PUBLIC LEDGER, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH, 1914
PAGE THREE
THe Trey C)? Hearts
A Novelized Version of the Motion Picture Drama of the Same Name
Produced by the Universal Film Co.
1
By LOUIS JOSEPH VANCE
AaAor mfTU Ftum Hmnkr." "Tim Brc Boat." "77 Aadfc Bcg..c
nhutrated wftk Pfcotcgraplu from tb Pktare Production
Copyright, 1814. toy Xrfraia Joseph Vance
never have the courage to pull that
trigger "when I'm helpless In your
hands!"
The hot blood mantled her exquisite
face like red fire. She caught her
breath with a sob, then flung wildly
at him:
"Well, if you must know it's true.
I can't bring myself to kill you. I
would to God : I could. But I can't.
For all that, you shall die -I could not
save you if I would ! And this I prom
ise you you shall never see Rose
again before you die I"
And while he stood gaping, she
swung from him and ran, quickly cov
ering the little distance between him
and the car.
As sbe jumped into this and dropped
down upon the seat beside her half
conscious sister, Marrophat swung the
car away.
It vanished in a dust-cloud as a
throng of railroad employes surround
ed and assailed him with clamorous
questions.
CHAPTER XXI!.
The House Divided.
Alone in that strange place of si
lence and shadows that den of the
devil's livery, crimson and black
chained to the invalid chair wherein,
day in, day out, for years on end, he
had suffered the Promethean torments
of the life that would not die out of
his wretched, wrecked carcass, though
without ceasing sharp-beaked envy.
hatred, malice and all uncharitable
ness pecked insatiably at his vitals:
Seneca Trine sat waiting, with the im
passivity of a craven figure waiting
on the imminent hour of ultimate
avengement for the wrong that had
made him what he was. ;
"Another hour!. ... In sixty
minutes more they will be here, Judith
and Marrophat and Rose poor fool!
r-and him! ... In sixty minutes
more they will put him down before
me, bound and helpless, if not dead
... j
A Blight pause prefaced words that j
were a whimpered prayer: "God send i
that he be not dead! Have I lingered
1 mt
Rose Turned on Her Passionately.
here In anguish all these weary year
for the fulfillment of my revenge only
to be cheated at the end by Death?
God grant that Alan Law may be laid
down still living here at my feet!
. . . Then .
A bitter smile twisted his tortured
features: "Then shall my will be done
j ? hira ! And. UieE, whnJ have sggn
fciiLi lia as his father died then Ah,
God! then at last I too may die!
tt
There was a long silence, then a
groan of exasperated protest: "Why
do they not come? Why does Judith
delay, when she knows how I fuller?
Way have I been put off from day to
day with, her telegrams that begged
for- more time and promised every
thing but told nothing! until yester
day. . . . Where are those mes
sages she sent me yesterday?"
His one sound hand groped out like
a claw and sought a mass of papers
on the desk beside him, sorting put
from among them two yellow forms.
Painfully he blinked over these and
slowly his pain-bent lips conned their
wording;
";Alan and Rose safe with me will
bring both home tomorrow night with
out fail,' " he read the first aloud; and
then the second: "JHave motorcar
waiting for me tomorrow morning
from three o'clock till called for New
Bedford waterfront Judith.'"
"No!" he affirmed with the fervor
of One persuaded by his own desires: ;
"I must not doubt the girl! She has :
promised, she has performed: j
So still was h, indeed that he
seemed to sleep, but so deceptive was
that semblance that he wa3 alert for
the least sound. The girl entered soft- ;
!y, as if fearful of disturbing his slum
ber's; but she found him with - head
erect and eyes a-blaze. ,
"Judith!" he cried, his great voice
vibrating like a brazen bell. "At last!
Where is he? You have brought him?
Where is he?"
With no more answer than a sigh,
the girl drooped her head and let her
hands hang limply with palms ex
posed. After an instant of incredulous dis
appointment the man shot a single,
frigid question at her:
"You have failed?"
"I have failed," she confessed.
"Why?"
She shrugged slightly., "Who knows
whyone fails? I did my best: he was
too much for me, outwitted me,, at
every turn. Time and again I thought
I had him, but always he escaped,
either by his own wit and courage or
with another's aid. Only yesterday
night they were all three in the hol
low of my hands but now I bring you
only Rose."
She faltered, awed by the glare of
his infuriated eyes. "Let me explain,"
she begged.
fle snapped her short: "You cannot
explain. The thing is impossible, that
you should have failed. There is some
thing beneath this, something you
will not tell me."
She endeavored to speak, but he en
forced silence with a sonorous "No!"
His hand sought the row of buttons
on the desk and pressed one long.
Almost instantly a servant glided
noiselessly into the room.
"My daughter Rose have her
brought hese to me at once!"
In another moment the replica of
his daughter Judith was ushered into
his presence.
Upon this one he loosed the light
nings of his wrath without ruth.
Rose suffered him in . silence. His
most galling recrimination educed no
retort from this one.
In a lull in Trine's tirade, Judith
chose to interject: "Don't be so hard
on the silly fool: she's not responsible;
she's' sick with love for that good-looking
simpleton!"
"And you!" Rose turned on her
passionately "what about you? If I
love Alan Law, at least I love him
openly, I am not ashamed to own it-
and I don't pursue him, as you do,tre
tending I mean to sacrifice him to a
wicked family feud, and then spare
him every time I meet him, to lead
him to believe' I haven't the heart to
injure him as you do, hoping so to
work upon his sympathies and earn
a kindly word and a pat on "the head
from his hand!"
Fiercely she leveled a denunciatory
arm at her sister. "There!" she cried
to her father "if you need to know
there stands : the daughter who has
betrayed your faith as I have not,
who have never even" pretended to
approve your villainy!"
"I think," Trine announced in a
voice of ice "I have learned now
what I needed to know."
. His fingers sought the row of but
tons; and when a servant responded,
he inquired:
"Mr. Marrophat has returned?"
"He is in the waiting room, sir."
"Conduct Miss Judith to him and
teH him I hold him personally respon
sible for her safe-keeping. He will
understand." '
And for a long time thereafter the
father, alone with the daughter who
had been estranged from him since
birth by every instinct of her nature,
essayed in vain to break down -her
mutinous silence.
At last Trine summoned two of his
creatures and had her led weeping
from the rooms to be held prisoner in
her bedchamber on the topmost floor
of the house. : .-'
Alan paused and smote his palm
with a remorseful fist. "By the Eter
nal, I'm forgetting Barcus!"
"Barcus?" '
"Chap whose boat I chartered n
Portland sheer luck on my part: he's
one of the salt of the arth. First,
something must be done for the boy.
You've got influence of some sort in
New Bedford, surely?"
Digby reflected: "Some. There's
George Blaine, justice of the peace "
""The very man. Telegraph, him in
Barcus' Interests immediately. And
telegraph Barcus as well send him
a hundred for expenses, and tell him
to join me here in New York as quick
as he can!"
"Your friend's address?" Digby in
quired, jmildly ironic as he sat down
at the desk and fumbled with the sup
ply of stationery. ,
: "New Bedford jail, of course!" Alan
chuckled but cut his laugh in two as
something fluttered from the pack of
envelopes which Digby had disturbed
and fell to the floor between the two
men.
Face up, it grinned sardonic mock
ery of Alan's confidence: It was a trey
of hearts.
With an ashen face and a trembling
hand, Digby stooped to pick the
damned thing up; but Alan was be
forehand with him,, and got his fingers
first upon the card.
"Now will you believe?" Digby de
manded huskily.
"In what? A simple coincidence?"
Alan flouted. "Not I! Who knows I'm
in New York or that the Arthur Law
rence for whom your agent engaged
these rooms was Alan Law. No, my
friend: it's a bit too thick for me. Take
my word for it, this is nothing more
nor less than a eouvenir of a poker
party held by yesterday's tenant Of
this suite."
"Perhaps perhaps!" Digby assent
ed, stroking tremulous lips. "But I'm
afraid for you, my boy. Who knows
that Trine's spies were net watching
my man when he made this . reserva
tion? Who knows but that 'Arthur
Lawrence' was too thin a disguise for
Alan Law? I tell you, I'm frightened
to the marrow of my old bones! Do
me this favor at least, my boy: now
that you've been warned, whether by
accident or design we won't argue
that do leave town go incognito tc
some quiet place near by anJ wan,
there fcr the sailing of the next trans
atlantic steamer. Oh, surely you can't
deay me this one wish of my fond old
heart, my boy!"
With a gesture of unfeigned affec
tion Alan dropped a hand on Digby's
shoulder. . . - -
"There's nothing on earth I would
not do for you," he said 'you've been
a father and a mother to me ever since
I can remember, even if we were sepa
rated, most -of the time, by three thou
sand miles of salt water. But - this
thing I can't do it, even, for ysm. x
can't do it even for myself.. Rose
Trine is here in New York, in the
hands and at the mercy of her father
and sister: and you may judge what
their mercy will. be when you learn
all that she has done for me. I won't
go and I can't go until I find her and
take her with me. And that is final."
"Then," Digby struck in, . grasping
wildly at a straw of hope, "I have your
word you'll go, providing I find and re
store Rose to you?" - J
"You have my word to that, unques
tionably. Bring Rose to me, and I'll
gladly shake the dust of New York
from my shoes, and never return till
Trine is put away comfortably -in his
grave." ";'
"It shall be done," Digby promised.
"It must!"
."You believe that?"
"In twelve hours Rose shall be re
stored to you."
"Will you make a book on it? I'll
bet you something happens and hope
I lose into the bargain. If you believe
you can carry out your promise, wire
the White Star line to reserve the
best available suite on the Oceanic,
sailing tomorrow morning at ten
and make arrangements for a mar
riage before the boat sails."
"I'll go you," Digby agreed: "and If
I fail, I forfeit the cost of the reser
vation. But about this marriage "
He hesitated. ,
"You'll have to have a license in
this state and can't get one except
"Then we'll marry In Jersey!" Alan
! insisted. "Dig up some clergyman over
there, if jou don't know one your
self" .
"Oh, I'm well acquainted with the
very man!"
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Time or Night.
Not ill-pleased to be left to his own !
devices (whose proposed character
Digby would never have approved had
he so much as suspected them) Alan I
none the less deferred action until '
after midnight. !
And espionage was all he feared
save and except always, of course, fail
ure to find his Rose. ' j
It was about one In the morning
when he arrived incenspicuovoly (but
not so much so as to seem deserving '
of police surveillance) in the neigh
borhood of the Riverside drive home of
his mortal enemy, a grim white house
that towered, stark and tall, upon a
corner.
His preliminary rcconnoisance pro
vided little more than comfortless ex
ercise. Huge, still, its wall bathed in
the milk and ink of moonlight and
shadow, all its windows dark but
one and that one, in the topmost tier,
showed only a feeble glimmer, so slight
that Alan almost overlooked it.
But once discovered, il focused upon
itself his thoughts with a power little
less than hypnotic.
He believed with small doubt that
Rose was a prisoner within those
walls; that Judith must have con
veyed her there with all speed.
And, this being the presumptive case,
that small, high window of the light
might well be hers.
.Directly across the street from the
Trine residence, on the opposite cor
ner, a colossal apartment structure
stood half-finished, stonework to its
second story, gaunt iron skeleton rear
ing above.
To his infinite disgust, Alan found
the guardian very wide awake, very
much on the job: no chance here to
steal unseen into the building.
. This in itself might have been
deemed a suspicious circumstance:
not for nothing does an honest night
watchman so deny the laws of nature
and the tenets of his craft. But Alan
merely praised. the man while cursing
the very fact of his existence; and, ac
costing, overcame with bank-note3
breathed a silent prayer to the god of
all true lovers, and cast it from him
with all his might with such forco
that it almost unseated him at the end
of the swing. But nothing less would
hate served to bridge that yawning
chasm.
And the watch flew straight and
true, squarely through the lighted win
dow and to the further wall. . . .
At that very instant of his exultation
over an obstacle overcome, he heard a
sound behind him of heavy breathing.
The assassin had come that close
upon his prey when Alan turned and
discovered his peril.
The same moonbeam which had
aided Alan in the composition of his
message struck across the other's face,
and showed it like a hideous Chinese
mask of deadly hatred, with its 'eye
balls glaring and its lips drawn back
from the naked blade gripped between
its teeth a stiletto nothing short of a
foot in length.
With a sharp, startled movement,
Alan swung himself bodily about, so
that, seated again astride the girder,
he faced the assassin who sat up,
straddling the girder, his feet hooked
beneath it a stiletto poised in hi3
right hand to strike.
But even now Alan was in little or
no better case than before. If he faced
the thug, he faced him with no arms
other than his bare hands. He had not
even a pen-knife in his pockets.
With a low cry of desperation Alan
snatched off his hat, a soft and shape
less felt affair, and flung it squarely In
the fellow's face.
Before he could recover before,
that is, it dropped away and cleared
bis vision, Alan had bent forward and
grasped the wrist of the hand that
held the knife.
He snatched simultaneously at the
other hand, bst it eluded him.
Alan had this advantage, as lofag as
the knife might not strike that his
right arm was free, while the assassin
had only his left. With this he strove
persistently to reach his knife-hand
and possess - himself of the weapon
As persistently Alan foiled his purpose
by dragging the knife-hand toward him
and swinging it far out to one side. At
the same time he struck repeatedly
with his clenched right fist at the oth
er's face. His blows did little dam
age beyond disconcerting the other;
but this proved a very considerable
CHAPTER XXIII.
A Sporting Offer.
Some two hours later, that same
evening, Mr. Alan Law,, very , much
alive and, in spite of a complete new
outfit of ready-made clothing, looking
much more like himself than he had
In a fortnight, issued forth from the
Grand Central station, hailed a taxi
cab, and had himself conveyed to the
Hotel Monolith.
But if he looked his proper self once
more, it speedily was demonstrated
that-his wish was ptherwise: for after
learning from the room-clerk of the
Monolith that a suite was being held
in the name of Arthur Lawrence, that
was the name Mr. Law inscribed on
the register.
On the other hand, it was his true
name that he gave to the person whom
he called upon the telephone immedi
ately after being shown to his rooms.
But then he was speaking to his old
friend and man of business, Mr. Digby.
Within another ten minutes this last
was in conference with his employer:
"I think you must be out of your
head," he insisted nervously, once
their first greetings were over. "You
might jus as sensibly throw yourself
from the top of the Metropolitan tower
as come to New York while Trine lives
and knows you're this side the water."
Nonsense!" Alan laughed. "Remem
ber this is New York not the back
woods of Maine!" ' ... '
The Face of Judith Was Distinctly
Revealed.
by applying in person with your bride
to-be. There won't he time "
Alan's Appearance at the Hotel Monolith.
what seemed an uncommonly stubborn
reluctance, and got h's
ie couid not Enow tnat anotner
skulked behind a barrier of lime bar
rels and overheard all that passed and,
when Alan had ducked smartly into
the unfinished building, rose and stole
after him with footsteps as noiseless
as a cat's and a face that had the sav
agery of a tiger's when it was tran
siently revealed In a shaft of moon
light. At length Alan gained the gridiron
Df girders on a plane with the lighted
window across the way, and crept
along one of these, gingerly on his
hands and knees, until he came to its
end and might, if he cared to, look
down a hundred feet to the sidewalks.
That view, however, did not tempt;;
he kept his eyes level; and was TBrj
warded with a bare glimpse of a prettily-papered
wall, framed in the lace of ;
half-drawn curtains.
And . of sudden whether through!
fortuity, or instinct, or the psycho?;
logical attraction of his steadfast con
centration the tenant of the room!
came to the window and stood there
for a little, looking pensively out, alto
gether unconscious of the watcher in
his aerial coign.
Again a horrible uncertainty har
assed him. Was the woman Rose
or Judith? That she was one of these
he could plainly see. But which? Dared
he assume his hopes fulfilled?
With difficulty he detached his
hungry vision from her, and drawing
from his pocket a small notebook, tore,
out a blank page, placed this flat on
the girder, found a pencil, and with,
the assistance of a ray or two of.;
moonlight scrawled a message of al-j
most stenographic brevity.
When he looked up from this task,:
she had vanished.
Sitting up, astride the girder, he
took his watch a cheap affair he had
nicked up when reclothing himself in
he garments of civilized society, at
vidence, that morning opened the
ick of the case, and closed it upon
ae folded message.
Then drawimr back arm. ha
factor !n the duel. In the end, they
served together with that steady, re
sistless downward and outward drag,
to break the grip of the man's locked
legs.
Abruptly he pitched forward cn his
face along the girder, kicking wildly,
grasping at the air. The stiletto fell
from an instinctively relaxed grasp,
and disappeared. And before Alan
could release his hold, or ease the
strain upon the right arm of the as
sassin, this last had slipped bodily
from the girder and hung helpless in
space, dangling at the end of Alan's
arm with no more than the grip of
five fingers between him and death.
The shock of that unpresaged turn
brought Alan forward and fiat on his
stomach. And the strain on his left
arm was terrific. He doubted if he
could maintain it for another minute
Nor was there any reason whyv he
should retain it. The end he had de
sined for hi3 victim was merely his
just desert.
And yet Alan could not let him go.'
Thus the battle began anew but
now it was a battle with a man half
crazed and struggling so madly tbat
he well-nigh frustrated the efforts of
his rescuer.
In the upshot the assassin lay like a
limp rag across the girder, head and
arms dangling on one side, legs and
feet, on the other, spent with his ter
rific exertions and physically sick with
terror.
And in this state Alan left him: he
had done enough; let the man shift
for himself from this time on.
CHAPTER XXV.
Changeling.
In the vague, chill gray of that dull
and desolate dawn, Judith stirred ab
, ruptly on the couch of a sleepless
night, and with the rapidity of one
who has arrived at a settled purpose
after a long period of doubt and per
plexity, rose and bathed and dressed
herself in negligee.
In tho adjoining room she could hear
small, stealth3r noises the sounds
m.di Ly Lr moving about ajid
preparing against the unguessable mo
' ment when her rescue would be at
! tempted, according to the Information
conveyed in that midnight message.
' For chance had conspired with her
insomnia to station Judith in the re
cess of her darkened window, Idly
viewing the gaunt framework of the
unfinished building from an angle
which, when Alan edged out along the
girder, showed him plainly in silhou
ette against the sky.
In. Judith's eyts his identity was un
mistakable. She had hardly neede
the night-glasses which presently shr
brought to bear upon him at the mo
ment when he was laboriously inditing;
his message while grim death stalked
him from behind.
She had seen him throw the watch
and had heard the double thump of its
impact with the wall and floor of
Rose's bedchamber.
And she had witnessed with wildly
beating heart that duel in the air
able to surmise its outcome only from
the fact that the victor spared the Ufa
of the vanquished.
The clock was striking six as she
left her room: across the street work
lngmen were streaming into the build
ing to begin the labors of the day.
Brushing unceremoniously past the
drowsy and indifferent guard in the
corridor outside the door to Rose's
room, Judith turned the key that re
mained in the lock on the outside, re
moved it, entered, and locked the door
behind her.
Without any surprise she found her
sister already dressed to the point of
donning her outer garments.
Rendered half-frantic by this unex
pected interruption, threatening as it
did the perilous scheme that Alan had
proposed, Rose greeted her sister with
a countenance at once aghast and
wrathful.
"What do you want?" she demanded
tensely.
"To come to an understanding with
you," Judith told her coolly.
"There is no understanding possible
between us: you know that as well as
L"
"Yet one there must be."
"I insist that you leave this room at
once ! "
"Insist by all means and be
damned! I may leave this room and
I may not, dear little sister. But one
of U3 will never leave it alive."
With a start of terror. Rose shrank
back from this strange, wild thing
that wore the very shape and sem
blance of herself.
"What do you mean? You cannot
mean to murder me in cold blood,
Judith?"
"Not I!" Judith laughed harshly.
"But, since it has pleased Destiny to
decree that we must both love one
man let Destiny decide between us
and bear the blame of murder!"
"Judith!"
"One moment!" Crossing to a sida
table, Judith took up a glass from a
tray that held a silver water-pitcher,
and returned with it to the table that
occupied the middle of the floor. At tha
same time she opened a hand till then
fast clenched and disclosed a small
blue bottle with a red label shrieking
the warning "POISON!"
"Strychnine," she explained com
posedly, "in solution." And emptied
the bottle into the glass.
A measure of courage returned to
Rose. "Do you expect to be able to
make me drink that?" 6he demanded
0 "EitemptUGUsly.
"Not I but Destiny, if it will! See
here." From a pocket of her dressing
gown Judith produced a sealed deck of
playing cards. "Let these declare the
will of Destiny toward us. I will break
the seal, shuffle the cards, and deal,"
she explained, suiting action to word.
"The one who gets the trey of hearta
will drain that glass. Is it a bar
gain ?"
"Never! Oh, now I know that you
are altogether mad!"
"Perhaps. Are you ready?" And
Judith made as if to deal.
"No never! I tell you I refuse!"
Rose chattered, terrified.
"You dare not refuse."
"Why?"
"Because of this."
Whipping a small revolver from an
other pocket of her dressing-gown, Ju
dith placed it on the table, ready to
her hand.
"You will shoot me if I do not con
sent?" "Not you but him. If you refuse,
little sister, I will shoot Alan Law
dead when he comes to keepJiis ap
pointment with you."
"Ah!" Rose cried in mingled fright
and amazement. "How did you find
out?"
"Never mind. f Is it a bargain, now.
about the trey of hearts? Remember,
1 shall keep my word about this pis
tol." With a shudder Rose bowed her
head.
"Deal," she muttered fearfully, "and
may God judge between us!"
One by one she stripped the cards
from the top of the deck, dealing first
to Rose, then to herself.
One by one they fluttered to the
table on either side the glass of poison,
and fell face uppermost.
The trey of hearts fell to Judith.
There was an instant of silent dread,
ended by Rose, as Judith's hand moved
steadily toward the glass.
"Judith!" she implored. "Don't I
beg of you I didn't, mean it I take
back my consent "
"Too late!" said Judith, lifting the
glass and eyeing its contents with a
strange smile.
"Judith! you cannot mean to drink
it?"
"Can't I, though?" .the other laushed
mirthlessly. "Just watch rno!"
With a strangled cry Rose covered
her face with her hands to chut out
the sight, stood momentarily Bvyajjng,
aO W CONTINUED)