Beadle's Dime Library No. 366 — page 3: what you’re looking at

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

The Telegraph } . . | working out a terrible record to remove from force, which I secured to follow them more closely. ‘To-night I verily believe their iniquity culminated in drugging me, in attempting to cause a frightful disaster to be laid at my door. All [know is thatmystery surrounds my father’s disappearance, and [ also know but one member of the band which has sought to ruin my family and myself. As effectually as if swallowed up by the earth, my father, Robert Marvin, lawyer of Nassau street, New York city, left his office one afternoon six months since, and was lost to the sight of men. has failed to disclose a single trace of him, the offer of liberal rewards, the earnest efforts of private detectives and myself have resulted in coming to a blank wall on which seems written | the too frequent legend of metropolitan experi- ence; * Mysteriously disappeared.’ ” The most persistent search | ** Six months since,” murmured the girl, lean- ing forward, her eyes fixed upon the other, Tse OS” ‘May he not have—” ‘*T know what you would say,” interrupted Marvin, ‘‘ Suicide—accident. o; he was de- coyed away I am satisfied, because he held the | confidence and secrets of a client.” | ‘A client?” the woman’s lips queried, her eyes dilating wildly as she repeated his words. ‘You have traced the mystery thus far. Can | you tell me that client’s name? ‘*'Yes. It was Gerald Thorndyke.” ‘Merciful heavens! My father!” The operator fell back in his chair as if an electric shock had f'xed him there. Each heart in a wild tempest, trembling on the brink of a discovery so strangely brought to them by a singular meeting, they sat, one awaiting the words of the other. ‘Your father!” cried the operator, breaking the silence. “Yes, Gerald Thorndyke was my father. Around him, around the destinies of all who knew or befriended him, has been woven so deadly a web of events that a curse seems to have followed and haunted that friendship.” Her face sunk upon her hand, The operator regarded her in wondering silence for some time, calm, her face pale but resolute, ‘* Will you proceed?” she said. He bowed quietly and continued: ‘“‘ How I know this, how I have ascertained that my father was the victim of a vile plot, I discovered from a letter.” ‘* A letter?” ‘Yes. Six months since a street gamin picked up in Barclay street an envelope directed to me. It had been thrown there from some passing vehicle in some inexplicable manner, and was dirt-begrimed and torn. But the little arab brought the letter to the direction it bore. That letter was written in my father’s hand. Hastily scrawled, it told me that he was in the power of a band of men, whose motives, crime and gain, had been called into requisition in a case where he was concerned. He informed me that, watched by them, he had sought in vain to communicate with me, and that he had no hopes that even this letter would reach me, The mo- tives of his arrest were the secrets he possessed of Gerald Thorndyke, a client just returned from Europe. The letter was interrupted in its conclusion hastily, for it wound up abruptly with the statement that his captors were about to remove him to another place, and if he refused to divulge an important secret had threatened to kill him, ‘I will be true to the interests of Gerald Thorndyke,’ he concluded. ‘Tracedown my enemies; they are Reuben Dayton—’” ‘ And there the letter ended?” ** There it ended.” ** And this man Dayton?” “Ts the man I met to-night. Is the man I have met once before, a former servant of my father’s family.” ‘* And your position here?” ‘Was taken to gain temporary covert from these men. I was pursued, threatened, even shot at several times. A false charge caused my removal from the detective force. I came here for rest, to think, and then to search for these men, concerning whom I only know four facts: That Gerald Thorndyke’s secrets have cost my father his liberty, perhaps his life; that Reuben Dayton isa member of the band; that these men are bound to hunt me down as they did my father: and the mysterious sign of this organization.” “The -sign!” cried the young girl, her face turning white and agitated. ‘Yes, the mystic symbol impressed upon the arm of Dayton, ones ce e arm of each member of the order. I show it to you?” and he seized a pencil to outline the symbol upon the paper on the desk. : The woman waved her hand with a gesture of horror. . “No, no,” she cried. “‘T know it only too well—the red-stained broken blade, the name of the order it represents, the Dynamite League.” ‘The Dynamite League,” repeated the opera- tor, in awed tones, impressed, he knew not why, by the singularname. ‘Yes, itis the Dynamite League which has robbed both of us of a father; it is this confed- eration of crime which, hiding the real actor, is ) At last she lifted her eyes to his, its path the obstacles to that hidden person’s success, But it is fate which has brought us to- | gether, a fate the first operations of which aro harbingers of success and hope,” She spoke wih the inspiration of faith and enthusiasm. Her eyes glittered brightly, her face flushed, her every gesture imbued with energy and indomitable perseverance. . ea me relate my story,” she continued, more calmly. which will make mystery plain, and prove to you that your meeting with Reuben Dayton to- night was but a coincidence, and that I, and not you, was the cause of this last desperate act of these men, Then, whether we join issues ocr not, you will know what you have to fear, who are the foes with whom pe have to deal.” ‘*T am Constance Thorndyke, daughter cof Gerald Thorndyke, a wealthy, retired banker of New York, for two years a resident of Italy, where he went to recover failing health. Ee- fore leaving America he converted the bulk of lis fortune into money, and left only such property as he had possessed for a long time, among which was the homestead on Irving Place, in the charge of a true friend and an at- torney, a Mr. Marvin.” ‘* My father,” murmured the operator. The girl bowed assent, and continued: ‘* At Palermo, about a year since, my father one day packed up his effects very suddenly and announced to me that he was about to return to America. I knew how powerful were his ca- prices, and [ offered no objection, he no expla- nation. But to my surprise, when I arose the next morning, he had gone alone. He had left a note stating that business of the utmost im- »ortance had called him to New York, and that 1¢ had found the haste necessary on the voyage would make it inconvenient to himself, and un- pleasant to me to accompany him and leavin me a check for a large amount of money, ha gone. I was very much alarmed, but as I re- ceived letters at Paris and Liverpool from him, I resigned myself to his decision, Then a lapse of silence, and I was utterly prostrated six months since when I received from New York a brief, formal letter, from a distant relative, to the ef- fect that my father had died from ship fever at his residence in that city, leaving me all his per- sonal effects and bank account at Palermo, and the rest to the writer. The name signed was that of a man I loathed and detested at the time, whom [I have since learned to regard as my father’s murderer, and my most implacable enemy, Adrian Revere.” The woman paused and glanced inquiringly at the operator, as the latter started violently with an exclamation of surprise. ‘You know this man?” she asked, ‘Yes, but only incidentally. I traced Day- ton to his home one night.” ‘When I recalled that, in leaving, my father had drawn his bank account, except sufficient to meet the check left with me, that he had tak- en with him the steel casket containing the val- uables representing his entire fortune, and when I thought of Adrian Revere, I knew that foul play had beenat work. An examination of some private papers left behind confirmed my sus- picions. This man Revere had once been a suit- or for my hand. I had rejected him, for he had the reputation, in connection with a band of loose adventurers, of being concerned in numer- ous swindling schemes, in the various capitals of Europe, @ had left in dissatisfaction and vengeful, but, I ascertained, had not abandoned his determination to secure my fortune. Among the letters I found severalfrom him. For years my father’s mind, weakened by old age, had en- tertained a vain delusion—the transmutation of metals. ‘*T found that Revere, with ready wit, play- ing on this susceptible chord, had induced my uns ting parent to come to Paris, meeting him there and accompanying him to New York, where, he avowed, he had found a chemist who could change the baser metals to gold. In three months, after unusual delays from storm and disaster, I reached New York to find Revere in gece den of the family mansion, installed as 1eir to my father’s estates.” A whistle interrupted the girl’s story. She started, as she understood from her companion’s face that it was the engine ready to continue its journey. The other glanced at the clock, saw that it was after midnight, and taking up a pen, began to write rapidly. His companion discerned re his manner that he was also listening to er. **T will be brief,” she continued. ‘‘I boldly charged Revere with the death of my father, and showed him what I knew of his plot. In return, he was insolent, suave, threatening by turns. He denied any foul play, and produced the certificate of my father’s death from natural causes, the will leaving him heir. He denied any knowledge of the steel casket, and pretended to believe that my father had ieft it with me. Then he offered me marriage, and I indignantly left the house, **Since then, day and night I have been fol- lowed, shadowed whenever I sought to watch him, balked when I sought friendly advice. His Detective. 3 —_-— — - a = 8 ee ed emissaries have followed me. Mysterious warn- ings, attempts on my life, cffers of bribes and threats to induce me to leave America have as- sailed me, until [ have had it slowly developed ‘to me that back of Revere stands a powerful ‘* Let me divulge to you that | masked, and I sought to effect it. ally composed of his Lurcpean adventurers, des- perate assassins and criminals—the Dynamite League with its Lroken Cegger cs an emblem, influence and secrecy as its Lelpers. I went to Philadelphia to evade them, at last dctermined to return to New York and seek police aid. Se- cure as is this man’s position, Le must be un- | Skedowed in Philadelphia, some emissary has informed the League of my movements. ‘The result you have —seen—the peeevean pt wreck of the train.” _my assistant. cided my course, LL The train itself drew up in front cf the station at that moment, and a stranger entered the office and took his place at the instrun ent. ‘**My assistant,” explained Marvin as he ap- proached the new-comer and handed him tke letter he had written. Miss Thorndyke had arisen, ** You will proceed with the train?’ asked Mar- vin, “Yes, I must; and you?” **T will accompany you.” ‘* You will abandon your position here?” she said. ‘*T have done so already in the letter I handed To-night’s developments have de- ly father suffered for his adherence to your father’s interests, If Gerald Thorndyke possessed sufficient claim on him to induce him to sacrifice liberty and life, the son will not be remiss in his fidelity to the daughter. I shall accompany you to New York. shall watch and protect you. With issues identical, hand in hand we will work out this dark mys- tery or die together victims to the operations of the Dynamite League!” CHAPTER. IT. IN PERIL. WiTHIN a sumptuously-furnished apartment of the Thorndyke mansion, in Irving Place, the evening of the second day after the occurrence of the outrage at Brocton, sat Adrian Revere, Schemer was indelibly stamped upon the man’s face, craftiness, caution, avarice, plainly spoke in the restless bright eyes. There was an- other occupant of the apartment, a man rcughly dressed, and with coarse, unshaven face, but his insolent familiarity with the other, his casy attitude of indolence in the capacious arm-chair from the velvet depths of which he faced his host, told that however widely separated their sitions socially, a bond of equality reduced he more intelligent of the two to the grade of the other when together and alone. ‘Then the train business was a failure?’ in- quired Revere, his face betokening a shade of annoyance at the careless air of the other, ‘* Yes, that cursed operator outwitted us. If we had known that he and our mysterious trailer in the past were one and the same, I would have anticipated my careless blow witha knife-thrust,” “Torrance did not know him then?” §SNo,” ‘* Where is he now?” ~ & ‘*Tn the city.” Revere started violently. ‘* He is under surveillance?” a“ Yes,” ** And the girl?” "She ig with him. Between you and I, Re- vere, the case is working to our disadvantage. The girl suspects the truth, and with what Mar- vin knows, they may make us trouble.” ** You think bf connect the League’s opera. tions with myself?” ' Dayton laughed, derisively. “ Surely you did not ima gine they would fail to do so?” he said. Revere was silently reflective for a few mo- ments, ‘*See here, Dayton,” he said, finally, ‘‘ when I disbanded the old league, it was agreed that the money I gave would leave me free to aban- don the old life once for all.” ‘“‘ That is true,” ** Therefore I must not be brought in contac with them suflicient to excite suspicion.” ‘*Tt was your own seeking, this using our in- fluence to carry out your schemes.” ‘*T know that, and I am willing to pay for it. Your course is plain enough—the girl and this troublesome fellow, Marvin, who has consti- tuted himself a detective—get rid of them and I am free of all obstacles in the Thorndyke mat- ter,” .» ‘* Murder is not so easy in open daylight, when the victim is on the watch,” replied Dayton, ‘* Then use science, With the means at your command of scientific killing that Mazini can suggest, these people should be but little trouble to remove from your path.” ** And the money?” Revere turned angrily upon the cther. ** It’s always money,” hesaid. ‘‘ Let Torrance carry out the contract and wrest Robert Mar- vin’s secret from him regarding the casket, and you shall all be rich.” A quick glance as quickly vailed broke from the eyes of Dayton; accompanying it, however, _ (EOP MNEl OOO KS con