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Show TT - i KiSsMl fClxaAsa J. Button i J V ' il Ccpyrlghr 1922 Po,U.iWicndC Inc. t I sro Sljke lit oner. We rtrrs-nM quli'k-b' quli'k-b' mul boiih Joln-vl (.'urrlc In the IIt-Ing IIt-Ing room. Ab w( wrnt out out the Imwu, lis nnUI : "I mi sorry my wlfn lfi niiy. hut she will lt hnck tomorrow. I usk-il Ooctor King to com ofr tonight iul diti with ni. He rn prolmbly tfll you more ebont th roliliory tlimi 1 rn. for he win railed iu by Slykf the night it linppeupj." After tea minute' wlk we idino m1denly upon houne, niinHlve stone tuiildliig. half covered with Ivy. A 1 u r is a vrrund.t run across the front, forming at one end a g Inn enrloied sun pnrlor. What nppeiiled to me most whs the tiuce itonn tower thm rose from the i-enter of the building to a height uf Koine thirty fi-et. The lunise, with Its well-Wept lawn, Mrelch-Ir.g Mrelch-Ir.g to the woods In the dlslunce, nndo a lu'Hiiilful picture. Though hud not paused long to ndinlre the aceue. we did not huve time to asrend the Heps und ring the bell bctore the Imller opened tha dour. L'urrlo gave hln inine and we were ushered Into a great rouin which, from Us funil.siilngs, might have been CHl'ed a library If ther hud been any books In It. When the btitler had left in. r.:trt-ley r.:trt-ley mid to C'urrie, "I prcunne that this Ik the room whare they found the burglars ?" furrie nodded, and I turneJ to look ehout. It had two large windows cpenir.g on the side of the houe where there wm no verand.i. and nearby a small safe, half hidden In the wall. This. I Judged. Diunt have been what the burglura were seeking. I tried to picture to myself what had taken place on the night of the burglary. There could nut hav been much light ; and I wondered how Slyke's step, daughter, stnndlng on the stairs at the far end of the room, could have seen well enough to recognira the men, when Slyke, mho waa clot- by, could not do so. I had little time for my conj-vturrs, for at that moment Slyke entered the The l cnunk was au uiieipei led I hut Myke'a face uraw rd ami he lan- inercd, "I'm! well anynuy they w era pun en gull I y." "lint you yourself enld that you could no llleulll'y Ihclll." "Thai may be no, but Ihem wein ollier.i Mini did i ecunl, o Minn, even lholU;ll 1 cnlllil Ii i I .' :',ll.e an-iw el rd. I'.arlley i-liiuii-d IiIm taeilci. When he mm.h out lo vln a pi'inuii, Iheie aie few II. HI can icnl.sl him; and In u liniment lini-ment or two men Slyke thuwed under hl.i smile. "I can understand," Hartley remarked, re-marked, "how holed you must be wllh Ihe. wlioln allalr, bill, us you pioliiil.l.v know, Mr. Sl.ike, Ihero Ih a urmvliiK feeling that Ihose men In prlMoti uni Innocent. What I am lo do Ih to llnd inn whclhcr theni Ih any ground for hiieli u finding. I know that you will he the very first peiHiin lo wlhh them pardoned If they are Innocent. Can 1 come over tomorrow inorulng and haw a talk with you about Ihe burglary? burg-lary? My wide ex perlenir limy help me 1 1) bit things that (he other hint overlooked. The governor nuked me (o look lino the mailer, you know." Slyke did not seem over plciiHcd nt this auggeNtlon, and tnutiered lluil he wus gulag llnlilng In liiu morning, lie lluully sgreeil (hat hlf fclep -daughter Hl.tli could give Hartley whalever lu-forinnlloii lu-forinnlloii he wanlnd. Seeing thai no far as he was ciHiceined, (h i-onveraa-tlon i over we look our leave. As we re-entered the woods, Hartley Hart-ley remarked with a laugh, "lie waa not what jou nilht cull keeu to He ua. That burglary for mine renioii beems to be a sure subject with him." When we arrived nt the bonne, Carrie Car-rie eicuHed himself to ti e about borne inatlerH on (he ehlale, and we went up to our room. C'urrie had said that If we came down to dinner In evening tlre'.i he would throw i:h out; so Mill In while nanacin. we Joined hlui In the din ng room. He wan talking with a young man of about thiily live, whom be In-(ruiluieil In-(ruiluieil us I'ocior Kliii,'. lie was a likable sort of ehnp, witli clean shaven face, tamed red by outdoor life, an ) dark blue eyes with a twinkle In them. I'pon hl coat the Ultlo luslguim thut showed he had seen wnlrf. t'urrie had prouilned ua a good dinner, din-ner, and w were lut diuMjipiilnu-d. Tlio doctor showed hluiulf to t-e as weil n-ail u.t Hartley, who Is Interesled In unfiling that la a book. As the dinner progressed, we found that the ibx'ior and I'.urtlry foumi muny a coi-geuiul coi-geuiul topic. Thelf dis'-us-ilon finally settled down upon the two schools of psy ho-unaly-s.h. l-'rom the Bml, this talk bored t'urrie; anil every once In a while he would throw uie an appealing glunce. At last the coiiveraet.wn turned to crime, and Currla suddenly asked Hartley If It had ever been discovered who Jack the Hipper was. What made l.liii a-ik the question 1 do not know. Hartley replied that though no Darn had ever been given out, Scotland Yard bud come to the conclusion that the crimes bad ben committed either by a craiy t'ollah Jew, or more probably prob-ably by a doctor. A well-known doctor doc-tor had been on the border line of Insanity In-sanity at the time the Whltechnpel murders had occurred; and wnen he dropped out of sight the murdert ceajed. The Kngllsh detectives were almost positive that lie ns the murderer, mur-derer, but they could not prove it. "No more than they were able to prove." ("urrle Interrupted, "that those ' men they sent to Jail ever broke Into ; Slyke's house." j The doctor remarked, "I was called In as the fumlly physician by Slyke, ; on the night of the burglary. He told j me. at the time, that he hud not recognizee! recog-nizee! either of the men." Hartley did not speak, but sat watching the glowing tip of bis cigarette. cigar-ette. I knew he was waiting for the doctor to sny more. j "Koth the men that were arrested," j the doctor continued, "had worked at one time or another for Slyke. Yon would have thought that, If they had been the oneg who broke into his house, he would have recognized Ihein. Hut he told me positively that night, or rather that morning, that he had not recognized either of them." As the doctor did not continue. Hartley asked. "Then he never, at any time, said he recognized either of the men?" ' The doctor shook his bead. "No. he never did. At the trial he said there had nut been enough light for him to see their faces. Ituth, the step-daughter, was the only one who thought she recognized them that la, one of them." Hartley asked quietly, "What waa the mix-up between the state police and the local police?" King looked surprised. "Why. I never knew there was any. Of courne, there Is Home foolish jealousy between be-tween the two branches. The state police arrested those aien simply because be-cause they were sneaking through the fields at three o'clock In the morning and refused to give an account of themselves. T have heard that the officer of-ficer in command ef the troopers never believed that these men had anything to do with the Slyke affair. Most of the evidence against them was not found until seTeral clays later some by the loco) police and ! some by Slyke's chauffeur. When the ( psllce were first called In, they didn't llnd nny evidence; indeed, I do not think they looked for any until tne noxt morning." -. - i "They found Slyke in his bed shot. Thoy told King It was swii- cids." (TO BE CCMTINUEU.) ROBERT SLYKE V John Hartley, npt-4 criminal In- vecitiator. recently returneil from Soi'rut service work Uurtni lh war, la askJ by the sovtrnor of New York lo luve.il!ff( a mya-terUnia mya-terUnia aueninled roM'ery cf lh Kebt-rt S-lyke heme at Circle lAke, nar Sai-aicta. li.nrtley It a-ikeil, in view of recent de ehH'nieiua, to suiMish ta tuttl or Innoieiu-e of two men tn the p-rnllenliary for the crime. A mUcarriaca ef Justice Jus-tice la suspeoteil. Refers, chief of the central office, afrivea aa Hurt-ley Hurt-ley aiut his friend 1'eit, a r.aws-i r.aws-i paper man. are prelarlnrl ta go ( on a fishing- trip, and brprina lo dfe.'rlbe the case, hartley niuls In . It the reclaiciT'x of an oij caso, ts i interested and agreed to aolva the ! mytiiery P CHAPTER II Continued. 3 ; At the foot of the hill, the road ran keside tl'-e lake for a little way. then ascended another hill. Just before this ascent began. Hartley left the av.ain road and followed one that ran for nearly a mile between leafy tree. At length he turned his car down iu long driveway that wound its crooked way In and out through a grove of great trees. When I had begun to wonder If we should ever escape from them, we came out upon a gieea lawn that stretched for several acres, laving lav-ing in Its midst a large rambling bouse, painted the whitest white I have ever seen. It was a cheery-looking house, one made to live In, with a great plazra stretching across the ifront. and gay-covered chairs thm gave to It a tropical atmosphere. Even as I was thinking how- much I liked It, a r.inn came running down the tftej s. three at a time, whooping liLe a wild Indian and wavLi.g his anus at us. Truth compels me to say that Currle was. to put It mildly, stout, nor could anvone call him good looking. His big red face, now almost purple from exercise, wag a kindly, tolerant one, died w'rh humor; his blue eyes warm with kindness. Doits the steps he came and acrosg the lawn, yelling all the time : "John Hartley, yon old sleuth, don't yeu dare drive on my new lawn !" With a laugh, Bartley made a wide rlrcle acres the grass before he stopped. C'urrie was beside us and on the step of the car in a second, one arm thrown around Earrley's shoulder and his red face beaming; but all he ea'd was, "Weil. well. John!" Hartley's answer was Just as short and had the same deep friendliness. Then Cunie turned and greeted me. A second later, a servant came to "take charge of our things, and we followed fol-lowed Currie to the house. We entered by one of the largest Jlvine looms that I have ever seen. It etretched almost the entire length of the building and had two fireplaces, both of which were large enough for e man to stand upright in. Currie led B8 up a llight of stairs to the second (rtory when, pushing open a door, he ' showed us Into our suite of rooms. Five minutes later, at Currie's suggestion, sug-gestion, the three of us were sitting on the stone edge of his swimming pool. Ii was forty feet long and open to sun und air. For thirty minutes we swam and dived. Then we climbed out and dried ourselves la the warm gun. Then Hartley lighted a cigarette and told his friend what had brought us to .Circle Lake. Cuir.e said nothing until he had finished, and thtn, rubbing his chin elo, ly itii his hand, replied. "Do you know, John, there are a good many people around here that doubt If those two. men had anything to do well the robbery. There was nothing stolen. o Slyke said. He said also that There was oilnng In the house that anyone would want to steal. After the trial .folks In gun to talk, and since lim.se other attempts to break Into his place wed, ihey liMve talked inure!" "What are they saying?" asked Bartley. Bart-ley. "I don't know auch a devil of a lot laboui it myself," replied Currie. "I was away at the time of the burglary and of ihe trial. But I do know that ome people doubt if there ever was a ibuigliirv. Others sny the state police and the local cops got mixed up In a row and framed the men. Still others thin : e knew who the men were, but had i trong reasons for not wanting want-ing lo id -niify them. What his rea-hoiik rea-hoiik could be, God alone knows! Kever cut toned much to Slyke anyway. any-way. He is a crabbed sort of chap, a bit cm 'e-teij. one who Is ulways right and the rest of us, of course, always j v.rci; Hut If you want to see him, aie.l a." not too tired, we can go over tl'.er- I have to see Mm myself eboin -ii-ip of land ! Just bought Trim: i I'is estate joins mine, you liru.v H el; r'VH'd h!;.i-fif as fur Iim" - vaty w''l.'!t:g to go to Ma JMtWK pis mm "Eut You Were Never Sure That They Wsre Guilty." room. After greeting Currie, he was introduced to us. While Currie was talking with him about tiie strip of land that he had bought, I examined him closely. lie wus a small, decidedly nervous man, weighing about a hundred and thirty pounds, with low forehead, shifty eyes, and flabby lips that drooped. His face twitched again and again and his hands were never still. It was not until Currie had told him who Hartley was, that he showed the slightest sign of interest in either of us, and even then his manner was far from cordial. You could see, In fact, tlmt be was wondering why Hartley had come, and wighing him a thousand miles away. Hartley himself, seeing how Slyke felt, said with a friendly laugh, "It's hardly right to run In on you thla way, Mr. Slyke. I was coming over to see you formally in the morning; but as Mr. Currie suld he had some business with you this afternoon, I decided to come with hlra." lie then told Slyke whj we had come to Circle Lake. The man made no response to this, nor did he say anything when Hartley told him of the governor's Interest In the two meu now in prison for the burglary. When Hartley hnd finished, he actually act-ually snarled, "I am sick of the whole thing. Those men hud a fair trial and were found guilty. What more do you warn ?" Hartley, whose eyes had never left his face, though Slyke refused to mee Uitm, shot out suddenly, "But you ivere never sure that they were guilty." |