The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-04-11


catch my man; l can't write another
line without a burglar"
IF you stay shall,' rejoined Helen,
with forlorn-hope fortitude. Il shouldn't
mind it so much if he'd only come
quickly and have it over with; it's the
suspense that's SO trying to ones nerves.
Are you sure the apparatus will work
when the time comes?"
Leonard smiled grimly. I'D be sorry
to have to use it; I'd lose my specimens,
and I'm afraid we'd have a corpse to
dispose Of"
Horrors said Helen, ''it's fairly
gruesome to hear you talk about it. Must
You go on? Can't you get what you want
out of the books for this once"
yes, I can read up and paraphrase
what some other luckier fellow has said,
suppose, but that wouldn't be art. No;
I've got to have my model, and the soon
or he turns up the better for all concern
ed. Now that you speak of it, though,
the suspense is Il bit trying"
1t was about this time that Macarthur
of the Sunday Ream, asked me how /
had manag ed to screw an interview out
of Leonard; q direct question which /
evaded by saying that the rising young
author was personal friend of mine.
That's too DID," said Macarthur, "but
I'll forgive you if you'll tell me how l
can get chance at him for the Ream.
You have had your scoop out of him,
and you ought to be neighborly.'
Go and see him. As did"
Then it wasn't fake?"
The Daily Monograph doesn't print
fakes.'
mo, l suppose not. But do You mean
to tell me that all that clap-trap about
his money matters is true?
Il wrote the interview myself
Then your friend is a fool, as well as
a mnatic Why, man, it's straight
out, open bid for burglary any night
in the week.
Perhaps that is What Leonard wants.
I'm told he is given to studying odd
types-makes a hobby of it, they say
Macarthur whipped out his notebook.
Does, Ell? That's good for stick
full or two. You won't tell me how TO
get at him.
II can't"
.'All right He'll miss some more good
advertising that's all. But if l ever do
get crack at him I'll make him wish
he hadn't cold-shouldered the craft. and
you can tell him so when you see him. =
Leonard was in the city the next day,
and ! did tell him, after he had bored
me piteously about the failure of his
burglar trap.
Who is Macarthur he queried. Il
don't remember any such man on the
Ream.''
Hes new man from Chicago; a
stocky. thick-set Irishman. with bad
jaw and a sharp-pointed pen. If he ever
turns up in Brankville you'd better be
civil to him. Otherwise he'll abuse you
like a pickpocket"
Leonard made 4 memorandum of fhe
name and description.
If Mr.. Macarthur ever turns up with
hi, Interrogation point, I'll entertain
him on the front doorstep he said,
viciously. They've been making my life
Il Dantean misery ever since you printed
that interview. Barring yourself, no
newspaper fiend ever sees the inside Of
Caste Freakley, not if | know it,
Leonard's errand in town was to get
me to bait the burglar trap ,afreSh. and
when it was done he took a late train
home. Helen met him at the door of the
cottage. and for sensible young woman
who looked upon the world through calm
gray eyes that mirrored self-possession
she was perilously near the verge Of
hysteria.
''Oh, Harvey" she gasped, Z M so glad
you've come! I've been ready to faint
for fear gou'd stay in the city over
night
III r,tn
ton like Il piece of automatic machan-
ism.
Then he has Gomez" he broke in
eagerly. How do you know
Il have seen him." asserted Helen,
mot once but Il dozen times. He has
been up and dewn the street and through
the alley, prying and staring until
could have shrieked. He is such a ter
rible looking viiiain-worse than any
thing you ever saw on the stage
Good said Leonard, warming gen
tally at the fire of enthusiasm. Il hope
you didn't do anything to scare him Off
Scare him! / didn't dare show my
face at the window o, please. Harvey,
dear, give it up and ring for a police
man."
Give it up, when ! have only to press
the buttonT Neverr' said Leonard, he
roically; mot if l have to-but give me
something to eat, and then tell me what
he looks like
The cottage was ablaze with light
from hall to kitchen, but Helen chung
nervously to her husbands arm all the
way to the coy dining room. There she
regained some measure of composure;
and having turned the switches on the
electric blazer and the tea maker, she
described the prowler while Leonard lis
tened and absently buttered his bread
with salad dressing
'Heavy-set and broad-shouldered," he
unused; that means plenty of vitality
and consequent absence of sensibility.
I'll have to keep the electrodes moist to
make sure. What else did you observe"
II couldn't observe anything for sheer
terror. His face was simply appalling;
never saw anything like it, not even in
the newspaper pictures"
That's great" said Leonard ''this is
worth waiting for. He is evidently a
pprfact typa and If 7 aan onca cat him