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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS One of the Greatest Mystery Stories Ever Written The Ballroom Tango A Pretty and Refined Way of Dancing This Popular Whirl The Snake Charmer By INGLIS ALLEN. By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN. (Copyright, 1913, by Anna Katharine Green.) TO-DAY’S INSTALLMENT. But before he bad worked his way half through he paused. stepped aside and took up hla station against the wall in a position that gave him a good view of the scene, without attracting too much attention to himself. "Since I am at a swell wedding I might as well aee the bride," he continued to himself, turning his gaze, however, in any other direction than that by which she was expected to descend "If she looks more like her photograph than the other girl does, well and good, I am an old fool and it is about time for me to take down my sign and shut up shop. But if, on the contrary, she looks less like it; if her expression varies or she is fairer or larger than one would suppose from the picture they gave me. then I can lay the fault on the photographer and regain some portion at least of my self esteem.” And unmindful of the curi ous glances which now and then found him out, he retained hla place through the weary minutes of waiting that now ensued, amusing himself as usual In gathering together such odds and ends <»f talk as floated by him and stowing them away in the storehouse of hia brain, which already held so many se crets even of some of those who passed him by in gay apparel without a thought | that the grave, quiet, rather benignant- | looking man who was go occupied with j the device on Mr. Gretorex’s great hall J clock was he who held In his keeping J their fortune and possibly their good name A Sigh of Relief. At length, with a sigh of relief that ' ran through the length of those vast j parlors, the strains of the wedding march w r ere heard, and Mr. Gryce, whose interest in the aforementioned j device now because absolutely absorb- ( ing, shifted his portly figure a step or j so, while the throng at his side pressed | l»ack and a path was made for Mr. and Mrs. Gretorex, and then after what seemed a long and unnecessary interval for the bride and groom, who, contrary to the usual arrangement, descended to gether. They passed near, very r ear that great hall clock; so near that tlie bride's veil brushed the homely habili ments of the man who stood there; but she did not notice this, nor to all ap pearance did he, for his eyes never left the clock, though a careful observer j might have perceived that his lips pressed a little closer together after she j went by, and that he did not wait for her to pass over the threshold of the | parlor doof before taking his departure. J But no one thought of him. All eyes | were on the bride, and Utile did any one think, least of all, she whom it most concerned, that the faint, half-sup pressed click which they had Just heard denoted the withdrawal of one whose powers of observation were more to be dreaded than were those of the whole vast crowd he had left behind him. If she had—but our interest is not at pres ent with the bride, pale and troubled as she is, but with this man who but a short time ago entered the house with feelings of almost beneficent concern for its Inmates, only to leave It now, with a sore and humiliated heart. For in the one glimpse he caught of the bride -and he saw her, though he did not appear to do so—he had dis cerned nothing to relieve his dissatisfac tion with himself. If the other girl was like the picture, this pale, haughty self- contained woman was the picture Itself. There was no mistaking this much, us his pride would have been gratified to have found it otherwise. Details that were lacking In the oth er girl's countenance were here, and an expression which made him ac knowledge to himself that he would henceforth trust no man's eyes, not even his own, In this delicate matter of Identification, the least shade of a look making sometimes all the difference be tween one person and another. He went out of the house, feeling, as I have said, very old. and he even was conscious of a twinge or two of rheu matism as he stepped down the icy steps and prepared to take his way round the house to the street. For this reason perhaps, and also because the walk was more or less slippery, he went very slowly, so that he was just at the corner of the house when that startling scream was heard, whidh as we know so seriously distured the minds of those who were witnessing the cere mony. A muffled cry It was. and to those outside sounded as if It came from the upper story of the house. But when the detective paused and looked up at the window’s overhead he saw’ nothing, and being in a very in different mood, went on his way. re membering the occurrence only as a sort of lagubrlous echo to the rather melancholy thoughts in which he had been at that moment indulging. At the Hotel. His courst was toward the city. He took it direct, getting on the elevated train at One Hundred and Twenty- fifth street and getting off again at Twenty-third. Why Twenty-third" Was it not late enough for him to go home? He evidently did not think so. Without hesitation and with a certain determination of manner, he went Im mediately to the C Hotel. Let us follow him. "Well, I suppose the wedding has come olt." These were his words to the clerk Who was still at his desk in the office The clerk looked at him and laughed. “No,” was his quick rejoinder, "it didn’t. The bride absconded.” "What is that?” Mr. Gryce's tone was quite sharp. His face resumed its old expression. “She ran off: didn’t wait for the clergyman; afraid to risk herself with auch a glum-looking customer as Moles- Molesworth, I suppose, 1 can't say I blame her.” Humph! You Interest me. And at J*'*ur was this; how soon after you had not been gone more than half worth. I suppose. I can’t say I blame came with the Rev. Mr. Pease at his heels, and she was not here then, nor had been some little time.” "Who saw her go out?" "The hall boy." "No one else*” "I think not." "Didn't she leave any word behind her?" "Yes, a note; It was laying on the table in her room Molesworth got It." "The door then was open?*’ "It was unlocked.” "Curious. There seems to he some difficulty in the way of wedlock to night. I have Just come from a wed ding and the bride was three-quarters or more an hour late. But Molesworth, as you call him how did he take it?” "That's hard telling, he looked grim enough, but then he was none too cheerful looking before. Anything but a bridegroom in appearance at any time But, then, it was rather hard lints for him. 'Twould make any man angry, Mr Pease on hand, and no bride! I declare, I felt cheap myself; and the chambermaid, I believe, shed tears, grieving over the loss of the good fee she expected, I suppose.” "Yes, it’s quite thrilling, quite roman tic,” quoth Mr. Gryce, enthusiastically. Then. In quieter tones, remarked; "You were all in the room, then?” He Was no Fool. "No, I didn't know anything about It till Dr. Molesworth came down, and, giving me the price of the room, re marked that there would be no wed ding at present, the young lady having preferred to wait till she could have her friends about her.” "Ah!" ejaculated Mr. Gryce. "Neat, wasn’t it?" remarked 1he clerk. "But he is no fool; and though I knew on the spot that she had run away for good, I couldn’t help giving him credit for coolness. But It was all in his words; his look was terrible." Mr. Gryce's eyes fixed themselves ©n the small lamp used to light cigars. ‘"I can imagine it," said he. "But he wasn't tragic; not a bit of It," continued the clerk. "Not even when he took out the note he had evi dently received from the girl, and burned it in the flame of that Jet.” "Oh! he burned it, did he?" ‘"Down to the very end.” "And then went away?" "Directly.” “Well, this has been a delightful even ing!" commented Mr. Gryce; and he lounged away a few more minutes in the. office; then went out, and, entering a drug store near by, searched for an address in tlie directory. "I can not sleep; why, then, not amuse myself?” his look seemed to say, as, glancing up at the clock, he j>assed again into the street and betook himself west ward. Certainly one does not run across such a complication every day, and when one is a detective, why not enjoy now and then the advantages of his position? Mr. Gryce went up the steps of a four- story brick building to which was at tached a doctor’s sign. t A middle-aged woman, of neat enough appearance, answered his ring, after a short delay. "Is the doctor In?” he asked. She shook her head, and glancing at a slate that hung on one of the pegs of the old-fashioned hallrack, declared: "He won’t be home before to-mor row.” "And T am so 111," murmured the de tective, with an air of great weakness. He had read her character at a glance. "You!" she exclaimed. "And 1 have come so far," he w’ent on. "I thought surely I should see him to-night, if I came late enough. I know he Is going to he married soon, hut ’’ "Married!" The interruption was full of surprise and Incredulity. "Married! Dr. Molesworth! I guess you are mis taken. ’ "Oh. no," the old gentleman persist ed, assuming with every instant a look of greater distress. "1 had it from one who knows him intimately. He is going to be married, hut sensible girls don’t keep their lovers out too late, and I thought 1 might find him In. 1 wish I had, for when I have these turns nothing but opium will help me, and the drug clerks won’t give it to me without a doctor’s prescription. I must go on." But the old lady’s sympathy as well ns curiosity had been aroused. She was a widow and a hoarding house keeper, but she had a heart and was not afraid of showing it. The Landlady. She therefore stopped him as he hob bled toward the door, and, showing him the way into the parlor, asked him to sit down by the fire and warm himself a moment before going out. "I am sitting up," she explained, "be cause there are still four or five of my young men out, and as 1 do not give night-keys to any one but the doctor, I have to sit up, or ask some of my hard working girls to do so It is deary wait ing sometimes, but, on the whole, they are considerate, and I don’t complain." Then as she saw, or thought she saw, the old gentleman's face grow brighter in the really genial glow of the good hard-coal fire before them, she asked in a hospitable tone if he had ever heard whom the doctor was going to marry. He shook his gray hairs indifferently, picked out with his glance a coal in the fireplace, and began to study It intently. "1 never paid it any attention.” said he. "I am getting too old to busy my self much about such matters; and girls are all the same to me, unless it be one girl," he added, with a half-senile, half- pathetic smile, taking from his pocket as he did so a photograph which he looked at fondly. ’Your daughter?” inquired the old lady. "My granddaughter," he replied, with enthusiasm. She leaned over as women will at the sight of any picture in the hand of an other, and quietly looked at it. "Good heavens," she exclaimed, "It is Mildred Farley.” "Mildred Farley," he repeated, in mild surprise, ”1 never heard that name This is Joanna Handscombe." By LILIAN LAUFERTY. {{ry>HERE Is nothing new under I the sun”—as we have been frequently informed, but there are new combinations of all the old ideas, and a clever combina tion of five or six old things results In one brand new one. Just a year or two ago we fully persuaded our selves that tangos and turkey-trots and bunny hugs and monkey wrenches were the latest things—but they weren’t, bless you—no! Thev were cakewalks and barn dances and two-steps arranged In a to-be-well- shaken-before-taken conglomeration and accompanied by a little hula-hula or other music native to any other soil but our own. A New Combination. Now two of New York’s cleverest cancers have thought up a fascinat ing new combination and permutation of steps taken from the tango Argen tina, the Spanish bolero and the beau tiful and bo completely forgotten as to be really new minuet. In a little three-cornered chat with Katherine Witchie and Ralph Riggs, of Lew Fields' "All Aboard” company, now playing at the Forty-Fourth Street Roof Garden, 1 learned just how to do the new tango bolero, as they mean to call It. Of course. most of us lack the inherent grace, the care ful training and the untiring study of their artistic calling that the clever couple bring to make their dancing a thing of beauty—even if it Is , alas! a Joy for but a few fleeMng moments Instead of the hours and hours one would gladly sit and s*udy their twinkling twirls. "But we’ll show r you just how and we’ll tell you just how.” said pretty little Miss Katherine, “and then if you practice and practice, and if even- “First of all,” says Miss Witchie, “be sure you have good music. Then make sure you know how to point your toe grace fully.” This move ment is shown in the top picture. little grapevine in and out and In and out by the upstretched fingers. At the *hd of this movement he >3 holding her at arm's length, his lifted right arm holding her left hand, and from this position he draws her around in front of him and they do a little flying forward ste- In perfect unison, right arms held together and weight on the right foot at the be ginning of the movement, and left foot pointing to the back and drop ping slowly to take the weight. "Do this hack and forth eight times in tango style, and then swing Into figure three—hands clased in front, and girl’s left and man's right foot pointing toward the side back In a knee-hight position parallel to th? floor. Swing from foot to foot, look ing in the direction of the uplifted foot; do this eight times, as for all dances of the tango family. Anil now for the pretty little minuet finish— you, Katherine, please." Very Fetching. And murmuring: something about “In at the finish,” Miss Witchie con cluded our profitable little chat with a description of the quaint and dainty steps. “It Is the conventional dancing minuet bow. The man holds his partner's outstretched right hand in his left, with right hand on heart, and left toe pointing forward. Tnc girl points her right foot, and holds her right arm poised with upturned wrist, and then gradually through eight bars they separate Into a deep curtsey. Don’t you think that a dear little conclusion o our tango-bolerV! And don’t you think It would be per fectly polite to dance that In any ballroom 7” Perfectly polite, and very fetching and pretty, I think, don’t you? And I hope we may all learn to do it with a fraction of the dainty g-ace and modesty shown by Its Inventors. Up-to-Date Jokes ‘ ‘ Then take a waltz position. ’ ’ (Posed by Katherine Witchie and Ralph Riggs.) one who reads follows the same course—why, when we introduce our dance every one will have that at- home feeling of knowing just how to join in the chorus. Good Music Essential. “First of all, be sure you have good music—the tango and the bolero. Then make sure that you know how to point your toe gracefully in some what the way the ballet dancers do. Then take a waltz position, girl’s right hand on her partners left shoulder, man’s left hand at the back of his partner’s waist, the other hands i clasped loosely and held almost at | shoulder height, faces turned toward j the outheld arms, and corresponding ly the girl’s left and the man’s right foot pointing straight in the direction of the aim. "Now, to tango music take the eight steps and the long gliding slide and recoving stamp that are char- I acteristlc of this dance of Spanish | extraction via Argentina. Then with I arms still pointing to the girl’s left, j do the same steps toward the right Swing into all the tango steps you know and can do easily and graceful ly, and then suddenly the music changes to the real Spanish bolero— and you go on, Ralph,” said Miss Witchie, with true sportsmanlike de sire to share and share alike. Mr. Riggs laughed his appreciation of the feminine desire to be the lis tening partner, and "went on”; "As the bolero begins, the girl Is left and the man is right. Her left foot points forward, her right arm is held high above the head, just touching the tips of the man’s Angers, while the other hands touch at arms’ length at waist height. "Then the man twirls the girl in a "My wife,” said Mr. Clarke, "sent ten dollars in answer to an adver tisement of a sure method of getting rid of superfluous fat.” "And what did she get for the money? Was the information what she wanted?” asked Mr. Simmons. “Well, she got a reply telling her to sell it to the soap man.” • • • Mrs. Blinks (to her neighbor)—Oh, I do so like your house. It seems to homelike. Mrs. Jinks—Do you think so? Mrs. Blinks—Yes, indeed; you've got so many of my cooking dishes borrowed, you know, that your kitch en seems ever so much more natural than mine does.” • • * The small girl had been exasper ated all day and at last her mother lost patience and administered cor poral punishment. The child had scarcely recovered from her sobs when she looked up and said: “Mother, you must try to control that temper of yours.” * * • At a dinner of firemen recently the following sentiment was proposed: "The Ladies! Their eyes kindle the only flame we can not extinguish and against which there is no insur ance.” • • • "You may not believe it, but smok ing is a remedy for my headaches,” he apologized. "Most pigs are cured that way,” responded his wife, without emotion. * * • Brown—Stout people, they say, are rarely guilty of meanness or crime. Jones—Weil, you see, it's so diffi cult for them to stoop to anything low. ■ fl tj f* *UB fVJ crunni ic central purpose for 120 years has been muflHin Jl/flJUL 3 t0 makc Men of B oys. Asheville climate world renowned Organization Military. Two details from U. S. Army al lowed to N. C. The A. &■ M. College has one, Bingham the other. Target and Gallery practice, with latest U. S. Army Rifles. Lake for Swimming. Sum mer Camp during July and August. Tuition and Board IlfW per Half Term. $300 a year. Address Col. R. Bingham, Box 6, Asheville. N. C. Advice to the Lovelorn By BEATRICE FAIRFAX. r:ew minutes, I should say, for ^ To Be Continued To-morrow, ISN’T IT LATE TO ASK THAT? Dear Miss Fairfax: I am dead in love with a young man of twenty. He says he would not take the whole world for me, and he says that he could not live without me. He has asked me to marry him. 1 accepted his offer and he gave me a diamond ring last year. I have been going with him for the past two years. I am a girl of eighteen. Do you think that I should marry’ him or wait? Neither could live without the other, and this condition has last ed two years. M. F. Under the circumstances, my dear, Isn’t it late to ask such a question? If there is ar.y bar to vour marriage further than that of your youth and his, you do not state what It la. THERE IS A WAY. Dear Miss Fairfax: I am 20 and in love with a girl of 10, and if 1 don’t win this girl I’ll go crazy. 1 proposed, but her parents object because 1 am of a different religion. The girl loves me, but she waits for her pa rents’ consent. Will you please help m e to win this girl, because I think of her all the time? THOMAS. She will not marry without her parents’ consent, and she is right. You say their objection is based on your church. You do ndt say what your church is, but do you love the ! girl si) much you would change it? I do not advise it. I simply sug- ) gest that the means of overcoming I the objection to you lies in yourself. I You must not demand that the girl | l make the sacrifice. J OCEAN VI EW HOTEL PABLO BEACH. FLA. 10-hour ride from Atlanta, 17 miles from Jacksonville, Fla. Most accessible asd best beach resort for Atlantans or Geor gians. American plan. Reasonable rates. T HE long, lighted car sweeps swiftly up through the night, and the little man, waiting on the curb by my side, deftly extin guishes his cigarette against his coat sleeve and mounts the step before me. I enter and seat myself by the door, idly noting that tl^p car is otherwise empty save for a huge male form sprawl.ug in the corner at the further end. Opposite me the little man has closed weary eyes. For my own part, I fall to watching through the door way the crawling market carts, with their huddled drivers, as one by one we overtake and leave them behind. A touch on my elbow disturbs my contemplations. I turn to find that the large man was vacated his cornel and is leaning confidentially toward me. “ ’Ere,” he observes with a myste rious air, “I want to speak to you.” He is a very large man. indeed, in whom the absence of a collar is mad* the more noticeable by a high-colored flannel shirt open at the neck. He has twisted himself In his seat so as to face me. and, with sudden disqui etude, I make the discovery that the breast of his shirt is undulating with the movements of some live body be neath it. With triumpnant eyes fixed on mine, he inserts his hand beneath the garment, and, withdrawing it im pressively, holds up a particularly re pulsive-looking snake for my inspec tion. I’m always doing this*,” he remarks with delight. "I’m an’ me’s pals. Ted dy I call ’im. After my wife’s fa ther.” I express my satisfaction at this highly sociable state of affairs and at the same time the conductor makes his appearance. He accepts a coin mechanically from the semi-somnolent man oppo site. his gaze straying curiously over his shoulder toward my neighbor. A Bedfellow. The latter, overjoyed at his atten tion. persuades the snake to further vagaries. “I’m always doin’ this,” he explains with the name delight. "Teddy ‘is name it* 'E sleeps with me at night.” The conductor grins. My neighbor falls to caressing his snake again. Soon he leans forward, and with a push at the knee arouses the little man opposite from his slum bers. The latter regards his perform ance for awhile In stolid silence. "That ain’t nothin’.” he observes, and closes his eyes again. Attention is diverted by the en trance of two new passengers—a young gentleman in rather wide trou sers and a young lady in a very nar row skirt. At a glance my neighbor marks them down as his prey. He rises, lurches across the tram, and seats himself beside them. With a beaming smile, he puts the snake through its performance for their ben efit the pair watching him with marked apprehension. "Teddy, I call ’im,” he observed af fably. “I’m always doin' this.” The information seems in no way reassuring to his audience, who re main watchfully silent. Suddenly he withdraws the snake from his shirt and holds it toward the young man. "Try 'im yerself,” he suggests gen erously. “I’ve no objection. Put ’im down your neck, mate.” There is a sudden scuffling sound as the young lady rises precipitately and moves to the farther end of the car. Her escort, about to follow, is detained by a huge hand upon his sleeve. " ’E won’t 'urt yer. Put 'im down yer neck, boss Yer ought to get used to that sort of thing, yer know.” It is evident that the young man has no sense of this duty to himself; by a sharp movement he frees his arm, and.with such dignity as he can muster Joins his companion at the farther end. The snake-charmer re mains looking after him with an out raged stare. Meanwhile the car has stopped, and there has been an Influx of passen gers. The conductor, about to ring the bell, suddenly observes the hug* figure at the end. It Disappears. "’Ere you!" he cries. "You wanted Young’s Corner!” The snake-charmer turns hastily and stumbles down the car. Sudden ly he stops and feels tentatively about the upper part of his body. "'Arf a moment!” he exclaim* anxiously. "Wot’s become o’ Teddy?” The new passengers glance up with mild interest. The pair at the end rise expeditiously and peer about them in apprehension. The snake- charmer has gone to the seat lately vacated by him—now occupied by a respectable old lady of sedate aspect. “Excuse me, mum ” he apepals. The lady, evidently rather hard of hearing, looks around her inquiring ly. The snake-charmer raises hh? voice. “It’s my snake,” he explains. "I think you must be sittin’ on ’lm.” With a blood-curdling shriek, the lady shoots from the seat like a stone from a catapult. The new passen gers rise in panic, and convulsively shake skirts or trousers. “You ain’t got your snake,” grumbles the conductor from the step. Think we’re goin’ to wait about all—■ Why. what’s that?” All eyes follow the conductor’s An ger, pointing toward the snake- charmer’s feet. From one of the leg-s of Ms trousers a flat, evil head ha^ em rged, and, curling upward, is darting a forked tongue into space. With a proud smile, he stoops and, drawing forth his r»Pt, replaces it .a the breast of his shirt and steps out into the road. The conductor tugs the bell impa tiently, and we move on. The passengers resume their seats, then crane their neck* to watch ) dwindling figure stationary in ih? road behind. A genial hail is wafted faintly toward us. “Teddy, I call ’im. Sleeps with me at night!” Extra Modest. “George, there’s a burglar in the house.” “Well, keep still. We’ve got noth ing he’ll steal.” “I know. But I left my corsets over the back of a chair, and I wouldn’t have him see them for the world.” WASHINGTON SEMINARY 1374 PEACHTREE ROAD ATLANTA THE SOUTH’S MOST BEAUTIFUL SCHOOL DiSTLnCTiVE ItAiLittb. 1. Boarding Department limited. $100,000 00 in Grounds and Build'.ngs. 2 New School Building, modern In equipment, with provision for open-air class rooms. 8 Courses In Domestic Science and Physical Training a part of regular cur riculum. 4. 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