The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-08-06
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Copyright 1914 NEA Service Inc
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BUTTON, BUTTON
Copyright 1914

from their view for less than quar-
ter of second, yet that was time
enough for me to effect transfer
Of the Grand Dukes ruby from my
| waistcoat pocket to the vanity bag.
Then, contemptuously, facing them
all, | told Vantinc to search me.
= An hour late Vantine gave it up.
He had summoned the butler. sent his
finance froW the room, and the
three men had stripped me. Failing
to discover the authentic ring, they
had repeatedly SEARCHED the room.
But Miss Kernochan had taken her
vanity bag with her when she left
the room. could only pray that in
the excitement she would forget to
powder her nose. And when at
length Nantine and Kernochan des-
paired of finding the ring, they sent
the butler for the young woman. In
my presence they held Il council of
war, and the upshot of their CONVEX
sation was that Vantine started for
the telephone, to call the police.
Speaking mildly, stopped him.
"Of course you understand" /
said, that I shall bring suit for
criminal SANDER and for false i'm
prisonmcnt. 1t seems to me that a
man in my position ought to be able
to collect substantial damagcs--sa say,
quarter of a million"
"a damned sneak thief would col
lect nothing snarled Vantine. Yet
he paused.
"Quite true" said I. "But we are
not discussing a criminal; we are
discussing IA gentleman of position"
"You have that ring; at least,
you know where it is" declared Van
tine. at didn't vanish into thin air.
And this is paste" He indicated the
copy which lay upon the card table.
"And aside from the large sum
which | shall certainly collect as
damages | went on, calmly, "there
is something else to be considered.
You are the head of famous detcc-
tive agency which bears your name.
If you declare that l have stolen a
ring in your very presence, and are
unable to prove the theft-and you
can only prove it by finding the ring
what sort of an advertisement will
lit be- for your agency?"
4 ! let this sink in; l enjoyed the OK
tpression Of Vantine's face. Pop-eyed
mer should never permit themselves
to look angry. They are unbeautiful
at best, and at their worst they are
extremely offensive.
"You don't think we're going to
let you go?" clustered Vantine.
81 don't think it: I know it," l
replied. "And if this nonsense ceases
at once.sI shall let the matter drop.
Otherwise" My pause was a threat.
I saw the cunning in Vant,nc's
eyes. Yet / despised --hiaa-. so. thor
oughly that l moderated his abii-
ties. He whispered a moment with
Kernochan, but | thought that they
were merely arguing the advisability
of risking the suit which | tn, eat
ened to bring. SO, when Vantine
turned to me and grutfly stated that
| was at liberty to leave, | bowed.
and turning to go, distracted tho
ring from the vanity bag which Miss
kernochan had placed again upon
the table. Oh. | was still an anna
teur in those days. Also, | was too
confident in my own wit, and too
given to contemptuous appraisal OF
the wit of others. For, just as VIC
reached the door, Vantinc said:
~ think we'd better search you
once again, Ainsley."
suppose l went white, I should
have known that no one hut an utter
fool would have permitted me to de-
part so easily, and Vantine read my
horror. He turned to his finance.
eff you'll leave us again. Alice.
we'll search this man."
"But you have searched him. she
said, bewildered.
Continued in Our Next Issuc)
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