The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-12-29

uQCdrQlSneQ, save IN CQe knOWleuSe Ol
q few.
Of these, Martin Ember was one.
Whitaker made point of hunting him
up. The retired detective received con-
firmation of his surmise without any
amaZement.
"You still believe that he's alive?"
'Implicitly," Ember asserted with
conviction.
"Could you find him, if necessary"
"Within a day, think. Do you wish
me to?"
Ember permitted Whitaker to con-
slider the matter in silence for some
moments. Then. "Do you want ad-
vice?" he inquired.
"Well?"
Hunt him down and put him behind
the bars" said Ember instantly.
whats the good Of that?"
"Your personal safety"
"How?"
with you out of the way, he could
come back without fear"
Ember permitted another pause to
lengthen, unbroken by Whitaker.
"Shall I try to find him for you?" he
said quietly, in the end.
NO." Whitaker decided. mo. Let
him alone-poor devil!'
Ember disclaimed further RESPONSE
bility with a movement of his shoul-
'ders.
"But my wife? Could you find her
as readily?"
Possibly" the detective admitted
cautiously. "tBut I don't mean to-"
"Why not?"
principally because she doesn't want
me to. Otherwise she'd let you know
where to look for her.
"True."
These fragments of dialogue are
from a conversation that took place in
the month Of June, nearly seven weeks
after the farewell performance at the
Theatre Max. Interim, Whitaker had
quietly resumed his place in the life
of the town, regaining old friendships,
renewing old associations. The mild
excitement occasioned by his reappear-
ance had already subsidized; he was
again an accepted and substantial fac
tor in the society Of his kind.
Gradually he began to know more
hours of loneliness than suited his
tastes. His rooms-the old rooms over
looking Bryant park regained and re-
furnished much as they had been six
years before-knew his solitary pres
ence through many a long evening.
July came with blistering breath and
he took to the Adirondacks, meaning
to be gone month. Within ten days
he was home again, drawn back IRE
sistibly by q strange, Unsuitable crav-
ing of unformulated desire. Town
bored him, yet he could not seem to
rest away from it.
He wandered in and out, up and
down, an unquiet, irresolute soul, tre-
mendously perplexed.
There came one dark and sultry
night, heavy beneath skies overcast, in
August. Whitaker left a roof-garden
in the middle of a stupid performance,
and walked the streets till long after
midnight, courting the fatigue that
alone could bestow untroubled sleep.
On his return a sleepy hall-boy with
a wilted collar ran the elevator up to
his tenth-floor landing and, leaving him
fumbling at the lock of his door.
dropped clankingly out of sight. Witt
aker entered and shut himself in with
the pitch-blackness of his private hall.
He groped along the wall for the
electric switch. and found only the
shank of it, the hard rubber button
having disappeared. And then, while
still he was trying to think how this
could have happened, he sustained a
murderous assault.
A miscalculation on the part of the
marauder alone saved him. The black
jack Cor whatever the weapon was)
missing his head by the narrowest
shave, descended upon his left shoul-
der with numbing force. Notwith-
standing his pain and surprise, Whit
aker rallied and grappled, thus escap-
ing a second and probably more deadly
blow.
But his shoulder was almost useless,
and the pain of it began to sicken him,
while the man in his grip fought like
devil unclaimed.
For some minutes the night was rem
dered wild and violent with the crashes
of overthrown furniture and the thud
and thump of struggling bodies. Then
Whitaker broke free and plunged in
what he imagined to be the direction
Of dresser in which he kept revolv-
Ell. His foot slipped on the hardwood
floor, the ankle twisted, and he fell
awkwardly, striking his head against
a table leg with such force that he lay
half stunned. An instant later his as
sailant emptied five chambers of re-
volver into the darkness about him,
and then, alarmed by racket of
pounding on the hall door, fled success
fully by way of the fire escape to ad-
joining roofs and neighboring back
yards.
BY the time Whitaker was able to
pull himself together and hobble to the
door, q brace of intelligent policemen.
WHO uau Deeu SulHllloueu ny the llall-
boy, were threatening to break it down.
Admitted, they took his safety into
their care and, simultaneously, the re-
volver which he incautiously admitted
possessing. Later they departed. OBJ
viously disgruntled by the unprofes-
sional conduct of the "crook" who had
left no "clues," with a warning to the
householder that he might expect to he
summoned to court. as soon as he was
able to move, to answer for the crime
of keeping a weapon of defense.
Whitaker took to his bed in company
with a black temper and the aroma Of
arnica.
He entertained, the next day. several