The Topeka state journal., 1919-12-20

man halted temporarily as tho he was
hit, and dropping his gun Jack gave
chase, but the man Speeded up again
and completely disappeared near the
garage. Knowing further chase would
be fruitless he had returned to his
room, turned on the light and found.
as he had feared. that his trousers
were missing. 1t was then four O'Clock
in the morning.
The loss of the pearls was slight
compared with the thought of what
his predicament would be in the
morning as there were no male MEM
bers in the family from whom he
could borrow dress suit trousers:
Then the thought came to him that II
he went Immediately, he would have
time to go to his home. secure another
pair and be back in time for the cere-
mony. The robbery could be attended
to later. So putting on all his remain
ing clothing, together with his rain
coat. he took hisamachine and started
on his very rapid journey.
He would have made it as planned
had he not struck a part OF the road
that was being graded and the speed
of his car caused it to turn turtle, PIN
ming him under it and rendering him
unconscious to everything, except. his
abbreviated apparel and Josephine
embarrassment due to his absence at
the time set for the wedding. You
know the rest. gentlemen" he said.
What puzzles me is. that If a burglar
| stole my trousers. how 1 now came to
| find them on the floor or the garage
and the pearls still in the pocket.
| How my card case and key ring hap
pened to be on the floor of Jose
phine's room is as much mystery 10
me as it is to you for 1 swear I was
not in that room. AS for the cigaret
stub, 1 have never smoked cigarets' TO
which my friends can testify"
F., your burglar, Mr.. Hazelton, SAID
Tvlock Homes, was only the family
shepherd dog, who had always been
allowed to sleep in the house until
/ the wedding activities drove him from
his usual bed which he resented and
came back to your room to sleep.
You will find he has been wounded
IN the foot where your shot took ef-
feet. His size might easily lead one
| to think he was a man, moving on ms
| hands and knees
to is another story which L shall ask
you gentlemen to keep secret as
/ it has no direct bearing on the real
culprit. When you, Mr.. Hazelton,
were found clad only in your coat and
vest I knew that your trousers must
| have been stolen and that you were
! probably on your way after another
pair When 1 observed that your caro-
case and key ring were on the op-
posite side of the room from which
Josephine had slept and in a direct
L
! more than likely that your trousers
were hidden in the wardrobe and that
those articles had been dropped by the
party concealing your trousers rather
| than that you had been in the room
! yourself. The wardrobe was of
I very antique style and similar to one
had previously seen which had a. slid
ing. secret panel in it. so while you
/ were all talking 7 examined it and
found that this one also had such a
j panel, which I opened and found a
compartment containing pair OF
dress trousers and on the floor was a
revolver with one empty cartridge. I
had noticed that there was hanging
in the wardrobe proper a red satin
dressing gown, with a pulled thread in
the hem. On inquiring which girl
used the wardrobe I found it was used
found caught in the woodwork of
i the overturned chair. a thread OF the
same red satin and I knew that Olive
Draper had been the one to hide your
trousers and revolver. either as a
practical joke or for some reason
known only to herself. In my inter
view with her this evening learned
that her object in hiding your trousers
was only to delay the wedding. She
told me about all three of you being
in college together and while there
was apparently a platonic friendship
between you and her. still she had
loved you in a different way and when
it was evident that Josephine was
your choice she tried to be glad as
she wanted you both to be happy
. It was a great relief to her when she
found the Red Cross service needed
ber and she plunged into that work
. with an energy that made her forget
, temporarily her trouble. Later on
however, the Indifferent tone il
: JoseDhine's letters made her fear thai
f.-ir ,,
/ and that something was wrong. WheT
she heard of your approaching wed
: ding she imagined her fears Were
2 groundless and that everything wa
: alright between you. Later. she wa
E sgain convinced that You both wer'