Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-04-12
"A, GENTLEMAN n
"A 80. DETECTIVE.

copyright, 1907, by c. II. sutcline.l

;avoritc in society aud quietly give
away the criminal element moving
therein There was not the remotest
chance that the most astute thief, male
or female. could connect hln with the
police. In the first six months he gave
tips that drove three or four families
into retirement and false barren into
prison Then two events occurred ST.
multaneously, to give him trouble. A
lady guest ut country house was
robbed OF $4,000 worth of diamonds
the night before he himself arrived for
y weeks stay. and he had no sooner
seen her than he fell in love with her.
ltwas Edith Meridlth who had SUI.
fered the loss, and Edith Meridlth was
the daughter of a California million
aire. He was travelling in Brazil for q
time. and his wife and daughter were
stopping IN town. As for references.
the father and husband had been a
United States senator and three or
four other things and the wife and
daughter had moved In the best so.
clety on the slope. One might as well
have asked for social references from
the presidents wife.
Mr.. Travcrs found himself In two
fixes at once. He was In love. and he
could not give away the fact that he
was playing detective He gave his
opinfou of the robbery. as did all other
guests, but he had TO stop at that. The
room had been entered and the jewelry
taken In the afternoon while all the
guests were on the'golf grounds. The
first suspicious Were against the serv-
ants of course. That Is thing that
never fails. The servants were en-
amined and cross examined and put
through the third degree. but no clew
was obtained.
The whole situation was rendered
mighty uncomfortable. Travers. being
the last conner. and not arriving until
after the robbery. was the only one ex-
empted from suspicion. He could not
act openly. A detective was sent for,
but he could moi, make himself known.
The opinion of the man. after going
had sneaked into the house by the
front way. This theory was accepted
10y all. II did not recover the dia.
monds but Miss Meredith was Kind
enough not to take their loss too much
at heart They represented only n
days income of her fathers, and he
could afford to lose one day out of the
SG5.
But after twenty-four hours some
other theory had to be advanced.
There was q second robbery. This oc-
Cured in the evening. while all the
guests were looking at fireworks on
the lawn. The victim was an old dow
ager, and her loss was also thousands
of dollars. Entrance by the windows
was impossible Entrance by the front
hall was impossible Tie old dowager's
maid had been sitting by window in
the hall upstairs all tie time. and sin
had seen none Of the servants spying
about. They Eqyp suspected again. or
course. and again there was n great
ado. No claw Absolutely no clew.
Another detective came down next
day. and he gave 1t rs his opinion that
n maybe or tame crow had entered by
way OF the window. That no magpie
or tame crow had ever been kept
around the house made no difference.
You could take his opinion or not.
Even amid this excitement Mr.
Travers progressed with his newborn
love. Miss. AIcridith' SEEMED smittan
with him also. Perhaps smitten is Zoo
strong terin, INIT she was very gra.
,ious. The two talked privately a6out
he mysterious robberics, privately and
.onfldentially. They didn't exactly lay
hem on to. the old dowasar. but they
understood what each Other thought
The mysteries did not break up ne
house party as might have been e&
Iected This was because the third de
ective who was put on the case no.
ited host, hostess and al the guet,s
hat he suspected one of the sarva1ts !
md must have a week @. two 10 votk {
Up his case. After that FIVE peacefri
lappy days ana nights passed There /
we're no more r0bherics. Clews were
icing picked up ike potatoes at dig /
ling time II was only matter or a
ew days when the guilty ono would /
re punished and the plumber restored /
1t the end of those, five happy days |
nd nights most Of the guests weic !
TO each other that Mr.. TraY. /
rs and Miss Meridlth would surely /
make match of it, They walked and /
alked by day. and they sat and sighed
a the moonlight of evenings. and ON
he sixth night Mr., Travers went to
ed reasonably satisfied. AS he did
OF appear up to late hour next morn.
ne. and as the same was the case with
liss Meridith, their doors were forced.
liss Meridith was gone, and ladder
{ her window showed how she went.
lost of her wardrobe had gone with
err.
Mr.. Travers hadn't gone. He hadn't
ecause he was tied and gagged and
ouldn't go He had been despoiled of
and the two men who had
ed and de5poiled him had injured his
ceilings by whispering words into his
lr. There was further injury await:
lg him. On his dresser was q note
-rltten by Miss Meridith In it she
poke Of him as a donkey. She also
nd she had spotted him from the first.
urther, that he had better open an In
diligence Office for the employment Of
,male help.
1t took Mr.. Travers two days to frd
Mt that there was no millionaire Meri
ith-no ex-United States Senator Meri
itl--no Mss. or Miss Meridith-n no
ew. And then ne resigned.
NJ nITAn