Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1900-12-05

any case, I'm going to see if the man
who planted that diamond in your hat
is coming back for it. Tonight you
will use the same armchair that you
used last night; only tonight you will
be crouched behind it-and awake!"
To my plan Kinch readily agreed.
I was reader of novels; but only
certain class of novels; and that mere
" for professional purposes. My ia
vorite authors were Emile Gaboriau,
Fortune Du Boisgobey, Edgar Allan
Poe and Wilkie Collins. Now, I had
just finished reading 1.-THE Moonstone."
It will be remembered that in this work
certain diamond is lost, and that the
man to whom it is of the greatest i'm
portance that the stone shall be found
is the unwilling cause of it's loss. He
walks in his sleep, and transports the
gem from place of comparative safety
to place from whence it is taken by
the real thief.
wantsd to see if Joseph Kinch were
somnambulist. I remembered that
he had dropped asleep with his mind
full of the diamond, it's value, it's hid
ing place-selected by me; and it's car
rying place selected by himself. And
I thought that, in his troubled SUM-
bers, his Inconsistencies might have
been at work telling him to mistrust
my selection and to use one more his
own. And I also thought drawing
again upon Wilkie Co.lins) that, it
Kinch were placed in almost his iden-
teal position of the night before, he
might possibly repeat almost his iden-
teal movements.
That night, at spy-hole in the wall
just above a picture, stationed Sergt.
Stavely. WANTED a witness, for Kinch's
sake, and perhaps for my own. AS for
me, 1 hid in a cupboard which had a
hole bored in a panel. The window
was left open; the gas was turned
down; and Detective Kinch was en-
sconced behind chair. That I was
the only occupant of my miniature
Black Hole of Calcutta pleased me
greatly, and applied to the small
drilled hole opening in the panel my
mouth more often than my eye. Would
no one come? Would nothing happen?
Would I prove to be wrong? Hours
passed. I languished. Kinch slept. At
any rate. heard him snore! And, after
awhile, I saw that there was no need
for him to watch. Then I grew proud
of myself; and I hoped that Stavely
was looking. After all, I liked Kincn.
and I was glad.
He rose; he began slowly to pace the
room; he murmured to himself. II
wonder if the diamond is safe ?" said
he. Later, in dreamy, gliding sort of
fashion, he moved the desk, lifted the
lid, fumbled at the corners, picked out
the gem (for, unknown to him, had
replaced it there), and, walking to the
door, he took down his hat (which I had
also replaced), and he carefully put the
diamond between the silk and the felt.
My theory was indicated. Well,
there was some good in those writer
fellows after all. overjoyed, 1 sprang
out from the cupboard.
'Thank goodness you woke me-"
''Thank goodness you went to Sleep"
said I.
Stavely was very complimentary;
Kinch was not only complimentary,
he was grateful; at any rate, he said
as much. Some months after he got
position in London. And ESQ far as
am aware) Joseph Kinch never gave
cause for any other man to have sus-
picions about him-unless they were
criminals, and they don't count.
But-ah, there is always but!
Not long after he left the town was
strolling past secondhand book
shop. Exposed for resale was 4 well
known novel; inside, on the fly-leaf,
was a well-known signature. The
novel was ..The Moonstone;"' the sig
nature was Joseph Knch." "a
Now, although, in these, days, I have
retired, I am still man Of manv
suspicious; the nature Of my business
and the disposition of my wife have
made me SO. And I continually ask
myself these questions: Did joseph
Kinch buy read 'The Moon
stone" before my explanation, or att
er? On the first night, was joseph
Kinch asleep or awake And on the
second night. was Joseph Nnch asleep
or awake wide awake Q it'll Bits.
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