The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-07-07

patOn, ana said no more
The suite of offices occupied by his
firm were in n building which had
been remodeled from a dwelling house.
Next to 1t stood n residence which the
march of business up the avenue had
so far left undisturbed, and il was
now rented u 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
blowing open of a safe. This was
Shaw's firm, and hat evening he told
Elva they were entirely mystifed as to
how the burglars had entered. There
was n Waterman 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
a 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 p~urposely stood in his way, and
as the young man lodged him, caught
at his arm.
"Elva Burt" he exclaimed. "What
does this mean?"
CT ~ r,, -, ~ IL - ar
go quickly"
But" he began.
Don't keep me herer she urged.
And, freeing herself from his grasp,
she hurried on, hailed a 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 a 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 seer in such q
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
receiver he called the heads of the firm
together and told them. 1t was from
police headquarters; they had made |
important arrest-two men from
the house next door. Shaw felt his
heart stop beating, and things running
before his eyes. What if n of these
men was Elva Burt? What if he had
face her in the prisoners dock? A
detective was now on the way I'D, 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
A "young fellow" Shaw shud-
dered at confronting him. They went
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 a 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 a sud-
den he shifts something, and he yells
out to the ~janitor he smells fire, and
coming from the cellar. The min
ute the man uHlocks 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 a burnt smell
somewhere. But he's got what he came
for, the sight of a hole, and bricks and
dirt behind n box, and he hasn't let on
to the ~janitor he's seen q 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 a door, opened 1t, looked
in, and beckoned to someone. A neat
ly dressed young woman appeared in
the doorway. Shaw gasped.
Miss Burt" asked the chief, "do you
know where Sanderson ISL"
She gave him an inquiring look, then
she suddenly saw Shaw's eyes upon
her. Official caution vanished before
the questioning of his gaze