Show il HK llIHMONll BUTTON i V jl den I d FROM THE DIARY OF A LAWYER AND THE NOTE TL BOOK OF A REPORTER c q By BARCLAY NORTH t Copyrighted 1889 by O M Dunham Published by Sps cisl Arrangement through the American Press Association CHAPTER VIIL THE REPORTER DISCOVERS A PLAN TO THE LAWYER I OLBROOK colt col-t fOLBROOK c L 1 n Here you lunatic 1I l lu-natic what are t 4 1F I you up to s I want to stop her I want to interview 4 s r in-terview her Stop that elevator r That you shantWholl r Wholl pre = vent me 41 III will I am her counsel and she will not be interviewed against my advice Game 1n It you want to interview inter-view anybody interview me Tern looked at him roguishly and said Do you recollect what the reply of 4e king was to Richelieu when the cardinal car-dinal told him if he must love anybody to love him No He said A very poor substitute your eminence for a fresh young demoiselle So say L Holbrook led the way into his private office closing tho door behind them Squat said he to Tom and take a cigar Tom threw himself on the lounge at full length and as he lit his cigar said By Joepuffpuffits a deuced i Jill r strange thing that I should puff have run uppuff CCpufi against Templetons sister here Why Because it was precisely that murder which led me hero What have you got new about it Nothing And you her counsel Yes since ten minutes ago Hasnt she got a suspicion of anj kindof a woman or a quarrel etc Not a suspicion But let me put you on the right track I am retained to look after the dead brothers property and see to closing up his business Oh well I havent dropped that murder yet What do you know more about it Not much if anything The old man has become very much interested in the case and has discharged me The old man was the editorinchief of the paper Tom was employed on Discharged you Yes at my suggestion I dont understand you No Well then I am detailed to worl tin1 matter to the end As a first more I have gotten myself discharged 50 as to throw the other boys off the scent Do you see Oh I have been working for three days w want help Those confounded de yccthes aro jealous of me ever since I rooted out that nest of burglars up the countryyou rememberand watch me like a hawk flow can I help you Very easily and all the more since you arc now counsel for the sister I want an exact description of that suit of clothes the man wore who knifed Templeton Of course if I asked to see it 1 could easy enough but Id have tho whole lot of them on my heels And you want mo to get the suit for you No but I want you to become thor 6ughly acquainted with it To what end I want to buv a suit just like it Pshaw You think I am fooling I I dont think it I know it Holbrook you pass in this city for being one of the ablest of the young lawyers but you can be au awful stupid fool at times Thank you I mean it Cant you see what Tm driving at No Im blest if I can Well Ill let you in a littlo way The man who knifed Templeton wore a cheap suit of clothes which he had just pur < cfcjSed wore it for the purpose of a disguise dis-guise Yes doubtless After the cutting he ran away throw trig off his coat Good Then he threw off his pantaloons and hat Yea These wero found but no vest All of these chestnuts are proper inform in-form and solid in substance I Tom paid no attention to the sarcaSm but pulled steadily on his cigar the fire I of which had nearly died out Restoring it ho continued I Suppose 1 should find clothes dealer who sold a similar suit too largo for tho i man who bought it and didnt care for the vest on the day or the day prcvi dfous to the murder or thereabouts I Tom I beg your pardon Correct The easiest way to find suci I a man and such a suit is to go and buy one i I I see If I had a piece of the cloth I would be happy Ill get it for you iYou cant they wont let you cutit Vi01i yes they wilL That isnt all What next I want a jewelers description of that diamond button you found Ill get that for you 4 Youre a jewel yourself When will you do it Como and see me the day alter tomorrow to-morrow in the morning All right Im off Stop a minute 1 want to talk now What is it Im in a hury I I want to talk of Templeton murder mur-der Drive ahead Sit down What I have to say to you is more important than anything you are after Tom sat down Have you ever heard of young lady named Flora Ashgrover Yes and have seen her too Do you know the set she goes with Yes Do you know the men Ali of them Who are they First theres Henry Holbrook No hes last go on Oh Charlie Gray Henry Iskine Fred Rhinehart Jack Hardy Elmore Breath Steve Ellengwood and that bet Can you fall in with them Easily enough in one place or another an-other Well so much on that head Now lets talk about the murder My dear boy if you want to play with me play an open hand no half confidences confi-dences You cant switch me off in that wayHolbrook Holbrook was annoyed Tom you are too shrewd for mo 1 cant say any more today on tnat score But I want to say this I am very anxious anx-ious to get at the bottom of this matter Half an hour before you came in I had determined to hunt you up You are already al-ready engaged on the affair 1 propose to retain you in the matter additionally and give you some assistance It wont be long either before I can give it to you but not today When you come to mo day after tomorrow I will play an open handGood Good Tm off No hold on What arc you going to do tonight I Nothing Dine with me at 6 and afterward let I us go to the Casino All right Ill do that Meet me at 0 sharp at IiciV eifu I Good Now I am off Uybr After Tom eft the room LJolrook j I went to the whitlow and looked out I TIll scene before him however vu > not what interested him HK thoughts j had gone back again to that singular interview in-terview with Flora Ashgrove I Why shouldnt I tell Tom of that conversation he asked himself aloud I Ho is trustworthy and shrewd U is not like talking to a public official and he will respect confidence Suppose tho girl is implicated What then No obligation I ob-ligation rests on me to protect her from her evil deeds if evil deeds they are If they arc not and she is not compromised i then no harm is done Yes Ill tell him and tonight He laughed I promised myself to keep out of this affair and hero I am going in full I length So much for tho influence of a pair of soft brown eyes By George she is a beautiful girl Annie Templeton A fellow could be very happy in tho love of such a creature I Then ho drummed on tho window lost in pleasant castle building Suddenly he started with the isclarns tion Dreaming Is not work He looked at his watch Halfpast three I hive two hcius and a half before my He caught his hat and hurried oat CHAPTER IX A UITR AT DELMOVICOS NCEiuthoEticet hehuiricd I to Maiden Mai-den lane and cn en a manufacturing jewelSr i A moment later S ho issued with K y companion and V at the corner ol tl r Broadway waited o wait-ed fo a cab 7 One was scon yIwpIi J hailed and the two entered and r were drivpc to Iolco heidquar tel II IIf t Un had not th 1 > o > sted After f private interview with a hi < h official tho garments were brought to him and ho diamond button as well Tho high official was present The button was shown to his companion compan-ion who was the foreman of the manufacturing manu-facturing jeweler I want such a description written of that button as you would give another jeweler said Holbrook The man looked at it curiously That was never made in this country coun-try How do you know that v How do you know that a copy of the irst edition of Littleton was not printed iithis country Because it was printed before this country was instituted rrecisely this button was made before I be-fore his country was discovered The diamoul has been inserted recently To know Ms is a part of my trade It is not in tin work in what you might call I the orna entationno it is in the way tho buttouhas been put together that I tell The Wk on it has been imitated I for man YQIB Do you want a techni r I cal description It would be valuable only to another jeweler I Holbrook meditated I The high official looked on with interest I inter-est Finally Holbrook spoke Can you make me an imitation of that button t Oh yes pretty near so near that only j I a jeweler would discover the difference Stone and all The stone is tho easiest part Make me two thena pair The high official spoke But the button Cannot leave here I dont want it except to get the color of the imitation metal and the color I can put on here replied the jeweler That can be arranged said the official offi-cial Then I want to see it once to match the stones That also can be arranged While the jeweler was making notes of the button Holbrook began a close examination of the make and style of the clothes Having satisfied himself as to that he turned the trousers wrong side out and found a place where the cloth had been widely turned over at a seam It gave a complete idea of the pattern of the cloth I want to cut so much off The official hesitated and looked grave The two retired to a corner and conversed con-versed earnestly Holbrook was persistent per-sistent and energetic The official yielded A pair of shears from the high officials desk did the work When the jeweler intimated that ho had finished his work of examination Holbrook looked at his watch it was 5 j oclock What will be the cost of these buttons but-tons The jeweler named what he thought would be the sum I will give you four times that amount if you will deliver them at my office rt 10 oclock day after tomorrow I shall have to work night and day then Thats why I offer you four times the sum you name Tho affair is urgent They will be done Holbrook then went to Delmonicos where he found Bryan jiwaiting him Let us get somewhere where we can talk without being heard said Holbrook They took the corner of Twentysixth street and Broadway Tom took the seat with his back to the corner Tims ho was enabled to survey the whole room and could note who entered en-tered After they had given their orders Hoi I brook handed Tom the slip of cloth What is that A piece of the suit worn by tho murderer mur-derer You are prompt Are you sure it is the same Sure I cut it off myself Good Have you a description of the button buttono No I have done better What I shall have day after tomorrow a pair of thema complete imitation of tho buttons so close you could not tell tother from which You aro an angel Good this is getting get-ting on with a vengeance Be quiet here comes the waiter with our soup While they were dining Holbrook told Tom of his singular interview with Flora Ashgrove Tom was deeply interested He listened without interjecting a remark re-mark only to caution Holbrook to suspend sus-pend his narrative when the waiter or some one elso approached too closely When it was finished he was thoughtful thought-ful Finally he Raid You should have told this to the coroner cor-oner But I am glad you did not You ought to tell this to your high official but I hope you wont What do you think of it all asked Holbrook It is a queer mess and 1 think it deeper than ever Theres a great story behind that murder Uml That girl thinks she knows who did it and sho is afraid for the man Questioning her would do no good now nor would it have done when you saw her although she was then more on her guard than she will be again After all sho said nothing as you say it was all in her manner I dont think as much of the button as I did Why Because she recognized it and saw it didnt belong to tho man sho thinks did the deed She thought until she saw it that you had something that could be traced to the man she wants to screen She thinks now that you aro on a false trail You must throw yourself in her way again as soon as you can She will be anxious to know how your suspicions aro tending Dont show her that you have an idea that sho knows or suspects any one Ho thought a moment and said I suppose she is in love with the manHolbrook Holbrook had not reasoned so closely but he was struck with the cogency of Bryans argument The buttons then aro of no value he said and ho laughed as he added I promised four times the value to have I them clone quickly They arc of value quickly responded respond-ed Bryangreat value all the same I they may track the murderer It is by no means certain that Miss Ashgrovea suspicions are correct Sho may be on II a false scent But after all she would not suspect any one of committing the deed unless there wat a reason existing for doing it Now what is that reason I That is what we must try > tp find out But how Thoway is dark Oh I have seen more tangled skeins j than this unraveled The great point is to make tho first step After that things j I go easy I Holbrooks tale of the interview with I Flora had occupied tho time of the dinner din-ner and Toms comments upon it had been made over their cigars Having exhausted speculation as well as argument upon Holbrook looked at his watch and pronounced it time to setout set-out for the Casino ° |