Beadle's Dime Library No. 366 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

2 ee - ord= lt Cg a i A ES I ET TL LE A A EE EE A A AL NEE EL fa eS re ae a Eee aT men Ca Re — ct — oe . ‘¢ $e ers * 2 ai ~~ _ afterward, 24 The Telegraph Detective, led his companion up the stairs and into the apartment where his father lay. The nurse, Brown, made a quick gesture to Marvin, his face pleased and excited, and the lattercame | industriously on his hard couch. forward with an expectant look. “What is it?” he asked. ‘‘See!” and the nurse pointed to the patient sleeping quietly on the little cot. There was such a change of expression on | | | apartments, the weary Frenchwoman prob- ably wrapped in the Sutitber of exhaustion, his father sleeping quietly, the nurse snoring Just then Marvin started and bent his ear to listen as he heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs without. There was a quick but low knock on the door, and as he opened it a messenger- the silent face, such a calm, peaceful look | boy, holding a note in his hand, stood before that Marvin's features flushed with joy and gratitude. ‘‘He is better, then?” he inquired, anx- iously. “Oh, much better. He awoke once, looked around, and asked where he was, and when I briefly told him that he was under your care, he smiled peacefully and fell into a gentle slumber, He'll wake weak and fevered, but his mind has returned, sir; you can hope for that blessing, at least.” Even as he spoke the patient moved slight- ly and his lips framed a word: “Willis!” It was the first time for many long weary months that the son had heard that name spoken by his father’s lips. His soul was stirred to its intensest emotion ; he forgot that the utterance was a sleeper’s fantasy, and knelt by the couch after throwing aside his disguise. ‘Father!’ he answered, watching the pale, care-worn face. The word startled and awakened the sleeper. He opened his eyes. For a moment they stared strangely around, then, falling on the anxious face of his son, their wildness faded to a happy, joyous smile. ‘My son! Oh, have we met at last?” His voice was painfully weak; his hands trembled as they clasped those of his boy, and his eyes were filled with tears. Arminie Royale stood watching the scene with a sympathetic face. She advanced as, the rapture of emotion subsiding, the detec- tive arose. ‘Mr. Marvin.” The patient turned his glance toward her. For a moment he studied her face and ap- parel, and seemed lost in an effort to remem- ber where he had seen her before. ‘*Oh, yes; [remember you now,” he sai, finally—‘‘the woman of the river. How came you here?” At a significant glance from the nurse, Marvin approached his father. ‘‘You must not excite yourself by any questions now, father,” he ordered gently. “Sleep and rest, and you shall know all It’s all just right.” The patienf closed his eyes with a satisfied smile, and Willis, beckoning to Arminie, led her into the small adjoining apartment. ‘You notice that my father is scarcely in a condition to talk with you,” he observed. ‘‘There is a lounge yonder, and I will aban- don this apartmert for your use. Your weary face tells me that sleep will strengthen you, to better act in the drama we now have to carry out together.” The woman thanked him, and accepted his hospitality by sinking to the couch, with a sigh of fatigue and mental exhaustion. arvin closed the door and joined the nurse, “JT will watch by my father for the re- mainder of the night,” he announced. “ All right, sir. Ill snatch a few minutes’ sleep, then,” and Brown stretched himself on a comforter thrown in one corner of the room, while the detective lowering the lamn, took his post of vigilance by his father’s bed- side, His mind was busy contemplating the case upon which he was engaged. t no time since the inception of his undertaking to right the wrongs of Constance Thorndyke had the affair seemed so certain of a success- ful consummation. He held a thorough knowledge now of all the secrets of Adrian Revere, and if he could but rescue Constance and arrest Revere and his men, the case would be complete. CHAPTER XXIV. THE SECRET OUT. RESOLVING with the morning—now that his father had partially recovered from his delirium—to set actively about working the affair, Willis Marvin dozed lightly, and the morning had dawned ere he realized that his vigilance was past. > SS LE —_ him. ‘‘Mr. Willis Marvin?” “Yes. What is it?” ‘* A letter, sir.” | The boy disappeared as Marvin took the note to the light to examine it. In his curi- osity and eagerness he did not think to de- tain the boy, and when he had perused the missive he started after the lad to question him, but the messenger had disappeared. Then Willis sat down to again read the note. At first he did not question it, but as he examined more thoroughly his suspicions were excited. First, it was not the handwriting of Con- stance; next, her knowledge of his new location was apparently inexplicable. Was it seme plot to entice him into the power of his enemies? He smiled grimly as he felt of his trusty revolver. Was it a scheme to decoy him away from his father’s side so that Robert Marvin might again be brought within the power of his foes? Evidently not, for if his enemies were on the watch, they had had abundant opportunity for this during his previous absence from the house. ‘* Despite its mystery there’s something in it,” murmured the detective. ‘‘ Stranger things have happened in my career. Con- stance may have learned my residence from her captors, and the note may be yvenuine. As to my father, Brown is here, and he will be watchful and powerful to resist an attack on the part of a stranger to enter the place forcibly.” He awoke the nurse unceremoniously. ‘‘Tam going away for a short time,” he announced. ‘«Very well, sir.” ‘“‘ Keep a close watch of my father and do not admit any strangers,” he ordered. ‘‘ As to the woman in yonder room, she will prob- ably sleep till I return; if not, ask her to stay here till I come back.” No one seemed lurking in the vicinity as he examined the locality searchingly when leaving the house. it was just early day- er as he departed in the direction indicat- ed by the note. Five minutes later from the hallway of a building opposite two men emerged. One was Adams, the emissary of Adrian Revere, and his companion was dressed in the garb of a physician, wearing large glasses and a glossy silk hat. ‘*One gone,” muttered the latter. ‘‘And now for the other,” responded his companion. give the signal if Marvin appears.” The other started across the street and en- tered the building where Marvin’s rooms were located. A knock at the door brought the nurse in response to the summons. ‘*Is Mr. Brown in?” inquired Adams. The nurse nodded affirmatively. The other handed him the folded note. ‘‘From Doctor Winston,” he said. The honest, unsuspicious nurse perused the letter with difficulty. ‘*He wants me, eh?” he said; ‘‘ and you’re to stay here till I come back.” "Yea," ‘“Very well. Be careful of the patient and give him the medicine on the table if he wakes,” The false doctor, whose lack of resem- blance to a paid attendant Brown did not seem to notice, seated himself by the bedside of the patient, while the latter hurried from the place with a parting injunction as to the care of the patient. ‘*The coast is clear,” murmured the new attendant as he heard Brown's footsteps dy- ing away in the distance. He arose cautiously with a glance at the sleeping man, and proceeded to examine the drawers in the dureau of the apartment, His disappointed face told, however, that he had been unsuccessful in his quest. He All was silent in both had advanced to the door of the next apart- ‘Yes; you will wait here till I return, and ment, and turned the knob to enter, when there was a movement on the bed, and a low, weak voice uttered the single word: Wiis!” The false nurse came to the side of the pa- tient quickly. In the darkened room he saw the hand of the sufferer extended, and he caught it gently in his own—an eager flash in his gleaming eyes behind the spectacles. ‘““T am very weak,” spoke the pale lips, ‘fand my eye-sight is so dim I can hardly see you. Constance—she is safe?” ‘“* Yes,” The new attendant spoke in a whisper, and bent exceedingly low to catch his words. ‘If I should die, Willis, there is the treasure casket.” The patient could not notice the excite- ment of the man who held his hand. ‘“‘T removed it to a place of safety after the murder of the banker,” resumed Robert Mar- vin, in faint tones. ‘‘ You must get it.” “Where?” “When I left the city that night, I hurried to Jersey City and took a train to Paterson. South of the city and east of the falls, in a lonely line of rocks skirting the canal. You cannot miss it. Wandering near the highest rocks over the city, and in a direct line with the depot, is a large oak tree broker at the center. I hid the casket in a hollow of that tree, marking it with a deep cut in the shape of a cross.” It was outat last! The sufferer sunk back into the stupor of slumber again. The eyes of the false attendant glittered like two streaks of light. ‘Success!’ he muttered. ‘‘ After all our scheming and peril, a clever trick has at last secured the coveted fortune of Geralc Thorndy ke!” ws He glided from the room, his face glowing with excitement, yet, scarcely had he disap- peared through the doorway, when the half- opened door of the little apartment occupied by the detective’s strange guest opened wide, and Arminie Royale, with a pale face and startled eyes, entered the main room. ‘*The secret out!’ she murmured, hoarse- ly, ‘‘and Revere in possession of it! Robert Marvin is safe for the present, and I dare not delay.” Her trembling fingers adjusted her hat on her head, her feet traversed the corridor rap- idly as she left the room. At the side en- trance below she saw two forms disappear around the next corner. For a moment she reflected; then she started on a quick run toward the next street. ‘‘Tf I can reach the ferry first I shall out- wit these men! Courage and shrewdness, Arminie Royale, and you will yet balk these human fiends, Adrian Revere and his ac- complice, the disguised Sidney Torrance!” CHAPTER XXY. A NOVEL RACE. BROAD sunlight lay in golden wealth over the busy city when Willis-Marvin returned, with hurrying feet, to his room. His face was anxious, his manner excited, for he had learned that the pretended note from Con- stance Thorndyke was a fraud, and that, for some purpose, he had been decoyed away from his father's side. What the motive? When, after an hour’s exhaustive search of the vicinity indicated by the letter, and he was led to believe that he had been sent on a fool’s errand, he could assign but one reason for the deception—the efforts of the Dynamite League to again se- cure his father. It was with rapid footsteps, therefore, that he entered the building and a to the apartment where his Father ay. A mighty sigh of relief escaped his lips as he cast a quick glanceat the bed. His father was safe, and his regular breathing told. him that he slumbered profoundly, A puzzled look came over his face as he re- flected over the singular errand he had been sent on. Had a plot been laid to entrap him, and for some jnexplicable reason had the conspirators failed to carry out their inten- tions? He started, as his eyes, Sweeping the apartment, his thoughts were directed in a new channel. The disordered drawers of the bureau, and the absence of the nurse, Brown, startled him, and he advanced to the open door of the next apartment and glanced. in, * Gomiiichdoo cS