Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 32, Number 278, 16 November 1907 — Page 6

mm

By BROUGHTON BRANDENBURG

Copyright, 1907, 6y Thomas U. McKee. IT was "Die Walkure" night of the "Niebelungen Ring" series at the Metropolitan Opera House, four years ago, as I remember distinctly, that this unusual entanglement came to light Rand nnd I were in the company of General and Mrs. Edward Blashfleld, and were chatting in the box after the second act, when an usher came up behind Rand and said: "Mr. Lawrence Rand? There is a gentleman in the next box who wishes to see you for a moment." With an apology Rand left ua, and almost immediately I heard the sharp click of a rubber band against the palm of bis hand, a little innocent-appearing signal which we often used, and supposing that he wanted mc, I too left the box and entered the next one. With his chair hitched up close to the one in which sat Rand was a man of remarkable appearance. Of medium height and slender, with a dark olive skin, flashing black eyes and a wealth of straight, black hair, splendid teeth and extremely fine features, he was easily recognized as an Oriental of high caste. His forehead and certain facial lines indicated a line mind and a delicate, romantic, sensitive nature. His age was about thirty-eight. Rand was endeavoring to repress an excited outpouring of some narrative, evidently until I could hear it also. "Mr. Duncan, this is the honorable Khan Nadjian, whom you will recall as the importer and expert in Persian rugs. Ilia place is just around from the club. He has a difficult problem for us, and as he speaks Italian better than English, I need you badly. Otherwise, I should not have called you away from our 'idends." So intent was the noble Persian on relieving himself of his burden of perplexity that he cm short his acknowledgment of the introduction and plunged into a veritable torrent of Italian, strongly flavored with the Neapolitan dialect. He was so wrought up that be was nearly frantic. Reducing his statement to important facts, in their proper proportion, the story was as follows: For ten years he had occupied the. second and third floors of a house in East Sixty-third street, sub-letting it from the owner, a Mrs. Terrence Malvern. Her husband wa3 a mining engineer absent in foreign lands the greater portion of each year. At present Mrs. Malvern had been gone from the house for a period of four months, on a visit to a married daughter, leaving the establishment in charge of her brother, a middle-aged person named John Coughlan. He had been a clerk in a bank until he was thirty, but after a siege of typhoid had become a helpless, dependent sort of individual, likely to do the most childish and foolish things. Nothing trlaiinal had ever been observed in his make-up, and he Lad never evinced any unusual cunning or curiosity. The first floor of the house was occupied by a bachelor surgeon, Dr, Justin Huntley, a specialist in 1 gunshot wounds. The doctor had been in the house five years when Nadjian took up his abode in it. There was an old colored maid-of-all-work who came above tho flrst floor each morning to care for the apartments of the. two bachelors. She never left basement after ten o'clock each day, unless eum.iid, and Nadjian never left the house until after eleven. For three mOi-..i3 his apartments had been entered :u ills a'usence by some unknown visitor as regularly as he left the house, the unknown nearly always disturbing, very slightly, some of the small objects in his library, as if looking for papers among his private documents. Several times he had returned in fifteen minutes with the purpose of catching the intruder, only to find that the unknown had come and gone. There were but two means of entrance to the house, the basement door opening on the areaway at the street, and the door to the doctor's floor, approached by the steps from the street. There was a vacant lot on the east side of the house, and an air shaft, ten feet wide on the west side, between the house and a towering apartment structure, which skut off access to the roof. The skylight door was secured with a strong Yale lock, the key to which lay among many others in a locked drawer of Nadjian's desk. The back of the house was barred at all apertures with an iron trellis work. Fo week a trusted clerk from the rug store had o one coming or going from either of the front s. Yet signs of visitation were apparent when Nadjian returned each day. It was proof conclusive, therefore, that either Dr. Huntley or John Coughlan were clandestinely endeavoring to get possession of something valuable which they knew, or imagined, Nadjian to have among his effects. There were many rare tapestries, pieces of Damascened plate, paintings on ivory, antique jewels and other articles, both large and small, of high Virtu, yet nothing had ever been taken away. "And now, you see, gentlemen," Nadjian concluded, "I have told you everything. I have absolutely nothing that either my dear friend, the doctor, or the miserable Coughlan could want that they have not had every opportunity for taking, but one or the other persists in coming to my rooms secretly. If Coughlan poof! he is a slow fool, and I do not care. If Dr. Huntley, I am grieved; I am hurt, I am mortified to the depths. I should not want to live, for he is more to me than my brother. Such a friend as tho heart of man could hope to find only in a million of these human wretches so I will not give up my comrade Mon Dieu, but I must know, or I shall go mad. I must know at once!" Rand and I exchanged glances. Nadjian's sincerity and feeling were evident. On the face of things, the case was not important in the least, save as Nadjian's peace of mind depended on its solution, and as it presented a most alluring mystery to us. Before passing, I should add that Nadjian, having heard of Rand, had been on his track since five that afternoon, and had only caught up with him at the opera. "If we returned home with you to-night. Khan Nadjian, we should reach your house after twelve. Where would John Coughlan be in the natural course of events?" "In bed in the basement." nd Dr. Huntley?" always retires at eleven, unless we play at

NEXT WEEK,

"Very well, with your permission, we will go home with you. Yes? Duncan, will you telephone to 'lorn Han way to pack a suit case with our ciothes for tonight and to-morrow, and take his post opposite Khan Naujians house, watching who comes and goes, and wailing our anival." Rand then begged Mrs. Blashfield's permission to have the Khan join our party, and after the opeia we three drove to Sixty-third street. We founu the house quite as Nadjian had told us, distinctly detached, with the two entrances. The entire front was illuminated by a street light directly opposite, In the shadow of the steel post lounged the huge, brawny figure of the Sioux student, tue suit case, at his feet. The block was deserted, save for him and ua. Rand called him over, found no one had entered or left the house, and sent him directly away. The doctor's apartments and the basement were dark. Within doors we saw that each floor had its hall, with four rooms to the floor, ail opening on the hauls. The doctor's rooms had wooden doors. The Khan's doorways were hung with jade and steel bead portieres. He had no means of shutting off any apartment except hs bedroom, in an alcove of which he nad iris bath. This chamber was done in an ancient Cingalese imitation of the roof of a house, with a parapet painted around the wall, an azure sky above it. In the domed ceiling, all in their proper places for the calendar day of the birth of Buddha, gleamed jewels of fitting sizes to represent the stars, and in the west shone a Silver crescent moon. Yv uen a broad, low, blue lantern was lighted the effect was entrancing. I ghe the detail of ; '.- ro. ni nieieiy to iu..oy an idea of the extraordinary character of th-.; o a s The front chamber ot mat floor was in the sem'ulauca of a bazaar in Tukestan. Tae dimu-rooni was .; .witin with carved black woods to resemble the cabin of an ancient Chinese war-junk, such as Marco Polo saw. And so on through the entire two floors. The door to the library was at the head of the iirst. flight of stairs, and two doors opened, front and back, into the other rooms, the one to the rtar being the bedroom described. The library was designed to represent the forest camp of a northern sheik, the trunks of the trees being bookcases, while the vistas in the walls were sliding panels with books behind them, and one corner was cut off by the front of a tent, through which one passed ino the next room. The desk in the centre of the room was a huge sandstone rock, hollowed out to accommodate large drawer space, which opened up at the touch of a knob. It was one of the most marvelous pieces of mechanism 1 have ever seen. Grass mats with a long nap carried out the effect on the floor, and in one corner, as if supported on a rock and a fallen tree, was a bed roll of rich stuffs, making a surprisingly solid and comfortable couch. At Rand's suggestion we moved about softly and talked in whispers, though I believe that the marvels of the illusion would have affected me so that in any

-a ri.-v.iJ jliUl oi. 1 .l.N event I should have behaved quite that way. As every detail of the rooms was carefully adjusted by his own hands each day, the Khan knew instantly when a book had been moved a few inches, when a curtain had been displaced,. or when a packe't of papers had been lifted from where he left them. "What cigarettes do you smoke?" asked Rand. "Always Teofani. So does the doctor, when he does not smoke Murias cigars." "Does Coughlan smoke a Greek Theopopulous? Here is the butt of one, still warm." The Khan's eyes seemed about to start from his head. He could scarcely answer that he did not know what Coughlan smoked, but stood with his eyes fastened on the bit of cigarette, following Rand's gaze at the smoke still floating about the ceiling. One thing I had noticed, and, on calling Rand's attention to it, found that he was also aware of it. Every sound seemed to be easily heard from one floor to the next and in the halls, probably from some accidental acoustic cause. In answer to Rand's questions, the Persian said that signs of the unknown visitor were rarely seen on the top floor, and were most frequently to be observed on the lower floor, particularly in the library. He had deduced from this that, when Coughlan or the doctor ventured to invade his quarters they were careful to go to the top floor only when reasonably sure that the Khan would not return too soon for the invader to Lear his key in the door and get down to the next floor before the Khan could trap him. "Have you a spool of black silk thread?" inquired Rand. The Khan said he had not. Rand walked slowly through the rooms of the floor until his eyes lighted on a red silk cord supporting an ancient Tartar dagger. "May I take that cord?" said be. The Persian loosened the cord and gave it to him. Rand led the way back to the library, and cutting a section three feet long from the cord, unrolled the twist and gave us each a strand. "Let us sit down here under this strong light and carefully separate each thread of the smallest possible division. I want fifty threads of silk as nearly like a spider's film as I can get them." For an hour we worked at the difficult, tedious task in silence. The threads then lay stretched on a sheet of blotting paper, clinging lightly to its fuzz. "I hope you will understand me. Khan Nadjian, when I say that for perhaps some days I must have absolute control of these two floors, your movements inside the house, and, In fact, every detail of your establishment. If you wish me to solve this problem for you. Are you willing to undergo some probably severe inconveniences?" The Persian vowed he was willing to endure torture, if need th?. "Very well, then answered Rand. "Sit down at your desk and go over your papers and correspond

COS

Jr.

ence just as you usually do; in fact, as if you felt yourself perfectly safe from intrusion, while Mr. Duucal and i. mane a detailed survey of the other rooms. First, however, conduct Mr. Duncan to the skylight, which I noticed was reached by a closet stairway, and allow him to look at it carefully." I knew Rand had some little plan which he was not wiihng that Nadjian perhaps I also should know. We returned in about ten minutes and he was still Eittrny smoking, apparently just as we had left him. 1 ouocrved, however, that almost all of th litde quasi invisible threads of siik were gone from the botung paper. There were ten, perhaps, left. "Kfciiitaiber, work for the next hall hour over your private papers, exactly as you would if you felt yourself in the most complete security. At the end of half an hour go to your room and retire. In the morning go oat by mo nail uuj. . Uj nut enter tn.s room on any minion. Remain at your store until you hear Horn me or from Mr. Duncan. Leave your papers car e.essiy on the Jek. If you wish, Mr. Duuaa !, i . i.'r I shall shortly leave the house. So, I shall bid you night, is.-.an Nadjian. '' The Persian seemed somewhat bewildered aad the least bit resentful of itauu .-. u.ja-iUv.sm, uut .. civilly reined himself up, bade ua a gracious ;;oou -night, and we went upstairs. 'Well, queer business, isn't it?" said I. "What do you think?" '1 am just going to think," said Rand, w.ih a:i aggiavating smile. "Will you examine tne room Lorn from, to back, following oar usual pro cs's'.' Loo.; for raveling, ashes, cigarette butts, heel marks on rugs, et cete.a. H in! Well!" He s'.ooped, picked up some small black thin ',, very thin and siender. I believe he thought 1 saw r.hat it was before he pocketed it, but I did not. and was already so nettled that I would not ask him. lie lit a cigar nd sat down by the back window while I went to my patient task. It was fully an hour b fore I had finished, and 1 had nothing to show for my search except a spot in the room nearest the head of the stairway, where there seemed to have been many cigar ashes dropped. Rand led the way downstairs without a word, except: "Please stand in the doorway until I have finished." He took out his larpest lens, turned on all the lights, and stepped about very carefully, exanining the floor, the strange furniture, the trun s of the imitation trees and the sliding panels in the walls. ie turned finally to the papers on the table, not to examine their contents, but to look very minutely at the arrangement. For five minutes he stood rooted in his place gazing at them, tan, taking from his dress waistcoat pocket a li'tle headache powder which I had seen him put there the evening before wlicn we were dressing for dinner. lie df H 't carefully ii? criss-

u c.ii.vj l'illiviLD Tiil i' ilvi. ents lines over the papers. He then stroked the floor in a path to a certain tree, stroked the tree itsei", and drew himself up to his full height with that tired, relaxed look on his face which I had often seen come there when he knew his day's work was done. "Come now, Duncan," said he. "We are all right now. Wait till I stretch half of these remaining threads across these bead curtains to this entrance to the library from the hall. The others I shall give to you to place to-morrow morning after Nadjian ha3 gone out. Fasten one across each of the .doctor's doors, one across the door to the basement and the others across the stairways up to this landing. Wet the ends and they will cling to anything. In the morning I shall appear at the basement door as a plumber and keep the old servant below stairs. You remain in your room until you hear Nadjian go oat. Wait two hours, then take your big lens, go over this room and down the halls and stairways and read the story you will find written in the threads. After that there is enough fruit and Scotch short-brsad on Nadjian's sideboard for your breakfast." Throwing his coat over his shoulders and putting his opera hat rakishly ever ons ear, he waved me good-night, and was gone noiselessly down the heavily cartietv-d stairs. I heard distinctly the slls-htes: creak of the front door as he went out. his footsteps along the tned corridor and the jar of the outer storm door, then silence reigned in the house of mystery. I slept well, wa! ins about nine o'clock, with that strange, confused sense which one has when opening one's eyes on new and unfamiliar .surroundings. Going to my doorway, I could hear Nadjian stirring about in his bedroom, someone walking up and down on the doctor's floor, and, in the basement, a man's and a woman's voice engaged In some trivial discussion. As the male's voice was not that of Rand, the natural presumption was that it was Coughlan's. The acoustic properties of the house certainly were marvelous, but many of the old houses of New York are so built that one can hear everything from bottom to top, though not vice versa. In about an hour, when nearly famished, I heard Nadjian leave his room, go down stairs and out. How I could wait the two hours, as instructed, tarry to make a careful survey, and then breakfast on the scanty fare from the sideboard, I did not know. Psychological eflect made me ten tidies more hunrrrv aid miserable by the time eleven o'clock came, and I began to imagine I could detect various odors of cooking food from the basement. While sniffing one cf these I heard the doctor's door opn and close, followed by no footsteps, however: yet in a few seconds ! Vnew positively that I emelled the odor of an Orienta' cigarette wsftd ic frrir ha Tha oor on!r and I saw the smoke floating between me and the win low. At last it either vanished or I became accustomed to it. for my raind reverted to my hunger and, one hour before I had been instructed to descend. I did so. I fully expected to encounter Rand's accusing eyes the inTIGAN

My Porter Emersoia Browne

stant I set foot outside the decrway, for I knew he was in the houe- as he had said he wouid be. The threads m the hall at tae aeau ci the second stairs were cairitd away, bat those on tne dmingroora doorway portieres remained undisturbed. I put my aim through, not a double-handful ef I'm", and stood in the hallway munching it U..e a thieving schoolboy hiding in a closet. Against the Heat I could so? a filra of smoke floating out of the i:b: ary doorway. Yv hen I had quue satisfied my faiaiihcJ inner t.icor, I n;cvJ silently and slowly along the hail and was startled to st that the tik Uira-3 on the portieres aad be" a disturbed. I would examine tho hall an stairway fit at. Everything had been can i .1 away, and tire thread across the front door of the do-tct ' cpartia.-ms w.a? ;,vc. So was the thread at the bean vl tho basement. 1 moved rapidly upstairs aemn, for I i.ncw tnat roaio one from the lower part of the house had passed ur the stairway and was smoking, or had been s:no..ing a few minutis before, in tke i'v rsian's library. 1 stepped inside suddSuly, fully enpetin io ecrno face to face with either Dr. Huntley or Coughlan. The room was empty, an i, seemingly, just ar. we had left it the ni.elu before, only there was another Tli: opopnlous butt in the t; ay. and a.j I t ouched my iart r tip to it I found it was still wa m. I stood perfectly nnitioiik si for f-.iiiy f-u minute?, trying to think wh.it my not move should i w hm. maidenly, I saw one of tho tlr -eads lying nt my feet where the llpht struck it s'r-r.gly. Ixiokinn more

( 'oscly, I saw they were laid r. somatically u'e it t.;c Iloor. A great feeling of relief rn-hed over mo. Rand, thin: ir.'.; I ha .1 followed his '-v ia the nigra kot'eev. l::ul rri'-iciy aaid. "read th-5 stciy in the thread-:." f hud thought only of those or the .;rt r? and iu the rial's, and, II. o the ; :.pid as J uav ava. s i -lieved myself to be, thrust ,n.o hern-H.-, h rh tk cleverest man nine, I had very nearly bungled the entire scheme. Now I made another discovery. Th-Te were threads on th? walls end the fnrnit l : bu' r..:u n the d--v"i where the white background of the papers would show th"m up. The astute Rand! I began my survey, moving around tke room to the left. Whore the threads were a'raigat they he.! been undistu: bo 1, and where difturVu-d or carrr d away, the mysterious visitor had passed. Hand had thus tracked Nadjian's movements in the room during our absence the night be. 'ore, and the strolling he had done had been merely to once more straighten the threads. I found nothing d:sturbed until I came to a certain tree. It had evidently been opened to examine the books within. From in front of it a pathway of disturbed s' rands extended directly to the Arab campstool before the desk. The lens showed that feet had dragged tlrra toward the tree in approach and then looped parls of them the other way on the return. The portieres to the front had not been disturbed. No one had entered Nadjian's bedroom, or come from it, and, in fact, there was nothing that had been visited in the room except the desk and the tree mentioned, save the couch. No one h?d lain on it, however. A ih i'l ran throuph me ?s I saw that the disturbed thread track leading to it was dragged in one way only. The manI was h"nting h?d left the desk hurriedly, dropping the cigarette in the tray, had moved to the couch, and had not gone away. He must still be there. He was not on top of it. He mst be under it. Yet the side appeared to be a solid tree with no aperture, save one large knot hole. I had cornered my game, and did not know how to close in. I might easily dag him out,, but what then? Sucpose it should be Dr. Huntley instead of Coughlan? The Khan had been mystified merely because he did not wrish to humiliate the doctor. By going a little slowly I might find out which it was without letting my man know that he h?d even b-en suspected, let alone neatly caught, by Rand's cunning devices. I was consumed wtih anxiety to go below and rons tlt Rand, but that would give my game an opportunity to leave his hiding-pkroe and appear in Korne explainable place, innocently engaged, when we came back. Perhaps It would be just as well to va't until Rand came up to see how matters stcod, and then by one of our little signals prevent his making any remark that would inform our victim he was trapped. However, it might be hours before Rand put in Ills appearance, and it was possible that he ha4 Trft the house and would not return for two or three day3, leaving me to shift as best I might. I knew from experience that he had no hesitation in doing this if it better Berved his end than to show me some consideration. If I remained in the room for hours then my man would certainly know he was caught, and might disclose himself dramatically. I realized that I was in a fair way to make a very fine mess of things. Perhaps, after all, I was mistaken in my observations and the couch contained nothing. The rock at the end and the tree along the side certainly appeared to be entirely Folid. Thfve wa3 one sure way of ascertaining. I would lie down on the couch, pretending to sleep or read, and by listening carefully I would be sure to detect signs of life beneath, if life was there. Carefully making a careless noise with a newspaper taken from the file hung on a tree. I strode over to the couch, re-examining the silk threads, confirming my first observations, an i st -ct-hed myself at fi'll length on tha bed roll. I too c the tray with me to more minutely examine the cigarette stub. For pet haps a half-hour 1 could not lie so still that the stir In the staffing of the bed roll. ih movements cf my own body, and the round of my own heart and breathing did not preclude any chance of my hearing similar sounds beiow. Perhaps a smoke would quiet me. I lit a cigatrtte, and b" firing my attention on it I grew very still and distinctly heard a alight stir below and the rapid breathing cf some one undergoing suppressed excitement, I was right. My man was there. Still, the problem was how to decide whether it was the doctor or Coughlan without, leavinp the room and giving him a chance to escap?. If only Rand had appeared at that moment I rotiM have signaled to him to see which of them wa; downstairs, and thus have made cc-tain that it was the other who was under the couch: Suddenly I had to make myself ri?'d to 1 eep from starting to my feet. I had. while thinking deeply, dropped my lighted cigarette cn the grass mat beside the couch. It had begun to smoulder, and out. of the corner of m eye I caught a glimpse of a hand thrust out to has'ily extinguish the incipient conflagration. Another cigarette, another fire, arother appearance of the hand in self-preservation, and I would get a look at the hand. That would be enough. Acting my part carelessly, I rattled my paper, tossed about, and missed fire on two matches as I lighted my cigarette. I enjoyed it for about five minutes, and then dropped it, with a red ccal on the end, fairly in front cf the inothole. As soon as the grass nap began to smol-e a hand shot out and smothered the fire a litIe hand bearing many jewels the white. Blender bind of a woman! I had no trouble in lying still for some minutes, paralyzed by 6heer amazement. Then my brain began to work. The whele hypothesis htd been wrong our whole hypothes'B, no. Khan Nadjian's and mine, for though i had not the remotest idea what Rand's had been, I had every reason to be sure no from the process he had pursued, that it did not eo iacide with that cf the Persian. But. whatever the explanation of this affair, I was !n a deeper quandary than I had been before I hit n the expedient cf the burning- cigarettes. I had as ram? for th- efca-:e an unknown woman to whose identity there had not been indicated the slightest clue in anything we had teen or that Nadjian had said. Doubtless Nadjian would not know who she was if I hauled her out and hld her until he could be summcned. Again, he might be either guiltily or innocently involved in some plot

EXPEDITIOUS LIFE

or scandal which any precipitate action on ray part might bring to a crisis that would be bad for him, something that we. as his employes, should not do. It would be better to allow her to Irave her plac undetected, as she would suppose, and tracing her movements by the threads, ascertain how and why she hud tn ered the h. us:. I was puckering my brows severely, and was just about to rise when a dirty, greasy p:rsou in a j iniper. wita a wnnch end a rot of red lead in one hand, appeared in the doorway. "Where is the bath: own on dis floor?" said he. Only tho quivering corners of the mouth made m certain it was Run J. Just beyond tnat door, my man," said I, indifferently. Rand's eves swept the pla e like lightnins. He followed the tine td trail to lh couclr instiutly. saw the two ht'ie !ckt I sne-'s aal the ciga ette s ubs opposite the knot hole. It puzzled him not more than ten s-conds. I was heirless to convey any defin te info: motion. He thrust one hind inside his jumpers an J held .p something, his cyebiows raised in interrogation. V. kflt b y he. i "p I now recognized ai th object he had picked up on the sta;rs the previous night a vo-v s-rrt'l. b'aek hairpin. I nodded vigorously, ard pointed uri-rnejt'u the conch, whereupon he waa coi!M:ked with silent luutrMer for so long a time that I threafpned to threw a book at him. At iai b s "um d to me io lie quiet, went Into the bathroom r.nd tinkered about for a little while, cam out an ! ni aared atoun ! th ro m with a ocket rule. 1 k i w ! r .!! v, : r?-dtnu: tit p'cih of the tkrea is. Finally he w-r.t out In th ball and upsttt'.s where 1 tould he-ar him for a time, then all M.'.!iiil died a way. and for a led ha!i"-be r i lay ia'.e. hot ami tol l with suspense, growing violently hunsrry once more and pulling my poor head as to what this eiiua.v.m eouui mean. At itii -tu I heard him coming down. He did not von loo., at me as he entered the reom, but his eye were shiniug with the light that I knew signified he was in th- heat cf the chase. He went directly to on of the imitation trees, slid back a panel in a lofty branch an 1 to'k out some small pieces cf well-woin paper, b-cught them to the desk, sat down, read them o.cr with trroa' eare, using his most powerful lens for a final examination, then, turning about, said with great l inditt i-s at; I gentleness: "Mr. Duncan, will you be so good as to rise from that divan, lift the sid; and assist Mademoiselle Melcnon from beneath it? My dear child, please romt out. It is no further use to attempt to conceal anything." A soft sobbing broke out under the couch. After fumbling a moment with what I had supposed wa6 the solid Iree side. 1 found It was hinped at the top and swung out easily. The instant I opened it there rolled out and sprang to her feet a very angry and beautiful girl of a marked Greek type. There was no mistaking her nose and breiw. Sh would have darted out the doorway, but Rand, with a long spring, intercepted her and gently forced her to a eeat. Her tears dried Instantly, and her eyes blazed defiance. She began some hot speech iu broken English, but he interrupted her: "Wait, wait, just a moment, mademoiselle, you are not to talk. I will tell you the story of this witter." With tightened lips, clenched hands, and her splendid eyes changing In expression from fear to entreaty and then to proud anger, the girl sat silent and waiting while Rand turned over the papers on the desk. A step sounded on the frtair. He covered the scraps with a folded newspaper jutst. as Khan Nadjian, wonder written on his face, stepped into the? room. "You sent for me?" he asked of me, not recognizing Rand in the plumber at his dtsk. "I telephoned half an hour ago for you to come at once. I was talking from this young lady's apartments," said Rand. From her apartment, half an hour ago! How wan that possible, when he had been In the house, as A knew positively ever since he came in when I lay on the couch? "Who if this young lady?" asked the Khan, eyeing her with very evident admiration. "Sit down and I will tell you. You can supply the final explanation. Her name Is lone Meh-non. She is twenty years of age; was born iu Beirut, the daughter of P. Melenon." "Peresene M?lenons child!" Rand disregarded Khan Nadjian's breathless exclamation. "For three months you have watched Khan Nad-, Jian leave his house and have then entered his rooms, always remaining as long as you wished or dared, searching his books and papers for the few old scraps of rough notes and maps hich you knew he possessed and which contain the secret of wealthy turquoise mines near Nishapur, Persia." The Khan leaned forward in his chair, as if about to leap on Rand. , "We would have worked more easily if'he had confided these facts to us. I suspected be was holding something back and last night allowed him to point out the way to his own secret by tracking his steps on the floor. Then I found the papers, and here they are." As Rand lifted the newrpaper from over them, the girl moved as if to seize them, but with a quiet smile he dropped the paper back and put his elbow on it. "You were hoping. Miss Melenon. that some day h would leave th?m out, but you were not "careful about putting everything you disturbed back in its exact place. When you were trapped you hid until you could make your escape, under that couch where Mr. Duncan caught you. You were also very carelesft about cigarettes and ashes, for, when on the next floor listening, you dropped many ashes in one spot, and you left cigarette stubs at least twice too often. I cannot quite understand why you smoked so steadily in these rooms. You smoked very little in your own." "Bay cause when smooke is in they room and frawn door opan, smooke blows queeck." "Ah, very clever. The upward draught, as well an your ears, warned you. That is good, isn't it. Duncan? It was the movement of the smoke that attracted my attention to your means of entrance. You

see. Khan Nadjian, she has been on your track, has taken apartments on a level with your roof in the flalhouse neighboring you, has a light gteel extension crane which she thrusts out from the top of her window after she has seen your departure from th house, and then she daringly swings over to your roof on a short rop. How did you get this key, which you left in the sl j lieht lock?" "I find out they locksmeeth of they hour and pay heem." "You are a clever woman. Miss Melenon, and & brave one to cross that gap between this house and the next. I have just used your method twice in the last hour. Please forgive my disturbing your little things in your room to get the information I needed. Now, Khan Nadjian, the case is ended so far as Mr. Duncan and I are concerned. You may call In the police if you wish and we will give the needed testimony. I would like to hear, however, since you seem to know, who Peresene Melenon is, or was, for by the mourning frame on his picture In mademoiselle' rooms I take it he is dead." "Yes, he is dead, almost as many years as this poor girl h?s been alive. She miy have been born since be died before the mouths of the guns in Teheran. He was my best friend, though many years my senior. We were prisoners together after he had found those turquoise fields prisoners on false charges, and I escaped. I did not Vnow he bad a child, though I found his wife's grave In Damascus ten years ago. I am an xile, but I will go back to the turquoise fields some day. No, Mr. Rand, thre 13 no reed for the police; this poor girl and I will settle this matter between ourseI"s." And they did, for about a month later they were married, and not long since I saw a paragraph In the engineering News saying that an English svndicate had paid a huge sum and would exploit the field. t