The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-05-25

attacled-this after witnessing that
blood-freezing encounter between Mr..
Case and the unknown stranger, late
at night. in Darrow'sl
Now that had a chance to think
about that view of Mr.. Case, could
scarcely do so coherently. Mr.. Case,
the Chesterfield of Darrow's, prying
into another persons deskl had dis
tinctly heard him pull open drawer.
There was not one thing in that desk
that could possibly have interested
anyone, except Clarihews Notes."
and he had seemed TO take little more
than polite interest in it. And yet
was it an old story to him. Why
didn't he speak to that stranger, or
give any alarm about him? Who was
that second man? What was he after?
and did all those peeple-except Peter,
of course-who were pursuing that
book, know about the key? And to
what was II the key?
could answer none of these absorb
ing questions. But my immediate con-
Germ, after all, was with the practical
aspect of this discovery. Suppose Mr..
barrow should ask If the bOokplate
had been removed. and then desire to
see it and the book again before they
were sold. He might well do so, he
took such an interest in them both.
Suppose Mr.. Case should ask to see
the book: who had more right TO do
SO than the head of the shop? Sup
pose Captain Ashland should bowl en-
Enthusiastically along with some learned
observations about counterfeits which
had been omitted from his lecture and
required illustration. Suppose Nancy
but | did not feel imaginative.
One thing was clear. | could not
likely long keep this discovery to my
self, even had | any right TO do so.
So l decided to impart my discovery
to Mr.. Roberts.
Having made this decision, again
picked up the bookplate, which now
lay twisted tightly up in damp roll
beside the book, and ironed it out be-
tween two dry bits of blotting paper.
| gazed at it intently. A bright idea
suddenly popped into my mind, an
idea not to be carried out in the shop.
AS ! locked at the foreground of the
picture, l noticed the marvellous at
tention to details in the laboratory in
terror. If | could see something in
these details which would have to be
pointed out to other people, could
write blurb about tn /. fine execution
of the drawing.
Beneath the lamp on my desk, slid
the bookplate under a magnifying
glass, and proceeded to study the
foreground eagerly. But soOE my ca
that vainly screwed the lens up and
down seeking to magnify the con-
tents of the table in the foreground
into something that might be quaint
or interesting or unique in the annals
of bookplates. Small instruments of
scientific appearance" were what had
appeared to me the first time l saw
the plate; now they were enlarged,
but | saw nothing new about them.
Some were long and narrow, some
short and round; one was cube with
a pattern of slots across one base.
Their use or symbolism was Greek to
me still.
At last, though completely disguised
that all my effort should be able to
produce nothing better than Quaint
and interesting interior showing small
instruments of scientific appearance"
| decided that that description was
the best could do on such short no
tice. 1t was like Mr.. barrow to
change his mind at the last instant,
and he could just take the cOnse-
quences. With more time, | could
have found out what the instruments
were, but not. by noon-that day.
And then l realized that the left
hand pocket of my sweater was not
empty. My hand encountered some
thing cracking, scratchy /
pulled it out. My yellow note .
Professor Harrington's book-list, my
Identification of which Daisy had cor
roborated before Mr.. Almy.
And now,' perhaps because IT had
been such an uneventful evening, and
the morning was still young-Our
clock had just doomed out half-past
twO-it seemed to me that there was
no time like the present to look over
that yellow note, as had planned to
do when found it two days before on
the floor in the history alcove at OAR
rows. AS glanced again at the three
rows of Sits in the paper, which /
up first, l remembered having seen
three rows Of slots, very tiny. but ar
ranged in an identical pattern with
that on the yellow slip, somewhere
else, that very evening".