One Wonderful Night

al bureau had in truth been hurrying on his way to a marriage feast, then, indeed, tragedy had assumed its grimmest aspect that night in New York. But, beyond an enforced personal contact with a gh

ursuit of the murderers. It might lay bare a motive, put the bloodhounds of the

erican soil. His home-coming had begun by producing in his soul a subtle exaltation which had survived a conspiracy of repression. Devar's careless acceptance of the city's grandeur had jarred; the exuberance of the joyous throng on the jetty had touched dormant chords of sad memories; even at the very portals of the hotel the building's newness had struck a bizarre note;

ief that the crime was preventable, his sympathies were absorbed now by the vision of some fair girl waiting vainly for the bridegroom who would never come. His analytical mind fastened instantly on the theory that murder had been done to prevent a marriage. He took it for granted that the Jean de Courtois of the marriage certificate was

night, he would not have hesitated a moment about returning to the conclave of policemen and detectives. He acted impulsively, absurdly, al

ed form and its written interlineations, which

thin the State was thereby "authorized and empowered to solemnize the rites of matrimony between Jean de Courtois, a citizen of the French Republic, now residing

set of printed rules, reciting various duties, legal obligations, and penalties for infringing the same, was also inclosed; but Curtis was in no mood to master the provisions of "An Act to Amend the

eone other than a police sergeant or detective should interpose between the grim tragedy of 27th Street and the even more poignant horror which was fated to descend on some house

ely be able to meet someone who could accompany him to the police office, and give the details needed for a successful chase. Indeed, he argued that he was saving va

n both sides, from the level of the street to a height often measurable in hundreds of feet, nearly every building blazed with electric signs. Many of the devices seemed to be alive. Horses galloped, either in Roman stadium or modern polo-ground; a girl's skirts were fluttered by a rain-storm; a giant's hand, with unerring skill, bowled a ball at ten-pins in a bowl

nce of some sign new to their vision. Curtis noticed many such assemblies before the taxi sped out of the magic area which ends at 42nd Street; but it was all novel to him; he could not discuss the contrast between las

a quiet cross street, and he was vouchsafed only fleeting glimpses of broa

Did it still repose in the bedroom? Or had a housemaid found it, and restored it to a numbered hook in the office? Had not that immaculately dressed clerk said he would find Number 605 "a comfortable, quiet room"? Well, it might be all that, yet Curtis could hardly help dwelling on the thou

he would rejoin the detectives before they could have any reason to suspect him even of carelessness i

ors. Oddly enough, it was contemporaneous with this thought that the queer similarity of his own name to that of the unfortunate Frenchman first dawned on him. John D. Curtis and Jean de Courtois were, as names, particularly as the names of two men of different nationalities, sufficiently alike to invite comment. Well, t

nced up at a rather imposing bloc

000 West 5

unch of people live

he lady I wish to see oc

it seemed to him that the na?ve

about the size

of confidences to a cabman was the one folly

minute or two, and I shall want you to ta

p to a spacious doorway, and Curtis passed through a revolving door. Halfway along a

iss Grandison liv

10-take you up?" was

iss Grandison herself. I would pref

r a visitor who was obviously a gentleman, but the problem offered by Curtis's

ber 10," he said, quite civilly, and Curtis was soon pr

her just going out or just returned, and Curtis, unaccustomed to the domestic probl

andison in?

sir. What nam

swer, so he changed grou

rself if it is in any way possible to intervi

eassuring, seemed to have such an alarming

ference to Monsieu

wrapped up in the highly disagreeable task which lay before him, he could hardly have failed to notic

ight eyes. "Why didn't you say at once that you had been sent by Mr. de

and he clos

. "Something has happened to prevent Monsi

hen there will

other time Curtis would have marveled at the gamut of emotion which the feminine temperament

I would rather meet some pers

an accident?... Oh, I can see by your face that he is hurt-or he has been kidnapped! Yes, that's it, for sure! And that dear young lady will be trapped like a bird in a cage!... Miss He

t backed away from Curtis, and then turned, running to open, without knocking, a door o

staken, doubly mistaken, since the mental picture he had formed of Hermione Beauregard Grandison was utterly falsified by the slight, elegant, girlish figure which presented itself before his astonished eyes. Somehow, those superfine Christian names and that aristocratic surname had prepared him for a rather magnificent person,

took his b

oves of harmonizing tints. The veil had been hurriedly lifted above the brim of the hat, and a pair of what seemed to b

few feet of him. "Perhaps Marcelle has misunderstood yo

uncharted depths in his soul. At once he began to ask himself why this mere girl should be exposed to the impish trick which

, rather to gain time than because

And

Curtis. I only landed in

trange and horrible story he had to tell, but its effect was curious in the extreme.

ou come from?

m Pe

m Pe

ling without pause duri

all-marks of good breeding and high social caste. His brain was so busy over these discoveries that he disregarded the really remarkable way in which the object of his visit had been shelved for the moment

ss Grandison's face showed relief when it bec

a conventional air that disconcerted her hearer in a way she little imagined. "Will you

d up in his troubled mind that she was not so deeply moved by the malfortune of

mmodate himself to conditions w

ok of dismay into those charming eyes. "That is why I asked your maid if there was no other person whom I could take into my confidence.

else. Marcelle and I

but he had deliberately elected for this mis

ndison, I have no option but to inform you, with all the sympathy any man must fee

rible! Is he

es

o help me, that I am sure he would be glad if I brought the minister to the hospital, or to his apartments in the hotel if he has been taken there, a

th the cold-blooded callousness which seemed to reveal itself in every syllable. That she was blithely unaware of this element in her excited utterances was shown by her eager face and animated

up, and approached nearer, lest she might collapse in a faint and fall before he could save her. "I fear I have blundered woefull

hy

cheeks; she was actually

you when yo

One can hear a

e generally did obey when Curti

ar her, and his ton

Monsieur de Courtois suff

edly not with the soul-sickened terror of a woma

he has been kill

es

y friend, and now, indeed, I am the

a hand on her shoulder, and strove to calm her with such commonplace phrases as his dazed brain could dictate, but she wep

onsieur de Courtois-was the one man-who could save me. Now-I don't know-what will become of me. How cruel

ld lead somewhere. He rejected all else, since the wild vagaries of events during the past few minutes were beyond his comprehension. He waited, therefore, until the veh

Courtois has been killed, and your-your friendship for him-no less than the interests o

his, and Curtis saw that they were blue, not violet, and that

dent, then, but was

es

or my

you have said that

at have

that your marriage might h

hy

om a woman's lips than that one word "why," a

sking you," he said,

I tell you?

ont of my hotel, the Central, in West 27th Street. I saw him stabbed so seriously that he died within a couple of minutes, and his assailants made off in an automobile, the very vehicle, in fact, in which he arrived. I managed to note its number,

ht so," brok

I ask why you

forgive me. I am quite unnerved, and

one gave me a coat which I took as my own. It was not until I had quitted the police and doctor, who arrived almost immediately, and I had gone into Broadway to avoid the clamor in the hotel, that I discovered I was wearing the dead man's overcoat, and in one of the pockets I fou

been most kind, most considerate

he authorities may be invaluable. If you are able to supply any clew, the least hint of motive, the mos

dead, you say, and I might blurt out something in my distress which would cause endless mischief. Perhaps I have thought too much of my own troubles. Now I must begin to endure for the sake of others. That is th

almost grotesquely inconsequent. Curtis was at his wits' end to find the line of reasoning calculated to convince this beautiful creature

one for a little while? Perhaps you would like to consult your maid? Indeed, her services might meet all the requirements o

ifficulty I am in. Poor Monsieu

ing t

ng, and it is quite certain that his eyes blazed down on the half-hyst

they intend to live happily together.... Monsieur de Courtois was to be my husband-only in name. I-I paid him for that.... I-I gave him a thousand dollars-and-and-- Don't look at me in that way or I shall scream!

rl sprang upright. There was something splendid in her courage, in

d. "Perhaps it is