HARRISON KEITH'S QUEER CLUE:

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2641, 22 September 1919, Page 2

HARRISON KEITH'S QUEER CLUE:

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AMONG THE "REDS." BY NICHOLAS CARTER, Author of "The Finger of Suspicion," "With Bullet and Steel," "The Woman of Evil," Etc., Etc. PART 9. "Who are the two people with Malagoff ?" asked the detective. "That fellow countryman of his, Petroff Storky, who made a stall of being a chaffeur at most times, is one. The other " "Well, the other ?" "It's a woman. That's all I know,' declared Beau. "I have never seen her face. She came out of PalmerRobinson's house, and she has on her ball-dress at this moment." "Who is she ?" "I don't know." "But you can guess ?" "Certainly I can guess. But so can you, can't you ?" rejoined Bridgeman, with a grin. "Where do you think they have gone now ?" asked Keith, after contemplating Beau for a few moments thoughtfully. "I don't know where they have gone. I have told you all I could—more than I should, for I feel as if I had squealed," answered Bridgeman. "Now, if you will take these ropes off my ankles and let me get up, I should be more comfortable." "Cut those ropes, Dick," directed Keith.

Dick obeyed and helped the swindler to his feet, for the bonds had been tight, and he was somewhat cramped in his limbs. Keith looked straight into Beau Bridgeman's eyes, as he addressed him steadily, in even tones, saying : "Beau, you offered to give to Mrs. Palmer - Robinson letters which you thought would her if she would pay a price for them." Bridgenian nodded, as he answered: "I couldn't deny that, because you were in the billiard-room when I flashed them on the old man." "'And when he made you understand* that the letters were not so valuable for blackmail as you had supposed," put in Keith. "That is a fact, although I don't understand such old fools as PalmerRobinson." "A man of your stamp wouldn't," was the detective's cynical comment. "However, what I was about to say was this : You tried to get ten thousand dollars for them from Mrs. Palmer-Robinson. You did not get the money. I saw that you didn't." "Oh ! That was it, eh ? I thought

she was exhibiting more nerve than most women have when you bring up old love-letters against them." "Besides the money, you demanded that she should keep me off in the matter of the diamond. You supposed she.had. influence with .me, I presume ?" "Didn't it look like it, when she was so afraid that letters from you would be seen by her husband ? Wasn't it clear that there had been a mighty good understanding between you at one time, and wasn't, it reasonable to suppose that you would do anything for her ?" "Whether reasonable or not, that was your view," observed the detective. "Now, the letters are in her possession, and no one would listen to anything you might say about her, if you were revealed in your true character, as an ex-convict, with half r. dozen aliases against "you." "What are you driving at ?" "Just this : I can use you in rounding up the rascals who stole this diamond, and if you will do it, I will use what influence I can toward letting you turn State's evidence." "If I won't do it, what then ?" demanded Bridgeman. "In that case, you will keep on ■those handcuffs and go to Oak Street station, and after you have spent eome time in the Toombs, you will lake a trip to Sing Sing for a few years. There is the alternative." "I'll take your offer." It did not take Beau Bridgeman long to deliberate when the case had been presented to him in all its naked certainty. Besides, Malagoff had tried to deprive him" of his share of the booty, and had wound up by leaving him in this cellar, where doubtless it was intended he should remain until the Russian had left New York on the big steamship, and so would be out of reach.

Keith was too good a judge of men not to recognize sincerity in a voice, and he knew Bridf.:eman was in earnest. Xot only had the fellow the inducement of prospective escape from the entanglement of the diamondrobbery, but, in entering the detective's service, he would have an opportunity of "getting square" with Malagoff, the man who had "doublecrossed" him, as he expressed it. Bridgcman might go hack to his old ways eventually, hut Keith felt that he was to be trusted for the time being. The manacles were ofl in a jiffy, Keith using his picklock. It was not troublesome to open the £xont door of the cellar, although it req-talped the use of the picklock again. The detective slipped up the stone steps, which were immediately in front of the dirty-curtained front windows of the restaurant, and beckoned to the others. "Dick, you, Mike, Hans, and Beau go to my house and wait for fne. See that Bridgcman does not exhibit any inclination towards treachery." "Do you think he will go hack on his word ?" "No, Dick, I do not. But, when a man has spent about a third of his life in jail, you don't trust him thoroughly," answered Keith. With these words the detective slipped down the street and across to where Eugene O'Dowd sat, statuelike, in the automobile, awaiting his

j return. "Back to Palmer-Robinson's !" he I directed, as he took his seat by the j side of the chaffeur. "All right, sorr !" The machine had just reached the Bowery, under 'Gene's skilful engineering, when Keith suddenly said to him : "Follow that other auto going up towards Fourth Avenue, under the elevated tracks." "Begona ! It luks loikc th' same car-r-r Oi wuz chasin' down th' Bowcry an hour ago, so it does." "Well, overhaul it, anyhow," was the detective's reply. CHAPTER XXII. HOW THEY ELOPED. Keith's eyes were fixed on the au- ; tomobile ahead of them, for it contained four figures, including the I chauffeur, although the muffled garI ments they all wore made it impos- | sible for him to tell their sex. "It is easy enough to decide, howI ever," thought the detective. "There I are four altogether, and, unless I am I much mistaken, they are Malagoff, the woman —who may be Polly Winters, but I hope is not. —Petroff and the president of the Circle. Strange about that president. T seemed to i remember hearing the voice sornej where, but could not recall where I That foreign accent did not sound j honest altogether. If I were asked ; suddenly whether I considered it as- | sumed, I should probably answer I yes. Still, I don't know. I never j was brought into contact with these I Russian revolutionaries, except in the ' most casual way, and I have not the | president an the list of my acquain- | tanccs, so far as I know. Still, you never can tell."

Keeping the other auto at about the same distance as at first—that is.fc about a block away—O'Dowd turned into Broadway at Astor Place and kept on uptown till the first machine stopped in front of a telegraph-office, and two persons descended. "Stay here, 'Gene." "Oi will." As the machine slowed up, Keith, who had discarded his disguise, all but the soft hat, before he left the cellar, and who now appeared in his light overcoat over his evening clothes walked in the shadow of the high buildings, towards the telegraph office, where he had seen the two persons enter. ' He stepped into a doorway until assured that the other two persons in the automobile were not looking in his direction. Then, with his hat pulled well down over his eyes, be sauntered past the brilliantly lighted telegraph office, where business was going on briskly, as it generally is in such places until long after midnight. A man and woman leaned on the shelf at the window-opening in the glass screen which separated the clerks and operators from the public. The woman was writing a message. The yellow "blank" showed up the whitness of her jeweled hand, and, as the dark automobile cloak was brushed aside, Keith saw enough of the filmy pink dress underneath, with its hand-painted blossoms adding to the richness of the costume, to tell him who its wearer must be. He stood for a moment, gazing through the window, his back to the auto, wisning the woman would turn her face toward him.

"That pink gown is unmistakable," he murmured. "And yet, if I had not seen it, I would not have believed it possible. That fellow with her must be Malagoff. It could be no one else. But he is bending down there, with his hand over his face, as if afraid of being recognised. Quite right, too, the blackguard ! Well, I thought I knew something about human nature, but women are too much for me. I would not have believed anything less than the testimony of my own eyes." Keith was really grieved. He had clung to the belief that Polly Winters was too good a woman to be led away by the blandishments of any scoundrel, least of all by such a one as Prince Malagoff. "Her apparent dislike of him was all put on, then ! There is no mistake about it that woman can make the most double-dealing man on earth look like an innocent schoolchild in the infant class when it comes to pretending. It began in the Garden of Eden, and the same old game is still played in Broadway. Well, well !" He sighed and shook his head, and just then the woman turned, so that, peeping at her from the corner of the window, he had a full view of her face. It was Mrs. Palmer-Robinson, formerly Polly Winters ! Harrison Keith did not wait to see more. He slipped away from the window and walked a little distance up town and stopped. He saw that the auto was still outside the telegrs.ph-ofnce, and it oc-

curred to him that the prince must also be sending messages to some one, and that it might be useful to know what they were. "And yet I don't know," he reflected. "It would be better for me to keep them in sight than to go after the messages. It would take me a quarter of an hour to persuade the clerk there to let me see them, and, perhaps, he - never would allow it, even when I had showed all my credentials. No ; J'll watch poor Polly, and maybe I can save her yet." He saw the two come out at that moment, and observed how carefully the man helped her into the auto. "Of course ! She is so precious that you cannot be too careful now," he said to himself. "It may be different later. If this affair had not come into the game, I might, have grabbed Malagoff and let it go at that. I have the diamond all right, and when I have laid my hand on all the thieves beyond the possibility of mistake, the job will be done." The auto containing Mrs. PalmerRobinson rumbled by him leisurely, still heading for up-town, but he could not distinguish the faces of any of the occupants. "Where arc they going ? That is what I can't understand," he muttered. "Hello ! Here comes 'Gene. He did not wait for me to come af-

tci" him." : Wh:n seated by the side of his I chauffeur once mere, the detective I ns'ccd 'Gene whether he recognised* j eiiher of the persons who had gone |in!o the tci'graph-office. j "Share Gi did not. They wuz too I fur away, an' th' loight on'y fell on wan soldo av thim, so it did," 'answered 'Gene. "V/sll, keen.'the machine in sight,'' dclarcd Keith, somewhat irritably, for the erratic movements of the party he had been trailing all night began to make him fear he was the poss.ssor of nerves, after all. j The foremost anto did not move , fist enough to incur danger of arj r.'st for exceeding the speed limit, but it kept on steadily, so, that it covered a great deal of ground in a short space of time, comparatively. At last, turning to the east, and before 'Gene O'Dcwd realised what was • going to happen, the machine stopped in front of Keith's own house. O'Dowd pulled up chort. "Phwat do yez t'ink o' dat ?" he ; whispered, in awestricken tones. \ "Gurious !" conceded Keith. "Gur'ous ? Phwell, Oi'm bettin' me gran'mother's Sunday boots it's th' limit. Phwat are yez goin' ter do now ?" ; "Go home," was the detective's smiling answer. "An' arrist thot shpalpccn av a ; Kooshian ?"

"Probably." "Tlr'n Oi fergive yez. But, faix ! Yez tcks things so blamed easy thot Oi'm afther wondberin' somehow whether ter tek yez seriously or some ither way, d'yez moind." "There is nothing to be excited about, 'Gene," insisted Keith. "For some purpose of their own, these fellows are coming to my house, what they want I do not know, but I will see when I get in." "Who's goin' ter let thim in now ?" asked 'Gene. "Dick Rogers, I hope."

"Och ! Oi see ! Yez are th' wise gazabo, afther all, Musther Keith. Oi w'u'dn't wondher, now, if this here wuz all a scheme av yer own ter git thim robbers inter yer house, where yez can put the bracelets on thim widout no inconvaynience, eh ?" "I can't take credit for that, I am afraid, 'Gene. I did not know they were coming here. Indeed, I had no idea that they would. But they are getting in, I see." The four figures, all with cloaks that covered them to their feet, and all wearing slouch-hats except the chauffeur, who had on a regular leather automobile-cap, had been standing on the upper door-step, when the door opened and three of them disappeared, leaving the chaffeur outside. "They are not taking Petroff Storky inside, eh ?" thought Keith. "Well I didn't want him in particular. It has not been shown that he had anything to do with stealing the Van Vonder diamond, nor even the imitation. If he chooses to conspire against the Czar, that is his own business. As for the others, I shall see what they have to say." "Shall I keep the auto outside ? Or do you want me to go in wid yez ?" asked 'Gene. "Yon can stny out here, 'Gene," replied Keith. "I think I can take care of those two men, if accasion arises. As for Mrs. Palmer-Robin-son, I am not looking for her to become belligereant." "She's a foine leddy, sorr," agreed 'Gene.

Keith did not know who had opened the front door for the visitors who had just disappeared, but supposed that Dick and the others were in: icie. As soon as he was in the hall and had shut the door, he heard the voice of Mrs. Palmer-Robinson wondering loudly when he would be in. "I made sure Mr. Keith was here," she was saying. "I heard that he had gone home some time before I left, and I supposed, of course, he would be here by this time." "Yes. We have been a long way around town," replied a man, whom Keith could not see from his position in the hall, but whose tones were familiar to him.

They were not the accents of Prince Malagoff. "Great Scott !" muttered Keith. "What does all this mean ?" To his astonishment, another voice took part in the conversation, expressing the opinion that Mr. Keith will not be long. We must wait for him as patiently as we can." This voice was feminine, and yet it was not Mrs. Palmar-Robinson's. "There is only one thing for me to do, and that is to present myself," decided Harrison Keith. He strode through the half-open doorway of the spacious comfortable apartment, with its wide fireplace and massive table, and found himself looking at —Mrs. Palmer-Robin-son, Mina Dykeman, and Hugh Allen ! For a few moments the detective gazed from one to the other, with an expres?ion half-amused, half-puzzled. "I did not anticipate this pleasure,' he said, at last. "Of course you didn't, Mr. Keith," laughed Mrs. Palmer-Robinson. "But here we are, and I hope you understand why." "I am afraid I do not," he confessed. "Oh, Mina ! Do you hear him say that he does not understand what has brought us all to his house at one o'clock in the morning ? What an extraordinarily dull person this famous detective can be sometimes," went on Mrs. Palmer-Robinson banteringly. "I do not see how he ever manages to detect crime or catch criminals at all." "That sort of work, dealing with crime and criminals, is simplicity it-s-df, compared with following the quick intellect of a bright American young woman," was Keith's gallant answer. "1 throw myself on your mercy for an explanation." "You shall have mercy, although I do not know that you deserve it, because you should have seen through it all at once. Well, then, in a few words, this is Miss Wilhelmina Dykeman." Keith bowed. "Of course, I know Miss Dykeman.' "Th«n you know a perfectly lovely

I girl," declared Mrs. Palmer-Robinson I enthusiastically, as Mina shook her j head reprovingly. • j "Ye-, you are lovely. You know you are. We all know it. And this, Mr. Keith," she went on, indicating , the third member of the party which I the detective had been pursuing in , the auto, "is Mr. Hugh Allen." j As Keith and Hugh Allen acknow- ; ledged the introduction —although it ! was superfluous, for each knew the other alroady by sight—Mrs. Palmerj Robinson finished up by saying the j most important thing, woman-like, .in I what may be called a postscript : j "And Mina ar.d Hugh have eloped. i You have to see them through, Mr. Keith." "I ?" he said hesitatingly. "Why, how " "I don't care how, Harrison Keith"

she replied. "But do it, or —never ; call yourself a friend of—of—of— Polly Winters again." CHAPTER XXIII. READY FOR A DUEL. Harrison Keith saw that his three visitors were comfortably seated, and then he looked judiciously across his table at all three, and demanded j particulars. I "You tell him, Polly," requested Mina. ' . "No. I am always talking. Do it j yourself, Mina." j "I can't. Go on, Polly. You have j taken so many risks for me, and ; have gone to so much trouble, that I am sure you will not refuse me 1 this. If I were to do it, I should take up so much time in trying to explain what an angel you have been to Hugh me, -that I.know I never., should get out the story of the elopement at. all." Mina said this with so much earnestness that Polly Winters could not resist her pleading. "Very well, then. Here it is, Mr. Keith," she began. "You know that Hugh and Mina have been secretly engaged for nearly a year." "Interesting, but I did not know it," remarked Keith, with a smile. "You might have known it. Did you ever hear of a lovely girl like Mina, and a splendid young man like Hugh Allen, to be meeting every day for a year without falling in love ? I mean, of course, if both were free at the beginning ?" "Let me hear the rest of it," requested the detective. "Unless you want me to finish it." "You may as well," pouted Polly Winters. "You know it, I can see, although you did pretend you were surprised." I

"I-was surprised to find you here," he answered. "I was pleased, too, naturally," he added quickly, before Polly Winters could challenge him, as was her evident intention. "You see, as Mr. Dykeman is not inclined to accept me for a son-in-law," interjected. Hugh, "the only thing left for us was to run away." "So you did it to-night, and Mrs. Palmer-Robinson, in the goodness of her heart, left her guests before the ball was over, at her house, to help you to do it, said Keith. "I see all that. But?.how are you going to be married, and what are you going to do afterward ?" "As for the ceremony, you must find them a minister now, so that they will be irrevocably tied together in case .they are discovered by the father of the bride," put in Mrs. Palmer-Robinson decidedly. "After they are married, they are going to Europe. They want to go on the "Dautechland" which will sail from Hoboken at half-past ten o'clock in the morning." , "On the "Dcutschland," repeated the det:c:.ive mechanicr.]^-. "Yes. So there is not much time. Who is the minister you intend to get ? Will you telephone ?" "I suppose that will be the better plan." "Excellent !" declared Hugh. "But do you think a minister will care to get up at this time in the morning, even to perform a marriage ceremony ?" he went on doubtfully. "Care ? Of course he will care. He will be delighted," insisted Mrs. Pal- I mer-Robinson. "There is nothing more joyous in life than a wedding, and no one knows that better than a : min'ster. Who will you get, Mr. j Keith ?" Harrison Keith had reached for the telephone directory without answer- ! ing, as he tried to think of some one , who would not be scandalized at such a request, at such a time. j 'There is the Reverend No ; he wouldn't do. He'll tell all the news- | papers. Or Doctor No ; he is of the old school, and I don't believe he j would solemnize a wedding without his full choir and the church decorated with flowers and palms. I suppose I must fall back on the Reverend—" | At that instant the bell close to his ear rattled gently, as if some j one had just touched the button out- • side, and then moved his finger away, so that he would make as little noise as possible. "Dick Rogers," said Keith to himself, as he rose.

He opened a door behind him leading to the small consultation-room he used when he desired absolute privacy with a client, and motioned his three visitors to go in. "Keep quiet when you are in there, no matter what you may see or hear in the next half-hour," he warned them. "Half an hour ?" cried Mrs Pal-mar-Robinson. "Do you suppose it will be half an hour before we go to the minister's ?" "Possibly." "But these poor children want to be married," she protested. "Half an hour is a long time to them." "I hope it won't be so long." "I hope not." "But, whatever time must elapse, be careful not to make any sound that will draw attention to you." Harrison Keith closed the door, with his three callers in the consul-tation-room, when it opened again, and Mrs. Palmer-Robinson came forth to whisper, earnestly in his ear : "I have telegraphed to my husband a long massage, telling him I am with Mina, and may not be home till breakfast, but that I am quite safe. He trusts m« * so that I can do aH

kinds of things with, him that I should be afraid to venture on with fome men I know if I were married to them." j "Where did you telegraph ?" "In Broadway, not far from Union Square." "Oh ! Who was with you in the telcgraph-oflice ?" "Hugh. Mina stayed in the auto." "I see," replied Harrison Keith. "Well, I am glad you have telegraphed, because I happen to know Mr. Palmer-Robinson was much worried when you went out an hour or two ago." "I don't see why he should have been. I told Mrs. Reeves to go and tell him what I was doing." "Hum ! I sec !'* "Yes. I did not want to go to him myself, because I was afraid either that he would not like me to go, or that lie would ask questions which I could not answer, because it was Mina's and Hugh's secret, and not mine." • The bell rang again—a little louder this time—and, with an apologetic look, Mrs. Palmer-Robinson retreated to the consultation room hurriedly, and closed the door. Harrison Keith' went to the front door and admitted Dick, Mike, Hans, and Beau Bridgeman. Without a word he led them to the big livingroom. "They are not far away," was Dick's first remark. "Where are they going ?" "They are not going. They arc coming." was Dick's reply, at which Mike Donovan gave vent to a chuckle causing Hans to glance at him reprovingly. "Coming here ?" asked Keith. . "That seems to be their intention. They are within a few blocks of the house." "In an auto ?" "Yes. It is the same machine that we followed. It is rather a puzzle, because we thought you were on the trail of it when you went up the Bowery and left us there to follow on the elevated railway." "Ah ! It was not the same auto." Dick Rogers would have liked to ask his chief what had been the end of his run after the machine he had followed, but there was no encouragement in Keith's face, and he refrained. Keith strode anxiously up and down the room. It was not for himself that he felt the slightest embarrassment. On the other hand, he believed he saw a battle coming, and it keyed up his nerves with a pleasurable thrill that only the brave can know.

i "Let me try to look at it from Malagoff's point of view," he said, ; half-aloud, so that his arguments ' could be presented to his senses through the ear, as well as mentally. I "I can easily see why that Russian would come to me in these circumI stances." "How ?" asked Dick Rogers. "I was not exactly speaking to yon, Die'.:," observed Keith, with a smile. "But, as you overheard my ruminations, I may as well." \ i "Dr.t's good !" agreed Mike, settling himself to listen. "Malagoff did not recognise us in that meeting of anarchists. That is certain. Neither does he know we were in the cellar. For all he knows, I may be unaware of his taking any hand in the stealing of this diamond. When he discovered, as, of course, he did, that the 'cello did not contain the diamond " "Eh ?" ejaculated Dick. "Nothing. Keep quiet !" said Keith. "When he found that he had not got things in his hands as securely as he hoped, he naturally would come to me, in the hope of hitting on some plan which would put him in possrssion of the Van Vonder stone. Now, it is not time for you to be seen, Beau. Hans, you and Bridgeman go up to my study and wait."

The front door-bell rang sharply, and after Hans and Beau had disapi peared Keith motioned to Mike to respond. A few moments later Prince Malagoff entered the room, ushering in— Mrs. Reeves ! I "Good morning. Mr. Keith," was | the prince's salutation. Harrison Keith bowed in silence, 1 as he looked inquiringly from one to I the other. "Here we are, Mr. Keith," broke in the silvery voice of the fair divori cee, as she threw off the ugly dark cloak that covered her ball-dress, 'and revealed a handsome, opera-wrap thrown over her pink gossamer gown i with its spangles and rich laces, j which had been one of the smartest in the ballroom that night. I "An unexpected pleasure." "I have called on a business mat- ' ter," continued the prince. "If Mrs. Reeves will permit me, I shall be • glad to talk to you—confidentially." I "Confidentially ? You mean that you would like me to send my assistants away ?" Prince Malagofl bowed assentingly. "All right ! Dick, please go into the next room while I talk to Prince | Malagoff." I The Russian raised his eyes and stroked his black moustache and imperial, doubtfully. "I beg your pardon," he said. Dick Rogers' hand was on the knob of the door, while Mike was ready to follow him. "Sir ?" responded Keith. "Would you—er—object to your friends going to a part of the house a little more remote ?" "I hardly understand." "Well, the fact is that the assistance I have to ask of you is somewhat confidential. I may say that it is very confidential. Great interests are at stake." "Yes ?" "If anything should be overheard accidentally, it would be a violation of a pledge I have made to others, and would possibly lead to State complications, which might—er—you' see ?" "Dick, you and Mike go to my study up-stairs, and shut yourselves in. The prince's objections are reasonable, of course." "Very well," agreed Dick. "Will that do, prince?" asked Keith.

"Thank you, yes." "And Mrs. Reeves ?" "She is interested and in my confidence," answered the prince. "Dry's somet'in' in de wind, an' I'm bcttin* me shoes dat de wind is likely ter work up inter a cyclone if dat Rooshian tries any monkey bis wit' de boss," was Mike Donovan's summing up of the situation, as he and Dick went up-stairs, leaving Harrison Keith face to face with Prince Malagoff in the living-room. CHAPTER XXIV. KEITH CALLS A BLUFF. No sooner had the young men vanished, with the closing of the door, than Prince Malagoff stepped over to it and turned the key. "I hope you will pardon the liberty," he said, with an unpleasant smile lifting his black moustache. "I wanted to make sure that those gentlemen i would not come in when not expected, and thus overhear what we may have to say to each other. That other room. Is it " Keith threw the door wide open, permitting the Russian to look in, after stepping in himself and standing at the side of the doorway so that only half the room was visible from the other apartment. The action was performed so naturally that the prince had no suspicion of the presence of anyone else. If he had penetrated farther, he might have seen Hugh Allen, Mina, and Mrs. Palmer-Robinson all crowded behind the, door, holding their breath in response tc* the warning glance shot at them from Keith's eyes when 'he threw it open. It was a critical moment, but it passed without the prince making any disco'very, and Keith closed the room again without comment. It is true that the prince looked sharply at • the keyhole, but, seeing there was no key there, he did not trouble to ask for one, taking the risk of some one coming in that way. Mrs. Reeves in her dainty ball-dress with the light opera-cloak lying over her shoulders, its swan's-down edging only accentuating their snowy whiteness, lay back in her chair, with a curious smile curving her lip, as the prince and Keith came back from the door. "Now, Prince Malagoff ?"

\ There was cold business in HarriI son Keith's accents, and the Russian felt,, that he needed all his skill of fence if he were to win- the battle about to begin. Prince Malagcff was aware that he had a foeman worthy of Irs supreme effort. Hastily reviewing the situation and his chances, the prince answered, after a momentary pause : "I want the Van Vonder diamond." "I told you I would produce it by ! ten o'clock in the morning. It is now not quite two. There are eight i hours yst at my disposal." | "You have the diamond, then ?" i "I told you I would produce it at i ten in the morning—in the presence ' of the three trustees—John Dykcman Mr. Palmer-Robinson, and yourself. I will beep my promise." "If you have it now, why not let ! me see it ?" \ "I have not said I have it," replied Keith calmly. "You will see it at ten o'clock." The detective was in his swing- [ chair behind his table, with the light from the green-shaded lamp partly en his face. In front of the table Mrs. Reeves nestled in her chair, while Prince Malagcff stood by her side. There was silence for more than a minute, during which the Russian was evidently considering what could he done. At last he spoke, in a much milder tone than before, as he. took from h\s pocket an object wrapped in t.'ssue-paper, which Keith recog J nised instantly. (To be Contained.) The verier cf a suburban church has many stork-s to t:ll of the comments made by visitors.

On one occasion, when the church was decorated with evergresns and ■ flowers, an old lady walked up the 1 aisle to the chancel, and stood sniffing the air after everyone else had left the church. "Don't it smell solemn ?" she said at last, as she turned away with evident reluctance. "I don't know as I ever realized just what the 'orour of sanctity' meant before to-day. We don't have any such trimmings in the church I attend up in the North." SHE HAD A REPUTATION. Everyone knew that Lieutenant Thorleigh and his pretty young wife had failed to agree during their few years of married life, but no one quite liked to ask him where where she was living during his last months of training. So when an innocent new-comer inquired point-blank where she was, there was a rather intense moment before he said, calmly : "My wife is in France." "What is she doing ?" was demanded further. "Fighting !" he answered, calmly. "Fighting !" everyone exclaimed. "Well," he replied, "perhaps she isn't actually fighting, but I'm sure she's quarrelling." It was a hot day, and two sailors had just been released from a long spell of duty on a mine-sweeper. They made a bee-line for the first public-house they saw, and one of them ordered two quarts of ale. The men emptied their mugs in one draught while the barmaid looked on in undisguised admiration. The man who had paid stood for a second or two wetting his lips meditatively, and then turned to.his comrade with a grin. " 'Tain't so bad, Bill, is it ?" he remarked. "Shall we 'ave some ?"

Bachelor : "Before the wedding you told me that married life would.be one grand, sweet song." Benedict (gloomily): "Yes, and since then I've found it one grand, sweet refrain." Bachelor : "Refrain ?" Benedict : "Yes. My wife insists that I refrain from cards, refrain from smoking, and refrain from the club."