Greene County herald., 1913-05-02

knew naught but that we were an or
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 a great difference.
leaned across the table.
81 can't help saying it," had be-
gun. "but you don't look like de-
tective."
She laughed, whole-heartedly.
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. II know what
you're going to say" was added
that it's no work for woman who
loves the things that a woman
should love; that it is work that will
make me old beyond my time and
make me forget the good things of the
world. Well?" she laughed. 'I've
been at it nearly twelve years now,
and if it was going to make me old it
should have accomplished something
by this time. And so, one guess as
to my age-?"
l tried to be truthful
"Twenty-four, I hazarded.
"You missed it" the eternal wom-
an came forth in it's strength then
but I 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 a 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 its sparkling radiance against
the brightness of the lights. The
hands, folded on the table, clenched
hard. / noticed that the lips were
drawn in straight line. I waited
and then:
when was that?"
The being of Alice Clement had
seemingly changed. There was bit of
remorselessness in her face now. Of
were becoming colder and colder.
''It was the only time in my life, .
she began, 'that l ever tracked a man
for revenge. More than one little
angle turned up in that case, for it
not only gave me the vengeance /
sought, but 1t proved to me that a
woman can be as brave as man; it
proved to me that I had the detective
instinct-and it also, later on, made
a municipal detective of me. It 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 / waited.
"You remember that I laughed
when you guessed at my age," she
began, "and one reason for that is that
have out home little daughter, half
as old as you guessed my age to be.
When my entrance into the detective
world began that child was baby in
arms. And she went with me-
Years before, my husband had
been slugged. He had been held up
at night, on street on the West Side
knocked down, beaten and robbed.
had seen the face of the man who had
done the work-a and that face burned
Itself into my memory with per
manency that knew would never
fade. The time came when was cure
of that
My husband had gone away on q
trip that week, remember Since.
she added with tone of sadness in
her voice, he has gone on longer
Journey from which he viii not re
turn. We were not the most prosper
bus persons in the world then, and we
lived in fat near Chicago avenue
The neighborhood was suualid; there
we're characters around us whose re
spect for the law was not OF the high
est. It was q street Of mystery and
II darkness and Of danger.
And somewayA IN daytime as