The St. Johns herald., 1921-12-08


 escaped with the spells. Then the re- action came; the thought that per haps l had not read the story wholly alright; the faint hope that it might not prove exactly as 1 had pictured in my first wild burst of passion. 1t was too infamous, too unthinkable. Why, if she was guilty, should she have re- mained in New York? Why should she have sought me out, or listened so intently to the, quarrel of those two men at Perond's? What could she pos sibIy gain by thus overhearlng the tale of their failure, if she already knew who was the murderer of Ava, and what had become of the spells?
 1 could ask these questions. but not one was answerable. They merely mOcked me with their emptiness.
 Then, shrill and inslstent, the tele- phone rang
 My heart was beating like a trip hammer as took down the receiver. Who could be calling me at this hour? Who except she alone in this city knew my name and hotel?
 "HulIo."
 A mans voice spoke huskily. "This you, Daly?"
 "Yes," hastily, instantly aware of who was on the other end of the wire, yet feeling it best to disSemble until I learned the purpose.
 "Who Is speaking?"
 '"The fellow you biffed with a bottle tonight. No. I ain't got no hard feel ings. Besides, got something else to think about than a cracked dome. Say, l got some dope on how that job was did. an maybe could tell you some thing else of interest. I got to talk with you privateIy-that's what. It's matter for the girl as we'll as yer. self. Pm playing square as long as you do the right thing, but I know who the dame is, an am liable to sQueal if get raw deal; that's put ting it straight. Harry"
 "YOu know who she is, you say?"
 Sure do. Old Pierre, over at Perond's, told me. He never forgets face. or a name, that old duffer. He knew you the minute you blew in, and he knew her, too; she'd been there before summing"
 "Who is she, then"
 'That's all right know; but I ain't fool enough to blow it over the wire. If you'll come over here and have talk, I'll spill few things in your ear thatIl make you wise"
 "Where are yOu?"
 At COStigan's."
 What's become of your partner?"
 Who's that-WaldrOn? He ain't no partner of mine. Say, you must have handed that guy some jolt. The last saw of him, he was laid out on a bench in PerOnd's back room breath ing like stuck pig, dead to the world. Will you come over hereT
 'What have you got to tell mel''
 Well, there's the dame's name for one thing. I'll bet you don't even know who she is, or how she's string in you. Then Pm on to where part of that boobies planted-anyhOw I've got a hunch. If we turn it up, I'm still strong on the fifty-ffty prOposi- tion."
 l turned it over swiftly in my mind, the receiver still at my ear. I felt no particular fear of Harris; to be sure, in all probability, he was only feeling about in the dark, hoping in this way to learn something of value, yet it might be that he had accidentally un- covered the girls identity, and that alone was inducement enough to urge me to take the risk. If he actually knew who she was, he was the kind that might become ugly, and, however much I suspiciOned her in my own mind, I had no desire to leave her un- defended at his mercy. Guilty or not guilty, my inclination was to protect her to the last. Besides was eager to obtain the information he claimed to possess; indeed, all progress on the case was blocked until did obtain if. AS to his boast that he knew where the stolen money was concealed, I took little stock in that. Doubtless he merely threw that in for good meas ure. But the other looked reasonable enough; she had confessed being at PerOnd's before; Pierre was fully as likely to recall her to memory as he was to remember Daly, and Harris could never have made 80 shrewd a guess, unless he had really been told