The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-06-27
Chapter 37 BACK TO "JAIL~

A NUMBER of policemen accom-. panied us. and our passage through the streets caused quite a stir in the town. though 1 noted it only absent-mindedly and that be- cause so many children and so many dogs seemed to spring up beside us
 l did not. of course. understand much of the interview with the commissaire and the judge; that is, did not understand French. and neither. it developed, did Francis Tally; Lorn and Sue translated swiftly for us, but sometimes forgot momentarily to translate, which was maddening.
 They told the whole story of the inheritance, of the abduction, of the token. of the reasons we had for believing the murder centered about it. They were constantly interrupted and questioned. It was difficult hour, and the conclusion was what ] should have expected but somehow had not.
 The police did not believe their story. They listened. they ques tioned, they even grew excited and l thought. sent telegram or two: but they did not wholly credit 1t.
 We'll. of course. it was extraor. dinary. Still. 1t had happened.
 At any rate. they politely forbade the plan Francis Tally advanced to leave with his sister the coming morning. Even when his fine featured face flushed and became angry and he shouted bit. they still refused. They were polite: they were regretful: but Monsieur must see that 1t could not be.
 They could only assure us that the detectives from Paris would ar. rive tomorrow aud then. we gath cred. 1t would immediately be over, the murderer lr jail. and everything settled. And as far as that goes they may have been speaking the truth: we were never to know as to that.
 In the end our progress back to the hotel was in the nature of a retreat to jail.
 It happened that Sue walked be side me- She said nothing on the way back through white. wind swept. cobblestoned streets wind. ing narrowly between shuttered stone houses with tall. peaked roofs. In the courtyard once more, a chance movement brought her momentarily very near me with the others-Francis and Lcrn. that is- ahead: policeman was at her other elbow. but she took the chance of the mans not being able to under. stand English.
 She whispered. her eyes on Fran cis Tallys sloping shoulders:
 I've lost the token. 1 can't show it to Francis. It's gone"
 Have you told him?"
 "No. No-he must not know. What shall I do?"
 Lorn turned to hold open the door to the lobby, and Sue was obliged to pass ahead of me and ahead of Francis into the lobby. Lovschiem was waiting. rubbing his hands on which the jewels sparkled. The cockatoo chuckled. TT WAS in all likelihood that ! curious and distasteful gesture of Lovschiem's that suddenly con. vinced me that he was again in the | saddle. so to speak.
 He'd been ever since Stravsky's unsolved murder vaguely uncertain, definitely perplexed. He'd had, like Grethe. an air of waiting. but in his case 1t had been anxious wait. ing. Uncertain waiting.
 Where she had been poised and | alert in her secretive patience, he had been, somehow, worried, inept, hesitant. It was as if his course of | action were not definitely mapped: | or as if he thought more of it's possible failure than of its possible success.
 His eyes had been yelled, darting. nervous. His face had glistened and | had had a bad color. His iiabby hands had lowered irresolutely. as if they could not decide upon any certain action but must hesitate over the ledger and over the ink. well. His continual smile had been no longer bland. |
 But now all at once there was about him perceptible air of de- cision. It was as if he knew now exactly what he was going to do. l. There was briskness in his bulky shoulders: briskness in his fat rub. l bing hands: confidence in his bland