The Tomahawk., 1916-01-27

Felix Hazard was rapidly acquiring
a curious tumble of irreconcilable
conclusions. David Bardeene, who
had time and inclination to consider
only matters of huge emprise, had an
woman who made herself known by
means of a blank visiting card; he
Immediately dropped all other bust
ness and gave her his attention.; dur
ing the course of Commute inter
view she had, it would seem, stabbed
him to death with his own paper
knife, and then departed as. quietly
and unhurriedly and mysteriously as
she had come.
All at once he remembered the
scandal that had gathered about the
dead mans name and which it was a
part of his duty to hush. It struck
him now that the scandal, if there
were any basis for it, must be opened
up and aired instead Of suppressed, If
justice were to be done.
"Mr. Destin," he went off on a new
track, "you were probably as close to
David Bardeene as any man, were you
not?"
The chief clerk reflected, then
thoughtfully replied:
''No man was what you might call
intimate with Mr.. Bardeene; nobody
could get close to him; he was a
reserved, self-contained man; but in
business way I suppose I had as
much of his confidence as any one.
Socially, though-well, do you know
Maxwell Howe the engineer".
The name was indeed familiar to
Felix Hazard. He thought of the
man whose splendid genius was sui
lied by the character of Dionysius;
| at once creator of magnificent struc-
lures and satyr, a genius In whom
| glowed the divine spark and a selfish
hedonist and libertine.
Eyes, I know him." he returned.
"Well," came the quiet addendum,
"Mr. Bardeene was much in his COM
pany out of office hours"
If this were true, once more the
case resolved itself into simple if sor-
did elements. But Destin was not
the best source of information for
this angle; it was factor that Hef-
ferman could attend to.
when the buzzer summoned you,
| while the woman was with Mr.. Bar
deene, what occurred that agitated
you?" Hazard asked.
For the first time George Destin
betrayed uneasiness. He stirred I'M
comfortably and darted a disturbed
glance at his inquisitor before reply
ing
HE reprimanded me for what he
considered a dereliction on my part"
Destin explained in a dropped voice;
"a matter that had nothing to do with
the lady's call-or at least suppose
it hadn't"
That the incident ranked would &C.
count for the chief clerks constraint;
but for some reason Hazard regarded
him with suspicion. However he
didn't press his interrogations; it oc-
Cured to him that dossier Of both
Bardeene's and Destin's mode Of life
would be more informative than any
thing the chief clerk would be of a
mind to tell him. So after minute
or two Of desultory conversation he
took his leave.
No sooner had he emerged upon the
| sidewalk than a seedy-looking individ-
ual accosted him and asked whether
his name was Felix Hazard. He eyed
| the man shrewdly, and swiftly made
| up his mind that he was not factor
to reckon with. When he replied in
the affirmative the seedy man handed
| him bethumbed, sealed envelope up
on which was his typewriter name.
The messenger started to SLOUGH
| away, but Hazard arrested his steps
| with a curt command to wait.
The second message, like the first.
| was typewriter on narrow slip OF
| paper; but unlike the other, the men
! ace of it's purport was unmistakable.
| Hazard read:
"You choose to disregard friendly
| counsel-very we'll. Beware the con-
| sequences. To clear the mystery sur
rounding David Bardeenes death will
not serve the ends of justice, but will
| entail irreparable injury for people
who are innocent OF any Wrongdolng.
So stop before it is too late"
! Hazard bore down sternly upon the
shabby messenger, who promptly be-
came frightened and anxious to be
gone.
"Who gave you this?" he demanded.
'T-I-d.d-don't know the gent"
chartered the other. "He points you
out to me when you goes into the
building and he gives me bone to
wait and hand you this letter when
you comes out. He beats it, and l
earns my money-that's ALL"
Describe him."
The seedy individual did so as we'll
as he was able in his ratified state:
but the description told Hazard moth
| ing-it was of somebody whom he
could not identify.
| After a final word of warning the
detective dismissed the messenger,
| ubo cc,,ff1ed awav