1 p
"Forty Thousand Dollars of Money That I Toiled and Schemed and
Saved For Gone Into the Pockets of Loafing Thieves."
|S|NII"OR<2 I ASH <?/
JjCIRCIIMSTANCE
FFFWRF HARRY IRVING GREENE _
Author q/"*Yosonde of the Wilderness
lllustrtiLriona toy MoLgr>u« Ci. K<tTtner-
SYNOPSIS.
Abner Halliday, a miserly millionaire,
la found gauged, bound and Insensible In
his room, his safe rilled and $40,000 miss
ing. The thread of the story Is taken up
by his nephew Tom. Living in the same
house are other relatives; reckless Bruce
Halliday and pretty Clare Winton. Bruce,
who is a bond broker, has been trying to
ralso SIO,OOO to put through a deal and
«ave himself from flnacial ruin. He has
applied to his miserly uncle and to others
for the loan but has been refused.
CHAPTER lll.—(Continued.)
**My God! My God! Forty thou
sand dollars of money that I toiled
and schemed and saved for gone into
the pockets of loafing thieves. And
I was going to put it in the bank
the first thing Monday morning. Oh,
it's terrible —terrible." He fell to roll
ing his head and cracking the joints
of his fingers in his mental agony as
the officers looked down upon him in
mingled pity and contempt. Present
ly he recovered himself with a start
and demanded to know about his pa
pers; and this time I was glad to be
able to tell him that so far as I had
observed in my hasty scrutiny, noth
ing had been taken but the money.
He seemed a trifle relieved for the
moment at this information, but soon
fell back into his lamentings. It was
one of the most lamentable sights
that I ever looked upon, exhibiting
as it did all that was deplorable in
his nature. The captain cleared his
throat and began his examination.
"We have made a thorough inspec
-lion of the premises and cannot find
that anything outside of the front
rooms has been tampered with. All
the windows of the unused lower por
tion are nailed down and the shutters
fastened from the inside. The burglar
alarm is in perfect order and would
have notified the station had anything
been forced open. The locks on the
doors have not been broken, and thoy
are of an intricate Yale pattern that
•could not have been picked. Every
thing goes to show that whoever en
tered did so by means of a key to the
front door, since the rear door was
bolted from the inside. If he did not
unlock the front door it must have
been left open, or else he was se
creted in the house beforehand." He
turned to Mrs. Tebbets. "Are you sure
that everything was locked up last
night when you retired and that no
outsider was secreted anywhere?" She
burst forth eagerly.
"And indeed I am, sir. I was down
stairs all the evening, and if the front
door bad been open by so much as a
crack I would have known it. I al
ways notice such things. And there
was not anybody in the house besides
Mr. Halliday and myself, either. I
swept the whole place yesterday after
noou, closets and all. If anybody had
been under the beds my broom would
have found him quick enough, the
rogue." Noting these facts in his
memorandum book the officer contin
ued dogmatically:
"Then it comes down to this. Who
ever did this must have done so by
means of a key to the front door. The
back door is still securely bolted from
the inside, and your housekeeper says
she has not had occasion to use it
this morning. Therefore, it still re
mains as it was during the night. The
lower windows are securely fastened;
the upper ones could not have been
raised sufficiently to admit a person
without setting off the burglar alarm,
and there are no other means of en
trance. It could not have been done
otherwio*" There really seemed no
fault with his reasoning thus far, and
we all acquiesced by silent nods. He
turned to us sharply.
"As I have said before, the door
locks are of such a character that
they could not have been picked or
opened with a skeleton key. Now,
who have keys to this place?"
My uncle gulped and placed his
hand upon his swollen throat and I
put myself in the breach. "If there is
no objection I will answer for him. It
will save his strength, and he and
Mrs. Tebbets can listen and correct
me or add anything whenever they
choose."
Gruffly the policeman signified that it
made no difference who spoke so long
as all the facts were made known.
One by one I answered his questions,
watching him as he committed them
to black and white with the painful
effort of a schoolboy struggling with
a composition. All three of us corre
sponded perfectly in our statements,
Mrs. Tebbets merely adding that she
had been awakened by a loud sound
in the night, but thinking it was thun
der, had gone to sleep again. That
the noise was the explosion there
seemed no room for doubt, and the
policeman congratulated her that, she
had remained in bed. as the burglar
undoubtedly was watching her room
at the time. At the end of half an
hour he thrust the memorandum
book into his pocket and pursed up
his lips. Then he arose with a vibra
tion of his ponderous frame that sent
the ashes which had accumulated in
his lap in his combined effort to keep
pen and cigar going at the same
time, flying as water flies from the
shakings of a wet mastiff.
"1 will malto another careful inspec
tion of the premises inside and out
and then put my men to work. I have
a theory and you will hear from me
later. I think the criminal will be
in the clutches of the law very short
ly. If you learn anything of impor
tance, communicate it to me—Captain
Donnell of the Twelfth precinct."
Down the stairs they went, and from
the window I watched them as they
clumped around on the grass beneath
in search of tell-tale clews. Perfunc
torily they passed around the house
and then clambered into the wagon.
"If this matter is ever solved, I
don't believe it will be by them," I
mused as I recalled the stereotyped
and formula-like questions of their
leader. "There is too much intelli
gence back of it for them. They will
shell the woods aimlessly in the faint
hope of driving out somebody; cast
the dragnet and bring in a score of
habitual criminals whom they will
question and then turn loose, after
which they will resume the even tenor
of their way along the trail of some
other rogue. Of course they may
stumble upon something that will give
them a straight tip, but I' don't be
lieve it." I turned again to the bed
where Uncle Abner was threshing
about like a fish out of water as he
berated the thief without stint, and
myself as liberally because I had not
been at home to act as a buffer be
tween the intruder and his wealth. It
was exceedingly trying to me, and
the housekeeper having straightened
out his own bed, I was delighted to
givo him what assistance he needed
to get into it. That done, I left him
there In Mrs. Tebbets' care. Doctor
Courtney still lingered, and I returned
to my own apartments to discuss the
peculiarities of the affair with him.
Perhaps naif an hour had passed la
thls manner when the front door bell
rang sharply, and as Mrs. Tebbets
was In the midst of her own trouble
with my uncle, I went below to an
swer It. Swinging the door open I
saw on the step before me my old
friend. William LeDuc, whom I had
not seen In ages. Heartily I grasped
him by the hand, and dragged lilni
within.
CHAPTER IV.
Tt Is now necessary that I take one
step backward In my relation of thl*
mysterious occurrence. I must go
back to some time before the commis
sion of the burglary and the entry of
LeDuc upon the scene, in order that
you may have all the facts presented
to you as they were to that detec
tive when he took hold of the case.
Having made this new start I think I
can proceed chronologically to the end
of the case, detailing events In the
order in which they happened. 1 am
now beginning a few months before
the robbery:
It was at this period of my life that
T was cast under a speli. Hopelessly,
helplessly and blindly I fell in love
with a woman whose beauty was so
aggressive that no mortal man could
ignore it, while to attempt to describe
it. would be almost to insult It. I
was about twenty-flve then nnd she
possibly four years older. My ac
quaintance with her began through
the Irrepressible Bruce.
1 had dropped into the blue room of
the Imperial for a bottle of ale and
a cigar after the theater, when I ran
into my cousin's arms. He beamed
upon me.
"Delighted, old fellow. Just In time.
Come —1 want to Introduce you." He
grasped my hand with the grip of a
wrestler. Now, you have to exercise
a little discretion before agreeing to
meet Bruce's friends, and I glanced
around furtively. You can never tell
whether the next minute you will be
shaking hands with the Chinese am
bassador or the latest popular pugil
ist, so as the latter gentleman would
express it, I sparred a moment for
wind.
"To whom?" I inquired. He nodded
toward a near-by table at which sat
two women and a man.
"To Dick Edwards —but I guess you
know him already—and the two la
dies. But especially to Mrs. Dace.
If you want good company, you need
not go any further, for you won't find
any better anywhere." I asked him
whom the especial Mrs. Dace might
be, and he laughed with what 1
thought was a faint undercurrent of
significance beneath It.
"Oh, I haven't time to tell. Widow
of somebody who died somehow,
which is enough to know all at once.
Main thing is she Is as beautiful as
a hour! and gracious as an empress,
but wise, my boy, wise, wise. Also
apparently Is a person of some means,
amount of means represented by X,
meaning unknown quantity; source
of means problem In higher mathe
matics very difficult of solution. But
remember this: If you begin to feel
sentimental when you look at her, re
member that life Is only a joke and
laugh at yourself; but when It comes
to wine, remember that life is a
mighty serious proposition and stay
sober. Come on now." In another
moment he was introducing me.
"Mrs. Dace and Miss Lyddon—Mr.
Halliday. Cousin of mine through no
fault of his. but nevertheless highly
recommended by me. 1 believe you
have met him, Dick, and will confirm
me, Sorry I have togo, but he will
fill my place and round out your
party. Good night all," and he was
gone.
I took my chair with a quick mental
inventory of my new acquaintances.
Miss Lyddon was tall, waspy and good
looking in an indolent blond way;
Edwards was a prosperous looking
man of about thirty-five; Mrs. Dace
positively startling. From a purely
physical standpoint her beauty was
gorgeous. But so wonderfully com
plex was it that It could no more be
analyzed by one glance than can a
painted masterpiece. While its gen
eral effect was to cause a gasp of de
light at first sight, when you looked
again you saw that its perfection was
the result of the exquisite blending of
many tints into an incomparable
whole. Never had I seen a mouth so
bewitching, lips so rich or smile so
dazzling. Her hair was changeful as
an opal, her brows wonderfully arched,
her eyes royal blue and bordered by
long lashes that screened them as
ferns shade deep forest pools. She
was wonderful. Fascinated by her
beauty for a moment I sat silently a£
she calmly surveyed me, one perfect
hand idly toying with a small gold
purse that lay upon the table. Then
far down In the sea depths of her blue
eyes T saw faint amusement gathering
and I drew myself together with a
start. Edwards was explaining:
"You see, we had arranged for a
theater party and there were to be
four of us. Then at the last hour
Mrs. Dace's escort became slightly in
disposed and she came down alone
and met Miss Lyddon and myself. We
are now about to have something to
eat, and possibly a wee bit to drink.
I happened to see your cousin Bruce
and hailed him to join us, but it
seems he has an excuse. Then he
providentially happened to spy you
and impressed you into his place to
complete the party. So everybody is
happy once more."
While I am no such gabbler as
Bruce, I think I can hold my own in
any fairly well regulated conversation.
I rose to the occasion. The wine oiled
my tongue and Mrs. Dace's little ap
plauding laughs and nods of approval
spurred my wit. Edwards seemed
content to remain comparatively
quiet; Miss Lyddon was too indolent
to care to do other than be enter
tained: Mrs. Dace was a sympathetic
listener, and without effort I held the
floor. I had read considerably, and
the pigeon holes of my memory were
well stocked with the aphorisms of
the sages. Through the simple effort
of recollection I became philosopher,
theologian, poet. To the soft patter
of their applause I even soared to
original heights. In the parlance of
the stage, I made a hit. In fact when
one o'clock came and with It the in
timation from Mrs. Dace that she
must depart, It was only after a little
slgli that reached my ears alone, and
a Hash from her wonderful eyes that
quickly hid themselves behind the
screening lashes as I looked deep into
them. Of the perpendicular bill I paid
my half without pang, secretly philo
sophized by the knowledge that the
gods won't allow us to be in their
debt, and when man wines and dines
with woman he must pay for It with
the glistening Jewels of his brow.
We prepared to depart.
Edwards paved the way for me.
"Mrs. Dace lives at the Arcadia, which
i« not more than a mile from your
house. You can take her there, step
back in your carriage and be home ten
minutes later. Miss Lyddon and I
go in another direction, and leave you
to your pleasant homeward ride. Of
course we must all meet again. It
will require another evening to talk
this one over."
We bade them good night, and hail
ing a carriage, I assisted my compan
ion into It. The rather long ride
homeward still lingers in my mind as
a pleasant dream. The gentle sway
ing of the carriage as the rubber tires
rolled noiselessly over the boulevard
lulled us into half confidences. She
told me quite a few things about her
self. Her husband, an Englishman,
had been In some diplomatic service
In the orient, had died a year before,
and she had now come back to her
birthplace on matters of business,
t'ureservedly, she seemed to accept
me as a thorough man of the world,
and even did me the flattery to repeat
some of my witticisms of the evening
and laugh over them for a moment
the second time. When I say that
I was charmed I think I have ex
pressed it.
In front of the formidable entrance
to the building where she resided I
assisted her to alight, and she thrust,
out her fingers which I took eagerly.
The physical contact thrilled me from
head to toe and the enchantment of
her smile enthralled me. "You have
entertained me delightfully. I feel
flattered to have met you," she mur
mured. "And since you are a busy
man by day, I hope you will call and
see me some evening when you can
think of nothing else to do. You can
reach me over the phone at almost
any time. I hope you will not forget
me."
That anyone once seeing her could
ever forget her! Nothing could be
more ridiculous than the thbught. I
lightly laughed the idea to scorn as I
bent over her hand. "Mrs. Dace, the
old Roman general reported to his
emperor, 'I came, I saw, I conquered.'
To you I must report somewhat differ
ently. 'I came, I saw, I am con
quered.' I will pay you my tributes
very soon. Until then life will be a
necessity instead of a pleasure."
She tripped up the entrance steps
and from their top sent me a flutter
of her handkerchief and a flashing
smile that made my blood leap as
she vanished behind the heavy door.
Back into the carriage I climbed and
went home In an exhilaration of spir
its that the wine did not account for.
The seine had been cast aud was be
ing held wide to receive. Unsuspi
ciously the fish wiggled on.
The next day I happened to see
Bruce. In the course of our conversa
tion I casually asked him what he
knew of my companion of the night
before, and he began digging his fin
gers into his head as though trying to
scratch out au answer. Presently it
came;
"Let's see. I don't know that T can
tell you very much —you know I
never paid any particular attention to
her," he began in a quizzical glance
at me. "Still, if you will agree to
keep it a family secret. I might re
member a few things. Promise, hon
est Injun?"
"Honest Injun "
"Well, then, here goes. Matle Mad
den was born in this towii about
thirty years ago of poor but dishonest
parents. But she was a beauty, even
as a girl, and people forgave her par
entage on that account. She eloped
out of school with a more or less ac
count Englishman named Dace, who
afterwards got into the service of his
government over in India or some oth
er outlandish place on the back of the
map. He died with his boots on."
"How was he killed?" I inquired.
Bruce grew a trifle more serious.
"Well, now, that is something I am
no authority upon. I can only repeat
to you in confidence what I have
heard and read. But the report has It
that It happened In a disagreement
with a Russian nobleman over her —
one of those cheerful little affairs
that sometimes occur out that way,
you know; referee and seconds to the
front; wine and jealousy in the back
ground; moon in the distance—you
understand. Anyway it made a rip
ping good story for the journals. Next
thing 1 heard of her she was back
here. I hope you are not going to
make a fool of yourself over her."
I lis general tone had slightly irri
tated me, but the last remark positive
ly nettled. "No; I think one In the
family is enough," I retorted. But he
slipped the thrust aside in his usual
smooth way, laughing.
"I guess that's right. Come to
think of it, I never did know you to
make a fool of yourself over anything.
That does seem to be my specialty,
doesn't it? But while I give you
credit for having a better balanced
head than I have, I'll tell you
I do in certain case*. When I get up
against ft proposition like cocaine In
wine, or a woman like Mrs. Dace, I
run for the fence. They are too
blamed seductive'to fool with and X
don't take any chances with them.
She has got the beauty and graces of
all the mythological goddesses com
bined, but that does not count for
everything. If I remember rightly,
those mythological goddesses were a
pretty bad lot."
With the Instinctive desire that
Clare had possessed to fly to liis de
fense, I now felt myself surging to
Mrs. Dace's. But 1 held myself in
leash. "Even assuming for the sake
of argument that I should desire to
make a fool of myself over her, what
possible object could she have In en
couraging me to such Idiocy ?" I asked.
He puckered up his mouth and thrust
his hands deep In Ills pockets.
"Well, now, that is one of the funny
things about women. Of course we
don't know much about them, btit we
do know this: We know that the only
reason they care for us Is because
they can't get anything better. If the
gods came to earth, the only thing left
for man to do would be to cast him
self like swine into the sea. And
therein is where we differ from wom
ankind. Man doesn't want angels;
plain mortal woman —provided she Is
not too plain, of course—ls good
enough for him. But Inasmuch a* she
can't achieve the gods, on this earth
at least, she turns toman as the next
best substitute. Now you are a strap
ping young fellow, good looking and
all that, and such men have always
Interested women from the beginning.
But remember, there are women and
women. Take Clare, for instance.
She is beautiful, too. nnd keeps her
self looking as attractive as possible
in order to make people like her.
Yet she is as harmless as a butter
fly. Some others aren't. You ought
to know something of the species be
fore you pick up a thing just because
it Is gaudy. You might get stung."
Absolutely without information con
cerning her beyond what Bruce him
self had confided in me, half aagry
at myself that I should take the
trouble to answer him, I nevertheless
yielded to my impulse to defend her.
With considerable emphasis I told htm
that 1 should refuse to believe any in
"I Hope You Will Not Forget Me."
slnuations against her until I had pos
itive knowledge of their truth. He
listened silently, growing suddenly
sober at my warmth, and when 1 had
finished addressed me with a mollify
ing pat upon the back.
"Whew! I didn't think you were
going to get so warmed up over a lit
tle thing like that. But you may be
sure I have no- desire to disparage
your lady. I told you to start with
that I knew almost nothing about her
except by hearsay, and you know as
well as I'do what that sort of evi
dence is worth. They won't listen to
It in law. She may be pure gold for
all I know; but I was just warning
you to keep your guard up until you
have feinted her out. But now I'll tell
you something which I do know to
be a fact. If you expect to hold a
princess, you have got to be a prince
of good fellows yourself and go out
and buy her a new castle every few
days. Furthermore, in this case, you
are going to run up against a real
dragon." I smiled.
"Dragons always get the worst of
it In the story books; fire, smoke and
all," I returned with a touch of sar
casm. But Bruce seemed very much
In earnest.
"Well, you won't find this one any
fairy tale beast that you can chop up
with a tin sword. He is an up-to-date,
high-geared, sixty-horse power, mile-a
minute juggernaut, and you had better
keep out of his way or you'll get
smashed."
"And the dragon Is who?"
"Richard Mackay, boodler prince
and political boss who was indicted
by the grand jury In connection with
that thirty-million dollar franchise
jjrub tram the city; and who by som*
means unknown to me escaped the
cell that he ought to garntßh," he
shot over his shoulder as he turned
away.
"Thank you ever so much." Ire»
tortecl.
CHAPTER V.
The love of a man for a woman Is
a strange disease. Its methods of
attacking Its victims are varient; its
effects manifold. It may be spasmod
ic or insidious, acute or chronic, vio
lent as the toothache or unsuspected
as a slow fever. Its subjects may bo
melancholic, exhilarated, tormented,
soothed or affected In any one of a
dozen other different ways. In my
case, to start with. It was both Insid
ious and exhilarating. I was some
what like a man who has been shot
through some soft part by a modern
high-power rifle. He perhaps does not
feel It at the time and may run on for
a considerable distance before a sharp
pang notifies him that he is badly hit
indeed. Then he sits down In consid
erable astonishment and wonders
just when he got It. I had felt no
shock as yet, and had no doubt of my
ability to run out of danger at any
time. I made an engagement to call
upon Mrs. Dace, and then dressed my
self with particularity as to details.
That done, I squared myself before
the mirror for a view of the general
effect.
I could not help but feel Ihat Bruce
had spoken only the truth regarding
my personal appearance. I am si*
feet tall, and when I was in college
was a scintillating athletic star of the
first magnitude. Nor do I believe
that I am any vainer than the average
man, but if any woman whom I hap
pened to be with was ever displeased
with my physical personage, I never
became aware of It. Mrs. Dace had
evidently approved of It, for she paid
me the round-about compliment of
confessing In a general way her ad
miration of tall, well-set-up men. As
suring myself by a last sweeping
glance in the glass that I could do
nothing more to improve my toilet, I
departed.
The Arcadia was one of the modern
palace apartments that are springing
up so magically in our greater cities.
Its entrance was castle like; Its outer
court a bower; Its walls glistening
marble. Its height was great and its
general effect imposing. There were
private garages on each floor for the
cars of its tenants. I went in at the
entrance where I had left her, took
the elevator to the fifth floor and
rang the bell of her suite. The door
was opened by an Inscrutable-faced
mulatto maid who surveyed me up
and down with a quick keenness that
made me feel that she would never
forget me. I inquired for her mistress
and was immediately shown into a
handsomely furnished reception par
lor. Promptly Mrs. Dace came float
ing from between the portieres.
I viewed her with refreshed admira
tion. Her gown though of angelic
simplicity was yet a triumph of art
fulness. The cunning of a master
hand was revealed in each smooth
curve and the delicate tracery of lace
work through which the white flesh
gleamed. Her figure was exquisite,
and seemed to have been molded,
within this creation of a genius. She
approached me with hand extended,
her smile a witching thing.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
A Drawback.
"I should think it would be bad
for the succession of a kingdom to
have a bald-headed ruler."
'"Why so?"
"Because he has no heir apparent."
Their Class.
"What would you call authors on
aviation ?"
"Well, unless they go up In aero
planes of literature, I fthculd class
them as underwriter*."