The Washington times., 1910-12-21
By
MAURICE
LEVEL
Copyright The Frank A Munsey Coz

newspaper not far from Lyons. The
murder attracted only local interest
I As remember it, the Paris newspapers
never even mentioned it.
he distinctly felt the three men watch
ing him hXedly. Such was his fear that
I he recOIied a step and leaned against the
wall let ne should faint.
] I think that ySa have seen enough
+ 10 write an article said the chief I
must say I can't understand how man
4 VINO has seen as much as you have can I
stomach this. You're pretty pale
Yes 1 suppose l arr 1 feel bit
dizzy It's nothing at A..
Let's 90 downstairs, replied the
chief. To his secretary he added in
low voice: They're all alike ] never
I yet met one Of this newspaper gans
/ who hadn't seen something worse But
I when you show them the real thing
why, then
Barton could not hear what he said
1 de saw him speaking, however. anc-
/ watched him askance. convinced that
/ fun details of the apOcryphal murder
I Of his youth would be demanded he
/ thought:
They've got me surel I am fooIT'
] As he passed out of the room he look
/ ed at himself in the mirror. His face
! was reflected In exactly the same spot
/ where he had seen II the night before
/ II seemed even paler now the circles
/ beneath his eyes were deeper and the
I lines around his mouth were harder
/ His features were those Of q. naa con-
demned 20 death He shut his EYES thai
/ he miEi5t not see more, and reeied out Of
/ the room with lowered shoulders, sEak-
{ ing limbs, and chatterIng teeth
3 He did not recover himself until he
/ reached the street The fresh air which
/ bathed his face dispel1ed the awful VS.
I lon Recalling his fright, he exclaimed,
as he took his seat in the cab beside the
( chief.
I am afraid I made a silly ass Of
myself
| NO. you're simply not used to it"
/ The cab BOWED along unevenlys shak-
1 ing its passengers 50 that they spoke
In decapitated sentences. The sky was
darkening- The SUM- which but Few
/ minutes before had shOne Tesplendent-
I ~. had disappeared Snow began 10
fall at first in a fine dust and then In
{ great, heavy fakes, which dropped as
( vertically as If they were 50 much lead
. Neither Of the two ulel spoke a word
3 Barton stared aimlessly at the ground
the houses. and the snOwhakes- He
would have given his months salary TO
F. have known the chiefs thoughts what
! he had really seens what ideas he had
I fOrmed-in a word, whether he was on
I the right track CT not , n excessive
= prudence made him hesitate 10 question
Z the man more closely, and, above all,
( from speaking first Finally, fearing
/ that mis- silence might be suspicious he
! asked
{ cant you give me your theory Of
I this crime in a nutshell2 Is IL really
& a murder committed by a common bur
! glar. or is il based upon some obscure
mOtive2'
l IF YOU must know the truth, 7 can
{ only say that have put aside for the
I moment the idea Of robbery as a mo-
I tive / viii not deny that certain OBJ
I iects OF considerable value have evil
/ IDENTIFY been 1aken-Sflver plate money
/ and the ike But that, 10 my mind.
I was done merely 10 throw as OF the
( scent and 70 make Il appear as ~ bur
1 glars had committed this murder
/ For a moment Barton thought that
/ the man was AecoG" in the flesh
I His subsequent inquiries removed that
( alarming impression
I Il ats interesting he remarked, IT
must say that I saw nothing which
/ aroused any such suspicion IN me AS
Z you put It, the problem IS very com
/ pick. indeed"
FOR superficial mind. yes. can
/ Oriy say for myself that a service Of
4 tsseEty-three years has enabled n 20
/ uSravei the most cHuninEiy contrived
mysteries without very much difficulty.
] should say. in this case. that a man
. thoroughly familiar with the victims
habit entered the house Tor the purpose
Of stealing certain documents which
We're either useful 10 him or which in
d eliminated him in some way.
What You believe that the motive
( Of this crime was simply the stealing
{ Of p2pers2 Mere papers2
I'm sure Of It found several hun
i drad letters which had been thrown into
E on Il that they were not ordinarily. kept
that way The murderer after having
read them, after having removed them
from the envelopes threw Them hastily
back Did he find what he was looking
fOT2 The inquest win tell Us that It
IS certain. hover er, that in order 20
make Us believe that burglars commit
ted crime, ne has removed a few pieces
OF plate and has taken with him some
money, which was evidently contained
in a wallet found by one of the men BE-
hind the bed 1 shouldn't be the least
surprised II some 1ewelrv also had been
taken I don't mind telling YOU that III
have every UawnbrOi1er and jewelcr IN
Paris Interviewed, and I'll find out very
quickly whether they have bought any
thing today and from whom III put
them on their guard That broken
sleeves link which I found on the floor
probably belonged 10 the dead man At
any rate, II IS Of small value to Us as
evidence I don't know Why, but some
how. I seem TO see IN al the confusion
OF that room something ike order, as Il
the murderer, belonged to the upper
classes Of society I should say that ne
was a very coOl-headed man. and that
he committed the crime sinEie-nGnded-
7 might add that-but I've already told
YOU enough.
Barton listened to him without in
terTuptiOn- The uneasIness wh.-h he
had felt at first gave place to sooth-
ing satisfaction His plan, so quickly
formed, so vigorously carried into ef-
feet, was bound to succeed. The police
had conceived ideas OF which he had
never dreamed himself The chief OF
police was complicatng the case be-
yond all expectation Instead Of logic
ally deducing his conclusion from evil
dent facts, he Ieaped at an impossible
theory and tried to make the facts 1T
it Thrusting aside the possibility OF a
burglary and q subsequent murder, so
evident on the very face Of the crime.
he allowed his personal theories Il lead
him astray- SO far from being the
suspected murderer, Barton was no
more guilty in the eyes Of the chief
than one OF his cWn men, The theory
Of a murderer who had robbed merely
20 lead the police asJ-ay seemed so
CIownish to him that he pursued the
inquiry farther, merely for the pur-
pose OF hearing the chief express him
self UnequivOcally.
eff I understand you correctly,
murderer, this society murderer, want
ed to throw suspicion upon pOssf
5urglars2 He certainly succeeded in
throwing the room into utter confusion
He did not rob, according to your idea,
as a professional burglar does He
worked alone and tried TO make Il ap-
pear as K he had accomplices. Is that
your idea7"
Exactly"
TIE cab stopped at the door Of %