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 "Blessed if I know," replies the deputy marshal.

"The Semiramis, I'll wager $4 to a nickel," mutters Ashley, as he thanks the marshal and goes ashore.

CHAPTER XXX.

ON TO FAIR CUBA.

"There are only two bits of evidence needed to complete my moral conviction that I am the only person connected with the Raymond tragedy who is not in Cuba or on his way thither," remarks Ashley, loquitur, as he boards a cross-town car. "One is the assurance that Cyrus Felton and Miss Hathaway have left the St. James Hotel with no intention of an immediate return; the other, the knowledge that Phillip Van Zandt has closed his quarters in the Wyoming flats for an indefinite period. I believe I will try the St. James first."

He does. The clerk smiles benignly upon him when he inquires for the Vermonters. "Gone, Jack; but you were not forgotten," he says. "The day clerk turned this over to me," extracting a note from the letter rack.

"Thank you, Ed," acknowledges Ashley. He tears open the note and reads:

"Dear Mr. Ashley: I regret very much that circumstances have made it necessary to postpone indefinitely the luncheon for this afternoon at 1, to which I had looked forward with much pleasure. We have just learned that in order to reach Cuba we must sail on the City of Havana, which leaves New York at 11 o'clock to-day. With many thanks for your kindnesses, believe me, sincerely yours,

Louise Hathaway."

"Far from enlightening me, this note only plunges me deeper in the fog," thinks Ashley, sniffing the faint odor of violet that clings to the dainty stationery. "She asserts here that she is going to Cuba on the City of Havana, yet I discover her aboard the Semiramis. At any rate