The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-09-04
An Amateur
Detective
He Found No Clew, but
Had Good Luck.
By AMBROSE HALL

tecttve bureau with which / was con-
nected to report to Oliver AiDsworth to
investigate a case for him, I did so,
and this was Mr.. Ainsworth's state
| ment:
Il live in a suburban town. Ny fam
lily consists of my wife, my son, Albert,
twenty-five years old, and my daugh-
ter, Edith, aged twenty. Other persons
come In from time to time, remaining
temporarily. There are also the serv-
ants, consisting of cook, housemaid
and butler.
''For some time past we have been
missing small articles, principally jew
els. Only yesterday brooch set with
diamonds and worth 500 disappeared.
suppose In all 81, 800 worth of proper
ty has been taken. wish you to come
into my house for long enough stay
to discover the thief Your chief has
recommended you as person who
would not be likely to be taken for a
detective, you having been well brought
up. He has told me also that you are
very musical and play on several In
struments. My daughter wishes to learn
to play on the mandolin, and you can
give her lessons. shall introduce you
as the son Of an old and very dear
friend of mine, giving out that you
have met with bad luck and that l
have taken you in for awhile until you
can get on your feet again.
There was truth In the latter part of
this statement. I had recently come
from England to seek my fortune In
America like others Of my countrymen
who are ready to do abroad what they
would be too proud to do at home. l
tried music, for which have consid-
cradle taste, but after starving awhile
in that field fell In with a detective,
who secured me q position In the bu-
reau with which he was connected. !
think my chief recommendation was
that, being a gentleman, / could play
parts that would be impossible for an
unpublished man.
This assignment with Mr.. Ainsworth
was my first In my new business, and
I knew nothing about how to trap
thief. Persons who are ignorant OF
an important work they are expected
to do are prone to look very wise and
appear to be thinking very hard. put
on the semblance Of the wisdom of
Solomon, and when Mr.. Ainsworth was
about TO tell me Of any suspicious that
were entertained stopped him, say
ing that / always worked by method,
pursuing my investigations step by
step, and wished to avoid any precon-
ceived notions that might lead me
astray. This inspired the gentleman
with great faith in me. must trust
to luck or my wits to bear out his con-
f1dence
The story Of my supposed impover-
ishment, which, as have said, was in
the main true, brought very sympa-
thetic reception from Miss Edith Aims
worth, and the fact that was to teach
her music foreshadowed that would
pass q season in clover. Under the In
finence Of her beautiful eyes felt that
could be thief hunter for the rest
of my days. commenced the music
kcbSOl1S Ut OLlCG uA1u Wub 6uPlNtoCA "
enter upon my investigations at the
same time. Alas, / knew not where to
beginl That part Of my work which
consisted In leading the family to think
that 1 was the unfortunate son Of
dear friend Of its head / performed
with great ease since 1t was natural
to me. was first cousin to an earl,
and my father, having been born to
the courtesy title Of honorable, had
never done q stroke Of work in his life
except garrison work, for he had been
colonel Of regiment in the British
army.
I spent fortnight as a member of
Mr.. Ainsworth's family, and since I
had not secured the slightest clew to
the thief felt 1t necessary to put on
all the appearance Of pursuing deep
laid plan Of which was capable. Mr.
Ainsworth refrained from questioning
me, which was lucky. Indeed, so en-
I crossed was / with my lovely pupil
that had dozen clews been under my
nose would not have detected one of
them. l wondered that he did not
notice how matters were going be-
tween me and Edith, but If there is
one thing / observed in my career OF
detective 1t Is the stupidity of parents
In failing to notice the incipient love
| affairs Of their children.
After spending nearly three weeks
pretending to be following deep laid
plan Of Investigation I began to be not
only conscience stricken, but fearful
that the humbug / was practicing
would be discovered. To add to my
worry began to realize that the farce
I, could not last forever and must soon
be separated from Edith. My cup of
misery was filing up rapidly when luck
came to me. l hit upon ciew.
Lying awake at night when all was
still, l heard the distant sound OF n
| chime. / wondered that / had never
heard it before, but 1t was so faint
that / would be likely to detect it
only under the most favorable circum-
stances. There were two strokes, fol-
lowed at an interval by three more.
Then all was still again. Presently
heard it again. This time it was three
strokes. While the chime was strik-
ing lifted my head from the pillow
to hear better and was surprised that
could not hear it at all.
Since the sound seemed periodical /
listened for 1t again, and in quarter
Of an hour it was repeated, three
strokes followed by one. Struck by a
thought, reached out to a table be-
side me, lighted match and looked at
my watch. 1t was a quarter past g.
The sound had heard was not dis
tant chime, but one very near, and It
was tn a watch. When the next time
for it to strike came around / was ~
ing on my back and did not hear It,
but when it struck 3;45 my ear was on
my pillow, and heard every stroke
THAT" said, lis a watch that may
be made to strike the hour. 1t is In
this house and possibly In this room"
In order to make 1t appear that was
investigating l had requested such
change Of rooms as was convenient.
had slept in this room two nights be-
fore heard the chime, but each night
there had been strong wind. Be
sides, had proved that unless my ear
was connected with the watch by sol
ids the chime was inaudible. Beliey
ing the watch to be in the room with
me, a few minutes before 1t should
strike again got up and pressing my
ear against the wall. heard it distinctly
During the next hour l made severa
such experiments with view to locat
ing the sound, but without success.
Then it occurred to me that watcl
must tick and If could get near enough
to 1t might hear 1t. l walked slowl,