The Washington times., 1931-01-29

casual word with her. No;
she was talking to him so low
that 1 couldn't hear. but she
certainly was meaning what
she was saying. Here's the
thing that caught my eye: She
had one hand on his arm.
Servants don't act that way
toward guests-not Smith, any
way. Tracy brushed her hand
down once and she put it back.
He said something to her and
turned and walked away. Fig
ure it out for yourself from
there on, Duke"
Carson concealed, carefully,
the interest he had in the story.
From what you've said, you
might suspect Tracy even more
than the girl" he asserted, war
lily.
"I might, but I don't" Hig-
gins said, with a faint stubborn
ness. Hes too soft"
"Well, I'll remember what you
told me-" Carson said, disn1is-
sal in his voice. Thanks very
much, Higgins; I'll see you
later"
Left alone, he began slowly.
thoughtfully, to coordinate in
his mind this new information.
A possible connection between
Jim Tracy and Mary Smith,
meager, suppressed intense
even if it existed, might easily
mean nothing, as far as the
pearls were concerned. Proba-
bly, no such connection existed.
Higgins probably had magnified
what he had seen. That was
one way of looking at 1t. On
the other hand
A Waste of Thought
No, it seemed a waste of
thought, Of brain power, to
imagine Jim Tracy as a thief.
Whatever he was, he wasn't
that. At the worse, he was no
more than a play boy, a little
brother of the rich. If he
sought to marry for money, it
was something vastly different
from downright dishonesty.
And the girl, Mary Smith
there was a prin impatience
about her, an, instant repudia-
tion of any personal frailty.
There was something about her
as hard as stones. Her native
Connecticut and the honesty of
New Englanders was a by-word,
a tradition. True, she might be
guilty of anything, but by all
external tests she was not at
all the criminal type. AS he
tried to link Mary Smith and
Jim Tracy with the theft of the
pearls Carson found his mind
constantly denying any such
theory, and manufacturing rea-
sons to refute them.
The whole truth was that his
interest in the pearls was Sec
ondary. His only real interest
was in Connie. Nevertheless, he
knew the stolen pearls gave him
a reason for remaining in the
house; too, they stimulated an
intellectual curiosity. If posi-
BILE, he meant to solve the mys-
terry.
Such work, of course, fell
within the province Of a detec-
tive, but what Carson had seen
of paid man hunters, he was
confident that he had, at least,
an equal mental equipment. In
the main, they depended upon
stool pigeons, luck, and the in
nate stupidity of criminals.
More often than not they failed
in their business of detecting,
but this was not unusual: men
in all walks of life were con,
stantly failing. The worst posi-
BILE failure. he conceived, was to
miss the fine essence of happi-
ness to be found in human re-
lations.
Very StrangS, Indeed
It was strange, but Duke Gar
son never before felt so definitely
the value of the intimate and
personal. He had regarded
as a whole and knit fabric.
Now that he knew Connie Cal
vert, he was conscious of an
acute dissatisfaction, a suspense
of uncertainty. Here and now,
when he should have been COM
fortably happy, he was obsessed
with an obstinate mental dis
comfort. Something unpredict-
ing was occurring in his life
able and Elusive of understand
stream.
An impatience, desire for
physical activity, seized him and
he found his hat. When he re-
turned from a vigorous tramp
along the road and through the
wooded hills he found Connie,
Kitty and Jim Tracy in the l.v-
ing room; in few minutes din
ner would be served.
There's no newS-nothing
has happened" Connie told him,
in response to his query. THE
only thing is that Mary Smith
is leaving. She says she needs
a rest, and she is leaving to-
morrow"
Continued To.norrov.