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SIX Efv ??? TbeMIonD By HAROLE Illustrated from Scenes Loame i\ame l?y the A hi i> i in umii n\itm >i i *-rr T*?twwuf < (Copyright, 1UU,1 (This, the eight episode of *!iis interesting serial story, will he shown in motion pictures at the Casino Theatre tonight.) CHAPTER VIII. The Wiles of a Woman. After the affair of tlio auto bandits? three of whom were killed?a lull followed. If you're a sailor you know what kind of a lull I mean?blue-black clouds down the southwest horizon, the water crinkly, the booms wabbling. Suddenly a seriee of "accidents" began to happen to Norton. At lirst he did not give the matter much thought. The safe which fell almost at his feet and crashed through the sidewalk m'erely induced him to believe he was lucky. At another time an automo? - c i 1 -- ' L>uw cuiiit? lunousiy arouna a corner while he was crossing the street, and only amazing agility saved him from bodily hart. Die car was out of sight when he thought to recall the number. Then came the jolt in the subway. Only a desperate grab by one of the guards saved him from being crushed to death. Even then he thought nothing. But wh ?n a new box of cigarettes arrived and he tried one and found it strangely perfumed, and, upon further analysis, found it to contain a Javanese narcotic, a slow but sure death, ho became wide awake enough. They were after him. He began to walk carefully, to keep in public places as often as he possibly could. Ho was not really afraid of death, but he did abhor the thought of its coming up from behind. Excent for the cigarettes they were all "acci- ; dents;" he could not have proved anything before a jury of his intimate friends. He never entered an elevator with- j out scrupulous care, lie never passed under coverings over the sidewalks where construction was going on. Still, careful as he was, death confronted hi at once more. It was his habit to have his coffee and rolls? he rarely ate anything more for his breakfast?set down outside his door every morning. The coffee, being in a silver thermos bottle, kept its heat for Norton Put His Arms Around Her. i hours. When he took the stopper out and poured forth a cup it looked oddly black, discolored. It is quite probable that had there been no series of "accidents" he would have drunk a cup? and died in mortal agony. It contained bichloride of mercury. Very quietly he set about to make inquiries. This was really becoming serious. In the kitchens downstairs uoLaing couia oe learned. ine maia had set the thermos bottle before the door at 10:30. Norton had opened the door at 1:30?three hours after. The outlook was not the eheerfulest. He knew perfectly well why all these things "happened;" he had interfere! with the plans of the scoundrels win were making every possible move t< kidnap Florence Hargreave. One afternoon he paid Florence i visit. Of course he told her nothing They had become secretly engage the day after he had rescued her froi the auto bandits. They were secretl engaged because Florence wanted i so. For once Jones suspected notl ing. Why should he? He had troi ties enough. As a matter of fac Norton was afraid of him in the sam sense as a boy is afraid of a polic man. But on this day, when the tin came, he accosted the butler and dre him into the pantry. "Jones, they are after me now." "You? Explain." Norton briefly recounted the deli erate attempts against his life. "You see, I'm not liar enough say that I'm not worried. I am, de ilbhly worried. I'm not wofth ai <ir? ? iflK . : * .T. '*i. 'j> Mar Mystery > MAC GRATH J in the Photo Drama of thm inhouser Film Company r !SS?T^5BS555SS55SS55S55SSBSS5^liM >y Harold MucGratb) ransom I'm in the way, and they seem determined to put me out of it." "To any other man I would say travel. But to you 1 say when you leave your rooms don't go where you first thought you would?that is, some usual haunt. They'll be everywhere, near your restaurants, your clubs, your office. You're a methodical young' man; become erratic. Keep away from here for at least three days, but always call me up by telephone some time during the day. Never under any circumstance, unless I send for you,, come here at night. Only one man now watches the house during the day, but five are prowling around after dark. They might have instructions to shoot you on sight. I can't spare you just at present, Mr. Norton. You've been a godsend; and if it seems that sometimes I did not trust you fully it was because I did not care to drag you in too deep." Deep? Norton thought of Florence and smiled inwardly. Could anybody be in deeper than he was? Once it was on the tip of his tongue to con fess his love for Florence, but the gravity of Jones' countenance was an obstacle to such move; it did not in! vite it. To be sure, Jones had no real authority to say wjiat Florence should or should not do with her heart. Still, from all points of view, it was better to keep the affair under the rose till there came a more propitious hour in which to make the disclosure. Love, in the midst of &!1 these alarms! Sharp, desperate rogues on one side, millions 011 the other, and yet love could enter the scene se-, renely, like an actor who had missed his cue and came on too soon. Oddly enough, there was no real love-making such as you often read about. A pressure of the hand! a glance from the eye, there was seldom anything more. Only once?that rnein- j orable day on the river road?had he kissed her. No word of love had been spoken on either side. In that wtld moment all conventionalities had dieappeared like smoke in the wind. There bad been neither past nor fu- | ture, only the present in which they j knew that they loved. With her h#, ! was happy, for he had no time to plan j over the future. Away from her he J 1 saw the inevitable barriers providing j against the. marriage between a poor i young man and a very rich young i woman. A man who has any respect ' for himself wants always to be on j equal terms with his wife. It's the way this peculiar organization called ; society has written down its rules. | Doubtless a relic of the stone age, wiiea Ab went out with his club to seek a wife and drag her by the hair to his den, there to care tor her u:id to guard her with his life's blood, it is one of the few primitive sensations j that remain to us, this wanting the female dependent upon the male. Perhaps this* accounts for man's lack of interest on the suffragette question. Only Susan suspected the true state ' of affairs, being a woman. Having had no real romance herself, she delighted in having a second-hand one, as you might say. She intercepted many a glance un2 pretended not to see the stolen hand pressures. The wedding was already full drawn in her mind's eve. These two vonntr r,oor\io ? - - - ? -f, | should be married at Susan Far low's when the roses were climbing up the sides of the house and- the young robins were boldly trying their fuzzy wings. It struck her as rather strange, but she could not conjure up (at this wedding) more than two men besides the minister; the bridegroom, and the butler. By forsaking his accustomed haunts, , under the advice of Jones, the hidden ! warfare ceased temporarily. You can't I very well kill a man when you don't! j know where to find him. lie ate his . breakfasts haphazardly, now here, 3 now there, lie received most of his 3 assignments by telephone an<j wrote 3 his stories and articles in his club, in 1 the writing rooms of hotels, and in* 3 variably dispatched them to the olilce 3 by messenger. The managing editor I wanted to know what all this meant; a 1 but Norton declined to tell him. I r< i. i .v. * ~ i. ~ t>? 1 | Ji 11 IVUVI miu IJO luicuu iu IOUI* d! rang? his daily lire?his habits. It n was a revolution against his ease, for y' he loved ease when he was not at It work, lie had the sensation of having i.1 been suddenly robbed of his home, .ot having been cast out into the streets, t, And on top of all this he had to go ie and fall in love! e- There was no longer a shadow op posite the apartments of the Princess te Perigoff. Braine came and went night w ly without discovering any one. This rather worried him. It gave him th< impression that the shadow had fount out what he had been seeking and n< b- longer needed to watch the comini and going of either himseif or tin to Countess Perigoff. v- "Olga. it looks as if we were at th< end of our rope," he said discouragedlj *** "We have failed in all attempts so fai ^ THE HORRY HEI The devil watches over that girl." "Or God," replied the countesj gloomily. "In nearly every instance their success has been due to chance Somehow I'm convinced that we be Ban wrong. We should have let Har greavo escape quietly, followed him and made him fast when th,e right op portunity came. After a month or cc his vigilance would have relaxed; lie would have arrived at the belief thai he had eluded us." ' ^ - "Indeed!" ironically. "He wasn'l ..i 11 i -ii . * ? - - wguuui an xnese years in which he did elude us. How about the child he never sought but guarded? Vigilance! ( He rover was anything*else all these I seventeen years. The truth is, suej cess has developed a coarseness in our methods. And now it is too late for finesse. We have tried every device wo can think of; and there they are? the girl free, Norton unharmed, and the father as secure in his retreat as though he wore an invisible cloak. My head aches. I, have ceased to be inventive." "The two are in love with each oth er." ? "Are you sure of that?" ? "I have my eyes. But I begin to wonder." "About what?" "Whether or not Jones suspects me and is giving me rope to hang myself with. Not once have the police been called in and told what has really happened. They ;.re totally at sea. And what has become of the man over the way?" "By the Lord Harry!" exclaimed Braine, clapping his hands. "I believe I've solved that. We shot a man coming out of Hargreave's. Since then there's been no one across the way. One and the same man!" "But that knowledge doesn't get us anywhere." "No. You say they are in love?" "Secretly. I don't believe the butler has an inkling of it. It is possible, however, that Susan has caught the trend of affairs. But, being rather romantic, she will in no wise inter ICI u. Braine smoked in silence. Presently a smile twisted his lips. "Yon have thought of something?" she asked. "You might try it./' he said. "They have accepted your friendship: whether with ulterior purpose remains to be learned. She has been to your apartments two or thtfee times to tea and always got home safely.** "No," sho said determinedly. "Nothing shall happen here. I will not take the risk." "Wait till I'm through. Break up the romance in sue' a way that the girl will bar Norton ilror the house. That's what we've been aiming at: t.o get rid of that meddling reporter. We've tried person3. Try your kind." ! "What do you mean?" "Lies." "Ah! T understand. Tou- want me fo win him awa> from her. It cannot be done." "Pshaw! You have a hap: full of tricks. Ycu can easily manage to put htm into an equivocal position out ol' which he cannot possibly squirm, so far as the girl HK concerned. A fit tie melodrama, arranged for the benefit of Florence. Fall into Norton's anna at the right moment, or something like that." "I suppose I could.. But It I faifed ?p 'You're too damnably clever to chll in your own particular work.. Something has got to be done -to keep those tww apart. I've oftem thought, of raiding the house boldly and carrying a>Ef th<a whole family, Susan and adT. Put a wholesale affair lilt-e that would he too noisy. Think it oyer. Ol'ga; we hare gone too far to back down now-. There's always Russia; and while I'm lv>o boss over here t'hey never ceirse to watch me. They'll make me answer for a failure like this." She eyed him speculatively^ "You have money." "O, the money doesn't matter, ft'a the game. It's the game of playing fast and loose with society, of pilfering with it with one hand and: making it kow-tow with the other. It's the sport of the thing. What was your thought?" "We could go away together, to South America." "And tire of each' other within a month," he retorted shrewdly. "No; we are in the same boat. We could not live but for this never ending excitement. And, more than that, wc never could get far enough away from the long arm of the- First Ten. We'll have to stick it out here. Can't yoi: see?" "Yes, I can see." But in her heart she knew that she would have lived in a hut with this man till the end of her days. Sh< | abhorred the life, though she never by the slighest word, let hi*n becom< aware of it. There was always tha abiding fear that at the first sign o weakness he would desert her. An< she was wise in her deductions Htaine was loyal to her because sin hold his interest. Once that failed he would be off and away. 1 The next afternoon the countess having matured her plans against th happiness of the young girl wh i trusted her, drew up before the Hat greave place and alighted. Her we ] ?ome was the same as ever, and thi > strengthened her confidence. 1 The countess was always gestici 3 In ting. Her hands fluttered to emphf ? size her words. And the beautifi a diamond solitaire caught the girl' eye. She seized the hand. Having a s affair of her own, it was natural ths r, she? should be interested in that c tALD, CONWAY, S. 0. : ner friena. ji "I never saw mat nag uvmhw." "A gift of yesterday/' The coun teas assumed a shy air which would [ have deceived St. Anthony. She twisted .the ring on her finger. "Tell me!" cried Florence. "Yoi ' are engaged?" "Mercy, no!" "Is ho rich?" "No. Money should not matter wlier j your heart is involved." ^^^^ni^nought was In accord wltt her own, Florence nodded her>heai sagely. ? "It Is nothing serious. Just a fancy I I shall never marry again. Men an gay deceivers; they always have booi A Little Melodrama Arranged for the Benefit of Florence. and always will be. Perhaps I'm a bit wicked; but I rather like to prove my j theory 1 fiat all men are weak. If i j f> id a daughter I'd rather have her be | un old man's darling than a young I man's drudge. I distrust every man 1 j know. I came to ask you anil Susair to go to the opera with me tonight Yarn' v.*ill come to my apartments first. You will come?" "To be sure we will!" "Simple little fool!" thought tho ; Russian on the way home. "She shall see." "I believe the countless is engaged to be married." said Florence to Jones. "Indeed, miss?" "Yet. 1 couldn't g?t anything definite oat of her, but she1 had a beautiI fill rintr on her flneor film Susan and me to go to the opera with her tonight. WW that be all right?" Jones gazed abstraetecffy at the rug. "Whenever a problem bothered him ha seemed rt> find the ao'ution in the delicate patterns of the Persian rugs. Finally he nodded. "I see no reason why you should not go. Only, watch out." "Jones; there Is* one thing that will make me bravo aud: happy- WflJ you roll mo If you ar^' In direct communication with my father?" "Yes, Miss Florence," he answered promptly. "Put dtv not breathe this to a singib soul, neither Susaa nor Norton." "I promise that. Put,, ah! hasten the day when ha can come ta me without fear." "That my wlsdr. also.**' " Vfill (wind nnf .."11 ? ^T*V""" . "u u- vu uvii. (*11 111(7 ansa. >v u> I should vou?" "It might* not. bv wise to- have any one hear rao call you thus familiarly," h<3 objected gravely. "Please- yourself about that. Xow I must telephone .Tim." "Jim?"' the butler murmured. He caught the word which was not Intended' r'br his ears. R\it for once Jones had- been startled out of him 6elf. "Is it wrong for me to call Mr. Nor ton Jim'?*' she asked with a bit oj banter. ^ '"It is- not considered quite the prop er thing; Miss Florence,, to call t young man by his first name unlesf you are? engaged' to marry him, oi grew op with Irim from childhood." "Well, supposing I were engaged tc 1 him?" haughtily. "That would be a very grave affalT ' What have you, to prove that he ma: not nri^h /* M ..wv .f.oii iv man/ /uu ior you monoy?" "Why; Jones,. j*na' know that - haven't a penny in the world I cai I call my own! There is nothing t< II prove, except your word, that I an 1 Stanley Tlargreavc's daughter." "No, there Is nothing to prove tha yotr are his daughter. Tlut hasn't i * ever occurred to you that there migh 4 be a purpose hack of this? Might i * not he of inestimable value that you ? father's enemies should be le"* .1 4 doubt? Might It. not be a means r holding them on the leash? There 1 f proof, ample proof, my child; an ' when the time comes these will b * shown you. Hut meantime put a n thought of marrying Mr. Norton oi of your mind." "That I refuse to do," quietly. * '? am at least mistress of my hear! 0 and no* one shall dictate to me whoi 0 I shall or shall not marry. I love M '* Norton and he loves me, knowing thi 1" T may not be an heiress after all. An a - - - -- v ? Fomo clay I shall marry him." .tones bowed. This seemed to a i- pear final to him, and nothing moi i* was to be said. il Norton did not return to his roon a fill ceven. He found the telephor n call and also a note in a handwritir it unfamiliar. He tore off the enveloi >f I and found the contenta to be from.tl I Countess Perigoff. 'Call at eight tonigtu," he read. "I have an important news story for you. I Tell no one. as I^annot be involved * in the case. Cordially, Olga, Countess PerigofT." 1 Humph! Norton twiddled the note in his fingers and at length rolled ty into a ball and threw it into the waste basket. He, too, made a mistake; he 1 should have kept that note. He dressed, dined, and hurried off to the i apartments of the countess. I He arrived ten minutes before Florence and Susan. And Jones did-some rapid telephonJ lng. i "How long, how long!" the butler murmured. How long would this i ? strange combat last? The strain was terrible. He slept but little during Hie nights, for his ears were always waiting for sounds. He had cast the chest into the sea, and it would take a dozen export divers to locate it. And now, atop of all these worries, tho child must fall in love with ! the first corner! It was heartbreaking. Norton, so far as he had learned, was cool and brave, honest and reliable in a pinch; but as the husband of Stanley ITargreave's daughter, that Mas altogether a different matter. And he must devise some means of putting a stop to it, but? nut he was saved that trouble. * Mongoose and cobra, that was the game being played; the cunning of the one against the deadly venom of the other. If he forced matters he would only lay himself open to the strike of tho snake. He must have patience. Gradually they were breaking the organization, lopping off a , branch here and there, but the peace ! of the future depended upon getting f a grip on the ftpine of the cobra himself. The trick. was simple. The countess had news; trust her for that. She exhibited a cablegram, dated at Gibraltar, in which the British authorities stated definitely that no such a pe?v-on as William Orts, aviator, had arrived at Gibraltar. And then, as lie rose, she rose also and gently precipitated herself 1 uo his arms, just at the moment Florence appeared in the doorway. \ cry simple, indeed. Vv hen a wornart falls toward a man there is nothing for him to do hut extend his arms to prevent her from falling. Outwardly. however, to the eye which saw only the picture and comprehended not the cause, it had all the hallmarks ot an affectionate embrace. Florence stood perfecAy still for a moment, then turned away. beg your pardon,!' said (lie countA .1 C- /?xl ?? cod, uui <t Buuuen minung spell Beize me. My heart is a bit weak." "Don't mention it," replied the gallant. Norton. Ho was as innocent as a babe as to what had really taken yiaee. Florence went back home. She* wrote a brief note to Norton and inclosed the ring which she had secretly worn attached to si little chain arounrf Irer neck. When Norton came the next day she * rsfuied to see him. It was all over. She never wished, to see him again,. MHe says there has been, some cruel mistake," savd .Joaes. "I ?*lw him with the countess in his arms. I do not see any cruel mistake in-that. I saw him. Tell him so. And a*d- that I never wish to sea him again. * Thru: she ran swiftly to her room, where. 3he broke dov/n and uried bitterly. <ind would not be comforted by Susan. "Irt. heaven's name, what has ha?? penoci.T" aeinanaeci tne frantic lover, "wYiar has happened?" The comedy of the whole affair lay In the fact that neither of the two , Huspooted the countess, who consoled theim both. TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK f Read the editorial on page seven, entitled "Newspapers and the War," { which is copied from the Dillon Her* aid.. r o j W1NTHROP COLLEGE . Scholarship and Entrance Examinaf tion. r t The examination for the. award of; 1 | i vacant scholarships in Winthrop Col-! 0 lege and for the admission of new students will be hem at the County t Court House on Friday, July 2, at 9 ? a. in. Applicants must not be less It than sixteen years of age. When t Scholarships arc vacant after July 2 JJ' they will be awarded to those making ^ the highest average at this cxaminad tion, provided they meet the condie lions governing the award. Applicants for Scholarships should write to President Johnson before the exit amination for Scholarshin cxamina * tion blanks. ? ? m Scholarships are worth $100 and r. free tuition. The next session will it open September 15, 1915. For further l<* information and catalogue, address Pres. D. B. Johnson Rock Hill, S. ?" C.?Adv. til 7-1-15 rO -v O IS " To Cure a Cold in One Day Take LAXATIVE IMOMO Quirine. It stops the Cough end llcadachc and works off the Cold. >0 Drutrgifits refund m<jney if it fails to cure. J E. GROVE'S sMoiature on ach box, 26c. DR. J. D. THOMAS I Physician and Surgeon I ' loris, s. o. I H. H. ^WOODWARD, I Attorney and Counsellor at Law, I CONWAY, S ~ HAL L. 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