The Lion's Mouse

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12041, 20 January 1925, Page 4

The Lion's Mouse

PUBUBMED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

£W'

C.N. & A.M. Williamson.

Author W M Tki* Woman to tftts Moo," “ Th* Ughtnit Condtutor/' V.T*e Car .#» Qsstfoy,” £rc., «e

tCOPY BIO'S*

OHiAJpeW XXXVIJI.—CONXINUHB. used his influence, and pit'work in I<ue Angeles ns » jwwrftr on a ineWspaper, when he was' only eighteen v . 'He ws tall «tnd hand' aomie, and could jobs for two years older at least. : I became unhappy, for I’diiegnn to worry; about Stephen. I waa sure be jWae keeping some secret- . from me. But I/founa out nothing .till the crosh cajne. Oh, Reger, it wa*.fo>rribte. He’d fallen under the influence of those anarchists—those dynamiters, wfao had been terrorising, aU America for .yw*. They’d .perisaM'him that they, were .nobfo re forfeit Poor Stephen was a useful Ho new dm any of the dywK .with hie own hands, hut he. ugesysH moke bombs, and carry th«m frorn'lnlaoe to place, and take letfeca, it dwaPt thought safe to send through theSnet. It was the Mowing-ftp of] building in 4,ngclcs mu)- sW those innocent men being killjd thtt.'cidcened him, he confessed of-’ torwaefo, when at last ho opened his hawrito aw. But he Vae too deep in to free himself. It’s now two years agothoit the break' happened, and all a**' .► (life ooltapaed wtephen’s and mine.',.

«tho pld lot he’d worked ;—men -who bed managed ■ and never be suspected t 'Bums, ; th® detective, be Mama weans and their nee or two -yrho’d been on wriggled out from Dumb's- clutches. A man named Carl fWanaissr was the cleverest. He went abroad, sod was supposed to die in BamMpy. .But he didn’t die. . By jbotyfojp© tfoy were engaged in new enterprises, as the old ones were too risky; nut they always pretended to be, working for labour against Capital. 9<mm nforoo was their target two vow* e#»« TJbe war my **» tbat~be was pe,9“sfor a tyreni, a plutocrat, rpih-. lesdy 'cruaiuag the weak. ' The comrades knev our history—Stephen's and wwiarnamd they -triad to inflg*(& Stophaw ajgwnst Mr Heron, because of bis failure to „do for ns, what our father 1 * ♦erswet wd death had merited.'; .. But they made a big mistake when they ordered' my brother to dynamite a railway bridge just as a train with Hex®*rs private «r was dne to pas* over *t. - s®* refused, and threatened to warn Bacon unless they abandoned all tbear sehemes against hun. That gays Jbe gnag a fearful fright- They thought their one chance of safety was to suppress Stephen. A friend of his who lived at Home Colony warned him that there was a plot to kill hini; Be «»te? straight to me and told me the; whole story. . Neither of us bad much hope. We thought the comrade* were sure _ to gat Jrum jn the end. Then a wonderful thing happened. The train Stophan took, after, hip visit to me, I »“ Bvemhody in the car with Stephen was killed, except hinv *•*«“ An idea came to Stephen. He pnfc' H silver cigarette-case with his wswe on it ’ into the pocket of a man bran* part recognition—a man of ahost has own size. Then he crept ■way wad but for many days.': When he hoped It might-be fairly safe, he wrote to me, knowing I mourned for bun as dead. Hp asked ’me if. I'd ™ going with him to Russia and beflW “ new life there under another ■ '■w* Of «,pw i said Tre. ' ‘I fort the school, and same ieweQeiy I lmd kept as going for a white till were was a ship we could take for Japan, and so gat Back to Russia. We’d have to sad from ban Francisco, so possently wo wont to Oakland., trav■tef at night by local trains.' We nopod in. that way we should not be aeon b* anyone, we knew. * ft Whether someone did see os or not. I craft tell. Anyhow, from th* day' Stephen left me to buy ouy cabins cm the ship, I've never seen him againHe was kidnapped by the gang, and. than began my martyrdom. They cave me • week of suspense.' Then Igot e letter.. . It told me that Stqilun had bean caught and would, be punished' by death for hie treacberly unites I’d «tws to buy hi* life. I- was warned that if 1 went to the police it would, ■ be known, and Stephen instantly killed. If d consented to bargain I must put a" ‘panuntel’ in’ a San Francisco paper, aapfng Bteve's sister teys yes;’ in thatcase'’ an appointment would be ' made with » iflin 'who would tell me What to do to sake Stephen. “Of coarse,' I obeyed. Next day the same paper told ‘Steve’s Sister’ where to go for instructions, and at what time. I think the man who mat me moat have been Schmelzer himself, just baric from Europe.- Ho had the authoritative manner Stephen had spoken of, and a great deal of gesture.. He didn’t give himself any name then; but afterwards I knew hun as Cheffinslor. To- save my brother 1 had only to get a bundle .of papers, which were in foo possession of John Heron. They were at Albuquerqne, in Mrs Heron's bouse. ” • Heron kept them there because $e believed no one would suspect; but a spy the ‘comrades’ had hired to act as a ’gardener there overheard a conversation, and knew the hidingplace. Unfortunately he couldn’t put his hand on the paperß without killing a man to get at them. For mo, it would he simple, because Louis Mbreno was in love with me. He had charge of the papers, and would let me aee them if I ‘treated -him the right way.' How Cheffinsky found out about Louis and me I never heard; perhaps from Stephen. I was given a day to think Hie matter over. Then there waa to he another meeting in the same place. When 1 went to the rendezvous for the second time—it was in a hldu’t piade'up my mind. But, oh, Roger, " the, wyeteh showed me a snapshot of Stephen in a room, with a rojJfe round bi» neck, standing op tiptoe. The rope was fastened to a ring in the ceiling, where a chandelier had "been. If Stephen hid dropped from fatigue he /would have choked to death. ‘Six hours-a dav of this medicine,’ Chefifosky; said, ‘till you’ve nended us the papers we want.’ “I promised to go to Albuauertwe and get ’ them- Wjjat the papers were lj wasil’t tojd- -Afterwards I-heard more about them—ifrpm louts himself. 'The day :,of- tj» meeting in the park 1 I wte fayed' directions what to do. but they ward /changed hi a burrv. Thpi comrade* tort warning to ‘clear out-' I and go east as cnick as thev could. A tel«;tram reached me onlv a few hours .before I waa to start for Albuquerque. I

It said. 'Delay journey. Writing.’ and a letter name tl»e same night to the tjniei-.ljttle,boardinghouse where I stayed.. My brother, bad been taken east.' where I should i meet him when I handed ■o ver the I was tpld what train to take to Albuquerque, and what train to lease in : the Santa Pe limited. \ was to find reservations on board for. '‘Mias B. White.’ At Chicago I was to. get out of the train and find a .man waiting for me. You know all about that, and what happened. There was money, in the envelope, enough tp see me through to Chicago, otherwise I couldn’t have started, what I had was almost all gone. ■ 1 . . . T CHAPTER XXXIX.-OBTAINING TSE. DOCUMENTS,

'“There was oae iSins the comrades hadn’t .calculated upon,” continued Beverley, “and : that was that the Beams would be- at Albuquerque. When the pJaa was made they were at Lc* Angeles. and ejtpectiae to stay there. you most have bees with them—fust after the great case was decided in John Heron's:- faVour—thanks to you i But Louis had been seined With one ’of his heart attack—he had angina pectoris—and had wired for his sister. Dolores didn’t wish to travel without her husband. so both decided to so. As for Justin O'Reilly, it was at Albuquerque I first--saw him. It came out. that he was taking a short, holiday in California, and I heard talk about his visiting some place where he and his father had ,iy sf I - S°t the impression of his being a California man. Mr Heron had helped O’Reilly to get Into Congress, They weren't intimate, but Mr Heron; wanted to see him before he went east, and wired for him to meet them at Albuquerque. When I-arrived, expecting. to find only Louis in the house, the* , were all there. "It wa» a shock and 'Blow to-me' to find the Herons. I’d meant to lie, and tell Xduis Fd .come.to-see him because. l*d change4*.mv mind, aqd liked him better thaiTl .thought. Rut to account for my sudden appearance, uninvited, to. Dolores, who fc&fed me, was another matter “sbe and her husband thought I was Urrng quietly at school, mourning fpr my depa brother;, I had to make.up a story, quickly. I (mid that I’d lost fay pbsjtwn. ahd thought they would put me up at Albuquerque until I could get another. They couldn’ t turn me out that night. And pouiswas fairly well again by that time. He wap glad to see me. I .made the most of his welcome—fpr Stephen’s sake. Toil see; I had to suc\cged! I jvrate a note, and slipped it mto Louis’s hand; In it, I hinted that I bad something’ very particular to «av to him. He must go to his own. rooms -as soon-.: as-he could—he had . a whole suite to himself which he could shut .off . from the. rest of the house. It was on the ground floor. I said it would go to him. there. - “Now comes the most terrible part of my .story..- Roger, you may hate me when you’ve heard the rest 1 I went to Louis’s room. He let me in. I. told him that I had changed my mind! I would marry him if he...wanted me. to,, but oqly on one/’ eonditjdn. I said I’d beard from friends of Stephen’s - that Mr , -Heron : was/ keeping, papers: which concerned our dead: father ; thpt they were with, ether papers; m . the Albuquerque house, and in Louis’s charge. If he would give the whole bundle to me to look over, and choose wbat X wished to take away, I’d be his wife whenever he wanted ms. . - “He tried to seize me in; his arms, but* I said' I would go away at once Unless he kept quiet, and did as I told him. There was a packet of papers, he admitted, but' 1)0 vowed to me that they were only business papers. They ware compromising to John Heron, and would’do him immense harm—worse than ever, now that he’d, just come sue. cesafully through the courts—if they passed into enemy hands. I insisted that there must be 'something about my' father. There could be no mistake, and unless Louis would let me look, I'd never marryhim. He still objected, arguing thaf; all the things were in one envelope/sealed with three seals, which must not be broken, or his sister and her husband would, never forgive him. “He went to his desk—-we,were in his sitting-room,—and showed me a secret drawer, between two other drawers. ''He took out an' envelope—you’ve seen, it, ‘l’ll try to cut off the seels with a sharp knife,’ . be said, ‘and I can stick them oh again.’ While he spoke he began looking for the knife be wanted, and I snatched at the envelope. But his fingers closed down on it. He laughed in my face. ‘So that’s you* game I’ he said. ‘l’m not so soft as yon thought 1’ But I struggled with him. I was strong: he was an invalid. He’d just been ill. When, he realised that 1 was' more than his match, his face looked like a devil’s.' I shall never forget it: ‘You’ll pay for this!’ he screamed at the top of. his voice—an awful scream —‘Helpl murder!’ “Overhead was what they called the living room. I knew he would be heard; people, would come. I wrenched the, envelope from him, and ran for the window. I dared not go to the doors; I should meet someone and be caught. Louis-grabbed-my dress, shouting ’Murder.’ Then 1 seemed to go. mad. I gave him a push, and he fell over a chair, and lay quite still. I rushed to the door, locked it,- and took the key, to make a few minutes’ delay.. Then I jumped out of the window (I told you Louisas rooms were on the ground flopri and ran very fast; I won’t stop now to tell you the adventures I had before I managed to dash into the Albuquerque railway stotion, at thb last minute, after the train: came in. Once, in the train I began to hope that some other trail had been followed. It would nave seemed mors likely that I’d go west, where I had friends, than travel east where I was a stranger. Then I caught sight of Justin O’Reilly.. Even then l didn’t dream Louis was dead; It was a week later, when you and I were married; that I saw .in a newspaper about the beautiful ’ Mrs Heron losing her brother suddenly, i from heart disease. A date was men--1 tioned. the night I took the envelope. I Oh, Roger, I felt that I was guilty of i his death. _ Even to save Stephen I could | not have killed him. Do yon think roe a murderess? If yon do. just let me go from your arms, and I shall understand. You'needn’t tell me in words.” ,(Te be concluded.!