mm® ""v" INTERNATIONAL FALLS PRESS The Czar's Spy self in the cold, gloomy chamber of "You know something of the affair. death. From a small dingy window I mean that you suspect somebody, or Northern Minnesota Hospital above, the light fell ftpon an object you would have no objection to giving lying upon a large slab of gray stone evidence at the inquiry." and covered with a soiled sheet. "I have no suspicions. To me the The policeman lifted the end of the The Mystery of a Silent Love affair is just as much of an enigma sheet, revealing to me a white, hardset as to you," I hastened at once to explain. By Chevalier William Le Queux face, with closed eyes and dropped "My only fear is that if the jaw. I started back as my eyes fell assassin knew that I had identified upon the dead countenance. I was entirely him he would take care not to betray Author of "THE CLOSED BOOK" Etc. unprepared for such a revelation. himself." The truth staggered me. "You therefore think he will betray ILLUSTRATIONS by C. D. RHODES The victim was the man who had himself?" acted as my friend—the Italian waiter, "I hope so." Copyright by the Smart Set Publishing Co. Olinto. "By the fact that the man was attacked I advanced and peered into the thin with an Italian stiletto, it would inanimate features, scarce able to realize seem that his assailant was a fellowcountryman," "Hulloa, Gregg!" he exclaimed heartily, Next day I shot with the Carmichaels the actual fact. But my eyes had suggested the detective. holding out his hand. "Had a long of Crossburn, and about four o'clock, not deceived me. Though death distorts "The evidence certainly points to day of it, evidently. Good sport with after a good day, took leave of the the facial expression of every that," I replied. Carmichael—eh party in the Black Glen, and started man, I had no difficulty in identifying "Someone who waited for him on the off alone to walk home, a distance oi "Very fair," I said. "I remained him. edge of that wood and stepped out and about six miles. It was already growing longer with him than I ought to have "You recognize him, sir?" remarked killed him—that's evident," he said, dusk, and would be quite dark, I done, and have got belated on my way the officer. "Who is he? Our people "and my belief is that it was an Italian. knew, before I reached my uncle's home, so looked in for a refresher." are very anxious to know, for up to the There were two foreigners who house. My moat direct way was to "Quite right," he laughed merrily. present moment they haven't succeeded slept at a common lodging house two follow the river for about two miles in establishing his identity. "You're always welcome, you know. nights ago and went on tramp towards and (hen strike straight across the "I will see your inspector," I answered I'd have been annoyed if I knew you JR. H. Monohan, M. D. Elizabeth Monohan, M. D. Glasgow. We have telegraphed after with as much calmness as I large dense woods, and afterwards had passed without coming in." them and hope we shall find them. Mary Ghostley, M. D. over a wide moor full of treacherous could muster. "Where has the poor And Muriel, a pretty figure in a lowcut a Scotsmen or Englishmen never nse bogs and pitfalls for the unwary. fellow been wounded?" gown of turquoise chiffon, standing knife of that pattern." Office over International State Bank. International Falls, Mia My gun over my shoulder, I had "Through the heart," responded the behind her father, smiled secretly "I know not whom to .suspect," I walked on for about three-quarters oi constable, as turning the sheet farther at me. I smiled at her in return, but declared. "It is a mystery why the an hour, and had nearly traversed the down he showed me the small "knife it was a strange smile, I fear, for with man who was once my faithful servant wood, at that hour so dark that I had wound which had penetrated the victim's the knowledge of that additional mystery should be enticed to that wood and considerable difficulty in finding my jacket and vest full in the chest. within me—the mystery of the stabbed to the heart." way, when—of a sudden—I fancied I "This is the weapon," he added, taking woman lying unconscious or perhaps I Border Wholesale Meat & Grocery Go! "There is no one in the vicinity who distinguished voices. from a shelf close by a long, thin dead, up in the wood—held me stupefied. knew him?" I halted. Yes. Men were talking poniard with an ivory handle, which "Not to my knowledge." in low tones of confidence, and in that he handed to me. I had suspected Leithcourt because "We might obtain his address in E. A. Yernberg, Manager In an instant I recognized what it calm stillness of evening they appeared of his constant trysts at that spot, but London through his father in Leghorn," nearer to me than tliey actually were. was, and how deadly. It was an old I had at least proved that my suspicions suggested the officer. I listened, trying to distinguish the were entirely without foundation. "I will write today if you so desire," Wholesale and Retail Meats, jjjj words uttered, but could make out He could not have gone home said readily. "Indeed, I will get my nothing. They were moving slowly together, Groceries, Fruits and Feed and dressed in the time, for I h#d friend the British consul to go round in close vicinity to myself, for taken the nearest route to the castle and see the old man and telegraph the their feet stirred the dry leaves, and I while the fugitive would be compelled address if he obtains it." could hear the boughs cracking as to make a wide detour. Home-Made Sausage and "Capital!" he declared. "If you will they forced their way through them. I only remained a few minutes, then Hamburger do us this favor we shall be greatly Of a sudden, while standing there went forth into the darkness again, $ indebted to you. It is fortunate that not daring to breathe lest I should betray utterly undecided how to act. My first we have established the victim's identity—otherwise my presence, a strange sound impulse was to return to the woman's we might be entirely Give us a Trial and You Will fell upon my eager ears. aid, for she might not be dead after in the dark. A murdered foreigner is Next moment I realized that I was at Stay With Us all. always more or less of a mystery." that place where Leithcourt so persistently And yet when I recollected that Therefore, then and there, I took a kept his disappointed tryst, having •T hoarse cry that rang out in the darkness, I Our Prices are Always Right and Our Stock Always Fresh sheet of paper and wrote to my old approached it from within the I knew too well that she had friend Hutcheson at Leghorn, asking wood. been struck fatally. It was this latter him to make immediate inquiry of t* Second Ave. and Fifth Street International Falls. Minn. $ The sound alarmed me, and yet it conviction that prevented me from Oiinto's father as to his son's address was neither an explosion of fire arms turning back to the wood. You will in London. nor a startling cry ior help. VCw#^ perhaps blame me, but the fact is I We sat for a long time discussing One word reached me in the darkness—one feared that if I went there suspicion the strange affair. In order to betray single word of bitter and might fall upon me, now that the real no eagerness get away, I offered £^iftf2ri f^5v^ *V w* a •V~ withering reproach. culprit had so ingeniously escaped. the big Highlander a cigar from Heedless of the risk I ran and the Whether or not I acted rightly in remaining i§ 'm my case and we smoked together. The peril to which I exposed myself, I away from the place, I leave inquiry would be held on the morrow, dashed forward with a resolve to penetrate it to you to judge in the light of the he told me, but as far as the public DOWN DEEP IN YOUR POCKET the mystery, until I came to the amazing truth which afterwards tran» was concerned the body would remain gap in the rough stone wall where spired. as that of some person "unknown." $ Leithcourt's habit was to halt each day I decided t© walk straight back to "And you had better not come to at sundown. my uncle's, and dinner was over before "ftfi The coins ache for freedom. .They exert an my uncle's house, or send anyone," There, in the falling darkness, the $$ I had had my tub and dressed. Next Ik I said. "If you desire to see me, send sight ibat met my eyes at the spot day the body would surely be found me a line and I will meet you here influence over you to be put into circulation. .No %A held me rigid, appalled, stupefied. then the whole countryside would be in Dumfries. It will be safer." In that instant I realized the truth— W1 filled with horror and surprise. Was The officer looked at me with those temptation to spend needlessly when the money is £$ a truth that was surely the strangest it possible that Leithcourt, that calm, keen eyes of his, and said: ever revealed to any man. well-groomed, distinguished looking "Really, Mr. Gregg, I can't quite 8$ in the bank on interest. Start an account now with t&t man, held any knowledge of the ghastly make you out, I confess. You seem, CHAPTER V. &»« 7Z7* txuth? No. His manner as he to be apprehensive of your own safety. whatever surplus you have—even a dollar will open stood in the hall chatting gayly with Why?" y*4** Contains Certain Confidonces* me was surely not that of a man with "One never knows whom, one offends an account. Don't allow your money to work you As I dashed forward to the gap ta 855? a guilty secret. I became firmly convinced Was She Dead? I Wondered. when living in Italy," I laughed, the boundary wall of the wood, I nearly that although the tragedy affected Florentine n^isericordia, with a hilt as lightly as I could, endeavoring to make it work for you, this is theway others get ahead. stumbled over a form lying acros? him very closely, and that it of yellow ivory, the most deadly and allay his suspicion. "He may have the narrow path. had occurred at the spot which he had fatal of all the daggers of the middla fallen beneath the assassin's knife by It So dark was beneath the trees each day visited for some mysterious ages. It was still blood-stained, but aa giving a small and possibly innocent purpose, yet up to the present he was I took the deadly thing in my hand I offense to somebody. Italian methods FIRST NATIONAL BANK in ignorance of what had transpired. saw that its blade was beautifully damascened, are not English, you know." at first I could mak«- But who was the woman? Was she that not plainly a most elegant specimen of a "By Jove, sir, and I'm jolly glad young or old? International Falls, Minn. out what it was until I bent and my medieval arm. Yet surely none but they're not!" he said. "I shouldn't A thousand times I regretted bitterly hands touched the garments of a worn* an Italian would use such a weapon, think a police officer's life is a very for that I had no matches with me so an. Her hat had fallen off, I felt or would aim so truly as to penetrate safe one among all those secret murder cloak that I might examine her features. it beneath my feet, while the the heart. And yet the person struck societies I've read about." Was the victim that sweet-faced young was a thick woolen one. down was a woman and not a man! xssBx&rexBKgxsxBKSssagsgsraxsssftxsaegs&sc&ttattesttatt "Ah! what you read about them is Was she dead, I wondered? That girl whose photograph had been so I looked again for the last time upon often very much exaggerated," I assured ruthlessly cast from its frame and destroyed? cry—that single word of reproachsounded the dead face of the man who had him. "It is the vendetta which "X S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S in my ears, and it seemed The theory was a weird one, served me so well, and yet who had is such a stain upon the character of but was it the truth? I retired to my plain that she had been struck down enticed ms so nearly to my death. In the modern Italian and depend upon ruthlessly after an exchange of angry room that night full of fevered apprehension. DON'T ORDER YOUR AUTO Until you have seen the the latter incident there was a deep it, this affair in Rannoch wood is the Had I acted rightly in not words. mystery. He bad relented at the last outcome of some revenge or other— I felt in my pocket for my vestas, returning to that Jonely spot on the moment, just in time to save me from probably over a love affair." a but unfortunately my box was empty. brow of the hill? Had I done as my secret enemies. "But you will assist us, sir?" h« "METZ" 25 man should do in keeping the tragic Yet just at that moment my strained Could it be that my enemies were urged. "You know the Italian language, secret to myself? ears caught a sound—the sound oi his? Had he fallen a victim by the which will be of great advantage At six I shaved, descended, and someone moving stealthily among the same hand that had attempted so ingeniously your besides, the victim was v, went out with the dogs for a short fallen leaves. Seizing my gun, I demanded to kill me? servant" walk but on returning I heard of who was there. Why had Leithcourt gone so regularly r/. (To be continued next week.) nothing unusual, and was compelled to There wfis, however, no response. up to Rannoch wood? Was it in FULLY EQUIPPED WITH v. remain inactive until near midday. The instant I spoke the movement order to meet the man who was to be I was crossing the stable yard where ceased. entrapped and killed? What was GRAY & DAVIS ELECTRIC I had gone to order the carriage for It seemed evident that a tragedy had Olinto Santini doing so far from London, BLUES VANISH EAT ALFALFA V, my aunt, when an English groom, sud* occurred, and that the victim at my if he had not come expressly to LIGHT AND STARTER— denly emerging from the harness room, feet was a woman. But who? meet someone in secret? w, touched his cap, saying: Patients at Chicago Hospital Cured of Of a sudden, while I stood hesitating, With my own hand I re-covered the FULL STREAMLINE BODY "Have you 'eard, sir, of the awful Indigestion by New Remedy, Says & blaming myself for being without face with the sheet. I accompanied affair up yonder?" Homepathist. matches, I heard the movement repeated. the constable to the inspector's office 32 BY 3^ TIRES, FOR ONLY "Of what?" I asked quickly. Someone was quickly receding—escaping some distance across the town. $600. "Well sir, there seems to have been Chicago, July 3.—Alfalfa as a remsdy •t, from the spot. I sprang Having been introduced to the big, a murder last night up in Rannoch for indigestion and mental depression through the gap, straining my eyes fair-haired man in a rough tweed suit, **, was recommended by Dr. Alexander wood," said the man quickly. "Holden, into the gloom, and as I did so could who was apparently directing the inquiries the gardener, has just come back from L. Blackwood of Chicago before just distinguish a dark figure receding into the affair, he took me V, the American Institute of Homeopathy, that village and says that Mr. Leithcourt's quickly beneath the wall of the wood. eagerly into a small back room and under gamekeeper as he was which has just closed its annual convention International Machine Go. In an instant I dashed after it. Down began to question me. I was, however, here. going home at five this morning came the steep hill to the Scar water I followed wary not to commit myself to anything Doctor Blackwood told of experiments upon a dead body/' the fugitive, crossing the old further than the identification of made with the new remedy on "Call Holden. I'd like to know all footbridge near Penpont, and then up the body. patients in a Chicago hospital. he's heard," I said. And presently, a wild winding glen towards the "The fact is," I said confidentially, During the last year observation's when the gardener emerged from the Cairnmore of Deugh. For a couple of "you must omit me from the witnesses were made of the action of alfalfa on grapeliouse, I sought of him all the miles or more I was close behind, until, at the inquest." particulars he had gathered. 17 persons," he said. "All' of thera at a turn in the dark wooded glen "Why?" asked the detective suspiciously. noted that they grew so hnniry that Falls Abstract "I don't know very much, sir," was Internationa! where it branched in two directions, I tliey could scarcely wait for their the man's reply. "I went into the inn lost all trace cf tlie person who flew "Because if it were known that I meals. Tlieir minds were clear and for a glass of beer at eleven, as I al'ways from me. Whoever it was they had have identified him all chance of BURDICK, KREMER & KING, Proprietors. bright, all bodily functions were stimulated do, and heard them talking about very cleverly gone into hiding in the getting at the truth will at once vanish," and it was impossible to have it. A young man was murdered last undergrowth of one or other of the two I answered. "I have come here Abstracts, Real Estate and Insurance 1 the blues." night up in Rannoch wood." glens—which, I could not decide. to tell you in strictest confidence who "The body was that of a man?" I I stood out of breath, the perspiration the poor fellow really is." Collections, Conveying and Loans asked, trying to conceal my utter bewilderment. pouring from me, undecided how "Then you know something of the to act. affair?" be said, with a strong Highland Philadelphia Gets Convention. J. E. BURDICK, Manager "Yes—about thirty, they say. The Was it Leithcourt himself .whom I accent. San Francisco, July 3.—The National police have taken him to the mortuary had surprised? "I know nothing," I declared. "Nothing Speech Arts association has brought International Fails Mmnesot? at Dumfries, and the detectives are up That idea somehow became impressed except his name." to a close its five-days' convention there now looking at the spot, they upon me, and I suddenly resolved "H'm. And you say he's a foreigner with the election of officers. Philadeli^ia say." to go bojdly across to Rannoch —an Italian—eh?" was selected as the scene of A man! And y»et the body I found and ascertain for myself. Therefore, "He was in my service in Leghorn r-ext year's com»ention. The newly was1 that of a woman—that I could with the excuse that I was belated on for several years, and on leaving me elected officers are: President, George swear. my walk home, I turned back down Subscribe For The Press he came to London and obtained an, Wilhams, Ithaca, N. Y.: vice president, After lunch I took the dogcart and the glen, and half an hour afterward engagement as waiter in a restaurant. Charles M. Holt, Minneapolis drove alone into Dumfries. entered the great well-lighted hall of His father lived in Leghorn he was secretary, Miss Julia E. Thorn. New The police constable on duty at the the. castle where the guests, ready doorkeeper at the prefecture." Orleans treasurer, Mrs. Elizabeth M, town mortuary took me up a narrow dressed, were assembling prior to dinner. "But why was he here in Scotland?" Irving, Toledo, Ohio auditor, Mrs. F» alley,, unlocked a door, and I found my­ Haskell, St. Louis, Mo. "How can I tell?" S. I A .1 DEFECTIVE PAGE