Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-27

another important trivialityl on his plate.
I'm afraid I wasn't at all polite, and ran
the risk of arousing his suspicious, but
couldn't resist the temptation to steal It.
did, as you saw. and here 1t is"
He brought the apple from his coat
pocket. One bitten side, placed against
projection of apple filling exactly the
deep gap. The other side similarly fitted
the lower half.
There's no getting behind that, you see"
Hewitt remarked. Merely observing the
mans teeth was guide, to some extent,
but this is plain as his signature or
his thumb impression. You'll never ma
two men bite exactly alike, no matter
whether they leave distinct teeth marks
or not Here, by the by. is Mrs. Clay
tons oil. Well take another mold from
this apple and compare them
He oiled the apple, heaped little plaster
rapidly pulled off a hard mold. The parts
corresponding to the merely broken PAGES
in the apple We're, of course. disslmilar, put
as to the teeth marks the impressions were
identical. .,ro
That will do. 1 think" Hewitt said TO
morrow morning, Brett. I shall put up these
things in small parcel ana TAKE 'hen'
round to Bow street. o.,
But are they sufficient evidence!
Quite sufficient for the police purpose.
There Is a man and all the rest-his move
ments on the day and so forth-are Simple
matters of inquiry; at any rate lha' 10
police business.
/ had scarcely sat down to my breakfast
on the following morning when hewitt
came into the room and put long ie''er
before me.
From our friend of last night ne saio'
read it."
This letter began abruptly, and undated,
and was as follows:
ITO Martin Hewitt, Esq.
Sir: l must compliment you on the
adroitness YOU exhibited this evening IN
cfin m
dress 1 was able to balk you Oh iol wy
time being, although by the tlme sou 49,
this YOU will probably have found II lLiousn
the Law List. as am an ao III ,'s 10 Won
That, however. will be of little use 70 YOU;
for am removing myself, l THINK, peyono
the reach even of your abilities Oh sealoi'
I knew you well by sight, and was, per
haps, foolish to allow myseH " oS ,av,d
be dangerous especially after seeing YOU
as a witness with very httle 10 say a. 'iie
inquest upon the scoundrel shot. ioui
somewhat discourteouS seizure ol my ap
pie at first amazed me-indeed, was Ut
tie doubtful as to whether you had really
taken it-but it was my first warning that
you might be playing deep game against
me, incomprehensfble as the action was to
my mind l subsequently reflected that l
had been eating an apple, instead of TAX
ing the drink he first offered me, in the
dead wretch's rooms on the night he came
to his merited end. From this / assume
that your design was in some way to COM
pare what remained of the two apples-al-
though 1 do not presume to fathom the
depths of your detective system. Still, /
have heard of many of your cases and pro-
foundry admire the keenness you exhibit.
/ am thought to be keen man myself, but,
although | was able, to some extent, to hold
my own tonight 1 admit that your acumen
in this case alone Is something beyond me.
II do not know by whom you are COM
mssioned to hunt me, nor to what extent
h. air,ta witt
with the creature l killed. I have sufficient
respect for YOU however. to wish that you
should not regard me as vicious criminal,
and couple of hours to spare in which to
offer you an explanation that Will convince
you that such Is not altogether the case.
A hasty and violent temper l admit pos
sessing but even now l cannot forget the
one crime it has led me into-for 1t Is, l
suppose strictly speaking, a crime. For
it was the man Foggatt who made a felon
of my father before the eyes of the world,
and killed him with shame. 1t was he who
murdered my mother, and none the less
murdered her because she dled or broken
heart That he also a thief and a
hypocrite might have concerned me little
but for that.
"Of my father I remember very little. He
must, l fear, have been a weak ana IN
capable man in many respects He had no
business abiities-in fact, was quite unable
to understand the complicated business mat
tiers in which he largely dealt Foggatt
was a cOnsummate master OF all those arts
of financial jugglery that make so many
fortunes and ruin many Others IN mat
ters of company promoting, stocks ana
shares. He was unable to exercise them,
however because of great nRanclal dis
aster in which he had been mixed up
few wears before and which made his name
one to be avoided in future. In these cir
cumstances he made a sort of secret ana
informal partnership with my father, VINO,
ostensibly alone in the business, acted
~, on 10 directions OF EOggaJI,
understanding as little what he did, poor,
simple man, a schoolboy would nave
done The transactions carried on went
from small to large, and unhappily from
honorable to dishonorable. My father re-
lied on the superior abilities of Foggatt
with an absolute trust, carrying out eacn
day the directions given him privately the
nrevious evening, buying, selling, printing
prospectuses, signing whatever had to be
signed all with sole responsibility and as
sole partner, while Foggatt, behind the
scenes absorbed the larger share OF
the profits. In brief. my unhappy ana
the hands Of the cunning scoundrel
who pulled all the wires OF the business,
himself unseen and irresponsible. Al last
three companies, for the promotlon OF
which my father was responsible, came 10
grief in a heap. Fraud was written large
over all their history, and, while Foggatt
retired with his plumber, my father was
left to meet ruin, disgrace ana lmprlSon-
~
only was responsible. There was no shred
of evidence to connect Foggatt with the
matter and no means of escape from the
net drawn about my father. lie nFeu
through three years of Imprisonment, and
then, entirely abandoned by the man who
had made use Of his simplicity, he died-of
nothing but shame and broken heart
"Of this | knew nothing at the time.
Again and again, as a small boy, reInem-
Der asking of my mother why l had no
father at home, other boys had-uncon-
scious of the stab l thus inflicted on her
gentle heart OF her my. earliest, as well
as my latest memory is that of pale,
weeping woman, who grudged to let me out
of her sight
Little by little / learned the whole cause
of my mothers grief, for she had no other
confidant and l fear my character devel-
oDed early for my first coherent remem-
brance of the matter is that of childish
design to take a table knife and kill the bad
man who had made my father die In prison
and caused my mother to cry.
"One thing however, l never knew-the
name OF that bad man. Again and again,
as | grew older, l demanded to know, but
my mother always withheld it from me,
with a gentle reminder that vengeance was
for greater hand than mine.
Il was seventeen years Of age when my