New Britain herald., 1924-07-22
NOW 60 oN WITH THE STORY

| lHt FTptHT sflnnfls IT am nufd
 to remember thom." he said.
 That's exactly my point" l told
 him. You give mo a list Of your
 customers who pay their bills
 promptly, and m give you five pef
 cent on every sale I make. And for
 your trouble. so you'll know your
 time isn't wasted. m give you twenty
 dollars right now"
 Fair enough" said the grocer en-
 Enthusiastically. And he took me into
 his office.
 An hour later left him. armed
 with a list that would have been
 worth money 10 yellow newspaper. For the great public wogld have been
 interested to know that some of it's
 fashionable idols never paid a bill,
 even food bill, until court sum
 mons was served upon them. For 1 the grocer. simple minded soul. had
 given me the names of those to avoid as well as those to visit. He would
 have been surprised had he seen mo, m my own apartment q little later, | carefully destroying his list. For I wanted none of its details. What I wished to find out from my friend the grocer was the personnel of the household before which Anderson's town-car had stopped. And who should know that personnel better than the tradesman who supplied the house with food? And this I had learned in casual conversation with out seeming to ask for information.
 The Due de Montarier, then, was the gentleman who had rented fur nished for term of twelve months the private house on the side-strect i near the Avenue. He was distin- guished-looking, Frenchman. An how well I knew that His secre- tary, Raoul Lotier. hunchback, paid all his bills and paid them every week. The Due had no other French scrv- ants. He had acquired a staff of Japanese help from an employment agency, and so far as my friend the grocer knew, the Japs not only did the ordering but ran all the domestic machinery. There were no women employed in the house. Visitors? my grocer did not know.
 l spent that evening in the public library, going over the files, for the past winter. of that New York paper which devotes most space to the : of social events. Yet. carefully as I studied the so-caled society columns, I never ran across the name of the Due de Montarlier.
 The White Eagle, then, had ac- ( luired no special prominence. That l meant one of two things-that he ' Jared not risk recognition, or that he vas working with a definite objective ] lnd not merely making the acquain c ance of numbers Of rich persons V 'hom he hoped to rob. It was then | afe to assume that Marcus Ander- t on was his definite objective. Ger o amy Anderson was rich enough to s e legitimate game for the French t nan, and despite his wealth, stupid F nough to make the White Eagle feel H ertain of success. W But he had not robbed Anderson Il ct. That was obvious. The White 'agle was not the sort to finger on 1T fter the carcass was eaten. In bed :" nat night I asked myself again tho W uestion; what, when and how? di
 '''i ii'iS pdPtIS answered me. " or they chronicled yesterdays auc - on, and in mentioning the purchase ri the gold box by Marcus Anderson. to 1ded the Illuminating line, "who to LIS for South America on Thursday nc settle the final details in the ot nalgamation of various cattlc-in- nc rests of the Argentine" WI Today was Wednesday. The White W agie cultivated no acquaintance ce lthout reason. He was friendly WI lth Anderson because he intended In TOD him. That robbery had not f' 'curred up to yesterday. If it had tn 't occurred last night, it would occur wt day or tonight. And how would ov turn this knowlodge-for if was qu io"ledge; I knew criminals, and we ore than others I knew the White su tgle-to my own profit? at frantically I studied the situation. cri le White Eagle, by posing as a oleman, had ingratiated himsolf otl th Marcus Anderson. Doubtloss ev had hattered the millionaire by re- ho sins to meet Anderson's friopds pu must have told his prospective tim that he did not care to know wh " thy Americans. For if a French rir ke met many people, attended hol my dinners, his presence in this of intry could not be kept from tbc hel 'ers. The White Eagle had been his y friendly with Anderson at lun- hat 'on at the Mirabeau. They were. Not mlngly. intimates. Some time to. bol : then. the FrenchmaA would call ent 'n Anderson to say farewell, and lev' n the robbery would take place. Ant l there would be no other guests rar' sent when the White Eagle made trer call. could be sure of that. and reasoning told me that, apxjous might be to advertise friendship with the Due, the
 lte Eagle would have forbidden
 l exploitation. There would be
 'thers present at the White Eagles V, rid myself of my excitement. If tioh logic was correct the thing for eu to do was to watch Anderson's anne 'e. It was one of the few occa- ST , when I have regretted the lack pc II ssistants. few spies to report moto situation, to map out the ground one f single link is more powerful torcy