The Washington times., 1922-12-10

some corfesponoenco neo u.
rived for him during his absence
and when presently he went to
his room there was . strange ex-
citement In his eyes.
He locked the door and placing
on table the wallet he had taken
from the pocket Of the dead man
ct Sais' house, his own letters and
. Newspaper or two which had
come by that mail, he surveyed the
little collection with . queer air
Of hesitation, cropping for his cigar
ette case - he looked. -.
Crichton Hoodless knew that
now he stood definitely at q point
In his life where the Road which
hitherto he had pursued was
forked-and II was necessary that
he should choose which Of the two
open to him he would hencefor-
ward travel upon. =
II was not an easy choice to this
man-and It was far less easy to-
day than Il would have been q
fortnight earlier.
With something Of that appear
ance of caution with which a man
accustomed to firearms examines a
strange and new type automatic
pistol, or a naturalist may handle
one of the smaller, venomous
snakes, Hoodless separated the
collection on the table setting the
newspapers aside from the letters,
and the letters aside from the wal
let.
He took up one Of the letters,
glanced ct . crest embossed on
the back Of the envelope, and
swore softly but with an extraor-
dinary bitterness. Without look
ing at the contents he knew that
from the owner Of that crest no
good news could come. The fact
Of letter from that particular
person appearing In his correspon-
dence at al was q certain sign Of
desperately bad news-in . hnan-
cial sense II had to do with .
serious matter for the settlement
Of which his plans had miscarried.
Hastily he turned over another
letter addressed TO him In q clerk
ly hand. Il was stamped on the
back with the name Of . firm
his solieitors.
Il was not really necessary to
open. either. The letter from the
solicitors he knew merely con-
Armed the contents Of that with
the crested envelope.
III I believed In the existence
Of . devil. should believe that 1t
wss through his agency these let
ters conceded with that mote
case," he said, fingered . moment
longer. then suddenly seized and
ripped open the envelopes, glanc-
ing through their contents.
His face was white and tor
mented - he threw the letters
back on the table.
''That finishes me - far ~
England b con ,erned for some
yean," he said, bleakly. "Well-
II was my own fault. I, took .
risk with my eyes Open"
He eyed the wallet
'lt's ruin-if Il ID possible to
ruin . man who has always lived
on his wits and such credit - he
can get" he muttered. II thought
Livingfold . bigger fool than he
is--and less vindictive than his let
ter shows him 10 be. Very
well"
He picked up the letters and tore
tnem 70 pieces
That's the end Of that--any-
way, I know where I stand now"
Il was true. Some time before
he had taken the dangerous risk of
using another mans name on paper
with q financial value-and the
risk had developed into IN existing
fact. He had, been discovered and
only . distant relationship to the
man whose letter he had Just re-
ceived had saved him from arrest
on . charge Of forgery.
He had used the word ruin"
without exaggeration.
His clubs, London, even Eng
land, and what means Of subsis-
tence ~ those places had provided
him, were closed 10 him until
such time - the men he had
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