Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

TiBi The Diamoi Ft By ROY L. Copyrighted 1915, by Roy L This instalment of this romantic novel and absorbing narrative will be shown in motion pictures at The Casino Theatre on Thursday afternoon and night. $10,000 For 1,000 Words or Less For an Idea For a Sequel to "THE DIAMOND FROM THE SKY" The American Film Manufacturing Company's Pictrt*ized Romantic Novel In Chapters. I This contest is open to any man, woman or child who is not connected, directly or indirectly, with the Film Company or the newspapers publishing the continued story. No literary ability is necessary to qualify as a contestant. You are advised to see the continued photo play in the theaters where it will be shown to read the story as it runs every week, and then send in your suggestion. Contestants must confine their contributions for the sequel U? JrOOO tejoras or icss. It is th? tftvG that is wanted. n. CHAPTER L. ->End of Durand. jk RTtri;ft w as grateful to Blah'. I g^L lie had been angry when he realized lie had been deceived regarding Esther by all who surrounded him In his great mansion i since the day he had been brought liome shattered and insensible. \uJBut Vivian and Blair had pleaded with significant hints that they liad thought it best to accept Durand's sag I gestion; as Arthur's physician, that, his patient be not unduly excited while convalescing. The hints inferred Also' that tills was to shield Esther from the knowledge of the drug weakness; jthat she had learned, despite the ef , ' O:? & , { I Arthur Was Grateful to Blair. forts of all. when she had encountered Arthur face to fare at the costume Imll Arthur had reluctantly concluded! Blair and Vivian had meant well, hut it be^an to dawn upon him that l>u I rand was responsible for the drug ad | diction that now mastered him. "lie had better have let me die,' Arthur confessed to Blair. "I shall get ride of him and his creature, I>e Vaux. and you and Vivian will help me cure myself, won't you. Blair? 1 want to go back to Esther (dean and whole. 1 will divide till 1 have with you and Vivian If you will only help me. Say you will!" And Arthur clung to Blair and pleaded, and Blair glibly promised. M a nd so mo I v mi id for ht? Horvic?u jgood and bad, Durand affected to philo sophically accept his dismissal. Lie proposed "one good night of it" before lie left with l>e Vaux for the east, ami tlie one good night took the form of a poker game in the Powell library. ? * In Richmond, at the Itivervlew sanl tarlum. Hague had almost wholly re covered. The clot upon her brain caused by the cruel blow Blair had atruck her had been absorbed, ilei memory came back to her. But the death, after a stroke of paralysis, ol Blair's mother and meditation during ber convalescence had broadened Ila C*tr's gypsy nature to a disposition ol forgiveness. The sorrow she had undergone in the nd om the Sky McCARDEL McCARDEL disappointment Arthur, her profligate son, hud been to her also chasteued llagar's proud spirit Through Esther's letters she now knew that Arthur in all his wealth and luxury had surrounded himself with evil company and tliut Hlair aud ' the adventuress. Vivian Marstou, were< among Ids familiars and parasites. Hut one thing she did not .know, and : that was Arthur had falleu into the' clutches of the drug hubit. Reunited at the saniturlum. Hagar and Esther embraced and wept when they spoke of Arthur. "It is greed that has changed him," ' said llagar softly. "Money greed? J that was his father's curse." And llagar's mind reverted to that dreadful night of physical and mental anguish when Arthur had been born to her, and his unnatural father, the dead Matt Harding, had sold his newborn child to Colonel Stanley to further the family ambitions and family hatreds of the Stanleys. "It was money greed that led poor Cuke Lovell to revolt aud evil courses." continued llagar. "I am happy to know that Luke is contrite of Iw.urt in nil save Ins present desire l'<>r veugcance on Arthur and his associates, who have betrayed and imprisoned him ungenerously, as he thinks." "lie is very hitter to them." mur- ! mured Esther. "He asks your forgiveliess. mother dear, and longs to return and serve you faithfully in. lint he will not he stirred from I)is determination to hate \ engennee." "'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord; I will repay / "'said linear softly as her hands subconsciously closed upon the Itihle she was holding in her lap. "We will return home, to your home.' my dear child, to Stanley hall." whispered linear when site regained her composure. "There we will discuss (he plans 1 have long meditated upon since my recovery and in your ahsonee. "Perhaps this good friend will go1 with tis and give us the benefit of his able counsel." And she turned to the sympathetic, eccentric English lawyer, who had accompanied Esther from the west, and again thanked him brokenly for liis kindness to and his* protection of Esther. 1 * i On a prison roof in faraway Call forniu Qunblm. burning ids fingers with; a plumber's furnace, was receiving a verbal castigation from Cesare, the Tialian contractor. "You a fine bum roofer!" the oonr: actor was declaring scornfully. "You lio good for nottln'J" Quablia shrugged his slioulders and replied, "Ha. what yon tink you get; for a scab job. a jewelerV" ..vii ? ? .hi tiffin, lomurrow i ure you aim hiie the monkey you have. lie gotta da more brai.is!" And the contractor spat in disgust and threw down the looj) of sn-iiT.?t?| rapes he was carrying and hobbled away. . > tjuubba raided his Voice in sing song' p. otp ?l, hilhgling Romany expressions \Vlth his jargon of Italian and broken Knglisli. and he did so with a purpose, and the puipose had its effect. At his cell window below the eaves of the prison roof the shaved and shorn Luke Lovell caught the gypsy jargon. Luke tapped three times upon the, bar at his window, tjuabhu heard and understood. lie tapped three times in reply upon the gutt??r. Then, taking a ball of cord from bis breast. Quabba slipped a hacksaw from the tools, and, peering over the roof to note no watchful eyes observed, be lowered the instrument of liberty to the cell window. In was drawn within, and then j Qunhhn whispered over the gutter edge in Romany that he had a rope tied to the cord and that the other extremity of the rope was fastened to the chimney. Further directions as to whore Quab j ba would wait for the prisoner with a l change of clothing were whispered in the gypsy tongue. The next night was tlie time appointed. j At the Powell mansion "the last night" is duly celebrated. Do Yaux is not there, but Durand and Vivian are wLu Arthur in the library plying him with liquor and encouraging hliu to: wild and foolish play at. cards. I>u rand has the money for the generous check that Arthur gave him. Hut the arch crook Is not content with this Congenially he Is a diamond thief, and hig diamonds, rare diamonds, valuable diamonds, are his obsession?not j to buy them, not to keep them, but to steal them! , In the cabinet In John Powell's room is the diamond from the sky. i John Powell, whom he has snatched I from the Jaws of death and made a drug fiend of. has given Durnnd his conge as physician and associate, but ere he goes upon Ms way Durnnd. tlie king of diamonds, as the thief world knows him. will have the diamond Outside, -disguised as a workman and hiding in the shrubbery, is Dufrnnd's i one faithful ally, De Vaux. the Jackal. THE HORRY HERA iur auave of clubs of "the puck. Durand has tamj>ered with Vivian, but he does not trust her. Nor does . Durand fear Blair, nor even John Powell. the millionaire, once he has the diamond in his hands and safe away. Durand has lived too close to them all not to he aware that there are cer8 y <4 SS^^x .&4' . *4hbBHB^B^SB^ Reunited at the Sanitarium, Hagar and Esther Spoke of Arthur. tain things in the lives of the two young Virginians that would ma lie them avoid any too close inquiry into their records. "Everybody has a past?generally a j had one." said a cynic philosopher. 1 1 What John Powell had done in the! 1 days he was Arthur Stanley Duraini 1 has not known nor cared. Whatever ' it is. it is enough that once lie. Durand. \ has the great diamond no legal process' j to recover it will be dared. ] So, while the card game for high ' stakes without limit is at its height 1 Durand deftly takes occasion to sift a sleeping powder into the glass of John 1 Powell, whose tongue is thick and ( whose taste is deadened with his in , I 1 dnlgenee with wine. . > The game breaks tip. owing to the ' sleepy languor of the host, who is led ! away, and the others retire shortly afterward. Hut Vivian bits* betrayed < Durand to Blair. 1 She knows Durand well. She knows once he lias the diamond it will lie tn i |.A.. I.........I I'- " - * - " iv< H iiivim iu 11<>iihii(] ana sola $nd 1 dissevered. * * Hiding ll) her room after midnight { Hlair and Vivian hear Dura ml creep ' down the.hall. They give hitn time to enter and to work in the room of the \ dropped and unconscious master of the i |ion?e. I YI10I1. on noiseless feet. the despe- J rate Blair steals upon the king of dia 1 nionds Unseen, unheard. Hlair cri<eps 1 behind Durand in the semi-darkness 01 1 Arthur's room as the arch thief pries 1 open the cabinet. ? Durand lias the diamond and pleats over it In the pleam of a hand flash < light. Without u word Iliair deals liiiL a blow with all Ills strength with the j slungshot he carries. The blow glances. , and Durand. no mean antagonist even < for ttie --trong young Virginian, closes 1 in upon his assailant. , They curse and sway and struggle, i Hlair, held too closely by Durand to give full swing to his deadly weapon. J rains hlnw after hlov upon Durand at short range. The costly furnishings ol the ro'ini are overturned and shattered Arthur ts roused h.v the struggle from liis drugged sleep and rises, wide eyed, from Ids hed. Vivian, in a tremor of anxiety in the doorway. I switches on the lights full and bright. I At the light Blair rises to a frenzy of murderous activity. He seizes l)u-, rand by the throat, his weapon arm now free, and brings the slungshot' down with sickening force upon the ! I Bli>p Owl? 'Him flow With 1H? ' %IUHgih)?t. i skull -of the bleeding Dtirand nnd then casts the battered king of diamond* from him with a mighty effort Rack, flung like a sack, the arch thief. ^ weak and stunned, falls against the in - -^aMMaa n rovtvuv r r low. wklv \\ UilioW UUti liU'OU^U H UUUU the sheer height to the lawn tielow, striking full upon his guilty, shuttered head, breaking his neck. But he has carried with liltu to bis death, clutched with u grip Bluir could not loosen, the diamond from the sky. As Durand Ilea broken aud'dcud upon the ground a moaning figure crouches over him In the shadow. A hand wrests the diamond from the reluxiug grasp of the dead swiudler. there is a thudding of hurried feet across the lawn, and the watcher is gone, and with him goes the diamond from the sky. 8YNOP8IS OF PRECEDING CHAPTERS. A foud hus existed between Colonel Arthur Stanley and his cousin, Judge l*aniir Stanley, over heirloom, the diamond from the sk>, fofrnd in a fallen meteor by an ancestor. Also, the succession to the Stanley enrldom in Knglnnd may come to an American. When a daughter Is born to the colonel nnd the mother dies the colonel buys a gypsy boy und substitutes him. Three years later the gypsy mother, having had no part In this bargain, steals the girl, Rather, reared in secret, ami leaves her son undetected as the heir. The gypsy has obtained possession of the diaimond from the sky, und a document with the Stanley secret. Years Inter llugar, gypsy queen, returns to Virginia with ICsther. Dr. Dee. the late Colonel Stanley's friend, adopts Ksther. Arthur Stanley, son of Hagnr, falls in love with Ksther, and so does his companion and cousin, Blair Stanley, rightful male heir of Stanley. In stealing the diamond Blair causes the \ death of the doctor und tries later to put | the bin me on Artlmr ??r,? Lr * ?>>? _ _ ... , ?? ?ivr vu nro mu ftflll. I Arthur Stanley eludes his pursuers and joins Hagar, who reveals his Identity and! upbraids him for his wild life. Needing money, he pawns the diamond in Rich- j mond. At a ball, at which an adventur- ) ess, Vivian Marston, wears the borrowed gem, Luke Lovell, llagar's gypsy guard, steals the diamond. Arthur loaves Kichmond and goes to the west. Quablm, organ grinder, befriends Ksther. Tom Blake, a detective of Richmond.' who is hired by Hagar, produces linger prints convicting Blair. Hagar proposes! silence to Mrs. Stanley tis the price ol Hagar's and Kstljer's being received in Fairfax society. Hlair strikes down Ha-I gar and steals the linger prints, leaving' the gypsy queen demented. Mannaduke Smythe, lnwyer, arrives to announce Arthur is heir to the deceased Karl ol Stanley. Learning Arthur is a fugitive lie seeks Hlair Instead. To win Vivian, Hlair steals the diamond, Infer marrying hei and leaving for the west. Thrir train is rohhed, Vivian losing the diamond, whie'.t a slain train robber drops in the desert.' The $100/00 he stole is found by Arthur, i now known as John Powell, sheep border. Luke Lovell, driven from the camp aft?*i learning llagar's sacret, leaves to seek Hlair. Hagar is under treatment and Ksllicr in in Richmond society. A he Rloom. gambler, knows Hlair's guilt and covets the dlmtyvtcl. The diamond ic later picked up by an Indian woman. Dr. Lee. Arthur learns.] lied of heart disease. Heeoming very rich to buys Stanley hall, sold at auction,! hrough Hlake, and also provides for Ha-' rar and Ksther. Luke Lovell buys the diamond front the squaw, but loses it in a jght. Vivian, desiring aid lo ensnare Arhnr, sends for Hlair. Vivian is saved from drowning by Pow ill, who Is infatuated hv her. SmytlicInds I?'?e tl!?mond and gives It to Esther ,V del|\ or to Arthur. """ | 13' ir joins Vtvlm iri Los Angeles. Du*and, "king of diamonds." a crook known ;o Vivian, goes to a saloon to try to discover the diamond. There he meets Luke' r.ovell. Ksther and Arthur appear on the' *cene. The diamond is lost in a melee. 1 Rather saves Arthur, who is Injured e\u( ae goes to I.os Angeles in ("Pro o? the physician-crook, Purand. Esther follows and s refused admittance to see him. In the neantime the diamond is found by two T>ill posters, one of whom murders the ther for it. Arthur is "doped" by Pu-tyid, Pe Vaux and Vivian, although Blair, who has taken charge of Arthur's business affairs, nroteifs. The rll.iindr.ri \) ,m-h in dice pi ty from the bill poster to Hartley, elreus owner, who Is killed, and the diamond is put up it auction as part of his estate. Blair and Vivian falsify a telegram from Blake to Arthur, making Arthur believe he suffered from hallucination In thinking he saw | Rsther. Luke is "railroaded" to prison by Blair. Arthur buys the diamond and then later gives a costume ball at which Hstlier appears. Vivian insists that he choose between them. Blair, trying to take the diamond from Purand, who steels It from Arthur, hurls Purand from a window, killing him. Qtiabba plans to lid I.ovell to escape. Rsther and Smythe return to \'lrginl.M, the girl re oining IIa- , gar at the sanitarium. CHAPTER LI. The Gypsy's Hoard. TTTROWINTt I >n<'k the great bronze holt on the ornate* front door of tlio Powell mansion. Flair Stanley darted from the vestibule ami around the house to the haek. elosely followed by Vivian Marston and tlie shaking master of the 111a nsion. There, heneath the high window, lay the battered body of Frank Durand. physician, arch crook?the erstwhile King of 1 >iamonds. His neck was broken, and the already congealing blood upon face and head marked where the cruel blows of Flair's slungshot had struck. Put the grasp of Imrand's right hand had relaxed and the diamond from the sky was gone! Arthur bent closer and then covered his eyes to keep out the grewsome sight as Flair screamed, "He is dead!" "We must think of what account we give of this!" whispered Vivian, the quickest wit tod of the trio. Then she spoke as though directly to John rowel). "Did von see the struggle? It must lave been I>e Vaux who killed him!" Arthur had been too dazed from the effect of the sleeping powder tint I>urand had secretly administered during the card playing and the drinking earlier In the night to have anything but a confused recollection of what hod really -occurred. Then Blair spoke up. "I heard the ;flght in your room and rushed In," hv said, "lie Vaux was beating Durand with a slungsliot, 1 think. Yes. here it is!" and be picked up the ugly weapon from where it lay beside the dead man. "I found the switch toy the door and turned the lights on full, and it wn* all -over. Vaux i?assed me and rat I , down the stairs and out/* chimed In 1 Vivian. ! Then she Robbed - and tore at her i hair, hanging down tier shoulders. Her grief and hysteria were not feign* riilfr IF- -xv '^1 MH? is dead!*' Blair icnamed. ed. "The diamond, the diamond from the sk.v! The murderous little thief I>e Vaux got it! Who would have thought that little sneak would have the pluckV" Then she turned on the shaking man who was known as the mad millionaire in fury. "Why didn't you give it to me, as you promised?" she cried. And in futile rage of disappointinent she heat and tore at herself till Illuir grasped her by the wrists. "Quiet, you she dexil!" he hissed. "in* \ mix will not ^et away with the diamond. People are coming. Kcmemlief, now, not a word that we suspect Durand! We don't wish too much probin.:.. That's the etirse <?f it. There is where l>e Vatix has us. Fortunately he may suspect much about us, hut he knows little." Inspired attain by this linal tragedy of the diamond, the newspapers printed the stories of John Powell's rapid rise to wealth, the accident that had shut ici'otf 111 i 11 lii a i'Sot at 1 ii> iiiiiieS lii the mountains, the skillful treatment of the stranger physician. Imrand. that had restored the younir millionaire. Then had followed accounts of the triple trairedy in the deaths of the woman lion tamer. Sunt ley, the circus proprietor and the clown husband of !' e Lady of Lions because of the ureat diamond from nowhere. The recovery of the diamond after it had been stolen by Sankcy, the stable man. following the panic at the circus, and the sale of the diamond were items that further spiced the sensational stories that were printed at I>urand's death. 1*1. .?!.... II.. X t .. f? " - * i r>i< .iM.i .ah . i ??w i'ii w as ui ran j lion It li. the papers said, tail mentally and as regards liis nervous system Wis condition gave great eoneern to Ids as^ ^ | mW'"- I- 'M ! Hagar anil Esther, With Smythe, Jour* neyed to Fairfax. j Rodatos, ami lie was to be taken on an unto tour from California to Colorado. Meanwhile I>e Vaux had found shelter in the Ki'U.v of dawn at Si^nora Solnri's cafe, Ln Holla Xiipoll, rousing . that good lady and hor ravishing ; daughter from tlioir slumbers (o admit j him. He had Jngratiated himself into I their greeily graces by present cash ' payments and many promises of lur| gcss in the future. The cunning I>e Vaux, dwelling in hiding under the name of Lancia, had | carefully paved the way to avert suspicion in his hiding out, and so the ?iamor and search for him passed over and by the cafe of Le Bella Napoli, while he lay in a mean room and rhnfed at the confinement and drank heavily to stifle his fears. * In faraway Virginia Hagar and Esther journeyed from Richmond down i to Fairfax, escorted 'by their new but ; ' firm .friend, that eccentric bachelor > English barrister and legal representative of the carls of Stanley, MarinaI duke Suiythe. i The tender affection between the doi! voted Hagar and the loving Esther had . /own the stronger through their mutual sorrow uud idsuppolutuieut at (ho >\ll(! unci prohigate conduct of Arthur, nourishing: uiul in luxury, .vot surroundeel by evil associations, in the fur C'alij fornla city. Unlo king the ureal door of Stanley I Hall. Hugur led the way through the I luill and Into the old lihrury. The ! windows were unlatched and thrown ! open to air the long closed old man1 Bion. I Kinythe examined the |K>,iraits curiously. "It is over a generation ago," ' I he said softly, "since 1 was in this room. There Is Colonel Stanley's portrait Just as he looked In the tlesli the night I attested the heir of Stanley over twenty years ago." And the good hearted lawyer sighed and thought of old age that comes like a thief, vet slovvlv t<? roll ?" of hope, of vijror and of those we love whom death lias called before us. To linear also the place revived dull old heartaches. .There at that dutir she had stood in her youuK. despairing motherhood, to be dragged away ere she could cry in her ugony that Hhc was beinic robbed of her offspring liki Hacliel of old. Then linear kissed Ksther and shook off the gloom of these sad memories & ??MMmmm Esther Hoped to Find the Rest Theretofore Denied Her. In her Virginia home Ksther hoped tc find tlic? rest theretofore denied her. Smytlie understood now the reasonthat actuated Arthur and Blair in the i strange diliidence in claiming the earl doni of Stanley that awaited the American heir. Arthur Stanley, as linear'* son had heen known here, could not claim it be--ause he knew lie was not the rightful heir. Blair eoe.l i not claim it because hi was in the d rk in this and thought iii> supposed cousin stood in ids way. Besides. there h1111lt over Blair the shad OW of tlli> 111111*11 f I* of III' I .fit iti feared t(i Irhig himself into any prom inen o while yet 11:suii r lived and know. All HI,air could hope lor was the death of the siipposit it ions Arthur Stanley and of Ilagar 11: i rding, tin* gypsy woman, who had had the proofs of his guilt. linear was lirst. to break the silence as these thoughts lliitod through till their minds. "Well," she said, "let us try to he cheerful though we lose you, our good friend, today." "Vou do not lose me. I trust," said Marmaduke Smythe. with quaint gal hint r.v. "True, I must return to En velum! to attend to matters of the estate of the late Earl of Stanley. "The matter of the succession must lie in abeyance for the present. Hut you may come to England with the fair Miss Esther here before long, or I may return to America again. Who knows ?" "And now." said Ilagar. "I understand that there was some alarm manifested by the late Mrs. Judge Stanley regarding the expenses my stay at the sanitarium in Richmond brought about. I told you"?here she turned*to Esther ?"that I was a wealthy woman. I am, moderately speaking. Gypsylike, 1 would never trust to hanks. After I leased Stanley I fall I bid my wealth m a secure place m tins very room, an old hiding place that perhaps even Colonel Stanley knew nothing of." linear reached Into the chimney and brought from a ledge hidden behind the front of the fireplace an old long chisel. With this she pried up a stripof time worn wooden molding at the end of the hearthstone. This removed, the hearthstone turned on a hidden pivot, one end of the hearthstone descending Into n cavity. CHAPTER Lll. The Harding Family Traa. FKOM this cavity ITagar brought forth packages of banknotes from among a number of such. "All this is yours, Esther, my < deur," she sdid softly. "The Huntings i had been rich (ample as gypsies go, but ' the profligate father of my husband, Matt -Harding, died in (>overty. it left i j any husband hitter and greedy. ' "lie remembered euviously the gypsy