Marion Marlowe's Cleverness, or, Exposing a Bold Fraud — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Tt’s French,” said one of the officers, with a puzzled expression. “No, it’s Latin,’ ~ scrutinized it sharply. said the other, as he _ Marion was staring at the words with a _ strange light in her eyes. “Tt is Italian,” she said, simply. ‘‘Wait, I BAhink I can read it.” _ She took the bit of paper and read aloud: “All is lost to us, Ling. They have found he will. May the Saints preserve you. I 3 aid it for love!” _ She dropped the paper with a littie shriek, ar d her face grew ashen as she whispered: F “Great Heaven, men! The woman was his s mother !”’ | _. For a second the three stood silently star- ‘it Te at the wretched, guilty creature. 5 “His mother,’ she ‘Then who could he be? Surely not the law- ful nephew of Frederic Stanton!” . whispered again. meres “more treachery here than we hb I reckon,” said the officer, quietly ; aie ; put his hand on the young girl’s arm ¥ ied her from the apartment. a? case for the Coroner, Bill,” he ts id to his companion, as he locked the door - be h ind him. | i “ ~Not a word to my aunt,” on| ly answer. was Marion’s “Poor soul, she is ill and mis- erable enough! I will comfort her all I can; ba t this would be too mtich for her.” “You are made of good stuff, miss,’ one of the officers, admiringly. His compan- 1 had hurried out, but he was waiting to 2 ard the preinises. * said 99 Aunt is calling me,” said Marion, as she ae a faint cry. ‘Now is the time for me O dicin what Iam made of. She will prob- ably want Gregg, and what will I tell her?” _ The officer shook his head. He could not advise her. “Oh well, I’ll get out of it some way,” said MY QUEEN. 25 the brave girl, smiling. “It’s a pretty state of affairs when a woman’s wits desert her.” “By Jove! she’s a daisy!” was the detect- ive’s only answer. Marion had darted away, so she did not hear him. As the officer sat down to wait, there was a He opened it quickly and confronted Howard Everett. “Hellol You. out’ his greeting. tap at the outer door. was cautious Everett smiled, and handed him a note ad- dressed to Miss Marlowe. ‘She is in there, isn’t she?’ he asked, in a low voice. “I have just got back to my quar- ters, and the first thing I did was to write a note to her.” The officer drew him into the hall and told him what had happened. — . When he came to the woman’s dying mes- sage he drew it slowly from his pocket. “Thank goodness for that!’ cried Everett, gladly. “At last the chain is complete! This finishes the evidence!” ‘There was no time for explanations, for the coroner’s assistant and the detective were coming up the stairs. Out of respect for the proprietor, they had begun avoiding the elevator. Mr. Everett slipped the bit of paper into an inside pocket, while the officer who had shown it to him was busy with the new ar- rivals. When he got to his room he took it out again and read it. “Mother and son,” Arden thought. he said, softly, Well, I guess this poor Adrienne wiJl be avenged very shortly. A bold scheme for a man who-is both a knave and a coward!” “Just as CHAPTER XIV, THE CASE COMPLETED. Just as Everett had said, this ended the evidence, and Arthur Stanton’s guilt was promptly established. oe . Go NOOKS AUUC (SO) im