Omaha daily bee., 1922-05-28

No paper money. lie had little silver In
hts Trousers pesksl,'
Harley sleepsd sad singsyly turned the body
on It's hack,
stained breast, "a strong blow wssssN"
'IInaaabtsiiy, And with just such weapon
az. The inspector jeFked his thumb over his
shoulder in the direction OF the neat room,
Harley made brief examination OF the hands.
eiolhing and hair of the dead man, and stared
critically al the soiss OF his boots Them
.iIsra's a burned match on the foer." he
said, abruptly. Upstairs"
Opening the door. We found ourselves at the
foo. OF a eafpetsd stair and, mounting this, We
entered an elegantly furnished and wen-iighted
room in which the pictures, statistics and deco
rations spoke sloaasntiy Of the tastes OF It's de.
parted owner, There was vague smell OF
,ebaeee In the stale air OF tho room, and Harley.
staring about him. said slowly
''What sort of eisafsls were In Sir Joserhs
eases"
a., ALGERIAN" replied wsssen similar to
French capafalss"
Harley turned 20 me,
THAT is the smell in the room hsiow!" he
said.
tssiefuly appointed bedroom. glanced rapidly
around shrugged his shoulders, and came out
arain. silk.shaded lamps burned in both rooms,
one OF the drawers OF large writing desk was
opsn, In an absent fashion Harley began 20
examine the contents lie came upon a number
Of photographs. Turning his head. he glanced
over his shoulder at me auizzleally.
There are two points 10 be decided he said.
.swhat are they7" / asked. eagerly.
"First. where Sir Joseph dropped the eigarst
which he lighted and partly smoked In the room
below: and. second. which, II any. OF these fni.
but fraii iadies"-hn tossed the bunch OF photo
graphs upon the desk-'was here tonight"
Good Cod" said wessex. what makes you
think a woman was h.re?"
From 4 llttls coffee table standing beside n
deep se,tes Harley took UP q china ash tray
and held IL out toward wessex IL contained
the stumps Of three tiny gold.tpped cigarets
"choice Egyptian" he said. "Hadjes Nessim.
a man with palate for these could never smoke
Nrerian."
wessex stared rather stupidly.
"But." he began. "a man may have been here
1.-THE man who murdered him. Why"-his face
lighted up excitediy-"the clew OF the knife Is
strengthened. Mr. Harley. The man who
smoked those Egyptian cigarets was the owner
OF the Oriental dagger"
"If the dagger is the property OF a man" re-
turned Harley. then its owner certainly did not
smoke these ciearets."
~ don't follow you" Wessex declared. buntly.
Between finger and thumb Harley took up
one OF the gold-tipped stumps and held it di-
rectly under a shaded lamp.
Examine it closely" he invited.
wessex and bent forward staring curiously,
until:
DO you see the faint red stains upon the
eoid?" asked Harley. Lip salve. wessex; lip
salve!"
"Well" said Inspector wessex walking into
our sitting room at the Cardinals Hat" on the
following morning, we've got the Arab; he was
arrested an hour ago at Norwich"
y "C,ood" said Harley standing IN nd crossing y
the room to where his tobacco pouch lay upon
a seat beside the window. you are making
progress. What statement did he make?"
'He will have to be more fully examined
through interpreter" replied Wessex. But
he has denied all knowledge Of the crime.
Nearly pounds in paper and silver found
upon him. and you will remember that Sir
Josephs case was empty"
did he explain how he come to lose the
jcweled dagger"
Eyes" Wessex frowned thoughfully. HE
declared that he had sold it to Sir Joseph for
5 pounds"
"Ah!" Harley looked up suddenly. when
and where did the sale take placer"
Apparently few minutes after his interview
with you on the river bank-or so he declares
He says that Sir Joseph spoke to him in his
native tongue" continued Wessex, "and that in
this way the deal came about It's rather a thin
tale, however, and very suspicious his coming
out pat with the name Of the murdered man."
''Why?" asked Harley. "My 2 pounds and Sir
Jcsephs s. together with the few shillings al
ready in Ais possession, would account for the
sum found upon him. Evidently Sir Joseph
gave the man all his ready money"
well, Sir Joseph's reputation in Egypt was
a pretty bad one I've learned that Here's
native of that country, haunting lonely part
of Norfolk most mysterious behavior, and the
dagger, known to have been his property is
al mn he hodv cf he ,,,rdar arad
man. Papers or other discriminating evidence
had obviously been taken from the drawer of
the table above. and, lastly, Egyptian cigarets
had been smoked in that room"
"By some one whose lips were painted" MUIR
INJURED Harley tonelessly.
yes agreed Wessex. "Its an awkward
point l admit"
VERY awkward" said Harley Then we have
tho extraordinary circumstance that the knife.
admittedly once the property of Ali Mahmoud,
exhibits no traces of blood"
HE may have cleaned it."
"Why, having done so. leave it behind? Then
you must remember my discovery of the AL
gerian cigaret stump near the gate opening upon
the lane. Have you considered this, Wessex?"
Eyes, and l know it's your idea that Sir
Joseph had walked down the path with some
one to the gate, had stood there for moment
smoking, and had then dropped the cigaret end.
You think he was followed back?"
''Well, mention an alternative"
He may have been waiting there for some
one And this person may have murdered him
as they entered the house."
Meaning by this person Ali Mahmoud?"
''Who else %
Listen. Wessex; the Algerian cigaret was
lighted in the room where the dagger was found.
Evidence: The burned match and the smell. He
smoked there for few moments and then walk
ed to the gate. He almost certainly accom-
panied by the woman who had been to visit him.
After she had gone the murderer came! Have
you traced the originals of any Of the photo
graphs?'
Inspector Wessex shook his head.
mot so far he admitted. "but, then. I've had
very little time" He glanced at Harley. DO
you believe the Forders' story that they were