The Washington herald., 1908-03-06

mislead the police" he said. There's
some shady transaction somewhere. sir,
depend upon ii. Perhaps the gentleman
wanted TO get his things away, eh?''
! mo. He had no necessity for so doing
He was quite welr off-no debts or any
| thing of that kind"
Wei. it's evident that if our name
is registered in the police occurrences
III vans were painted with our name for
some Illegal purpose. The gentleman's
disappeared. you say?"
Yes And-well. to tell you the truth.
l suspect foul play"
Have you told the police that?" asked
the man. suddenly interested.
mo: not yet. I've come to you first"
Then IL / were you I'd tell the police
the result of your inquiries" the man
ager said. mo doubt there's crooked
| incident somewhere"
That's just what fear. Quite n num-
| Der of men must have been engaged IN
clearing the place out
Have you been over Il? Is # entirely
cleared"
Nearly The grand plano and big
bookcase have been left
Il wonder if it's been done by profess
| sional remOvers. or by amateurs?" sug-
gested the manager.
"Ah, 1 don't know. If you saw the
state of the place. you'd know. wouldn't
your"
Most probably"
Then if youll come with me I'll be
delighted to show you, and you can give
me your opinion
SO the pair entered a cab. and a quarter
Of an hour later were passing along the
hall of the empty house The manager
of Harmer's removals inspected room
after room, noticed how the curtains had
been torn down. and noted in the fire
| Crate Of the drawing-room n quantity of
i tinder. where a number OF papers seemed
| to have been burned
! No. he said presently. This removal
was carried out by amateurs. who were
in a very violent hurry. Those vans were
| faked-bought. perhaps and repainted
with our name. It's evident that they de-
ceived the constable very cleverly''
But the whole affair is so extraOrdi-
! nary gasped Max, staring at his COM
panion.
Yes. It would appear so. Your friend,
the doctor, evidently wished to get his
goods away with the least possible delay
and in the greatest secrecy"
But the employment of so many men
did not admit of much secrecy. surely"
They were only employed 20 load
They did not unload Only the three
drivers probably know the destination Of
the furniture. II was valuable old stuff,
1 should say. if one is to judge by what is
remaining
Yes. the place was well and comfort
| ably furnished
Then I really think, sir that II you
suspect foul play it's your duty 20 tell the
police. In cases like this an hours delay
| Is Fa4 - ofr-
the mystery"
Max was undecided how to act. It was
his duty to tell the police his suspicious
and show them the blood-stained coat.
And yet he felt so certain that the doctor
must in the course of the day take him
| into his confidence that he hesitated 20
make a suggestion Of foul play and thus
bring the affair into public prominence.
The fact that Harmer's name had been
upon vans not belonging TO that firm was
in itself sufficient proof that here had
been conspiracy somewhere
But of what nature was It? What could
possibly have been its object? What was
Maud's terrible confession?"
| The expert in removals was examining
some litter in the dining-room
They evidently did not stop to pack
anything. be remarked. but simply
bundled il out with ali possible speed.
One fact strikes me as very peculiar.
What is that?"
We'll if they wanted to empty the
place they might have done so. leaving
the curtains up and the palms and things
in the windows in order 10 lead people TO
believe that the house was still occu-
pied. Apparently. however. they disre-
! garded that preCautiOn altogether -
Yes. That's true. The object of the
sudden fight is a complete mystery"
Max remarked. He had not taken the
man 70 the top room. where, in the cup
board, the woman's dress was hidden.
You say that the doctor was rich
! Therefore, it wasn't TO escape from an
execution threatened by the landlord"
Certainly not"
We'll, you may rest assured, sir, that