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I The Trey I A NoTelii*d Version of the Motion I Produced by the > I By LOUIS JO I Aathf W~Ttm F.riun. I Diutntd with Pbetogrsyhi OovTrtght, IMi by CHAPTER I. I nc mgiuyc OT WO KOSe. Lapped deep In the leather-bound luxury of an ample lounge-chair, walled apart from the world by the venerable solitude of the library of London's most exclusive club, Mr. Alan Law sprawled (largely on the -nape of his neck) and, squinting discontentedly down his nose, admitted that he was exhaustively bored. Now the chair filled so gracelessly stood by an open window, some twenty feet below which lay a sizable walled garden, an old English garden in full flower. And through the win- j dow, now and then, a half-hearted breeze wafted gusts of warm air, I sauve and enervating with the heavy fragrance of English roses. Mr. Law drank deep of it, and in spite of his spiritual unrest, sighed flll 4 f*K t? on/1 riknl /?? ??" iiquuj auu ouui 11 to ojCO. An unspoken word troubled the , depth of his consciousness, so that old memories stirred and struggled to Its surface. The word was "Rose," ?nd for the time seemed to be the name neither of a woman nor of a flower, but oddly of both, as though the two things were oue. His mental islou, bridging the gap of a year, conjured up the vision of a lithe, sweet j silhouette In white, with red roses , At her belt, posed on a terrace of the Riviera against the burning Mediterranean blue. Mr. Law was dully conscious that he ought to be sorry about something. But he was really very drowsy indeed; and so, drinking deep of wine-scent of roses, he fell gently asleep. The clock was striking four when he awoke; and before closing his ; eyes he had noticed that its hands < Indicated ten minutes to four. So he ' could not have slept very long. For some few seconds Alan did not I move, but rested as he was, incredu- j lously regarding a rose which had ma- | terialized mysteriously upon the little table at his elbow. He was quite sure It had not been there when he closed | hiB eyes, and almost as sure that it was not real. And in that instant of awakening i the magic fragrance of the rose-garden seemed to be even more strong and cloying sweet than ever. Then he put out a gingerly hand , on/1 Aluonvoro/1 f hot if n-o o j I MUV1 u>uvv? u* vu vnuv ?v ?ao icai uryumi all question. A warm red rose, freshplucked, drops of water trembling and sparkling like tiny diamonds on the elvet of its fleshy petals. And when impulsively he took it by the stein, he j discovered a most indisputable thorn ?which did service for the traditional pinch. Convinced that he wasn't dreaming, Alan transferred the rose to his sound hand, and meditatively sucked his With Red Roses at Her Beftthumb Then he jumped up from the 4hair and glared suspiciously round the room. It wub true that a practical joke in that solemn atmosphere ware a thing unthinkable; still, there was the rose. There was no one but himself In the library. Perplexed to exasperation, Alan fled the club, only pausing on the way out to annex the envelope he found addressed to him in the letter^radk. It was a blank white envelope of good quality, the address typewritten, the stamp English, and bore a Ixm aon poBimarK nair megiDie. Ian tore the envelope open In ab- | sent-mtnded fashion?and started as If stanf. The enclosure was a aim- j pie playing card?a trey of hearts! As for Alan Law, he wandered homeward in a state of stupefaction, j He could read quite well the message of the rose. He would not soon forget that year-old parting with bis Rose of the Riviera: "You say you j love me but may not marry me?and ^ . we must part. Then promise this, that If ever you change your mind, jfcwTou'll send for me." And her promjakJl"1 w111 8?nd you a rose." Jr .'/> But the year had lapsed with aevar Jv. :Lt O' Hearts I Picture Drente of the Same Name I Universal Film Co. R SEPH VANCE U Br*M Bowl.""Tim Black Bearda i from tl* Picture Prefectioa Louis Joseph Vt&M ! a sign from her, so that he had grown | accustomed to the unflattering belief I that she had forgotten him. ! And now the sign had come?but i what the deuce did the trey of heartB ; mean? When morning came, London had lost Alan Law. No man of his acquaintance?nor any woman?had received the least' warning of his disappearance. He was simply and sufj llciently removed from English ken. CHAPTER II. The Sign of the Three. Out-of-doors, high brazen noon, a day In spring, the clamorous life of New York running as fluent as quicksilver through Its brilliant streets. Within doors, neither sound nor sunbeam disturbed a perennial quiet that was yet not peace. The room was like a wide, deep well of night, the haunt of teeming shadows and sinister silences. Little, Indeed, was visible beyond ' the lonely shape that brooded over j ft, the figure of an old man motionless in a great, leather-bound chair. His hair was as white as his heart was black. The rack of his bones, clothed in n ihlrlf hlorlr Hrnatjl r, rr _ ??.-ft gown with walst-oord of crimson silk, from the thighs down wns covered by a black woollen rug. He stared unbllnkingly at nothing: a man seven- j eighths dead, completely paralyzed , but for his head and his left arm. Presently a faint clicking signal disturbed the stillness. Seneca Trine put forth his left hand and touched one of a row of crimson buttons embedded in the desk. Something else clicked ?this time a latch. There was the faintest possible noise of a closing door, and a smallish man stole noiselessly into the light, paused beside the desk and waited respectfully for leave to speak. "Well?" "A telegram, sir?from England." "Give it me!" The old man seized the i,heet of yellow paper, scanned It hungrily, and crushed it in hlj tremulous claw with a gesture of uncontrollable emotion. "Send my daughter Judith here!" Two minutes later a young woman in street dress was admitted to the chamber of shadows. "You sent for me, father?" "Sit down." She found and placed a chair at the desk, and obediently settled herself in it "Judith?tell me?what day is this?" "My birthdav. I am twentv-one." "And your sister's birthday: Rose, too, is twenty-one." "Yes." "You could have forgotten that," the old man pursued almost mockingly. "Do you really dislike your twin-sister so intensely*" The girl's voice trembled. "You know," she said, "we have nothing in common?beyond parentage and this abominable resemblance. Our natures differ as light from darkness." "And which would you say was? light?" "Hardly my own: I'm no hypocrite. Rose is everything that they tell me my mother was, while I"?the girl smiled strangely?"I think?I am more your daughter than my mother's." A nod of the white head confirmed the suggestion. "It is true. I have watched you closely, Judith, perhaps more closely than even you knew. Refore I was brought to this"?the wasted hand made a significant gesture?"I was a man of strong passions. Your mother never loved, but rather feared me. And Rose is the mirror of her mother's nature, gentle, unselfish, sympathetic. Rut yon, Judith, you are like a second self to me." An accent of profound satisfaction informed his voice. The girl waited In a silence that was tensely expectant. "Then, if on this your birthday I, were to ask a service of you that might injuriously affect the happiness of your sister??" The girl laughed briefly: "Only ask it!" "And how far would you go to do my will?" "Where would you stop In the eerv- 1 ioe of one you loved F' Seneca Trine nodded gravely. And after a brief pause, "Irose is in love," he announced. "Oh, I know?I know!" the father affirmed with a faint ring of satisfaction. "I am old, a cripple, prisoner of this living tomb: but all things I ' should know?somehow?I corns to , know in course of time!" "It\i true?that Englishman she scraped an acquaintance with on the Riviera last year?what's his nams?? Law, Alan Law." 'Tn tho mo In *' fV a ?- - ? u iuo iKiinr corrected mildly, "you are right. Only, he's not English. His father was Wellington ' Law, of Law & Son." She knew better than to Interrupt, but her seeming patience was belled by tbe whitening knuckles of a hand ' that lay within the little pool of blood-, ( red light i And presently the deep voice rolled on: "Law and I were once friends; l ? THE LANCASTER NEWS 'Men?It came to pass that we loved wip woman, your mother. I won her ??U but her heart: too late she realized it >vas Law she loved. He never 'crga ?o me, nor 1 him. Though he married another woman, still he held I'rnill PIP tho lnva n# m?. ? ??w ?v*w vt Uij mic. 1 VUUIU not sleep for hating him?and he was no better off. Each sought the other's ruin; It came to be an open duel between us. In Wall street. One of us had to fall?and I held the stronger hand. The night before the day that was to have seen ray triumph, I walked in Central park, as was my habit to tire my body so that my brain might sleep. Crossing the East drive I was struck by a motor-car runningat high speed without lights. 1 was picked up insensible?and lived only to be what I am today. Law triumphed in the street while I lay helpless; only a living remnant of my fortune remained to me. Then his wHH Tm ' B "Well, there Is the history. Now the rose has been sent; I,aw is already homeward bound; my agents are watching his every step. The rest Is in your hands." The girl bent forward, breathing heavily, eyes aflame in a face that had assumed a waxen pallor. "What is It you want of mef "Hring Alan I-aw to me. Dead or alive, bring him to me. Thit alive. If you can compass it; I wish to aee him die. Then I, too. may die content." The hand of hot-blooded youth stola forth and grasped the icy hand of lieniUMilMUe, | "I will bring him," Judith swore? 'dead or alive, you shall have him here." CHAPTER III. The Trail of Treachery. But young Mr. I-aw wan sole agent it his own evantahment; Juet as he was nobody's fool, least of all his own. j The hidden meaning of the trey of learts perplexed him with such distrust that before leaving London, he lispatched a code cablegram to his ;onfldentlal agent in New York. What do you know about the trey of Marts? Answer Immediately, magi . SR.-1 -*w*-?. . ?5B*5^H8^SEi? We Both Loved One Woman. chauffeur, discharged, came to me and sold me the truth; it was Law's car with Law at the wheel that had Btruck me down?a deliberate attempt at assassination. I sent Law word that I meant to have a life for a life. For what was I better than dead? I promised him that, should he escape, I would have the life of his son. He knew I meant It, nnd sent his wife and son abroad. Then he died suddenly, of some common ailment?they said; hut I knew better. He died of fear of me." Trine smiled a cruel smile: "1 had made his life a reign of terror. Ever so often I would send Law, one way or another?mysteriously always?a trey of hearts; it was my death-sign for him; as you know, our name, Trine, signifies a group of three. And every time he received a trey of hearts, within twenty-four hours an attempt of some sort would be made upon his life. The strain broke down his nerve. . . . "Then I turned my attention to the son, but the distance was too great, the difficulties insuperable. The Law millions mocked all my efforts; their alliance with the Rothschilds placed mother and son under the protection of every secret police in Europe. But they dared not come home. At length I realized I could win only by playing a waiting game. I needed three things: more money; to bring Alan Law back to America; and one agent I could trust, one incorruptible agent, j I ceased to persocute mother and son, lulled them into a sense of false security, and by careful speculations 1 repaired my fortunes. In Rose I had the lure to draw the boy back to j America; in you, the one person I could trust. "1 sent Rose abroad and arranged that she should meet Law. They fell i in love at sight. Then I wrote informing her that the tnan she had ehosen ' was the son of him whs had murdered all of me but my brain. It fell out as I foresaw. You can imagine the scene of passionate renunciation?pledges of undying constancy?the arrange- j ment of a secret coda whereby, when she needed him, she would send him ' a single rose?the birth of a great ro-1 mance!" The old man laughed sardonically.! S, OCTOBER 30,1914. The answer foresia'i.ed his arrival In Liverpool: Trlne's death rlgn for your father. For i God's Bake, look to yo irself and keep away from Amertoa. But AJan had more than onoe vis; ited America incognito and unknown to Seneca Trine via a secret route of , his own selection. | Eight days oat of London, a second- ' | class passenger newly landed from | one of the C.-P. steamships, he walked j the streets of Quebec?and dropped i out of sight between dark and dawn, ! to turn up presently in the distant | C nadian hamlet of Bate St. Paul, ap| parently a very tenderfooted American woods-traveler chaperoned by a taci- ! turn Indian guide picked up heaveni knows-where. Crossing the St. Lawrence by night, : the two struck off quietly into the { hinterland of the Notre Dame range. | then crossed the Maine border. On the second noon thereafter, j trail-worn and weary, as lean as their j ! depleted packs, the two paused on a ridge-pole of the wilderness up back | of the Allagash country, and made , ! their midday meal In a silence which, ; if normal In the Indian, was one of i deep misgivings on Alan's part. Continually his gnze questioned the . northern skies that lowered portentously, foul with smoke?a countryI wide conflagration that threatened all 1 northern Maine, bone-dry with drought. Only the south offered a fair prospect. And the fires were making southward far faster than man might hope to travel through that grim and stubborn land. Even as he stared, Alan saw fresh columns of dun-colored smoke spring : up In the northwest. Anxiously he consulted the Impassive mask of the Indian, from whom his questions gained Alan little comj fort. Jacob recommended forced 1 marches to Spirit lake, where canoes might be found to aid their flight; and withdrew Into sullen reserve. They traveled far and fast by dim forest trails before sundown, then again paused for food and rest. And i as Jacob sat. deftly about preparing the meal, Alan stumbled off to whip the little trail-side stream for trout. Perhaps a hundred yards upstream, | the bnck-lash of a careless cast by his weary hand hooked the stale of Malno. i Too tired even to remember the ap- , propriate words, Alau scrambled ashore, forced through the thick undergrowth that masked the trail, found hiB fly, set the state of Maine free?and swinging on his heel ; brought up, nose to a sapling, trans.fixed by a rectangle of white pasteboard fixed to Its trunk, a trey of hearts, of which each pip had been neatly punctured by a 22-caliber bullet. He carried It hack to camp, meaning to consult the guide, but on second thought, held his tongue. It was not llkoly that the Indian had overlooked an object so conspicuous on the trail. do Aian wauea ror mm to spenk? and meantime determined to watch Jacob more narrowly, though no other I suspicious circumstance had marked tl>e several daya of their association. The first half of the night was, as ! the day. devoted to relentless progi r< ss southward; thirty minutes of | steady jogging, five minutes for rest? . ud repent. No more question as to the need fc j ucli urgtnt haste; overhead the north .v. id muttered without ceasing. Thin " Is ot smoke drifted through the forI est., hugging the ground, like some' \. etrd ncrid tnist; and ever the curi lined heavens glared, livid with rej iioctcd fires. T-y m'dnight Alan had come to the bounds of endurance; llesh, bone and inew could no longer stand the strain, j Though .'acob declared that Spirit lake was now only six hours distant, as far as concerned Alan he might 1 ! ave said COO. His blanket once unrolled. Alan dropped upon it like one drugged. The sun was high when he awakened and sat up, rubbing heavy eyes, retching aching limbs, wondering what had come over the Indian to let him sleep so late. Of a sudden he w as assailed by sickening fears that needed only the briefest Investigation to confirm. Jacob bad absconded with every valuable item of t-heir equipment Nor was his motive far to seek, j Overnight the Are had made tremendous gains. And ever and anon the wind would bring down the roar of the holocaust, dulled by distance hut not unlike the growling of wild j animals feeding on their kill. Alan delayed long enough only to swallow a few mouthfuls of raw food, : gulped water from a spring, and set out at a dog-trot on the trail to Spirit Ii?ke. For hours he blundered blindly on, holding to the trail mainly by Instinct At length, pnnting, gasping, halfblinded. h^ staggered Into a little natural clearing and olungad headlong, so bewildered that he could not have n.\id whether he was tripped or thrown; for even as he stumbled a heavy body landed on bis baek and criiHhed him savagely to earth. In leas than a minute he waa overcome; his wrists hitched together, his ankles bound with heavy cord. When his vision cleared he found Jacob within a yard, regarding him with a face as Immobile as though it had been cast in the bronze it resembled. Beyond, to one side, a woman in a man's hunting costume stood eyeing the captive as narrowly as the Indian. but unlike him with a countenance that seemed aglow with a fierce i exultancy over his downfall. But for that look, he could have believed hers the face that had brought mm ? him overseas to this mortal pass. Fear tore (or feature, even to the hue of her tumbled hair, 8he counterfeited the woman he loved; only those eyes, aflame with their look of Inhuman ruthlessness, denied that the two were one. He sought vainly to speak. The breath rustled in his parched throat like wind whispering among dead leaves. i nruatiDg the Indian roughly aside, the woman knelt In his place by Alan's head. "No," she said, and smiltng cruelly, shook her head?"nc. I am not your Rose. But I am her sister, Judith, her twin, horn In the same hour, daughter of?can you guess whose daughter? But see this!" She flashed a card from within her hunting shirt and held it before his eyes, ""you know it. eh? The trey of hearts?the symbol of Trine?Trine, your father's enemy, and yours, and?Rose's father and mine! So, now, perhaps you know!" I A gust of wind like a furnace blast ; swept the glade. The woman sprang up. glanced over-shouider into the forest, and signed to the Indian. "In ten minutes." she said, "these woods will be your funeral pyre " She stepped back. Jacob advanced, picked Alan up, shouldered his body, ( and strode back into the forest. Ten feet in from the clearing he dropped the helpless man supine upon a bed of dry logs and branches. Then, with a single movement, he disappeared. CHAPTER IV. Many Water*. Overhead, through a rift in the foliage, a sky was visible whose ebon darkness called to mind a thundercloud. The heat waa nearly intolerable; the voice of the lire waa very loud. A heavy, broken crashing near by made Alan turn his head, and he saw a brown bear break cover and plunge on into the farther thickets?forerunner of a mad rout of terrified forest folk, deer, porcupines, a fox or two, a ! wildcat, rabbits, squirrels, partridge*' ?a dozen more. . . . Two minutes had passed of the ten. Something was digging uncomfortably j into Alan's right hip?the automatic liffltnl It* V* lo V*lwv ? * ?*-, L 1 f.wkwi inn Ui)i ux wnicn I Jacob hnd neglected to relievo him. i Then a sharp, spiteful crackling brought him suddenly to a sitting position. to find that the Indian had thoughtfully touched a match to the pyre before departing. At Alan's feet the twigs were blazing merrily. It would have been eaay enough, acting on instinct, to Bnatch his limbs away, but he did not move more than to strain his feet as far as their bonds permitted. Conscious of scorching heat even through his hunting boots, he suffered that torture until a tongue ' of flame licked up. wrapped Itself | round the thick hempen cord and ate It through. Immediately Alan kicked his feet, free, lifted to a kneeling position, and1 crawled from tha pyre. As for his hnnds?Alan's hunting-: knife was still In its sheath belted i to the small of his back. Tearing at the belt with his hampered fingers, ho! contrived to shift it round until the sheath knife stuck at the belt-loop over his left hip. Withdrawing and conveying the blade to his mouth, he r ; Sawed the Cords Against the RazorSharp Blade. (ripped it firmly between hie teeth, and sawed the cords round his wrists against the rasor sharp blade. Before Alan could turn and run he | haw a vanguard of flames bridge 60 | yarda At a bound And start a dead pine biasing Mho a torch. And then he wna pelting like a mad- j man across the smoked-Ailed clearing. And In lees than two minutes broke from the forest to the pebbly share of a wide-bosomed lake, and within a few hundred feet of a substantial dam, through whose spillway a hoary volume of water cascaded with a roar rivaling that of the forest-fire Itaelf. Two quick glances showed Alan two things: that his only way of escape was via the dam; that there was a solitary canoe at mid-lake, bearing swiftly to the farther suoro Judith ... . Jfrbve % - ? _r- ? Trine and the Indian?the latter wielding the paddle. In the act of turning toward the dam he saw Jacob drop the paddle. The next InBtant a bullet from a Winchester .30 kicked up a spurt of peb bles only a few feet in advance of Alan. He quickened his pace, but the next bullet fell c'oser, while the third ao- i tually bit the earth beneath his running feet as he gained the dam. Exasperated, he pulled up, whipped out his pistol and fired without aim. At the same time, he noted that the distance between dam and canoe had . * < > . > 'vl&'H&ti . '< * t:* . . . > . '>. :^:'x ' ' A Tremendous Weight Tore at His Arms. lessened perceptibly, thanks to the strong current sucking through the spillway. His Bhot flew wide, but almost instinctively his finger closed again upon the trigger, and he saw the paddle snap in twain, its blado falling overboard. And then the Indian fired again, his bullet droning past Alan's ear. /?? aw urea in response Jaeon started, dropped hlj rifle and crumpled up in the bow of the canoe. Simultaneously earth and heavens rocked with a terrific clap of thunder. , He turned again and ran swiftly along the dam, toward two heavy tlm- ^ hers that bridged the torrent of the spillway. Then a glance aside brought him up with a thrill of horror; the suck ot the overflow had drawn the canoe within a hundred yards of the spillway. The dead Indian in Its bow, the living woman helpless In its stern. It swept swlftlyionward to destruction. His next few actions were wholly unpremeditated. He was conscious only of her white, staring face, her strange likeness to the woman that he loved. He ran out upon the bridge, threw himself down upon the Innermost timber. turned, and let hlj body fall backward, arms extended at length, and swung, braced by his feet beneath the outer timber. With a swiftness that passed conscious thought, he was aware of the canoe hurtling onward with the speed of wind. Its sharp prow apparently aimed directly for his head. Then hands closed round his wrists like clamps; a tremendous weight tore at his arms, and with an effort of inconceivable difficulty he hegnn to lift, to drag the woman up out of the foaming Jaws of death. Somehow that impossible feat was achieved; somehow the woman gained a hold upon his body, shifted It to his belt, contrived Inexplicably to clamber over blm to the timbers; and somehow he in turn pulled himself up to safety, and sick with reaction sprawled prone, lengthwise upon that foot-wide bridge above the ?<-r?nmir,c ? I-Ater he became aware that the woman had crawled to safety on the farther shore, and pulling himself together, imitated her example. Solid earth underfoot, he rose and stood swaying, beset by a g jat weakness. Through the gathering darkness?a ghastly twilight In which the flaming forests on the other shoge burned with an unearthly glare?he discovered the wan, wrfthen face of Judith Trine close to his and he heard her voice, a acrearu barely audible above the com- k mingled voices of the conflagration ' and the cascades: "You fool! Why did you save me? I tell you, I have aworn your death!" The utter grotesqueness of it all broke upon his Intelligence like the revelation of some enormous fundamental absurdity In Nature. He laughed a little hysterically. Darkness followed. A flash of lightning seemed to flame between them like a fiery sword. To its crashing thunder, he lapsed Into unconsciousness. When be roused, It was with a shiver and a shudder. Rain was falling In torrents from a sky the hue of slate. Across the lake dense volumes of steam enveloped the dree that fainted beneath the deluge. A great ni88in* noise filled the world, muting even the roar of the spillway. He was alone. Rut In hie hand, tattered and braised ddj by the downpour, he found?e rose. t ^ 3* (Continued In Next Issue.) ^