Bridgeton pioneer., 1906-02-08


fascination"
disgrace humanity" said Bailey, with
decision. "He inherited them. But this
Is not prejudice on my part / looked
him up. | know him to the backbone"
What reason have you for supposing
that Temple sent this?'
"It looks foreign to me, and he's been
abroad. He has just got back. No 9TH
er young man of Charlotte's acquaint-
ance has been across the water. think
Temple bought this on the other side
and brought it over with him."
Bertrand examined the frame
"The anatomy of these Cupids sug-
gests Germany surely said he
Temples been there" said Bailey.
There was a plain, thin sheet of paper
which was folded like cover protect
ing the frame and the photograph. Ber-
trand held it up to the light and point
ed out to Bailey two letters, 81. c."
Enthusiastically German.
"That's evidence" declared Bailey;
"but, of course, it doesn't really prove
anything. can't open my mouth with
out having something more definite.
But how to get 1t? This valentine
was mailed in this city. saw the post
mark on the envelope. But there's no
way of finding out who mailed 1t. The
address was typewriter"
Bertrand spent half a minute in med
itation, rubbing his yellow hair into a
strange tangle meanwhile. Then he
slowly walked to the steam radiator in
the corner and laid the valentine upon
1t.
There is another point" said he.
"You may remember that about year
ago your cousin, Mrs. Ewing, was visit
ing you just after returning from
abroad. She had Photographic repro
duction of the picture of which we
have here a detail Charlotte cared
very little for the picture as whole,
but she admired this particular figure"
II remember said Bailey. "She
tried to find a large photograph Of the
painting in this city, but couldn't. 1t is
the likeliest thing in the world that she
told Temple and that he found this
somewhere in Europe"
"My excellent alleged uncle" said
Bertrand, smiling, "there is no diff
Guilty at all in the matter. Barring the
luck which may defeat the invincible,
nullify certainties and-to all intents
and purposes, for you and me-pre-
vent the sun from rising tomorrow l
will show you the way to obtain posi-
tive proof as to who sent this valen-
tine, and I'll do it without rising from
my chair.
Nov, then, in the first place, we'll
consult the valentine itself How was
it made?"
BLESS your SOUL" cried Bailey, "I
don't know anything about the tech
nical details of getting up such a
thing"
''You can see, however, that it never
was made to hold this photograph
There's nothing to hold it. It's pasted
on, and very crudely. Didn't that
strike your eye? See how neatly all
the rest Of it is got up. Contrast that
with the pasting. What do you make
Of it?'
well, don't know; really, l don't
know" repeated Bailey, alternately
peering at the back Of the valentine
and at the face of the detective.
There was another picture here orig
inally," said Bertrand. ''It was at
tached in different way from this
one. The frame was made in two
parts, back and front The picture
was laid between them, and they were
glued together. If you look closely you
can see that that picture was cut out
with the sharp point of a penknife
probably, and then this one was affix-
ed to the back SO that it shows all
right from the other side. 1t was done
very recently, long after the original
valentine was made"
"Eh?" said Bailey. "How do you
know that?'
The paste is not thoroughly dry.
The heat of the radiator has wrinkled
the edges of the photograph even with
only few minutes trial. But the
heat has had no effect upon the older
portion.
IF the man had bought the picture
and the frame aboard he would have
done this work long ago. Indeed, with
SO much time at his disposal he proba-
bly, would have had some more skillful
workman do 1t for him. / infer that
the idea Of sending this picture as
valentine came to him suddenly at the
last moment and that he hunted
through the stores for a frame that
would fit it. That means that the
frames were imported by some firm in
this country, most probably in this
city. There are only very few in
that line Of business. 1t will take us
only little while to talk to them by
telephone
This task Bertrand delegated to an
assistant, who within twenty minutes
gave him the name of the firm import
Ing the valentines Of which the frame
In question was part and list of
nine stores where they were sold at re-
TAIL
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