Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-11-27
The Girl in tho Picture

him. He had been long concealed.
But my sense of victory vanished
when i saw him.
He sat in a great chair on the long
terrace that overlooked the sweep
Of lawn and the dark. rapid river.
He had been, all the time. under our
very noses. We had thought OF
every other place except an English
country house within a jump OF
London. And he had been sitting
here in every comfort that money
could assemble.
He did not rise when | was
brought out TO him.
He leaned back in the chair, lifted
his heavy face, and laughed!
"And so, Monsieur Jonquelle," he
said, you finally wormed it out of
her"
i could not keep my voice level
so effectively was the man escaping
US after all this search.
And / did not know what the huge
creature meant. On the night boz
fore. some one had called up the
Service de la Surete and said our
man was here. The long distance
cab from some shop In Regent
street, London. could not be traced
so it had been a womani / replied
as though I were in his secret.
"She knew you were SAFE
He laughed again. Sure, n
knew i'll"
He pointed to a chair a few feet
beyond him across a table.
sit down. he said. II want t.
talk about her-that's the reason |
wanted you to come" He laughed
again. "You thought you'd sleuthed
it out. Ell? Not by a jugful. 1 sent
her word to put you wise I wanted
to clear some things up before l
cashed in. But it was a clean lie.
What | wanted was somebody to
listen while I talked about her. Sit
down."
It was.a strange Introductory. But
it was a mystery that had puzzled
everybody, and 1 was willing to hear
all that he had to say about 1t. ]
took the chair beyond him.
He shot his head forward sudden
ly, in a tense gesture.
"She's a heavenly ANGEL" he said.
'I don't know what God Almighty
meant by setting her in the game
with the bunch of crooks that He's
got running the world-unless He
counted on me-" The laugh became
a sort of chuckle in his great throat
Amt she a heavenly angel?"
He whipped a worn photograph
out of his pocket and reached II
across the table to me.
It vas the photograph of 8
girl with the face cut out. 1t had
been taken from a pointing, one
could tell from the fiat surface and
the strange background of beauty
and an indescribable charm in the
pose Of the girl remained even in
the mutilated picture.
81 cut out the face" he added, 80
she wouldn't come into the case il
you caught me; your little West
ridge must have been slaughtered at
the loss of her."
Again he touched me at an un-
Axnected point.
shortly after the thing, for which
we yer seeking the man before me.
had, as the Americans say, been
pulled off," Lord Westridge returned
to- England. He had gone to visit
some rich Americans, and there was
a that some adventure had
befalien him.
Nothing definite yer came to me,
and I liked the mar too little to in
auire; all the blood from the original
Glasgow solicitor as the British say,
would bite a shilling" But again
I replied as though I were in mis-
what happened to w~estridgef' I
said.
The man twisted around in his
chair,
Friend" he said, you've got A
head full of brains or you wouldn't
be Chief of the Criminal fnvestiga-
ton Department Of the Service de Ia
Surete and the English would not
you over on this case: now an
swer me a question What's the
biggest notion in the Christians
church,"
II don't know" I answered him
truthfully.
well / know" he went on. TITS
the notion that you'll git what's "a
comm TO you!'
He looked at me with a big, cyni-
cal leer.
'That's what happened to your lit
tie Westridge-and the next time you
see him he's agoin' to get another ;
Jolt. He will be blamed sorry that
YOU found me. He couldn't saueal'
any place along the line, but III oet
a finger he didn't let you forget
about me. q
Ana again I saw an incident of
his long search, for the man before
me. from another angle. The Black
acre Bank had kept the search hot
for him, pretending the public wei
fare. I saw 1t now, thai was west
ridges money-box-that would De
little westridge in the background
He eyed me curiously IN a mo-
ment's pause.
"He kept slippin' you the word
$3.50 t. n1n11s al him ar fhAI, |
even IL she didn't know it.
There came a sudden energy into
his voice,
PA a. saved her that trouble; Ia a
nlaved ring-a-round-rosy with you.
He lifted himself IN the chat with
the strength of his hands on the
broad arm rests. And 1 realized more
fully what a physical wreck he a IS -
the lower part of his body was mo-
tionless. ,.-
II want to tell you about this
thing" he said. And then you can
70 ahead with your warrant"
IT fear" 1 replied, that a sorhe-
what higher authority has got in
before your Kings writ
He chuckled as though the deadly
fact were a sort of pleasantly.
Sure" he said, the Dig Juoo0
has beat you to it,
He looked out, a moment. at the
woolly Highland cattle in the dis
tant meadow, at the age-old beech
trees and the dark, swift. silent
water. and then the upper part oil
his big body settled in the chair.
II thought it was a slick trick
but maybe it was God Almighty.
Anyway when the thing was pulled
~ 7 slid I'M IN BAR Harhor and SCI