On Secret Service

inn, "women came as near to winning the late bu

e armistice was signed. But there were really only two elements that played a leading role in the final victory-men and guns. And women backed these to the limit of their powerful ability-saving

ts, for war has made such forward steps that personal heroism on the part of women is almost impossible. Of cour

mes which the public hasn't yet heard which will stand wel

that you mentioned in connection wi

e played a leading role in that melodrama, a play i

d a Secret Service case "on her own." Of course, in the past, the different governmental de

auville diamonds is a case in point-and even the Secret Service hasn't been above using women to assist in running counterfeiters to earth, while t

d to handle the work and they were only doing

the place-that big apartment hotel on Riverside Drive where the lobby is only a shade less imposing than the bell-

to round out her strength with a gymnasium course. But in spite of being a big woman, she had the charm and personality which are more often found in those less tall. When you couple this with a head of wonderful hair, a practically perfect figure, eyes into which a ma

it speaks well for her character when I can tell you that not one of the bachelor tenants ever tried a second time to put anything o

y one was on at night. They took it by turns-each one working one week in four at night and the other three holding down the job from eight to six. So, as it happened, Virginia did not see Dave Carroll until he had be

at the races tipped us off to the biggest counterfeiting scheme ever attempted in this country, and after that he t

on the switchboard, he could have been pardoned for wandering over and trying to engage her in a conversation. But the only rise he got was from her eyebrows. They went up

hen asked for Rector 2800, the private branch

was something about him that made Virginia Lang feel he was "different"-a word which, with women, may mean anything-or

a night shift, with roving orders to wander round the section in the neighborhood of Columbus Circle and stand ready to get anywhere in the upper sect

n neutrality. Already nearly a score of bomb outrages, attempts to destroy shipping, plots against munition plants, and the like had been laid at his door, b

laza, to Fifth Avenue and back again every night-a program which was varied only by an occasional séance at Reisenweber's

, close to the Park, a few nights after his brush with Virginia Lang, that Carro

's rubber heels made no sound upon the pavement. Possibly he wouldn't have noticed them then if

strike two blows at once, one at our enemy and the other at this smug, self-satisfied nation which is con

uired a se

plode with the slightest a

are to have his plans spread all over New York. This cursed shru

uick glance down the street showed him that the nearest gate was too far away to permit of entrance in that manner. So, slipping his automatic into the side pocket of hi

eet, and he was over, his revolver in his h

bit than from anything else, for he had

ts that ripped through the bush and brought a shower of German curses from the other side. Then another of the conspirators opened fire from a point at right angles to the first, and the ruse was successful, for it diverted Carrol

ble?" demanded t

from his sleeve. "Guy tried to hold me up, that's all, and I took a pot shot at him. Cut it! Secret Servi

d been attacked. "You evidently winged him. There's blood on the grass here, but no s

sistance. It's the only thing that's happened in a month to break the monotony and there's no us

s though it might be a dive in the Bow

tion of the city," Dave stated. "Farther

guard, "and I thought I k

the trio of Germans, as well as what he had heard. There was more than a quiver of excitement in the voice fr

Ewald is a myth?"

t that just missed me was pretty material. Evidently some one is planning these

e man to whom your friends we

t referred to

there's the head of the French Mission at the Vanderbilt with a bunch of people, and Lord Wimbledon, who's spent five million dollars for hor

f the place they cal

a code word-a prearranged name to camouflage th

t somehow I have a hunch that it wasn't. I'll get back o

rning without having been disturbed, but lay awake for an hour or more-obsessed with the ide

ge it so as to explode upon pressure, rather than concussion or by a ti

rain, and he awoke in the late afternoon still haunted by

erved by a new waiter, a fact that rather annoyed him because he ha

quired, as the new att

he reply. "He had an accident and

acci

was the la

ing se

cigar, a sudden idea struck him. Could it be that Felix was one of the men whom he had surprised the night before, the one he had fired at and hit? No, that was too mu

here Felix lived. "I'd like to know if there is anything

are that the man was lying, for his demeanor was sullen rather than

was again at the switchboard, and the idea occurred to him that he

he operative explained to the goddess of the wires, "and I'd

sh of what Carroll swore to be the whitest teeth he had ever seen. "Just a moment and

ite. The very air of mystery that surrounded the missing man was sufficient to incline him to the belief that, after all, there might be something to the idea that Felix was the man he had shot at the night bef

, half aloud, "I'm going to

ce almost at his elbow, a voice which sta

eyes of the pretty telep

a smile which seemed to hold an apology for her brusquen

ed Dave. "What do y

r-"except that you are a government detective and that you've discovered

e you think that?" stammered Car

wn-the other girls tipped me off to that, for they know that I'm fond of detective stories. Then everybody around here knows that Felix, the waiter

' would you? Particularly as I am su

ple use the word 'operative.' They'd say 'detective'

it leak out that a girl had not only discovered his identity, but his mission. Then, as an after

"The manager's name-" But then she halted abruptly, picked u

made it obligatory for waiters to move without making a sound, Carroll wandered off across the lobby, determined to take a stroll around the block before settling down to his night's vigil. A stop at the information

red himself, "for that's undoubtedly the time they would pick if they co

termined to call the Rennoc, in the hope that the pretty telephone girl was s

e a voice which he

e operative. "Can you tell me now what i

d I'll see if he's registered." During the pause which followed Dave realized that the g

ly and distinctly, followed by instructions, couched in a much lower tone, "Meet

he Rennoc, considering it the part of discretion to keep on the opposite side of the driveway. A moment

ted in an undertone as she passed. "

slip out of another of the hotel doorways, farther down the Drive, and start toward them. Bu

he inquired, as he step

ff me all evening. I heard him boast one night that he could read lips, so I didn't dare tell you anything when you called up, even though he w

ly the British ambassador at that dinner to-morrow evening. I overheard one of them say last night th

rthday dinner, in honor of Lord Percy Somebody who's in Lord Wimbledon's party, as well as in honor of Lord Cecil. The pastry cook, who's almost

ave was sent reeling by a blow from a blackjack, a blow which sent him spinning across the curb and into the st

sired to avoid gun-play for fear of attracting the police. A straight left to the jaw caught one of the men coming in and knocked him sprawling, but the second, whom Carrol

shed through his mind that he must be dreaming, but he had sense enough left to leap aside when a feminine voice called "Look out!" and the arc light glinted off the blade of a kn

was helpless and Carroll was blowi

with his wounded hand, take care of me. I didn't have two years of gym work and a complete course in jiu jitsu for nothing, and that blackjack came

you were a goddess in

ho was glad to have a chance at the brutes. Anyhow, th

ward, and when it found what it was seeking, "Girl," he

in the dark. "My frie

east good friends," laughed Carroll, and the thrill of the f

t that .

took advantage of the interruption to ask what ha

ine the cake and the other dishes before they were sampled by the guests. Michel, Felix, and the cook were treated to a good dose of the third degree at headquarters, but without results. They wouldn't even admit that they kne

Miss

ft the Service the following year and went to France to finish his fight with the Hun. I saw him not long ago and the only thing that's worrying him is where he is going to find his quota of excitement,