Evening star., 1928-06-10

Vance inhaled deeply on his ciga-
rette.
Yes, Markham. there are MANY
things that must be satisfactorily ac-
counted for before l can believe In
your hypothetical burglar"
Markham sat for a while, engrossed
In his thoughts.
I've listened to your catalogue
Vance" he said at length, "but I can't
say that ii infiames me. You've sug.
gested number of interesting posi-
bilities. and raised several points thai
might bear looking into. However. the
only potential weight of your argument
lies in an accumulation of items which
taken separately, are not particularly
impressive. A plausible answer might
be found for each one of them. The
trouble is, the integers of your summary
are without a connecting thread. an6
consequently must be regarded as sepa.
rate units"
That legal mind of yours!" Vance
rose and paced up and down, IAN ac-
emulation of queer and unexplained
facts centering about a crime Is nc
more impressive than each separate
item in the total! Well, we'll! 1 give
up. / renounce all reason. / fold ur
my tent like the Arabs and as silently
steal away" He took up his coat Il
leave you to your fantastic, delirious
burglar, who walks without keys into a
mouse and steals nothing. who knows
where electric switches are hidden but
can't ind staircase, who shoots wo-
men and then turns up the lights
When you find him, my dear sir. you
should, in all humaneness, send him
To the psychopathic ward He's quite
nn1HrnHntnhln II
Markham, despite his opposition. had
not been unimpreSSed Vance unques-
tlonably had undermined to some ex-
tent his belief in housebreaker. But
could readily understand why he was
reluctant to abandon this theory until
1t had been thoroughly tested. His
next words. in fact, explained his atti-
tude.
I'm not denying the remote possibil-
ffy that this affair may 60 deeper than
appears. But there's too little to go on
at present TO warrant an investigation
along other than routine lines. We
can't very well stir up an ungodly
scandal by raking the members of a
prominent family over the Goals. when
there's not a Scintilla of evidence
against any one Of them. It's too un-
just and dangerous a proceeding. We
must at least wait until the police have
finished their investigation. Then. if
nothing develops, we can again take
inventory and decide how to proceed
80. How long, Sergeant, do you
figure on being buSy?"
Heath took his cigar from his mouth
and regarded it thoughtfully.
That's hard to say, sir DuboisTl
finish up his finger-printing tomorrow,
and we're checking Up on the regulars
as fast as we can. Also, I've got two
men digging up the records of the
Greene servants. It may take lot of
time, and it may go quick. Depends on
the breaks we get"
Vance sighed
crtn1ei I've rather been looking forward
20 1t, don't y know, and now you talk
Of prying into the early amours of serv-
ing maids and that sort of thing. It's
most disheartenin'"
He buttoned his ulster about him and
walked to the door.
All. well. there's nothing for me TO
DO while you Jason5 are launched on
your quaint quest. I think I'll retire
and resume my translation Of Della
croix'g Journal"
But Vance was not destined then to
finish this task he had had in mind
20 icng- Tnfee 1ayS later the front
pages Of the country's press carried
glarlne headlines telling Of a second
grim and unaccountable tragedy at the
old Greene mansion, which altered the
entire character OF the case and i'm
nediately lifted II into the realm of
the foremost causes celebres Of modern
times. After this second blow had
fallen all ideas Of a casual burglar
were bauiShed There could no longer
be any doubt that a hidden death
dealing horror staIkeA through the dim
corridors Of that fated house.