Bisbee daily review., 1922-01-17

lOAlCOlOSN udQ lnOIS lHdh OACS DCOh placed at the disposal of the authorl- ties in the solution of crime, tugged at his bushy white sid-whiskers and gazed at Sergeant John Barry from the homicide bureau.
 The professors head with its snock of white hair nodued slowly and his shrewd eyes twinkled.
 You tell me that there is now calmness upon the waters? No crime Of more importance than the average petty misdemeanor engages the atten- tlon of your bureau? Is that why you nave honored me tonight with an un- expected but most welcome call, and in your civilian clothes?"
 You've got me, Professor Semy- onov!" The detective laughed again, frankly. There's no crime wave threatening to break oyer us that l kIow of, but rather curious case has come to our attention at headquar- ters.' A
 The roll of distant but approaching thunder broke in upon his words.
 we are going to have s;orm.'
 The professor rose from his cnair and waddling over to the windows
 
 with astonishing rapidity and vigor.
 ''I do not like to watch 1t approach. It fills me with a sense of suspense, of foreboding. It is the electricity ln the air, 1 suppose. You shall tell me all about your case, but first you must see my apartment. My labora- tories are quite on the other side Of the city, you know, but nere on tnls old square where the aristocracy of forgotten generations lived once upon time I find the absolutely different atmosphere which brings -7iaNatlon.
 Barry followed his host through a spacious, old-fashioned rrclslzs room and bath to the bedroom at the back.
 Here, too, the professor paused to rull down the shades and then open ing door at the right displayed modern kitchenette.
 ''T his house, you perceive, must Cnce have been family mansion but it has now been made over, an apart ment to each floor" Professor Semy- onov explained. "A shop of hammered brasses and other atrocities occup;es the street level, young gentleman whom l do not know :lss put IaIeIy arrived on the second floor. His apartment is larger than mine, how ever, for an extra room is built out ,er the strip of garden but the ex- tension ends on the floor above his in a studio with a skyllght. IL Is OC- cupied, that third floor, by woman who paints portraits, Mrs. McGrath tells me.
 ''The fourth apartment, that direct Iy below mine here, houses a crocn- ety gentleman with no ear for music; he raps on his ceiling when l play my violin at unreasonable hours.
 Above me in an attic studio lives one of the feminine freaks peculiar to the neighDorhood in it's declining years; a shocked, thin, wraith-like creature with bobbed hair and point ed chin. She might be 20 or 40, and it is understood that she writes for the eccentric little magazines which spring up sporadically hereabout. So now, my dear sergeant, you are ac- quainted with my nome and it's sur roundings. What do you think or IL!
 He chuckled as he led the way back to the living room and Barry fol lowed, at loss what to reply. The professor was known on three conll nents, his scientific discoVer.es mad made him rich; he might have lived in solitary state in a house of his own or occupied the most expensive bache- Tor apartment in tv-.n. Why had ne chosen to hide himself away in such dingy, dreary quarters?
 "lou seem to be nigh comfort able Professor Semyonov.' The de- tectIve spoke as heartily as he could anu his most laughed outright. i That is the point" he exclaimed. | T saw that you were surprised when you came, but my wants are simple and here, you see, 1 am just queer, old foreigner named SemyonoV. who Il. inds his business and goes his way ill peace l am not Professor Semy- onov, the chemist, to whose labora- tories all the world comes. No one ] knows of my abode except the few | like yourself to whom l have given my address and I am undisturbed. But now you must tell me about your case Is it an affair of poisoning!
 Before Sergeant Barry could Tep.y another flash of lightning as keen as knife thrust swept beneath the edges of the window shades and for an instant dulled the electric lights into an angry orange glow.
 Professor Semyonov started, then shrugged.
 That was nearer, eh? l am as bad perhaps as hysterical housemald, but does it not seem as though the very atmosphere waited for the break in gof the storm"
 Ut is like the report of Suns.'
 Tn professor pulled his worn, gor- geously-hued dressing gown amOre closely about him as he sank once more into his chair. Il nave heard them in my own country many years before the late war and the memory of them is with me always. But let Us forget the storm, if we can. The case you mentioned; is it murder?'
 Frankly. l don't know Barry re- sponded Tt is similar to that T9dof affair at Sandy Cove last summer
 A sudden, sharp detonation burst crackling upon their ears and both d