The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-03-17
CHAPTER LIV.

fall. No one, be he high or low
need be ruined by any other hanC
than his own. Readily as 1 confess
this, there are many who will, al
this time at least. receive the con-
fession skeptically. And although
I thus mercilessly accuse myself
bear in mind that do SO without
offering any excuse.
Terrible rs is the punishment
inflicted upon me by the world, more
terrible is the ruin have brought
upon myself. In the dawn OF
manhood l recognized my position
enjoyed an honcred name
an eminent social position.
Then came the turning point. /
had become tired Of dwelling on the
heights-and descended by my own
will into the depths. salts
fled my desires wherever it suited
me, and passed on. I forgot that
every act, even the most insign fl
cant act of daily life, in some de-
gree, makes or unmakes the ch2rac-
ter; and every occurrence which
transpireS in the SecluSion OF the
chamber will some day be PRO-
claimed from the housetcps.
az lost control Of myself. 1 was
no longer at the helm, and knew 1t
net. I had become a slave to pleas
IRE. -. One thing only is left TO
Ine-comp,ete humility
"You understand nov, Mr.. Mark
han?"
Markham did not speak for sew
eel moments.
DO you care to tell me about
Skeel?" he at length asked.
That swivel" Spotswoode, sneered
his disgust. Il could murder such
creatures every day and regard my
self as a benefactor Of society. j.:
Eyes, strangled him, and I would
have done it before, only the OPP
por5unity did not offer.
1T was Skeel who was hiding IN
t'le closet when I returned to the
apartment after the theater, and
he must have seen me kill the
woman.
Had I known he was behind that
locked closet door. I would have
broken it down and wiped him out
ti2en.
But how was I to know? It
seemed natural that the closet
might have been kept locked
didn't give it a second thought. .
And the next night he tele-
Uhoned me to the club here.
"He had first called my home on
Long Island, and learned that I
vas staying here. I had never seen
him before-didn't know of his eX-
iftence. =,
But. it seems, he had equipped
hiucelf with q knowledge OF my
identity-probably some OF the
money I cave to the woman went
to him. What a muck-heap I had
fallen int0i
When he phoned, he mentioned
the monograph. and I knew he had
found out something.
1T met him in the Waldorf lobby,
End he told me the truth; there was
no doubling his word. When he saw
I was convinced, he demanded SO
enormous a sum that was stag
geIed." 80,
Spotswoode lit a cigaret with
steady fingers.
Mr.. Markham, am no longer a
rich man. The truth is, I am on
the verge of bankruptcy.
THE business my father left me
nearly a year. The Long Island
estate On which I live belongs to
ny wife.
Few people know these things,
but unfortunately they are true. 1t
would have been utterly impossible
fer me to raise the amount Skeel
demanded, even had I been inclined
to play the coward.
st did. however, give him small
sum to keep him quiet for few
days, pre- missing him all he asked as
s90n as I could convert some of my
holdings.
II hoped in the interim to get
possession of the record and thus
spike his guns.
"But in that failed; and so, when
he threatened to tell you everything
I agreed to bring the money to his
home late last Saturday night.
IT kept the appointment, with the
full intention of killing him. was
careful about entering, but he had
helped me by explaining when and
how I could get in without being
seen.
"Once there, I wasted no time. The
first moment he was off his guard
i seized him-and gloried in the act
"rhen, locking the door and TAX
ing the key, I walked out of the
house quite openly, and returned
here to the cIub-That'S all, I
think"
Vance was watching him mu-
singly.
80 when you raised my bet last
night" he said, "the amount repre-
sented highly important item in
your eXchequer."
SpotSwoode smiled family.
ut represented practically every
cent I had in the world"
"Astonishin! And would
you mind if 1 asked you why you
selected the label of Beethoven's
''Andante" for your record?"
Another miscalculation," the
man said YEARLY. 1T occurred to
me that if any one should, by any
chance, open the monograph be-
fore I could return and destroy the
record, he wouldn't be as likely to
want to hear the classics as he
would more popular selection"
"And one who detests popular
music had to find it! I fear, Mr..
Spotswoode, that an unkind fate
sat in at your game"
Eyes :. If were religiously in
ciined might talk ronpvcock about