The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-22

1 act state OF my feelings Oh Ills Latter,
| come to these rooms tonight at sharp
and l will allow you to hear from the
! lips of certain acquaintance of mine a
| story which may serve to give you some
! enlightenment He's not man YOU will
want to meet, so I must ask you to con-
| tent yourself with an easy chair in my
den. He will be received in this room,
and the door yonder can be left conven-.
iently open. Do you object to this ar
rangement? It smacks of conspiracy and
other things not altogether agreeable;
but it's the best I can do for you at this
time, and poor Yox won't care; it's your
feelings l am mainly considering"
| 81 will be here l doggedly replied.
was resolved to let nothing, not even my
the successful pursuit of this undertake
ing. "Will his story contain any refer
| ence to Miss Meredith"
| mot the least in the world. Why?"
| Because I always find it difficult to sit
still when l hear ladies spoken of in any
way short of the deepest respect; and you
say he is not gentleman"
| HE won't transgress to that degree If
he does, trust to my bringing him to or
der. Sorry 1 must place an embargo on
the cigars you will find on the table.
Smoking on your part would give away
your presence; for the man whose story
| you are coming to hear is one of those
| fellows who smell rat round the corner.
| In other words, he's a private detective
with whom I was once thrown in a pecu-
liar way. What now?"
| perhaps he's the very fellow l want.
l have use for private detective
| "So-I-suppose.
This sentence, so long in coming was
uttered in a peculiar way, and at the
moment we were rising from the table.
| Though I said nothing, I experienced an
| In icip Co 20
manner had been he was really in SYM
pathy with me, and willing to lend me
| helping hand.
That day the law suffered, or, rat her, I
should say, such clients as were misguided
enough to come to my office. The uncer-
tain nature of the disclosure I awaited,
and the doubt as to which of the three
brothers it would chiefly affect, kept
me restless up to the hour set
apart for my return to Sam Under
hills room. Not till 8 o'clock arrived
and found myself in the small apartment
called his den. did I recover my poise
and show anything like a steady coun-
above the mantel. This has always been
a characteristic Of mine. Great agitation
| up to the moment Of action, and then an
unnatural calmness. In this case it was
an event l awaited: but the chara cteristic
remained unchanged.
Sam Underhill, on the contrary, never
| appeared more at his ease. 1 could hear
him singing between the whiffs of his
| cigar, and, as I followed the mellow
| strains of one Of the finest tenors I have
ever known. I recalled the fact that |
myself had not sung a note since the eX-
perience which had made such heavy in
roads into my life. Was I growing mis-
anthropic? Sam had not been without his
dark days. l remembered quite well all
| the talk that went about at the time Of
his mad passion for Dorothy Loring,
bewitching madcap who afterwards found
her match in Steve Wilson,-and I could
not reconcile that disappointment with his
present gaiety.
! But these reflections cannot be of any
interest to my readers; enough that they
occupied me at the time and killed my i'm.
pathetic, till sudden stoppage in the
strain I objected to warned me that the
expected visitor had arrived. I squared
myself for the ordeal, held my breath
and prepared to listen.
The greetings were commonplace Sam
is proud chap and does not put himself
out much for anybody. To this man he
scarcely showed common courtesy. Per
haps he was afraid of awakening distrust
by any betrayal OF interest in the comine
interview; perhaps he recognized thai
a barely civil greeting was all the man
expected Or desired.
Halo, Yox!''
Good evening, Mr.. Underhill.''
did I ask you to call on me to-night?'
You certainly did, MI. Underhill, anC
set the hour"
well, WELL I suppose you are correct
Sit down. My memory is not much longer
than this cigar, which you may observe
is almost smoked. up. Have one, Yox
l'you won't get a better one in your shop
and now, what have you come to tel
meH
mot much. Dennison bought sever
shares last Tuesday and Little invested
, in as many more yesterday. Both meI
show confidence, and to-morrow's repor
, will be all you can WISH
Good! How much do I owe you? Viii
that do?"
I heard a rustic, then short laugh pre-
ceding the remark, You might halve i
and still please me. Oh, I'll take it
, Not too much grist comes to my mill"
Here there was a silence. Underhil
was evidently lighting fresh cigar Whe1
. they spoke again it was to drift into
, generalities, to which I listened with al
Impotence in marked contrast to thu
complacency of Sam, who seemed just TOT
: tired to live; that is, If could judge from
his tone and the total absence of interes
!. he expressed In anything said either b.
{ himself or his somewhat vulgar guest
!, But suddenly there was change, no
more languishing than before, but il
in Underhill, whose voice was ever
myself; for I heard Sam remark between
, two prolonged whiffs:
What is that story YOU were trying t.
tell me the other night about the row il
lower street? I thought it prom
ised to be interesting at the time, bu
$ the other fellows were in such hurry
couldn't stay to hear it out Tell it again
Y Yox, just as you did then; perhaps it will
T wake me up
}, The answer came more quickly than
r expected
ooh. that? Well, I don't mind. 1t wa
a curious adventure and brought me to
y near the police for me to forget it in
hurry. I wish I knew who that fello,
e was. Did show you the matchbox
found in one Of the pockets Of the Goa
he gave me? The monogram"
"Never mind the monogram Well tai
e about that afterwards" broke in Sam i
$ the sleepiest tones imaginable. 81 don
: care so much about the man as the wa
he acted. This struck me as being strang
: for a gentleman. But begin, Yox; 70
g relate adventures we'll I have heard 20
}, talk more than once
: Yox who was not above fatterJ
8 hemmed and hawed, and launched out i
: the following tale. transcribe his word
q as nearly as I can remember them. A
!. first he did otinterest me much.
''rYou see, had business at old Mothe
o Merry's. Do you know the place? It
e not likely, SO will describe it.; you nee
Q to know something about it in order
d understand my story.
ITS an old fish market, or, rather
that was its use once; now it's sort {
0 lodging house, standing half on the doc
and half on piles, somewhere down nea
-- street. l like the place. That is,
has mysterious air which we fellow
don't object to. Seen from the docks an
q in DAYLIGHT IL has tha annaa ranca Of o1I