The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-07-20
hhooA AAiS tive. All druggists. Sc

The officer waved his hand in the di-
rection of the street
"He seems to have had bad fall, " he
continued. 81 should say he must have
tried TO climb down from "A window. i
shouldn't be surprised il he was done
for
"Pn be with you in minute" f" said
Dane.
The officer went out. Dane turned to
me.
"Now, in the name OF heaven, tell me
what you have done, he cried.
] stammered out my story.
He seized me by the shoulder and held
me face To face with him.
nWake upl' he exclaimed. sect your
wits together. You've had this thing by
the wrong end. / am detective. I've
been watching this man called Erwin for
| days and days.
ale was suspected of Kohnfeld's muir
| der, but he was only name at first. No
| one knew who he was or where he had
| gone. j traced him TO this place, and
! got this room because il was next TO his.
! He knew that he was shadowed, though
at first he could not tell by whom | kept
| him so worried that he could not destroy
those evidences OF his crime, which are
now ashes, thanks to you.
"Laboriously ! gathered them. The
| coat found hidden in the cellar OF this
| building The shoe was there also, al
though not in the same hiding place. But
| the bonds | could not find. i decided
| that he would have TO find them for me-
Many a night i tracked that man, and
one of the best shadows on the headquar-
ter's staff tracked us both. "
The figure / had seen TO follow Dane
| was explained.
/ "We thought he would surely lead us
| to the bonds ~ he continued, "but we
were always disappointed. At last i found
them. They were in the custody OF per
son with whom Erwin communicated
| secretly, in the course of his nightly
| walks. That confederate is now under
| arrest j got the bonds and was bringing
them back with me this evening when L
encountered you in the hall.
Meanwhile Erwin eluded the shadow
and got back TO Chrysalis. He came to
this room. 1t was his only chance-to
find the accumulated evidence and de-
stroy ii. II was mere chance that kept me
away so long. j was trying TO make
| connections with the shadow. 1t is pos
sible that Erwin counted on that.
"You know the rest Erwin must have
been daZed when you appeared. It's
lucky for you that he was. But his
shrewdness, which is more than mortal,
enabled him to take advantage Of your
| error in supposing him TO be detective.
| He left this room with thirty thousand
dollars and the bonds; and il he'd got
| away heaven only knows when we'd have
sorry after the fact-indeed you are one
now, but / guess we can get you out of it
| all right. You may have TO do little
lying to get your money back; for in
stance, you might say he found you here
| and bourd, gagged and robbed you.
| Well see about that.
| "Now, a word more to post you about
the case: / was put on it because j knew
| Kohnfeld. I'd had dealings with the old
william to my cost Indeed | owed him a
good deal of money which, by the way,
/ shall have TO pay mighty soon out Of
| my share of the reward.
erwin, by the way, is very high
class crook. / feel considerable satisfac>
tion in beating him. About the time
when you first found me here the case
was looking all wrong and j was very
blue, as you doubtless noticed. That ac-
| counts for some peculiarities OF my man.
| ner which helped to mislead you. Well,
| forgive you; yes, and thank you, too,
most heartily. To pass now from myself
| to the other person who has been under
suspicion, l will tell you that Erwin had
| had dealings with Kohnfeld and the old
fence had advanced him money. He was
| forcing payment by means of document
ary evidence OF Erwin's many crimes: and
he lost-his life and the documents at the
| same time" "
"Why didn't Erwin burn these things
| in his own room?' | asked.
| lie hadn any stove, replied Dane.
| "There's only CRATE. Ii was safer TO
hide them. Come, let's go and see him.
We were too late; Erwin had been re-
moved TO hospital. He died within a
few days.
| / was never forced to tell the story
which Dane had suggested. He secured
my money for me and hushed up the
| whole affair
| Dane and / are closer friends than ever.
| ] know he thinks less than nothing of my
intellectual capacity, at least as applied TO
matters in his chosen field, but that need
not affect his regard for me. Was not our
| old friend Wanda rewarded for his devo-
| tion? And he was fool by right OF
descent, being the son OF Witless, who
was the son OF Weatherbrain, who was the
son of an Alderman.
THE END.