The Washington herald., 1913-01-05

pockets OF my coat. Thus, honors wers
even. But 1 found nothing by which II
Identify my man. Ones Identity cannot
be established by means OF IS cents. q
worthless ticket and a few cloves.
\ Conan Doyle might accomplish such q
| feat. but I couldn't . Hello! Whai
was this? From the handkerchief poke,
1 drew forth an envelope; but as
glanced at it. my hopes slumped. The ad.
dress side was missing: only the sealing
fiaps remained. i was about to toss II
contemptuously into the aisle, when dis
covered that IT was covered with pencil
scribblings -. Merciful heavens,
held the thing under by very nose and
read, with Mortified eyes:
Girl must die between Il and O'Clock.
"Chloroform-
"Bow-window at side unlatched-enter
there.
Safe in library. Secure will Leave
by front door
Servants night out-Glrl alone"
Mystery! sat up straight and breath
ed quickly. 1 cav II all very plainly.
Fate had thrust this coat upon me; Fate
had given me a mission: / might be the
means Of saving the girls life. ] was an
amateur detective, after a fashion, and
more than once. in the old newspaper
days, l had succeeded where the police
had failed.
In a far corner of the envelope was
a house address Without doubt it was
the very house in which this murder
was to be committed. / glanced at my
watch. 1t was II o'clock. There was plenty
of time. - Or. had the crime
already been perpetrated? I shuddered.
It was left for me to find out. Servants
night out" 1 thought. This might or
might not be servants night out. In any
event should have the happiness of con-
founding a great rascal From the ad-
dress I learned that the house was To-
Gated in a particularly aristocratic part
Of the West Side. But why should he
kill the girl? Ha. r had 1t. There
was a will. No doubt she stood be-
tween, With the girl dead. the prop
erty would fall to him. II sounded like
a play at the Fourteenth Street Theater:
but. in real life, the melodrama is closest
to our everyday affairs.
I at once determined not to notify
the police: they would only bungle the
matter with the red tape of delay. I
could call them in when the work was
over.
And to think that this ruffian's taste
in overcoats was one and Identical with
mine, / had half a notion TO tear OF
the coat only it would have attracted
besides, II was cold.
Some men would have shrugged their
shoulders and permitted the thing to go
on. In a great city the good Samari-
tan is usually looked upon as a med
dler: and. besides. every one has trouble
enough of his own. The girl was moth
ing to me; even her name was unknown.
| hoped, however. that she was beautiful
and young. My duty lay clear enough. 1t
was possible to save a human being, and
that was all there was to the matter.
Any right-minded man would haze done
exactly as I did, though hardly with tho
same result. tThis is not to say that I'm
not right-minded, howeyerD II I should
save the girl from her prosecutor, III
should always have something to fall
back on If by any chance I myself left
the strait and narrow way. To save
A life is to do penance for many sins.
Putting aside all hippant moralizng. IL |
was an adventure such as invariably ap- |
peals to me. and II is a habit of mine |
10 pursue things to the end. II is a fine |
and noble pursuit. that of research. But
sometimes, as in cases like this adventure |
pr mine, persons lacking my sense of the |
romantic. are called busybodys.
/ do not recolIect what street ii was
in the eighties that the guard bawled |
put but IL was near enough for my pur- |
pose. hurried out of the car and down |
the steps OF the elevated. Everybody |
gets in the way of man in a hurry: so. /
for a block or more. the time was spent ]
N making apologies to gruff tempered |
persons They would get in my way. and /
hey would demand what I meant by not
ooking where / was going. Finally I
succeeded In Kidding myself OF thei