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BYNOPSIS TO DATR A Mr, Ricardo, fifty, rich, retired, At Aix-les-Baius for the season, sees 8 lovely young girl come from the ing tables and seat herself on A bench apparently in great distress. 8he returns to the room and he ob- serves her watching Harry Wether- mill, a dashing and wealthy young Englishman who is playing high, She slips him a five lohis note and he smiles and tells they are part- mers; he begins to 'lose and loses «steadily; then he stops and he and the girl go into the garden together. Ricardo was left to wonder about Celia. She was just one of those problems which made Aix-la-Bains so unfailingly attractive to him. She dwelt in some street of Bohemia; so much was clear. The frankness of her pleasure, of her excitement, and even of her distress, proved it. Bhe passed from one to the other while you could deal a pack of cards, She was at no pains to wear a mask, Moreover, she was a young girl of nineteen or twenty---rinning about those rooms alone, as unembarrass- €d ag if she had been at home. There was the free use, too, of Christian names. Certainly she dwelt in Bohemia. But it seemed to Ricardo that she could not pass in any company and yet not he over- passed. She would look a little more picturesque than most girls of her age, and she was certainly a, good deal more soignee than many, and she had the French woman's knack of putting on her clothes.' But those would be all the differences, leaving out the frankness. Ricardo wondered in what street of Bo- hemia she dwelt. He wondered still more when he saw her again half an hour afterwards at the entrance to the Villa des Fleurs. She came down the. long hall with Harry Wethermill at her side. The couple were walking slowly, and talking as they walked with so complete an absorption in each other that they were unaware of their sur- roundings. At the bottom of the steps a: stout woman of fifty-five i it W. MASON © MARCH 9, 1022 ---- " -- over-jewelled, and over-dressed and raddled with paint, 'watched their ap proach with a amile of good-humor- ed amusement, When they came near enough to hear she said in French: y "Well, Celje, are you ready to go home?" The girl looked up with a start, "Of course, madame," she sald, with a certain submissiveness which surprised Ricardo. "I 'hope I have not kept you waiting." | She ran to the cloakroom, and same back again with her cloak, 'Goodbye, Harry," she said, dwell- ing upon this name and looking out upon him with seft and smiling eyes, "I shall gee you to-morrow eve- ning," he said, holding her hand. Again she let it stay within his keeping, but she frowned, and a sudden gravity settled like a clond upon her face. She turned to the elder woman with a sort of appeal, "No, I do not think we shall be here to-morrow, shall we, madame?" she said reluctantly. "Of course not," said madame briskly. "You have not forgotten what we planned? No, we shall not be here to-morrow; but the night af- ter---yes."" Celia turned back again to Weth. ermill, "Yes, we have plans for to-mor- row," she said, with a very wistful note of regret in her voice; and see- ing that madame was already at the door, she bent forward and said timidly, "*But the night after I shall want you." "I shall thank you for wanting we," Wethermill rejoined; and the girl tore her hand away and ran up the steps. Harry Wethermill returned to the rooms. Mr. Ricardo did not follow him. He was too busy'with the lit- tle problem which had heen present- ed to him that night. What could that girl, he asked himself, have in common with the raddled woman she addressed so respectfully? "Indeed, there had been a note of EE -- Sumsomsr Soam Alway s Good Every time you buy "SURPRISE" you get a big, bri t, SO ro the highest grade household seap. a2 To the Ladies of Oshawa and Vicinity Come in and see our splendid showing Spring Suits, Coats and Dresses, all the wi newest. You need not wait till the end of season to secure a bargain in any of mentioned garments, buy now and abo: in the the be in swing with the most up-to-date. We have marked small profits, we want guick returns. The prices on our goods are surprisingly lower than anywhere else because our overhead ex- penses are small. If you trade with us we both gain. fa» Gentlemen A Pair of Pants Given Away FREE This special offer good till March 18 Juices for made-to-measure Suits range from $26 up and with of these suits order ials, workmanship and r refunded. an extra pair of samples of to $56 ER m-- R t ! | «amr more than respect in her voice, There had been something of affection, Again Mr. Ricardo found himself wondering in what street of Bohe- mia Celia dwelt--and as he walked up to the hotel there came yet other questions to amuse him, Why," he asked, "could neither Celia nor madame come to the Villa des Fleurs to-morrow night? What are the plans they have made? And what was in those plans which had brought the sudden gravity and re- luctance into Celia's fave?" Ricardo had reason to remember those questions during the next few days, though he only idled with them now. CHAPTER II, A CRY FOR HELP It was on a Monday evening that Ricardo saw Harry Wethermill and the girl Celia together, On the Tuesday he saw» Wethermill in the Juda alone and had some talk with m. Wethermill was not playing that night and about 10 o'clock the two men left the Villa des Fleurs to- gether. "Which way do you go?" Wethermill, "Up the hill to the Hotel Mafes- tie," said Ricardo. "We go together, then. I, too, am staylpg there," said the young man, and they climbed the steep streets together. Ricardo was dying to put some questions about Wether- mill's young friend of ihe night be. fore, but discretion kept him re- luctantly silent. They chatted for 2 few moments in the hall upon in- different topics and so separated for the night, Mr. Ricardo, however, was to learn something more of Celia the next morning; for while he was fixing his tie before the mirror Wethermill burst into his dressing room. Mr. Ricardo forgot his curiosity in the surge of his indignation. Such an invasion was an unprecedented out- Fage upon the gentle tenor of his e. The business oi the morping toi- lette was sacred. To interrupt it carried a subtle suggestion of an- archy. Where was his valet? Where was Charles, who should have guarded the door like the custodian of a chapel? "I cannot speak to you for at least another half-hour," said Mr. Ricardo, sternly. But Harry Wethermill was out of breath and shaking with agitation. "I ean't walt," he cried, with » passionate appeal. "I have got to wa you. You must help me, Mr. Ricardo--you must, indeed!" Ricardo spun round upon his heel. At first he had thought that the help wanted was the help usually wanted at Ailx-les-Bains. A glance at Wethermill"s face, however, and the ringing note of anguish in his ¥olee, told him that the thought was wrong. Mr. Ricardo slipped out of his affectations as out of a loose coat. "What has happened?" he asked quietly. "Something terrible." With shak- ing fingers Wethermill held out a newspaper. "Read it," he sald. It was the special edition of a local newspaper, Le Journal de Sovoie, 408 it bore the date of that more- ng. "They are crying it in the streets," fald Wethermill, "Read!™ A short paragraph was printed in large black letters om the first page, and leaped to the eyes. "Late last pight," it ran, "am ap- palling murder was committed at the Villa Rose, on the road to Lac asked gr k 4d i ! i { ! ; : RE ge | i | | i H i | i i i | h =k} pe fg il } | 4 | i { ¥ ; i, ill fi 1 1] fl £8 i i 7 i | stand how infamous the suggestion' 1s." ' | But Ricardo had seen the girl half | an hour before he had meen her| with Harry Wethermill, He could! not but vividly remember the ple-| ture of her as she flung herself on! to the bench in the garden in a mo- ent of hysteria and petulantly feked a satin slipper backward and) forward against the stones, | "What do you want me to do?" She was young, she was preity, she had a charm of freshness, hut ~-but--strive against it as he would this picture in the recollection be. gan more and more to wear a sin- fater aspect, He remembered some words spoken by a stranger. "She 1a pretty, that little one, It is re- grettable that she has lost." Mr. Rleardo arranged his tie with even a greater deliberation than he usually employed. "And Mme. Danvray?"' he asked. "She was the stout woman with whom your young friend went away." "Yes," said Wethermill, Ricardo turned raund from mirror. "Hanaud is at Aix. He is the clev- erest of the French detectives. You know him. He dined with you once." It was Mr. Ricardo's practice to collect celebrities round his dinner- table, and at one such gathering Hanand and Wethermill had been present together. "Yon wish me him?" J "It is a delicate position," said Ricardo. "Here is a man in charge) of a case of murder, and we are quietly to go to him" -- To his relief Wethermill interrup- ted him. i "No; no," he cried; "he is not in! charge of the case. He is on hisl boliday. I read of his arrival two days ago In the newspaper. It was! stated that he came for rest. What | I want is that he should take charge; of the case." | The superb confidence of Wether- mill shook Mr. Ricardo for a mo- ment, but his recollections were 100 clear. i "You are going out of your way to | launch the acutest of French de-| tectives in search of this girl Are you wise, Wethermill?" Wethermill sprang up from chair in desperation. "Youn, too, think her guilty! You] have seen her. You think her guil- the to to approach his R. Andrew Wilson, the eminent British authority, once said of the cocoa bean--"'It is a kind of vegetable egg which contains all that is needed to build up a living body." Tea and coffee are mere infusions--but eocoa is an actual food in itself. Business men should remember that. Cocoa, made the FRY way, from the world's choicest beans, is pure, extremely soluble and of most delicious flavour. Nearly two hundred years' knowledge of the cocoa business stands back of FRY'S. Of course, remember "Nothing will do but FRY'S" 196 ty--Ilike this detestable newspaper, like the police." "Like the police?®" asked Ricardo, | shortly. the next night--yesterday night | "Yes," said Harry Wethermill sul- the night when the murder was com- | lenly. "As soon as | saw that rag| mitted. Her face clouded over. She | I ran down to the villa. The police | hesitated. She became more than | wre in possession. They would not | grave. There was a distinet im- ©t me into the garden. But | talked | pression as though she shrank from | with ome of them. They. too, think | the contemplation of what it was inat che let in the murderers." | proposed she should do on the next) "Listen 10 me," he said solemnly. | %ight. And then she answered you, | a "I saw this girl half an hour before | No. we have other plaps.' ! | Ricardo | I saw you. She rushed out into the | oumber three." And Mr garden. She Sung herself on to a 'ticked off his third point. | bench. She comid mot sit still. She| "Now," he asked, "do you sull} was hysterical. You know what that | ask me -10 launch Hanuad upon the means. She had been losing. That's] case?" point number one." ! "Yes, and a1 once : Mr. Ricardo ticked it off upon his| mil. er. | . id he ran back into the ToD. 5 arin called for his hat and his You asked her 10 share the winnings | : Wo of your bank. She consented eag: "You know where Hanaud is stay- erly. And you lost. That's point| 08?" he asked. aumber two. A little later. as she | "Yes," replied Wethermill, and he was going away, you asked her led Ricardo to an unpretentious lit- | tle hotel in the centre of the town. | "| Ricarde sent in his name, and the | two visitors were immediately shown | {into a small sifting-room, where M. | they cannot | flanuad was enjoying his morning | of the ear. | )ocolate. He was stout and broad-should- %- | eved. with a full and almost heavy | of face. Im his morming suit at his When this tobe is | breakfast table he looked like a OF | prosperous comedian. | He came forward with a smile of | weloome, extending both his hands | | to Mr. Ricardo { {| "ah, my good friend." he said. | {*4t is pleasant to see you. Aad Mr 1 Wethermill," he exclaimed. holding 1a hand out to the younger inventor. | "You remember me, then?" said Wethermill gladly. "dt is my profession to remember | people," said Hamaud, with a laugh. | "You were at that amusing dinner party of Mr. Ricardo's in Grosvenor Square." { "Monsieur," suid Wethermill, * eried Wether- | in. "1 4 to Wethermill to take it. He point- ied to amother, with a how eof invi- tation to Mr. Ricardo. "Let me hear." he said gravely. "Mt is the mander of Mme. Dan- vray," sald Wethermill. ~And in what way, monsieur," he asked, "ave you interested in the murder of Mme. Dauvray?" wl companion," said Wether- mill, "the young English girl she i | i i I i Ef 4 | 5k f pt t i i i ; | | i i i | ! A 50 m ling whether she would be in the om] it would be welcomed," eried Weth- time. Of that ene would be sure." -- 1 ermill. "And 10 me that would mean | would be no bung- no waste of Hanaund His eyes were softened now by (Continued on page 12) shook his head. gently. uch. 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