The Washington herald., 1914-02-22

sible. to see where that bag was going;
but IL proved not to be possible, for when
/ caught sight of him again he was get
the pavement. I believe / would have
boarded that cab IL 1 had had q chance,
and made a snatch at that leather bag,
but before I had an opportunity to do
anything the vehicle had passed from
sight. Pursuit was out OF the question.
Ny rooms were at the bottom of Sloane
street. Mrs. Arnold's house was in an
old-fashioned square within five min
utes' walk. My impulse. when arrived
home. was to go round to her at once and
warn her against Jane. But for two or
three reasons did nothing of the kind.
I was dirty, tired. and hungry, and It
was dinner time, and also I was in rath-
er a mystified franc Of mind.
After dinner decided that / would do
nothing-at any rate, until the morning.
had half a mind to get on to the tele-
phone and talk to them at Scotland Yard
about IS, Elm Grove-back entrance" I
had very little doubt about the meaning
OF that bin in the corner OF the shed.
and as to the contents OF the parcels
which the boy had taken out of it. The
bin, I fancied, represented an ingenious
system Of dealing with stolen goods.
At what to me was an early hour I
went to bed. However. going to bed I
found was one thing; going to sleep was
another. That night, for what 1 have
occult reason. 1 could not sleep. 1 had
to think-and when. in bed. one starts to
think, it is nearly always fatal. As the
minutes slipped by became conscious of
what I cannot but call an extraordinary
obsession-it seemed to mo that some one
was calling to me at Mrs. Arnold's. OF
course, the feeling was a ridiculous one,
but there It was. worse-it became
stronger and stronger. At last. getting
out OF bed, switching on a light, donning
a dressing gown, / went into the sitting
room to read. But the feeling followed
me there-it was really too absurd.
Then something curious happened-I
thought SO then. think so now. I dare
down in cold blood, but the actual thing
was INDISPENSABLE All at once II was
borne in on to me that my presence was
needed at Mrs. Arnold's house-that some
thing was happening which made it ne
cessary that should be there. I return
ed to my bedroom. dressed myself. and
went out into the street.
had glanced at the time while dress
ing. and noticed that it was after two.
1 walked round to Mrs. Arnold's without
seeing a creature on the way. I stepped
out quickly. but when 1 came to Ted
worth Square 1 slackened my pace.
I cannot explain the motives which
prompted me that night; 1 can only say
that directly I reached the square some
thing told me that. II it were possible. it
was OF the first Importance that should
not allow my movements to reveal my
presence.
paused-if only because my ears were so
wide open that 1 became conscious Of a
sound. Two voices were speaking-in
what was little more than a whisper.
Soft though their utterance was. I knew
that they were sngry-that one Of the
speakers was more angry than the other.
The voices came from the garden. The
gate was open. 1 wished I could have
seen the speakers; it was impossible to
hear. Suddenly one of the voices was
raised-not much. but just enough to en-
able me, with my wideopen ears. to catch
what was said.
81 tell you she says that she won't
open. II I could get hold OF her It would
be dead easy, but how do you suppose
I'm going to get at her when she's the
other side of the window"
The second voice was audible-I fancy
expostulating with the other for speaking
so loud. I slipped through the open gate
on to the grass-Mrs. Arnold's old-fash-
Toned house is detached and has quite
a garden in front A sudden idea had
come to me. 1 guessed at the identity
of those two speakers and at what they
were doing there. They were so absorbed
in what they were saying. and was SO
noiseless, that saw them long before
they saw me-a tallish man and a short
er one. carrying on an animated discus
sion beneath their breath.
The shorter man seemed all at once to
lose control over his temper; he slightly
raised his voice. strained my ears
IF she won't. she won't, there's an end
of it-Tm on No wildcat games for me
that wasn't in the bargain. Her letting
US into the house and putting everything
ready is one thing; what you are after
is quite another-and not for me-"
The other man blazed out: by heav-
en-. I'll kill her."
Yes, I daresay you'd like to-and ex-
pect me to take a hand in that. No, thank
you, not for me-"
las she won't let me into the crib. as
she swore she would, I'll get in without
her; and IL once have my hands on her
throat
He left his sentence unfinished The
other continued to demonstrate. Both
were speaking louder than perhaps they
knew.
Now, don't you be fool. You don't
want to get into trouble, do you? Now
you come along with me. What's that?"