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 tance of five or six yards 1t was possible to see both turnings. These five or six yards covered the lower gate and part of the shrubbery of one of those large out-of-date houses which have been abandoned before the encroaching tide of bungalows and villas. The drive was green with moss, the garden mere tangle. Be- tween it and the road ran a low brick wall topped by an unclipped hedge. The whole place had a deso- late, unvisited look.
 Jim pushed open the gate with some difficulty and walked in. Nothing could have suited him bet ter. There were half dozen places where laurels, laurustinus. lilac and yew crowded up to the unkempt hedge, and where he could stand and see without being seen.
 He had not to wait very long. In about half an hour Nesta Riddell walked briskly past the Rosy Kor- ner and proceeded in the Ledlington direction. He had only to keep one turning behind her and follow on. In point of fact she never looked round, but walked briskly into the town, where she entered the Lon don County and Westminster Bank.
 Jim went into a tobacco shop on the other side of the High Street. bought a paper. and unfolding it, kept a watch upon the door of the bank.
 A FTER about five minutes Nesta came out. She stood for an in stant on the pavement. and then gave him the fright of his life by crossing the road.
 A newspaper held wide open makes a good screen. There was moments suspense, and then he saw from under the lower edge of his paper six inches of bright blue skirt and eight or nine inches of rather light stocking ending in flimsy imi. tation leather shoe go up the two worn steps of the bake shop next door. He was so near that he could hear her rather strident voice ask ing for milk chocolate.
 He moved farther down the street, and presently she came out and walked back along the way by which she had come, and at the same brisk pace. He watched Nesta disappear round the curve of Sandringham Drive and went back to his shrub bery.
 The day passed with intolerable slowness. It did not rain. but the clouds hung low and the air was full | of damp. In his own mind he felt quite sure that Nesta would not meet the man until it was dark. He could have wished that they were in December instead of August. for even on a gloomy day like this it would not be dark until after nine.
 And Caroline was coming here at nine o'clock. He had tried to stop her. and she wouldn't be stopped. He fell into thoughts of Caroline which were angry. impatient, tender, and passionately self-accusing. He had had no business to let her get mixed up in this affair at all. Even if he were not Nesta Riddell's | husband, he was very definitely un- der suspicion of attempted murder, and beyond all question he had been in possession of stolen property.
 He didn't believe that he was Nesta Riddell's husband: he be- lieved it less than ever since his talk with Min. But he could not prove that he was not Jim Riddell unless and until the gap in his memory closed up and gave him back the lost weeks between the first of July and the fifteenth of August.
 He might during those weeks | nave LudSQucl ducu do JiHi AeiuASI, and, as Jim Riddell, have married Nesta Williams. but he didn't be- lieve it. It rested on Nesta's word. and, quite frankly. he didn't think Nesta's word was worth tinker's damn.
 On the other hand, the Van Berg affair in some sort corroborated Nesta's statements. That didn't de pend on Nesta's word. He himself remembered drinking with Elmer on the night that he was shot. He remembered seeing the emeralds in Elmer's hand.
 And. most damning of all, he had found them in his own house in a secret hiding-place known only to Caroline and himself. Men had been hanged on slighter evidence than this. Caroline mustn't come within thousand miles of it.
 He went on thinking about Caro- line.
 (Copuight. I9Ss. J. 8. Lppiacott Co.,
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