One Wonderful Night

wet cloth. He had not, of course, been able to eradicate the ghastly dye wholly from the thick material, but the garment was now wea

utes of ten, and he had been married about an hour and a half. He had just finished his second dinner, and for the guerdon of companionship with the charming and g

ometimes to a young woman-not any special young woman, but that nebulous entity which is necessarily bound up with the notion that some day, somewhere, somehow, a man will encounter the maid in whose limpid eyes lurks his destiny. He had pictured the desirable one in day-dreams, and, merely because of his violent antipathy towards the Eurasian element in the Far East, the dulcissima had appeared invariably as a tall, slender creature, with the lightest of flaxen hair and the grayest of gray eyes. Now, some alchemy devised by the magician spirit of New Yo

not seen Hermione, did not even know her name, whereas now he breathed it with devout reverence, though, with a perverseness seldom attached to such circumstances, the amazing fact that she was his wife formed a stubborn barrier against which the flood of new-born desire must rage in vain. For, above all else, he held dear his plighted word. He knew now that the marriage o

pped briskly down the avenue, firm set in purpose to risk everything

are. With few exceptions, the nineteenth century plutocrat has been ousted from that section of Fifth Avenue; a giant democracy has reared its own palaces in the shape of hotels and office buildings which pierce the skies, stores which rival the proudest mansions of Venice in its heyday and Florence under Lorenzo Medici. Never in a

visible above the admirably proportioned cornice he caught sight of two planets flaming high in the west, and in close juxtaposition. Necessity had made him somewhat of an astronomer, and he had studied Chinese astrology as a pastime. He recognized these lamps of the empyr

ded young man who walked into the Central Hotel soon after ten o'clock, and found Detective

Steingall was interviewing the youth in charge

had to tell was hard

foreign lingo," ran the recital. "No, I don't think I would recognize French if I heard it-American is good enough for me-

n American," Ste

ung New York-in this instance, of a pronounced Jewish t

ive crowd. He did not realize that every newspaper office in New York was alive with conjecture of which he was the chie

you here still? Has anything turned up with re

out them," sai

repute as the "man with the microscopic eye," and he fully expected that the "sleuth's" p

really thinking about the mislaid key; not for an instant did he imagine that by that simple gesture he had

came the somewha

, w

private office over there," and Steingall thrust out his chin

var, I suppose

ccording to all the rules of the game as played in the dime novel, the tec' should have sprung on his prey like a tiger. Another person whose nervous system received a shock was the super-clerk. He

as to the hue and cry which resulted from Curtis's strange disappearance. The detective was a master of t

most of horror, which burst from Curtis's lips

ad-eyed waiter had entered and taken an order for four highballs. Even Mrs. Curtis admitted the need of a stimulant, but Curtis steadily refused any intoxicant, even the mildest. Steingall endured

man was the Jean de Courtois mentio

interval. But, if he had been thinking hard, so had Curtis, and the latter had outlined a plan of action which was fated

udicial nod of a man who state

u that l

N

re i

Hughes, a minister of the Protestant Episcopal Chu

s it doing

e married Lady He

the rare luxury of a semi-hy

she the daughter of

two such widely different names. Such knowledge usually implies a cl

orace P. Curtis had partaken of a

" she

ss, but she gave the astounded Devar

ung man, and I'll take some of

gathered his

aking seriously, Mr

serio

riage an arra

arriage itself

I don't und

nt to marry a French music-master named Jean de Courtois. I thought, thought honestly but mistakenly, that the man was dead, and, as it was of

at statement as

olut

quainted with th

N

en or hea

N

engage in this-this f

teingall with a c

rriage. Although I may have broken the laws of the State of New York by using a license issued to some other person, Lady Hermione

ss from a document discovered in another man's overcoat, that you went to her house, told

, bald. But you've got the affai

hussy!" broke in Mr

n her with a certa

pt, madam, I be

ives almost at a glance, and was sufficiently broad-minded to allow for the natural distress of a respectable middle-aged la

ermission with the emphatic ha

ce that the lady should be married

to put it in dif

ally important reason was. I

concern the New York

was in Hunter's possession-was he bringing it to someone

de Courtois exists. I wish now I hadn't. Don't you see, Steingall, I am in a deuce of a fix? I ma

ted colleagues when their obtuseness or faithful adherence to the letter of instructions permitted a criminal to be

rly awkward position in which you stan

el it acutely. What am

believe that you were concerned in this murder. There are not lacking circumstantial details which warrant

ally, and even laughed with a whol

len into the hands of a

"that Mr. Steingall has won my unstinted admiratio

Curtis at his true worth; even that astounding marriage was losing s

ed delightedly. "If Indiana knew what it re

that he would have expressed his sentiments in stron

trike me as being sane, yet you ask me to believe that you have acted like a lunatic. Well, let it g

should not have married Lady Hermione some weeks ago, but it is clear that he has used every artifice to delay the ceremony until to-night-and, it may be found when we learn the facts, was prepared to put it off once more till to-morrow or next day. Why? In my opinion, the reason is not far to seek. The Earl of Valletort and Count Ladislas Vassilan were crossing the Atlantic hot in pursuit of the unwilling bride. They arrived in New York to-night, and were so well posted in events, both past and prospective, that they headed straight for the flat in which Lady Hermione was living with her maid. Naturally, I am keenly interested in the causes which led up to a peculiarly brutal and uncalled-for murder, and, as my wife's husband, I have the further incentive of hoping to bring to justice certain of her persecutors whom I cannot help connecting indirectly with the crime of which I was, I suppose, one of t

on the Lusitania, Mr. Steingall, or you would realize that when John D. rear

of the marriage. Of course, no one ever before heard of such folly as this matrimonial leap in the dark, but, once taken, there was satisfaction in the thought that th

Steingall listened to the eulogy with a grinning rictus of jaw. In the whole course of his professional

stituted young man was not trying to hoodwink him in any particular-pointed a ready way toward investigation. The unfortunate journalist, Hunter, was about to enter the Central Hotel when he was attacked so mercilessly. As a consequence, some knowledge of de Courtois was probably awaiting the first que

, and wishes to have a word wi

enough in the Central Hotel he would accumulate sufficient evidence to electrocute thre

lordship

om he credited with having arranged this surprise in some inexplicable way, thrust his hands into his trousers' pockets and awaited the advent of Hermione's father with a calmness that he himself could hardly account for. Hitherto, his adventurous life had been made up of strenuous effort tempered by the Anglo-Saxon phlegm which disregards dangers and difficulties. Prolonged strain of an emotional nature was new to

keen-eyed, with drooping mustache and carefully arranged thin gray

Steingall, "and I hurried back here on off-

Curtis," said Steingall, silently thanking the fates which had brought abou

my daughter to contract an illegal marriage!" barked

t a few minutes' conversation with a lawyer will enable you to correct two misstatements in th

g and envenomed look, and appe

vening at eight o'clock, but, by some means not known to me, the marriage license came into the hands of this admitted law-breaker, and he evidently persuaded a foolish and impetuous girl to accept him instead of de Courtois. I am not an authority on the laws of the S

ll, who had not failed to observe Curtis's air o

nse and the signed register, and Monsieur de Courtois is known to

amning evidence of cons

ou mean, y

teingall, as representing the law, should hear the full tale of villainy. If your lordship will produce de Courtois's letters, cablegrams, and wirel

hout arriving at certain basic principles in laying bare the methods of double-dealing, and the Earl of Valletort was man

to waive aside Curtis's allega

to Steingall. "Have I made my req

answering a few questions,

whatso

Count Vassilan a

nutes after e

hat was happening with r

inqu

e, but fr

who performed an un

re to go so promptly

d of my daughter's

were

ll be given at

ht time

rate. I take it you a

ter for a civil than a criminal court. I guess he has broken the law, but the machinery for putting it in motion is not under my control. I am investigating a murder, and every word you

tered Unc

red into the Earl's startled consciousness. Here, in truth, was a new and disturbing phase of the matrimonial problem contrive

you at your word," he said, with a quick return to the se

only vitally important question

someone better able-or shall I say, more willing?-to instr

Devar. "This is the second time since the

turn you out of the room, Mr.

e that John D. has fair play. He only swerved

," and Devar knew that the detectiv

are situated?" said the Earl in the frost

d the unpleasing fact-unpleasing to Lord Valletort, that is-that the man on duty at the Dete

l a sealed letter, which the detective opened instantly after glanc

eft the Waldorf-Astoria in

sumed with laughter; he himself was chief of the Bureau, and Clancy was his most trusted assista