LADY VELVET OR, The Stroke of a Life-Time.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 124, 26 May 1900, Page 3 (Supplement)

LADY VELVET OR, The Stroke of a Life-Time.

BY fcICHARD ASHTON WAINWRIGHT.

CHAPTER XVI.

IN THE DARK.

Lady Velvet entered the church and Slipped into a pew in comparative shadow.

This much the detective made sure •of and then he quietly stepped outside again. No guesswork was necessary to construe the present incident as a significant one. This church was the one to which General Gordon Collins had led the detective in the early morning hours. Frenzied and cornered, he had indicated the man occupying the pulpit as the person who had made the counterfeit treasury plates, who had printed the counterfeit treasury notes. Extraordinary as the statement was, still more harrowing was the final admission that the divine in question was the millionaire's own son. To this church Lady Velvet had now come. This was, the detective reasoned, an ominous move. Perhaps it was the design of this queen of shrewd workers to take the counterfeit plates, hie to some other city or country, and in the, security of seclusion print off a fortune. Press, paper and ink were all she needed to produce an issue for which expert "shovers of the queer' would pay very nearly par value. Her dangerous dallying in the heart of the great city, almost in the shadow of police headquarters, her sneering defiance of Matt Shearson, impressed upon the detective the suspicion that there was something under the surface, behind the scenes, not yet fully developed. Her coming now to this church would mean but one thing—she knew the millionaire's carefully cherished secret, she possessed just as much iniformation regarding the history of those plates as the detective himself, if not more. To what purpose would she use the, knowledge? Blackmail? Scarcely, reflected Matt. She was too shrewd a woman to risk her liberty, her "sure cinch," for merely a few thousands, when hundreds of thousands would reward a little brief, safe industry. Therefore, there was just one thing to believe. Lady Velvet had come to this church to see the minister. She had' concluded business with the father; now she was about to begin operations with the son. Matt promenaded thoughtfully up and down the. pavement, casually watching the people file into the place of worship. , As he noticed a bent old man come around from a little door at the side he became interested in him, for he guessed that he was the sexton, or some servant of the church. Matt put his hands behind him and sauntered slowly, as he scanned the edifice in an admiring and critical way that could not fail to attract attention. "A fine building, this!" remarked the detective, seemingly merely an interested stroller and sight-seer. "Ay!" said the sexton; pleased at the. praise, "a very* fine church, don't you think so, sir?" "I do, indeed." • "And quite as fine a man at its head!" This was the. very person about Whom Matt wished to be informed. "I have heard so," he observed. 'Let^e see—his name is? " "The Reverend Morse Collins." "Son of the, millionaire General Gordon Collins?" "The same. A wonderful man, our pastor," enthusiastically exclaimed the sexton. "He is a power, sir, a decided power." "Has he been here, long?" "Over three years." "Young?" "About thirty-two, I should think. "And married?" "No, sir—not yet." •' "But likely to be, I suppose?" insinuated Matt, "reading the frank, expressive face of the old sexton. "Well, I suppose it's no great secret, answered the other; "he, is to be, yes, sir. It is quite a romance." "You interest me." "He has been engaged to a most beautiful and estimable young lady for several years." "Some New York lady?" "Miss Ethel Lyndon—a good old family, though somewhat in reverses at present," "I see." _ "There are only two of the Lyndons now—herself and her. invalid brother. He is an old college friend of Mr Collins. Boyd Lyndon has been sickly for years. His sister has devoted her life to his care, travels everywhere with, him. Her devotion has delayed tho marriage. But they are back in New York again, and if the brother lives it is likely the wedding will come off soon, and if he dies then the same, but later." "Quite a romance, indeed," commented Matt. ."The Rev. Mr Collins must have had an early leaning towards the church to score so great a success in its service?" "No, sir; quite the contrary. He was inclined for a public life, so to speak, when young." "In what way?" "His father's military position secured for him a position at Washington in the Treasury Department." Matt was getting close to needed facts. "Ah, indeed," he murmured. "For some time he was in the Engraving Bureau. They said he was in k Une for rapid promotion when he beI gan studying for the ministry." "And has made a success of that instead." 1"A famous one, sir. Won't you step in and hear him? It will repay you." "I believe Twill." Matt're-entered the church and took a seat quite remote from the pew occupied by the woman he had followed • thither. Food for thought had come with the sexton's enlightening statements. Matt speedily constructed a theory to fit the facts. .He decided that Morse Collins had manufactured the counterfeit plates while in the Government service. He had fallen into temptation, had printed some, of the notes, became timid or remorseful, aud possibly had turned to the Church to make amends for his great lapse from morality. He had hidden the hated objects in an old desk. His father had accidentally unearthed them.

The millionaire had probably not j told the son of his heart-breaking dis- - covery. Only under terrible stress of peril and terror had he made the confession to Matt. j : Of all this Lady Velvet must be j aware. This probably accounted for ; her presence at the church. ! The detective now closely watched j Lady Velvet, her every movement and pose. For a full half hour she sat leaning eagerly, intently towards the distant pulpit. There discoursed the reverend speaker, and Matt conceded that he was no ordinary person in oratorical gifts. There were fervour, power and sincerity in the fine, classical face of the Rev. Morse Collins, and the detective felt sorry that so promising a life could have a dark blot on the escutcheon of its past. . Under the heavy veil Lady Velvet seemed to be undergoing considerable emotion, for she fluttered in an agitat- : ed way, and when the discourse was ended sank back like one who had been l deeply impressed. Matt watched her hands fumble in | her lap. A cellection was about to be : taken up. j Lady Velvet selected a coin from her j purse, but that was not all. Her pocketbook had a two-sheeted memorandum card, and upon this she began to write industriously. She scrawled hurriedly, erased, tore the sheet boldly out. One she crumpled and threw to the floor; the other, filled with writing, she folded three j times, tracing an address on the back. As the collecting basket passed her the folded card and coin she deftly j dropped within it. Then she arose, east a long look at I the minister, aureoled by the refulgent altar lights like some young saint, and , left the church. Matt saw that she had acted impulsively, and in this peculiar way had sent a note to the clergyman. j Whether it was a warning of a threat, however, he felt that the time was not ripe yet to disturb the Reverend Mr Collins. He would very much like to see the ! preacher's face when he was handed that queer contribution to the collection basket but he arose as Lady Velvet disappeared. Matt reached the outside by way of the pew- she had just occupied. He had seen her drop one sheet of her writing material. He found it crump- ! led on the pew carpet, and he possessed himself of it. ■ Matt* at once took up the return j trail of the woman on whom his inter- \ est was so strongly centred. Lady Velvet went straight, back to . Lewinsohn's pawnshop. Matt saw her safely housed. Then he Went for his supper. At the restaurant he scanned the fragment of paper he had picked up in , the church. I It was a blur of scrawlings, evidently abandoned beginnings, of a communication to the Reverend Morse j Collins. Matt would have given considerable to have known the import of the com- j pleted note. Still, he felt that whatever Lady Velvet's plans, he occupied an advantageous position, and he re- | solved to risk no impetuous breaks even if things moved exasperatingly slow. • | When he got back to Lewinsohn's his employer was shutting the street door. ! "You are a good eater!" insinuated the old Jew. Matt only laughed. "Are you as good a sleeper?" "Yes, and an early one," yawned i Matt, "Then you will not care to go out again, my friend?" "Surely not," "Goot!" Matt went to the room apportioned to him. Lewinsohn locked the front door. Matt had done some thinking since entering the place. Lady Velvet had appeared in the pawnshop building mysteriously, as if dropped from space. He had seen her re-enter. She was nowhere about now. The pawnbroker had shut himself in. There was only this little cubby hole and the one bed for sleeping accommodations. Lewinsohn was about to disappear as Lady Velvet had disappeared. There must be some secret interior entrance and exit. jAs Matt heard the pawnbroker lum- ! Bering toward his room, ho rapidly knocked the contents of a shelf across I its threshold. The shelf held, among other things, a comb, brush, and a coverless china box full of tooth-powder. j Matt was industriously hunting for I the comb and brush as his employer I trod upon the scattered powder. "Huh! Neffer mind. lam going to see a friend." "Alll right," nodded Matt. "Will you put out the light in the shop?" |"I will put it out." j Matt did not try to pump his em- ' ployer as to where he was going to sleep; he had a way of finding out for i himself, he fancied. He heard the thumb-screw click as the gas was turned out; the light in his own room only remained. Then he traced the soft, retreating footsteps of Lewinsohn, a sliding noise, the catch of a bolt, and the detective knew that he was in solitary possession of the pawnshop. The Jew had by some secret exit gone to join Lady Velvet, and Matt started on his trail, feeling that his night's work was cut out for him. CHAPTER XVII.' TRAPPED. Matt had spilled the pink tooth powder for a purpose. On the shelf where it had rested was an indescribable litter, a candle end along with other things. The detective lighted this. Shading it with his hand and stooping toward the floor, he easily traced the powder trail—Lewinsohn's foot-marks were a very clear guide. They led him up to the partition wall of the next building; they ceased where a screen rested against the wall. Matt pulled this aside and peered. He had a swift eye for detail, and he saw in the wall surface well-defined lines and a curious key-hole. "A steel sheet, hinged, and an intricate lock," he discovered, feeling softly, and blew out the candle for fear its rays might show through. As he stood debating and listening he fancied he caught the vibration of voices against the wall. Matt followed the direction of the sounds with a few noiseless steps. The vibration grew to an increasing hum. Where it echoed fullest he paused again. He was now aware that he had come to a point where some break or especial thinness in the partition existed,

rendering the sounds beyond more distinct. Groping cautiously, he felt a. strip of wood nailed on the wall, and from this some old garments hung. These covered a decided embrasure, he discovered. In its ccnire a stout piece of board was tightly inserted. It was nothing more nor less than a blind window.—the counterpart of those used in apartments, offices, restaurants, where it is necessary to con- | veniently pass small articles from j room to room. It was about a foot square. It was j through this break in the solid wall j that the sound of voices came. Matt could distinguish them: —the gruff nasal twang of Lewinsohn, the j softer tones of Lady Velvet. : "My tear!" said the pawnbroker, as j if in expostulation. j "Ah! it is all right there." \ "If the crowd should ever lay eyes on it!" "We do not propose to let the crowd in here, do we?" "No, no, my tear." "So—come along." Matt held his breath to enable him to accurately note the movements that accompanied this brief conversation. He inferred that they were alluding to some parcel or package she was stowing in a recess, cabinet, closet or wall pocket. Matt distinctly heard the slight sound of a package as it was placed in its receptacle, and a graze, as of a sliding- door or panel. Its vibration told him that it was set against the partition, close to the side of the blind window. A logical inference flashed upon his brain. "Perhaps the package contains the counterfeit plates," he mused. Now there was the sound of double footsteps moving at a distance, and Matt thought he heard a door creak open, and then close again.. "The situation was getting highly intrrestdngi. He contemplated an exploring expedition. His hand immediately groped about the embrasure and across the barrier set at its centre. He could not move it. Neither up nor down would it stir, nor in nor out, though it rattled. Matt wondered how it operated. He risked relighting- the candle, for he was positive that the two persons he, had heard conversing- had left the adjoining room. Something curious presented itself to his view. Nailed to the wall was a wire soap-holder, and it was full of little lead balls. ,j The detective wondered what their presence could mean—he tried to surmise their possible use. Finally lie, g-uessed, for he discovered a hole in the edge of the window casing. The bullets just about fitted this. He took one and dropped it into the hole. He could hear it roll down a metal incline. It snapped a catch. With the click the wooden sash ran up as if on greased 'pulleys. Matt blew out the light quickly, as this bullet-in-the-slot contrivance was set in motion. "They have, their 'keys' too handy!" he soliloquized. Then he reached through the aperture. His nerves snapped with vim and vigour as his fingers marked the door casing of a narrow cupboard. IHe located a catch and cautiously snapped it. He pressed back a door and continued to grope. Matt was satisfied, if his reach prov« ed long enough, that he would soon discover what Lady Velvet had just placed in that cupboard. j The tips of his fingers rustled the edges of tissue sheets, and with forej finger and thumb he tried to tear away sufficient of the wrapper to enable him to feel what was enclosed. Whatever those tissue sheets surrounded, he was-certain that it was heavy. The detective now" wedged his shoulders as far into the aperture as he could, -to stretch his strained finger I tips a few inches further. I Matt- was thus employed, when he suddenly became aware that he had stirred up a hornets' nest. I Three sounds rang through the i stillness of the scene, low and rapid. They were: Snap! Click! "Ah!" There were the snap and flash of a gas-jet suddenly lighted—a round, full utterance of excitement. "Come, quick!" called the voice of Lady Velvet, sharp and aroused. "My tear!" Matt sought to extricate himself. The prize was lost—for the time being he must think of his own safety. jHe withdrew shoulder and arm j back from the embrasure. |He inferred that Lady Velvet must i have heard a suspicious noise, glided back into the room, and caught him thus deftly in the act. His position w-as perilous, and he \ tried to keep his face out of view at | all hazards. j His purpose must be palpable to the woman, and the pawnbroker whom she had urgently hailed, and who | now rushed into the room. ! The Swiss repairer would of course ,be suspected—for they knew him to :be the only person in the pawnshop premises. ! Still, if he could slip back into his room unseen, he meditated a lift of a rear window he had noticed, and a ' sling out of its shutter might divert ! suspicion. | Then he could leap into bed and ■ assume an expression of childlike innocence and ignorance when Lewinsohn came thither to question him. Matt had his arm almost out of the aperture, when both the pawnbroker and Lady Velvet must have reached the other side. The detective was whipping his hand back, when suddenly it was dej terred. Steely fingers, vicious and wiry as tigers' claws, embraced it. "Hold with me! Help!" panted Lady Velvet. . "All right, my dear!" Matt winced. In some way the pawnbroker had operated the wooden sash. It came down forcibly across the forearm. Matt managed to drag it free to the wrist. There he was held, doubly imprisoned. He could get no lifting purchase—he was a sure captive. "Suffering Moses, what does this mean?" interrogated Lewinsohn. "He was after the ?" "After the " "Sure, what else!" "So " "Whose hand is it?" The jig was up, however things might turn out. Matt realised this now, for Lady Velvet said: "You hired a man to-day?" "I told you so." "Did he wear that kind of a ring?': "Eh? Oh! It is one I^gave my new repairer to fix—yes; it is him. The

scoundrel! You scoundrel! Geyler, \ as you call yourself —is it you?" a Matt did not reply. "Go around and see." * Lady Velvet's angry tones con- < vcyed to the detective the conviction •that she was much excited. J "Can you hold him?" — "I shall try." ] The minute Matt heard the pawnbroker move away he made a desperate effort to release his hand. ] -1 The hand encircling his own need £ not have so struggled, for the edge l of the board cut while it held. What- ] ever the mechanism of the sliding sash, it could not be forced up a ] tenth of an inch. I [ Lady Velvet grew alarmed, however, * and did not know this. She uttered , ] a cry full of savage determination, i j She must have discovered the i weapon she next named in the cupboard into which the detective had probed. , "A razor!" she ejaculated. "You, Swiss repairer or full-blooded American spy, whichever you are—.stand still!" * " i Mali's flesh crawled at the drawing ; scrape of the keen blade across his exposed wrist. The peculiar sensation roused him - ito action. j Again he tried to draw his hand j - ' back, but uselessly. _ j > "I will cut your hand clear off if;, you stir again!" came the threat , .'from the other side. ] "My tear, I vill be into the shop , in ten more seconds." j "Be speedy!" < Matt winced and quivered. A se-!; cond slash racked his wrist. He felt i - a spurt like hot steam. A last desperate expedient sug- j gested itself to him. j He swung back, pressing the im- - prisoned arm close to the extreme jj , edge of the embrasure. Gathering force as he suddenly - pressed forward, he aimed his other ; fist as if it were a battering ram. - His fist was aimed at the slotted i centre of the piece of board covering the aperture, and struck with the . force of a cannon ball. CHAPTER XVIII. : "GETTING WARM." ;It was an awful blow; that Matt j Shearson dealt the barrier between . himself and life and liberty. j, Amid the echoes of a frightful crash , Lady Velvet's voice rang out, shriek- . ing with rage and pain. ! The detective had split the wood^ squarely in three places, and flying i_ ; fragments had probably struck the|' ' face of the woman, who until now, had held on to his imprisoned hand' : like grim death. , As she released her clutch Matt j turned in a flash. He heard the pawn- , ! broker near by. "What has happened?" shouted : Lewinsohn. j "Catch him!" !| I "Yes, my tear." "Stop him! kill him!" screaiTiWd", j Lady Velvet's frantic tones. j "Right away!" i There was a flare and a. bang. Then j came a second report, lOn the heels of the first report Matt • was safely in jlus room —with the echoes of the second he had sprang at the single rear window to the place. He did not know what lay beyond, 1 for the aperture had been closed all ! day—probably a rear yard, he calcuI lated. There was a third roar, as of artillery —a splattering like driven pebbles. The pawnbroker, Matt could trace, was at a case where he kept a number of pledged firearms. jHe was emptying them in rapid order. Matt raised the sash, kicked open the shutters, and leaped out, us from shotgun and rifle the pawnbroker got down to pistols. The detective was hurried' by the "fusilade. !It was a wild fire, but so much more I the chance of a stray bullet hitting 1 him. i The yard level was not the street ] eTe l_>latt learned this as he made quite a. descent. It was to land on a pile of small, empty boxes. These gave way like tumbling bricks. Matt lost his footing. He was also severely grazed as he^ slid to a lower tier. From this he rolled against a brick wall, and there lay wedged in. The fall caused considerable confusion and some pretty rough knocks. The detective took five seconds to recover himself. Then, essaying a climb in the darkness of'his unfamiliar environment, he quietly descended again. At the window sill whence he had j just jumped a light flared out, held jby the glaring, wild-faced Lewinsohn.. Instantly he hailed somebody, apI parently at the rear of the next building. "Walters!" "Yes?" "Hunt!" panted the pawnbroker. "Who?" "Some one—bad!" There was a whistle; then another lie-lit flashed dn the scene. 'Between the boxes Matt could see where he. was —in a little rear yard to the two buildings, brick-walled, with a row of sharp-pointed nails atop. Had the pawnbroker looked directly down he must have seen the detective, but he was too excited. Matt noted a fence door ajar, recognised a chance for a. shrewd dash, but took to crawling to safer quarters. Shelter just now was solely what he was after—a chance to "pipe the outfit." ± . . Two men had rushed out to 30m Walters; Matt saw them, and he recognised in one Lady Velvet's ally and familiar, Sir Ralph's messenger from the Victoria. There was a deep, narrow box lying on its side, without a cover—a long, empty shoe case. The detective wriggled into this, lay still, listened, and, getting his pistol in readiness, awaited developments. '•Now then, where is your man?" demanded Walters. "Who is he?" piped one of the others. "He jumped on the. boxes. Why 1 don't you search for him. instead of '. staring like fools? May be he is a spy, lon the way to the police, for all we know." "A spy!" ejaculated Walters. " "Oh, no! A visitor, a guest!" ' snapped Lewinsohn, sarcastically. "I am coming to hellup you hunt." There, came another person to the window —Lady Velvet. Her face was white, her eyes wicked, as she took the lamp from the j-jawnbrokea-j, and he attempted -Jhe descent, / It ended in a tumble. After a groan ! Lewinsohn got up and directed the. ! search. They began pulling.over boxes and pried intoimpossible nooks of all descriptions. ' The detective saw that they were r bound to discover him. He was the 3 hunted rat; yet he coolly drew his re-

'•olver, set his teeth grimly, and calmly nvaited the outcome. '. His eyes fixed and his ear bent, Matt 'ocused his attention on a- spot diagonally across from him. Facing him was another of those larrow, deep boxes—a counter part of he one he occupied—aud it gave out a tollo'W sound just then. This resembled the kick of a foot or :he swing of a fist, A groan or snore 'ollowed, and then an arm circled outside the box, and then dropped inert mtil a human hand lay outspread on :he ground just over the edge of the side-tipped receptacle. "This big box," said the pawnbroker it this moment, coming nearer; and Matt saw the packing case that he was looking at move slightly. "Sh!" broke in Walters' voice sharp- | Lv. ! "This box " "Let it bes" "I swear I heard some noise in there!" "Maybe you did, and it's all right." "Eh!" 'Nvirnber Four—one of us; Daley, the plate printer." "I don't understand?" "I'll explain " Here there was an interruption. Lady Velvet spoke. Come in, all of you!" she said, and her voice was strained and nettled. "The man has escaped to the street. Can't you see that the gate isn't even shut?" As she closed the window Walters spoke to his two companions. They at once disappeared through the cellar Joorway of the next building, which, Mat now understood, connected with the pawnshop, while Lewinsohn, muttering angrily, proceeded to lock the gate. Walters expressed his fear that they were "spotted" and urged immediate action. "All rignt. That's what Lady Velvet wants to see you about," said Lewinsohn. "But." returning to the, theme, interrupted: "In this box " "I told you—Daley." "What's he in the box for?" taking i vague peep. "Oh, we had to make him look like x hospital subject, to smuggle him. ; across the city." j "Police lively?" "In his case. Then he would drink. He got noisy, so—l let him have drink, and planted him here for safe keeping, where he won't be disagreeable till we want him." "Dangerous—a man like that!" "Not when you get him right down to work. What's the programme? Are we to stay here, or " "Lady Velvet will tell you." The twain disappeared, as the two men had just done. The detective then came out from cover. Without difficulty he could have reached the brick wall and scaled it at his leisure, yet he did'not make any move in that direction, but analyzed tlitie new feature presented by the man iim tine shoe case. Tlltik senseless fellow was one of the e-rowd. A plate "printer," his knowledge of presses and plates was probably i(t be brought into requisition. Matt decided on a certain course. He did a risky thing-—he flared a match. It excited no notice in the buildings that he could trace, and as to the man it flashed over, he never blinked. In a complete stupor, he neither heeded the brief illumination nor the quick, rough handling that ensued. Matt measured the fellow's incapacity and his own ability and chances. In exactly two minutes and a half the detective "had things fixed" as he wanted them. A brief investigation assured him that Daley was "dead to the world" for some time to come. A cautious hunt about the yard brought to notice a blind baseineat area, really used to store wood in. and closed in by two slanting cellar doors. These had an outside metal strap and hasp, Matt carried the insensible inebriate to the new shelter, where he would be safe, and could be found when wanted, first arraying himself in the attire that had' bedecked the prisoner. As Walters had said, a disguise being necessary, Daley had been put in "hospital trim." He had resembled some sufferer from a recent trolley car collision, and Matt felt doubly safe disguised in the man's loose ciothes and wearing the false beard and mock baudages that almost entirely concealed the face. He had just got in trim when he heard a door open. Voices echoed in the still night air. "Which box?" was asked, and, like a shadow, Matt sped to the one out of which he had just dragged Daley. "That' one." The newcomers were Walters' two assistants. "Give him a lift," "Oh, my, but he's a dead one!" Theyr turned the box around and fished Matt out. He put just enough life into his growlings to make them think he was ugly. They led him through an open doorway, closing and re-locking the door behind them. Across a cellar, into another, up a flight of stairs, and then down into another cellar they proceeded; and Matt recognised that they had extensive and intricate quarters adjoining the little pawnshop. When they entered the last cellar the men eased their burden to a bench, where Matt instantly stretched out. Walters' two assistants at once joined a group in animated confab at the end of the long, dimly r lighted room. Lady Velvet, the pawnbroker and Walters comprised it. The latter was holding forth. "I don't see that we have any guarantee of safetj'," he grumbled. "Why should you worry, my tear friend?" smirked the pawnbroker "Don't we take all the risk, staying here?" "Then, why do you stay?" "So that 1 can wind up my business." "This discussion is useless. You must do as I say, Walters, or you get nothing!" broke in Lady Velvet, sharply. "I have engineered this affair of the plates, and I keep control." "Well, gd ahead!" muttered Walters, quite sullenly. "I have arranged for the boat tc take you four to where we shall run off thestuff. All you have to do istc keep patient till we arrive with plates and machinery." "When will that be?" demanded Walters. "In three days, at the latest." "And then?" "One-third for you four." "That goes?"

"It goes. Now then, send one of the men for the carriage. Let him look to it that no one is on the watch ; outside." "Who would suspect this building, my tear—three doors from the pawn- , shop?" suggested Lewinsohn. ' ■ "We must be cautious, just the ' . same," warned Lady Velvet. The detective understood what was proposed. The four were to go on in advance to some place, by water, where the plates were to be run off. The plates themselves were to re- j main in Lady Velvet's possession, it seemed, for the present; and this fact dissuaded Matt from helping to form the quartette in question. Then, again, there was the real . | Daley, in temporary confinement, but |. j who might come on the scene later. ! "An important point is to get out ' 'of here," ruminated Matt—"a still | more important one is to find what ; boat is taking them, and where it is I headed for." | Everything went smoothly for the I J detective up to the point of getting ■ ' out of the building. [ A man went away, and, returning, j reported "things easy on the outside," ; j and said he had a closed carriage for j | four at the curb. They helped Matt into it, accepting h's assumed identity without a question. j Matt felt called on to act his part, j lAs they shook him up in hustling : ' into place, he grumbled and hie- ! coughed. ! "Drink!" he growled. "You've had enough drink," said one of the fellows. "No! no!" dissented Walters. "Don't cross him. Jem's a good fellow! There, Daley, take a swig." Matt accepted the bottle proffered and acted the part of the thirsty inebriate he seemed to be. The carriage started up. The detective began to plan how far he would go with these fellows. "You'll have a job on your hands keeping him filled up," observed one of Walters' companions. Walters chuckled. "Oh, not at all," he said, lightly. "Why not?" "That's a dose of the last; it will settle Mr Jim Daley and keep him good and ripe till we reach the end of our journey." Matt Shearson gave a gasp. He had • taken a dose instead of a drink, and with considerable dismay he felt the "good and ripe" feeling mentioned by Walters creep over his fading senses. (To be continued.)