Evening star., 1921-08-07
n q GRE trouble. Tommy" re-
MI marked Gladys Norman one
morning as James 1homp-

son enIeTtu Hcl tSOhAs IN |
looked across at her quickly. keen
flash of interest In his somnolent
brown eyes. |
Somebody's pinched Lady Glane-
dale's jewels. Just had a telephone
message. What a happy place the
world would be without drink and
crime"
And women" added Thompson.
alert of eye and prepared to dodge
anything that was coming.
Tommy, you're beast. Get thee
hence" and. bending over her type
writer. she became absorbed in rat
Ting words onto paper.
Thompson had just reached the
third line of I'm Sorry l Made You
Cry when his quick eye detected
Malcolm Sage as he entered the outer
office.
With a brief Good morning" NAL
colin Sage passed into his room, ana
a minute later Gladys Norman was
reading from her notebook to the
effect that early that morning
burglar had entered Lady Glanedale's
bedroom at the Home Park. Hyston,
the country house of Sir Roger
G1anedale. and, under threat from
pistol, had demanded her jewel case
which she had accordingly handed TO
him.
AS the Jewels were insured with
the Twentieth-Century Insurance Cor
poration, Ltd, Malcolm Sage had been
Immediately communicated with, that
he might take up the inquiry with
a view to tracing the missing prop
erty.
One of Malcolm Sage's first cases
had been undertaken for this COM
pany in connection with burglary
He had been successful in restoring
h4 -hola ~ fIa ~
In consequence he had been person
ally thanked by the chairman at a
fully attended board meeting, and at
the same time presented with gold
remarked to Sir John Dene. no one
but drum major in full dress would
dare to carry.
Having listened carefully as she
read her notes: Malcolm Sage dis
missed Gladys Norman with nod.
and for some minutes sat at his
table drawing the inevitable diagrams
upon his blotting pad. Presently he
rose and walked over to row Of
shelves filed with red-backed VOL
umes. lettered on the back Rec
ords," with number and a date.
EVERY crime or curious occurrence
- that came under Malcolm Sage's-
notice was duly chronicled in the
pages of these volumes, which con-
tanned miles of press-cuttings. They
were rendered additionally valuable
by an elaborate system of cross-refer-
ence indeXing.
After referring to an index volume
Malcolm Sage selected one of the
folioS, and returned with it to his
table. Rapidly turning over the pages
he came to newspaper cutting,
which was dated some five weeks
he
dered over for some time. 1t ran:
DARING BURGLARY
Country Mansion Entered
Burglars Sang Froid.
In the early hours of yesterday
morning a daring burglary was COM
mitted at the dover house. near
Hyston. the residence of Mr.. Gerald
Comminge. who was away from home
at the time, by which the burglar
was able to make a rich haul of jew
els.
Inthe early hours of the morning
Mrs. Comminge was awakened by the
presence of man in her room. AS
she sat up in bed the man turned an
electric torch upon her and. pointing
a revolver in her direction, warned
her that II she cried out he would
shoot He then demanded to know
where she kept her jewels. and Mrs.
Comminge, too terrified to do auy-
thing else. indicated a drawer in
v men lay nST JeWSl case. r
Taking the Jewel case and putting It
under his arm. the man threatened
that if she e'moved or called out within
a quarter of an hour he would return
and shoot her. He then got out OF the
window on to a small balcony and dis
appeared.
It seems that he gained admittance
by clambering up some ivy and thus
on to the narrow balcony that runs
the length of one side of the house.
Immediately on the mans disappear
ance Mrs. Comminge tainted. On
coming to she gave the alarm: and the
police were Immediately telephoned
for. Although the mans footprints
are easily discernible upon the mold
and the soft turf. the culprit seems
to have left no other clue.
The description that Mrs. Comminge
is able to give of her assailant is
rather lacking in detail. owing to the
shock she experienced at his sudden
appearance. 1t would appear that the
man is of medium height and slight of
build He wore a cap and black
handkerchief tied across his face Just
beneath his eyes. which entirely
masked his features. With this very
inadequate description of the ruffian
the police have perforce TO set to
work upon the very dinlcuit iash VI
tracing him.
For some time Malcolm Sage pom
dered over the cutting. then rising ne
replaced the volume and rang 1or
An hour later Tins was carrying
him along in the direction of Sir
Roger Glanedale's house at a good
thirty-five miles an hour.
The Home Park was an Elizabethan
mansion that had been acquired by
Sir Roger Glandale out of enormous
nrofts made upon the sale of mar
rarine. AS Tins brought the car up
before the front entrance with an I'M
pressive sweep. the hall door was
thrown open by the butler. VINO napit-
ually strove by an excessive dignity
of demeanor to remove from his men.
ta, nalate the humiliating favor OF
margarine.
Malcolm Sages card considerably
mitigated the impression made upon
Mr.. Hjbbs' mind by the swing with
which Tins had brought the car up
to the door.
Malcolm Sage was shown into the
morning room and told that her lady
ahip would see him in few minutes:
H. was busy in the contemplation OF
the garden when the door opened ana
Lady Glanedale entered.
He bowed and then, as Lady Glane-
dale seated herself at small taole'
he took the nearest chair.
She was a little woman, some eight
inches too short for the air she as
sumed, fair, good-looking; but with a
hard. set mouth. No one had ever per-
mitted her to forget that she had
married margarine.
.sYou have called about the bur
RIary?" she inquired, in tone she
might have adopted to a plumber
who had come to see to leak in the
bath.
T. SAf