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•I.XU2J AXiiiUM a uuuixli-LAJN AJND JN Hi VY W.
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THE PARMENTER MILLIONS
l ... A Stirring Novel of Love, Conspiracy and Adventure. . .
>| (CoDjrliht, uoj, by Arthur W. Marchraout)
„ By ARTHUR W. MARCHMONT.
Author of "By Right of Sword," "When I Woo Cur,” Eto., Eta.
Synopsis of Provioua Inatallmant.
As "Motile O’llrlcn." a maid, Olive Is cm-
plnyed by Mrs. Merrldew at Sllverbeaeh.
The girl soon mokes herself a general fa-
‘ vorlte with the other servants. Lawyer
Casement prepares to cause the arrest of
the Hartmans and others of Merrldew'a
gang, .■
f. OilVo dropped another curtsey, and
'the ordeal tvos over. Mrs. Cooper
took her Into her room and carefully
Bhut the door. “You heard what I said
about -your work and your character;
I know It wasn't strictly true, and yon
know It. too. But you needn't tell any
one 'Oise, and I shan't. Tho mistress Is
a rare tartar, so ,be on your guard
when you meet her. .But she-won't seo
much of you. I can' see you will do.
and I’ve taken a fancy to you. I wish
all the rest shaped os well as you.”
With that Olive was dismissed to her
work, and set herself to do It so thor
oughly and with such unruffled cheer
fulness and willingness to help the
rest that every one quickly grew to
.like her.
. She had stipulated. before coming
that she should have a room to herself,
and as she was- always up first in the
house and was. willing t9 get things
ready for the rest of tho servants be
fore they came down, she was allowed
to go to bed proportionately, early.
It was then that her real task be
gan In earnest. She had brought with
per a long black cloak with a hood so
fashioned that she coaid at need entire
ly conceal even her face; and hidden
lU'thls she could move freely about the
house when she wai supposed to bo in
bed.
She had another advantage. Her po.
sltlon as between-mald enabled her,
pven In the daytime, to be In any part
of the manor without rousing suspi
cion. She used tills freedom to make
herself thoroughly familiar with every
.change that had been made In the ar
rangement of the furniture, and for tfia
first night or two her roamings were
more to get accustomed to tho work
of spying and to enable herself to move
about silently and secretly and without
knocking against chairs and tables and
any other furniture.
While about her work In the daytime,
moreover, she contrived to arrange
many little hiding places—little refuges
to which she could fly at need, or where
she could conceal herself In order to
overhear conversations between mother
and son when the latter arrived.
In all this her knowledge of the se
cret passages of the house were of the
greatest advantage to her, and she
found means and opportunity to render
them all easy of access . In case of
emergency.
Three days after Her arrival she had
a great stroke of luck. In Mrs. Merrl-
dew's bed room she picked up a bunch
• Of keys. A* these would prove of the
utmost advantage In the secret searches
'sho Intended to make, she hod po hesl.
ration in keeping them, and placed
them afterwards In secure biding.
A considerable stir followed the toss.
But ns Mrs. Merrldew had been out
walking that day, she could not be pos
itive that she had dropped them In
doors. The house was ransacked from
roof to garret, and no ono was more
zealous In the search than Olive her
self. Even tho servants' boxes wero
ordered to be searched, with the result
that .two of them refused and left on the
spot. Mrs. Merrldew Immediately read
thd'Refusal as proof of guilt, and thus
suspicion never fell on Olive .
AS the keys were not found, the lock
smith had to be sent for to fit new
ones; and Olive took advantage of this
to obBerve exactly which locks she could
now open.
Soon her opportunity came. A tele
gram arrived from Merrldew that he
was coming down to the Manor; and
Olive was Immediately set to get. his
foom ready. Mrs. Merrldew occupied
the roohis which had been Olive's, and
the son those which her father had al
ways used. Between the two suites
was an ante-room In which was ona of
.the old secret panels with a recess be
hind It. This might have been specially
constructed for Olive's very purpose, as
It was possible for any one conedded
within It to overhear all that passed In
Mrs. Merrtdew's sitting room.
Merrldew arrived after the time when
Olive was believed to have gone to bed.
and he went straight to his mother’s
room. Olive was watching for him.
and ns he passed the spot where she
was concealed she caught a glimpse of
his face and observed that he was
grently agitated.
The moment he had gone Into the
room she slipped Into the recess to lls-
ten.
Then she learned that the arre*t« had
taken place In London; that the utmoit
consternation had been caused, and that
Merrldew had come down to Silver-
beech lest his identity as Mawford
Should be discovered.
What was of still greater importance,
he had brought the stolen papers with
him; and he now urged his mother to
hide them In Home place of secrecy and
security. Baron Felskov, to whom they
were to have been delivered, had left
England for a time, and until his re
turn they could not be handed over to
any one.
The Interview between the two was
very heated. Mrs. Merrldew, It came
out, had Insisted upon her son giving
up all connection with hts old associ
ate. "Wo have all this, Hilbert," she
declared angrily. "Why. then, get Into
such a mess ns this other thing threat
ens to he?"
•Tve told you beforo that they can’t
be shaken off In such a way, mother.
You knpw what they are. They’d tear
us both to pieces If they got wind of
tilts affair here. Besides, this matter of
tho secret treaty was virtually settled
on . before wo wero certain of all this
1’armenter business, but I am going to
cut the painter after thlB."
“I will hnvo nothing to do with It.
Gilbert,” salil Mrs. Merrldew, firmly.
"And I won't have anything hidden
here. Understand that!"
"Well, you must; and that's the long
and short of It," ho retorted, doggedly:
and a long and angry quarrel followed.
In which ho gained his way In the and.
And as soon os that waa settled, he
flung out of the room In a rage.
Where would Bho put them? Olive
strained her ears In tho effort to fol
low her movements about tho room.
Sho heard tho rattle of keys and un
locking of drawers and tho rustle of
Mrs. Merrtdew's stlk dress, as shu
moved from place to place ns If In In
decision.
Presently the door was opened. Olivo
slipped from her hiding place and saw
Mrs. Merrldew go slowly down the
broad staircase. She paused for a mo
ment by the library; and at that mo
ment Olive saw that sho held a small
packet In her bond. She did not enter
tho library, however, blit croseed the
hall and unlocked a heavy door Into the
corridor which led to a disused wing
of the house.
Trusting to the concealment of her
cloak and tho noiseless tread of her felt
shoes,. Olive stole after her. It was tho
first real test of her ability asji spy;
and the importance of ascertaining tho
hiding place of the papers was so crit
ical that she'could not hesitate. She
wnp strtvlhg now for Jack'aa welt os
for herself: His safety ns much os her
own depended upon her skill and nerve.
Without a thought that eager eyes
were watching her every movement,
Mrs. Merrldew went right along the
corridor nnd entered the room at tho
end. She stood a feW seconds at the
threshold holding the lamp she was
carrying high abovo her head. She
was looking for a hiding place for the
papers.
Then sho crossed the room to one of
tho high windows; pulled open ono of
the shutters, reached up, and htd the
paper In the fold of the upper part. Sho
pushed back the shutter, held tho lamp
up to assure herself that the ahuttei
fitted completely back Into Its recess
GRAND
Friday and Saturday Next—Mat. Sat.
HENRY MILLER PRESENTS
A Superb Company til the Long
Awaited Groat American Play
THE GREAT DIVIDE
Exactly As Presented 600 Times In
N. Y. Night 25c to $1.60—Mat. 25c to $1
THE BIJOU
TONIGHT—MATINEE TUESDAY.
The Popular Musical Hit, .
GAY NEW YORK
With Its Funny Comedians—
Daintily Gowned Girls—
Elaborate Scenic Effects.
jdeville all week. Brlndamour.
cuff King. 8lx Whirling Samols.
: Feature Acts. Souvenirs tor chil-
at every matinee. Children .free
atinees if with paid grown-ups.
M, Bell 3148-M. Atlanta 1784. Up-
ticket offices, Soda Fount, Jacobs
nacyi Kimball Nawa Stand.
and turned to leave the room.
Olive darted back to ofie of the rooms
the door of which she had noticed open,
and waited there until Mrs. Merrldew
had, retraced her steps, locking the
door of communication behind her.
Eager as she was to obtain posses
sion of the paper, Olive dared not moke
the attempt yet. She knew that on
some nights the butler went through
the ompty wing just before going to
bed. She must be sure that he would
not come that night.
From this corridor one of the secret
stairways led to the floor above to a
room that was also disused, and from
there up to the floor where the serv
ants’ quarters were situated, and a
soon ax-Mrs. Merrldew had gone Olive
opened this panel and waited unttl the
man would have made hts rounds.
Jt was a prudent precaution. She
had been watting about half an hour
whon tho door at the end was unlocked
noisily. She htd herself and closed the
panel, and heard the voices of two men
the butler's and one she did not know
as they looked Into the different
rooms and slammed and looked all the
doors behind thorn.
Then all was quiet. She still watted,
h.owever, until the household should
have retired, and then stole out, nnd,
almost feeling her way In the darkness,
crept to the hiding place, took out the
paper and rushed away with It up the
secret stair to her own room.
Her heart was beating fast with the
excitement of the adventure, and she
sat down on her bed to rest n moment.
She had provided herself with a small
electric lamp, and, getting It from her
box, she turned tho light on the paper
and examined It with Intense curiosity,
carefully shielding the light under tho
bedclothes so that It could not be seen.
The packet was Inclosed In a strong
envelope, and there was an Indorse
ment on this In cipher which, of course,
she could not understand. It waa se.
curley fastened with green tapo and
scaled. But sealing had been carelessly
done, nnd the wax adhered to the tape
and not to the envelope.
In a flash an Idea occurred to her.
To take out. the contents and replace
them with a dummy of the same size
nnd shape, and then replace the packet
where she hod found it. This might
possibly prevent her act from being
discovered, and would certainly post
pone it.
Carefully she studied the packet, flx.
Inn every knot In her memory. For a
long tuna the seal baffled heY, until she
saw she must take the risk of cutting
the tape and retying It. She was In the
act of doing this when she caught her
breath.
Some one knocked at her door.
Silently and quickly ehe threw off
her clothes, got into bed and thrust the
precious packet under her pillow.
• Thon she walled for the knock to be
repeated, wondering anxiously and
nervously what' the meaning of such an
Interruption - could be. >
The knock was repeated; this tlmo
a little more loudly.
CHARTER XUI.
Jack.
Olive did not reply to the second
knock. No one had any right to come
and disturb her, and she would not
take any notice unless compelled. But
a third knock and then a fourth came,
each more Insistent than the preceding,
and she thought it best to wake up.
She made a good noise on tho bed as
if rousing herself, and then called: "Is
anny wan there disturbing a creature's
beauty shleepr 1
"Mollle! Molllel" was called In a low
voice.
"Who Is It wants Motile at this un
earthly hour?" und she yawned loudly.
“It’s mo, Annie." This was one of
tho maids. 'Tve got that tooth bad
again and you said you would give me
some of the stuff you hove."
"Ah. bad cess to your tooth to get
achin' at this ungentlemanly toime.
May the dlvtl fly away wld It. But I’ll
get It for ye."
She got out of bed, struck several
matches In lighting her candle, found
what was wanted, and gave It to the
girl. "Poor colleen. That’ll slnd It to
the dlvll, its maether. Take It wld ye
and give it me In the mornln*;" and
with another huge yawn she sent the
girl away.
Then she returned to her task. She
worked at the packet for some two
hours, until she was satisfied that the
deception was not likely to bo perceived
before the envelope was opened and
the blank contents found.
Continued In Tomorrow's Georgian.
Rhodes-Haverty’s | Rhodes-Haver ty *s |
Give Sensible Presents
for Christmas
Make your Christmas giving ex
press not only good wishes, but con
sideration of one’s comfort and pref
erences as well.
Furniture pieces are the most
logical gifts conceivable. They
y good cheer, good taste
immon sense.
Every Piece Shown in This Illustra
tion Actually on Our Floors am
specially priced
A Few Suggestions:
CHIFFOROBES,
MORRIS CHAIRS,
TURKISH ROCKERS,
COMFORT ROCKERS,
CELLARETTES,
CHIFFONIERS,
DRESSING TABLES,
CHEVAL MIRRORS,
WRITING DESKS,
LIBRARY TABLES,
DINING TABLES,
CENTER TABLES,
RUGS,
SHAVING STANDS,
COSTUMERS,
HALL CHAIRS,
CHINA CLOSETS,
BRASS BEDS,
SIDEBOARDS,
LEATHER COUCHES,
DAVENPORTS,
BABY CARRIAGES,
SEWING TABLES,
BUFFETS,
PARLOR CHAIRS
OR SUITS,
JAPANESE
PORCELAINS,
CUT GLASS,
JAP SATSUMA
WARE,
PICTURES,
TABOURETTES,
GRANDFATHER’S
CLOCKS,
SETS OF
DINING CHAIRS,
BOOKCASES,
MUSIC CABINETS,
PEDESTALS.
V
,dl
n-l
te, I
hiuj
•t0
We Have Made Special Preparations
to Put Away Early Purchases
Carefully wrapped and tagged in our immense
warehouse and to deliver them Christmas eve
or Christinas day, as you desire.
Open Evenings Till Christmas
Rhodes-
Haverty’s
63-65 Peachtree St