The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-04-23
CHAPTER lIl.-continaed.

dined In d little restaurant In one
OF the side streets and walked home.
Immediately on entering the apart
ment decided to put my money In
the wall safe. There would be less
temptation for me to spend 1t IL /
carried only little In my pocket.
AZ opened the safe by means of
the combination ! made the astound-
ing discovery that one OF the jewel
cases had disappeared
And now ! stood hesitating at the
telephone. Self-proteetion babe me
notify neither the superintendent nor
the police. Yet must do something.
The Jewels entrusted to my care had
been stolen. Tlfe thief must be found
and the pearls recovered.
Why should not myself play the
detectiyo7 l had abundant leisure
now My great-uncle had Informed
me that there was something wrong
in the house and had charged me to
discover what It was, Here was the
opportunity for me to fulhll the trust
be had imposed on me.
The thought flashed across my mind,
too, that perhaps the crafty old gem
tleman had deliberately planned the
disappearance of the gems. Perhaps
he had devised an elaborate test to
see IL ! was honest, II / was of the
right callber to be his heir. Maybe he
and his wife had not gone TO Maine
fTVh he p..tsx
in another apartment in this very
house, surreptitiousIy entering when
they knew ] was absent. There real
ny had been no necessity for them to
give me the combination of the safe.
They need not have told me anything
about the pearls. l wondered IL they
themselves might not have taken away
the Jewel box just to see IL l would
discover the loss and to ascertain
what ] would do about IL.
Another theory suggested itself. My
cunt evidently priced her Jewels high
~. After they had started she might
have repented having left them behind
and have sent the old colored butler
back TO get them. He of course
would have key to admit him. and
they would have supplied iEEs with
the safe combination, ~ icy hai me.
Probably he had been tcid to leave
some message for me and had forgot
ten 10 do so. More than likely In a
day or two / would receive letter
from old Rufus that would explain
everything.
! was glad row had not notified
the superintendent nor tie police. MY
second theory surely was far more log
ical than the first. II seemed prepos
ferrous that they would risk hundreds
Of thousands Of dollars worth of gems
bust TO test my honesty.
Still, ] determined to make 0 thor
ough investigation. If they had been
stolen, ! would set about in scien-
tific way to discover the method OF
the theft and to bring about restora-
tton. would keep my investigation
secret, and IL IL turned out that the
pearls were safe. no one would know
Of my fright about the matter. I be-
gan outlining my work as detective
First ] would examine the safe
knob for possible finger prints.
Second. would interrogate Mrs
Burke. ! would watch her carefully
for any appearance OF guilt. / would
try, without arouslng her suspicious
TO ascertain If she had let her key
out Of her possession.
Third. would insert an advertise
ment offering a reward for the return
Of the Jewels, SO worded that only the
shief aud myself would understand
Fourth. I would try to locate the
Easfons and would question the hal
boys and telephone girl as TO whether
they hao surreptjtiously returned.
Fifth, must try and discover what
was IN the mysterious letter that had
3sd n III FsellaHga. While this did