One Wonderful Night

first words to the hotel clerk, which would have given him furiously to think, while it is reasona

detect

ything about a Frenchman,

clerk

s in his room

s room

6.30, took his key and a Marconig

ld withstand the

?" he gasped. "If I don't get a pick-me-

rallel to the rapidity of existence in New York that evening. She was aware of statements being made in language which

rds. The notion that de Courtois might be close at hand had dawned on him already;

ked, not without a sharp glance at Curtis to see how t

onth," sai

ceived man

occasionally, and they dined together last evening

renchman. He had no more notion that de Courtois and Hunte

rtois's room," Said Steinga

ith you?" inq

hy

s, and I may be able to help you in q

teingall. "But, c

on't leave me out of this,

had long since passed the bounds of official decorum, and its irregularities

o no harm if you keep a s

Mrs. Curtis, desperately contributing the first co

here. Shall I have some supp

rink. "If any feasting is to be done later it is up to me to arrange it. The ni

eing inopportune for explanations, but Devar murmured,

each, John D. He points the

"As for my aunt, poor lady, she must think me the most extraordina

itish aristocracy. The odd thing is that I'm tickled to death by the notion that I, little Howard, put you in for this night's gorgeous doings. Didn't you wonder why I passed up an introduction to my aunt and my cousins in the Customs shed? Man alive, if Mrs. Morgan Apjohn had made your acquaintance to-day she would have insisted

the elevator attendant, and

xt higher one, Curtis happened to note that the route follow

nsieur de Courtois o

said th

directly b

have heard us break

r pardon.

light account as compared with your own extravagances. Let me warn you not to say too much before de Courtois. Even taki

the door? Surely, th

h! Here

e sound of a voice or of human movement inside the room. Nevertheless, they fancied they heard something, and the detective knocked again, somewhat more insisten

t a chamber-ma

to the clerk. "A little while ago I tried to enter

ne stirring within

cked, and there

n now,

hine was repeated, while there could be no question that a be

rl in an awed tone. "There'

lerk. He rattled the master-key i

ll right in every ot

ve been using it

ut to send for the engineer. Before we're through with this business we'll pull the d-d hotel to pi

smug respectability seemed to have vanished. Even to the clerk's own disturbed imagination the establishment had su

ause of his earlier experiences, and it was a cheering thing to be called on twice in one nig

a piece of strong wire into the keyhole, thinking t

," he announced. "A chunk of wire has been

side?" inquir

ey only from without. There is a h

rced open. On this occasion, there being no wedge in the center, it was not necessary to attack

ious to be the first to discover whatever horror existed there that he made for the center of the apartment without waiting to turn on the light, and, as a conseq

was lying on his side, and his arms and legs were roughly but skillfully tied with a stout rope in such wise that he resembled a fowl trussed for the oven. After securing him in this fashion, his assailants had fastened the ends of the rope to the iron frame of the bed, and his only possible movement

e was lifted from the floor and laid gently on the b

terror, and who would certainly have alarmed the hotel with her screams

ly as you can," he said, and the gir

dy be better?"

and aching. Probably, too, he is faint from fright and want of food. If we can ge

armony with a shock of black hair. A large and somewhat vicious mouth was partly concealed by a heavy black mustache, and the long-fingered, nervous hands were sure tokens of the artistic temperament. There could be no ma

penetrating glance, and would have known the man again after ten years had they been parted that instant; but, if he favored the Frenchman with scant

in a low tone, "leave the questio

out a word, but smiling slightly, he handed it unobtrusively to Curti

ing direct Fifty-Ninth Street. Ex

nt Vassilan and the Earl of Valletort of conspiring with de Courtois himself to defeat Lady Hermione's marriage project. Indeed, before replacing the slip o

, but progress became more rapid when de Courtois realized that he was in the hands of those who meant well by him. It was noticeable, too, as his senses returned and the panic glare left his eyes, that his expression changed from one of abject fear to a lowering look of suspicious uncertainty. He peered at Steingall and the hotel clerk m

le words, uttered in

ime ee

ty," said

'un nom! I haf

ere

all to-morrow. I explain

ilan have arrived. I have seen them, and nothing more can be done with respect to their affair tonight. I am the chie

ng to give any information as to the cause of his own plight. Nor would he speak French. For some reason, proba

re I fin' dem. I come your office to-morrow

l quietly. "You don't understand what has occurred while

s. I kno

tomobile outside this hotel shortly before eight

Did zey

ell me who '

ck on the bed, from which he had risen valiantly in his eagerness to be stirri

am eel; fetch a doctaire. My bra

pull yourself together, and tell me who the men wer

shut his eye

brokenly. "I know no ones, nodings. Milor' Valletort,

he journalist who was helping you in the matter of La

m, were revealed in each syllable; but Jean de Courtois was apparently deaf to the mean opinion his conduct was inducing among those who had extricated him from a disagreeable if not a

so thoroughly knocked out I'll see that you

ed to t

uires, but if he shows signs of delirium, such as a desire to go out, or write letters, or use the telephone, he must be stopped, fo

tly under the stimulus of

"Eet ees me who suffare, and I do not p

dy. Just 'phone for a couple of attendants, will you, and I'll

ur--" cried

on? I am losing time here," sai

on of my consul," sp

at large but speaking in French. "I do hope most sincerely that I may arrest those infernal Hungar

hat of a sufferer almost as seriously injured as Steingall made out. He collapsed utterly, and never lifted his head even

poken to Curtis and Devar while

rt, the rascal who betrays his friends receives short shrift from those who make use of him. He knows to

ost grotesque to imagine that a number of men could be found in New York who would stop short of no c

ersons are contending. I don't wish to say a word to depreciate her as a star of the first magnitude, but I am greatly mistaken if there is not another woman, either here or in Europe, whose personality, if known, would attract far more attention from the police.... By the way, has it occurred to you that Providence has certainly befriended you

a squad of reporters, and three ph

tis, "they've found you! Now we must u

he first difficulty by revealing a back-stairs exit by way of the basement. An attendant was sent to Curtis's roo

valuable information concerning Count Ladislas Vassilan; if, as Curtis believed was the case, she had already retired to rest, she m

and Aunt Louisa boldly through the lobby. A taxi was waiting there, and he gave the driver the address of the police headquarters downtown, but re-dir

te of apartments. He knocked at Hermione's door, and her "Yes, who is there?"

species of vertigo. Indeed, he was horribly nervous, since he could not form the slig

d Hermione appeared, dressed exactly

, "but it cannot be helped. Things h

d to smile, though the corners

she cried, and he had no oc

m will, I hope, be your very good friends-my uncle and aunt, and young Howard Devar, whom I spoke about earlier. There is a detective,

t the relief in her t

aid. "I shall be glad to meet yo

at they should be in New York at all. I haven't the remotest idea as to why they are here, or how th

em waiting. What does

u can tell him abo

an at all. I always

s you. And, I had better warn you that my uncle is even now consulting the head-waiter

a remarkably close semblance to the real thing. And as Curtis descended to the foyer to summon their waiting guests he decided then and there not to mar the festivities by any explanations concerning Jean de Courtois's second time on ea