Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 81: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Secret By the way, you got that message all right, didn’t you?” “Oh, yes,’ Ward said easily. “Thanks very much. Drummond was on quite a spree that time. I’m glad you gave it to the other man.’ He nodded gratefully to the gossip and moved away in as leisurely a manner as he could assume. But his mind was far from at rest. In it there swirled a veritable mael- strom of fears, thoughts and conjectures. Once out of sight of the man behind the telegraph-office counter, he hurried up the broad stairs to the office and asked for Miss Blaydon’s room on the house ’phone. She answered almost immediately. “Can you come down at once?” he asked. f ge SHE came from the elevator, a vis- aiile ion of loveliness that made the whole inner man of him cry out for her. Her eyes found him at once and he saw that they were bright with anxious expectancy and that the fear in their brown depths was glowing again. “What is it?” she asked in a low whisper, putting her hand on his arm and coming up close to him. “Ts it bad news?” “T can not tell, yet,” he answered. “Let us go over to that window-seat where we will not be overheard.” He found cushions for her in a deep alcove in the wall and, taking a chair in front of her, leaned forward so that he was almost touching her. As calmly as he could, he told her of his conversation with the tele- graph operator and she listened breath- lessly, her lips parted, her béautiful eyes fixed steadily upon his in sympathetic un- derstanding as he talked. “And you think,” she said as he con- cluded, “‘that the message which was appar- ently sent from Mr. Conway to Mr. Greiner. was a decoy?” He nodded moodily. “Worse than that,” he said. “It must have been sent by the men who have Phil in their clutches and who have found Grei- ner’s address among his things. And it makes me certain that his capture was not an isolated crime, but was a part of this whole plot. Otherwise, his captors could have no interest in Greiner. There is no reason why they should even know that he exists.”’ “Part of this whole plot!” she repeated thoughtfully. Then, her whole bearing re- ~ ’ > ‘oe s fo oe << a PO Ee BS. $5 Seine Sn Og Fl aPacce Meee ~ *. y - > 7 “> a= « && a i ~ of Caprice flecting the most boundless faith in him, she leaned forward and put her hand upon his. “Tell me something frankly and honestly, Mr. Fenton,’ upon his. “You need not fear that I shall break down for I have quite prepared my- self for it. You believe my father has been killed, do you not?” He tried for a moment to evade her eyes, but they held him in spite of himself. Very slowly and sorrowfully he nodded his head. “Ves,” he said softly, “I do.” Her hand clutched his with a little con- vulsive grip and she drew a sharp breath of pain, but that was all. “T thought so,” she said. ‘Thank you for not hiding the truth from me longer.” She sat in silence for a long time, her gaze fixed upon the floor in front of her. Finally she sighed and looked up. “Then,” she said, “there is no time for grief now. Only one ‘thing remains for me to do—to find out who has done this thing and why. You will help me?” The brown eyes challenged him and he met them unflinchingly. “T will help you,” he said simply. “You will be in danger,’”’ she reminded him. “T will help you,’ he repeated. ~ They will try to—to—remove you, too.” - “Nevertheless, I will help you.” A mist of unshed tears veiled the grateful eyes. “Thank you,” she said in a voice so low as to be scarcely audible. “Thank you.” There was another interval of silence and then she squared her shoulders with de- termination. “Then we must act at, once,” she said. “What had you planned to do?” He welcomed the quick change in her attitude. He had been writhing under the torture of her pleading eyes. He felt that in another moment, the flood gates of his passion would give way and that the whole long pent-up torrent of ardent words would rush forth in a deluge that would carry him away completely from his self-control. He had longed to seize her bodily in his ’ she said, her brave eyes fixed — arms and crush her to him in the strong pro- — | tection of his embrace. But her quick change of attitude had saved him. It brought his thoughts sharply from his own longings to the actualities that - surrounded them. Gomichbook Gon ; me By et ‘ ih Pi it eee s . 4s 4 ati f ‘ r a A MAC AY! pov sili §i3 Say PT RRS PE eT ae eS ¥ ‘ Eee 7 r Sold ART eh te eid! MB! 6 dy ee PY oa Dee T ; Ade Bi ct ot Fo 4 +A it hi NS