Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-07-29
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Marlowe Relies His Danger.

the swift, automatic way in whicl
ones ideas arrange themselve
about some new, illuminating
thought. 1t is quite true. The awful
intensity of ill-will that had f1amet
after me from those straining eye
balls had poured over my mind lik'
search-light. l was thinking quite
clearly now, and almost coldly, TO
l knew what-at least l knew whom
Il had to fear, and instinct warned
me that it was not a time to givs
room to the .emotions that were
fighting to possess me. The mar
hated me insanely. That incredible
fact I suddenly knew. But the face
had told met would have told any,
body-more than that. 1t was face
of hatred gratihed, it proclaimed
some damnable triumph. 1t hac
gloated over me driving away te
myfate. This too was plain to me
And what was my fate?
II stopped the car. 1t had gone
about two hundred and fifty yards
and a sharp bend of the road hid
the spot where I had set Henderson
down. l lay back in the seat and
thought it out. Something was tc
happen to me. In Paris? Probably
why else should l be sent there
with money and a ticket? But why
Paris? That puzzled me, for | had
no melodramatic idea about Paris.
put the point aside for moment.
turned to the other things that had
reused my attention that evening
The lie about my 'persuadlng him
to 60 for a moonlight run. What
was the intention of that? Mander-
son, l said to myself, will be return
ing without me while l am on my
way to Southampton. What will he
tell them about me? How account
for his returning alone and without
the car? As I asked myself that sim
lister question there rushed into my
mid the last of my difficulties:
Where are the thousand pounds?'
And in the same instant came the
answer: The thousand pounds are
in my pocket.
81 got up and stepped from the
car. My knees trembled and l felt
very sick. I saw the plot now-as |
thought The whole of the story
about the papers and the necessity
of their being taken to Paris was a
blind. With Manderson's money
about me, of which he would, de-
clare I had robbed him, was to all
appearance attempting to escape
from England, with every precau-
ton that guilt could suggest. He
would communicate with the police
at once, and would know how to put
them on my track, I should be ar
rested in Paris-if I got SO far
living under false name, after hav-
ing left the car under a false name,
myself, and travelled in a
cabin which I had booked in ad-
vance, also under a false name. 1t
would be plainly the crime of man
without money, and for some
reason desperately in want of it. AS
for my account of the affair, it
would be too preposterous.
CAS- this CHASTITY array of incrimin-
ating circumstances rose before me,
dragged the stout lettercase from
my pocket. In the intensity of the
moment l never entertained the
faintest doubt that was right. and
that the money was there. 1t would
easily hold the packets of notes.
But as I felt it and weighed it in
my hands it seemed to me there
must be more than this. 1t was too
bulky. What more was to be laid
to my charge. After all, thousand
pounds was not much TO tempt a
man like myself to run the risk of
penal servitude. In this new agita-
ton, scarcely knowing what l did,
| caught the surrounding strap in
my fingers just above the fastening
and tore the staple out of the lock.
These locks, you know, are pretty
flimsy as a rule"
Here NARROW paused and walked
to the oaken desk before the win
daw Opening a drawer full of mis-
cellaneous objects, he took out a
box of odd keys, and selected a
small one distinguished by a piece
of pink tape.
He handed it to Trent. II keep
that by me as sort of morbid me-
mento. 1t is the key to the lock I
smashed. l might have saved my
self the trouble if l had known that
this key was at that moment in the
left-hand side-pocket of my over
coat. Henderson must have slipped
it in, either while the coat was hang
ing in the hall or while he sat at my
side in the car. l might not have
found the tiny thing there for weeks
as matter of fact l did find it
two days after henderson was dead
but a police search would have
found it in five minutes. And then l
i with the case and its contents
in my pockets, my false name and
my sham spectacles and the rest of
i'll should have had no explana-
ton to offer but the highly con-
vincing one that I didn't know the
key was there"
Trent dangled the key by it's tape
idly. Then-"How do you know this
is the key of that case?" he asked
quickly.
Il tried it. As soon as I found it
I went up and fitted it to the lock.
l knew where I had left the thing.
So do you, I think, Mr.. Trent. Don't
your" There was a faint shade of
in Marlowe's voice:
'"Touche" Trent said, with a dry
smile. Il found a large empty letter
case with a burst lock lying with
other odds and ends on the dressing
table in Manderson's room. Your
statement is that you put it there.
could make nothing of it." He
closed his lips.
There was no reason for hiding
T." said Mar1owe "R,+ to oct h,cLr