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EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, FRI)AY, FEBRUARY 18, 1920
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fUEMIDDLETEMPLE MURDER
A. DetectWo Story by J. b. Fletcher
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I THIS STAIITS THE STORY
r,fc Soaroo, Jjonaon newsiiupvt-
JJtJtwoncn veering into the
h'trofVnaUcvmV ond find there
ncortieroi ,..,. . j0hn Mar-
AtrT Tec eiarv to a afe deposit
" tuJ:t?ieU of Marbuw rcnUnga
ZTZ depositing in it a small
Acrlor, Ut when oficxaX examina-
'?' mado the box is found, to be
i im.' At the coroner's inquest
' TA l'mU il. P., odmils to
?' v- I inl-en Marbuw to his rooms
IX Tempi after 12 o'clock on the
'" iLf the murder, and that he knew
; what cobicci" ...-v.- .......
J and Jlathburu examine tho
EXrhoi, and discover a child
", r,Mi and a silver neraiaw
' ! nel Zthe IhSno of the lid Spargo
. a trip to Market Mtlcastcr,
"inghhim the silver piece and
Xtogroph. He puts up at the Ycl-
C Dragon, a big rambltng oU has-
mm hay Iving ' 'c mcadoxos out
,ide tho old houses.
AND IIERK IT CONTINUES
'(ik VEIUTABLE Sleepy Hollow,"
' Amused Spargo. ''Let's go down
r.,t w if (hero's anyoouy io inin. iu.
:r,!t Scott !-to think I was in the
SSao atmosphere o the Octoucu
Stnol only sixteen hours ago!",
Spargo, after losing himself in vnri-,ronWoi-B
ami passages, finally land
7& in the wide, stone-paved hal of thr
old hotel, nnd with a. sure instinct
turned into the oar-parior wiucu n u
noticed when he entered the place.
This was n roomy, comfortable, bow
endowed apartment, looking out upon
the High street anf was funiiHhed and
ornamented with the usual appurten
unccs of country-town hotels. Lhcrc
were old chairs and tables -and side
boards and cupboards which had cer
tainly been made n century before, and
turned likelv to endure for u century or
ttiu longer; there were old prints of the
road and the chase, and nn old oil
painting or two of red-faced gentlemen
In pink coats ; there were foxes' masks
on the wall, and n monster pike in a
class case on a sidetablc; there were
ancient candlesticks on the mantel
piece and an antique snuff-box sot be
tween them. Also theio was a smull,
'old-fashioned bar in o corner of the
loom, and a new-fashioned young wom
an seated behind it, who was yawning
our a piece of fancy needlework and
looked at Spargo when he entered as
Andromeda may have looked ut Perseus
' when he made arrival at her rocH. And
Spargo, treating himself to it suitable
drink and choosing n cigar to accom
pany it, noted tho look, and dropped
into the neatest chair.
"This," he remarked, eyeing the
damsel with inquiry, "appears to ine to
be a very quiet place."
"Quiet!" exclaimed the lady.
"Quiet?"
"That." continued Spargo, "is pre
cisely what I observed. Quiet. I sec
ihat you agree with mc. You expressed
jour agreement with two shades of
emphasis, the surprised and the hcorn
ful. We may conclude, thus far, that
the place is undoubtedly quiet."
The damsel looked at Spargo as if she
considered liim in the light of tt new
specimen, and picking up her needle
work she quitted the bur and coming out
into the room took a chair near his
(rati.
"It makes jou thankful to see a
funeral go bv here " she rcmnrked.
"it's about nit that one ever does see."
"Are there many?" asked Spargo.
"Do the inhabitants die much of in
anition;" The damsel gave Spargo another crit
ical inspection.
"Oh, jou're joking!" she said. "It's
vcll j oil can. Nothing over happens
heie. This place is a back num
ber," "Even the back numbers make pleas
ant reading at times," murmured
Spargo. "And tho backwaters of life
are lefreshing. Nothing doing in this
ion, men;-- uc auaeu m a louder
oice.
, "-nothing !" replied his companion.
It & fast nslecp. I came hero from
Jijrminglinm, nnd I didn't know what
I was lomiug to. In Birmingham you
we us many people in ten minutes as
jou (-ee here in ten months."
"Ah!" said Spnigo. "What you arc
.'uffcriug from is dullness. You must
, nave an antidote."
( "Dullness!" exclaimed the damsel.
lt s the right word for Market
J ilcnstcr. There's just a few regular
I'M customcis drop in here of a morn
ng. between eleven and one. iA stray
jailer luoks in perhaps during the
"""noon. Then, nt night, a lot of
old logics sit lound that end of tho room
nd talk about old times. Old times,
Indeed! what they want In Market
Mllcaster is now times."
Spargo pricked up his cais.
"Well, but it's rather interesting to
hear old fogies talk about old times,"
ho said. "I love itl"
"Then you can get as much of it
ns ever you want here," remarked' the
barmaid. "Look In tonight any tii'ne
after eight o'clock, and if you don't
know more nbout the history of Market
Milcastcr by ten than you did when
you sat down, you must be deaf. There
ore some old gentlemen drop in here
every night, regular as clockwork,
who seem to feel that they couldn't go
to bed unless they've told each other
stories about old days which I should
think they've heard a thousand times
already!"
"Very old men?" asked Spargo.
"Mcthusclahs." replied the lady.
"There's old Mr. Quartcrpagc, across
the way there, the auctioneer, though
he doesn't do any business now they
.say he's ninety, though I'm sure you
wouiun t taKe mm for more man
seventy. And there's Mr. Lummis,
further down the street he's eighty-
one. And Mr. Skene, and Mr. Kaye
they're regular patriarchs. I've sat
here and listened to them till I believe I
could write a history of Market Mil
caster since the year One."
"I can conceive of that as n pleasant
nnd profitable occupation, said
Spargo.
He chatted a while longer in a fash
ion calculated to cheer the barmaid's
spirits, after which he went out and
strolled around the town until seven
o'clock, the "Dragon's" hour for din
ner. There were no more people in the
big coffee-room than there hnd been
at lunch and Spargo was glad, when his
solitary meal was over, to escape to
tho bar-parlor, where he took his coffee
in a corner near to that sacred part
in which the old townsmen had been
reported to hlra to sit.
"And mind you don't sit in one of
their chairs," said the barmaid, warn
ingly. "They all have their own spe
cial chairs nnd their special pipes there
on that rack, and I suppose the ceiling
would fall iu if unjbody touched pipe or
chair. But you're all right there, and
jou'll hear all they've got to say.
To Spargo, who had never seen any
thing of the sort before, and who,
twenty-four hours pieviouhly, would
have believed the thing impossible, the
proceedings of that evening in the bur
parlor of the Yellow Dragon nt Mar
ket Milcastcr were like a sudden trans
ference to the eighteenth century.
Precisely ns the clock struck.cight and
a bell began to toll somewhere in tho
icccsscs of the High street, an old
gentleman walked in, and the barmaid,
catching Spnrgo's ec. gave him n
glance which showed that the play was
about to begin.
"Good evening, Mr. Kaye," said the
barmaid. "You're first tonight."
"Evening," said Mr. Kaye and took
a seat, scowled around him, and be
came silent. He was a tall, lank old
gentleman, clad in rusty black" clothes,
with a pointed collar sticking up on
both sides of his fringe of gray whiskers
and n voluminous black neckcloth
folded several times around his neck,
and by the expression of his counte
nance 'was inclined to look on life se
verely. "Nobody been in yet?" asked
Mr. Kaye.
"No, but here's Mr. Lummis and
Mr. Skene," replied the barmaid.
Two more old gentlemen entered the
bar-parlor. Of these, one was a little,
dapper-figured man, clad in clothes of
an eminently sporting cut, and of very
loud pattern. ,
He sported a bright blue necktie, a
flower in his lapel, nnd a tall white
hat, which he wore at a rakish angle.
The other wns a big, portly, bearded
man with a Fnlst'affian swagger and a
lakish eye, who chaffed the barmaid as
be entered, and -gave her a good-humored
chuck under the chin ns he
passed her. These two also sank into
chairs which seemed to have been spe
cially designed to meet them, and the
stout man slapped the arms of his as
familiarly as he had greeted the bar
maid. He looked at bis two cronies.
"Well?" he said. "Here's three of
us. And there's a symposium."
"Wait a bit, wait a bit," said the
dapper little man. "Grnndpa'U be here
in n minute. We'll start fair."
The barmaid glanced out of the win
dow. "There's Mr. Quarterpage coming
across the street now," she announced.
"Shall I put the things on the table?"
"Aye, put them on. my dear, put
them on!" commanded the fat man.
"Have all in readiness,"
(CONTINUED TOMORROW)
DREAMLAND ADVENTURES
BLUE EYES AND CROOKED NOSE
Ily DADDY
(Peggy and IHUll meet tho dicarf
Crooked Nose in Movieland and find
"-Jim to be a splendid young chap.
i They decide to help him tooo a fair
' famsel who has heard his sweet voice,
Jut never seen his ugly nose. Iter
i "one Incomes scared and Crooked
f Voe joes to 7ic tcsouej
J How Peggy's Plan Works
OWIPT nnd stiong galloped tho runa
pay horse with the fair damsel cllng
"( to its back. As runawuy horses
wen do, the animal seemed to have
tone blind and mad with fright. The
fair young damsel tugged on tho reins,
'but the horse had the bit between its
eth and she could not stop its wild
flight.
Ahead was a sharp turn in the road,
ad at the turn was a stonewall guard -in
a high cliff. Unless the horse could
e stopped before it camo to this turn
M wall the fair damsel might be
burled to tho rocks far below.
Uookcd Nose, riding Balky Sam to
je rescue, saw this danger. He saw
. that he himself might be dashed
!' the cliff. But that didn't halt
nun. He was bravo and thought only
of saving the fair damsel.
Belling the bridle of the runaway
, Crooked Noso held fast. The
bJh18?, was Balloplng swifter than
,?ii S ta7' aniJ Crooked Nose was
k pulled off the mule's back. But Crooked
" ir'i'v1?.'8 torn off' threw h,s tos
S Balky Sam's neck and hung on
InAi?tar ! fe- At tbc 6ane time he
JMU gently to the frightened horse.
liJ?iUSV'al yiec seemed to soothe the
S' y,iclded '? tho BrfP of the bridle,
h? S! ta a halt Just before t reached
S'ns ?,nd haltss, for it was
S a Vel!-traIne1 hrso and had run
v.?.b)rian.t FJercc Fangs.
ion. L.Crook,'a 0&0 MW thnt the
Xi S! i?aln be?iet to the fair
ah E" n 1 Ba,kv San's back.
2 fp had clung to the two bou-
Billy hLwL,d, flo,wJTs which Peggy and
t W?w,tcd hira J5ick J,,st before
, $ t, ;ayAeBa.?- Now ns the fair
itqnoTw-t0htliaDU.hlm Hf m hls
ItoVom. tec1' cm,,d ?Dy scc bls
Peggy and Billy came running up aud
they could bee nt a glance that the fair
drtmsel had taken a 6trong liking for
Crooked Nose. The smjle she gave him
ns he handed her the second bouquet
of wild flowers mnde him blush with
pleasure.
Now Giant Fierce Fangs came hurry
ing up with Belinda, the cook, and her
basket of cans perched on his shoulder.
"Ho, bo, who is this fair damsel to
whom the ugly Crooked Nose is making
love," laughed Giant Fierce Fangs.
Crooked Nose turned red nt themockiug
words and his blue eyes flashed tire.
But he said nothing. He only held the
flowers the closer to his face so the
fair damsel could not see his twisted
nose.
"Ho, ho. She is indeed fair to look
upon!" roared Fierce Fangs, staring
at the damsel. "I will carry her away
to my caBtle on the crags and make her
my bride."
"Nay, sir. I'll not be your bride.
I'll wed only for love," and baying this
the fair damsel turned such n tender
look upon Crooked Nose that it was
easy to sec where her choice lay. Her
answer mado Giant Fierce Fangs jeal
ous and angry.
"You do not want a puny dwarf when
you can get a mighty giant like me,"
he roared.
"Ho is strong and brave," replied
the damsel gently.
"See how fine I am," roartd Fierce
Fangs.
"I think he has handsome eyes," an
swered the damsel, looking only ut
Crooked Nose.
"I have a splendid mustache," boast
ed Fierce Fangs.
"He has a smiling, gentle mouth, nnd
his voice is like .sweet music," sighed
the damsel, keeping her ryes on Crooked
Nose. This vexed Fierce Fangs, who
was as vain as ho was big.
"But bis nose have jou seen his
ugly, twisted nose which he is so care
fully covering up." Shouting this.
Fierce Fangs snatched the bouquet away
from tho faco of poor Crooked Nose.
"Now look at him," he roared. "Look
nt him and come to my castle to be rm
bride."
Fierce Fangs thought to shock the
fair damsel, but ho got a bhock him
self. Tho shock was u punch on his
own nose, struck by tho hard fit of
Crooked Nose. It was n punch ho richly
deserved for hid rudeness und meanness,
(Tomorrow will be told how Fierce
Rang gelt a thrashing.)
TIDE GUMPS Brushing Up His Memory
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Copyright. 1020. by tho Tribune Co.
By Sidney Sinith
f M fctEORGafc
THM.I& INTERESrtlNt,
VVS CONfcr TME
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YHIS J
1
I JAUST
I TO CNESTBl .1
WilN- I'vE OUST BEEN rtrblNa TS
CON STITOTI OM or TUB UMIYE&
STATES- AN& THE AhNENOrAENTS.r
You know- '
VNE'VJEttQTA UOTOF fC,HTS ST-
Vb dU5T ABOOt j
( tOft6?OTTEM PrA(-L-
I COULDN'T HAVlC- V
REPEATED FIV1E UNES ;
1 Iht THE- WHOLE- THlNQr rj y -
PETEYThatfs All There Is Inhere Isn't Any More -:
By C. A. Voight
Melp!
- oh look, UUO.E.
PETeY- THey'ize
12ESCUIV1C A MAU'
5'
f - QUICK.'' I HereVaKe
I HAS AUVBODY J -s.
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The Young Lady Acrossrthe Way
I
THE TOONERVILLE TROLLEY THAT MEETS ALL THE TRAINS By Fontaine Fox
SCHOOL DAYS
By DWIG
The young lady ncross the way
sajs she saw in the paper that a
joung man out West jumped lGtJ
feet on his skis and she doesn't
imugine many young men could
jump that far even without skis.
Trie Skipper, cokceajled
A5TEELTAPN we
Stiovl LASTWeEKArtD
OISCOYEKED YHAT JlM
HOCKefT, IS THE VARMltfT
Mrfo's SEEK STEALING
THE BULBS OUT Op THE
HEADLIGHT WHILE THE
SKIP WAS .BUSY IN THE PAIJ.V
CRAP CAME. UKDER 7H CULVERT.
"r jTtu'W iuff "s; c9:7j5"
Clat- Siy5 she. -wants io ft J. , as,
n '.. A' -t. ..,.. t.,-j
6i course, Ji. je . ;-
yj y SG4, yowtl Tia glftf-
Gil eff.
j-imzzz&ZK-iJzzmrr' 23-
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ijt cert2al iyianTc
SOMEBODY'S STENOGA Day Off
By Hayward
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SOMEOME WHO EVlDEAiTLV
IS AFTER OUR Job, .Seajds
H THE ABOVE REpUEST.
we comply, but we will.
aiot be respoajsjble
For expenses f t's
AfECESSART To' SEND THE
80S5 TO A SAAJITARIUAA ,
TPt $ t ti?-aa-la3 J3 B 6oobMGHTl -r Desx Si.Tr.WE:
L- Jh HUM-V. I WOAjbERfe THIS IS THE W f Sg 3S u ru j" 7i i
U-LAlA f WHEPE AT PIFFLE TEWTH LETTER g-g 6 Af, - F 1 HavE Modx oUrs
- PIPE WORKS ORDER THAT HAbTo fiP V Vi7 FfifiP- Of THE IO tNStirjcTX
PSW t- I OFJTHOSE. DETAILS.' g . ? s ? J2J Q-g VXI . -JZ HBI ' 2 HLp OAJLV -f- 4 3-Ftfu
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DOROTHY DARNITIf She Knew Him Better She Wouldn't
SAHATS THE
MATTER
MAMA'?
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NORA l"S
IQOIWG TO
GET MARR
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WE NEED A
Girl, or t
CAisJT HAVE
i nv oik i huay
-TKMV T
YOU GO AND
AK tvJORA TO SEE
IF HER INTENDED
WOM'T POSPONE
THE WEDDING
FOR A r
MONTH
?s-?SW
By Chas. McManus
?
LIKE AN ART
THATS HOW
1ST NEEO-j
WE NEED
A HAIRCUT
YOU
SHE SAlO HE OlONT KNOW'
THE mam well Enough to
A5K Mir-1 UCH A FAsQR,
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