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I TKe Trey A Novelized Version of the Motion | Produced by the (J I By LOUIS JOS 1 XrftU *T"TU Fmrtam Hm*tf.~"Tk I Bhibrtij wtt fWmnyhi I Qontifhti 1914. by I CHAPTER XXVI. I Make-Bel lev*. For upwards of three-quarters of an bour of that golden morning which followed the night of his return to New York, Mr. Law was permitted to esteem himself .he happiest of mortals. And inasmuch as this is not only a longer uninterrupted term of happiness than is humanly common but is more of that emotion than ordinarily ? leavens the whole of a lifetime, Alan was perhaps to be envied, even though disillueionmeut when it came was sudden, sharp, and to him unspeakably ehocklne?a swift tinnrosjianrt _ , ?V-ofrom sunlit peaks of supreme content to the black depths of a bleak Avernus of despair. The beginning of the period was synchronous with the slam of a taxicab door that shut away a superfluous world from the company of two who loved. The sound spelled safety as well ae success in Alan's understanding. The gar slipped smoothly away from the curb, pursued only by a little gust of semi-ironic cheers from the little company of working men who had witnessed as well as measurably participated in the putative elopement from the houee of Trine. Vigilant for any Indication that their evasion had had a witness In that strange home of deathless hatred, Alan watched It through the little .window in the back of the cab until a corner blotted out the vision of it; then with a sigh of relief sank down, by the side of the woman to whom his every thought, impulse and emotion jeere dedicated. "Rose!" he whispered, and tentaSvely touched one of the hands that iy clenched in her lap. ?V.o ?.i*v -i? wuv co|IU uucu mill UC TCI Sign lO indicate consciousness either of his touch or hia whisper. And reminding himself of the strain Imposed upon her by the experience through which they had JuBt passed, Alan excused her unresponsiveness on grounds of reaction, and for the time felt constrained to let his sweetheart reet and regain her normal poise: there was bliss enough for him in the consciousness that he had won her safely away, that nothing now more xnan n snort Hour's drive across town and by ferry across the Hudson stood between them and the marriage that should prove the consummation of all their trials . . . Barring accident! Alan had too often suffered the penalty of dtaapi>ointment for over-indul- ! genre in this failing of his for depreciating the unforeseen, not to make the mental reservation, "Barring accidents!" with a little shiver of dread. Had any of Trine's household been cognizant of his daughter's escape, Alan argued, interference must have been instant. Despite the reassuring aspect, the preoccupation of his companion so wore upon him that he was presently no longer able to refrain from disturbing her. "Roae!" he begged again, closing a hand tenderly over hers. "Dearest girl, don't worry another instant! Do calm yourself: remember we are safe i She Appeared Anxioua to Escape Without Being 8een. now; we fooled them handily?thanks to your faith and bravery, sweetheart! and everything la going to be well with ua from now on. Over in Jersey the minister is waiting now to marry ua; and down at the White Star dock the boat is waiting that is to carry us off to England the moment we're married. Think of that?and that i love you. Nothing can possibly break the Strength of that combination!" '. For another ahlawte %fce Mfffed aa w 1 O' Hearts I Picture Drama of the Seme Name I 'niverael Film Co. I EPH VANCE I Brrm BimcM iterate. EmIW Ptctar* PrWectioe mliJoMsk Tim she bad ever since sinking into her corner of the taxicab?moveless, taut, unresponsive. Then a long sigh shook her to her very heart, and of a sudden the small fist In Alan's grasp relaxed and her face turned to his like a flower to the sun, a face transfigured, its lips now soft and yielding, its eyee unclosed and smiling into his a smile all misty with unshed tears. "Alan." she breathed gently. "It can't be true! I'm trying eo hard to believe?but all the while I know it can't be true!" He converted a skeptic with the mute eloquence of his lips . Head upon his shoulder, the girl clung passionately to him. "Tell mo again that you love me!" she prayed. "Promise me you'll never let anything come between us. Promise me, Alan ?promise me you'll be kind to me always, dear!" "Can you doubt I will be kind?" he murmured reproachtully. "I am afraid . . ." she whispered. "How could I be anything else, loving you as I do?" "I am ufraid . . ." "Why should I be unkind to you?" "It isn't that. ... I'm just afraid." "Of what?" "Of losing you." "But that can never be!" "You can't be sure. What If you were to find you'd been mistaken?" She caught her breath and added hastily?"That you didn't really love me, I mean." "Oh, that's ridiculous!" "1 can't be sure. Nothing in life Is permanent. What la love? Illusion of the senses! What is happiness? A will-o'-the-wisp! What is life? A make-believe!" "Dearest!" He held her more closely still. "You are nervous and overwrought. You don't know what you're saying. You can't mean what you're saying. . . . But say that it'B so? that life la all make-believe. Then make-believe you love me?" "Oh, but 1 do, I do!" "And make-believe for a little we've caught the will-o'-the-wisp?only for a little?until you wake up and realize that it's all real and true." She closed her eyes again: "Yes," she breathed, "you are right. Let's make-believe it's all true for a little longer . . . and forget . . He could by no means account for this strange humor; but be did his best to corntort her, none the less tenderly because of his mystification. And for a long time she let illusion blind her, resting quietly in his urns, making believe . . . Ouly on approaching the Twentythird street ferry they must needs rouse and sit apart constrainedly for fear some one might glance through the window and surprise thelr_ secret. As If one needed the evident of a caress exchanged to know that they were lovers, who ha$ eyes to see the (Uishdd loveliness of the girl shrinking back In her oorner. or wit to interpret the radiant happiness that shone In Alan's face as he bent forward and watched warily from the window. CHAPTER XXVII. The Ring. Theirs was the last vehicle to swing between the gates before these last were closed. And this was quite as well; for Alan, rising for one last backward glance through the rear window, started involuntarily and choked upon an exclamation when he descried a powerful touring car tearing madly toward the ferry-hou6e, its one passenger half rising from the front neat, beside the driver, and exhibiting a countenance purple with congested chagrin as he Baw his car barred out of the carriage entrance. Quickly sensitive to his emotion, the girl caught nervously at Alan's hand. "What is it, dear?" "Marrophat," he snapped. She uttered a hushed cry of dismay. uon i De alarmed, however," he hastened to comfort her. "He's lost the race, the gates are shut?even the passenger gates?and there must be & company spotter somewhere near by, for the gateman is virtuously refusing to be bribed by a roll of ihoney as thick as my wrist!" At that instant the taxlcab rolled tboard the fevy-boat; the deck gates were closed; a hoarse whistle rent the roaring silence of the city; winches rattled and chains clanked; and the boat wore ponderously out of its slip. "So much for Mr. Marrophat!" Alan crowed, sitting down. "Foiled again! He can't stop us now!" "Perhaps . . ." "Why that perhaps? Why that tone?" he demanded sharply, struck by the foreboding her accents con [emeu. "This Isn't the only ferry. There's the Pennsylvania and the Lackawanna ?and by hard driving he might even manage to catch the boat that connects with this from the Christopher itreet ferry of the Erie!" . "IiappMible! I den't beUave K4 I THIS LANCASTER NEWS won't!" "Let's not," she agreod. Al:u\ . "Yes?" "Promise me?if he should'manage to catch up with us?you won't let him ' talk to you. I mean, dont let him?" "No fear of that!" he assortated hotly. "If he tries to exchpqge one word with me?Pouly wish Ay would!" She seemed satisfied with'that; but the incident bad served appreciably to chill their spirits. They accomplished the remainder of that voy&ge in a silence that was no less denressert ho. cause they sat hand in band throughout. M Nor was their taxioab three minutes out of the ferry house on the Jersey shore?though the chauffeur, stimulater by Alanjs extravagant promises, was doing his beet to fracture the speed laws and escape arrest?when the girls fears were amply justified; a shout from behind drew Alan's head out of the window on one side and the girl's 011 the other and proved to both that Marrophat had indeed found some, way to make the crossing without great delay. His touring car was within fifty yards when they first were aware of it; and Marrophat. standing on tbe i running-board, was shouting inarticulately and flourishing an imperative hand: while the distance between 'heni was momentarily growing lees noticeable. As Marrophat's car drew abreast Alan nodded and said quietly: "Don't be alarmed; I can attend to this gentleman single-handed." And this he proceeded to demonstrate with admirable ease, even though called upon to do so far sooner than he had thought to be?thanks to Marrophat's hair-brained precipitancy. For, failing to influence the taxi driver by shouted demands or threats, or to gain the least attention from Alan. Trine's first lieutenant ab- , rupny ana surprisingly took his life in his hands and in one wild bound bridged the distance between the two flying cars and landed on the taxi's , running-board. Stop!" he screamed madly. "Stop, I say! Ydu don't know what you're doing! Let me tell you?" He got that far but no farther. In the same breath Alan had Hung wide the door and was at the fellow's throat. There was a struggle of negligible duration; Marrophat was in no way his antagonist's match; within three seconds he threw out both hands, clutched hopelessly at the framework of the cab, and fell heavily to the street. The taxi sped on without pause, its driver deaf to the hails of innocent if indignant bystanders. Alan pulled himself together and looked back just in time to catch a glimpse of a number of loafers lifting Marrophat to his feet and helping him to the sidewalk of an unsavory-looking tenement, before the cab took a corner on two wheels . . ." "Not seriously injured, I fancy," he told the girl in response to her eager look. "Worse luck!" he added ilioomny. But it 8eeemed that he was to have greater cause than tnis to complain of liiB luck, before that ride wae ended. Three blocks further on a tire blew out with a report like a cannon-cracker, and the taxi lurched perilously, hesitated, slowed down, and limped dejectedly to the curb. Alan and the chauffeur piled out in the same instant, the one standing guard?with an eye out as well for another cab?while the ether assessed damages. "Nothing for It but a new tire, sir," this last reported sympathetically. "It must have been a broken bottle or something like that?it sure did rip the usefulness clean out of that shoe." "Go to It," Alan advfeed him tersely; "and If you make a quick Job of it. I'll stand the coet of the new tire." "But if another cab comes along while you're M. it you'll lose us as quick as a wink. Here's my card, in k'ase we have to desert you in a hurry; , you understand this is n matter of life and death, and I'll nave no time to ? ettlo up with you. But you can call at Mr. Digby's office and he'll fix I hlrigB up to your satisfaction." The man tool; the card and after a Innro ?- ?- - ? - . v. tiv tuc iuiiiic luuuitvu 1:13 mu with more noticeable respect. "All right, Mr. Law," he agreed; "anything you say." And forthwith ot to work. The rapidity with which he com; leted the change of tires proved him r.n excellent chauffeur, an rdept at Ins (raft; but the delay was one disastrous for all that. It worked together with what Alan pardonably described as the devill own luck to bring the i touring car in sight at the precise moment when the chauffeur was cranking t:p and Alan on the point of re-enterlag the cab. And though they were < ff ugain before Alan could close the door, the attempt was hopeless from the start. And yet?whether or not because Alan's distaste for interference bad been too convincingly demonstrated? 1 the touring car for the time being contented itself with trailing about fifty feet in the rear, while the taxi fled the tenement purlieus of-the Ho> boken waterfront and found Its way into the broader atreetn nf on nnnra. tentiouH suburban quarter. Not until they were well Into the ! uburbs, with few dwellings near and *> pedestrians to interfere, did Marro- | ghat's purpose become apparent. Then, -.owerer?and it happened while Alan vas looking back?the touring car 'rew In swiftly and easily and Marro)hat, rising in his scat, leveled a re/wlver over the windshield and flred. The crack of hie ??mi vm kmn iii * q DECKMBKU 15, 1914. dcally coincident with a metallic thud t -.b&icMlbviha Mar swat of the taxicub. Not for some monfients did Alan ap- ! predate the Viclousnffcs of the scheme. Surmisinn that the ttosoline tank had oeen punctured by the bullet, be was inclined to believe that Marrophat hoped to stop the taxicab by depriving it, in course of time, of its fuel. And with this in mind he was presently surprised, as the cab took a corner, iu ami murropnai b car stop ai mai corner and Marrophat himself get down. The brow of a hill intervened, shutting off sight of the blackguard as he knelt and lit a match. It was the Ctrl who gave the alarm, suddenly , withdrawing her head from the win* dow to scream at Alan : v"He's fired the gasoline! It's flaming along the street, following the line of the leak?and catching up with us!" Without pausing to put his hand to the latch, Alan kicked the door open. "Jump!" he cried. "For your life? jump! As soon as that flame catcheB up with the tank?" Simultaneously the chauffeur, overhearing, shut off the power. The three gained the sidewalk barely In time: the tiny trail of flames, almost imperceptible in the sunlight, was not a yard from the.jet that spurted through the bullet hole in the tank. In the flutter of an eyelash the explosion followed. Had the cab been loaded with nitroglycerin its destruction could have been no more absolute. There was a roar . . . and then a heap of smoking ruins. Without waiting to admire the spectacle, Alan caught the arm of the girl and hurried her up the street, at the same time calling to the chauffeur to follow. And chance brought them to the next corner as another cab, fareless, hove into view. Promising Its driver anything he might ask, in or out of reason, Alan gave him the address, and helped the girl in. If Marrophat pursued Alan could see no Sign of him. The second car made better time than the first. Unhindered, and as far as could be determined, I without being followed, it covered the brief remaining distance in a gratefully short lapse of time. The suburb dropped behind a maze of streets where dwellings stood shoulder to shoulder and dooryardB were scant. Th^ car Bwept up to a corner house of modest aud homely aspect. Two minutes more, and Alan was exchanging salutations with and making his bride-to-be known to Dlgby's good friPTld thp 17 ovornn A Ifv Embarrassment worked confusion with the young man's perceptive faculties. As this moment approached when two should be made one who had gone through fire and flood, literally as well as figuratively, for each other's sake, incredulity drew a veil before his vision. He viewed the worM as in a glass, darkly. He was aware of a decently furnished minister's study; of two witnesses in the guise of unassuming womenfolk of the minister's household; of the Rev. Mr. Wright himself as a benevolent voice rolling sonorously forth from a black-clad presence; of the woman of his heart staining opposite him; of questions asked and responses made; of a ring that was magically conjured from some store apparently maintained against precisely similar emergencies; of a \ hand that took the hand that was to be his wife's and placed it in his; of his clumsy and witless bungling with the task of fitting that ring to the finger of his sweetheart's hand . . . And then he was aware of a door . that banged violently in the hallway; | of the sound of a man's voice making | some indistinguishable demand; that ; Rosace hand was suddenly whipped | away, before he could fit on the ring; that the study door waa flung open and that this animal of a Marrophat had , precipitated himself into the room. He opened his mouth to protest? and Marrophat silenced him with a cry. "You fool! Drop that ring! Stop (his farce! Don't you know whom you're marrying? That woman is Ju dith Trine, you idiot?not Rose!" Blankly Alan turned to the girl. Her flaming face, her sullen eyes, her very pose, from which the manner of Rose had dropped like a cast garment, confessed the truth of Marropliat's assertion. And as if this were not enough, Judith confessed it doubly with a sudden outbreak of such rage as never could have been brewed In Rose's gentle nature. "You devil!" ahe cried?and threw herself in front of Marrophat with a spring as lithe as that of a leopardess. "Take warning now from me: keep out of my way forever after thle?or take the consequences! God knows," she panted, "why I don't kill yon as : you stand!" He was In her way. between her and j the open door. She gave him no chance to move aside, but seized htm so fiercely by the wrists that he Instinctively lifted to protect himself, and she fairly threw him half a dozen feet from her. He brought up with j a crash against the wall even as the I door slammed behind the girl. When Alan, the first to recover, j gained the sidewalk, Bhe was already ' in the taxicab. Whatever reward she had promised the man, he whipped his i machine away as if from the fear of sudden death. And darting from the house hard on the minister's heels, Marrophat leaped into bis own car and, as if he had not heard her threat or received | Rllhstunt inl a" Ua. ? ? ' F' w* U4 UVI caillCBlUUUi, tore off iu pursuit. <To be Continued.) 7 Soutiii*Kn Railway PREMIER CARRIER OF THE SOUTH. Queen & Crescent Route.] Big Four Route. SCEDULE: WESTBOUND. Lv. Charleston I 8:00 A.M. Lv. Summerville / 8:43 A.M. Lv. Branchville L 10:20 A.M. Lv. Orangeburg V 10:55 A.M. Lv. St. Matthews 11:24 A.M. Lv. Columbia 12:55 P.M. Ar. 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