QUARTER "OR, THE HOUSE IN THE 2 "RUE BARBETTE - ; CHAPTER 1V. In less confident t nes Inspectcr Walters resumed his narrative: "On Monday evening, sir," he said, "'about eight o'clock, his Ex- cellency and 'the two secretaries were. dining downstairs, and: mat- ters had, thus far, gone on with the same routine as was observed every preceding day. The workmen quit- ted work at six o'clock. The three _ gentlemen went out for a drive as soon as everything was locked up, and came in again at a quarter to eight. They did not change their clothes for dinner, so there was no occasion to search them, as no one had gone upstairs since they had 'descended soon after six. They had barely® started dinner whea gome one called at the front door, and I was sent for. The door bell, I may explain was always answered by one of the house servants, and he, if necessary, admitted any per- son who came, closing the door; but the visitor had to be csamined by sthe policeman stationed in the passage before he was permitted to come any further. On this occa- sion I went out and found three gentlemen standing there. They were Turks, as could be easily seen by their attire, and appeared to be persons of some consequence.' "What do you mean by the words 'their attire? " interrupted Brett. "Were they dressed in European clothes 'or in regular Turkish gar- ments 9' "'Oh," said the inspector, "I only meant that they wore fezes; other- wise they were quite accurately dressed in frock coats and the rest, but they were unmistakably Turks by their appearance. Two of them could speak no English, and the third, who acted as the leader of the party, first of all addressed me in French. Finding I did not un- derstand him, he used very broken, but fairly intelligible English. What he wanted was to be taken at once to His Excellency, Mehe- met Ali Pasha. I said that his Ex- cellency was dining and that per- haps he had better call in the morning, but he replied that his business was very urgent, and -he could not wait. He made me un- derstand that if I sent in the cards of himself and his companions they would certainly be admitted at once. I did not see any harm in this, so I took the three cards and gave them to Hussein, who was crossing the hall at the moment." "As the cards were printed in Turkish characters you could not of course, tell what the names were,"' said Brett. A look of blank astonishment crossed the inspector's face as he replied : 'That is a good guess, but it is so. The hieroglyphics on the piece of pasteboard were worse than Greek. However, Hussein glanced at them. He appeared to be sur- prised; he went into the dining room. Of course I had nothing else to do to let them in, which I .did, accompanying them myself to the door of the dining-room, and making sure, before the door was closed, that their presence was ex- pected."' "How did you do that?' said Brett. "Well, although they spoke in what I suppose was Turkish, it is not very difficult to distinguish by a man's tones whether his recep- tion of unexpected visitors is cor- dial or not, and there could be no doubt that the visiting cards h conveyed such names to his Excel- lency as warranted. the introduc- tion of the party into the house. The six gentlemen remained in the dining-room until 9.17 (I have the time noted here im my pocket- book). They then came out and went upstairs in a body to the ante- room, where they all sat down, as I could tell by the movement of the chairs overhead, and in a few mm- utes Hussein was rung for to bring cigarettes and coffee, = This was at 9.91. Hussein was searched as he "Well, now does it not strike you|. that the perpetrators thereof, who were not afraid to be scrutinized by yourself by several other policemen, and to be searched and further scrutinized by a different set of officers when they came out again, would be very unlikely per- sons to bear about them such dis- tinguishing characteristics as would lead to their arrest by the first: youthful police-constable who en- countered them? I de not. want to be rude, or to indicate any lack of discretion on 'your part, but, from my point of view, I would vastly prefer not to be furnished with any description of these three persons, nor would I care to have seen them as they entered or left the house." "Well, that is very curious," said Inspector Walters, dropping his hands on his knees in sheer amazement at such an extraordin- | ary statement from a man whose clearness and accuracy of percep- tion had been so fully justified by the incident of the window-blind. "And now, Mr. Sharpe,' said Brett, "what did you observe?' «1 came on duty at ten olclock; posted my guards, and received from Inspector Walters an exact account of what had taken place before my arrival. Inspector Wal- ters had hardly quitted the house, when one of the junior members of the mission came downstairs with a note which he asked me to send at once by a constable to Mr. Tal- bot." "You are quite sure he was one of the members of the mission?' said Brett. "Perfectly certain. I have seen him every previous night for near-y ly a month, as the gentleman often went out late to the Turkish Em- bassy, and elsewhere. I sent the note, as requested, and Mr. Talbot came back with the constable in about twenty minutes. Mr. Talbot went upstairs accompanied by Hus- sein; Hussein came down, was searched, went down to the kitchen, brought up more coffee, and never appeared again. The next time I saw him was about noon yester- day, when we broke open the door, and found his dead body. At 11.25 Mr. Talbot, accompanied by one whom Inspector Walters has de- scribed as the spokesman of the strangers, came down the stairs. Mr. Talbot looked somewhat puz- zled, but not specially worried, and submitted himself to the searching operation as usual. The other man seemed to be surprised by this pro- ceeding, but offered no objection when bis turn came, and said some- thing laughingly in French to Mr. Talbot, when he had to take his boots off. The two gentlemen went outside and called a cab. Mr. Tal bot got in, and the constable at the door heard the foreigner tell the driver to go to the Carlion Hotel. He repeated the address twice, 80 as to make sure the man would make no mistake. } H "Then they drove off, and there 'was no further incident to report until five minutes past twelve, when the other two foreigners came down- stairs. Then we had a bit of a job. They knew no English, and one of our men, who could speak .French, found that they did not understand that language. However, at last in dumb show we got them to per- ceive, that everybody who came downstairs had to be searched. They submitted at once, and I took special care that the investigation was complete. There was nothing upon them to arouse the slightest suspicion, no weapons of any sort beyond a small pocket-knife® car- ried by one man, and not mich in the way of either papers or money. Before going out one of them pro- duced a small card on which was written, 'Carlton Hotel.' i *] took it that this was their re sidence, so I instructed a constable to see them into a cab and tell the driver where to take them. I also to came downstairs after receiving the | gi order, and again at 9.30 when he returned after executing it. I was relieved 3 nd b 'describing the three gentlemen, 1 4 more about the busi- t ten o'clock, and beyond |; "Yard. The man who went to Mr. t hands as is my wish that you publish this Bom all tho world, and if anyone doubts it, let them write me." druggists and dealers everywhere. liberal sample of each, with 32-p. book, send to Potter & Chem. Corp., Dept: 5P, Boston, U. 8. A three Belgians. Taking a con- stable with me, I went upstairs, and ascended to the second story, where I knew his Excellency's suite was situated, and where I expected to find Hussein asleep on a mat in front of the bedroom door. The mat was there, but no Hussein. Then I went higher up to the rooms occupied by the two assistants. I knocked, but received no answer. One door was locked; the other was open, so I went in, but th room was empty, and the bed ha: not been slept upon. This seemed so strange that I knocked loudly at the other door, with no result. I returned to his Excellency's floor and hammered at the door, which was locked, sufficiently to wake the soundest sleeper that ever lived. This again was useless, so I re- turned downstairs and sent off two messengers post haste--one to Mr. Talbot, and the other to the Com- missioner of Police at Scotland Talbot's house returned first, bring- ing the startling information that Mr. Talbot had not been home all night, and that his uncle and sis- ter were anxious to know where he was, as they had received no mes- sage from him since he quitted the house the previous night at 10.15¢ The Commissioner 'of Police came himself a little later. By that time Inspector Walters had reached here tor his turn of day duty, and after a hasty consultation we decided to break in all the doors that were locked, commencing with that of the second assistant. His room was, empty, and so was his Excellency's, neither apartment having been oc- cupied during the night. We then returned to the first floor and fores ed the door of the ante-room, which, we discovered, was only se- cured by a spring latch, the lower: lock not having been used. - As: soon as we entered the room, we found | the four dead men. Hussein, the servant, was nearest the door and was lying in a crumpled-up position. He had been stabbed. twice | the back "and once through the spinal column 'at the base of 'the neck. His Excellency and the two: assistants were seated in chairs, but, had been. stabbed through the heart. - The instrument used must have been a long thin dagger of stiletto. There was no sign..of it anywhere in the room, and most certainly none of the men who came' out the previous night had such' weapon concealed upon him. # "Doctors were at once sent fi and the first medical D loman te ; arrive said that each of the fou 'had been dead for many hours, but thing else to (be done here. ~ Will] you come with me, Mr. Winter 1% "Where to, sir?' inguired the detective. . "To find Mr. Talbot, "of course." "Ragier said than done," re- marked Inspector Walters, as the door. clésed behind the visitors. Jnspesior Sharpe was less scepti- al ; "He's .a very smart chap is Brett,' he said. 'Neither you nor I thought of punching that wire screen, did wel" (To be continued.) --_-- A HIT. What She Gained by Trying Again. A failure at first makes us esteem final 8 . A family in Minnesota that now enjoys Postum would never have known how good it is if the mother had been discouraged by the fail- ure of her first attempt to prepare it. Her son tells the story: "We had never used Postum till last spring when father brought home a package one evening just to try it. We had heard from our neighbors, and in fact every one who used it, how well they liked it. "Well, the next morning Mother brewed 1t about five minutes,' just as she had been in the habit-of do- ing with coffee without paying special attention to the directions printed on the package. It looked weak and didn't have a very prom- ising color, but nevertheless father raised his cup with an air of ex- pectancy. It certainly did give him a great surprise, but I'm afraid it wasn't a very pleasant one, for he put down his cup with a look of disgust. «Mother wasn't discouraged though, and next.morning gave i another trial, letting it stand on the stove till boiling began "and then letting it boil for fifteen or twenty minutes, and this time we were all so pleased with it that we have used it ever since. "Father was a confirmed dyspep- tic and a cup of coffee was to him like poisoti. So he never drinks it any more, but drinks Postum re- .gularly. He isn't troubled with itt, "there is no- |' yspepsia, now and ia actuall growing fat, and I'm sure Postun is the cause of it. ~All the childre are allowed to drink it and the; are perfect pictures Name given by Postum Co., Battl Creek, Mich, + © "i Read the little book,; "The Road} to Wellville,"" in pkgs. "There's reason." "a tthe genuine, true, and ¥ ., CARE OF CHICKENS. : All the old birds, and young, too, Should be examined frequently] during the hot months, becaus then-it-is. that the lice and mi thrive, "Af cut' fetter? 'A new 0 <time. Th ull of human ini bone or chopped meat cautions must be faken: to have if! perfectly fresh. ET a Many birds die from eating bon and meat scraps which have' bee the heat and the flies. , "In feeding foo "and, therefore, their own food | urselves. . ; * The hot sun will cause young gos- gs and ducklings as well to tog some cups on the table, had drugged. So, before disturbi | room and its contents in any w the Commissioner sent for D on Coke. After e ove Pro allowed to: lie around exposed to} chickens always. re-| 'member that they are provided for! to produce fresh eggs for human | uld be just as pure as that we will give a picture of the great Canadian west - from the standpoint of & your Ontario man going out' there |" to make hisway. These let- ters should be full of inte.est for every Ontario father.] No. 6. Kamloops, 'Sept. 14th. 1911. My-Dear- Dad,-- Although thig-Jetter is dated Kamloops we have just left that place and am gel- ting further from it every minute. I am writing this in a corner of the ob servation car on the Imperial Limited, the name the CO. P. R. gives the train that runs through from Montreal to Van- couver. The observation car has a deep platform behind where you can sit out od camp stools and watch the scenery without snd glass or window frames to interfere with the view. You get the real mountain air, too, as the train slides past the silent peaks. and while going through one of the mile-long tunnels to- day 1 heard the splash of an underground stream, and. felt the drip of the water. | Just 'where I am sitting there is a writ: ing desk, and close beside it is a book case with a couple of hundred books to choose from if you 'want to reads I notice that they are not used much.' I didn't see anyone -reading them, the scenery is too attractive for that, Whe magazines, however, which belong to the library, were much in demand. Well, it has been a wonderful day for me. I'was up early, for the train leaves Calgary at 3.15 am. right on the dot. That's one thing that has surprised me on this trip. While a local train in On- tario may be anywhere from half an hour to an hour late, these trains which make a run for nearly three thousand miles pull out of the station right on time. Of course, they must lose in win- ter when the enow drifts. Then a -train may be excused for being a day behind time. We ran out of Calgary in the dark, but it was daylight by the time we reach- ed Exshaw, when you are right close up to the mountains. Here I noticed a num. ber of long, dusty-looking buildings. They are part of ome of the largest. cement works in Canada. Then we went through: hat is called "The Gap," right into the eart of the mountains. of health.' , they rose om man' and the little things tha usy him. They were solitary, remote, nd there was no sign of Ifving til: ear them. And in between the: sol peaks, mileq beyond, a glimpse ht of andther, higher peak, fed during the summer, extra pres body. 'ment, is touched upon in this | & con _ eight miles long. 'that you run out along the side the track your train'is om, and 'raining! gd parallel. Then you run slap bang tte al" tunnel and run along for a mile Tn the! dark. When you come out you find that! oh you have turned right round with the track you were on before above you. Then' into another tunnel, and you find that you have turned again, the track looping' round in the solid rock. This whole gisnf, "8," gome seven miles long, cost $1,500,000. Seventy-five car loads of dynamite ¢ $250,000 were used in blasting the tunes nels, The wonders that the engineers have accomplished in putting the rail road through is next to the wonder of the mountains - themselves. - After you: have 'been running in the maze of hills for & whole day, you wonder that any." body ever found their way through, let alopo build a railroad. When the tunnels are left behind, yom! : come out along the Kicking Horse River, The track runs along a narrow ledge cus! in the side of the mountain with the! river far below, hundreds of feet! Gras dually the track gets lower and lower! till it is running close beside the leaping, dashing. greeny-white water of the river. At Glacier T got my first fine view of: one of the glaciers that feed these mouns tain rivers.' It was sweltering hot where' = we were at the station, but up" on the gide of the mountain lay a great expanse ° of snow that glistened in the sun, You and mother should come through hu : and see this country, but if you do, be sure you bring a dictionary' with you, or you will run out of adjectives before' you have been in the mountains very, long. In the evening, after passing Sicam Junction, where the line branches off to the Okanagan Valley--the peach and grape belt of the province--we ran beside Shushwap Lake, and the. sunsef lights and reflections in the still cal water were very peaceful, and contrasts ed with the rugged beauty of the mounn< tains. The lights were lit when {nto Kamloops, and the town was lined with bright dots where the lights stood in the darkness unde shadowy mountains. | Goodbye mow. Dad. I Hake o plece to go yet, but "Tm not travelling, as I expected to be, as A form of defective vision will "impair the usefulness o no matter what his em eovasalion ? 4 nquisitive Passenger--What, beco ht Stokes, Nag sired : ductor on this line? io Sat = W s 'the 'com off! What for? Conductor--It was