Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-05-29

| comedy. An eIloCtlNe one, grant,
because it has accomplished all that
was Intended"
And what, was intended?" asked
Mr.. Brown curiously.
1T was intended by you and car
ried out by you in order to convey to
me the exact character of your bust
ness" said Poltavo. Il judged that
fact from the following evidence"
He licked off the points one by one
on his long white fingers. Ihe
lady's name was, according to the
envelope, let us say, Lady Cruxbury;
but the lady's real name, according
to some silver initials on her bag,
began with c. Those initials l also
noted on the little handkerchief she
took from her bag. Therefore she
was not the person to whom the let
ter was addressed, or if she was, the
letter was a blind. In such an I'M
portant matter Lady Cruxbury would
come herself My own view is that
there is no Lady Cruxbury, that the
| whole letter was ConCocted and was
delivered to me whilst you were
watching me from some hiding place
in order to test my discretion. and,
as 1 say, to make me wise in the
ways of your admirable journals!
Mr.. Brown laughed long and softly
YOU are a clever fellow, Poltavo."
he said admiringly. land you certain
ly deserve your rise of salary. Now
am going to be frank with you. l
admit that the whole thing was a
/ blind You now know my business
and you now know my raison detre,
SO to speak. Are you willing to con-
| tinue?"
AT price," said the other.
Name it," said the yelled man
quietly.
II am a poor adventurer." began
| Poltavo: my life"
Cut all that stuff out" said Mr..
Brown roughly, II am not going to
| give you a fortune. l am going to
give you the necessities of life and a
little comfort"
Poltavo walked to the window and
thrusting his hands deep into his
trouser pockets stared out. Present
ly he turned. The necessities of life
to me-" he said. ARE represented by
flat in St James street, car, a
box at the Opera"
You will get none of these" in
terrupted Mr. Brown. BE reason
able"
Poltavo smiled.
! II am worth fortune to you." he
said. because | have Imagination.
CO.. l., IL N,.,l, -
/ letter from a heap on the desk and
opened it,. The caligraphy was typ
| icalIy Latin and the handwriting was
vile. Here is letter from an Ital-
| ian,'' he said, which TO the gross
mind may perhaps represent weari-
some business details. To mind
of my calibre, it is clothed in rich
possibilities" He leaned across the
table; his eyes lighted up with en-
thusiasm. There may be an enor-
nous fortune in this" and he tapped
| the letter slowly. Here is a man
who desires the great English news
| paper, of which he has heard (tho
heaven only knows how he can have
heard iD, to discover the where
abouts and the identity Of a certain
NJ. FallOck."
The yelled man started.
| "Fallock." he repeated.
Poltavo nodded.
Our friend FalIock has built a
house of great wonder to quote the
letter of our correspondent. In this
/ house are buried millions of Ira
doesn't that fire your Imagination,
dear colleague"
| Built house, did he?" repeated
the other.
Our friends tell me-" Poltavo
went on.--"did / tell you it was writ
| ten on behalf of two men--that they
have a clue and, in fact that they
know Mr.. Fallock's address, and they
are sure he is engaged in a nefar-
ious business. but they require con-
firmation OF their knowledge"
The man at the table was silent
His fingers drummed nervously on
the blotting pad and his head was
sunk forward as a man weighing a
difficult problem.
"All child's talk" he said roughly,
these buried treasures.-I have
heard of them before. They are just
| two imaginative foreigners. l sup
pose they want you to advance their
| fare?"
"That is exactly what they do
ask" said Poltavo.
The man at the desk laughed I'M
easily behind his veil and rose.
Its the Spanish prison trick" he
said; surely you are not deceived
by that sort of stuff"
PoltavO shrugged his shoulders.
Speaking as one who has also
languished in a Spanish prison." he
smiled, land who has also sent out
invitations to the generous people of
England to release him from his sad
POSITION release which could only
be made by generous payments-I
thoroughly understand the delicate
workings of that particular fraud;
but we robbers of Spain, dear COL
league. do not write in our native
language, we write in good. or bad,
English. We write not in vilely spelt
Italian because we know that the re-
fcipient of our letter will not take the
trouble to get it translated No, this
is no Spanish prison trick This Is
| genuine"
! May l see the letter."
Poltavo handed it across the table,
and the man turning his back for a
moment upon his assistant lifted his
veil and read. He folded the letter
and put it in his pocket
Il will think about it, he said
gruffly.
Another privilege I would crave
from you in addition to the purely
nominal privilege of receiving more
salary" said Poltavo.
What is it?''
/