Evening star., 1921-01-16
r<I r seems very strange indeed
colonel" said Capt Goodfel-
low (secretary to his excel

lency, Sir Evington Beecham
governor of Hongkong). as he took
his seat by the side of Col. Oliver
Hopkins. the newly appointed Amer
lean consul, that with all Inspector
Higgins skill and ingenuity he
hasn't been able as yet to throw
any light upon that robbery at the
hotel two weeks ago.
Yes" answered the consul, as he
opened his Cantonese silver cigar
case and handed the British of1cial
one of those rarest 1uxuries In tne
far east-a genuine Havana lou
know, ever since l landed here I've
been admiring your splenolo poilSs
force and my office staff have toio
me story after story of their clever
ways of detecting crime and exposing
the crooked ways of the VII! ceres
tial.' and yet. here is the very mrs.
case that comes to the consu1a.e' consulate anu Ru
the way. there go Mrs. Tucker and
her daughter now" He pointed across
the road from the club veranda.
"Charming annnins people:-youVe met 'ne"'
yes, indeed; Lady Beecham pre-.
sented me at the garden party last
Tuesday. Sorry they are not gong
to make a longer stay in the Colon;
but they are sailing on tHc 1edhSooU
Mail a week from Saturday. Globe
trotting. you know. and they want to
do Burmah and Mandalay and all that
sort of thing so as to get to Cal
cutta before the holidays. Lovely
girl that. Pity she's leaving US in
say she's all broken up over her loss
and wants to go back to California
on the next American boat. But
they've got ten days yet. you Know.
thing definite for them in that time
IL he doesn't. then I shall begin to
lose faith in the force myself.
well, how about that mysterious
native detective that seems to get at
1t when all others fail?"
You mean Mr.. Wang Foor'
"I believe that's the name. He's
great at unravelling that sort of
thing. isn't he? My interpreter and
secretary both think he's wonder"
well, he certainly is. Scotland
Yard hasn't anything finer in its en-
tire outfit. AS you say. we may have
to fall back upon him yet"
$50 Miss Josephine wants to turn
around and go home, does she?' said
the consul. with a Significant little
smile paying over his face; and all on
account of the loss of one curio when
travellers sometimes have-a whole
trunk full stolen-well. all I have to
say is that she's cute little thiet
herself
"a thief, sir? You surely don't mean
to reflect upon her honesty In -
"Only in the line of something in
finitely more valuable than oriental
curios. captain. and that is human
hearts, Lieut.. John Darlington Wet
more-who is temporarily acting as
my vice consul. you remember
hasn't as yet lodged any definite
complaint with the police. but, Just
between you and me and the lamp
post as we used to say in Ohio. that
attractive young man has been miss
ing very vital part of he makeup
FOR some two weeks past. and (draw-
ing the words out slowly though I've
never prided myself on being any
thing of a detective. / rather think
that the article in question will be
discovered in Miss Josephine's pos
session
Lucky dog. He's to be congratu-
lated on his loss! Now if she can only
prove as cute little thief on his part
as she has on hers. and steal the cor
responding treasure for hrs own. WHY
I as Judge. will dismiss the case and
eay fair exchange is no robbery. Let
us wish him success"-raising his
glass from the bamboo ftshle as he
spoke.
Success to both our juveRile crimi-
nails" answered the colonel And
here's hoping that Inspector Higgins
may be as successful in abprehendlng
his thieves as we have been in find
ing ours.
The entrance of the inevitable club
hoy with the chit-book at this mo-
ment concluded the intervieY. and the
two gentlemen took the waiting jim
rickshawS for their respective Offices
nR. MELVILLE PATTERSON was.
- by general consent, the leading
physician in Victoria colony. Hong
kong, and his long experience in
treating tropical diseases-to say
nothing of the various little upsets
that are apt to sfflict the visitor to
that "Island of Fragrant waters
made him the one to whom Mrs. TUCK
er and her daughter naturally turned
for professional advice in this case of
a nervous collapse. 1t was just be-
fore the afternoon tea hour on the
day I'm question. when his card was
brought to their room by the hotel
room boy.
'TIere's the doctor, now, Josephine"
said the anxious mother. "and / want
you to be a good girl and tell him the
whole story from beginning to end
The daughter rose from the reclining
Manila chair in which she had been
resting on the veranda and. passing
through the screen doors into her own
apzrtment, answered, Just a moment.
mamma. till I make myself little
more respectable"
was it entirely accidental that her
room No 324. was directly opposite
the Peninsular Shipping company's
building? Was it entirely matter
of chance that the second story of
that building was being occupied by
the offices of the United States consul
ate? And. furthermore. had the fates
ordained that at that particular hour
of the afternoon the handsome acting
vice consul should be leaning over the
railing just above the narrow street.
and allowing his eyes to wander
across to the verandas of the hotel?
Perhaps yes. perhaps no. for the fates
themselves are quite accidental AT
times, you know. At any rate. the
fact remains that Miss Josephine took
ments to make herself prese ntable for
the doctors visit. and her pulse beat
with considerably more activity than
She normal worry over the theft alone
would have called for. fAll this, of
course. while quite unconscious of the
fast that the room clerk of the hotel
had shown Lieut.. Wetmore. just a few
days before. the exact location of No.
324 on the diagram)
grace of manner and with that Won
derful tact which some physicians
possess, had made his fair patient
feel perfectly at her ease. and so.
sentence by sentence. she told him
the story of the robbery and the
cause OF her collapse. In a word. it
was this: Just before leaving Japan
l,, L