River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-05-01


stand a moment at their
tasks and disappear again,
knew naught but that we were an or
binary young man and an ordinary
young woman partaking of the re-
freshments of the after the theater.
True it was of myself, that ordinary
part-but for the woman who faced
me there was great difference l
leaned across the table
II can't help saying it." ] had be-
gun, but you don't look like a de-
tective."
She laughed, Fundamentally.
Perhaps that's the reason I've sue
ceeded," she answered. Then sud-
denly she bent toward me, her eyes
flashing, the fire of enthusiasm, of the
hunter, in her face. Il know what
you're going to say" was added
that it's no work for a woman who
loves the things that woman
should love; that 1t is work that will
make me old beyond my time and
make me forget the good things of the
world. Well?" she laughed GIVE
been at it nearly twelve years now
and If it was going to make me old IL
should have accomplished something
by this time And so, one guess as
to my age"
| tried to be truthful.
'Twenty-four," l hazarded.
You missed it" the eternal WON
an came forth in it's strength then
but | won't tell you how much. You
see, a person doesn't have to let
crime enter the soul, simply because
the business is that Of crime tracking
But there was time once"
The eyes lost their softness. A
glitter, cold, steel-like, supplanted the
happy brilliancy. The diamond pen
dant at her throat shook and shed
forth it's sparkling radiance against
the brightness of the lights. The
hands, folded on the table, clenched
hard l noticed that the lips were
drawn In a straight line. l waited
and then:
When was that?"
The being of Alice Clement had
seemingly changed. There was a bit Of
remorselessness in her face now, oil
determination. Those flashing eyes
were becoming colder and colder
at was the only time in my life
she began, that | ever tracked a man
for revenge. More than one little
angle turned up in that case, for il
not only gave me the vengeance
sought. but 1t proved to me that a
woman can be as brave as a man; II
proved to me that | had the detective
instinct-and 1t also, later on, made
a municipal detective of me- 1t hap
pened twelve years ago, and that's a
fairly long time, but when | tell the
story the true names will be changed
and locations will be renamed, be
cause-well, just because, that's ALL
She was still the woman, in reasons
at least. l waited.
You remember that l laughed
when you guessed at my age" she
began, land one reason for that is that
l have out home a little daughter, hall
as old as you guessed my age to be
When my entrance into the detective
arms. And she went with me-
Years before, my husband had
been slugged. He had been held III
at night, on a street on the West Side
knocked down. beaten and robbed.
had seen the face of the man who had
done the work-and that face burned
itself into my memory with a per
fade. The time came when was sure
Of that.
My husband had gone away on &
trip that week, | remember. Since.
she added with tone of sadness il
her voice. "he has gone on a Longer
journey from which he will not re
turn. We were not the most prosper
Gus persons in the world then, and VIZ
lived in fiat near Chicago avenue
The neighborhood was squalid: there
were characters around us whose re
spect for the law was not of the high
est. 1t was a street of mystery ant
OF darkness and of danger.
And someway, in daytime as
walked along that street, or in tn,
evening when l was returning from
the little store with my purchases To-
the evening meal, my eyes were al
ways searching, always looking fol
the sight of a face that remaineC
ever clear to me. Something seemed
always whispering to me that som,
day l would find that man whom
hunted; some day, he and / woult
come face to face, and then it would
be woman against man-with prison
or death as the ending. The police
in the years that had passed, had don,
nothing toward success in catching
him. and for that hated them. De