Lady Larkspur

is play. While my enthusiastic praise pleased him, he was very scornful of my sugges

ad to see the manager before he got any satisfaction, but he did learn that her accumulated mail had been called for by some one whose identity was not disclosed. Of course this isn't much to hang a hope on, but if that play is what I think it is and Miss Violet Dewing ever reads it she's going to jump for the telegraph office the moment s

y will, I had become a minor character. I had rather prided myself on my ability to see through a plot in the fi

friend by Alice and Mrs. Farnsworth. The table talk was of Celtic poetry, and p

of my uncle's Japanese loot, and they had taken a long walk beyon

about here," Alice murmured. "I fe

r Alice dearly loves new scenes. She inherited a taste for travel

he scene, she declared. It was quite clear that there were chapters in her life that were not to be opened for my perusal. No sooner had I caught a glimpse of a promising page than the book was politely closed. A curtain hung between the immediate present at Barton-on-the

rose from the table, Alice said, with

"-she smiled at Mrs. Farnsworth-"it's rather he who seems to fear us; that, at least, is our impression, though we have no idea why he should do so. Still,

hey had led the gentleman on a trifle, "bu

ng on our steamer. We threw him off in the Canadian Rockies, where we stopped fo

ful!" I

dea that the man annoys us,

it!" cri

treasures. Antoine's story about the disguise is rather against that; but we will give him the benefit of the doubt. What we are hoping is that something really

d my aunt, "who represents himself as a

is easy to understand why

Montani is very anxiou

the pottery; but I sh

alian gentleman. I am going to ask a favor. He telephoned from Stamford this afternoon to know whether we had arrived, and

had told so frankly and plausibly did not, however, touch upon the matter of the interest shown by the American State Department in

erified the limp and other points of Antoine's description. His bearing was that of a gentleman; and in his very correct evening dress he hardly lo

ssed you at Seattle, and again at Chicago. Y

he was even more strikingly beautiful to-night than I had thought her before. She was again in white-it was only in daytime that she wore black-and white was exceedingly becoming to her. As we talked she plied listlessly a fan-a handsome trinket of ostrich plumes. A pretty woman and a fan are the happiest possible combination. There is no

ll followed it. And yet there was nothing novel in the delicate combination of ivory and feathers. I had seen many fans that to all appearances were just like it. Once, as she picked it up and lazily opened it, I saw him bend forward eagerly, then, finding that I had noted his

w to best advantage in electric light, do they? But I can have a

hair I could see her head bent over the big desk in the library. Alic

an do anything necessary. Yes; thanks; if

examining it closely. He faced the door, and the moment he detected me exclaimed carelessly: "An exquisite little bauble! I am always curious as to the s

as though for the pleasure of the faint scent it exhaled, and wh

hat had been set out on the table. One piece, as to whose authenticity my uncle had entertained serio

is inspections he lingered for only a few minutes and took his lea

ir of his machine had died awa

swered. "If he doesn't know porcel

s-" suggested

ontani's interest in Alice's fa

ing a mirror. The moment you and Alice went into the hall he pounced upon the fan-pounced is the only

ree years ago, and it has never been out of my possession except to have it repaired. There's a Japanese jeweller who does wonderful things in th

ers. It was a beautiful piece of workmanship

. I didn't want to risk breaking it again, so I've been carrying it in a hand-bag. The last day we were in Tokyo I think I had it in our sitting-room in the hotel, to make sure it wasn't jammed into the

r of dismissing the matter. "If it were a Jade trinket inscribed with Chinese mysteries, you might imag

sked Count Montani to dine with us to-morrow; and we migh

is convinced that the man is what we call in America a cro

morning Antoine appeared and, waiting until Flyn

rty came in last night. I heard him saying, sir, as how he had motored up from the Elkton

e Montani had spent the night there or had been a guest of the house within the m

u did last night-as though he were e

e. "He mentioned the Elkton just to throw you off.

e'll come a

, Mr. Singleton. Everythi

what, A

legraphing and telepho

verely. "All the people on the place must remember that Mrs.

e wire to hear my report and to say that Raynor

e to report that Mrs. Bashford is at Barton th

bell-hops. Instead of the company drills to which I had become accustomed they moved about in pairs along the shore and the lines of the fences. I learned that Antoine had ordered this, and th

two women, the curiosity of the American State Department and the visit of Montani required elucidation beyond my powers.

uld have a moat and drawbridge to make the thing perfect.

ations. Alice rose after the salad and repeated at least a page of Malory, and the Knights of the Round Table having thus been introduced, Mrs. Farnsworth recited several sonorous passages from "The Idyls of the King." They flung lines from Browning's "In a Balcony" at each other as though they were improvising. The befuddlement of An

Cawdor; and shalt be W

sideboard listening with

he play of light upon her golden head, to yield to the spell of her voice. Ballads had never been sung before with the charm and feeling she put into them; and after ending with "Do

antment has been spoken and was not pleased w

what's troubling yo

ll grow used to the poetry talk and playing at being queens. It's like children in

art to play at being children and can get away with it as

t for your walk, and Flynn had taken the ladies for a drive, so Elsie was alone at the garage. This person rode in on the grocer's truck from the village, which is how he got by the ga

I remarked; "he must be

her to take most particular, and it was to be done soon, to-day if she could manage. It was for the love of the Fatherland that h

ontani had inspected so eagerly. When I spoke of the change she had said the

her you, sir,

ed me. He told me further that the man had carefully outlined to Elsie just how she could take advantage of her freedom of the house to appropriate the fan when the ladies were out and the servants off the second floor. She was to be paid for her assi

toine bitterly. "And she was to be careful about Flynn.

on the alert. We don't want Elsie to get the idea that she's being watched; so tell the men

egan to think that the general distrust of the German woman by her associates might be responsible for Pierre's story. But, viewed in any light, I had a duty to perform. If Elsie had visited the house and purloined the fan, she

e creaking of the Flynn door was repeated. In a moment another peep through the shade showed me Flynn himself, and he, too, quickly vanished. Here was a situation indeed! If Elsie was keeping tryst with her co-conspirator of the afternoon and her husband was spying upon her, a row of large proportions was likely to

ld think me a plaything to commit a robbery for you! That I shoul

person she was addressing, who was certainly not Flynn. Amid sounds of a scuffle and the continuous outpouring of billingsgate the light over the garage door flashed on suddenly and disclosed Flynn in the act of precipitating himself into the fray. Els

y, and Elsie was not much his junior, while the invader was young and agile. The man had loosened one arm and drawn a revolver with which he was pounding Elsie in the face. I knocked the gun from his hand with my walking-stick and shouted to Elsie to let go of hi

nto a bed of cannas. This would have been less melancholy if Flynn, hard behind, hadn't stumbled ov

fugitive, surprised by the attack, had lost his bearings and was now far from the boundary wall back of the garage from which presumably he had entered

ightcap tipped over one ear, he was an enthralling figure. As he strode toward me his slippers flapped weirdly upon the brick walk. "There's somebody in the garden, sir,"

. Shall you dig in until mor

It's better you sh

but the old fellows were exceedingly nervous. "It's a bit su

ed, "because his line of retreat was

g on the long bench down there by the fountain. You k

s camping in the too

out, sir, and he t

ould say. If that interl

was still playing gayly, but the waters on one side were in furious agitation. Two men were rolling and tumbling about as though bent upon drowning each other. I swung the lantern over them just as Dutch got upon his feet, gripping his antagonist by

ate captive's collar to give him air and with his knees clamping the man's body w

m, he thinkin' 'er likely to do ut fer love o' the Kaiser. She said as 'ow she'd nail 'im when he comes to-night to git a fan she's promised to lift fer 'im. She said that'd prove she wasn't no Dutchwoman and recommended if I got the chance to do the same. I thought nothin' wuz goin' to happen an' wuz sleepin' on me bench here in the ga

sted by Zimmerman, the obliging valet, who had seized the occasion to show his hand on the side of the Allies. "Sh

ession something that vitally concerned the nations at war, common chivalry demanded that I handle the arrest of Montani's agent in such manner as to shield them. I was thinking hard and in my perplexity even considered sending a messenger for Torrence; but he was already suspicious

factory account of himself he would be released. He only doggedly shook his head. When I asked if he had been hurt in his bout with Dutch he smiled and e

e that night, I would assume the responsibility of detaining him until I had gr

m up in the tool-house. Be sure he has blanket

issiveness only deepened my perplexity, but I couldn't help laughing as he walked away surrounded by the "troops," with Dut

by their order. Elsie, sharing with Dutch the honors of the night, lay on a davenport, where she had received f

be no scars, I'm sure. We'll keep her at the house for a few days until she's quite f

t very cleverly, Elsie.

h bandages, acknowledged my

Montani and the prisoner in the tool-house. But the whole affair only moved her to laughter and she seemed less a grown woman than

arranged anything that would please me more! It's del

a prisoner without process of

dear old habeas corpus! The sheriff will come and read a solemn paper to you and you wi

be so fu

to be something irregular about the fan which had caused all the trouble, but I hadn't the heart to do it. To spoil s

d! Nothing is omitted! Strange visitors; fierce attacks upon our guards, and still the mystery deepens in the wee sma' hours, with heroes and heroines at every tu

e a vase of roses, chose a long-stemmed red one a

t to kneel in skirts requires practice; you c

was beyond the point of being impatient with her. I was helpless in her hands; she would do with me as

nly. "Constance will be calling do

at times came into her eyes as she stood in t

repeated, "and

in her eyes, and they were awake with reproach and dismissal. At the door I looked back. She hadn't moved an