Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1909-07-06
FIRST CASE.
Nv EDMUND s. sPlNMEY.

fnr you 10 DeRm on. 4HGreS an old
sCuse I'D in Barton county where .
most appears once in ten years-an
"a woman jlngling a bunch OF keys.
abe appears tonight. They suspect
she Is flesh and blood"
expected an important case 70,
starter and made no comment.
reached the house just before dinner.
b was invited to dine with the family
and in every way made at home. The
oldest daughter was about twenty and
a. pretty as a little red apple. Her
smile and her eyes were fun OF mis-.
ehief, and 1t occurred to me that she
would be quite capable Of playing the
mart Of a ghost. / made up my mind
% be prepared for such result.
Elsie-that was her name-E Elsie Ed
sOn and spent the evening chatting
and playing checkers and backgam-
mon. / was but twenty-five and anne.
uable to the attractions Of a pretty girl
she had read detective stories and
seemed to look upon me as a marvel
Of ingenuity. OF course since l was
A detective | must be ingenious. /
didn't tell her that this was my first
case. put on all the mystery / could
SummOn in order to impress her with
the depth Of my methods. At 10
o'clock she was ordered to bed, and
her mother took me to the room where
the ghost was expected to appear. 1t
was chamber between front and a
rear room. a hall leading past it from
one to the other. Some sandwiches
and a bottle Of beer were placed on
table beside me.
had all young mans appetite for
eating and sleeping and was very fond
Of beer, especially about bedtime. l
put Of my supper as long as l could
about fifteen minutes-then ate up all
the sandwiches. drank the beer and lit
4 cigar. l would better have had cof-
fee. The beer, followed by the cigar
and my position-I was stretched on
a lounge-contributed to put me to
deep 1t occurred to me that a de-
tective should be very careful not to
be caught mapping, and tried hard to
keep awake l should have got up
and walked the floor, but--well, / was
very comfortable where / was. OF
course l fell asleep.
dreamed. Dreams are singular
things. Sometimes they have all the
appearance Of reality. My dream was,
to use a paradoxical expression, a
pleasant nightmare. I dreamed that
l was lying just where / was; that
Elsie walked by the open door, looked
IN at me. came and stood by me. deft-
y drew my handkerchief from my
outside coat pOcket-one corner was
expOsed-then, bending lower and
lover, lightly touched my forehead
with her lips This done. she tiptoed
% the door. stood for a moment look
Ing at me with all the merriment Of a
prank player, then passed out.
How much time elapsed between my
dream and my awakening don't
Know. When l awoke 1t was from
hearing a jingling Of keys. had the
presence Of mind to lie perfectly still.
felt sure Elsie was near, and / was
not surprised to see out of the corner
Of my eye an old woman pass the
door with bunch of keys in her
hand. / waited, and the figure re-
turned and this time looked in as she
passed. / snOred on. Once more re-
tHfnfnp tho Nup.wo escod e.. A. a..
way and jingled her keys, evidently to
awaken me. This failing, she came to
ne lounge and was looking at me
Wnen sprang up and caught her in
ny arms. OF course she was Elsie.
oh, good graciousw she exclaimed.
i am sorry. Miss Edson," / said,
10 have caught you In the act. My
eaief Will require an exact report.
gust your family win not consider
'our playing ghost reprehensible?"
But they will. I'm not the ghost.
never played the ghost before. l
u" you were asleep and thought I'd
pay a prank on you. didn't know
aeIectives ever slept"
II was my turn to vince. How
would it look to my chief Il / were
reported sleeping on watch? "This
sii Is easily managed" said to my
I'll. I'm blunr her just for fun"
confess to you," l replied, shat
ls.t very duh and appeared to be
-.leep l was not To prove II 1 will
~ you something. A certain young
-uy came into the room and kissed
sne started and blushed.
an ha" l thought my dream
VA real"
lou say you were awake" she said
peesently.
OF course"
she pulled my handkerchief out Of
u sleeve. Then why did you let me
changed my braggadoclO air to a
tumble one.
aOa say It Is your duty to report
Z TOT playing ghost It win then be
y privilege to report you for sleeping
now about the kissF'
On' 1t win appear that you dreamed
ave you the klss.s
"a, mink" I said after rejection,
tG4t Tnu h,w. A. ! :,