Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1920-04-22

/ uIneu ina nttIe restaurant IN one
of the side streets and walked honle
Immediately on entering the apart
ment l decided To put my money IN
the wall safe. There would he less
temptation for me To spend 1t II
carried only Il little In my pocket.
As | opened IT," safe by means or
the combination ! made the aSlound-
ing discovery that one Of the jewel
cases had disappeared.
And nuw | stood hcSitating mt the
telephone. Sclfprntcction babe me
notify neither the superintendent nor
| the police. Yet | must de- something.
| The jewels entrusted to my care had
been stolen. The thief must be found
and the pearls recovered.
why should not | myself play the
detective? | 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 ii, was. Here was tn"
tl'II'I tNililN W NV w ti'' Nv "
he had imposed on me.
The thought flashed across my mind,
too, that perhaps the crafty old gen
tleman had deliberately planned the
disappearance of the gems. Perhaps
he had devised an elaborate test to
see if was honest, If ! was of thu
right calibcr to be his heir. Maybe he
and his wife had not gone to Maine
in another apartment in this very
house. SurrrIJitiouSly entering when
they knew | was absent. There real,
~ had been no necessity for them to
give me the combination of the safe.
They need not have told me anything
about the pearls. | wondered If they
themselves might not have taken away
the jewel box just- to see if | would
discover the loss and to ascertain
what | would do about it,.
Another theory suggested itself. My
aunt evidently priced her jewels high
~. After they had started she might
have rrVent"d having left them behind
and have Srut the old culurcd butler
back To get them. He of course
would have Il key to a,,init him. and
they would ,lIave supplied him with
the safe combination, MS they had me.
Probably he had been told to leave
some message for me and had forgot
ten to. do 81. More than likely in a
day or two | would receive a letter
from old Rufus that would explain
everything.
| was glad now | had not notified
the superintendent nor the police. My
second theory surely was far more log
ical than the first. 1t seemed prepnS-
ferrous that they would risk hundreds
of thousands of dollars worth of gems
just to test my honesty.
Still. | determined to make n thor
ough investigation. If they had been
stolen, | would set about in a scien-
titic way % discover the method Of
the theft and to bring about restOra-
ton. l would keep my investigation
secret, and if it turned out that the
pearls were safe, no one would know
of my fright about the matter. be-
gan outlining my work rs a. detective.
First, | would examine the safe
knob for possible finger prints.
Second, | would i%nterrogate Mrs.
Burke. | would watch her carefully
for any appearance of guilt. | would
try. without arou>ing her suspicious.
to ascertain if she had let her key
out of her possession.
:. Third. | would insert an advertise
ment offering Il reward for the return
of the jewels, So worled that only the
thief and myself would understand.
Fourth, l would try to locate the
Gastons and would question the hall
boys and telephone girl as to whether
they had surreptitiously returned.
Fifth, ! must try and discover what
vas in the mysterious letter that had
led to my discharge. While this did
not seem to have my connection with
the other affairs that were troubling
me. If | was to remain in New York
and become better acquainted with
Barbara Bradford, as I fondly hoped,
l meant to have nothing hanging over
me.
I was about to get into bed, had
turned out the light, In fact, when I