Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-17

of conduct from which occa-
Sionally one does we'll to devl-
Il ate. Anonymous letters are I'M
worthy of consideration. The
proper action on receipt of such a
communication is to throw the I'M
fathered thing into the waste basket.
And had Holland been engaged in the
practice Of another profession he
would doubtless have adhered to the
rule.
But the Holland Detective Agency
never destroyed any communication,
however trivial or even insane. until
fins" was written at the end of a
case. And inasmuch as this letter had
70 do with a case which had by no
means reached its end, Holland treated
IL with extreme respect. For clues
come TO the detective from the most
unexpected sources.
IF you want to locate Malbron, do
exactly as told. Attend st. Andrews
morning service next Sunday. Take
an end seat in the last row on the
right aisle. Arrive early in order that
YOU may be certain of finding the seat
vacant 4 Friend"
Certainly the letter was written by
no feeble-minded person whose brain
had become heated by newspaper
reading of the exploits of Malbron and
the efforts of Holland to apprehend
the criminal.
One whose reason was not quite nor
nal would not have confined himself
10 so few words. wandering mind
expresses itself ramblingly. Nor was
1t written by practical joker.
A practical joker would have been
more emphatic in his instructions.
Fearful lest the precious point of his
merry jest be dulled. he would have
been insistent, would have made prom
!SeS.
This writer was not the one nor did
he make the other
Sent forth in sanity, then, and in
grim earnest, what was its purpose?
II was to answering this question that
Holla nd set himself
A ridge of flesh appeared between
his keen gray eyes and spread itself
fanwise in innumerable tiny wrinkles
across his Well-shaped forehead.
Concentrating, his nose seemed to
take on a sharper edge, and his high
cheek bones to become bonner, while
the thin-lipped, wide mouth became a
hard slit.
Some people purse their lips when
thinking. Holland narrowed his.
Was the purpose of the anonymous
writer who described himself by the
hanal title of Friend amicable or
inimical? The letter itself gave no
clue to the answer. 1t might have
been composed by friend or enemy or
by one completely Indifferent to Hol
land. Only this last alternative must
be ruled out. An indifferent person
would hardly take the trouble to inter
ject himself into the battle. between
Malbron and Holland. Nor would
thoroughly Indifferent person have
taken the pains to hide his authorship
that the writer had taken.
X
THE letter itself was a small sheet
of cheap typewriter paper. 1t had
been trimmed down by scissors, and
in the trimming the water mark had
been cut away. The tipping itself had
been done by a competent operator;
the evennesS of each letter was proof
enough of that. And the machine
seemed TO have left no distinguishing
marks. All the letters were in align
ment. There We're no idiosyncrasies
Of spacing which would help in dis
closing the identity of the machine
OF course, no two typewriters, even
though new and from the same fac
tory, make exactly the same kind OF
print. An expert could easily deter
mine, If he had other samples where
with to guide himself, which machine
had written a certain letter. An ex-
pert could even take this anonymous
communication and quite possibly
trace the author. But that would
necessitate a visit to various sales
rooms. 10 factories, and even then
might end in failure
Joe Hansen. the Holland operative
who was most expert in matters hav-
ing to do with typewriting was at this
moment winding up his vacation in a
Wisconsin town where he had been
born.
Finding out any of the physical
facts that lay behind the letter was
out of the question today.
And denomination seemed to fur
nish no spiritual facts beyond those
regarding which he was already con-
WINGED; that san nifty and earnestness
had inspired the note.
Now, inasmuch as he could not de-
eide off-hand the purpose of the writer.
Holland set himself to solving the pos
Sible results of obedience to the au-
thor's request. The first thought that
came TO him was the possibility of
danger. He had courage enough The
fact that he had succeeded in his
chosen profession argued against any
coWardiCe in his makeup. But he
possessed his fair share of caution.
And keeping rendezvous with an
anonymous correspondent is not the
part of caution when one happens to
he a detective for whose life one like
Malbron is eager.
But Malhron would hardly plan Hol-
lands assassination in SO public a
place as st. Andrews Church. OF
course, the very fact that Holland
would argue against Malbron's at
tempting so public n crime might have
entered into the calculations of the
criminal. Malbron was capable of the
unexpected.
Holland glanced at the clock over
the fireplace. He came to one of those
sudden decisions characteristic of him.
lie would go to keep the appointment
made by his anonymous friend. And
as he glanced once more through the
letter the absence of something in its
contents struck him forcibly The
letter contained no injunction order
ing him TO visit the church unattended
Apparently the writer didn't care
how many detectives Holland brought
with him. Which would indicate that