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Show I THE", mEHMHHBLE ADVENTURES IF nmiunun. ! l Stories of Strange Cases Solved m Secret by a . -y :. ';fl I f l Banker-Detective By robert carlton brown. L , ' fl i- THE ROYAL RUBY. TlAHlS would pawn hor soul for n 1 rare jewel. Therefore the follow-I follow-I In? Itoni, tucked a way in a popu-Jar popu-Jar Parisian. paper, proved Rood prc work, though how the fact leaked out hni ncwr boon learned: 'Miss IMondcll of Xoiv York, stopping at the Palaih d'Orray, will wear the Royl Ruby in her box at tho Chatclct tomorrow at the opening nipht of the new hpcetacle. "The celebrated S&n was recently purchased for 100,000 francs from the Roy of Tuub, by her father, the Araer-ictn Araer-ictn capitalist." Scores of curiosity seeker?, held in tho meshes of flittering Paris, road the notice, and appeared at tho performance per-formance next nitfht to witness tho lirt public display of tho jowcL They cranfid their necks and stared at the rmptv right-hand etaRfl box, for information infor-mation had oozed out that this was the Blondcll box, and the knowledge had prcad rapidly throuRh tho anxious au-Would au-Would fchc cornel That was the question on all sides. Would sho wear the jewel after this advertisement; or com without it, or stay at home? Surely tho Koyal P.uby would not bo teen that nibt. When this s,tutc of mind had been reached, the heavy plush curtains at the rear of the watched box suddenly parted, and her fnthcr ushered .Miss lllondell into the box, TOinoved her Jow-cut fable cloak, threw it ovor thu rail in sight of all. and handed hor to the chair nearest the Hinge. Hundreds of eves behind opera lassc-i noted tho wmaflest detail, and curiosity-seeking J'aria held ita breath as .Mips Jilondeli removed the pin tightly securing the j-enrf over her bosom, and threw the silk covering from her nock, revealing the Hoyal Jiuby. scintillating in the :,trikinr setting of n white Bntm bodice. While the multitude of eyes was pinnod on the wondrous pendant, sliding slid-ing on a thin gold chnm about her neck, Miss fllomlell leaned slightly toward to-ward her father to speak. At that second one-half of the breathless audience au-dience was startled to see the light rhain slip from her right shoulder. A broken end dangled for a moment, and then the Koyal JCiiby slid quickly down tho severed chain, and disappeared from sight below tlio brass rail surmounting sur-mounting the upholstered iuclosure to A aeries of surprised gasps rnino from the andinnce, a low curious whistle whis-tle of astonishment from a gcntloman sitting alone at tho far end of the box next to tho Blundello, who had leaned forward to see with the rest; and at that moment Mr. Blondcll noticod the dangling end of chain clinging to a gardenia in his daughter's bosom and turned as wax-whito as the flower. All of which was duly registered by hundreds of eyes behind opera glasses. At that moment tho girl missod tho com, snatched up tho chain, and rtooped quickly to tho floor. "It wan on when I, s-at down," sho bald to hor father in a low tone, which carried to 'be tense cars of those near "It dropped to tho floor 1" cried several sev-eral of the awed audience in .French, crivintr vent to their oxcitement in an I effort at rolioving the situation. Meanwhile Blondcll and his daughter daugh-ter had been searching tho hardwood lloor at her feet. The head usher hurried hur-ried down tho passageway to the box, and the singlo gentleman in the remote re-mote corner of tho adjoining box rose as if to help. But Monclcll rushed to the small door, and warned back tho usher, while his daughter upturned chairs and shook out her skirts. It was no sninll article to lose. A pigeon-blood ruby of fifty-eight and threo-quartcrR carats, tho size of a robin's egg. bigger than the ball of an ordinary black liatpiu, and not quite jo largo as a cherry, with a ring imbedded im-bedded at tho top, through which tho chain had slipped. With his back, to tho curtain, preventing pre-venting assistance, Blondcll, his faeo till white, scanned tho floor, which planted down to the upholstered in-closure in-closure jutting over tho pit. Several of tho audience, in their excitement, ex-citement, rushed to points of vantage alone the aUlos. and scrutinized every movement of the pair 'hi the box. One man in tho main body of tho theater, quite near tho Blondells, rose in his cnt, and gave a quick ngn which attracted at-tracted tho capitalist 'h attention. A look of recognition lighted up his face, nnd ho cried in a tense tone: "Poo! Poc!" A second lntcr,"Como Christopher Poo tucked his hat under un-der hi arm. nnd faunterod up the aisle, turned into the passageway to the box, and edged through those crowding for a look, with an air of quirt authority. I Mr. Blondoll held tho curtain back for him. and Poo Mopped into the box. Ilis actor's mouth twitched, and tho comers of kis sensitively shaped nose drew down in two satirical wrinkles to bis lip, as he put out a lone, limb-like arm to grasp Blondcll 'a hand with slim I wii wondoring how they would act it."' he said simply. ' "How they'd get ill" repeated the Hilerly man with a blank Marc, his hnndquivcring. "Whnf do you mean, "Too bad you didn't sec the item in yotcrday's paper; but I suppose you 1011 "t read nnv more French than you tc to," ('hmtopher Pop went" on aMallv "Thry announced the first apnearanco of tho jem. Half the jewel thieves in Paris are in the audience.' "But the ruby can't be stolen! 1 saw no announcement. Tho &Jon? a here. In this verv box! Seel' he m-dicatcd m-dicatcd tho hardwood floor, without a rug and with no possible crevice in which even a pin could lodge. N e are shut in on all side6 with n three-foot three-foot siding. There is no place tor the gem to be conccnlcd." ... 4 "All of which proves that it is not here. J doubt if it is even in tho theater thea-ter at this moment. It was clever, very clever," replied Poc, stepping to the side of the young lady, on her knees, still searching. "There is no use," he snid to her. n ,, "This is Mr. Poe, Christopher Poc her father introduced in a flurried tono-"Ynu tono-"Ynu have heard mo speak of him. lie's just arrived from Hamburg. "Oh, ves. You taw the stone drop just now'f" tho girl asked quickly, her eyes still searching. "Yes, but. really, there is no use looking." Poe'-i tone possessed a strange flnnlity. He bent to roinoyc the light chain of fine gold which still clung to the gardenia, nnd made a casual examination of it. "Nipped off with a pair of pliers, he smiled. "A common trick, easily executed by fifty men in Pans, lour tightlv pinned senrf provented it irom dropping or being stolon in the crowd. You fell nothing. I suppose, on the way from the carriage to the entrance" en-trance" . , , ... , "I wns a bit anxious. ' she admitted, turning up her flushed face. " L pressed the jewel tightly through the scarf Now that you spouk of it. I did. ted something cold touch the back ot my neck au instnnt, but I felt quick y for the chain and found it safe, only protruding slightly above my scarf in the bnck. "And already severed by a pair o pliers concealed in a clover hand, added Poe. "It has happened often, this nipping. You were pressing the stone with your hand on the senrr. Tho thiof knew he could not get the gem in tho crowd: he waited tor you to unpin un-pin the ficarf when you were safe in the box and off your guard. Tho stone slid down, and dropped the moment you threw the wrap bnck and leaned forward; but, naturally, you did not notice it at the cxaCt instant of raJI-ing; raJI-ing; several seconds passed before the discovery, and that was all tho thiet needed." , , ,, . "You don't mean that the thing is stolen. It's surely horc somewhere. It couldn't have disappeared from the box in that instant."' "Certainly no person saw it disappear," disap-pear," replied Poo. "I was watching the curtain myself; it did not move. There wns no one in tho passageway behind the box, nnd surely no thiot Inside In-side it." "Then how could the stone hnvo disappeared I" cried tho Krl- "You can see at a glance there arc no cracks or crevices it could huvo slipped through or lodged in." "That's the only assurance I have that it is stolen," answered Poc, bending bend-ing his short waist, and .picking a small splinter of wood, not. a quarter of an inch long, from tho log of a chair near the doorway. "But it's absurd to think thnt any-nnn any-nnn cnnlil havn Htolcn the iowcl ill tho second it dropped to tho floor beforo J. stooped lo find it." "Ah much as ten seconds elapsed after tho. jewo: bs, struck the floor beforo you began looking for it, Miss Blondcll. Much can be done in that space- of time But tho porformanco is beginning!" lie broko of? abruptly, as the lights were turned out in different differ-ent parts of tho house, "Kathorl thov must leave tho lights on!" cried tho girl ."Wo can't lind the jewol in tho dark." "It is quite useless," answered Poo, with a careless: shrug of his shoulders. "The stone is probably on its way to Mont mart re by now. You see, Blondcll," Blon-dcll," he turned to the - wavering father, "the lloor Flants down to the framework ,in front: it is quite bare. Tho stone could not hnvo rolled uphill up-hill and out into tho passageway, so common sense tells us it's gono altogether. alto-gether. As the chain was cut on the way from the carriage to the door, wc must believe the stone is stolen." "But it seems impossible" declared Blondcll, lowering his voice, as tho curtain went up, anil tho audionco found itself with diverted interests?, tho majority more concerned in. the stage-box stage-box tableau. Tt couldn't havo bounced up three feet and over onto tho stage, it couldn 't have been picked up by tho gentleman in tho adjoining box " Too stopped abruptlv, his brows shot up on his forehead and the satirical wrinklos again appeared, joining tho corners of his nostrils and lips. He had glanced toward tho other box, and found it empty. 1'or a socond ho fingered the splinter of wood in his pocket, tho wrinkles deepening and his eyes fixed. Turning short, ho said m a low tono to BlondoU. "Wait for me at Palais Pal-ais d'Oreav;" then ho bowod absently to tho girl, ducked through the plusn curtains, and hurried out an exit. As he sat in a cab five minutes later, on his way to a music hall in Ifuo do Clichv, Christopher Poo looked and acted" more like a bored "Frenchman in search of pleasure than anything else. Had the Jehu who drove known the truth about his fare,, ho would havo been more particular in his work, and would never havo dared to juggle with tho little taximeter at his side. But Poe, glad to be relieved of his desk duties, and enjoying his holiday in Paris, kept no worry book in which to write down such "dniby vexations as crooked taximeters. As he sat bnck in tho cnb and drove through the fascinating streets of old Paris, he xvns both sorry and happy that ho had stumbled onto so interesting interest-ing a crime. The cnb dropped him before a popular popu-lar Cliehy music hall, and he stepped into the mnnngcr's small office Sn front. "I want the nanice of all the legerdemain leger-demain pcrformeru on your drcuit. Only thoe not working now; any art out of the ordinary. Monsiour Flcury," he said, haviag shaken hands cordiallv : with the friendly little Frenchman at the desk, leaving n hundred franc note in the man's palm. "Monsieur Hardy always pav go well," smiled the manager, pocketing the note, taking down a huge index, , and beginning, to jot down names and I addross.es rapidly. "You want sword swnllowcrs. snake charmers, card fakers; all the cuions ones in Paris!" "Kxnetly. if they caa do slight of J hand of well." answered Poe, idly tov-' tov-' iitg with the splinter from the chnfr, awl removing several portide from it tu examine in detail with tho atd of a i titlje norket-taagnincr. A confidence qleamed in those strange eyof, and kis J lip moved cxpressivoly. A In ten minntw time tke manager J penetrated Poe'a abstraction, and the rau over the list together, Poe asking particularly concerning the act ot cacli performer. .... , . -, "This man Torche?" he exclaimed, hi finger suddenly stopping at the name. "Ho has bulging eyes, a prominent promi-nent forehead, and can dross lute a gentleman on the stage?" "Exactly!" cried the French mnna-gcr. mnna-gcr. You 'know him?" "Not vet, smiled Christopher Poc, the satirical wrinkles from his lips deepening for the moment. "You "have seen him then, surely?" "I believe so. His act is clever, you snv?" , '"lie is a vcrv wizard at both ot his specialties I tofd you of," replied tho manager. "He is not well liked. Ho is too' cunning," Poe waited for no further particulars, particu-lars, but thanked the mnnngcr, stopped through tho door, purchased u bag of lucious red cherries from a street vender, got into the waiting cab, nnd gave tho driver Torche 's address. During the two-mile drive to au obscure ob-scure street on Hue Saint .Jacques, in the Latin Quarter, Christophor Poo leaned back in the cab, consuming the cherries, and holding telegraphic con-verso con-verso with himself. It was not solilo; quv; consisting only in parts of phrases jerked out as he twisted his mobile lips with u nervous hand, tho hand of n man of taste, with only a band of fine yellow gold on tho fourth finger. . -Collodion cut," he muttered. "Cun-ouh "Cun-ouh whistle trousers1 sight poor smell cherries whistle. Woman 1 Always Al-ways woman to steal jewels for! Good! Verv good!" The cab finally stopped at the out-of-tho-wav address, and Poe, tolling the eabbv to wait, jumped down, and selected, se-lected, the handle trom a cord under the painted numeral IV on the doorstep, door-step, lie jerked it down quickly, and heard the faint jingle of a bell far above. But no footsteps came in answer an-swer to his summons, no shout of "Entrez!" welcomed him. so he shoved tho door open, nnd groped his way up rickety flights of stains to the fourth floor, "avoiding the debris in the dark like a cat, and going instinctively to a door, through a crevice in which a dim light shone. He knocked ou the panel. No answer. an-swer. He rapped again. The light through tho erovice" wns suddenly blotted out. "From Monsieur Flcury. about an engagement! Gone t'o bed. Torche?" he called in a deep bass, the French slurred in accordance with cheap theatrical the-atrical usage. Thcro was a noise inside. A match scratched. The door swung open, and a thin, hatchet face with a prominent forehead and bulging eyes, helping to support tho flabby bridge of a bent nose, peerod out. "Seeing that the visitor visi-tor was a gentleman, with an expression expres-sion "not unlike a concert-hall man. Tordie invited him in. with a bow, and a greeting in his native tongue. "Monsieur will be so good' as to pardon par-don the appearances. 1 was going to bed when you knocked. Tt is about an engagement 'ou come?" He stood dressed only in the ordinary wide-bulging trousers of tho Frenchman, and a 6tiff white shirt, with a narrow whilo tic. Christopher Poe had stepped in and quickly tnken an inventory of Lho room. Disorder was everywhere evident, evi-dent, as though things had been hastily hasti-ly concealed. A high silk hat and the tail of an evening coat poked from under un-der a pillow in the corner. Beneath a closot door ho saw the edge of a woman's wom-an's skirt protruding; slightly. "I am not intruding, Torche? .You are quite alone?" asked Poc, quickly scanning the man's face. "Quite alone," answered Torche, with evident relief, glancing toward tho closet door. Poo took a proffered chair, and went to tho point at once. "I am an Englishman, as you perceive per-ceive from my looks rather than my accent, for T have spent my lifo among the concert pooplo hofc. Monsieur Flcury was so good as to suggost that you can do clever work. I am opening a concert hull on tho Clichy, and ho suggests that you do legerdemain for me. " Legerdemain, nhl" Tho prominont oyes ot the other brightened; he threw a" slip of paper into tho air, snatched up a kecn-bladed knife that lay on a box beside a loaf of bread, and cut the dropping laner into six clean nieces. while it was still in tho air, so swiftly that Poo's oyes were deceived, and it seemed to bo done in n Kinglo stroke. "Bravo!" he cried. "You have other oth-er acts ns well! Tho trainod pigeons, the white mice, Monsieur Flcury suggested." sug-gested." ' "I havo given them up. Thoy do not fay uow. Too many people train mice, t is nothing!" answered the other, tho conceited grin on his face giving way to tho creep of a craftv gleam. "That's too bad." replied Poo. "Animals "Ani-mals amuse on tho stage. I would liko such an act. I could pay two hundred franca a week for a man with a trick dog, or a monkov, say?" "Two hundred francs. It is a good deal," said, the other shrewdly, tho grin beginning" to freeze. "Not too much for a fino act. Monsieur Mon-sieur Floury tells mo you arc wonder ful with animals. It is too bad you have given them up." "AH dend. I hnvo given them up. But I may train another for you. T am clever at it. I know the mico best." A shadow shot across his face ns he said this last. There was a. creak of the closet door, and he suddenly glared defiantly at Poc. "I'll'tcll you! Did vou ever think of training a rat!" cried" Christopher Poo, as through some inspiration, not failing fail-ing to note tho sudden change in Torche. Tho defiant look in Torcho's face broke down a little, and he seemed nervous as thoro came a second warning warn-ing creak from the closet door. Poe made no move, but held his breath, feeling tho air of suspicion, and ready for tho sligntest surprising twist in tho scene. "A rat! A capital idea!" laughed the concert ncrformer. " -will trv it." His tone oecatnc disagreeable and i harsh. "If you make good with your training, train-ing, come to me through" Monsieur Floury and the two hundred franc a week are yours." Poc rose quickly, as though the interview were ended," and started toward tho door. Torcho hesitated, fcocmod to waver between two desirca, and finally ad-vnncod ad-vnncod close to Poe. and naked in a tone "that apcarad anxious: "The sleight-of-band alone will not' dof" "No, I'm afraid not." Poc had kalf-way kalf-way opened tbe door. Torcho had drawn strangely d&e, odging a little to ono sldo. toward the knife which he had thrown back beside tbe bread. "What i that if" crid Poe. pointing over Toreht V shoulder to the closet Bf'l J'oocl-niht, Mignon; lloUlll'l Ilia II III 1 1 1 the 'Dolice will ca.U troon vou soon." door, and assuming a look of horror. Torche, thrown off his guard by the ruse, allowed Poo lo give a strange little whistle, almost unnoticed; a whistle curiously like that which had issued from the lips of the single man sitting at the far end of tho box next to the Blondclls at tho Chatdet. At that instant, while Torche 's gazo was still fixed on the closet door, a pink nose and two glassy eyes peeped out from beneath the left leg of the performer's flapping trousers, and Poe dropped one of the bright red cherries from the bng he had purchased, within a foot or two of the animal. With a swift swoop the sleek rat pounced upon the cherry, clutched it between its toctn, and, liko a Hash, darted up the trousors leg again. Christopher Poe stood with a cynical smile deeply grooved in his hard cheeks. With a guttural snarl Torche sprang to action, clutched the knife in a leap, and dashed on Poc, only to find a steady jovolvcr aimed between his eyes, nnd the cool voice of Poc demanding: de-manding: "Give nic the ftoval Rubv! " "Sa majeste diaboliquo! Le Diablo! " hissed Torche, backing from tho gun, the whites of his eyes rolling, nnd his hands quivering up like the rays of heat from a stovo, with steady motion. mo-tion. " You hnvc the secret. You saw rac in the box tonight!" His agony-straiucd fingers, still clutching the knife, had quivered up above his head, and with a sudden twist bo jerked tho whole force of his body behind the blade, and crushed it down upon his adversary. Before Poe could pull the. trigger a large woman leaped on him from behind with a snarl, and bowled him to the floor, the knife hurtling into the closet from which tho woman had burst forth unnoticed. un-noticed. In the struggle that followed, the Frouch pair fought liko savages, Poe 'a revolver was. kicked from his hand, and Torcho suddenly leaped after it, giving Poe the chance to twist from beneath the woman with a wrestling trick and dash through the door to tho head of the stairs, where Torche. had stooped to pick up the revolver. Before Poo could grasp Torcho tho woman hurled herself upon him again, and in the turmoil that followed the stooping Torche lost his balance, and hurtled down the rickety flight of steps; near the bottom the body crashed through the rotten rail, an'd Poe trembled at the sound of an agonizing agon-izing scream, as. the man slipped through tho opening betwoon the bal-UKttnde.". bal-UKttnde.". and dropped with a kicking clatter to the main floor, four storias below. Tho woman ttiffened up, and released her hold on Poc, aa sno listened lis-tened in awful silence, the muscles in her face stretched tenso with horror. In that instant Poe recognized her as an Apache, dyed in criminality, whom he had encountered before. She returned to the fight like a-lioncs. a-lioncs. but Poe mnnngod to overcome her anil bind her ankles and wrists skillfully with the cord torn from hex dressing" gown. lie loft her struggling on the door-sill, door-sill, moaning, "Lo dinblc Poet" and snatching at the cord with her teeth. She wriggled through ttho doorway into tho room, and struggled toward one corner, hissing vilo.oath at Poe meantime, who stood with hi? arms folded, watching her direction intently. Finding thnt she was surely edging toward a rickety desk in fhb corner, Poc anticipated "her effort, stepped to the crazy piece of fornitwrc, and picked np several articled, one after another, tno woman watching him with greedy, J fatlike eye. " j Suddenly his hand encountered a long-stemmed, deop-bowlcd clay pipe, I filled with fresh tobacco. A hiss of 1 pent-up breath greeted his movement, and he turned with a keen look at tho woman. Her face had become as stone, and not a single feature betrayed her. Christopher Poe smiled, dropped the pipe into a loose outside pocket with satisfaction in his manner, dusted his dollies, raised his hat to the woman, who had suddenly slumped into a sobbing sob-bing bundle, and" remarked: "Good-night, Mignon; tho police will call upon vou soon." Poe felt his way down the long, dark stairway. Tho whole house had been raised by Torcho's plunge, and Poc found three excited members of tho gendarmerie administering first aid. They stopped long enough to seize him as a stranger. .it tho advice of the regular reg-ular lodgers in the house; but Poe only smiled, turned back Torche 's left trousers trou-sers leg. showed tho astonished police the big trick rat, still warm, but dead, in a cleverly contrived pocket, its home, where it had remained until the end. After a few" sigiiificeut sentences whispered to the policeman in command, com-mand, Poo wns allowed to depart and enter the . waiting cab, directing the astoiiifthcd driver to take him to the Pnbtis d'Orsay. Fifteen minutes later he walked into tho. Blondcll suite, and was grooted by fathor and daughter with tho eager question. " Well? Have you got it?" lor something in his usually impenetrable impene-trable face bore a trace of success. "I'm not quite certain " he answered, stepping lo the cenlor table, and taking tak-ing the long-stemmed clay pipe from his pocket. Before the astonished oyes of the watchers he tapped the bowl of the pipe against his palm, and some of the tobacco dropped out. At the second sec-ond tap a glittering stone rolled from the bowl. Poo picked it up and handed hand-ed it to Miss Blondoll. "It's the Royal Ruby!" sho cried. "Quito intact," ho answered, "in" spite of being carried in a rat's mouth, and hidden in a pipo bowl. An ingenious in-genious genl.lcman; your thief.' They pressed him for explanations. "Well," said Poe. with some hcsita- t ion, ri niung a bym hatTiK tu ay hair in a canra?rJBI meiU. "I didn't have th&H the (ictniU:. But hcro a MB suggestion, V0,,r imacntB easily upply anything ftSB missing. Torcho, a con7'Mi with a wonderful tralned-; exacting mistress 0f rriniK She reads that the RohM ba worn at the Chatclct rjm. pair ovolvo a scheme 0 TB jewel fot the vanity 0f )jH "Yes'," the Blondclls breBf " "Thoy have fortv.CicUJB.'' which to train th'c rat at oueo on any rouj 'mjg rod thing. Torcho JS 'iMfl to . retrieve by smcn M bet ore. A rat's scnan ofS'l! stronger than its siRj,t jB"-has jB"-has been taught t0 ilistinKJI in pertorming Torcho JT Chat clot, easily learns BlondoU box, and sccurMSB' next to it. Tonight, tlio j or perfect, ho takes him aW built, in one baggy tronwWr carries him oontiftunlly, 0I1:, stage. Ho goes carh- "0 jK; ancc, waits for tho'BlonadW stumbles against Mitts BIBtafl with a sleight-of-hand tnotH clips tho chain showInirK' scan. Knowing that yon nff ' cured the scarf so the tfaK drop until you remove kB your hand orer the stone VkaW the folly of getting awarB ' the crowd, he hurries nbeiH' to the opera house, and iTB to drop the well-trained raK,' curtain to your box, whltVB" -, to his. nnd push the anlmTjB' dexterous shove of his footSB coaled from the audionco bM curtain. The rat seeks thK' nor by the stage; Torelie bLVL the thing well by ilropphtHS the closot to his own roontfF ing a cherry first and tuE ,' ruby in to hun, t caching tSSH' seize the glittering hit of IB signal of a low whistle he "tL, stage. The rat grabs the'!f runs for its homo in Torci leg, guided by sense of smelfH: ' " But that sounds unnatidB Miss Jilonddl. "Not when one eoneideBr rat hun been trained fc-rvcaB' particularly instructed forB; '. formance. Of course, ToSHh big cliauco at failure al Hl chances of success wore aVV six, but there was sligbtB' detection, and the game 'iM' the caudle. Tho very holH' plan mado it successful." "How did you find ont-.(F cried Blondoll. his flyos'bijK interest. "What was thfB picked up from ilio floor ia.JK "Onky ii splinter from aB. with a few haira dinging Poe. "When tho rat maflB:' exit he bumped ngainst thB"' several of his hairs wcre-tB' hold by the splinter. I snH; were tho hairs of a small iBH on examining thorn felt ccnBi rolor and bristly texture, Br were (he hairs oi a ratorajB put two and two togetherft list of conceit pl'ffnrmerj'IH atrical friend, an'd fnnnd MH trained mice nnd a rat. jHI chance, and called on hitn,aB the description of tho IWHj finding thnt. it tallied cracflH man in tho box next to strange whistle I had BHr connected with tlio pecdB usually given by animal jH. their "pots. ''K "It was all quite- too siajB' lho man Torcho, mid uscdHI offering an ongagomEnLlfiKB: ho would bo glad to work,tflB; siblo suspicion from liim!elf was quite too easy, thNV out of tho banking line. felt (hat 1 had seen throaglB; and tried to knife acjB fcrrod to his rat. Poor fellH probablv get a life scntentsB' to satis'fv Mignon 's vanityB,! folly of a lover. The stoneB bcou traced m tiinet bdjR thoy intended to cut it PH You can bo qui to sure, "cfjB a woman behind every B. (Copyright, 193S. by YT, 0-B (N'ext week "The DucliwK |
