Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-13
CHAPTER XVI.
The Document Discovered.

On the following morning Iaverlck sur
prised his office cleaner and one errand
boy by appearing at about quarter to o.
He found a woman busy brushing out
his room and a man cleaning the win
dows. They stared at him in amazement
His arrival at such an hour was absolute
ly unprecedented.
You can leave the office just as it is
il you please he told them. Il have a
few things to attend to at once.
He was accordingly left alone. He had
reckoned upon this as being the one period
during the day when he could rely upon
not being disturbed. Nevertheless. he
locked the door so to be secure against
any possible intruder Then he went 10
his safe. unlocked it and drew from its
secret drawer the worn brown-ieathef
pocketbook.
First of all he took out the notes and
laid them upon the table Then he felt
the pocketbook all over and his heart
gave lite leap. II was true what Mile.
Idiale had told him. On one side there
was distinctly a rustling of paper. He
opened the case quite fiat and passed his
fingers carefully over the lining Very
soon he found the opening-it was simply
a matter of drawing down the stif SILK
lining from underneath the overlapping
edge. Thrusting in his fingers. he drew
out a long foreign envelope. securely
sealed. Scarcely stopping to glance al IL
he rearranged the pocketbook. rep aced
the notes ard locked it up again. Then
he unbolted his door and sat down at his
desk with the document which he had
discovered on the pad in front of him.
There was not much to be made Of it..
There WAS no address, but the black seal
at the end bore the impression of for
eign coat of arms and a motto. which to
him was indecipherable. He held 1t up
to the light. but the outside sheet had not
been written on and fle gained no idea. as
to it's contents. He leaned back in his
chair for a moment and looked at 1t. So
this was the document which would prob
ably reveal the secret of the murder in
Crooked Fria-s alley! This was tie docu-
nent which MI e. Idiale considered of so
much more importance than the fortune
represented by that packet OF bank notes,
What did 1t all mean? Was this man,
who had either expiated a crime or been
the victim of a terrible vengeance was
he politician, dealer i'm trade secrets,
a member Of secret society. an :
former? Or was he one of the under
ground criminals of the world. one OF
those who crawl beneath the surface Of
Known things-a creature of the dark
places? Perhans, during those few min
utes, when his brain was cool and active.
with the great city awakening all around
him. Laverick realized rore completely
than ever before exactly how he stood
Without doubt he was walking on tie
brink of preciDice. -Four days ago there
had been nothing for him but ruin. The
means of ga Walton had suddenly present
ed themselves In this startling and dra-
matte manner and without hesitation he
had embraced them. What did 1t all
amount to? How far was he guilty and
of what? Was he a thief? The law
would probably call him So The law
might have even more to say. 1t would
say that by keeping his mouth closed as
TO his adventure on that night he had
RANGED himself on the side of the GRIM
ir als-he was guilty not only of technical
theft. but of a criminal knowledge OF this
terrible crime Events had followed unon
one another SO rapidly during these last
few DAYS that he had little enough time
for reflection little time to realize exactly
how he stood The long-expected boom
i'm .Unions-' the coming of Zoe. the
strange advances made to him by Mile.
Idiale, her incomprehersible connection
with this tragedy across which he had
stumbled and her apparent knowledge If
his share In it-these things were suffi-
cient. indeed, to give him food fer thought.
ayerfck was not by nature. pessimist.
Other things heing equal, he would have
made, without doubt a magnificent SOL
der, for he had courage of a rare and
high order. 1t never occurred to him to
sft and brood upon his own danger. He
rather welcomed the opportunity Of oc-
cupying his mind with other thoughts.
Yet IN those few minutes. while he waited
for the business OF the day to commence,