E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM Capyrigbt ky LlttU, Btwi iW Cmimb* V 'v ) -> "NO, REMORSE" SYNOPSIS. ? Francis Ledsam de fends Oliver Hildltch, a business man, in a murder case and suc ceeds in rettUiff him off. only to be told by a young:, prepossessing woman, who* says that she is Oliver Hlldltch's wife, that Hil dltch Is an arch-crlminal and that Ledsam has turned loose a dangerous man to resume his preying upon society. Ledsam dines with his best friend. An drew Wllmore*meets Hilditch and his wife. ; V CHAPTER II? Continued. ?2 ? Wilmore was puzzled. "Put she passed you just now with out even -a glance of recognition, and I thought you told me at the club this afternoon that all your knowledge of his evil ways came from her. Besides, she looks at least twenty years younger than he does." /"I can only tell you what I know, Andrew." he said, as he set ddwn his enipty glass. "The woman who is with him now is the woman who spoke to we outside the Old Bailey this after "I Have Never Listened to So Hor rible a Recital in My Life." noon. We went to a tea-shop together. She told me the story of his career. I have never listened to so horrible a recital in my life." "And yet they are here together, din ing tete-a-tete, on a night when it must have needed more than ordinary cour age for either of them to have been seen in public at ail." Wilmore pointed V out. 4 . "It is as astounding to me as it Is to you," Francis confessed. "From the | way she spoke, I should never have dreamed that they were living to gether." "And from his appearance," Wilmore | remarked, as he called the waiter to bring some cigarettes, "I should never I have imagined that he was anything else save a high-principled, well-bora straightforward sort of chap. I never saw a less criminal type of face." They each in turn glanced at the sub ject of their discussion. Oliver HII ditch's good looks had been the subject of many press comments during the last few days. They were certainly undeniable." His face was a little lined, but his hair was thick and brown. His features were regular, his forehead high and. thoughtful, his mouth a trifle thin but straight and shapely. Francis j gazed at him like a man entranced. The hours seemed to have slipped away. He was back in the tea-shop, listening to the woman who spoke of terrible things. He felt again his shiv ering abhorrence of her cold, clearly narrated story. Again he shrank from the horrors from which with merciless fingers she had stripped the coverings. He seemed to see once more the agony in her white face, to hear the eternal pain aching and throbbing in her mo notonous tone. He rose suddenly to his feet. . "Andrew," he begged.^!t?ll the fel low to bring the bill ^utshlg. We'll have our coffee and liqueurs ftoere." Wilmore acquiesced willingly enough, but even as they turned towamls the door Francis realized what was in store for him. Oliver Hildltch had risen to his feet. With a courteous little gesture he Intercepted the pass erby. Francis found himself standing side by side with the man for whose life he had pleaded that afternoon, within a few feet of the woman whose terrible story seemed to have poisoned the very atmosphere he breathed, to hnve shown him a new horror in life, to have temporarily, at any rate, Un dermined every joy and ambition he possessed. . * "Mr. Ledsam," Hildltch said, speak ing with quiet dignity, "I hope that you will forgive the liberty I take in ?peaking to you here. I looked for you the moment I was free this after noon. but found that you had left the court. I owe you my f?>od nnine, prob ably my life. Thanks are poor thing* but they must be spoken." "Ton owe me nothing at all." Fran els replied. In a tone which even he found harsh. "I had a brief before me and a cause to plead. It was a chapter out of my doily work." # "That work can be well done or 111," the other reminded gently. "In your case, my presence 'here prove? how ' well It waa done. I wish to present you to my wife, who shares my grati tude." X Francis bowed to the woman, who now, at her husband's words, raised her, eyes. For the first time he sow her' smile. It seemed to him that the effort made her less beautiful. "Your pleading was very wonderful, Mr. Ledsani;" she said, a very subtle note of mockery fnlntly apparent in her tone. "We poor mortals find It difficult to understand that with you all that show of passionate earnest ness Is merely ? what did -.you call ltx ? a chapter In your day's work? It Is a great gift t?N? able to argue from tlK* brain nnd plead as though from the heart." w "We will not detain Mr. Ledsani,' Oliver Hilditch Interposed, a little hastily. "He perhaps does uot care to be addressed In public by a client who still carries with him the atmos phere of the prison. My wife and 1 wondered,' Mr. Ledsani, whether you would be good enough to dine with us one night. I think J could interest you by telling you more about my case than you know at present, and It would give us a further opportunity, and a more seemly one, for expressing our gratitude." ' Francis had recovered himself by this time. He knew very well that the idea of that dinner would be hor rible to him. He also knew that he would willingly cancel every engage ment he had rather than miss It.: "You are very kind," he murmured. "Are we fortunate enough to find you disengaged." Hilditch suggested, ?tomorrow evening?" "1 am quite free," was the ready response. "That suits you, Margaret?" Hilditch asked, turning courteously to his wife. For a single moment her eyes were fixed upon those of her prospective guest. He read their message which pleaded for his^Tefusal, and he denied It. "Tomorrow evening will suit me as well as any other," she acquiesced, after a brief pause. "At eight o'clock, then-Miumber 10 b, Hill Street," Hilditch concluded. Francis bowed and turned away with a murmured word of polite as sent. Outside, he found Wilmore deep in tnc discussion of the merits of va rious old brandies with an Interested maitre d'hotel. "Any choice, Francis?" his host In quired. , . "None whatever," was the prompt reply, "only, for God's sake, give me a double one quickly !" The two men were on the point of departure when Oliver Hilditch and his wife left the restaurant. As though conscious that they had become the subject of discussion, as Indeed was the case, thanks to the busy whispering of the various waiters, they passed without lingering through the lounge into the entrance hall, where Francis and Andrew Wilmore were al ready waiting for a taxicab. Almost as !they appeared, a new arrival was ushered through the main entrance, followed by porters carrying luggage. He brushed past Francis so closely that the latter looked into his face, half attracted and half repelled by the waxen-like complexion, the pierc ing eyes, and the dignified carriage of the man whose arrival seemed to be creating some stir in the hotel. A re ception clerk and a deputy manager had already hastened forward. The newcomer waved them back for a moment. Bareheaded, he had taken Margaret Hildltch's hands in his and raised them to his lips. "I came as quickly as I could." he said. "There was the usual delay, of course, at Marseilles, and the trains on were terrible. So all Jjas ended well." Oliver Hilditch, standing by, re mained speechless. It seemed for a moment as though his self-control were subjected to a severe strain. "I had the good fortune," he inter posed, in a low tone, "to be wonder fully defended. Mr. Ledsam here ? ". He glanced around. Francis, with some idea of what was coming, obeyed an imaginary summons from the head porter, touched Andrew Wilmore upon the shoulder, and hastened without a backward glance through the swing doors. Wilmore turned up his coat collar and looked doubtfully up at the rain. "I say. old chap," he protested, "you don't really mean to walk?" Francis, thrust his hand through his friend's arm and wheeled him round into Davis street. <>, "I don't care what the mischief we do. Andrew,." he confided, "but couldn't you see what was going to happen? Oliver Hilditch was going to introduce me as his preserver to the man who had just arrived!" "Are you afflicted with modesty, all of a sudden?" Wilmore grumbled. "No, remorse," was the terse re ply. CHAPTER III I Indecision had never been one of Francis Ledsam's faults, but four times during the following day he wrote out a carefully worded telegraph ic message to Mrs. Oliver Hilditch, 10 b, HIU Street, regretting hit InnMI Ity to dine that night,' ami each time he destroyed It. He carried the flrat message around Richmond golf couree with him, Intending to dlapvtch hla caddy with It Immediately on the con elusion of the roudd. The freah air. however, and the concentration re quired by the game, seemed to dlxpel the nervous apprehensions with which he had anticipated hla visit, and over | an aperitif In the club har he tore the ; telegram into small pieces and found himself even able to derive a cetrnln half-fearful pleasure from the thought of meeting again the woman who, to gether with her terrible story, had never for one moment been out of his thoughts. Andrew Wilmore, who had observed his action, spoke of It as they settled down to luncli. "So you are going to keep your en gagement tonight. Francis?" he ob served. The latter nodded. 4 "After all, why not?" 'he asked, a lit tle defiantly. ^ "It ought to be Interest ing." ? ( f'Weil, there's nothing of the sordid criminal, at any rate, about Oliver Hilditch," Wilmore declared. "Neither. If one comes to think of it? does his wife appear to be the prototype of suffering virtue. I wonder If you are wise to go, Francis?" "Why not?" the man who had asked himself that question a dozen times already, demanded. "Because,'' Wilmore replied coolly, "underneath that steely hardness of manner for which your profession is responsible, you have a vein of senti ment, of chivalrous sentiment, I should say, which some day or other is bounds to get you infd trouble. The woman is beautiful enough to turn any one's head. As a matter of fact, I believe that you are more than half in love with her already." Francis Ledsam sat where the sun light fell upon his strong, forceful face, shone, too. upon the table with its simple, but pleasant appointments, upon the tankard of beer by his side, upon the plate of roast beef to which he was already doing ample Justice. He laughed with the easy confidence of a man awakened from some haunt ing nightmnre, relieved to find his feet once more firm upon the ground. "I have been a fool (.to take the whole matter so seriously, Andrew," he declared. "I expect to walk back to Clarges street tonight, disillusioned. The man will probably present me with a gold pencil case, and the woman ? ** "Well, what about the woman?" Wil more asked, after a brief pause. "Oh, I don't know!" Francis de clared, a little impatiently. "The wom an Is the mystery, of course Prob ably my brain w^s a little over-excited when I came out of court, and what I Imagined to be an epic was nothing more than a tissue of exaggerations from a disappointed wife. However, I'm sure I'm doing the right thing to go there." The two men returned to town to gether afterwards, Wilmore to the club and Francis to his rooms in Clarges street to prepare for dinner. At a few minutes to eight he rang the bell of number 10 b. Hill street, and found his host and hostess awaiting him in the small drawing-room into width he was ushered. It seemed to him that the woman, still colorless, again marvelously gowned, greeted him coldly. His host, however, was almost too effusive. There was no other guest, but the prompt announce ment of dinner dispelled what might have been a few moments of embar rassment after Oliver Hildltch's almost too cordial greeting. The woman laid her fingers upon her guest's coat sleeve. The trio crossed the little hall almost in silence. ^ Dinner was served in a small white Georgian dining room, with every ap purtenance of almost sybaritic luxury. The only light In the room was thrown upon the table by two purple-shaded electric lamps, and the servants who waited seemed to pass backwards and forwards like shadows in some mys terious twilight? even the faces of the three diners themselves were out of the little pool of light until they leaned forward. The dinner was chosen with ?taste and restraint, the wines were not only costly but rare. A watchful butler, attended now and then by a trim parlor maid, superintended the service. Only once, when she ordered a bowl of flowers removed from the table, did their mistress address either of them. Conversation after the first few amenities speedily became almost a monologue. One man talked whilst the others listened, and the man who talked was Oliver Hilditch. He pos sessed the rare gift of Imparting color and actuality In a few phrases to the strange places of which he spoke, of bringing the very thrill of strange hap penings into the shadowy room. It seemed that there was scarcely a coun try of the world which he had not vis ited, a country, that Is to gay, where men congregate, for he admitted from the flrat that he was a city worshiper, that the empty places possessed no charm for hhn. j "I am not even a sportsman." he con fessed once, half apologetically, in re ply to a question from his guest. My only desire has been to reach the next place where men and women were. Some day we will talk of them." "Tell me," Francis asked his boat, \ * 4 ? ? \ . * ? : i> - during on. of th. brief pen*. to th. ConYMMtlOO, H ?? X?? ^ ... .n.ivc* this Interest of yours in huirtan beings and crowded cMm. this hatred of solitude and empty spaces? Oliver Hlldltch smiled th0?Jh^?1.^; nnd Rated at a salted almond wMch h e waa Just balancing between the tlp? of his nngers. "I think." he said simply, It ? cnuae I have no soul." The three diners lingered for only a short time over their dfessert. _ Arte - wards, they passed ' very delightful library. Hlldltch ex eused himself for a moment. "I have some cigars which I keep In my dressing room," he explained, "and which I am anxious for you to ,rv. There Is an electric stove there and I can regulate the temperature. He departed, closing the door behind him Francis came a little further into the room. His hostess, who had subsided Into an easy chair and was holding ? screen .between her face and the lire, motioned him to seat himself opposite. He did so without words. He felt curiously and ridiculously tongue-tied. He fell to studying the woman Instead of attempting the ba nality of pointless speech. From the smooth gloss of her burnished hair, to the aalntlness of her low, black brocaded shoes, ,she represented, so far as her physical and outward self were concerned, absolute perfection. No ornament was amiss, no line or curve of her figure other than perfect ly graceful. Yet even the fires glow which she had seemed to dread brought no tlush of color to her cheeks. Her appearance of complete lifelessness remained. It was as though some sort of crust had formed about her being, a condition which her very physical perfection seemed to render the more incomprehensible? "You are surprised to see me here living with my husband, after what I told you yesterday afternoon? she said calmly, breaking at last the si lence which had reigned between them. "1 am," he admitted. "It seems unnatural to you, I sup pose?" "Entirely." "You still believe all that I tola you?" r . "I must." She looked at the door and raised her head a little, as though either listening or adjudging the time be fore her husband would return. Then she glanced across at him once more. "Hatred." she said, "does not always drive away. Sometimes It attracts. Sometimes the person who hates can scarcely bear the other out of his sight. That is where hate and love are somewhat alike." The room was warm, but Francis was conscious of shivering. She raised her finger warningly. It seemed tvplcal of the woman, somehow, that the message could not be conveyed by any glance or gesture. "He Is coming," she whispered. Oliver Hildltch reappeared, carrying cigars wrapped in a gold foil, which he had brought with him from Cuba, the tobacco of which was a revelation to | "Sometimes the Person Who Hates Can Scarcely Bear the Other Out of ' His Sight." his guest. The two men smoked and sipped their coffee and brandy. The woman sat with half-closed eyes. It was obvious that Hildltch was still in the mood for speech. "I will tell you, Mr. Ledsam," he said, "why I am so happy to have you here this evening. In the first place, I desire to tender you once more my thanks for your very brilliant efforts on my behalf. The very fact that I am able to offer you hospitality at all Is without a doubt due to these." "I only did what I was paid to do," Francis insisted, a HtHe harshly. "You must remember that these things come in the day's work with us." His host nodded. - "Naturally," he murmured. "There was another reason, too, why. I was i^nxiouB to meet you. Mr. Ledsam," he continued. "You have gathered al ready that I am something of a crank. I have a profound detestation of all sentimentality and affected morals. It ? ' \ ome is a relief to me to come into contact with a man who is free from that bour geois Incubus to modern enterprise ? a conscience." "Is that your estimate of me V Fran cis asked. ; > \ . "Why not? Ton practice your pro fession in the criminal courts, do you not?" . "That is well-known," was the brief reply. "What measure of conscience can a nfan have," Oliver Hilditch argued blandly, "who pleads for the innocent and guilty alike with the same simu lated fervor? Confess, now, Mr. Led aam ? there is no object In being hypo critical in this matter ? have you not often pleaded for the guilty as though you believed them innocent T "That has sometimes been my duty," Francis acknowledged. Hilditch laughed scornfully. "It is all part of the great hypocrisy of society," he proclaimed. "You have an extra gloss of champagne for din ner at night .and are congratulated by your friends because you have helped some poor devil to cheat the law, while all the time you know perfectly well,i j and so do your high-minded friends, that your whole attitude during those two hours of eloquence has been a lie. That is what first attracted me to you, Mr. Ledsam." "I am sorry to hear It," Francis com mented coldly. "The ethics of my pro fession ? " His host stopped him with a little wave of the hand. "Spare me that A he begged. "While we are on the subject, though, I have a question to ask you. My lawyer told me, directly after he had retained you, that, although it would make no real difference to your pleading. It would be just as well for me to keep up my bluff of being innocent, even in private conversation with you. Why was that?" "For the very obvious reason," Fran cis told him, "that we are not all such rogues and vagabonds as you seem to think. There is more satisfaction to me, at any rate, in saving an Inno cent man's life than a guilty one|s." Hilditch laughed as though amused. "Come," he threatened, "I am going to be ill-natured. You have shown signs of smugness, a quality which I detest. I am going to rob you of some part of your self-satisfaction. Of course I killed Jordan. I killed him in the very chair in which you are now sitting." There was a moment's intense si lence. The woman was still fanning herself lazily. Francis leaned forward in his place. "I do not wish to liear this !" he exclaimed harshly. "Don't be foolish," his host replied, rising to his feet and strolling across the room. "You know the whole trou ble of the prosecution. They couldn't discover the weapon, or anything like it, with which the deed was done. Now I'll ihow you something ingeni ous." Francis followed the other's move ments with fascinated eyes. The wom an scarcely turned her head. Hilditch paused at the further end of the room, where there were a couple of gun cases, some fishing rods and a bag of golf clubs. From the latter he ex tracted a very ordinary-looking put ter, and with it in his hands strolled back to them. "DO you play golf, Ledsam?" he asked. "What do you think of that?" Fraiicis took the putter into his hand. It was a very ordinary club, which had apparently seen a good deal of serv ice, so much, Indeed, that the leather wrapping at the top was commencing to unroll. The maker's name was on the back of the blade, also the name of the professional from whom It had been purchased. Francis swung the implement mechanically with his wrists. , "There seems to be nothing extra ordinary about the club," he pro nounced. "It is very much like a cleek I putt with myself." "Yet It contains a secret which would most certainly have hanged me," Ol iver Hilditch declared pleasantly "See!" ; ' He held the shaft firmly in one hand and bent the blade away from It. In * a moment or two It yielded and lie : commenced to unscrew It. A little i exclamation escaped from Francis' ' lips. Thp woman looked on with tired j eyes. , ' "The Join In the steel," Hilditch pointed out, "is so fine as to be un distingulshnhle by the naked eye. Yet when the blade conies off, like this, you see that although the weight is absolutely adjusted, the Inside Is hoi- j low. The dagger Itself is encased in this cotton wool to avoid any rattling I put It away In rather a hurry the * last time I used It, and as you see I ' forgot to clean It" j Francis staggered back and gripped at the mantelpiece. His eyes were filled with horror. Very slowly, and with the nlr of one engaged upon some Interesting task, Oliver Hilditch had removed the blood-gained sheath of, cotton wool from around the thin blade of a marvelous-looking stiletto, on which Vas also a long stain of en crusted blood. 'There Is a handle," he went on, "which is perhaps the most ingenious thing of all. You touch aspring here, and behold!" He pressed down two tiny supports which opened upon hinges about four Inches from the top of the handle. There was now a complete hUt. "My dsath is the one thing in the world which would make my wife happy." (TO SB CONTINUED.) it.* So much pursuit of happiness turn* oat to be Just kllU&c time. H?g Can You Hear? jT am. Yw should bear r S6 iftcW Doct a rinrn* ln oars prortot jow proper h?4nnta . . LEONARD EAR Oil , ? fcw*t in BMlrila. For Sal* EvwywheTa. fitenitinj dbac rtphv fold,, ?? at upon roqvft. A.O.LEOHARD. Uc. 70 Kd> At* NmYtA CHERRY-GLYCERIHE COMPOUND FOR COUGHS; COLD! 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