Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-07-12

! The suite of offices occupied by his
firm were in a building which had
been remodeled from dwelling house.
Next to it stood a residence which the
march of business up the avenue had
so far left -undisturbed. and it was
now rented out for bachelor apart
ments.
One morning the papers had an item
/ on the front page telling how Spray,
Galland & Co., diamond importers, had
\ been robbed of valuable gems by the
I blowing open of safe. This was
Shaw's firm, and that evening he toIu
I Elva they were entirely mystified as to
how the burglars had entered. There
was watchman on the outside who
could not have failed to see them from
the front, and the roof and back of the
building showed not the slightest trace
of any forcible entrance.
About two days after this, Shaw, in
passing the house next his office, saw
q young man hastily coming down the
front steps. Something about him
caused Shaw to stare curiously at the
man. Instantly the man turned away
to avoid his scrutiny, and almost
stumbled down the remaining steps.
Shaw purposely stood in his way, and
as the young man lodged him, caught
at his arm.
"Elva Burt ~ he exclaimed. "What
does this meant"
Let me goI' she begged. LET me
go quicklyl''
But he began.
"Don't keep me herer she urged
And, freeing herself from his grasp,
she hurried on, hailed taxi, and had
vanished before Cedric Shaw could
quite collect his scattered senses.
| He went to his desk in a dazed state
of mind. No woman except laundress
or Scrubwoman was ever seen coming
| out of this house. For the girl whose
delicate womanliness had first of all
appealed to him to be seen in such a
| guiSe, and coming out of bachelor
| apartments, was a shock from which it
was not easy to recover. He had given
| her the deepest devotion, the love of
| his life, and he had meant to tell her
this. The blow staggered him. He
meant to see her again, and at least
try to wiring from her an explanation,
but he felt he could not go that day.
| Late in the afternoon the telephone
rang, the senior partner took the mes
sage, and when he had hung up the
| together and told them. 1t was from
police headquarters they had made
| an important arrest-two men from
the house next door. Shaw felt his
heart stop beating, and things running
before his eyes. What if one of these
men was Elva Burt? What if he had
to face her in the prisoners dock? A
detective was now on the way up, and
they wished someone to remain, and
go with him to the cellar. Investiga-
ton revealed a tunnel from the house
next door, through which the thieves
had crawled, and which they must
have worked, digging for some time.
The police had not yet discovered the
gems, but they believed they had got
the right men, the janitor and a young
fellow. A young fellow" Shaw shud-
dered at confronting him. They went
down to headquarters. The young fell
low was short, stumpy, and red-haired.
and both men protested their inno-
cence.
'Well," announced the chief, "thiS
was about the neatest bit of detective
work you'd pull off in month of Sun
days. The finding of that hole in the
cellar was a Jim dandy. You see, the
detective pretends to go in there to
inquire about rooms, and all of sud-
den he shifts something, and he yeIls
out to the janitor he smells fire, and
it's coming from the cellar. The min
| ute the man unlocks that cellar door,
he's down there ahead of him, and nos
| ing around to beat the band. He lights
a bit of paper SOS he can look better,
puts it out, and shifts q burnt smell
somewhere. But he's got what he came
for, the sight of hole, and bricks and
dirt behind n box, and he hasn't let on
to the janitOr he's seen a thing out of
the common, and he's awful sorry he
gave him such a scare. He finds out
there's only a terribly high-priced
apartment to rent, and is awful sorry
again, it being too much for his purse,
and he gets out, and down here
quicker'n lightning. And the two fell
lows are Jailed in just about one hour
from that time"
Here one of the partners asked if he
might see the detective. The chief said
he supposed he might-that is, If he
happened to be in
He went to door, opened 1t, looked
in. and beckoned to someone. neat
ly dressed young woman appeared in
the doorway. Shaw gaSped-
Miss Burt" asked the Chi eff, ''do you
know where Sanderson is?"
She gave him an inquiring look, then
she suddenly saw Shaw'S eyes upon
her. Official caution vanished before
the questioning of his gaze.