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Vol. XI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"___—__

CHAPTER IV.
RUNNING INro DANGER.

\VHEN Lulu Staii’ord obeyed a reckless im-
pulse, and betrayed her presence to the two
men, she had not counted the cost of her pre
cipitate action. The little scene was no more
than over when her heart misgave her.

“ Have I done wisely or foolishly?” she asked
herself then. ” I have th own down-the gauge
of defiance, at any rate. What was it he sai ?
—-‘ Enough to hang you,’——that must mean there
was murder committed, and my father—chi it is
too terrible, too terriblel”

She hurried away as if she would leave that
thought behind her, and she was nearing her
Own home when she became aware that some
one was following her. It was a man, hardly a
dozen yards behind, who seemed at no pains
to conceal the fact that he was dogging her
steps.

The girl’s heart began to beat with uneven
throbs, but she was no coward, and she came to
a stand within the circle of light cast by the
nearest lamp, and faced her pursuer—a man of
thirty, with that indescribable slouch which be-
longs to the tramp and the Vagabond, yet not
an ill-looking fellow in spite of his rough garb
and unshorn visage.

He gave her a keen look. and touched his rag-
ged bat as he approached.

“ Be you Miss Dot Seabright, ma’am?”

“ Stafford is my name, air.”

A grin appeared on the fellow’s counte-
nance.

“ I reckon it’s all right, then. Here’s a note
from your brother, an’ if you wants to get
word from your governor, miss, you’re to go
witl» me.”

“ Go where!” asked Lulu, keeping her eyes
upon his face.

“Not very fur out of your wa —down nigh
the river. Don’t you be afeard ut what I’m

 

 

 

 

 

  
 
 
 
   

Publication Office,
98 William St, New York.

“ Will you, or will you

me Beau ' M lit at We;

A FRIENDS PERFIDY.

THE STORY OF THE MYSTERY OF CELL 87.

 

 

 

 

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.

 

 

BY JOHN HAMMOND.

 

all on the square. I’ve got a sick comrade, him
as has something to tell you, what trumped in
from the country this afternoon, and we’ve got
a decent stopping—place at 249 Rupert Row.”

An indescribable gleam went over the girl’s
countenance, but without replying she opened
the note. which read:

“MY DEAR Do'rz—Go with the bearer. I believe
we are on the eve of an important discovery, but
the man reques to trust me. Be brave, also be
sure if there is treachery under this I will be at
hand to protect you. DON.”

“ I will go,” she announced, quietly. “ How
did my brother come to send me such a message
——-vou know what it was, I suppose?"

“ You see, miss, my pard knew where to nail
young Mr. Seabright, an’ he didn‘t know just
where to put his finger on you, so he sent me to
your brother to get that writ of mandamus, as
you might say. Youngr gent wanted to see the
business through himselr, but my perd’s got a
special reason for wantin’ to keep dark, and he
couldn’t run no risks. Here we are, miss. I’ll
go before.”

He entered a dark stairway leading up from
the street, and the girl followed without seem-
ing to notice a figure which emerged from the
gloom and took up its station, sentinel-Wise, at
the foot: but she cried out, rather pettishly, a
moment after:

“ Do you think I have the eyes of a cat, to see
through this darkness? If it is much further, I
shall wait here until you bring a light. You
did not tell me whether my brother Don knew
when I was coming here. He is out of town
now. you know.”

“Don’t you be too sure of that, Miss Sea-
brighr; I’ve a notion he’s near enough to 've
us a call if we don’t act square with you. his
wav; now a turn, and here we are.”

The room which they entered was familiar to
the eyes of Lulu Stafford. In fact, it was the

 

 

 

very apartment in which she had held her in-
terview w1th Marshall at an earlier hour of the
evening, and this was the fact which had led
her to comply with the demand of the note so
unhesitatingly. But the burly, bearded occu-
pant of the present time bore no resemblance
whatever to Marshall. He was an ugly-looking
customer, and carried his left arm in a sling;
outside of this, there was no sign of sickness or
disability about him. The One who had acted
guide set his back against the door with a sen-
tentious—“ I’ve brought her, old man.”

“I have come to hear what you have to tell
me about Luther Seabright,” said Lulu, with-
out betra ing any signs of distrust.

“ I’ll to i you that fast enough. my girl, after
you answer aquestion of mine. What was done
wifh the swag f"

The girl looked at him in utter astonishment,
as if not understanding the question.

“ I mean the plunder your respected governor
got away with before he was sent up for
bank-robbery a year ago. There isn’t an use
of your trying to play innocent on me. COme
now, the old coon was a sharp one, but I’m a
nmtch for you and your precious brother both
put together. I’m bound to get at the bottom
of that mystery, and to have my share out of
the pile. The sooner you make a clean breast
of all you know of that matter, the better it
will be for you, my dainty young lady.”

There was no mistaking the savage sincerity
of the man’s words, yet the girl scarcely
quailed.

“ We are talking at cross-purposes,” she said.
“My father has had nothing to do with bank-
robberies or such as you. I came in the hope
that you could unravel the mystery which sur-
rounds his fate—that you could tell me at least
whether he were dead or living.

“ He’s living, fast enough," said the man,
with a sneer. “ See here, Miss Seabright, your
father, I tell you, was concerned in the robbery
of the Diamond Bank, which I may as well
confess I had a band in. There were four of
us had put up the job, but one failed at the
last hour, and our leader brought in a stranger
to take his place. Nv ither my pal nor I knew
him at the time. We were surprised just as
the job was completed, and every man had to
look out for himself. One of our boys was
killed in the mélée, the other three were fol-
lowed up and taken within the next two days,
and all were sentenced to State‘s Prison after-
ward.‘ It was not until I saw him in the court-
room, stripped of the disguise he had worn that
night, that I knew who our partner in the job
had been. He didn’t give his name as Luther
Seabright there, but I’d seen him before and
knew all about him. I reckon that his cussed
pride stepped in to prevent him from makin’
himself known, or else he was a green hand
and couldn’t work the ropes, for he got ten
years while us two got off with three and five.
My term’s been shortened—for good behavior,
we’ll says—and now I want a dip at the pro-
ceeds of our work. The booty wasn't recov-

 

 

Copyrighted i892,
By Beadle and Adams.

 

ll

 

 

ered. Pard nor me knowed nothin’ about it,
and it stands to reason that a dead man
couldn’t have hid it away. There was only
one left to do the job; that one was your g0v-
ernor, and thousand-dollar bills is too plenty
with you for you not to know something about
the spoils. Now, just see here; make a square
divide, and I’ll keep my mouth shut about the
whole business.”

“ You will keep it quiet on your own account.
Escaped convicts are hardly the persons to in-
dulge in threats.”

f With a sudden growl the man leaped to his
eet.

“ Will you, or will you not tell me where the
plunder is? By the Lord, girl, it won’t be well
for you to fool with mel”

Lulu met the ferocious gleam in his eyes with
an undauuted look.

“I have been no party to the robbery you
name in any way, neither do I believe that my
father ever was. If what you tell me is true,
if Luther Seabright is in prison, it is because he
has been overwhelmed by the ap earance of
guilt through the machinations of) an enemy
who wanted him ruined.”

Forced to believe her assertions, he dropped
back into his chair.

“Have I been barking up the wrong tree?"
he asked, in a sour tone. “I don’t altogether
think so. Though you don’t know the old man’s
secrets, your brother may. Tell me where to
find him, and I won’t trouble you any more.”
“fit strange question when he sent you to
me.

“ Upon my soul, Heston,” broke in his part-
ner, who had been a silent witness of the whole
scene, “ I believe she saw it was a. put-up game
from the very start.”

Lulu glanced toward him smilingly.

“ I am too well acquainted with my brother’s
handwriting to be deCeived in it,” she replied.

“ Then you are either an uncommon brave
girl, or an uncommrn fool to run your head into
such a trap as you’ve put it in to night,” said
Heaton, savagely. “That letter was a ruse to
get you here. and now that we have you, i
swear that We’ll keep you till we see the end of
this matter. Gag and bind her, McElroy.”

For the first time a thrill of alarm went to the
heart of the girl, but she kept a brave face.

“ Please don’t,” she said, quietly. “ I assure
you it is not necessary to resort to such mea-
sures. I will give you my word not to betray
you. 1 will remain here any reasonable length
of time you may name. or you may set the sen-
tinel you posted below to watch at this dOor un-
til you make yourselves safe.”

The two men consulted together, aside, and
after some time McElroy spoke:

“We’ll take you at your word, but we’ll
have to lock you in to make sure that Iyou don’t
get the chance to h on us, and ’11 take it
on myself to act the sentinel, for it strikes me
rather strongly that you and our friend Mar-
shall mu at be some way in cahoots. Keep it in
mind that I’m within earshot if you have any

 

not tell me where the plunder is? By the Lord, girl, it won’t be well for you to fool with me!”

notion to squeal,” with which significant warn-
ing the two men withdrew, the key turned in
the lock behind them, and Lulu Stafford knew
herself a prisoner, but she had gained knowl-
edge which made that fact appear insignificant.

“ And my situation cannot be so very desper-
ate,” she reiiected. “ I feel sure that Marshall
was the sentinel below; he would recognize my
voice and take his cue from my words. He
would understand that I did not wish him to
make himself known as my brother. Those
men do not suspect the fact, I am sure, but it
troubles me to think he should be in league with
them, no matter what his motive may be. He
is weak—weakl—and since he has fallen under
these evil influences he has changed even to
me.

Then her mind went back over the occur—
rences of that eventful evening, and the hours
were away while she sat with a deep frown of
thought knotting her brows.

CHAPTER V.
HAVING HER WAY.

“ I WONDER What. papa. would say if he knew
how often I have met Clifford Cornell this past
month? It is not always by accident, either.
He is so quick to catch the word if I chance to
mention where I intend to go, that I must be
careful about dropping such hints. Will I
meet him to-day. I wonder? Strange that I
scarcely thought him handsome at first, but he

 

. has such a dear little light mustache, and large,

10ver blue eyes; one has to fall under their
spell before one knows how attractive he is.
He is quite as old as Mr. Behmis, papa says, but
he appears much younger; ‘an energetic and
rising young man.’ It isn’t so very long since
papa was energetic and rising himself, and yet
it’s very evident he wants me to think of one
who has already risen. Mr. Behmis, indeed l”

A tender little smile curved the young, fresh
lips, and Honoria Arle took a last glance at her-
self before she pnlled on her gloves and went
out for her walk.

It was a month now since that compact had
been made between her father and Cornell.
The latter had laid dowu a course of action and
followed it up. A haunting dread of ultimate
detection had put a scheme into the head of Mr.
Arie, of marrying his only daughter to his
moneyed partner, and so saving her from the
consequences of his crimes, should they ever
come out. Mr. Behmis fell unsuspectingly into
the trap spread for him. He appeared often in
his partner’s cheery parlors; be manifested an
open affection for the pretty girl whom he re-
garded as little more than a child, but not so
with Honoria. She had fathomed her father’s
plot and would have none of it.

Thus, when Cornell came on the scene, when
he played the réle of lover with apparent tim-
idity at first. growing bolder while the manu-
facturer remained seemineg blind to it all, out
of very perversity, Honoria became interested
in him. t would be such fun to turn the tables
on papal He wanted to marry her off, evi-

 

 

 

 

    

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