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Show - - - I II " 1 "" "I Am Not Through With You Even Yet, Puppy. teen drugged. But I will corn to that In a moment. Having secured tola information, which of course eliminated him at the active burglar. I went to btio and told htm uphill and down that he waa making a blank fool of hlmaelf. When he learned that I bad uncovered hla whereabouts ou the night In question he made a clean breast of it. While be had been plunged in despair by the crash, yet he had taken but two drinks that day. one being a cocktail with you In a cafe, "oon after the last drink he hud become stupefied, which fHct he attributed to the reaction from hla highly nervoua state, but I came to a totally different conclusion, although I Ha Id nothing to him p.bout It at the time. With your assistance he entered en-tered a cub, and remembered mumbling mumb-ling a direction to tho driver to take him to hla rooms; yet when he awoke In the morning ho found himself at a place where ha desire to be. Fear of Mine Wlntou'a displeasure had made him resolve to remain silent rather than hurt her by the confession that he bad got drunk, as he imagined he hnd, and gone to auch a place. I could not underhand why the cabman had taken it upon hlmaelf to convey him to this report against Hruce'g direction, di-rection, to I come back at the driver hnrd. Hy the dint of more questions, aided by a few Judicious threats, I drew out the Information that the change In address had been given by a certain parly whom the driver knew to be a friend of hla passenger from the fact of having seen them together, and who had stopped hi in and given new Instructions us to where to convey con-vey the sleeping one in.-.Ide. That explained ex-plained the driver's peculiar actions, and things were becoming decidedly Interesting. Although practically sat-lafled sat-lafled now that I truce had had nothing ven Indirectly to do with the matter, I neverthleas went a little, further In my Investigations. I was very much Interested to find out where he had secun d the money w hich had enabled him to resume his operations on 'change. When I had convinced him thnt I would keep the Information absolutely ab-solutely secret, lie told me that It was furnltihcd blm by a woman client who did not care to have her name mentioned men-tioned In connection with speculative matters. I traced the story to its foundation and learned that it was absolutely ab-solutely true. That, left only one mutter mut-ter to be explained so far as Iiruco was concerned." "I suppose you menn hla possession of the key and his denial that he had It, coupled with the possibility that some one else had somehow come Into possession of It," I said, breaking the mono tit's lull. LeDuc nodded. "Kxactly. I was almost certain from the time that Miss Winton announced the log of her key that it bad somehow some-how got Into the possession of her sweetheart; for Its disappearance t:P h keeping convinced me that you bad not been mistaken when you said Iiruco had exhlbited.it or Its duplicate. I had several talks with enough had not missed it. So we got the coat he had worn on that occasion and went through it. We found a small rip In the bottom of the outside pocket, and going further discovered dis-covered the key In the bottom lining. That solved the mystery. As for his having pounded on the table with It and afterwards denied it. that was easily accounted for by the fact that In his worrlment I had unconsciously drawn it from his pocket and used It hi you described and then replaced it mechanically without noticing what he had held or remembering the incident. in-cident. I accepted this as the correct folutlon of the key Incident, and then and there dismissed Hruce from all connection with the matter. For had ho entered Into collusion with anyone any-one else end loaned him the key for tho night, the other person most certainly cer-tainly would have been a professional who owned his own tools and knew how to use them, and that idea as you know, I hnd already abandoned. Do you get me?" "1 tlitnk so. And having eliminated Hruce, whom I all along told you was innocent, you turned your attention to Richard Mackay as the next possibility." pos-sibility." My companion smiled faintly, faint-ly, thrusting his hands Into his pockets pock-ets and leaning forward in his chair. "Yes, for about ten minutes. At thfl end of that time I had reasoned blm out of tho case. The man who strangled your uncle was described by him as a large, strong man who coughed peculiarly. That descilptlon fit I ed Mackay to a dot, and furthermore further-more there was a possibility of his huvlng been Informed, through his more or less familiar connection with Mrs. Dace's establishment, of the money being In the safe at this particular partic-ular time. Then. too. the Incident of your having left your keys there for some days furnished a possible way by which he could have secured a dtipllcnte through a conspiracy with one of the household. Hut that be did It personally was absurd. Ho is far and away above It. He Is not a btirular ; he Is a boodler. Ho has a million dollars of his own. and would no morn risk himself in an act like this than you would for a handful of tilvcr. Atid having previously tttrlck-iii tttrlck-iii out the professional cracksmen because, be-cause, of the rrudeness of the job. I was now compelled to eliminate Mackay and his friends because of the same reasoning that I had applied In Hruce'a case. Had he turned the Job over to some needy friend of bis from the underworld, that person certainly would not have been a bungler. bun-gler. You bcs ?.'hnt that brought uie to." I arose In my chair with a mingled sensation of heat and cold climbing my splno and stlfft-ning my hair. "Do you mean to say as the last remaining pousiblllty you fastened your suspicions suspi-cions upon me?" I gasped. One of his handrf fastened upon my wrist with the snapping grip of a steel trap; his fingers biting like teeth Into my fleh. As In our school days I felt mii'CAe LASH of II yfMxt & Napry Irving Greene HthfA-fAvlhor iyTosoiKlc? of 1.xi Wilderness" the arm of the heary oaken chair. Frentled with rfige I made an awkward awk-ward dfve behind my back with my left hand for my right hand hip pocket as he lucked bis arms around me. With the quickness of thought be bad twisted a revolver from my fingers, and springing back laid It on the dresser beyond my reach, as shackled to the heavy piece of furniture I could only stand quivering In helpless passion. pas-sion. Realizing my physical Impotence Impo-tence I tat down sullenly. "So you feared I would murder you." I sneered. He negatived. "No, I did not think you would do that, flut I feared that you might murder yourself. Iki you wish me to proceed quietly, or shall I summon your uncle to hear what 1 have to say?" For a moment I hesitated as I calmed myself by a mighty effort. There could be no good n getting him excited. "If you have anything more to say to me you may continue or not, as you'ehoose, I can scarcely help hearing you, but you will regret this outrage when I am set free." He did not seem to become either alarmed or angry at the threat; on the contrary con-trary his voice was even smoother than before as he resumed his seat. "Tom," he continued, "I have always al-ways been your friend and I wish to always remain so. When I have done telling you what I know about this crime we will talk about other matters. mat-ters. If you desire. Hut what I wish to tell you additionally Is this. I bad been compelled to eliminate everybody every-body but you. and was therefore compelled, com-pelled, mcst regretfully, to start along your trail. As my first step I went to the hotel where you told me you staid on the night of the crime; looked at the register and ascertained the room t5at you had occupied. I engaged en-gaged It, and went to It for the purpose pur-pose of a thorough Inspection. It was a back room overlooking an alley and the fire escape ran close by one of Its windows. It at once occurred to me, therefore, that It would have been the simplest thing in the world for you. after having called tip your uncle and after having left a requert at the office for a morning summons In order to Impress It upon the minds of others that you were in your room at mldel-jht. and thus establish an alibi In vaso of suspicion, to have passed down the eonpe In the darkness, dark-ness, gone to any place yon wished and returned before daybre::k. I therefore went down th'J ladder, as I assumed you had done, and at Its bottom bot-tom chanced upon what I consider to have been the only piece of pure good luck that came my way In the whole case. For, mind you. I Insist that the rest of my discoveries were the result of experience In auch matters, mat-ters, aided by close reasoning. Ho that as it may, at the foot of tho ladder lad-der I found your lost card case. I could only account for Its presence there In one way; namely, that It had dropped from your pocket wh In you "-, were either descending or asciding the ladder with your arms working above your bead. That will perhaps remind you of the other night when you and I burglarized that office downtown. You will remember upon that occasion I handed yon your match safe after we had come down, and told you that I bad picked ft up at the foot of tbeMadder we had Just left; mentioning the fact that climbing climb-ing up and down under such conditions condi-tions was apt to work a smooth article ar-ticle out of one's vest pocket. There Is nothing truer than that statement, and I have no doubt but that Is ex-actlywhat ex-actlywhat happened In the original case of your lost card receptacle. Now as a matter of fact, I extracted that match safe from your pocket In the darkness when you were occupied In pressing the putty against the window In order that I might try an Interesting Interest-ing experiment. The experiment succeeded. suc-ceeded. My calling your attention to the likelihood of losing such articles ar-ticles under conditions similar to those you had Just experienced, start'd a train of thought In your mind. I know you were worried by the loss of your card case and were very desirous of regaining It. My stratagem of the restored re-stored match box mado It occur to you that It was possible that you had lost your card caso In going out of the window on the night of the crime, and that thero was a bare possibility thnt It had not ten plckd up and that you would find It among the ruli-blsh ruli-blsh back of the hotel. Having as I hoped sowed this thought In your mind, I made an excuse and left you. You will recall that the pretext I mode for departing was that I wished to make another experiment alone. I immediately made It, the experiment consisting of my going rapidly to tho hnd ff the alley passing the Pacific hold and waiting there for you True to my reasoning you went straight to the place where I had found tho card case, and lighting a cigar made a brief S'-arch of the premises by the I'ght .f the match, of course unsuccessfully. Then as you came hurryit.g into the trcet you popped into toy arms where I bad stood to watch If you would fall Into the trap, t remember your xpretslon of surprise and displeasure dis-pleasure at unexiiectedly seeing mo there. As an excuse I told you that the criminal was downtown then and moving around considerably himself. I Imagine that remark rather got you to guessing " (TO HIE COSTINTKO planning new campaign, and beg of her a few days' indulgence until I could go over matters. She bad told me that she was to be at bom that evening, and It bad been understood between ui that I was to be with ber; therefore, at eight o'clock I arose and called for her number. The vole of Janet answered me, telling me that ber mistress waa not at home. With an overwhelming presentment of more misery to come, I vainly implored im-plored some Information aa to where she had gone and at what hour she was expected to return. The answer that I received waa a click that told mo of the hanging up of the earpiece and my further volclngs brought only the ringing silence of an unanswerlng wire. I sank Into my chair again. In the midst of my stupor I heard the ringing of the door boll and a moment mo-ment later the sound of light footsteps ascending the stairs. There was a tap at my door, and at my listless response re-sponse LeDuc quietly entered. I saw him run his eyes quickly over me as he tossed his hat upon the bed and drew a chair close beside mine. He said nothing, did not even smile as was his habit, and In my misery I did not offer him any greeting. For perhaps a minute he sat without speaking and then addressed me with unwonted gravity: "Tom, I have th proofs." I started slightly and raised my eyes to his. I fancied thay were full of regret, even sorrow, but his mouth was firmly set. My head was hot and my throat dry, and I cleared the latter lat-ter before I spoko. Then I asked blm hoarsely where they were. He laid them on the table before me. They consisted of a silver card case, a bookmaker's ticket, a bit of steel, a soiled piece) of paper and a small lump of some grayish substance Stupidly I stared at them. CHAPTER XVI. In the silence that followed the slow ticking of the tall clock sounded like tho tolling of a bell. I shut my eyes. "Go on," I commanded as ho sat facing me with no signs of any Inclination Incli-nation to proceed. "VMiat docs this Junk signify to you?" He got up and crossing the room silently bolted the door that led to my uncle's apartments; apart-ments; then resumed his neat and ad-dressed ad-dressed mo in the low tones of one hn nildH caution to precaution. "When I began this Investigation, Tom, as I then told you I was about to do, I commenced to shift the chaff from the wheat In order to decrease the number of object which I would In tho last analysis, be compelled to examine with great minuteness. My Inquiries mado upon the morning I first came, together with my Inspection Inspec-tion of tho house upon that occasion, satisfied me of several things, among which were that Mrs. Tebbets had possessed no knowledge of tho money being In the safe, and because of thai and divers other reasons sho should bo eliminated; that your uncle had In no wise spread tho Information of his having tho currency to anyone except ex-cept yourself and Hruee, and there-feire there-feire that he, as a distributor of the news to outside parties, was to be eliminated; that the house must have been entered by the front door, and therefore that the Idea that all parties par-ties were telling mo without reservation reserva-tion all they knew about the matter waa to be eliminated ; and last, that on account of the unusual drilling of the safe and the quantity and quality of the explosive used, that all thought of Its being the work of a professional profession-al cracksman must be eliminated. Y'ou see that brought me down to a pretty narrow field." Ho ceased speaking, and with my eyes still closed and my head resting heavily against the back of the chair I nodded slightly. "I understand. Having eliminated the possibility of Its having been done by a professional, you have brought it down to Hruco, who possessed a key, or to Hlehard Mackay or wo of his friends who might have obtained a duplicate from the key I left at Mrs. Dace's. However, go ahead." "Y'ou seem to be following me to a certain extent. Having decided that It was tho work of an amateur, I was obliged to start out with those thoughts in my mind as I attempted to still further construct the circle. Your key was In tho possession of your uncle at the time of the crime, and I did not believe that you had ever bad another. Mrs. Tebbf-ts and your undo had theirs; Mis Wlnton's was missing and you had assured me that Hruco hnd been In the possession of ono which he failed to account for; that be bad made rash statements about getting money; had become angry at your undo; had been In a generally unnatural and d- operate frame of mind the day Lefore. ai d therefore I started in to Investigate him. This semed to me tho most logical way of going at it. for looming loom-ing as big as he did among the surroundings. sur-roundings. I must cither concentrate upon him as the probable thief, or greatly simplify matters by getting rid of him altogether. Y'ou had told i me of bis entering a cab the evening before the crime, and so I went to a friend of mine who Is an official In i the cab drivers' union. They are prac- I tlcally all union men In this city, and I ho sent out a circular to every mem- I ber of bis association calling upon the t driver who bad conveyed the person I d scribed to como forward and receive 1 reward Within two days I as talk- i Ir.g to the man w ho had drHen Hruce, , and in that way found out where he rpent the night. The cabman drove i him to a resort ten miles from tM i place and Hruce spent the night ef the rtblery there asleep." I unearned my eyelids with an expression of sur- I rle. ! "1 did not know that Bruce went to i such places." I muttered 1-eDue ! went on. i "Nor does be voluntarily. H tad m f "Tom Halliday, You Stole Your Uncle's Money." SYNOPSIS. AbiM-r IliUl.l-iy. n miserly millionaire. ''m fmind r.tK-'d. hound and ln-'-n!hli- In "ii ro-wn. h fti ruled ami II-mmi e.li-' e.li-' in The thread of iIik tni y Id tkoi up ," fM n-pliew Tom. I.lvliut In the Biimx tfitMKw- are u !i'r riUtlvc, r-cltl'itit ittuce ll(ii.l.iy i.l -i-f lly flare Wliiton, tiruca, t- I a S.nn lir.ker, Ihim I.-ii trying l ril- ,4i(i.i tu put thriniKti " U-:1 -. 4,w ti!mlf from nnumlnl ruin. I In tins itill to Ms mlwrtv ton la ami to ollwrs tSi.r t tu- tuan tmt I not l..n rfnit Tkiii n1 f.tr WHPm 11 Mir. mi ul(l-tlni 'frx-mt ennertil with tete-ilve miie-v. In rlntii) Ihn stnry Tom r-vi"rt tn hl -vjslniatit' with Mrs. Iw, n wcnlthv -uri.t'kw, hoH lMiHtnt-MM AK""' t Ui' html Maikay, brHxIli-r and pullllrnl l.oaa. Imi la Jmtlmia of Mucker I" il-cply ti ytv with Mrs. I '. Itru'-K Hnllliay -aarna tihn to alum her aa an alvnlur. Tooi a.a Mra. I ami M u kay tog-cth-tl aflxrwarUa meets tha woiiihii ii! rr race. and. Iiiipi'cnlnn to mention h Hrttr had a tip n the winner. attvn him to plui-a op the race. The "tp :"- wriins and she fuses her money. Cxfe-r Timt Inveata In alocka. II tniikea tenarie money, anil returns the hmt to ."Moa lln. It la at this Juncture thnt tha l-rt of the J".0" from old Ahner Halli- Iny ocetira. I.a Ihm meeta Clara snd Mniet lla learna thnt Ilia key which "lr had to tha hoo la rnlaalnST. Mae-hav'a Mae-hav'a rtefillnga with Mrs luca mka Tom ri- J.-lou .The detective Intimates a Mtpt,'-m aitalnat ftrnc Halliday aa tha her. Thta riara Wtnion Indignantly r-j- dtatea. Mr I ac acrrpta Tom a her and encooraifea htm to Inveat In a-rtala (rk. Tom has a row with Muhur and tha latter threatens revenue, "re- ttctective annoiincea that ha haa dl--vitM ImpnrtHnt clews aa to the thief It l.w.ka aa If Mack a t had ot hold of 1 "I'oKi'a kay to the HnMldiiv noma and rtitght ha v a been tha burglar. CHAPTER XV (Continued.) At the? first corner a shileklng news-rviy news-rviy nearly ran between my legs, and itxrve tho uproar of the street I tjcartl blm shout a sentence that -aii -l tno to gasp and dutch at a '.jiijij pwt for support. Snatching a vuta-r Trom blm I threw blm a coin arnl lnjn to read, tho paper shaking in my liandi like a wind thrummed pyil Two paragraphs told mo the huhm truth, t'pon Information that sil tet n given him by Illrhard .Vaehay, who had been frozen out of ht combination by his coconspirator, coconspira-tor, the state's attorney had filed a - ji-.o warranto proceeding In which he .-.Harked the tery Ilfo of the fran-. fran-. t,t of the underground system. -1bh,11 that official bo able to sub-iti(U.t sub-iti(U.t the attack and prove that thf grant had been obtained by fraud jn, trickery, as Mackay stated, the eiurt might deprive tho corporation f all Its rights and privileges, take way Its power to act anil render it iioiaicfwly Impotent. I'nder sudi a frightful condition of affairs tho stock aUI become absolutely worthless, tl twncath this stab at Its heart It fiat already fallen with a crash thnt ?ad earrled half of those who had rid-Ja rid-Ja upon It to ruin. My meager mar-aitn mar-aitn bad been wiped out aa quickly as m gruilty schoolboy scours bis slate, ad I bad been made a bankrupt In Lb time which It takes to tell It. 1 alropfMNl the paper and staggered Into doorway, my bands pressing tny temple. Tb world awam drunkenly before mm to a hideous gray mist, through which men with faces lined and bard atd by hopes long deferred, passed raoaCIiJM as they plodded silently avloeg with strained eyes In search of tVa stordtd necessities which bind the sseol and the body together. The roar at the street cam to my deadened rars Ilka the sullen grumble of thun-ar. thun-ar. Prom out of the gloom weary Wrp girl and ragged newsboys stared carious!? ap at my drawn far, none joorar than !. dob half ao wretched i Kor they hud abided in the depths and had not seen tho star of hopo shining ' cIoho above them, w hereas I had born j burled from the battlements of bear-! bear-! en In tho twinkling of an eye. I loudened loud-ened of senses and seeing but vaguely, vague-ly, 1 went stumbling towards my broker s office, my only hopo being that I would awake and find that I Imel dreamed a nightmare. Ills doors were locked. Already a rabble stood before them vainly clamoring clam-oring for admittance, and realizing the Usi-lessness of remaining here. I lushed down the stairs and towards tho floor of tho exchange. The shrieking shriek-ing uproar of the pit was unintelligible to me, but In tho midst of it with his collar torn from his neck and his coat split down tho back was my agent, still dancing about Insanely with wild thrusts of bis fingers Into tho nlr. Tho frenzy upon hla face left me no vestige of hope, and I turned away with my brain spinning. Four steps further and I almost ran Into the arms of Illchard Mackay. Ills teeth showed beneath his heavy mustaches; his eyes burned and his face was stamped with the vln-dlctlveness vln-dlctlveness that had brought this Inferno In-ferno about. Ho saw nio at once and a brutal laugh of satisfaction burst from between tho half-sealed Hps which my fist had split. "I dI5 It partly for your benefit. If that la any satisfaction to you. Hut I am not through with you even yet. pupi'y," ho said In my ears, as ho passed. Too broken of spirit to resent the Intuit other than by a look I passed bltfl In slbnce. Ilow I got through that terrible afternoon af-ternoon 1 am still uncertain, except In a vaguo way. I dared not keep my luncheon engagement with Mrs. Dace and te',1 her all; but instead kept mumbling to myself that I would call her up that evening when I bad a chance to think over whnt I should sny. There Is always a chance, though It be only ono In a million, that something some-thing will bo saved out of a wreck: and como what might matters could not poilbly bo niore hopeless at nlchtfall than they were now. And perhaps by then I could think of something some-thing to retrieve myself temporarily; something which would eventually start mo once more along the primrose prim-rose way. Scarcely const Ions of what I was doing I wandered to Hruce ' office. of-fice. He was not there, but his clerk told me that my cousin for some reason rea-son had closed out all his holdings tho day before at a handsome profit and hl announced himself as through with speculation. The bitterness of the contrast between Mm and myself brought the tears to my eyes. Should ho carry out this resolve and stick to his commissions, as I had little doubt that he would under Clare's persuasions persua-sions and the weight of bis jromlse, bis happiness was In his own keeping. Ho bad undoubtedly again gained a modest competence, bad a good business busi-ness and the love of a sweetly bautl ful and contented woman. Verily the richest gifts of tho gods reposed In the hollow of bis hand. 1 T ent borne and threw myself heavily heav-ily upon the bed. At the summons to the evening meal I failed to respond; re-spond; burying my face In the pillow Instead, as for the hundredth time 1 rehearsed what I was to say to Mrs. iHce. I could only tell ber that I bad received a severe setback but waa him and her on tho subject, and they stt til Insisted with a posltlveness that I could not Ignore that their original I'atements were absolutely correct; name'.y, she denied that he bad ever loaned him the key, and he asserted that be bad no knowledge of ever having It In his posesion. I made them rehearse all their actions when together for some days previous to Ihe robbery, and finally a thought rame to her. She remembered that a hort time previous while she and Itiuee bad been strolling together that he had slipped ber poeketbook containing con-taining the key Into hi side coat pex-ket for a few moments while she was putting on ter gloves. And that In turn suggeetcd an Idea to me. Had the pockeibook been partially un-rlasped. un-rlasped. the key might easily rcou-h hsva fallen from It Into bis rocket. rd not having any occasion to ue i i- next few days she nafurall tho piano wire strength of his tendons aud clinched my teeth between the fierceness of the clasp. "Tom Halilday," be rt turned sternly, stern-ly, "you stolu your uncle's money," Glaring at him, quivering under an Impulse Im-pulse to tear myself from blm and strike him down, I first swelled my muscles for the effort, then letting them subside sank buck with an exclamation ex-clamation of supreme disgust. "So that waa your ultimate analysis!" analy-sis!" I said, with bitterest scorn. ' Of all the absurd, asinine Idiots It was ever my misfortune to come In contact con-tact wlrh. you are the most complete you, an alleged deteetlve. Hut you might as well finUh your dream. 1 wt;l compel myself to listen" I turned ry brad from blm etiterrptnouly ; bwamo aaare that somettitg cold and metallic was mapped around the wrtat which he held and lesjei to my , feet only to find myself hai.dcufTcd to |