Graham guardian., 1911-12-08
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here Is piece of 1t now." and he
showed Fitch fake of the false dia-
mond. "But you don't know, and |
don't know what we have both got to
know, and that Is who made 1t, where
1t was made, by whom was 1t made,
why was 1t made. and for whom was
1t made? The sooner we work out
that end Of the game, my dear young
man. the better 1t will be for that lit
tie girl up In Centre Street"
The doctors eyebrows began to
contract There was popularity In
the facial gesture. Something was
going on in his scientifically inquiring
mind. The brows drew together until
their separate lines curved into the
form Of a minute Interrogation point;
little knobs of skin gnarled under the
bristles; his eyes focused until they
almost crossed. He clasped his hands
behind his head and studied the cell
Ing. A rather long silence followed.
Smoke spiraled from the detectives
cigar and eddied upward. The de-
the doctors intellectually sharpening
face.
1t was In a reminiscent tone that
Fitch at last spoke.
no good" he said. II haven't been
trained to guess. The little know Is
the result Of careful study and patient
analysis; but there are a few things
besides pharmacopoeia In my mind
and memory. and one of them may
help us little" He shifted his posi-
ton until he turned square front
to the detective.
WAY back In my ambulance days"
he said, there was case that your
question reminds me of. 1t was one
of the first had after went to Belle
vue. 1t was call to a queer little
old shop In Fourth Avenue. You re-
member that row of rookeries filled
up with secondhand furniture stores,
art dens. old curio shops. and so on,
on the west side of the avenue. some
where In the Twenties?' A nod from
Britz was the only reply. "Well," con-
tinued the doctor, this call was to
one of those curiosity shops. 1t was
kept by a queer little old chap who
must have starved himself to death to
carry out some object he had. He
sold curios for living. and played
at alchemy for amusement-cracked,
you know. AT any rate, he wasn't all
there. His neighbors looked on him
as harmless lunatic, and in spite Of
his solitary habits, he was pretty pop
ular. 1t was owing to this popularity
that he didn't die In the back part Of
his own store with all the busy traf-
fice of busy city just a few rods out.
side. neighbor heard noise like
an explosion and. running In, found
him on his back all covered with some
chemical that was turning his clothes
into porous plasters. The neighbor
turned In an ambulance call, and was
the answer. found the old man half
suffocated and wholly unconscious,
and as l was pretty nervous from In
experience, 1t was about all could
do to bring him around. wanted to
take him back with me, but he would
MT have II: said he was just as we'll
OF where he was; didn't like the hos
pital anyhow and wouldn't 60, so I
fixed him up where he was. After
ward. In the exuberance Of my youth
full zeal, called on him outside Of
working hours, and kind Of looked
after him. He pulled through all
right. but he was pretty badly
charred old person for long time
after that. AS soon as he was well
enough to take care of himself, left
of going there, and that is the last
have seen OF HIM"
What caused the exploslon?" asked
Britz.
II believe he was experimenting
with some hemical--couldn't get him
to tell me anything about It; he got
mad as hornet every time touched
upon It. learned. however, from
neighbors that he was interested in
precious stones, and in his later years
the idea became firmly fixed in his
mind that II he only tried long enough.
spent money enough, mortified the
flesh sufficiently. he would be able to
make diamonds"
What sort Of stun did he succeed
In making?" asked the detective.
"You can search me-" said Fitch II
never got look at any Of It. His
cranklets would never mako any sort
Of admission to me about the stun he
was making. All know is that man
who told me about the experiments
was quite positive that was the crack
In the old chaps brain--that he could
make diamonds, and could make them
Just as well in few hours as nature
could In thousand years"
80 the explosion must have
BEEN"
Some fussing around with the in.
gradients he was going to convert
into gleam and glitter. That's all
know about 1t. There you have It.
Now. what do you make OF it?"
Well" said Britz as he put his
heels to the floor with click, what
we'll make Of 1t won't be made down
here. I'm glad that memory of yours
worked in the long run; but It might
have saved me an extra hazardous
Joy ride II 1t had worked sooner .
Come along!" and he moved toward
the door.
Where are you going?" asked the
physician.
ITO the Bleecker Street station"
replied Britz. ''and from there to