Evening star., 1920-02-01

producing his cigar case. In taking
up the case Of clearing a poor devil
who has already served his term of
Imprisonment you asserted, and just
~ asserted, that i started at an i'm
mense disadvantage owing chiefly to
much water having passed under
London bridge But / have compen-
sations. one of which is my extensive
erudition in crimes and the perpe-
traitors OF crimes. Now this Gold
Aack-the name is one of his many
aiiases-is as perfectly well known
to me as to New Scotland Yard"
He once suffered the unpleasant
ness OF receiving fve years for forg-
Ing banknotes," continued Tredways.
He had two accomplices. One of
them was man named Peterson.
jefferson died not SO long ago. The
other. the third man, and the sharp
est OF the lot, escaped by the skin
OF his teeth and got out of the coun-
Try. never knew what became of
him. The criminal Investigation de-
partment never knew. This morning
] found out"
burst out: II cannot see eye to
exc with you in this. Tredways. Pen
dTail had made a. fortune in America
bYsa a legitimat ate,: Investment and had
returned to ,Sh1oysit Is sf.iikely that
he would be- ~ ,nAasSss to.stry to get
into touch Wifi fwo' dangerous con-
.federates of he,past?"
Profoundly: nniillsly il he knew
that he had been associated with
them" e
I!.stared.. what on. earth do you
meant" r>. ~.
Tredways chuckled hilariously.
You might have asked. also. if it
was likely that Pendtill would have
returned at all, knowing he had been
wanted in England bsT the police. But
he didn't know it any more than he
knew for certain about his pals. Shall
tell you the startling truth? Well.
it Is my conviction that some time
after his flight to the states he was
SO unfortunate-or perhaps fortunate
AS to suffer complete lapse of
memory. 1t; was either through an
accident, a severe physical mishap, or
more probably through that terrible
s fever which hts. adopted daughter
speRs about. 4 RECALL the. fact of his
absoispe silence as to his past"
g '.Ah.- but he would have been silent
SIN: any case" a.s, -. -
= Excellent. No. doSbt he would
sand yeti. think lie would have let
-,some detail. slip from him during the
Wsafs, when he was caring for Lucy.
Remember the strange answer he
made, when he was asked if he was
antEnglisbman; an answer given, ap-
parentIy, In SO queer tone of voice
that it was deeply impressed on the
hearers mind. But that is not all
Directly something of his past was
at last restored to, him he was mO-r
mentarily ,oyerwhelmed with 4'emo-
tion. as well he, might bal He was
seized with a vehement, with a dead,
ly desire to prove the ,forbidding
truth! He sent his daughter to those
addresses with inquiry as to whether
his confederates had lived there:
whether they had existed at all. He
dared not 60 himself. When she was
gone he tried to persuade himself his
memory was still playing him false.
So he set about ,endeavorinE to. imi-
tate the handwriting on the letters
he had received that morning, IL ha
had been a forger he must have had
great skill in initiation Of that kind"
But he made, bad copies pro-.
tested.
"Of course he did. Years had passed.
lie had got out of practice. And
then the agitation under which he
labored was fatal to the test"
But why should his memory have
suddenly returned?"
because some one had found him
who wanted to make IT return. Pet-
terson being dead. that some one
must have been Goldsack. Goldsack
had spotted him by chance or other
wise. Goldsack had found that PEN
drill was not as he used to be. He
determinsd--no doubt for purposes OF
b,acknnail--to bring back the past to
his fortunate and wealthy confed-
crate. So he sent him that line which
ran: Pardon delay. Your note or
the 10th mislaid. Why not try the
ofYioe at Southampton This was
code. I saw through 1t at once. l
4. n