Charlevoix county herald., 1910-10-29
TIE FIAN III
LOWER TEN
AUrfIC,Te< Of THE CIRCULAR STAIR GASP
ILLUSTRATIONS BY III. q. kEITr ~E>ke~-
ROBERTS RINEHART

webs to entangle him, is caught In a
Sheet of fly paper. finds himself more
and more mired, and is finally quiet
with the sticky stiffness of despair!
Well. l was the fly. l had seen TOO
much of circumstantial evidence u
have any belief that the establishing
of my identity would weigh much
against the other discriminating de
tails. 1t meant imprisonment ana
trial, probably, with all the notoriety
and loss of practice they woulo GU
tail. A man thinks quickly at time
like that. All the probable conse-
quences of the finding of that pocket
book flashed through my mind as e1-
tended my hand to take 1t. Then
drew my arm back.
at don't want It," said. LOOK IN
side. Maybe the other man TOOK the
money and left the wallet"
The conductor opened 1t, and again
there was a curious surging forward
of the crowd. To my intense disap'
pointment the money was still there
/ stood blankly miserable while II
was counted out-five 500 bills, six
twenties and some fves and ones that
brought the total to $3.50.
The little man with the notebook
insisted on taking the numbers or the
notes, to the conductors annoyance.
| It was immaterial to me: Small things
| had lost their power to irritate. was
| seeing myself in the prisoners box
going through all the nerve-racklng
routine OF a trial for murder-the chai
longing OF the jury. the endless cross
| examinations, the alternate hope ana
fear. / believe / said before that
had no nerves, but for few minutes
that morning i was as near as man
ever comes to hysteria.
I folded my arms and gave mysel
a mental shake. / seemed to be the
center Of a hundred eyes, expressing
every shade of doubt and distrust, Du
| tried not to finch. Then some one
created diversion.
The amateur detective was bus!
: again with the sealskin bag, investi
eating the make of the safety razo
and the manufacturer name on tn
bronze-green tie. Now, however, NJ
paused and frowned, as though som
pet theory had been upset
Then from corner Of the bag II
drew out and held up for our inspet
ton some three inches Of fine gol
|, chain. one end of which was black
ened and stained with blood!
The conductor held out his hand 10
il. but the little man was not read
T to give 1t up. He turned to me.
, You say no watch was left you
, Was there a piece Of chain like that?
mo chain at ALL" said sulkily. IN
!. jewelry of any kind, except plain gol
buttons in the shirt l am wearing
, "Where are your glasses?' n
n threw at me suddenly; instinctivel
! my hand went to my eyes. My glasse
h had been gone all morning, and l ha
4 not even noticed their absence. TIL
O little man smiled cynically and hel
out the chain.
81 must ask you to examine this
he insisted. isn't 1t part Of the fir
gold chain you wear over your ear
l didn't want to touch the thing
"a The stain at the end made me shu
der. But with a bakers dozen Of su
e picious eyes-well, we'll say 14-thel
II were no one-eyed men-I took II
4. fragment in the tips of my fingers ar
II looked at it helplessly.
very fine chains are much alike
d I managed to say. For all l kno'
b. this may be mine, but / don't kno
o how il got into that sealskin bag.
n never saw the bag until this mornir
b. after daylight"