CHAPTER XIX.—Continued. And when she had summoned assist ance? When the castle was stormed, as it were, by gendarmes? My own < peril would be extreme. It was hopeless to prevent the in evitable. The rescue of Captain Forbes would be accomplished; my complicity in the intrigues of Dr. Starva and Madame de Varnier would be taken for granted. Expostulations would be useless. My very presence in the chateau would be face evidence of my guilt. And so I had played my desperate game to no purpose. To save myself—that was my one thought. Two courses lay before me. Could I make my way to Captain Forbes? Could I effect his release be fore Helena returned with help? If that were possible, and if I could hastily make my position clear to the ' king's messenger all might yet be well. At least so far as the establish ment of my innocence was concerned. Or I might overtake Helena Brett. To her I might make my confession. And if she were persuaded, not only that I was acting in her interests, but that my plan to clear up Sir Morti mer’s disappearance promised success, I might even now be successful. It was my fear that she would scorn fully refuse both to believe my story and to accept my aid that made me hesitate as to this course. It was Dr. Starva who decided for me. He had appeared on the terrace be low. and he .was following Helena Brett. I had read Captain Forbes’s message as well as Helena. Why, then, could there not have been a third person interested in the strange antics of the mirror? And if this surmise were true? If Dr. Starva or Madame de Varnier had read the message? They had not hesitated to use desperate ex pedients to gain their purpose. Would Dr. Starva hesitate to use means as desperate to prevent Helena from summoning neip: I asked myself this startling ques tion as I took the stairs two at a time to the great hall. The main entrance was locked. For a moment I thought that I was a prisoner in the chateau as well as Captain Forbes. Even now I am not certain that such was not the intention of Madame de Vamier. But Dr. Starva had gained the terrace by a small door close by the spiral stair case. In his haste he had forgotten to lock this door. Desperate as was my own haste I took the precaution of locking the side door after me and placing the key in my pocket. My reasons for this were vague enough. It was an instinct that prompted me to take the precaution rather than deliberate reflection. But perhaps I might be able to regain the chateau in due time by this side en trance, and none be the wiser. For as far as I knew I had effected my exit unobserved. In the meanwhile I ran swiftly after Helena and Dr. Starva. I had lost sight of both. I soon came to an end of the promenade. It led directly into the main street of the village. Now that I had gained the village street I looked eagerly about for them. Neither was in sight. I guessed that Helena Brett would make her way as soon as possible to the hotel where she was known. What hotel? That was the question. I halted an urchin and asked him the name of the best hotel in Alter hoffen. “Oh, the Grand hotel,” he an swered without hesitation; “that is where all the English lords and Amer ican millionaires stay.” Then let him take me hither; I .tempted him with a franc. “Evidently the gentleman is in a hurry.” I assured him that I was, and prom ised him two francs if I could reach the hotel before a lady whom I was following. “Then, the gentleman must go by the short cut.” I sped after the urchin down the vll lage street. This street is one of the most quaint in the whole world. There are two stones of shops on either side. The pavement of the shops below is roofed over; this covered passageway is the pavement for the second series of shops above. I was on the lower pave ment, and this explains how I fcas able to reach a flight of steps, the cut the youngster had promised, before Helena or Dr. Starva. At the foot of these step^the young ster bolted, assuring me that I should find the hotel when I had reached the top of the flight. These steps pierced a wall of one of the houses of the village street. The flight was straight for the first 20 or so, then it turned curiously on a little landing at right angles. Here I was in semi-darkness. I groped my way for the continuance of the flight. The first series of steps, I began to see dimly, had en#ed at a sort of porter’s lodge. I learned afterwards that this was a private entrance to the hotel above and that in the glass-covered little room a porter was accustomed to sit. I was still feeling mf way cautious ly about (for I had not yet seen that the .flight of steps was continued at right angles, and the steps were broken and uneven), when the circle of light at the foot of the steps lead ing into the street was blotted out. At first I hoped it might be Helena. But it was a man, and he was leaping up the steps in desperate haste. I guessed it to be Dr. Starva. But I had no intention of letting him know that I was following him. I pressed close against the wall to let him pass. To my astonishment he darted into the empty porter's lodge and crouched down in the gloom. I held my breath, watching, hardly an arm’s length from where he stood motionless. Again the circle of light wan blotted out. A woman was rapidly ascending the steps. I could hear her catching her breath. It was Helena on her way to the hotel for aid. And now I am forced to a confession that will deepen the sympathy or con tempt felt for me when I related the tragedy at the beginning of my nar rative. But I have determined to make myself no hero. For now again came that curious paralysis/ of will. Again, as in the tragedy of the Alps, horror robbed me for the moment of power to act in stantly. I had caught the glint of steel. I knew' that Helena was doomed unless I hurled myself instantly on the treacherous assassin. I did indeed fling myself headlong on him, but only after he had fired. There was a crash of shattered glass; the shot of hi3 revolver was still echo ing in the stairway as I grappled with him. It was an unequal struggle. I felt Dr. Starva’s hairy hands close about my throat and 1 was hurled backward. , CHAPTER XX. I Am Rudely Enlightened. The force of the blow had stunned me for the moment Presently I heard Helena calling for help. I sr.ruggled to my feet and leaned gasping against the wall. “Are you much hurt, sir?” she asked It Was an Unequal Struggle. in French, in & cool, matter of fact voice. She had not recognized me in the semi-gloom. “I am not hurt at all,” I replied in English. ‘‘But I am sorry, Miss Brett, that that villain has made his escape.” “I fancy I heard some one rush after him," she continued, coming to me closer and trying to distinguish my features. “I am Mr. Haddon,” I said, quietly. She repeated the name vaguely. “The coward," I added: There was an awkward pause. We began to ascend the second flight of steps. “I am arraid yon are assuming a name to which you have little right, Mr. Haddon,” she said gently. ‘‘I be lieve that you saved my life just now. I am much obliged to you.” She extended a white hand in the gloom. There was absolutely nothing of sentimentalism in the action. And for myself, I was cynically unmoved. I received her thanks almost guiltily and a little sullenly. “I little thought,” she continued dreamily, “that you, of all men, would save my life, it savors a good deal of the melodramatic, does it not? It is very strange.” “At the best it was a lucky accident, Miss Brett Frankly, you are unhurt rather because the man was a bad shot than because of any assistance I gave you.” I spoke the words thoughtfully and quite sincerely. I knew only too well that my interference would have been too late had Dr. Sarva’s aim been more sure. It seemed to me little less than a miracle that Helena Brett should be unwounded. I could take no credit for that myself. Far from that, I should tell her the absolute truth if I were honest. I would say to her: “On the contrary, I have proved myself to be a coward again—infinitely more so that, when Willoughby lost,his life. Then I was exhausted, physically powerless. Now I have failed—still by the fatal three seconds—because terror held me spell bound for the moment It makes lit tle difference, so far as my courage or cowardice is concerned, that jorf are ..... *‘-t. ■ i i •. •. •• •.' for the suffering I have caused you unconsciously?” She looked at me intently, her eyes still wide with distrust. “But you are at the chateau,” she repeated. “You are a friend of that infamous woman who has ruined my brother. If you are her friend, how can you be mine?” “I have not said that I am her friend,” I protested quietly. “But you are at the chateau.” She spoke the words obstinately. That fact was, in her eyes, an unanswerable argument. “Yes; and I know that Captain Forbes is detained there; I know that he has just signaled to you that fact and has asked you to get help. And now I want you to leave the matter, in my hands. I demand that as my right. It is a task I have set myself. Once you said to me that I should Had the Laugh on the Lawyer Whole Court Room Joined in Joke on Conceited Advocate. A distinguished, but conceited advo vate not long ago, after securing an unqualified statement from an octo genarian, who was bravely enduring cross-examination, that he “saw the whole thing as if it had occurred ten feet away,” suddenly challenged him to tell the time by the clock referred to. The lawyer did not look around himself, as he had done so about half an- hour before, when he had noticed that it was half after 11.' The old man looked at the clock and replied, after a pause, “Half past 11,” upon which the lawyer, knowing that it must be nearly 12, turned to the Jury and burst into a derisive laugh, exclaiming sar castically, “That is all,” and threw him self back in his seat with an air of having finally annihilated the entire. value of the witness’ testimony. The distinguished practitioner, however, found himself laughing alone. Pres ently one of the jury chuckled, and in a trice the whole court room was in a roar at the lawyer’s expense. The clock had stopped—at half-past 11.— Exchange. To Encourage 8leep. Many people suffer constantly from a sense of over-fatigue which entirely prevents sleep at night A hot bath taken before retiring Is a capital anti dote in some cases, but in others the bath acts as a stimulant rather tfrgn a narcotic, and prevents rather than engenders sleep. One of the best means of obtaining rest is a cup of warm milk to which has been added a pinch of salt and a dash of pepper, while many, people ignore the fact that sleeplessness is caused by shut windows and a lack of fresh air. : ' V-' j--.v V . . living while Willoughby died. In either case I have been equally weak.” That was what I should say to her if I were an honest man. But I did not. You see I am frank in these confessions. Really, then, I am showing that in this instance I was even a greater coward than befbre. For then I at least told the truth. I did not conceal from her the hideous word Willoughby had spoken before he died. Now I was concealing from her the fact that I knew I deserved the reproach as keenly. We had reached the top of the steps. We walked slowly toward the Grand hotel. Helena, I could see, was con cerned with her own thoughts as much as was I. For a moment the shock of the accident had made her ferget her errand. Now that we were near the hotel its urgency came to her with re doubled force. She was debating whether she should take me into her confidence. She was saying to her self, I was sure, that it would be a generous reparation for her unjust censure of me on the terrace of the hotel at Lucerne if she intrusted to me the deliverance of Captain Forbes. “Why,” she asked slowly, “should that man have lain in wait for me there? Was he a common thief, do you think?” “No,” I answered after some hesita tion. “He is a Bulgarian, a political ad venturer. I am afraid, Miss Brett, that he has had much to do with the disappearance of your brother.” She paused, startled. “How should you know that?” her voice vibrated with suspicion. “Because I have learned something of him at the chateau. I am a guest there.” I pointed to the castle towers across the valley.. “You are a guest of that woman, Madame de Varnier?” “Yes.” “Then, sir,” she was hastening her steps, and spoke with cold hostility, “it is certainly not to you that I should be appealing for help.” “Miss Brett,” I said with some bit terness, “you draw your conclusions very hastily. Is it impossible for you to believe that I wish to help you— that I wish to make atonement to you ~TTT——I save a life for the life that was lost through me.” “You have already made that repa ration, Mr. Haddon,” she said, almost humbly.- “Fate has punished me that I should have judged y«u so hastily and so wrongly.” “No, no!” I spoke in fierce remon strance. “Will you neVer be just to me? That was an accident, I tell you.” “I do not like you less that you say so.” It was hopeless to make her under stand now. I should have confessed my cowardice sooner If I wished to be believed. She had judged as at Lu cerne. “Listen.” I drew her to a garden seat. “A life for a life—that is what you said. But if, instead of a life, it were a man’s honor that I could save —if it were the honor of your brother?” Her lips trembled. She leaned to ward me in her appeal. “Oh, you would crush me with the weight of my gratitude. Save my brother’s honor, and, and—” “I should then stand equal with other men in your respect?” “Yes,” she said faintly, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “We need a friend so much now. We are in such deep distress because of my poor brother. Evidently jrou know of his disgrace.” Shame blanched her cheek. “I know something of it,” I said with sympathy. “Tell me, Miss Brett, do I not bear a marked resemblance to your brother?” “At first sight it is startling;” she cried eagerly. “When my mother and I saw you at Lucerne we thought you were he. When we learned that you were with Mr. Willoughby at the time of his death, you can understand how bitterly we resented our disappoint ment. Forgive me if I am again sus picious, but that I should find you the guest of Madame de Varnier now, at this time—” “If I am to help you, you must trust me.” “I will. I do.” “Implicitly?” “Yes.” “Even though circumstances seem utterly against me? Even though I may seem a friend of Madame de Var nier—to be in league with her against you?” She hesitated. “She is a dangerous woman. If my poor brother has fallen a victim to her horrible beauty—” “I shall be on my guard,” I replied lightly, smiling at her fierce resent ment. “But you will continue to be her guest. Is that wise? How can you ef fect the release of Captain Forbes if you remain at the chateau?” “How can-I learn the truth concern ing your brother, how can I do my ut most to save his honor (if it be not yet too late), unless I remain at the cha teau—yes, unless I am on apparent good terms with Madame de Varnier?” “You are testing my belief in you to the utmost, Mr. Haddon. I suppose you smooth the suspicions of your hostess as readily as you do mine.” She spoke bitterly. And if she found it difficult to trust me now, how much more difficult when she learned, not the whole truth, but a damning half truth. "Ah, you are wavering already in the trust you have promised to give me. Great God, you think that it is a pleasant task I have set myself? To smile on this woman, to play the hypo crite, to spy on her when I am her guest, that I may dog her, coax her into telling the truth, that I may en trap her accomplice and herself at the right moment? Miss Brett, I would wash my hands of this ugly business if I had not sworn to endure every igflominy and risk of being misunder stood not only by a man like Captain Forbes by by yourself. I tell you that I have not a clear field to carry out my plans—if I fail, or am baffled by some well-meaning intruder, I am a disgraced man. No one will believe my defence—not even you. I may even be dragged to prison as a com mon felon.” She placed both her hands in mine. “Forgive me. My anxiety is so great. I do trust you. Return to Madame de Varnier, Mr. Hadflon. I shall try to be patient. But Captain Forbes, am I to do nothing to help him?” “Until this evening, no. You see, I am testing your faith.” I looked at her keenly. She re turned my glance with brave assur ance. ‘‘If you receive no word, either from Captain Forbes or myself, by midnight to-night, if you are not summoned to the chateau by your brother (and that I warn you is only too unlikely), in quire at the Grand hotel for Mr. Rob inson Locke. He is an American con sul at Lucerne; he will help you.” “He has already helped us. It was Mr. Locke who directed Captain Forbes and myself here to Alterhof fen.” “And will you not include among my services,” drawled a voice behind us, “the fact that I was so fortunate as to save your life just now, Miss Brett?” (TO BE CONTINUED.) V)l NEBRASKA POINTERS STATE NEWS AND NOTES IN CON DENSED FORM. THE PRESS. PIILPITIIND PUBLIC What Is Going pn Here and There That is of Interest to the Readers Throughout Nebraska. The harvest in Pawnee county shows the wheat better than for many years. • United States Senator La Follette of Wisconsin, last week spoke at the Tecumseh Chautauqua. Protestant churches of Nebraska City have joined together and are holding outdoor meetings. PrOf. H. H. Hewitt has tendered his resignation as head of the department of music at the Peru normal college. Methodists of Aropahoe have re ceived plans for thire new church to be erected this year at a cost of $7,000. H. A. Day, a directory .man who was recently appointed by the city, council to take a census of Beatrice, has almost completed the task. He finds that Beatrice has a population of about 12,200 people. During a recent storm George Cowles’ barn, on his farm three miles northeast of Valley, was struck by lighting. Pour horses were burned. One escaped, but so baaiy burned it was necessary to shoot, it. Deputy Oil) Inspector D. W. Hoyt reported to Inspector Allen that he had rejected seven barrels of oil at Weeping Water and had ordered the stuff destroyed or shipped back. There were eight barrels in the shipment. Three railroads have filed answers with the interstate commerce com mission to the complaint recently made by the Lincoln Commercial club which alleged discriminations on freight rates from the south in favor of Omaha. R. H. Shurman, a prominent resi dent of Scribner, one of the early settlers of the place, dropped aead from heart failure. He was chopping down a tree when he became faint. He sat down and in five minutes he had expired. County Superintendent Matzen says there will be no shortage of teachers in Dodge and surrounding counties this year. There are many new appli cants and the country school boards will have little trouble in finding teachers who will serve. Prapartions are being made for the third annual encampment of the Platte Valley District Reunion asso ciation, which will be held in Central City August 19-23. August 20 will be Children’s Day and school children from all over the county will partici pate. A young man giving his name as E. W. Cristie was discovered by the nightwatch rummaging through the mail in the P^rk hotel, Alliance. He was taken to the jail and searched and seven of the letters were found in his pocket, one of which had been torn open. He was fined and given •a severe reprimand and allowed to depart. Senator Norris Brown has announc ed the following nominations for West Point: George Doane Keller, Omaha; alternates, L. E. Oliver, Falls City, and Clarence G. Grim of Wilber. He also announces nomin ations for Annapolis as follows: Robert A. Hall of Hampton; alter nates, William D. Eakin, University and George Gibson of Kearney. Bellwood has an octogenarian, “Granddad” Freeman, who is climbing hishis 87th year, says the Gazette of that place. He can swing a trowel or lay a brick just as of yore and is as noisy and as full of fun as many of the young bloods. He goes to bed with the chickens and gets up with them, and we believe can knock spots off anything in either David City or ■Ulysses of the same age. Rev. Peter Van Fleet of Table Rock, who purchased what is known as the “Blacklaw farm,” a few months since, has just sold to the Burlington people twelve acres, lying a short dis tance from the Nemaha river, for 1200 per acre. As the company is getting ready to again burn ballast At this point, and did not have tne necessary room, and this was the only piece available, it became necessary to pay this price. The champion fish catch has been made by W. B. Havelock of Atkinson, While fishing for trout on the Curtis ranch, seven miles from that city he caught two trout one of them being two feet in length, weighing six pounds when dressed and the other fish measuring nineteen and a half inches. So strong was the fight with one of the trout that both line and fish pole were broken and the fisher man jumped into the creek and se cured his trophy. The fish have been sent to his Nebraska home in proof of his story. A most destructive storm of wind and hail visited Scotia and surround ing country. Crops of all kinds are badly damaged and fruit and gardens ruined. Macadam road-building in Dodge bounty got a serious setback at the hands of the county board of super visors. After listening to arguments by a government expert and leading citizens of Fremont who want to see the inheritance tax fund devoted to the road-building purpose, the super visors refused to act, but postponea the whole subject until next January. A fire supposed to be of incendiary origin destroyed four frame business buildings and. most of their contents in the village of Crab Orchard. The fire orginated in A. F. Roxburg’s two story building. V The body found in the Missouri river at Flattsmouth and taken to Glenwood, la., is believed to be Charles Klofat, an Omaha man, who lost his life by drowning under the Douglas street briige £ily 4. He wore a black satin shirt, gray vest, black trousers under blue overalls and his hair was clack. The President’s Vacation 071 Roosevelt Always in Touch with Affairs of the Nation & — H ILL -NO ADMITTANCE THE cabinet is rarely called together in the president's vacation, and then only to consider matters regard ed as of the highest importance. Nevertheless, in the course of a sum mer most of the members of the cabi net pay a visit, either of business or friendship to Sagamore Hill. They of ten dine and sleep there. Some of the president’s closest friends in the sen ate, members of the “tennis” cabinet, or literary cronies, are overnight guests. But most of Mr. Roosevelt’s visitors who call by appointment are asked to arrive in the forenoon and to stay for luncheon. It Is the impression at Oyster Bay that there will be many such visits by the closest political friends of the ad ministration from next week on. The master of Sagamore Hill is watching with the closest scrutiny the develop ment of the campaign for the nomina tion of his successor, and it is likely that he will have frequent consulta tions with the leading statesmen who are devoted to and his policies. Any incident tending to show a recru desence of the “reactionary conspi racy” would almost inevitably be fol lowed by a procession of party chief tains eager to proffer advice and swear allegiance anew, both to Mr. Roosevelt and to the public through the press. There is no barrier up to prevent persons who can give a reasonable account of themselves and betray no signs of the crank, from driving up to Sagamore Hill, on the understanding that they are not to halt their horses, but drive around the house and out again. If any person should gain en trance by giving this assurance to the secret service men at the outpost and then try to break faith and seek en trance to the house, he would be stop ped by other secret service men on guard near the porch. These men, chosen for discretion as well a* for valor, would politely In quire of the visitors whether they had an appointment with the president If EXECUTIVE OFFICES THE PRIDE OF VILLAGERS iness center of the village. His door is always open; any one can walk in upon him, get a pleasant greeting and see as much of the government wheels going round as he could in Mr. Loeb’s Washington office. All he will see is Mr. Loeb busy at a big flat-topped desk, with another desk close by cov ered with the newspapers which the secretary to the president reads dili gently. He will see the rest of the staff in the five other ' rooms. One room is occupied by one of two tele graph operators who are on duty by turns from nine a. m. to 11 p. m. They are kept busy most of the time. Much of the matter is summaries of corre spondence, to which Secretary Loeb directs routine formal answers to be returned. president will be glad to see them at such and such an hour on the day mentioned.” The president has a telephone in his house, but if you, Mr. Citizen, had something in your mind that you thought the nation’s chief ought to know about at once, you couldn’t go into the nearest pay booth and call him up. The telephone exchange girls at Oyster Bay have a strict rule on that All persons, from cabinet rank down who call for Mr. Roosevelt’s number. are switched over to Mr. Loeb. If it’s all right Mr. Loeb says so, and you “get” the president. If Mr. Loeb doesn’t know you he asks you your business and probably ad vises you to put it into writing, for Mr. Loeb is a methodical and careful secretary. CABINET OFFICERS OFTEN VISIT SAGAMORE HILL not they would be quietly advised to keep moving. The guards know who has and who has not the "open ses ame” to the summer White House. No one can bluff his way past them. Some have tried. The president’s bodyguard is com manded by “Jim” Sloan, who has had the chief responsibility for his safety since Secret Service Agent Tyree was made a United States marshal. Sloan now has eight men to help him. Guards at the house and at the en trance from the highroad a quarter mile away are changed with the regu larity of military discipline, night and day. The guards are all picked men, who have shown not merely zeal and devotion, which are essential, but horse-sense, alertness and quick judg ment. Laughter at Meals. Worry at mealtimes and hurry di rectly after are two great factors in weakening the digestion. One of the most important meals of the day is breakfast, yet how often one hurries over food or scrambles through it in stony, frigid silence, scanning the col umns of a favorite newspaper. An old physician, writing 70 years ago, said: “Laughter is one of the great est helps to digestion with which I am acquainted and the custom preva lent among our forefathers of exciting it at table by jesters was founded upon true medical principles. There fore, endeavor to have cheerful and merry companions at your meals.” Gave Up Unequal Fight. A man’s suit of clothes and boots have been found on the towing-path of the river Lea, in England, near Clapton. In one of the boots was a piece of paper, containing the follow ing: “To anybody or everybody: Hitherto I have been a wanderer with no fixed abode, but henceforth it will be fixed and permanent, ‘the river Lea.'—One of the Submerged.”