Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-07-14
By
.BedfordJOne
Illustrations By
Irwin Myers

III 04A1hAE tAACAh A0s
an affection that was very real. Lucie,
better than most, knew the extraordi-
nary capabilities of this little gray
man; yet not even Lucie guessed a
tenth of the character that lay be-
meath his surface. To her he was
never reserved or secretive. Nonethe-
less, she touched sometimes an i'm
penetrable wall that seemed yer
present within him.
you saw him?" repeated the girl,
quickly. what was he like? Do you
know who he is?'
Certainly l know" replied Fell,
still smiling at her.
"Oh! Then who is hep"
"Softly, softly, young lady! 1 know
him, but even to you l dare not
breathe his name until l obtain some
direct evidence. Let US call him Mr..
X, after the approved methods of ro-
nance, and I shall expound what I
know.
"The bandit did not enter the house
during the evening, nor did he leave,
nor was he found in the house after
ward" he went on, tonelessly. $50,
incredible as it may appear, he was
n of the guests. This Mr.. X. came
to the dance wearing the aviator's cos-
tune, or most of it, underneath his
masquerade costume. When he was
ready to act, he DOTTED his outer cos
tune, appeared as the Midnight
MasQuer, effected his purpose, then
calmly donned his outer costume
again and resumed his place among
the guests. You understand?
well, then! Maillard yesterday re-
ceived a note from the Masquer, bra
zenly stating that he intended to call
during the evening. l have that note.
1t was written with an extremely
hard pencil, such as few men carry,
because it does not easily make very
legible writing. Last night l asked
Mr.. X. for a pencil, and he produced
one with an extra hard lead-men-
tioning that he had borrowed it from
Boil Maillard, as indeed he had"
What Surely you don't mean"
"Of course l don't. Mr.. X. is very
clever, that's all. Here is what took
place last night. Mr.. X. brought us
another note from the Masquer, say
ing that he had found it pinned to the
library door. AS a matter of fact,
he had written it on a leaf torn from
his notebook. l took the note from
him, observing at the time that the
paper had no pin holes. Probably
Mr. " Y fhaf fhAra x,oC .coUao+IiDr
amiss he presently went back down
stairs, took the remainder of the torn
leaf from his notebook. and pinned it
to the door. A little later l met him
and mentioned the lack of pin holes;
he calmly referred me to the piece on
the door, saying that he had merely
torn off the note without removing
the pins. You follow me?"
"Of course murmured the girl, her
eyes wide in fascinated interest. "And
he knew that you guessed him to be
the Masquer?"
"He suspected me, l think" said
Fell, mildly. 1T is understood that
you will not go about tracing these
little clues?"
Don't be silly, Uncle joachim 7" she
broke in. "You know I'll do nothing
of the sort. Go on, pleased Did you
find the %airplane"
Eyes" joachim Fell smiled dryly. 81
was thinking of that as I left the
house and came to the line of waiting
automobiles. A word with one of the
outside detectives showed me that one
of the cars in the street had been test
ing its engine about midnight. l found
that the car belonged to Mr.. X.
How simple, Lucie, and how very
cleverl The chauffeur worked a pow
erful motor with a muffier cutout at
about the time Mr.. ", inside the
house, was making his appearance. 1t
scarcely sounded like an airplane mo-
tor, vet frightened and startled, people
would imagine that it did. Thus arose
the legend that the Midnight Masquer
came and departed by means of air
plane-a theory aided ingeniously by
his costume. Well, that is all | know
or suspect, my dear Lucie! And
now"
"Now, I suppose" said the girl,
th|oughtfully, you'll put that awful
Creole of yours on the track of Mr.. X?
Ben Chacherre is a good chauffeur,
and he's amusing enough-hut he's a
bloodhound! l don't wonder that he
used to be criminal. Even if you have
rescued him from a life of crime, you
haven't improved his looks" '
"Exactly-Ben is at work." asserted
Jachin Fell. 1.-THE gentleman under
suspicion is very prominent. To ac-
cuse him without proof would be
utter folly. To catch him in flagrante
delictc will be difficult. SO l am in
no haste. Besides, 1 can as vet dis
cover no motive for his crimes, since
he is quite well off financially. Well.
no matterl Now that | have fully
unbosomed myself, my dear, it is your
turn"
IAN right, Uncle Jachin.' Lucie