Llais Llafur

AUSTRALIA'S NEW HIGH I COMMISSIONER. i The Hon. Andrew Fisher, late Lalv our Premier of Australia, and the new High Commissioner, arrived in Lon- don on Sunday and received a hearty welcome at the station from a large crowd which included Mr Arthur Henderson. Mr Will Crooks, and many Australian and New Zealand soldiers. In a few words of cordial thanks for his warm reception, Mr Fisher said the people of Australia were as united and determined as the people of this -country to see the war through to a. successful conclusion. Subsequently- the new High Com- missioner said the policy of the Com- monwealth and the people, he was authorised to say, would be the giving of Australia's last man and last shilling, if need be, without question, to end the war. Who would have thought it possible that Australia could send half a mil- lion men across the sea, fully equipped to assist the British Government in the great war? The man who suggested it five years ago wouid have been considered a lunatic. Australian credit was as good as English credit. They had asked for £ 5.000,000. and got £ 13,000,000 at 4s per cent. Now they were asking for £ 10,000,COO, and he understood that that amount was already consider- ably oversubscribed. A questioner, referring to the sub- ject (if admitting Colonial statesmen to the British Cabinet, sa.id some people might think that our Govern- ment wants pushing a bit. Mr Fisher replied, humourously, "I thought the Kaiser was supplying all the pushing required. At any rate, I know something of the British people and I am convinced that, without any outside pushing, the people of Great Britain and Ireland will determine never to submit to sit down and allow the Germans to got the upper hand of them." Asked if he desired to express any views about the evacuation of Galli- poli. the High Commissioner replied, (-mph.itically, I think Provi- dence has been kind to help to close this war successfully and there is no grumbling. Our men all agree that the Turks are great fighters and fair fighters.

AUSTRALIA'S NAVY. I ITS INCREASING SIZE; COMING SUBMARINE CONSTRUCTION. I Australia's Navy is expanding. Re- cently the cruiser Brisbane was launched at Cockatoo Island, and it is notified that a new light cruiser is about to he laid down where the Bris- bane was built.. This cruiser will be named H.M.A.S. Adelaide. Australia is to undertake a-s soon as possible the building of submarines in its own shipyards. The Common- wealth Navy Office is calling for qualified persons desirous of proceed- ing to England to work in the Ad- miralty shipyards to learn the methods of construction. They will take a two course, afterwards returning to I>egin the work of submarine construc- tion for the Australian Navy.

The Caravan of Mystery. ——— By ROY NORTON. Author of "The Plunderers," "The Vanishing Fleets, etc. Follow the fortunes of this pilgrim-an American down on his luck, picked up on a park bench by an employer of infinite surprises follow him across the Atlantic, through the gipsy camps of Europe, among the Apaches of Paris, hob. nobbing with titled folks and famous musicians, doing unqiiestionly the bidding of his curious employer, searching for something that is not revealed till the .amazing climax of the story-follow the pilgrim on ais unique journey and we have no doubt you will regard this tale as the strangest and most fascinating you have ever read. i + + .).I I Shop Lewis Lewis. I a — The Shop that is a Household Word in | West Wales Homes  DURING THE I OLOSING DAYS ?  _J k- ¿   1 Th 0 t YYINTER SALE'  ? There will be such Substantial Bargains in $ Every Department, that a purchase will be as | ? ? Every Department that a purchase wHI be as ? ? good as a gilt=edged investment. $ V ? :????=????-?=??????=??????=?-????c????=?=?c???????????c V  t The Remaining Stock of Ladies' Navy Nap Coats, <? Costumes, Blouses, Black Fox Furs, Squirrel and Y ? Coney Seat Sets must be Cleared to make Room for our NEW SPRING GOODS f v f ❖ £ Chwi Wragedd a Merched Glandeg y Gorllewinbartb, liac esgeuluswch y fantais hon a gynygir i chwi yn yr hen Shop ydych mor gynefin ? a hi,-SHOP LEWIS LEWIS.   ? <??.< ? ♦ ♦^ ♦♦ Lewis Lewis & Co., ""1Z~ 0 0 a I' -swA? ? + LEWIS LEWIS (Swansea), Ltd. T ? <? .?v..+.?.

BOGUS EXEMPTIONS. I WHY MEDICALLY UNFIT RECRUITS MAY BE EXAMINED. The following letter has been sent by Lord Derby to a correspon dent: Dear Sir,—I beg to acknowledge your letter of January 27th. There are good reasons for the recruiting authorities insisting that men al- ready rejected as medically unfit should in certain cases have to under- go a further medical examination be- before receiving an armlet. The facts of the matter are as fol- lows:— 1 Many men slipped through during the recent rush, and it would be un- fair that men who are not entitled should wear an armlet on the strength of a medical certificate obtained with- out adequate examination, 2 Again, cases are known where a man suffering from some permanent physical disability obtained a medical rejection paper and then went to var- ious recruiting offices and obtained further rejection papers, giving names of friends to whom he sold the rejec- tion papers. This practice was stopped by having the registration card stamped by the recruiting officer, but there are a certain number of these bogus rejection papers in existence. CRIPPLES MAY BE USEFUL. 3. A further reason is that the standard having been much lowered recently for branches of the Army, many men who were formerly rejected are now required, men who are physic- ally fit can be released from clerical duties, and replaced by men ony fit for sedentary occupations. For example, a man with a cork leg would be quite unfit for active serve4 but if he be a trained and experienced clerk might be very useful indeed in a pay depart- ment, and could release a more active man for foreign service. As far as possible every man should apply at the recruiting oiffcc, at which he was previously rejected, where the record of his previous rejection will be kept. When the cause of the man's rejection is some serious organic dis- ease (other than eyesight) and this has been noted, further medical ex- amination will be unnecessary. 5. The following is an extract from the Army Order on the above subject: It will be necessary for all men who have already been rejected on medical grounds to be medically ex- amined again unless they produce Army Form B 2505A or Army Form B 2512A, showing date and cause of rejection. These forms will be veri- fied by reference to Army Book 303 at the place shown on the forms.

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DYERS' COMBINE REFUSE FURTHER ORDERS. British manufacturers have been in- formed by official circular that owing to the scarcity of dyewares and other chemical formerly obtained in Ger- many members of the Dyers' Combine cannot accept further orders. (Continued). CHAPTER VIII. Doubtless I should have devoted more thought, to that strange meeting between tue i renchmaji and Uajaano in the days ioiiov>iiig ILLD it not. been for my absoi-p- tiou another way, aiia, I may as well cwiieso it, the "u j ect of my attention wild none other than mademoiselle. After the lirst day's meeting, ail dirhdenoe be- tween LL, vanished, and she frankly ■snowed her pleasure when opportunity threw us togoiuei. iue^e is a possibility that I might havi restated liOill so dwigerou, a. tuscination as jiii(.^moiselio .tiajiu exerted over me .had it not v bn tor Monsieur Petard. 'l.HeJ", is, in most of us, a combative t»treaic that, sufficiently aroused makes us obstmate. Perard aroused it in me be- lore the first ja.Uf oi the week was .laid in the archives of yesterdays. At first it mtiieiy diver tea me, and interest gave place W amusement. I think he sensed. that I laughed at him, in spirit, and en- joyed. h.s annoyance; but outwardly he was suave and smiling. Hid eyes alone -bet-rayed him, and once (;r twice I caught in their biack thickness a look, that, had 1 been timorous, nught have warned me to be careful. And the moie Perajd was disturbed the more the cnauning Mane tajitaiized him, as if through t-heer mischievousness of spirit. It was she who suggested, one evening vi hen tne stars had gained the brilliancy ot a clear night far out at sea, that I show her the boat deck. The boat deck so-called, of the Menduto was the topmost deck of the ship that had, in times past, afforded a gaming place for her passengers, but now that other boats had been added to br:ng her complement up to the full passenger and crew capacity, was crowded with canvass shapes abatt the low-er bridge, the mas- ter's cabin, and the chart room. Its space was limited. There was no longer room for a delightful promenade, and barely space for a half dozen deck chair oarried thither by those who wanted seclusion. Into one of these she dropped with a little exclamation of delight. "Now," she said gleefully, ..this is the ideal place for romance. &e! It is as if we were all alone on a floating island. The very phce lor you to tell me more stories. It was on the borders of my tongue to .say that tiie place was best adapted to love storied, r..ther than the stale re- countal of episodes from a wanderer's life; but I dared not, so seated myself beside her and tried to induce her to talk cl herself, a far more entertaining subject. ''Conic," I said banteringly. "Exchange j is better than theft. I have told you so many personal trivialities that it recms to me it is your turn. Tell me of Your- self." She laughed softly, but it sounded to me as if it were a laugh that began in carelessness and end.ed hi sorrow. "There is but little for me to tell," she said slowly, as if reluctant to speak of h-ei-sdf, but at the same time torn with desire to t"n some one of whose sym- pathy she was confident. It is all very humdrum, compared with what others do -voti, for instance. But you are a man, and can adventure as vou wish. I am a woman, b-)tind, shackled, racked by con- ventions, restrained by sex, compelled to follow in the old. old lines that custom savs are the proper ones. Oh, I'v& wished thrt I were a man! Many times!" There w". regret rather than rebel- lion in her voice, and I sought to pass l it over. "Nonsense I declared. "This is the I -dav of equalitv in nearly every pursuit. And as for enjoyment of youth-" "Enjoyment!" s he interrupted me. and lifted her hand in expostulation. "There is no such thlnrr as equality of enjoy- ment! Whv, until within the last four- l-eem months. I have never known free- dom in any degree! My foster parents died before I was old enough to appre- ciate a father's love. They were far from wealthv. I was left with an in- come. however, for which I am thankful, -as it saved me from charity. You see it wasn't much. I suppose you would call I it trilling. About forty dollars a month j of your American money. And I was I not to have the expenditure of this sum until my twenty-first birthday. I was practically willed to a convent down in the interior of France until I reached that age." -And should be grateful to high Heaven," I murmured, "that for so long at least you were protected from what you deem the lure of the world—adven- ture, if you wish." "In some ways I am thankful," she said apologetically; "but don't you see, I grew up in such horrid ignorance of what life really is that when I left the only home I had ever known I was a mere babe in experience And worst of all, I hd an ambition. I had a voice. I knew it, much as the good sisters tried to keep me in ignorance. She laughed again softly and somewhat scornfully, and spjke in a light tone. "It amuses me w hen I think of the time when I first realised that I could sing better than some of tliose in the great world outside the convent walls, and the littla old town where we lived. I knew that I was always chosen to sing solos on fete days, but took it as a matter of course, because I worked so much harder than any of the other girls who came and went. in an endless proces- sion. Delight rather than dilligence, per- haps, for I used to slip away and sing to ravsi If. I got so I could phy my own accompaniments, some of them quite weird, I fancy. Then one day a v grand seigneur, a marquis, who heard me sing, told me my voice should be my future. "Up to that hour I think I had been fairly contented. Now a new world had opened, with all that allurement and glamour that one sustains when shut from it and confined to an endless rou- tine. I could sing Very well, I would sing, and some day, when a little older, 1 would run away and find that place where praise, honour, and fame waited my clutch. "It amuses me now to think how my little heart burst with conceit. Poof! I must have been impossible--quite impos- sible Naturally it brought upon my foolish head many penances. At last, a year or two later,. I ran away. I did, upon my word! Just ran away." She laughed heartily at the lecollection. 1:.01' months I had studied the arias frjm the grand operas, and now I would charge the world. I had not a centime in my purse, and but vaguely knew the road that led to Par;s. I walked thirty kilo- meters before the porter from the con- vent overtook me. He was a veteran from the war, and in his youth had lived in Paris. He wormed all my am- bitions from me as the fat old horse ambled slowly back toward the grey walls of tha convent. And he did not laugh when I told him why I had run awav, but shook his head for a long, long time, as if battling with his con- science. We were nearly home, I re- member, a,nd I had almost fallen asleep, w hen he pulled the horse to a halt be- riea,th a big shade tree and turned toward me with an .a.r of determination. "'Listen, little lady.' he said. 'What the Mother Superior and the sisters don't know will not keep them saying Aves at night. And they must have Test. Is it not so?' "ffis eyes twinkled at me when I very soberly told him I thought that was true. 'So,' said he, 'it become our Christian duty not to tell them anything that wrluld (fisturb them. And that's so, isn't it?' "I assured him that he was a very thoughtful old gentleman. 'Then,' said he, 'say you nothing at all about such an unholy ambition as singing upon a stage. But the marquis is a g-and man and wise. Don't forget what he said, but don't tell anv one why you ran away. I'll—ahem I'll ex- plain 't mvself!' he exclaimed grimlv, and chirped to the fat horse and said not another word until we reached the convent door. "Hw daringly he lipd! I feared to see him blasted or confused, like Ana- nias, when he told the Mother Superior that I had wandered out for a walk and lost my way, and was so happy to see him that I cried from, gratitude. "Then there came to the convent a sister with a magnificent voice, sad- eyed, world-bruised, but who knew music and method and was a. master culturist. She loved me, and taught me and gloried in my progress, but so firmly had the old gardener's teaching taken root that not even she was even told of my dream. Perhaps she would have stopped teach- ing me arias with trills, doulades, and i liat I a b sor b e d obligates had she known that I absorbed all merely as a part of the finish neces- sary to my ambition but her work was so well done that when I left the con- vent on that day I became my own master. I proved its worth." She stopped, and I had to urge her to continue. "Well, she haid, with half a laugh, "my very ignorance helped me. I could not have done it had I known more, and appreciated how difficult it is to get a great impresario to listen to those who think they can sing, but I went direct to one of those musical kings in Paris, an American there for his summer vaca- tion, and boldly assailed the lion in his den. He was so astonished by my pal- pable innocence and lack of savoir-faire that he good-naturedly took me to the piano in the hotel, waved his hand, and said 'All right! Let's get it over with! Sing, mademoiselle Sing "When I began he stared out through the window, and yawned and looked at his watch. Then all of a sudden he whirled on his heels, and charged down at the piano, and bristled; and his mouth opened and he interrupted with 'Faster Faster, mademoiselle. Here! Get up from there. So!' •'He lairly shoved me off the piano stool, and his strong hands crashed down on the accompaniment I had been play- ing from memory, and he played it through with cyclonic force. He inspired me. I caught the time. I forgot that we were in the music room of the Hotel Mauritz, shut my eyes, and sang as if to an audience cf ten thousand. Well, that ia about all there to the story. He got me to sign a contract, amazing the amount of money seemed. And I was hurt when he scornfully told me that I must learn how to stand on my feet and how to make a curtsy, and how to walk and all that, and then shipped me to America to study more— the stage life—in the Metropolitan. I haven't seen him a dozen tunes since. But I have had curt notes telling me to report to madame this or professor that to learn something, and—so the first year came to an end, and in the second year they made me understudy until I wearied of it, and now my impresario has unbent to show me kindness. I am given all my expenses for a journey back to France, and am merely told to return in time for the season's work." I had been absorbed in her story far more, I am sure. than had she in its telling. I sat for a moment in the silence that ensued, waiting for her to proceed, and was suddenly aware that I had leaned across until my hands rested on the arm of her chair, when we were interrupted bv the sharp crunching of footsteps, and a shadow silhouetted against the stars. Even then, in a flash I surmised that the interloper had not been far distant through a part of the conversation at least and might have been eavesdropping. "Oh, here you are, eh ?" said Monsieur Perard, with the offhand familiarity of an old friend. ';I've been looking for you over the entire boat." I had no love for the count at that moment, nor when, as if relieved from further confidences, mademoiselle laughed gave him her hand. and made a joke of our situation. He sat down beside I us at her invitation, and talked until the I bell warned us that it was time to seek our staterooms; but for a full hour I I lay awake thinking of her story, ar,d- I worst of all—listening to the professor's snores. He was certainly a very good snorer. Sometimes, irritated, I thought I that in case of fog, the ship would have I small need of a whistle. I CHAPTER IX. That confidential evening with made- moiselle had two pronounced results; one that from being passively in love with her I became receklessly so, and the other that the count no longer concealed his chagrin, but made the mistake of open enmity. The following evening I stood in the space forward of the promenade deck a bent over the Tail, idly looking toward the bows of the ship. The space was narrow, and I had no desire to monopo- lise it at the expense of others, but I did not hear Perard approach. With deliber- at rudeness he brushed behind me, prac- tically thrusting me out of his path, and when, astonished and taken unawares, I straightened myself, he smiled icily and lifted his hat. ''Pardon he exclaimed, but there was that in his eyes which convinced me that he had purposely crowded me against the rail. I lost temper. ''Perhaps," I said, "you might have apologised before shoving me out of the w-ay. I am sorry to have taken so much deck space." "One who has good breeding does not take all the space at any time," he re- torted, which exasperated me still more. "Besides," he added, "I see no reason for being particularly courteous to you, monsieur. I-well-I don't know you. I don't know who you are. You are pro- bably a nobody. When a nobody is in my way I brush him aside—so!" He flicked his fingers with a careless gesture, as if I were a troublesome in- sect. His attitude was one of patron- age, of conferring a distinct favour when lie unbent to recognise me. I was on him in an instant, quiver- ing with rage. I felt my hair bristling and ruffling, and my muscles tightened to strike. "Did I understand you to say that I was a nobody ?" I &-oid rather than asked. "Let it go at that if you wish! It may help you hereafter, Count Perard, to re- member thmt a metre nobody did this to you!" I caught his nose between my index and middle fingers, twisted his head and body sidewise until his back was ex- posed, released my hold as he swung round, and gave him a kick that sent him sprawling, to fall on hand and knees aga.inst the starboard rail. My sense of the ridiculous was so acute that I had to lean hack against the housing and laugh at the grotesque appearance the count presented as he got rather pain- fully to his feet. He made as if to come toward me, and then, observing that I was in a posture to protect myself from attack, altered his mind, and con- tented himself with scowling at me under his black eyebrows. For a half minute he stood, alternately rubbing that portion of his bodv where I had planted my boot. and shaking his fist at me, then he broke into voluble curses and threats in his mother tongue, In the verv midst of a sentence in which he explained that he was a count of France, he paused, a, if interrupted by some sound, whirled on his heels, lifted his hat, and greeted mademoiselle, who apneared at the corner. "Oh, h°llo!" she said familiariv. "I thought I heard some one shouting. I 1 was "A mere ptorv I was telling our mutual friend Mr. Carter," the count interrupted, and, to my amazement likewise admira- tion, he went risrht ahead addressing me -as if ending a tale. I must credit him with ability to play a part, for on the next day he was as unperturbed and outwardly as friendly as it nothing had disturbed the serenity of our acquaintanceship. He even went to deliberate effort to appear amiable in front of mademoiselle, who was very busy organising a concert for the even- ing. It was to be for the benefit of a woman in the steerage who had been taken ill, and was the mother of two babies that wailed their lonesomeness over her condition. Mademoiselle asked if I could do any- thing to entertain, and I replied that I could not, unless acrobatics on the deck or walking a tight rope might prove ac- ceptable. She accepted this as mere banter, and declared she proposed to induce the professor to take part. But the professor was not to be found. Sten- torian noises from his stateroom betrayed the fact that he slept the time away. I arrived late at the entertainment, and, peering through the doorway, saw that the dining saloon was crowded. The doors to the music room that opened from it were wide open, and the partici- pants in the program had an end to themselves. Mademoiselle sat near the corner of the room, the red velvet cush- ions behind her forming a background for her red evening gown, her red cheeks, and happy eyes. Beside her sat the count., immaculately clad in evening dress, pre- pared to announce the numbers in turn. Laurent acted as an usher, and with an air of great importance fussed backward and forward on the slightest pretext, bow- ing and smirking with what he intended to be extreme grace Fond as I am of music, I decided that I would rather smoke for a while longer, so made my way down the forwardsteps to the big open space of the deserted main deck. There was no breeze, and the "Menduto" did not travel fast enough to bring an aeolian humming through her rigging. I strolled forward till abreast the foremost. The sounds of the music from the entertainment came faintly, sweetly, through the night. It was as if I, leaning against the fail, voyaged on a. magic ship alone, accompanied by the music of dreams. In a contemplative ecs- tasy I straightened myself beside the rail to press the glowing tobacco deeper into my pipe of comfort, and at that very moment there sounded loud applause from the saloon above and aft. The per- former, whoever it was. had been re- ceived with undue hilarity. "Some one has made a hit," I thought to myself, and then, without a premoni- tory sound to warn me. without so much as the soft crating of a footstep on the deck, my feet were seized, and with an action so swift that I had not even time to clutch at the rail, I was upended and thrown headlong over and toward the phosphorescent sea. CHAPTER X. For an instant I was bewildered, but an instant where death, with a ghastly, triumphant face, leers at a man from the sea is a long period of time. Then there responded to my need that trained in- stinct of the trained performer who is accustomed to emergencies, is catlike in his movements, and has perfect bodily control. Instinct alone impelled me to twist myself in mid-air ajid reach for the outer edge of the scuppers. Too late The fingers of one hand barely touched it long enough to complete my sommersaidt and then, still grasping wildly into space, I continued my fall toward the waiting sea. I must have been almost upon it when my hands came in contact with the loose end of a rope, left swinging by the men who had been painting earlier in the day. Luckily the other end of the rope was fastened, as I learned by a jerk so sharp and swift that it nearly wrenched the life-saving line from my hands when i-ts length had been paid out. It was fast to the staumchion, and I was dragging through the water at a I sharp angle scarcely thirty feet behind I it. My body was borne inward and bumped against the rough steel of the I hull, where I bounded in and out until  I cuuld regain presence of mind to pro- I tect myself with my feet. The line strained and surged, and for a time I fought desperately, fearing that it would part under the heavy pull of my eight. We may not have been travelling ten knots at the time, perhaps no more than eight, but of this be sure that even five- knot speed under such desperate condi- tions is swifter than the light of an eagle through the air. The water tore at me with steel fingers, snatching at every inch of my clothes and body. It snarled in my ears and boiled around me. It attempted, with an almost living, thinking malevo- lence, to beat my life out against the ship's hull; it derided my efforts to climb higher on the rope, and fought me inch for inch. Sometimes it won a hand- hold from me, and left me overcome, spent and despairing. I stood too much in need of breath to cry for help, a-zid moreover, in that hour of extremity, -knew that the sound of my screams could not be heard above the noise of music far overhead. For what seemed hours I strove to ga,in clear of the water. and, with all my splendid strength and cond ition, that proved the hardest battle of my life. Weak, exhausted, desperate, and well- nigh hopeless, I won the first terrible I struggle, and felt first my shoulders, then my hips, and last of all my legs and feet swing clear of the waves. I hung, panting, like a plummet of lead beneath the stanchion, and the waves and gleam- ing bubbles at my dripping feet seemed angry because I had cleared them. Al- most feebly I climbed hand over hand a few feet higher, and, with the old trick of the performer when slowly de- scending from a trapeze, twisted one leg, then the other round the swaying rope by my feet, clutched tightly, and rested my arms and caught my breath. For the first time my head cleared from something akin to panic, and I thought consecutively. I opened my lips to shout for assistance, and then let my voice die away in a queer, croaking sound when, in another flash. I reasoned it all out. Whoever had thrown me overboard was not aware that the rope had been opportuniely swinging for my rescue. He had merely thrown me over, then fled lest some shout of mine reach those above and he, the perpetrator, certainly, did not care to be seen on that part of the deck. Otherwise he would have cut or released the end of the rope secured to the stanchion, thus leaving me to drown out there in the boiling wake astern. Next, as I gained lucidity, I reasoned that there was no danger of the knot slipping loose, otherwise that first jerk when my body was whipped into the hjp's momentum would have torn it free. ThiJrd, trained as I was, as soon as my arms could be rested, and I could gain breath for the effort, the hand-over-hand progress back to safety would be nothing whatever to me who had thus climbed much higher than the mainmast of the "Menduto." So I rested, quietly and voiceless, swinging there against the black side, until I felt competent to ascend. Then up and up I went easily, caught the lower round of the rail, the next, threw an arm over the top, a leg, stood there panting and dripning on the deck. There was no one there. The deck was as deserted as it had been when I came down to it. After all those centuries of struggle the stars, the sni, the towering masts were the same. From the concert room came another burst of applause. I had been absent, I think, for the length of one number. Quite deliberately I returned to the saving rope, and carefully coiled it back a, it must have been in the first place, Why I did it I know not. Then I walked calmly up the steps to the promesade deck and around into the smaller music room. I saw therein Monsieur Perard: turning the pages of some music, fault- less in manner as ever. mademoiselle pre- pering to sing, and the bushy-headed little pianist playing a soft prelude, his white, tapering ifngers gently stroking the keys even as when I last saw him before I had undergone the rreat issue. A sudden resolution to keep silent seized me, and I hastened back along the deserted port deck fearful lest some one see me or observe the trail of water that I left behind. I even paused in front of the second engineer's cabin to wring the bottoms of my trousers it-gs into the scuppers, and then hastened on- ward to my cabin. I changed my clothes in haste, threw the wet ones, after a. hasty twist, into a convenient locker un- derneath the cabin lounge, dried my met hair on a towel, brushed it back, and sauntered slowly aft to the concert. Frankly, I suspected Perard of being, the one who had attempted to kill me and was eager to confirm my suspicions of his attitude when I apneared. Some one emerged just as I came to the door, and the alert Laurent saw me and beckoned with his finger. "A fine seat has just been vacated," he whispered. "Splendid. Trust your friend, me, to look out for the good fellow work- man. It is a happy moment that I can. be of service. Come quickly lest some of these 'canaille' seize it!" He fairly rushed me to a seat in the, front row, but my eyes were fixed on the count, who was engrossed in follow- ing the music and prepared to turn the sheet at exactly the right moment. He, did not look up until the song was done,. and then seemed as hanpy over the swift approval of mademoiselle's marvellous voice as if it were a personal triumph. I, too, applauded mechanically, without ever shifting my eyes from his face. He discerned me at last amid the confusion, and nodded and smiled as if to an old fnend. Watch him as I would, I could discover not trace of astonishment nor' annoyance in his look. After the concert I made one of a party of guests in the captain's cabin, where we were served with light supper as a suitable celebration of a charitable event. Mademoiselle was the guest of honour, as befitted the organiser of the affair. Suave, unperturbed, and grace- ful, the count was there. When the party broke up I succeeded by deliberate interference such as I had learned at that fine old game—football— in capturing mademoiselle, and getting her free from all others, the count in- cluded. It was the first time I had ever deliberately led her away with an ulterior motive. She opened the way for the in- formation I sought in almost her first sensence. "Where were you all the arly part of the evening?" she asked, and then, with- out waiting for a reply, addedi You. missed a song I wanted you to hear— very much I arrived late," I answered, "and at that moment there was scarcely a i.OZt tc be had. So I had to wait my opportuni- ty, but Monsieur Perard kept you from being lonesome, I trust." She laughed. A trifle lonesome? Rather too much so! He was not three feet away from me during the whole performance." "Oh, that seems unjust, I replied. "I was quite certain I saw him sauntering about on the lower deck while the be- ginning of the entertainment was on." "Impossible!" she declared. "You were- mistaken. I know because he announced every number and was not OUt of my &ight from twenty minutes before the concert began until you and I left the captain's cabin I really wanted to lose sight of him once in a while, if only for a few minutes." (To be continued).