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V") g ; gleaming "1.1, ~k~afsug¢4nw .3 2 -- ~..__.__ -22. 4." ._ '-‘_"'_,a ,_ _. . 4-. ‘Au' ..1'uuuh’fiifisfrfiilultwin-mummi-un umnmuuuuumrumn uuulmm u H. ' M “M “am-.â€" am“ IJ'HH " i‘ju‘nu 5‘71" ; c : : 4 -: s = : ,nnnm CHAPTER XVI. With a sigh of unutterable relief Enid heard Williams retul‘in-g. Regin- ald Henson had not come down yet, and the rest of the servants had re- tired some time. Williams came up with a request as to whether he could 'do anything more before he Went to bed. ' .Wust one thing,” said Enid. “The good dogs have don their work Well to-night, but they have not (1mm finished. Find Rollo for me, and bring him here quick. Then you can shut up the house, and I will see that Mr. Henson is made comfortâ€" able after his fright." The big dog came presently and folâ€" lowed Enid- timidly upstairs. Appar- ently the great blackmuzzled brute had been there before, as ev-idently he knew he was doing wrong. He craw- led along the corridor till he came to the room where the sick girl lay, and here he followed Enid. The lamp was turned down_-low as Enid glanc- ed at the bed. Then she smiled faint- ly, yet hopefully. ' » »The_re was nobody in the room. The patient's bed was empty! “It works well," Enid murmured. “May it go on as it has been startâ€" ed. Lie down, Rollo; lie there, good dog. And if anybody comes in tear him to pieces." ‘ The great brute crouched down obe- diently, thumping his tail on the floor as an indication that he underâ€" stood. As if a load has been taken from her mind Enid crept down the stairs. She had hardly reached the hall before Henson followed her. His big face was white with passion; he was trembling from headto foot from fright and pain. There was a red rash on his forehead that by no ance. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, hoarsely. ' Enid looked at him, coolly. She could afford to do so now. 'All the danger was past, and she felt cer- tain that the events of the evening were unknown to him. "I might ask you the same ques- tion," she said. “You look white and shaken; you might have been thrown violently into a heap of stones. But please don’t make a noise. It is not fitting now. Chris .7) ._... Enid hesitated; the prevaricatian did not come so'easily as she had exâ€" pected. ' “Chris has gone,’ she said. “She passed away an hour ago." Henson muttered something that sounded like conSOIation; He could be polite and suave enough on occa- sions, but not toâ€"night. Even philâ€" anthropists are selfish at times. Moreover, his nerves were badly shaâ€" ken and he wanted a stimulant bad- ly. “I am going to bed,” Enid said, wearily, "Good-night.” She went noiselessly upstairs and Henson passed into the library. He was puzzled over this sudden end of Christiana Henson. He was half inclined to believe that she was not dead at all; he belonng to the class of man who believes nothing withâ€" out proof. Well, he could easily ascertain that for himself. There would be quite time enough in the morning. - For a long time Henson sat there- thinking and smoking as was his usâ€" ual custom. Like other great men, he had his worries and troubles, and that they were mainly of his own making did not render them any lighter. ,So long as Margaret Hem! 9 son was v under the pressure of his thumb. money was no great object. But. vthere were other situations where money was utterly powerless. Henson was about to give it up as a bad job, for to-night at any rate. He wondered bitterly what his a111- mirers would say if they knew every- thing. IIe wonderedâ€"what was that? Somebody creeping about the house somebody talking in soft, though dis- tinct, whispers. His quick ears de~ tected that sound instantly. He Slip- pcd into the hall,- Margaret Heps’on was there, with the remains of what had once been a magnificent opera- cloak over her shoulders. “How you startled me!" Henson said, il'ritably. “Why don’t you go to bed?" Enid looking over the Lalustrade from the landing, wondered so also, but she kept herself prudently hidden. The first words that she heard drove all the blood from her heart. “I cannot," the feeble, moaning voice said. “The house is full of ghosts; they haunt and follow me everywhere. ‘And Chris is (lead, and I have seen her spirit." “So I’m told,” Henson said, with brutal callousne‘ss. “What was the ghost like?" “Like Chris. All pale and white, with a frightened look on her face. And she was all dressed in white, too, with a cloak about her shouldâ€" ers. And just when I was going to: speak to her she turned and disap- peared into Enid's bedroom. 'And there are other ghosts " -‘-‘Q'-¢ at a time, please,' I-T-e'uson . Wu - M ".’.L~_','_' an}: A1110": mnmnnnmmnrmqux upwimuumrmnnm u u umnmuuo an inning immn unity)! 1'. means tended to improve his P tired at once; a man less engaged 2. (3| said, grimly. “So Christiana’s ghost passed into her sister’s bedâ€" room. You come and sit quietly in the libarary whilst I investigate matâ€" tors." , Margaret Henson complied in her dull, mechanical way, and Enid flow like a, flash of light to her room. An- other girl was thereâ€"a girl exceedâ€" ineg like- her, but looking wonder- fully palc anddrawn. "That fiend suspects,” Enid said. "How unfortunate it was that you should meet aunt like that. Chris, you must go back again. Fly to your own room and compose yourâ€" sell. Only let him see you lying white and still there, and he must be satisfied." Chris rose with a shudder. “And if the wretch offers to touch me," she moaned. “If he doesâ€"” “He will not. He dare not. Heav- en help him if he tries any expert- meat of that kind. If he does, Rol- lo will kill him to a certainty." “Ah, I had forgotten the faithful dog. , Those dogs are more useful to us than a score of men. I. will step by the back way and through my dressing-room. 70h, Enid, how glad I shall be to find myself outside the walls of this dreadful house!” She flew along the corridor and gained her room in safety. It was an instant's work to throw off her cloak and compose herself rigidly un~_ dor the single white sheet. _ But though she lay still her heart was beating to suffocation as she heard the creak and thud of a heavy step coming up the stairs. Then the door was opened in a stealthy Way and Henson came in. He could see the outline of the white figure, and a sigh of satisfaction escaped him. A less suspicious man would have reâ€" upon his task would have seen two great amber eyes close to the floor. “An old woman’s fancy,” he mutâ€" tered. “Still, as I am here, I’ll make sure thatâ€"â€"â€"" He stretched out his hand to touch the marble forehead, there was a snarl and a gurgfe, and Henson came to the ground with a hideous crash that carried him staggering beyond the door into the corridor. Rollo had the intruder by the throat;‘ a thousand crimson and blue stars danced before the wretched man’s eyes: he grappled with his foe with one last despairing effort, and then there came over him a vague, warm unconsciousness. When he came to himself he was lying on his bed, with Williams and Enid bending over him. _ . “How did it happen?’.' Enid asked. with simulated anxiety. “Iâ€"I was Walking along the corri- dor,” Henson gasped, “goingâ€"going to bed, you see; and one of those diabolical dogs must have got into the house. Before I knew what I was doing the creature flew at my throat and dragged me to the floor. Telephone for Walker at once. I am dying. Williams.” He fell back once more utterly lost to his surroundings. There was a great gaping, raw wound at the side of the throat that caused Enid to shudder. "Do you think he isâ€"dead, Wil- diams?” she asked. “No such luck as that,” Williams said, with the air of a confirmed pessimist. "I hope you locked that there bedroom door and put the key in your pocket, miss. I suppose we'd better send for the doctor, unless you and me puts him out of his misery. There's one comfort, however, Mr.- Henson will be in bed for the r- next fortnight, at any ratefso he’ll be powerless to do any prying about the. house. The funeral will be over long before he’s about again. * * s s at u The first grey streaks of dawn were in the air as Enid stood outside the lodgeâ€"gates. She was not alone, for a neat figure in grey, marvellously like her, was by her side. The figure in grey was dressed for travelling and she carried a, bag in her hand. “Goodâ€"bye, dear, and good luck to you," she said. "It is dangerous to delay." “Yo 6have absolutely everything that you require?” Enid asked. “Everything, By the time you are at breakfast I shall be in London. And once I am there the search for the secret will begin in earnest." “You are sure that Reginal Hen- Sol] suspected nothing?” “I am perfectly certain that he was satisfied; indeed, I heard him say so. Still, if it had not been for the dogs!' We are going to succeed, Enid, some- thing at my heart tells me so. See. how the sun shines on your face and in your dear eyes. Au revoir, an omenâ€"an omen of a glorious fuâ€" ture." CHAPTER XVII. Steel lay sleepily back in the cab, not quite sure whether his cigarette was alight or not. They were We‘l into the main road again before Dell spoke "‘It is pretty evident that you and I are on the same track," he said. “I am certain that I am on the when I come to consider the thing; calmly, it seems more by good luck than anything else. I came out with you to-night seeking adventure, and I am 'bound to admit that I found it. Also, I found the lady who in- terviewed me in the darkness, which is more to the point." “As a matter of fact, you did nothâ€" ing of the kind,” said Doll, with the suggestion of a laugh. "Oh! Case Of the wrong room over again. I was ready to swear it. Whom did I speak to? Whose voice was it that was so very much like hers?” “The lady’s sister. on the night in question. Of that you may be certain. But it’s a queer busineSS altogether. Rascaiity I can understand. I am beginning to com- prehend the plot of which I am the victim. But I don't Inind admitting that up to the present I fail to comâ€" prehend why those girls evoled the grotesque scheme for getting assisâ€" tance at your hands. The whole thing savers of madness.“ "I don’t thin-k so,” David said, thoughtfully. "The girls are roman- tic as well as clever. They are bound together by the common ties of a common enmity towards a cunning and utterly unscrupulous scoundrel. By the merest accident in the world they discovered that I am in a Dos- ition to afford them valuable adVice and assistance. 'At the same time they don’t want me to be brought into the business for two reasonsâ€" the first, because the family secret is a sacred one; the second, because any disclosures would land me in great phySical danger. Therefore they put their heads together and evolve this scheme. Call it a mad venture _if you like, but if you Consioer t‘e his- tory of your own country you can find wilder schemes evoled and carâ€" ried out by men who have had brains enough to be trusted with the for- tunes of the nation. If these girls had been less considerate for my safetyâ€"" “But,” Bell broke in eagerly, “they failed in that respect at the very outset. You must have been spot- ted instantly by the foe who has cunningly placed you in a dangerous position, perhaps as a warning to mind your own business in future. And if those girls come forward to save youâ€"and to do so they must appear in public mind youâ€"they are bound to give away the whole thing. Mark the beautiful cunning of it. My word, we have a foe worthy of our steel to meet." “We? Do you mean to say that your enemy and mine is a common one?" , “Certainly. When I found my fee I found yours." “And who may he be, by the same token?” “Reginald Henson, Mind you, I had no more idea of it than the dead when I went to Longdean Grange toâ€"night. I went there beâ€" caase I had begun to suspect who ocâ€" cupied the place and to try and as certain how the Rembrandt engravâ€" ing got into 218 Brunswick Square. Miss Gates must have heard us talkâ€" ing over the matter, and that Was why she went to Longdean Grange to-night." N H "I hope she got home safe," - said David. “The cabman says he put her down )opposite the Lawns." “I hope so. "'ell, I found out who the ice was. And I have a pretty good idea why he played that trick upon me. He knew that Enid I-Icnâ€" son and myself- were engaged: he could see. what a danger to his schemes it would be to have a man like myself in the family. Then the second Rembrandt turned up, and there was his chance for wiping me off the slate. After that came the terrible family scandal between Lord Littimer and his wife. I cannot tell you anything at that, because I can- not speak with definite authority. But you could judge of the effect of it on Lady Littimer to-night." "I haven't the faintest recollection of seeing Lady Littimcr to-night." "My dear follow, ‘the poor lady whom you met as ‘lllrs. Henson 'is really Lady 'Littimer. Benson is her maiden name, and t-hosc‘girls are her nieces; Trouble has turned the poor Woman’s brain. 'And'at the bottom of the whole mystery is Reginald Henson, who is not only nephew on his mother's side, but is also next heir but one to the Littimer title. At the present moment he is blackâ€" mailing that unhappy creature, and is manoeuvring to get the whole of her huge fortune in his hands. Regâ€" inal'd. Henson is the man those girls want “to circumvent, and for that reason they came to you. And Henâ€" son has found it out to a curtain ex- tent and placed you in an awkward position.” “Witness my involuntary guest and the notes and the cigar-case," David said. “'But 'does he know what I advised one of the girlsâ€"my princess of the dark roomâ€"to do?" “I don’t fancy he does. You see, that advice was conveyed by word of mouth. The girls dared not trust themselves to correspondence, _otherâ€" wise they might have approached you in a more prosaic manner. But I confess you startled me to-nignt.” “What do you mean?” "When you sent. me that note. What you virtually asked me to do was to countenance murder. When I went into the sick room I saw that Christiana Henson was dying. The first idea that flas..cd across my mind was that Reginald Henson was get- ting the girl out of the way for his own purposes. My dear fellow. the .wholo atmOSphere literally spoke of albumen. Walker must have been blind not to see how he was beng deceived. .I was about to give him lright one," David replied; “but, my opinion’pretty plainly when your Enid Henson ‘crux of the tale. _ was 1101: at 218. BX‘UHSWiCk to me after reading a charge against W uotecame up to me. 'And there was Enid, ’with her whole soul in her large eyes, pleading for my silence. If the girl died I was accessory after and before the fact, You will mlâ€" mit that that was a pretty tight place to put a doctor in." “That’s because you didn't know the facts of the case, my dear Bell.” “Then perhaps you'll be so good as to enlighten inc,” Bell said, drily. “Certainly. That was part of my scheme. In that synopsis of the story obtained by the girls bv Some more or less mccnanical means, the reputed death of a patient forms the The idea occurred a medical student some time ago in the ‘Standard.’ The man wanted to get himself out Of the way; he want- ed to be considered as dead, in fact. By the artful use of albumen in cer- tain doses he produced symptoms of disease which will be quite familiar to you. lie made himself so ill that his doctor naturally concluded that he was dying. As a, matter of fact, he was dying. Had he gone on in the same way another day he Would have been dead. Instead of this he drops the dosing and, going to his doctor in disguise, says that he is dead. He gets a certificate of his own demise, and there you are. I am not telling you fiction, but hard fact recorded in a highâ€"class paper. The doctor gave the certificate with- out viewing the body. Well, it struck me that we had here the makâ€" ing of u. geod story, and I vaguely outlined it for a Certain editor. In my synopsis-I suggested that it was a‘woman who proposied to pretend to die thus so as 'to ‘lull 'thesuspicions of a 'villain to ‘slecp, and thus possess herself of Certain vital docu- ments. ' My synopsis falls into cer- tain hands. The owner of those hands asks me how the thing was done. I tell her._ In other words, the so~called murder that you imagâ€" ined you had discovered toâ€"night was the result of design. Walker. will give his certificate, Reginald Henson will regard Miss Christiana as dead and buried, and she will be free to act for the honor of the family." “But they might have employed somebody else." “Who Would have had to be told the history of the family dishonor. So far I fancy I have mace the ground quite clear. But the mystery of the cigarâ€"case and the notes. and the poor fellow in the hospital is still as much a mystery as ever. We are like two allio forces working 1.0â€" gether, but at, the same time under the disadvantage of working in the You Can see, of course, that dark. the awful danger i stand in is as terâ€" rible for those poor girls.” “Of course I (it). Still, We have a key to yon: trouble. It is a dreadâ€" fully rusty one and will want a deal of oiling before it's used, but there it is “Where, my dear fellow, where?" David asked. "Why, in the Sussex County Hos- pital, 01'" course. The man may (no, in which case everything 'must lie sacrificeo in order to save your good ’name. On theother hand, he. may get better, and then he will tell’ us all about it." _ (To be Continued.) . _____+~__ . M l BULT Ii‘lillllLTHE BLUE A Theory That Many Ships Have Been Struck by Meteorites. The MexiCan Herald recently print- ed an interesting account given by Mr. L. H. Winthrop of the fall of a large meteor about 500 yards from a ship in the Indian Ocean. After de- scribing. vividly- the strange scene, the narrator expressed his belief that. of the ships that disappear mysteriously many may be hit by falling meteors and sent to the bottom. It is certain that a ship struck by a meteoric mass as large as some which have fallen on‘land would be demolished suddenly. There issa meâ€" teoric stone in Soutthrnerica esti- mated to weigh 30,000 "pounds, one in MexiCo even_*largcr, and Yale Colâ€" lege has a, mere fragment weighing 1,740 pounds. A meteor estimated by astronomers to be a mile in diaâ€" meter passed over Europe on the night of Aug. 18, 1783, and in 1803 one of these celestial tramps burst over Normandy and scattered more than 2,000, fragments over three Square leagues of ground. Just fifty years ugo this month a very large meteor was seen over the Eastern States. It burst into two pieces, one of which fell into the sea off sandy Hook. In 1884- Captain Swart, of the Dutch barquo “J. P. A.." reported the narrow escape of his vessel from destruction by a 1ne~ tcoric stone. His log slmWod that on March 19, in latitude 37.39 north and longitude 57 west, at about 53 p.111., a large meteor was seen to break in- to tw0 parts, one of which, having appearance of a ball of fire, fell to- ward the sea. Judging that the bull would fall in the barquo's course, Captain Ewart hove. to under storm sails. Scarcely had he done so when the meteor fell close alongside. caus- ing great commotion of the water and cross seas, which WASHED OFF THE DECK. The heat from the fiery mass was in~ tense for a moment, and blistored the paint on the ship's side. The baro- meter for a few moments oscillated so violently that no reading could be taken. l Some fifteen or more years ago, I l [spoke of Capt. Swart’s report to an 'old Danish sailor in San Francisco. and was moved to tell me of an experience of his own, for which, of course, there is only his testimony, The old man had been mate of the barquo “Antelope,” which was burned at sea. on a voyage from San Fran- cisco to Liverpool in 1866, and he had no log to show in verification of his talc. I give it substantially in his own words, from notes made at the time: ‘ “We were becalmed in the Pacific about nine or ten degrees north of the equator and somewhere near 123 west longitude. The ‘Antelope’ rolled like a log, the sails flapped against the masts, and made the only stir of air you could feel. It was the sec- ond night of the calm and the port watch was on deck. The moon was shining clear, and°as there was no- thing to keep a lookout for, except indications of a breeze, which didn't seem likely to come along, the men were drowsing under the bulwarks and the man at the wheel was snor- mg. “I was leaning over the rail, at about six bells, looking at a brigan- tino that had drifted into the calm about three miles away on the star- board quarter. We had not spoken her and did not know who she was or where she hailed from. By her tapering topmasts, I judged her to be an American, but that was all. She was A TRIM LITTLE CRAFT, and it was enough to break a. sea- man’s heart the way she was wiped off the face of theiearth that night. To be sure, the “Antelope” wasn’t treated much better a few weeks lat« er. but fire is one of the chances a sailor reckons on taking, and many a good ship is burned at sea. I don't know of any other craft meet- ing the fate of that brigantine. I don’t say it never happened before or since, because strange things alâ€" ways are happening at sea, and some of the strangest never get told; men don’t live to- tell them. “Well, 'I was. leaning on the Ante- lope's rail with my check in my palm looking away where the brigantine lay in the moonlight. The roll of the bark was lazy and soothing, and I had fallen into a dreamy doze when I was startled broad awake by a bright light in the sky. Looking up, I saw a great ball of fire rushing through the air on a slant. By the time I had hauled in the slack of my wits enough to know that it was a shooting star, the glare Was so bright that the light of the moon was of no more account than a slush lamp, and the stars were doused altogether. I “There was a rushing, hissing’ noise in the air as the thing came down. When it got‘ pretty near, the light almost blinded me, and I could see. nethiug but the fiery gleam on the water. It wasn't as long from the time it hove in sight until it struck‘as I have been in telling how it looked. It must have been travel- ling like a canon ball, or maybe a 'good many more knots a minute. In the glare I lost sight of the bl‘lg‘al: tine, and then I heard ‘ A CRASHING SOUND, and the ball of fire disappeared, leav~ ing everything black‘before my eyes for a moment. “When I had blinked the sight‘back into my eyes and got~ uSed to the moonlight, I glanced over the star- board quarter to where the briganâ€" atine had been. Not a trace of her was to be made out. I could hardâ€" ly believe my own eyes, although they were a good pair in those days, before the sea-dust had dulled them. and I thought I must have been :1 bit dazed by what had happened, and got confused in my bearings. lilut in no direction was so much as a spar in sight, and on"- there on the quarter there was a rising and falling of short. waves, their tops catching the glint of the moonboams that showed where the shooting star had gone down‘ into the sea. That was where the brigantine had been. “The light and noise had aroused the watch on deck, and themen'were gathered in a group by the ioremast, blinking their eyes and wondering what had happened. They hadn’t seen all that I had, and didn't know justâ€"what had made the great glare of light. I told them to look for the brigantine, and sent a mgn aloft to see if he could make out anything where she had been. They were just about struck dumb when they saw the sea clear of all craft but our own, and asked me if the brig-amine had blown up. The man aloft could not make out anything. They were all taken aback when I told what I had seen. and of course their superâ€" stitious fears were excited. “Thinking some poor fellow might be floating where the brigantine went down. I called up the old man and all hands, and a boat Was sent out to search. The second mate went in the boat. and all he brought' back was a bit of scorched deck planking that he picked up adrift. That. was the only trace of the brigantino left and We never learned her name or anything more about her.” .__..._a..+...._..__ CHINESE (.‘l-llLl)RlCN"S ACES. A (.‘hincs‘e child is conSidel'ed u year old at its birth, and its age is rock- oncd,'not from its .birth-rluys, but from its New Year's Days. If it hap- pens to be born on February 1st, tlu day before the (‘hinesa New Year": Day, it is said to be two years oh when it is two days old. It is on year old when born, and “noun; year is added on its first New ,‘~‘-~',_r' Day.