Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-03
FOUNDED them to dust and frasments Win


For q few seconds neither spoke. Then
Dixon. hinging himself into, chair. saadt
Mr.. Hewitt.sI can't express my obltga-1
you had failed. prefer not To- think OF. But
what shall we ddnwith Ritter now? The
OF her man hasn't been here vet, by the by. ~
mo; the fact is didn't deliver the let,
world Of trouble by taking himself out OF
the, way Hewitt laughed. I'm afraid
he has rather got himself into mess by.
trying two kinds of theft at once. and you
on. your torpedo plans is likely to bring him
a dose Of penal servitude for something
else. I'll tell You what has happened.
Little Carton street. Westminster,
those old streets that have seen much bet
ter days. "A good many people seem to live
In each house-they are fairly large houses,
by the way, and there is quite q company
OF abell-handles on each doorpo t, all down,
the side like organ stops. A barber had
possession of the ground floor front OF No.
~ for trade purposes, so to him 1 went.
Can you tell me-, I said, where In this
house ! can find Mr.. Hunter? He looked
doubtful, so went on: HE friend will do,
you know-I cant think of mis- name; for
eign gentleman dark, with p bushy beard
THE barber understood at once. on,
that's NIirsky, expect, he. said. Now, i
come to think of it, he has had letters adj
dressed to Hunter once or twice; I've took
'em in. Top floor back
This was good so far. had got at MI
sessing him with the idea that / knew all
about him. I determined to ask for him as
Mirsky before handing over the letter ad-
dressed to him as Hunter little blun
of that sort is invaluable at the right time.
At the top floor back 1 stopped at the
door and tried TO open it at once, but 1t
was locked. / could hear somebody scut-
ting about within, as though carrying
things about, and l knocked again. In
little while the door Opened about a foot.
and there stood Mr.. Hunter-or Mirsky, as
you Hke-the man who, in the character of
a traveller in steam-packing, came here
twice today. He was in his shirt sleeves,
and cuddled something under his arm,
hastily covered with a spotted pocket hand
kerchief. =
81 have called to see NJ Mirsky.' said.
with a confidential letter.
Oh. vas. vas, he answered hastily; I
know--I know. Excuse me one minute.
And he rushed off downstairs with his
parcel
Here was a noble chance For a mo-
ment thought of following him, in case
there might be something interesting in the
parcel. But I had to decide in a moment,
and decided on trying the room slipped
inside the door, and finding the key on the
inside, locked it. 1t was a confused sort of
room, with a little iron bedstead in one cor
ner and a sort of rough boarded Enclosure
in another. This 1 rightly conjectured to
for it at once.
There was plenty of light within when
the door was left open, and made at once
for the drying rack that was fastened over
the sink. There were number of mega
tives in it, and I began hastily examining
them one after another. In the middle of
this our friend Mirsky returned and tried
the door. He ratified violently at the ham
die and pushed. Then he called.
'At this moment I had come upon the
first of the negatives you have just
smashed. The fixing and washing had evil
IDENTIFY only lately been completed, and
l seized it, of course, and the others which
stood by it,
Who are you, there, inside? Mirsky
shouted Indignantly from the landing.
Open this door at once or 1 call the policer
II took no notice. I had got the full
number Of negatives. one for each draw
ing. but was not by any means sure that
on hunting down the rack. There were no
more, so I set to work to turn out all the
undeveloped plates. 1t was quite possible,
you see, that the other set, If it existed,
had not yet been developed.
'Mirsky changed his tune. After a little
more banging and shouting ! could hear
him kneel down and try the keyhole. l
had left the key there, SO that he could
see nothing. But he began talking softly
and rapidly through the hole in a foreign
language. l did not know 1t in the least,
but l believe it was Russian. What had
led him to believe I understood Russian I
could not at the time imagine, though l
have notion now. l went on running his
stock of plates. found several boxes, ap-
parently of new plates, but, as there was
no means Of telling whether they were
really unused or were merely undeveloped,
but with the chemical impress of your
drawings on them, l dragged every one
ruthlessly from its hiding place and laid 1t
out in the full glare of the sunlight-de-
yt,1cr re ,I,1tl !
was unused or not.
''Mirsky left off talking, and heard him
quietly sneaking Off Perhaps his con-
science was not sufficiently clear to war
to me rather probable at the time that
that was what he was going for. So I
hurried on with my work I found three
dark sides-the parts that carried the
know---one of them fixed in the camera IT
SELF. These I opened, and exposed the
plates to ruination as before. / suppose
nobody ever did so much devastation In
a Photographic studio in ten minutes as I
managed.
IT had spoiled every plate I could find,
and had the developed negatives safely in
my pocket, when l happened to glance at a
porcelain washing well under the sink.
There was one negative in that. and took
1t up. 1t was not a negative of a draw
ing of yours, but of a Russian twenty-ruble
motel"
IflS was q discovery 1 he only possible
reason any man could have for photograph
ing bank note was the manufacture
of an etched plate for the produc
ton of forged copies. I was almost
as pleased as I had been at the discovery
of your negatives. He might bring the
police now soon as he liked; l could
turn the tables on him completely. / be-
gan to hunt about for anything else re-
latng to this negative.
Il found an inking-roller, some old
pieces of blanket (used in printing from
plates, and in a corner on the floor,
heaped over with newspapers and rubbish,
small copying-press. There was also a
dish of acid, but not an etched plate or a
printed note to be seen. / was looking at
the press, with the negative in one hand
and the inking-roller in the other, when
became conscious of a shadow across the
window. / looked up quickly, and there
was Mrsky hanging over from some ledge
or projection to the side of the window
and staring straight at me, with a look
of unmistakable terror and apprehension
THE face vanished Immediately. / had
to move table to get at the window, and
by the time I had opened 1t there was no
sign or sound of the rightful tenant of the
room. l had no doubt now of his reason
for carrying parcel downstairs. He prob
ably mistook me for another visitor he
was expecting, and, knowing he must take
this visitor into his room, threw the pa
pers and rubbish over the press. and put
up his plates and papers in bundle and
them somewhere downstairs lest