Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1920-10-01

1t, I preferred to have in their hands
rather than in the possession of the
police.
Our detective agency 1 could trust,
but l did not want to communicate
with anyone but Mcclure, the superin-
tendent, and there was no need Of tele-
phoning him until later in the morn
ing.
The case, as thought 1t over, came
to this: The Spaniard and the attor-
ney, by the aid of a confederate. a
woman, had obtained possession Of the
diary containing the secret Of Hartley
house. They would soon be heard
from. They would not disappear. We
did not have to pursue them. They
would pursue us.
There was the possibility of dealing
with them by force extra-legally. Any
thing we did for our protection had to
be done extra-legally. thought Nc
Guire could and would attend to that,
and l intended to instruct him to con-
slider murder the only process not to
be thought of.
l tried to reconcile my ideas Of Mr..
Sidney's character with the facts of
the family's terrible dilemma. What
could a man of so just and honorable,
kindly and charming q nature-as re-
vealed in his old age-have done, even
In a hot and passionate youth, which
he could not face now? What crime
could he have committed which not
only constituted q danger to his secur-
ity but remained a source of satisfac-
tion to him?
For two hours sat by the telephone,
expecting momentarily to hear from
the chauffeur who had gone in pursuit
of the thieves. 1t was about four
o'clock In the morning-there was a
pale suggestion Of light In the windows
when Mrs. Aldrich, the housekeeper,
came to the office. She was an imper-
turbable lady Of disciplinary habit and
ordinarily unruflled dignity, but now
she was disturbed.
doctor" she said, "Agnes, the new
maid, cannot be found. She is not in
her room. Her bed has not been
touched. Most of her belongings and
her suitcase are gone. l came to you
with this probably unimportant do
nestle incident, thinking that-well,
the occurrence of the night might
have some connection with this girl. "
"I think Agnes probably was in.
volved in the matter" 1 said.
1--WE have always so dreaded to take
new servant" said Mrs. AldricE,
"but Agnes came recommended for the
month by a very faithful girl who
wanted a months leave. Has anything
of great value been taken?"
Nothing of any intrinsic value
whatever, Mrs. Aldrich. imagine the
robbers were alarmed before they
found any jewels or plate"
That's q consolation, in any event,
said the housekeeper; 'but we never
shall be able to take in a new servant
again with any ease of mind"
The chauffeur telephoned as Mrs
Aldrich went away. The chase in the
night had been useless. as might be
expected, and 1 told him to return
home.
Mrs. Aldrich brought me a light
breakfast, and one of the gardeners
came to say that the dogs had been
found in the woods. They had been
fed drugged meat and were sick and
even now barely able to stand.
1 was preparing to go to Mr.. Sid
ney's room when the telephone rang
again. 1t was q call from the village
of Horwich, forty miles east, a place
of some repute, or i'll repute, for the
number and character of its drinking
places and roadhouses.
The man calling me said he was tht
constable of the township of Horwicl
son of responsibility. 1 assured hin
he was. Then he told me that an auto
mobile accident had occurred two
miles out of Horwich and that the only
Identifying marks suggested Hartley
house as a place to make inquiries
He asked If 1 could come to Horwich
I endeavored to question him ovel
the telephone, but he said there wal
little information he could give, G
man and a woman in q car-man pas
middle age, young woman in white
the man was dead, the woman badl.
injured.
I'll be over as soon as possible"
said. 'Please keep the effects all to
gether."
There was no doubt in my min,
that the quavering little rascal of
lawyer with his precise way and tiIni
but controlling unscrupulousness ha
come to the end Of his road-and q
the very moment when he had sue
cess In his hand. There was no req
son to doubt that the woman was th
maid Agnes whom had surprised q
midnight stealing down the stairs fro1
Jed's room with Mr.. Sidney's diary.
But If we were rid of the timorou
grasping little attorney, we were 1
worse difficulties. With the attorne
and his Spanish client, we at leas
knew the manner Of dealing. 1t wa