me Make-Believe. ita upwards of three an howd 1 'morning which fol- ved the night of Mis return to New ! Yok, Mr. Law was permitted to es. 'himsell 1e .apglest of mortals. , And Inasmuch as this is not only a longer uninterrupted term of happl ness than is humanly common but is more of that emotion than ordinarily leavens the whole of a etime, Als = 'pe to be envied, even thoug Teens to when it came was sud- den, sharp, and to him unspeakably shocking--a swift, unpresaged plunge from sunlit peaks of supreme content to the black depths of a bleak Aver nus of despair. The 'beginning of the period was synchronous with the slam of a taxi cab door.that shut away a superfiudus world from the company of two who loved. : / The sound spelled safety as well as Success in Alan's understanding. The car slipped smoothly away from curb, pursued only by a little gust of semidronic cheers from the little company of working men who had wit- nessed as well as measurably partici pated in the putative elopement from the house of Trine. Vigilant for any indication that their evasion had had a witness in that strange home of deathless hatred, Alan watched it through the little Window in the back of the cab until a corner blotted out the vision of ft; then with a sigh of relief sank down by the side of the woman to whom his every thought, impulse and emotion were dedicated. "Rose!" he whispered, and tenta- tively touched one of the hands that lay clenched in her lap. She responded with never a sign to indicate consclousness either of his touch or his whisper. And reminding himself of the strain imposed upon her by the experience through which they had just passed, Alan excused her unresponsiveness on grounds of reaction, and for the time felt constrained to let his sweetheart rest and regain her normal poise: there was bliss énough for him in the consciousness that he had won her safely away, that nothing now more than a short hour's drive across town and by ferry across the Hudson stodd between them and the marriage that should prove the consummation of all their trials . . . Barring accident! Alan had too often suffered the pen- alty of disappointment for over-indul- gence in this failing of his for depreci- ating the unforeseen, not to make the mental reservation, "Barring accl- dents!" with a little shiver of dread. Had any of Trine's household been cognizant of his daughter's escape, Alan argued, interference must have been instant. Despite the reassuring aspect, the Preoceupation of his companion so 'Wore upon him that he was presently no longer able to refrain from disturb- ing her. "Rose!" he begged again, closing a! band tenderly over hers. "Dearest sir], don't worry another instant! Do ealm yourself: remember we are safe ¥ ih * Fa 3 She Apjitired Anxious "to Escape ithout Being Seen. now; we foaled them handily--thanks your and bravery, aweetheart! and ) is going to be well with us from now on. Over in Jersey the minister fs waiting now to marry us; and down at the White Star dock boat ¥ -4 i sich 4 ything | come between us. ' Promise me, Alan' --promise me you'll be kind to me al ways, dear!" . id "Can you doubt I will be kind?™ he | murmured reproachfully, ¢ « ." she whispered. "How could I be anything else, low ing you as I do?" + "Iam afraid , . » "Why should I be "It isn't that. afraid." "Of what?" i "Of losing you." "But that can never be!" "You can't be sure. What if you were to find you'd been mistaken? Ble caught her breath and added hastily--"That you didn't really Tove me, I mean." "Oh, that's ridiculous!" "I can't be sure. Nothing in life is i permanent. What ig love? Illusion of | the senses! What is happiness? A willo'the-wisp! What is life? A make-believe!" "Dearest!" He held her more close ly still. "You are nervous and over | wrought. You don't know what you're saying. You can't mean what you're saying. . . . But say that it's so-- that life fs all make-believe. Then make-helleve you love me--" "Oh, but I do, I do!" "And make-believe for a litte we've caught the will-o the-wisp--only for a little--until you wake up and realize that it's all real and true." She closed her eyes again: "Yes" she breathed, "you are right. Let's make-believe it's all true for a Httld longer . . . and forget . He could by no means account for this strange humor; but he did his best to comfort her, none the less ten. derly because of his mystification. And for a long time she let illusion blind d to yout™ m just See The Motion Pictures OF This Story At The IDEAL THEATRE On Mondays And Tuesdays © momentarily growing, less As Marrophat's car drew abreast Alan nodded and sald quietly: "Don't e alarmed; 1 can attend to this gen- tleman: single-handed." . And this be proceeded to demon strate with admirable ease, even though called upon to do so far soon: er than he had thought to be--thanks to Marrophat's Rair-brained preciph tancy. For, failing to influence the Maxi driver by shouted demands or | threats, of to gain the least attention | from Alan, Trine's first lieutenant ab- ruptly and surprisingly took his life in bis hands and in one wild bound bridged the distance between the two flying cars and landed on the taxi's running-board. Stop!" he screamed madly. I say! 'You don't know what doing! Let me tell you--" | He got that far but no farther. In| the same breath Alan had flung wide the door and was at the fellow's throat. | There was a struggle of negligible duration; Marrophat was in no way his antagonists match; within three seconds he threw out both hands, clutched hopelessly at the framework | of the cab, and fell heavily to the | street, { The taxi sped on without pause, its | driver deaf to the hails of innocent if | indignant bystanders. Alan pulled himself together and looked back just in time to catch ; glimpse of a num- ber of Haters lifting Marrophat to his feet and helfing him to the sidewalk | "Stop, you're : fuclined to believe that Marrophat hoped to stop the taxicab by depriv- ing it, in course of time, of its fuel And with this in mind he was present. ly surprised, as the cab took a corer, to see Marrophat's par stop at that corner and Marrophat himself get down. The brow of a hill intervened, shutting off sight of the blackguard as he knelt and lit a match. It was the girl who gave the alarm, suddenly withdrawing her head from the win- dow to scream at Alan: "He's fired the gasoline! It's flam- ing along the street, following the line of the leak--and catching up with us!" Without pausing to put his hand to the latch, Alan kicked-the door open. "Jump!" he cried. "For your life-- Jump! As soon as that flame catches up with the tank--" Simultaneously the chauffeur, over hearing, ehut off the power. The three gained the sidewalk bare- ly in time: the tiny trail of flames, al- most imperceptible in the sunlight, was not a yard from the jet that spurt- ed through thé bullet hole In the tank. In the flutter of an eyelash the explo- sion followed. Had the cab been load- ed With nitroglycerin its destruction could have been no more absolute. There was a roar .- . and then a heap of smoking ruins. : Without waiting to admire the spec- tacle, Alan caught the arm of the girl and hurried her up the street, at the same time calling to the chauffeur to follow. And chance brought them to the next corner as another cab, fare- her, resting quietly in his arms, mak ing believe . . Only on approaching the Twenty- third street ferry they must needs rouse and sit apart constrainedly for fear some one might glance through the window and surprise their secret. As if one needed the evidence of a caress exchanged to know that they were. lovers, who had eyes to see the flushed loveliness of the girl shrink. ing back in her corner or wit to inter- pret the radiant happiness that shone in Alan's face as he bent forward and watched warily from the window. CHAPTER XXVii. The Ring. Theirs was the last vehicle to swing between the gates before these last were closed. And this was quite as well; for Alan, rising for one last backward glance through the rear window, started in- voluntarily and choked upon an ex- clamation when he descried a power ful touring car tearing madly toward the ferry-house, its one passenger half rising from the front seat, beside the ! driver, and exhibiting a countenance purple with congested chagrin es he saw his car barred out of the carriage entrance. 3 Quickly sensitive to his emotion, the girl caught nervously at Alan's hand. "What is it, dear?" "Marrophat," he snapped. She uttered a hushed cry of dismay, "Don't be alarmed, however," he hastened to comfort her. "He's lost the race: the gates are shut--even the Passenger gates--and there must he a company spotter somewhere near by. for the gateman is virtuously refusing to be bribed by a roll of money as thick as my wrist!" At that instant the taxicab rolled (aboard the ferry-boat; the deck gates were closed; a hoarse whistle rent the roaring silence of the city; winches rattled and chains clanked; and the boat wore ponderously out of its slip, "So much for Mr. Marrophat!™ Alan crowed, sitting down. "Foiled again! He can't stop us now!" "Perhaps... . "Why that perhaps? Why that tone?" he demanded shaiply, struck by the foreboding her accents con. fessed. "This isn't the only ferry. There's the Pennsylvania and the Lackawanna ~and by hard driving 'he might even manage to catch the boat that con. nects with this from the Christopher street ferry of the Eriel™ "Impossible! 1] don't belleve it! | won't!" "Let's not," she agreed. "But, Alan "Yea?" "Promise me--if he should manage to catch up with us--you won't let him talk to you. I mean, don let him--" "No. fear of that!" he asservated hotly. "If he tries to exchange one word with me--I only wish he would!" She seemed satisfied with that; but the Incident had served appreciably to chill thelr spirits. They accomplished the remainder of voyage in a silence that wis iid depressed be- cause they sat hand in hand through- out. of an upsavory-looking tenement, be- fore the cab took a corner on two wheels "Not_geriously {njured, I fancy," he told the gir! in response to her eager | look, "Worse luck!™ he added gloomily. But it seeemed that he was to have greater cauge than this.to fomplain of his luck, before that ride was ended Three blocks further on a tire blew out with a report like a cannon-crack- | er, and the taxi lurched perilously, ! hesitated, slowed down, and limped dejectedly to the curb. Alan and the chauffeur piled out in the same instant, the one standing guard--with an eye out as well for another cab--while the other assessed damages, "Nothing for it but a new tire, sir," | this last reported sympathetically. "It ! must have been a broken bottle or something like that--It sure did rip the usefulness clean out of that shoe." | "Go to it," Alan advised him terse ly; "and if you make a quick job of it, I'll stand the cost of the new tire." "But if another cab comes along while you're at it you'll lose us as quick 88 a wink. Here's my card, in case we have to desert you in a hurry; you understand this is & matter of life and death, and Ill have no time to settle up with you. But you can call at Mr. Digby's office and he'll fix things up te your satisfaction." The man took the card and after a glance at the name touched his hat with more noticeable respect, "All right Mr. Law," he agreed; "saything you say." And forthwith sot to work The rapidity with which he com- pleted the change of tires proved him an excellent chauffeur, an adept at his craft; but the delay was one disas trous for all that It worked together with what Alak pardonably described a8 the devil's own luck to bring the touring car in sight at the precise mo- ment when the chauffeur was cranking up and Alan on the polit of re-enter ing the cab. And though they were oft again before Alan could close the door, the attempt was hopeless from the start. And yet--whether or not because Alan's distaste for interference had been too convincingly demonstrated-- the touring car for the time being contented itself with trailing about fifty feet in the rear, while the taxi fled, the tenement purlieus of the Hop boken waterfront and found its way into the broader streets of an utipre- tentious suburban quarter. Not until they were well into the suburbs, with few dwellings near and no pedestrians to interfere, did Marro- phat's purpose become apparent. Then, however--and it happened while Alan was looking back--the touring car drew in swiftly and easily and Marro- phat, rising in his seat, leveled a re- volver over the windshield and fired. The crack of his weapon was prac tically coincident with a metallic thud' beneath the rear seat of the taxicab, Not for some moments did Alan ap preciate the viciousness of the scheme. Burmising that the gasoline tank had been punctured by the bullet, he was "That. Woman Is Judith Trine, You Idiot--Not Rose!" less, hove Into view. Promising its driver anything he might ask, in or out of reason, Alan gave him the ad- dress, and helped the girl in. If Marrophat pursued Alan could see no sign of him. The second car made | better time than the first. Unhindered, and as far as could ba determined, without being followed, it covered the brief remaining distance in a grate- fully short lapse of time. The suburb dropped behind a maze of stréets where dwellings stood shoul- der to shoulder and dooryards were scant. The car swept up to a corner house of modest and homely" aspect. Two minutes more, and Alan was ex- changing salutations with and making his bride-to-be known to Digby's good | friend, the Reverend Mr. Wright. Embarrassment worked confusion with the young man's perceptive facul ties. As this "moment approached when two should be made one who had gone through fire and flood, literally as well as figuratively, for each oth. er's sake, incredulity drew a veil be- fore his vision. "He viewed the world as in a giass, darkly. He was aware of a decently fur "fished minister's study; of two wit- nesses in the guise of unassuming womentolk -of the minister's house hold; of the Rev. Mr. Wright himself 23 a benevolent voice roMng sono- rously forth from a black-clad pres | ence; of thd woman of his heart stand Ing' opposite him; of questions asked and responses made; of a ring 'that Was magically conjured from some store apparently maintained against precisely 'similar emergencies: of & hand that took the hand that was to be bis wife's and placed it in his; of his | bungling with the to find clumsy and witless task of fitting that ring to the finger of his sweetheart's hand . _ | Aid then be was aware of a door that banged violently in the hallway; of the sound of a man's voice making some indistinguishable demand; that Rose's hand was suddenly whipped away, béfore he could fit on the ring; that the study door was flung open and that this animal of a Marrophat had precipitated himself into the room. He opened his mouth to protest-- and Marrophat silenced him with a ery. "You fool! Drop that ring! Stop this farce! Don't you know whom you're marrying? That woman is Ju- dith Trine, you idiot--not Rose!" Blankly Alan turned to the girl. Her flaming face, her sullen eyes, her very pose, from which the mai ner of Rose had dropped like a cast garment, confeseed the truth of Mar- rophat's assertion. And as if this were not enough, Judith confessed it doubly with a sudden outbreak of such rage as never could have been brewed in Rose's gentle nature, + - "You devil!" she cried--and threw herself in front of Marrophat with a spring as lithe as that of a leopardess. "Take warning now from me: keep out of my way forever after this--or take the consequences! God knows," she panted, "why I don't kill you as you stand!" He was in her way, between her and the open door, She guve bim me Roe Yeiruire A chance te move aside, but seized him $0 flercely by the wrists that he in stinctively lifted to protect himself, and she fairly threw him half a dozen feet from her. He brought up with a crash against the wall even as the door slammed behind the girl. When Alan, the first to recover, gained the sidewalk, she wae already in the taxicab. Whatever reward she bad promised the man, he whipped his machine away as if from the fear' of sudden death, And darting from the house. bard on the minister's heels, Marrophat leaped into his own car and, as if he had not heard her threat or received substantial proof of her earnestness, tore off in pursuit. CHAPTER XXVIII. And the Rose. Taking the dazed young man by the band, as though he had been a child, the Reverend Mr. Wright led Alan back to his study and established him in a comfortable armchair beside his desk, "Sit there and compose yourself, my dear young friend," he insisted in a soothing voice. At the elbow of the Reverend Mr. Wright a telephone shrilled impera- tively, With a gesture of professional patience he turned to the instrument, lifted the receiver to his ear, and spoke in musically modulated accents. "Yes, Yes: this is Mr Wright. Ah, yes, Mr. Digby. - . . Not coming? But, my dear sir, Mr. Law is already here. I must tell you--* : He checked with a reproving glance for Alan; who was twitching his sleeve insistently, "It you please." Alan begged, "let me speak to Digby at once. Forgive me--" Reluctant)y the minister surrendered the telephone "That you, Digby?" "Alan! Bless my soul, what are you doing over there? Is Miss Trine with you? But how can that be possible?" "Rose? No. What about her?" Alan demanded, stammering with anxiety. "Why--one of my spies has just re- ported by telephone. He was going on duty this morning when he saw a young woman---either Rose or Judith --wearing a rough coat over boudoir dress--climb out of one of the bage- ment windows of Trine's house. She was apparently in great distress of mind and anxious to escape without being seen from the house; but before my man--whpse post of observation is In the third story of one of the houses opposite--could get to the street, she had been caught by several rough-looking - customers, who rushed out of Trine's house, seized the girl, and made off with her in a motor-car bearing a New Jersey license number. I am sending men to watch the Jersey ferries. Call me up in an hour--" Without a word of response, and without a word of apology to the Rev- erend Mr. Wright, Alan dropped the receiver, snatched up his hat, and fled that house like a man demented. Rose, escaping from Trine's house, overpowered and made the captive of Trine's lowest creatures--gunmen pos- sibly, of the stamp of that animal whom Trine had charged with the as- sassination of Alan the night before! There was neither a motor-car in sight for him to charter nor any time to waste in seeking one. Alan could only hope to find one on his way back toward the ferry. It must have been upwards of an hour before he came into a street which he recognized, by ite dinginess and squalor, as that in which he had thrown Marrophat from the running-board of the taxicab. And then, as he paused, breathless and footsore, to cast about him for the way to the ferry, a touring car turned & corner at top speed and slowed to a Stop before that selfsame tenement of the unsavory aspect to whose sidewalk he had séen Marrophat assisted by the loafers of the quarter. And thie touring car was occupied by séme half-a-dozen rufans in whose hands a young girl writhed and strug- gled when, immediately on the stop, they jumped out and wrestled her out with brutal inconsideration. himself seized and thrown roughly aside by a burly denizen when he grasped the knob and made as if to follow in. "Keep back, young feller!" his ae. sailant warned him viciously, "Keep outa this, now, if you don't want to get into trouble." To the speaker's side another ranged, eyeing Alan with a formidable scowl. At discretion he stepped back and turned as if persuaded tc mind his own business, then swung on his heel, caught the two in the very act of open- ing the door, and threw himself be- tween them. An elbow planted heavily in the pit of the stomach of one disposed of him for the time being. A blow from the shoulder sent-the other reeling to the gutter. And Alan was In the tene ment's lowermost hall--a foul and evil-odored place, ark as a pit the instant the door was closed, its murk relieved only by the flame of a kero: séne lamp smoking in a bracket near the foot of the stairs. Sounds of scuffing of feet were au- dible on the first landing. Alan ad- dressed himself impetuously to the staircase, gaming its top in half a dozen leaps, and only in time to see a door slammed at the iorward end of the hall nd hear a key turned in its cluster Of sien blocked the way. He Gif 1. De to wait for it to be threw himself headlong to their midst, 4ud by dint of wel surprise had gained the closed door before they recovered and sought to stay him. Indifferent to them all, he shook the knob and shouted: "Rose! Rose!" Her cry came back to him, a muf- fled scream:: "Alan! Help! Help!" Backing away with a mad idea of throwing himself bodily against the door and breaking it down, he was sud- denly confronted by a hideous mask of humanity--face of man all misshapen, bruised and swollen and disfigured with smears of dried blood and a dirty bandage round his. temples, but none the less vaguely recognizable. The words that etream~d from its distorted lips drove recognition home. "Gee, fellers, look't who's here! It it ain't th' guy what threw me off'n that girder this mornin'. Stand back and let me kill th"--" Without the hesitation of a heart- beat Alan swung heavily for the thug's jaw. The blow went solidly home. The man fell like a poled ox. Pandemonium ensued. Rallying to their comrade; the rufllans &ttatked Alan with one mind and one intent. Murder would have been done then and there had it not been for a rotten banister-rail, which gave way, precipi tating the lot to the ground floor of the hallway. Simultaneously the lamp on the wall was struck from its bracket and crashed to the floor, its glass well breaking and loosing a flood of kero sene to receive the burning wick. The explosion follpwed instantly. In a trice the hallway was a lake of burn- ing oil, and hungry flames were lick- ing up the rotting wallpaper and eat- ing into decayed baseboards and stair- treads. Still fighting like a madman, con- testing every foot 'of the way, Alan was borne down the hall and out of the front door. A scream of "Fire!" greeted him as he reeled out into the open. It was echoed by a dozen throats. The doorway vomited men and Women of the tenement. They choked it for a time, blocking both egress and ingress. By the time they broke out and left the way clear a solid wall of flame stood behind it. Thrice Alan essayed to pass that barrier of fire, and thrice it threw him back. Then, struggling and kicking to release himself and try again, he was seized by a brace of able-bodied Policemen and rushed fifty feet from the house before let go, Lack of breath checked him momen: tarily. He looked up, dashing fronr his smarting eyes tears drawn by the stifling clouds of smoke, and saw vaguely at the second story window a woman leaning out and shrieking for help. That it was hopeless to attempt the staircase he well knew. 'Drawing aside, he endeavored to come to his sober senses, and cast about for some more feasible way to effect the rescue of his Rose, The tenement occupied one corner of a narrow street. Directly opposite, a storage warehouse stood upon the other corner. Before this last was the common landing stage for truck de liveries, protected by a shed-roof. And, suspended from a timber that peered out over the eaves, a hoisting Charged With the Assassination of Alan, tackle dragged the ground with its ropes. It was the work of a minute to con- vince a thick-headed policeman that the attempt was feasible and should be permitted. It was the work of less than another minute to rig a loop in the line and fasten round his body beneath the arms. Volunteers did not lack; a couple of husky longshoremen & to the ropes at his first call. over the street. The momentom of his leap carried him well out over jbo heads of the throng assembled in street and was walling. Then its force slack- ened. For an awful instant he be. floxed Shat 16 had titled. But with the last expiring ounce of impetus, he was within 'grasping distance of 'the window sill. Hauling himself up, be gathered her A t tongue of tawny flame licked a af he nav I's 88 he WHOLE FLY | 4. W. HAMMOND Esa. . oD TLANT: 7. Aig. 25th, 191 Whatever, and one is or a1 ordinary person at a y wi Wasa marty? to Comatipans. Wetried everything on the calendar without i ic t large sums of money until we on "Fruit. a-tives", I say too much in their favor, We have used them in the family for about two years and we would not nse anything else as long as we can get *Fruit-a-tives'; Their action is mild, and no distress atall. Ihave recommended them to many other people, and 'our whole family uses them", J. W. HAMMOND, Those who have been cured by * Ernit~ a-tives" are proud and happy to tell a sick or ailing friend about these won- derful tablets made from fruit juices, 50c. a box, 6 for $2.50, trial size 25c. Atall dealers or sent on receipt of price by Fruit-a-tives Limited, Ottawa. --- a Di , in New York Herald. Belin, the brave, true land, thy martyred blood, Like red flames, rises' to the throng above. : And He who hears His smallest creas Just where © ble fame Now reaches to tha aky~your wre mame, oR cleat dy