The Press., 1914-02-04
was on the ring.''

was on the ring"
 "It 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 pondering for awhile before saying anything more.
 ''I fear,' said at last, ''that shall have to give up the case. There is a possibility that some game was played on you by this man to whom you loan ed your keys, but to find him would be impossible. Besides, it would require all the ingenuity of first class modern detective story writer to show how a chance momentary loan of keys on a train could result in money disappear ing from your safe without that safe having been forced open.''
 "Why do you decline to suspect Miss MartinY
 Because she has very expressive face, and it would be impossible for her to carry such a secret without be- traying 1t. Moreover, I 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 il"
 I learned afterward that he employ ed another detective, who worked on the lines he indicated, and Miss Mar tin was kept under surveillance. But she was never known to spend cent that she could not afford to spend, and no clew was found against her. l met her on the street one day, and she rec ognized me as having been at the house where she was employed immediately after the robbery. She told me that MT. TourtelOtte had dispensed with her services, but she did not know why. did not enhghten her. Before left her I 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 Mir. Tourtelotte wished to fix the robbery of his safe on Miss Martin. He had a son whom he suspected of being in love with her. He informed that son. Edgar. that he was convinced that 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 hold. he had sent her away.
 This was the first Edgar TOurtelotte knew of his fathers suspicious. He came at once to me to hear what l knew about the matter. l told him that I had no suspicion whatever of Miss Martin; on the contrary. l was sure that she was an innocent girl. This pleased him very much. and he begged me to try again to discover the guilty person. agreeing to pay me for any time l spent in doing so. told him that, not being one of those detectives who could work up a case from a scratch on a wall or the stump of a cigar. I would not undertake to work up one in which I had no clew whatever. I added that I believed his fathers safe had been robbed by pro- fesslOnal 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 swanping 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 quarry and, noticed that he left the suburb in which he lived every morn ing by a certain train for the city. 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 a lawyer with a case coming off in court that he must try when he reach ed the city. In this way, aided by his he secured the rich mans safe key long enough to take an im- pression of 1t 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- genious crook arrested, for he had al ready been sentenced to serve term of ten years in state prison, but in- formed the TourtelOtte family of the explanation of their safe mystery, and I was soon afterward informed by Ed gar Tourtelette of his engagement, with his fathers consent, to Miss Mar tin. On the day Edgar was married he sent me a check for $1O0.