Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1913-07-03
cHApTER Iv.-contInued.


What kind of a looking person
was the man who took you outside
last night?" 1 inquired of George,
with my eyes still on this furtive
watcher
"A fellow to make you laugh. A
perfect character, Laura; hideously
homely but agreeable enough. took
quite fancy to him. Why?'
Il am looking at him now"
Very likely. He's deep in this af-
fair. Just an everyday detective, but
ambitious, suppose, and quite alive
to the Importance of being thor
ough."
HE is watching those people. No,
he isn't. How quickly he disap-
pearedi"
Eyes, he's mercurial in all his
movements. Laura, we must get out
of this. There happens to be some
thing else in the world for me to do
than to sit around and follow up muir
der clues"
But we began to doubt if others
agreed with him, when on passing
out we were stopped in the lobby by
this same detective, who had some
thing to say to George, and drew him
quickly aside.
What does he want?" l asked, as
soon as George had returned to my
SIDE.
He wants me to stand ready to
obey any summons the police may
senc me-"
Then they still suspect Brother
SOM"
They must"
AS we stepped out OF the hotel
George gave my arm quiet pinch
which served to direct my attention
to an elderly gentleman who was just
alighting from a taxicab at the kerb.
He moved heavily and with some ap-
poarance of pain, but from the crowd
collected on the sidewalk, many of
whom nudged each other as he pass
ed, he was evidently a person of
some Importance, and as he disap-
peared within the hotel entrance,
asked George who this kind-faced,
bright-eyed old gentleman could be.
He appeared to know, for he told
me at once that he was Detective
Gryce; a man who had grown old in
solving just such battling problems
as these.
That night I bided Georges coming
with an Impotence l could not con-
troll He was late, of course, but
when he did appear, almost forgot
cur usual greeting in my hurry to ask
him IL he had seen the evening pa
pers.
No. he grumbled, as he hung up
his overcoat. Been pushed about
all day. No time for anything"
Then let me tell you"
But he would have dinner first
However, little later we had a
comfortable chat Mr. Gryce had
made discovery, and the papers
were full of it.
The opinion had become quite gen
eral with those best acquainted with
the details of this affair, that the
mystery was one of those abnormal
ones for which no solution would ever
be found, when the aged detective
showed himself in the building and
spector of police awaited him.
This is very good of you,' the in
spector began, glancing down at the
aged detectives bundled up legs, and
gently pushing chair towards him.
The elderly man thus addressed
glanced down at his legs, now propped
UP on a stool which someone had
brought him, and smiled, with the
Iathos of the old who sees the inter-
ests of lifetime slipping gradually
away.
Il am not what / was | can no
longer get down on my hands and
knees to pick up threads from the nap
of rug, or spy out spot Of blood
in the crimson wool Of a carpet"
You shall have Sweetwater here
to do the active work for you. What
we want OF you is the directing mind
the infallible instinct It's case
in thousand, Gryce. 1t will make
you young again"
The old mans eyes shot fire and
unconsciously one foot slipped to the
floor Then he bethought himself
and painfully lifted it back again.
What are the points? What's the
dificulty?" he asked. "A woman has
been shot"
mo, not shot, stabbed We thought
she had been shot. for that was intel
ligible and involved no impossible
tiles. But Drs. Heath and Webster,
under the eye of the Challoners' own
physician. have made an examination
OF the wound and they declare that
no bullet is to be found in the body.
AS the wound extends no further
than the heart. this settles one great