The daily Alaskan., 1914-01-12
.oTen me what Eou refer to."

them would it the lock. He tried them all, but found none of them available.
 "'Perhaps.' said the man who had loaned the keys, this gentleman'-re- ferring to me-'has q key that will serve your purpose
 "I handed him my key ring, and he tried all the keys on 1t, but without effect"
 MT Tourtelotte." I said, 'I am in- cliued to think that this episode may have some connection with the rob- bery."
 will you'kindly explain howT
 T assume that the key of your safe was on the ring"
 Tt was"
 Were yoUr eyes on your keys every moment they were in the others pos sesSion?'
 No. His back was toward me when he was trying them.'
 l sat ponderiMg for awhile before saying anything more.
 "I fear" | said at last, that shall have to give up the case. There is possibility that some game was played on you by this man to whom you lOan- ed your keys. but to find him would be 1 impossible Besides. ir would require all the ingenuity of first class modern detective story writer to show how a chance momrutary loan of keys on train could result in money disappear ing from your safe without that safe | having been forced open"
 Why do you decline to suspect Miss 1 Martini"
 "Because she has very expressive face, and t would be Impossible for her to carry such a secret without be- uaying it. Moreover l have perfect confidence in my ability to tell a rogue from an innocent person by looking into the eye
 Very well. sir; since you acknowl- edge your inability to ferret out the matter you are welcome to retire from it"
 I learned afterward that be employ ed another detective, who worked on ! the lines he indicated, and Miss Mar tin was kept under surveillance. But sine was never known to spend a cent that she could not afford to spend, and no clcw was found against her. met her on the street one day, and she rec l oguized me as having been at the house ! where she was employed immediately after the robbery. She told me that l Mir. TOurteotte had dispensed with her services. but she did not know why. l did not enlighten her. Before | I left her entered her new address | in my notebook in accordance with my habit of keeping the addresses of per sons In any way connected with my cases.
 There was a special reason which l did not know .at the time why MT. ! TOUrtcIotte wished to fx the robbery of uis safe on Miss Martin. He had son whom he suspected of being in love with her. He informed that son, ] Edgar, that he was convinced that 1 Miss Martin was a thief, but since he could not prove 1t he made no charge. But, not desiring to have one whom he did not trust a member of his house 1 hold he had sent her away.
 This was the first Edgar Tourtelotte knew of bis fathers suspicious. He 1 came at once to me to hear what l knew about the matter. told him ! that I had no suspicion whatever of 1 Miss Martin; on the contrary, l was 1 sure that she was an innocent girl 1 This pleased him very much, and he ! begged me to try again to discover ! the guilty person. agreeing to pay me i for any time I spent in doing so. l 1 told him that, not being one of those ! detectives who could work up a case ] from a scratch on a wall or the stump 1 of a cigar. 1 would not undertake to work up one in which I had no clew whatever. ! added that I believed his 1 fathers safe had been robbed by pro 1 fessionaI criminal and there was pos sibility that at some future time an explanation might come out by some crook in limbo.
 The lovers were in time relieved by ! just such an explanation. It came to me in a roundabout way. A lot of Us detectives were sitting together one ! evening swapping yarns when one of the party told that a crook who had | given him samples of his ingenuity related the following with great pride: ] He had marked a rich man for his 1 quarry and noticed that he left the suburb in which be lived every morn ing by certain train for the city. 1 One day, well dressed. the criminal en. tered the same car with the gentle man. followed by a confederate. On ! the way to the city he pretended to be d lawyer with a case coming of in court that he must try when he reach i ed tue city. In this way, aided by his i confederate, he secured the rich mans safe key long enough to take an im- 1 pressiOu of it in wax, entered his house by a trellis, opened his safe and se- cured a good lot of swag.
 There was no use having this in- 1 genious crook arrested, for he had al-