Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1900-09-21

the description | gave Of him."
Eyes, | know. But how could you
describe him so accurately when you
! have never seen him."
81 shall come 20 that presently" said
Sturgis, smiling; you must let me
tell my story in my own way, if | am
TO tell it connectedly"
every WELL" 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 a third
individual, who will appear upon the
scene later ON. lie has not yet re-
! coived his cue. But, since YOU mention
/ him, we may put him down i'm the cast
as " the unknown quantity Of the
/ problem; for | do not yet know his
name. Now, then; let me see. Where
was |? 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 Gagged animal. Chatham was
more collected. 1t 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 il, 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 | 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
1t 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 il open.
and reau the letter which lies before
you, as ! have pieced it together. 1t
makes interesting reading. l do not
wonder that Arbogast lost his head
when he saw it. Read ii for yourself
"Why," exclaimed Dunlap, after read
| ing the letter, this announces his in
tention of committing 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 il is not signed; the
name is typewriter, like the rest of the
letter, which, moreover, was not writ
ten here, as the superscription would
seem to indicate. | have tried your
typewriter, and although it is of the
same make as the one upon which this
letter was written, there are several
Characteristic differences in the align
ment and in the imperfections of the
type.
Besides" continued Sturgis,
thoughtfully, the letter itself bears
evidence, on its face, that il could not
have been written by Arbogast. Your
bookkeeper was of a weak, nervous, eX-
citable temperament, as all his actions
plainly show. Before such man is
brought to the point of taking his own
life, he must have passed through
more or less protracted period OF ago.
nizing nervous tension, of which you
and | 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
repentaEt letter, but never this frigid,
matter-of-fact statement of supreme
decision. This letter is the work of n
cold and calculating nature, incapable
of ordinary human feeling. The man
who wrote il 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, | do
not believe he was capable of compos-
ing these lines"
You think, then, that the letter was
written by Chatham" said Dunlap.
But what object could Chatham have
for writing such a letter.
NO" answered Sturgis. 81 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 its
contents, he could have been willing to
leave it for an instant within Arbo-
CASTS reach"
But who, then, could have been its
author, and why should he have in
trusted the letter TO Chatham"
ITO your second question, my answer
is, probably because he wanted it
mailed from the main post Office at
about the time that Arbogast would
leave the bank. To the first, ! cannot
v,4 ,rivo INV mos i've. ore,t-ar a1tI ptrpb