Waterbury Democrat., 1900-11-30
G I , THE STURGIS WAGER { , A DEFECTIVE STORY. z ( - Nj , By EDGAR MORETTE < < Copyright 1899, by Frederick A. Stokes Co. A
 S&@&R&e&0N
CHAPTER XI.

traced plan or the hn1ckeroochef bank.
 "From this point on," he continued, q have indicated the various trails on the diagram. The dotted lines repre- sent Arbogast's footprints; the con- tinuous lines show Chatham's trail.'
 "How can you distinguish between the two?" inquired Dunlap.
 "There is no difficulty about that" replied Sturgis. "The differences are very marked. I know Arbogast's foot because I have seen it; and l know that the other one is Chatham's be- cause you recognized the man from the description gave of him."
 "Yes, I know. But how could you describe him so accurately when you have never seen him?"
 T shall come to that presently" said Sturgis, smiling; you must let me tell my story in my own way, if I am to tell it commercially"
 every we'll" said the banker, resign edly. Hold on, though" he ex- claimed; you speak of two sets of trails; but what is this third set of lines, marked by alternate dots and dashes?''
 They represent the traces of third individual who will appear upon the scene later on. He has not yet re- ceived his cue. But, since you mention him, we may put him down in the cast as K the unknown quantity of the problem; for l do not yet know his name. Now, then; let me see. Where was l? Your interruption has made me lose the thread. Oh, yes; the men were in this room. Arbogast, nervous and excited, paced back and forth, like a caged animal. Chatham was more collected. It was warm in the bank, as compared with the intense cold outside; he removed his overcoat and threw it over the back of that chair in the corner. This fact is shown by the direction of the footsteps toward the chair, and by mark di- rectly below the arm of the chair where the garment trailed upon the wet floor. Chatham's carelessness was fraught with serious consequences; for, as luck would have it, there was, in one of the pockets of his coat, an important letter, which slipped out and fell upon the floor superscription uppermost. Here is the envelope it. self, which I have pieced together. You will see that it is soiled only upon the back, and here near the chair is the faint oblong mark which is left upon the floor. Chatham went to the telephone in the cashiers office. He probably did not see the letter fall It caught Arbogast's eye, however; and you can imagine his surprise when he saw that it was addressed to his wife. What had his accomplice to write to his wife? Arbogast evidently was not restrained by any feelings of delicacy in the matter, or else he was already suspicious of Chatham; for he picked up the envelope, tore it open, and read the letter which lies before you, as I have pieced it together. It makes interesting reading, l do not wonder that Arbogast lost his head when he saw it. Read it for yourself.''
 "Why,"eXclained Dunlap, after read ing the letter, this announces his in- tention of col-,mitting suicide.' "Precisely; and yet Arbogast did not commit suicide; probably never had any intention of doing so; and, at any | rate did not write that letter. You | will observe that it is not signed; the name is typewritten, like the rest of the | letter, which, moreover, was not writ ten here, ss the superscription would seem to indicate. I have tried your | typewriter, and although it is of the same make as the one upon which this letter was written, there are several 1 characteristic differences in the align ment and in the imperfections of the type.
 Besides" continued Sturgis, thoughtfully, "the letter itself bears evidence, on it's face, That it could not have been written by Arbogast. Your | boolel1eeper was of weak, nervous, ex- 1 citable temperament, as all his actions plainly show. Before such a man is brought to the point of taking his own life, he must have passed through a more or less protracted period of ago uizing nervous tension, of which you and I can hardly form any adequate conception. Under the circumstances, | if he loved his wife, conscious that by | his guilt he was about to plunge her into the depths of grief and shame, he might have written her an incoherent and hysterical letter, or a tender and repentant letter, but never this frigid, matter-of-fact statement Of supreme decision. This letter is the work of a cold and calculating nature, incapab ble of ordinary human feeling. The man who wrote it would not have written to his wife at all, or would have written only. to serve some selfish purpose. From what l know of Arbogast, I do not believe he was capable of compos- 1 ing these lines"
 You think, then, that the letter was written by Chatham," said Dunlap. ''But what object could Chatham have for writing such letter?"
 "No,' answered Sturgis. 'I do not think that Chatham wrote this letter. That is the curious part of it.. cannot believe that if Chatham had been aware of the important nature of it's contents, he could have been willing to leave it for an instant within Arbo- gast's reach."
 But who, then. could have been it's author, and why should he have in l trusted the letter to Chatham ?"
 .'To your second question, my answer is, probably because he wanted ii mailed from the main post office at about the time that Arbogest would