Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-03-24
THE AZURE RING
BY ARTHUR B. REEVE
One Of The STATS Weekend Fiction Series complete in three
installmentt

perfectly right abou. the .sphyxia.ion.
DOCTOR" he remarked slowly. 'but
wrong as to cause. 1t wasn't carbon
monoxide or illuminating gas. And yoi.
Mr.. Whitney. were right about the
poison. too Only it 10 a poison neither
Of YOU ever heard Of"
what Is it?" we asked simulta-
neously.
Let me take these samples and make
some further tests. ] am sure of 1t. but
1t is new to me.> Walt till tomorrow
Light. when my chain Of evidence Is
completed. Then you are all cordially
invited to attend at my laboratory at
the university. Ill ask you. Mr.. Whit
ney. TO come armed with warrant for
John or Jane Doc: Please gee that the
Wainwright's, particularly Marian, are
present. You ian tell Inspector OCon-
nor that Mr.. Vanderdyke and Mrs. Raj
ston are required as material witnesses
anything soNlong as you. are sure that
the five persons are present. Good
night. gentlemen"
We rode back to the city in silence,
but as we neared the station Kennedy
remarked: You see. Walter. these
people are like the newspapers. They
are laundering around In sea Of UNI
related facts. There Is more than they
think back Of this crime. I've been re-
volving in my mind how 1t will be possi-
bic To get some inkling about this con-
cession of Vanderdyke's. the mining
claim Of Mrs. Ralston. and the exact
itinerary of the Wainwright trip in the
far east. Do you think YOU can get
that information for me? ! think /. will
take all day tomorrow to isolate this
poison and get things in convincing
shape on that score. Meanwhile. II you
can see Eanderdyke and Mrs. Ralston
you can help me great deal. ] am
sure sou, will find them very interesting
people.''
IT have been told that she is quite
a female financier." l replied. tacitly
accepting Cfaig's commission. Her
story is that her claim is situated
near the mine of group Of power
full American capitalists. who are op-
posed to having any competition. and
or the strength OF that story she has
been raking in the money right and
left. l don't know Napderdyke. never
heard OF him before. but no doubt he
has some equally interesting game"
Don't let them think you connect
them with the case. however" eau
toned Craig.
Early the next morning started out
on my quest of facts. though not so
early but that Kennedy had preceded
me to his work in his laboratory. 1t
was not very difficult to get Mrs. Raj
ston to talk about her troubles with
the government. In fact. did not
even have to breach the subject OF
the death of Templeton. She volun-
teered the information that in his
handling of her case he had been
very unjust to her., in spite of the
fact thar she had known him we'll a
long time ago. She even limited that
bination of capitalists who were using
the government to aid their own mo-
nopoly and prevent the, development
of her mine. Whether 1t was an OBJ
session of her mind or merely part
OF her clever scheme, 1 could not make
OUT; l noted. however. that when she
spoke of Templeton 1t was in q
studied. impersonal way. and that she
was at pains TO lay the blame for the
governmental interference rather on
the rival mine owners.
1t quite surprised me when 1 found
from the directory that Vanderdyke's
office was on the floor below I'm the
same building. Like, Mrs. Ralston's.
1t was open. but not doing business,
pending the investigation by the Post
Office Department.
Vanderdyke was type of which /
had seen many before Well dressed
to the extreme. he displayed all those
Evidences OF prosperity which are the
STOCK or trade of the man with SECURE
ties to sell. He grasped my hand
when ! told him I was going to pre-
sent the other, side of the post ONCE
eases, and held 1t between both of his
As II he had known me all his life.
only the fact that he had never seen
me Delore prevented his calling me
by my first name. I took mental note
OF mis- stock of jewelry. the pin in his
tie that might almost have been the
Hope diamond; the heavy watch chain
across his chest. and a very brilliant
seal ring Of lapis lazuli on the hand
that grasped mine. He saw me iook-
Ing at 1t and smiled.
MY dear fellow. we have deposits
OF that stuE that would make a for
tune IL We could get tile machinery
to get at 1t. Why, sir, there is Iapls
iazuli enough on our claim to. make
enough ultramarine paint to supply
an the artists to the end Of the world.
Actually we could afford to crush 1t
up and sell 1t as paint. And that is
merely incidental to the other things
on the concession. The asphalt's the
thing. That's where the big money is,
When we get started, sir, the old
asphalt trust will simply melt away,
melt away"
He blew a cloud Of tobacco smoke
air.
When it came to talking about the
suits. however, Vanderdyke was not
so communicative as Mrs. Ralston,
but he was also not SO bitter against
either the post office or Templeton.
Poor Templeton," he said. II used
to know him years ago when we
were boys. Went to school with him
and all that sort of thing, you know,
but until l ran across him: or rather
he ran across me. in this investiga-
ton I hadn't heard much about him.
Pretty clever fellow he was, too. The
state will miss him. but my lawyer
tells me that We should have won
the suit anyhow. even II that unfor-
tunate tragedy hadn't occurred. Most
unaccountable, wasn't It? I've read
about it in the papers for old times
sake, and can make nothing out OF
it,"
said nothing, but wondered how
he could pass SO light-heartedlys over
the death of the woman.who had once
been his wife. However, ] said moth
ing. The result was he launched forth
again on the riches Of his Venezuelan
concession and loaded me down with
literature" which / crammed into
My next step was to drop in to the
office of Standardization paper
whose editor was especially well in
formed on South American affairs.
"Do l know Mrs. Ralston? he re-
peated, thoughtfu1iy lighting one Of
vicious and are so mild. II should
say SO. I'll tell you a little story
about her. Three or four years ago
she turned up in Caracas. don't
know who Mr.. Ralston was-perhaps
there never was any Mr.. Ralston.
Anyhow. she got In with the Official
circle OF the castro government and
turess. She has considerable busi-
ness ability ana represented GER
tain group of Americans. But, II
you recall, when Castro was elimi-
mated pretty nearly every one who
had stood high with him went. too.
1t seems that a number OF the old
concessionaires played the game ON
both. sides This particular xroun