The sun., 1895-02-24

| tOniTOnItu Wltn n0W prOOlem. Mnen j Wenl
10 bed had left the door partly open. Now II
was not only shut and locked. but the key was
| It was the work OF a few moments TO open the
door. stumble IN the dark over Challoner's open
valise ,o his bed grab him by the shoulder and
"Ail right. Five o'clock ?" he said slseplly.
,,Chnlloner, wake npH cried .,,,,
more Touscd.
"1rsl, For Heavens sake get up and light n
candle" and IN a moment the illcker OF a candle
showed me thnloner leaning over ON his pillow
with eyes, half shut against the light
he jumped out OF bed and asked. "By Jovel
whats ,,, the -, mater ra You 2ok & dresdfui1.
Il g6osi?" repeated Ghailoner. MY dear
osy pglloywresEyoH ought not tn Psopl1 dont Zee Zee
bed and smiled sIecpy. ''
MAY he but have. Look" and drew my
hand across my forehead and shook the heads OF
BY JoyeH' exclaimed Challoner. lie was
fully awake now.
hurriedy, and when described the silhouette
of the figure revealed to by the flash OF light
:. You lhink you've seen ghos.,,' he said ex-
ctedy, but you've seen rObber."
My dear ear fellow" % said d Chaiioner, do be
reasonable! Is your money all right"
The Quest ion aroused me like an electric shock.
II don't know" said and hurried into my
| room followed by Challoner. Trem bling, lifed
'"s thought t"g chsilonsT. rhis is bad
| ITS more than bad" said. =" can't afford to
lose that money And good heavens Challoner,
was nearly 30 francs In that"
"Oh, say, that is too bad; really" said Chal-
| find any trace" and taking the candle from me
he stepped TO the door leading into the hall, but
as he turned the knob stopped with an exclama-
by love. tho doors locked, and the keys on
well, | locked it myself last night before
went to bed. =" replied. but the remarkable
| door between our rooms was MAR but when
| tried to get into your room just now II was not
only shut and locked. but the key was OH the
,Challoner gave low whistle. II must say
| that was mysterious" he said.
| YES" said !. burglars can't lock doors and
| leave the key on the other side"
| "Perhaps you locked it in your sleep" said
now ~ j asked. +" Besides, / wouldn't steal my
NaturaIly,, said Challoner, '1but when you
threw Yourself out Of bed you might have
clothes" and he pointed to the disordered heap
But" objected. when we came in the pill
low was in place, II had dragged the lower
sheet and the pillow out with mo when jumped
| that would be reasonable, but there they are.
untiisturbed" !" and point ed TO the bed.
Nevertheless, we searched the bedclothes the
hn Ss Set air %a cod aer the
| hastily pulled on Il dressing gown and slippers
and followed Challoner into his room. thorough
But as Challoner walked across the room he
struck something with his bare foot, picked it
up and handed 1t to Inc with a cry OF surprise.
1t was my purse. torn and empty.
Well" said Chaloner in amazoment. "how
chaiioner. halle .' looS s Whispered. I pointing to the
door that opened on the hall. That doors not
"Go5d Heavens, you're right" said Challoner.
springing to the door which was pulled TO. but
We opened tho door, but the halls were dark
As we shut the door said Better look after
your own money. Challoner The burglars been
Chaloner ran to his bed and pulled off the pill
low. There was nothing there. He then searched
eagerly under the mattress and found his little
where's your watch ?" asked.
We found 1t on the dressing table. partly hid
Pretty poor Door luck" said cSsIioner. I'm not
Yes hut think of me- / said i've lost
everything"
loner. land feel responsible for it: must have
forgotten to lock my door"
softly went down stairs, over the mosaic paved
hall, and walked the porter. He was alarmed
managers room and reused him also. He gues;;
toned the porter closely. but the man insisted
that no one had gone out or come in since we did;
the manager not only saw that all the doors were
locked, but took the keys away with him. Then
we went buck to our rOCms. our Pickering can
dies lighting dimly the frescos OF the halls.
When we reached our rooms we SAT and
- don't see how he managed it, said;
do sal" sat GhallG1eT & ,ro, He cnmo into my
Then he went to your room, locking the door
after him so | couldn't help you If you called.
But" persisted. chow. after robbng me.
could ne have gone out through that door and
left 1t locked on the nside?"
staid whore he was. and followed you into my
room when you unlocked the door Then he
open door. pulled it to, and and , LETT for"I wish
knew where: The man who did it was an ex-
The thought of the mans having been in tho
r1o room VIII VIII me, ne perhaps close lose to me- as fun,
cold cGis running down m my spne sfiii si the the
theory seemed the only possible one;
AID ChaGner hsrss suhSsS s5so
me frst., because after he robbed you he had no
time to do so. The fact that the door was locked
on the inside when YOU got to il proved he was
still in the room Lastly we found your rifed
purse in my room, where he had evidently
guilt. Now, he couldn't have had your purse in
his possession till he had robbed you OF it, and
that, or he couldn't have left 1t there. No doubt
he would have attacked you or both OF US, had
easy for him that he didn't need TO-"
w." Yes" said ]: nyou're andGnbtedly, right
"No,s said hs smiling, the clues We're too
good goo for any one to miss but at first we were
as early possible the next day. They at once
arrested the porter of the hotel, and the waiter
with whom he had been talkin the night before,
when he had come down stairs TO deposit our
valuabl in the managers safe.
Tho waiter proved alibi, and there being
not scrap Of evidence against the porter, they
were discharged.
Then. their official sense of duty being entirely
satisfied. tho Florentine police relapsed into
their normal condition OF mastery inactivity. |
the rhostiy white hands. chalionser lone ID did t not
altogether believe in them. and was ashamed |
10 admit that did. Besides, you cant arrest u |
ghost, especially when he is nothing but hands. |
We waited two days, and then Chaloner re- |
celyed a telegram from his friends IN Lucerne, |
and said:
Pm going. The moneys gone, and there's |
no use throwing more after It,"
think there is" said, and I'm going to
wait and see. at all events"
So Challoner went to Lucerne, Offering to pay |
half the expenses II found the money, and / |
went 10 the police again and creased the wheels |
of justice by offering 200 francs for the recov-