Show it I 1 A I 1 A 9 trIes 0 I 1 I 1 I 1 1922 aj inc J ROBERT john bartley noted criminal investigator I 1 vest vesti teator gator recently returned from S secret cret service work during the war ar la Is asked by the governor of new york to investigate a mysterious attempted robbery of the th robert home at 1 I circle lak lake e near dear saratoga bartley la is asked aked t in n view of recent developments develop menta to establish the guilt or innocence of two men in the penitentiary for the crime A miscarriage of justies justice Is suspected rogers chief of the central office arrives as aa bartley and his hl friend felt a newspaper man are preparing to go on a fishing trip and begins to describe the cass case bartley rinds finds in it the re staging of an old case to Is interested and agrees to solve the mystery 11 1 I CHAPTER 11 II Contin continued uca 3 at the foot of the hill the rond road ran beside tile lie lake for a little way then ascended another hill just before tills this ascent began dartley bartley left the main rond road and followed one that ran for nearly a mile betti berneen een leafy trees at length lie he turned ills his car down a long inns driveway that wound its crook crooked ed way in find and out through a R grove of greit great trees when I 1 had begun to bonder if we should ever escape from them we came out upon a green lawn that stretched for several acres having in its midst a large rambling house aliouse painted the whitest white I 1 have ever seen it was a cheery look ing house one made to live in with a great piazza stretching across the front und and gay covered chairs that gave to it a tropical atmosphere evell cven as I 1 was thinking how much I 1 liked it a man came running down tile the steps three sit nt a time whooping like a wild lid indian and waving his arms at us truth compels me to say that currle currie was to put it mildly stout nor could anyone call him good looking his big red face now almost purple from exercise was a kindly tolerant one filled with humor ills blue eyes worm warm with kindness kindne m down the steps he be came and across the lawn yelling all the time john cartley bartley you old sleuth dont you dare drive on my new lawn with a laugh hartley bartley ninde made a wide circle across the grass before he stopped currle currie was beside us and on the step of tile the car in a second one arm thrown around bartless Hart Bart leys shoulder and his red face beaming but all lie sold fald was well well john bartless Hart Bart leys answer was just as short end and had the same deep friendliness then currle currie turned and greeted me A second later a servant came to take charge of our things and we followed currie to the house we entered by one of the largest 11 vina living rooms that I 1 have ever seen it stretched almost the entire length of tile the building and had find two fireplaces both of which were large enough tor for a man to stand upright in currle currie led us up a night of stairs to the second secona story here pushing open a door be showed allowed us its into our suite of rooms rooms five minutes later at currie curdles Cur rles s suggestion 6 cation tile the three of us were sitting on the stone edge of his swimming ilig pool it was forty feet long and open to sun and air for thirty minutes rui we swam 1 und ind dived then we climbed out and d dried aed ourselves in the warra warm sun then cartley bartley lighted a cigarette and told lils his friend what had brought us to circle lake currie suld said nothing until be bad finished and then rubbing ills his chin almly IY ith ills hand replied do you know jolin john there are a good many people around here that doubt it if those two men inen had anything to do wl wi A 1 tile the robbery there was nothing stolen so said lie he sald said ulso also that there was nothing in tile the house that anyone would want mant to steal after the trial folks begun began to talk and since those other attempts to break into ills his place well they have talked more inure I 1 abat are they saying bartley 1 I dont know such a devil of a lot about it myself replied currie 1 I was awny away lit at the time of tile the burglary and of tile the trial but I 1 do know that some people doubt if there ever was a bar burglary glary others say the state police and the elie local cops got mixed up in a row and framed the men still others think knew who the men were but lind had i trong strong reasons for not wanting to ld id them what hit his rea solis could be god alone knows never cottoned much to anyway lie ile i is a crabbed sort of chap a bit conceited one who Is always right and the rest of us of course always wrong isil blit if you want him band and ure are vot not too tired we ne can go over no I 1 lime hue to bee lilia him myself shout about a of land I 1 just bought froni him ills estate joins mine you know bartley expressed exan himself as tar croul throe clr nad and very ery willing to go to see at once we dressed quickly and soon joined currle currie in the alie living room As we went out onto the lawn he said 1 I am sorry my wife Is away but she will be back tomorrow I 1 asked doctor king to come over toni lit and dine with us m ue he can probably tell you more about the robbery than I 1 can for lie he was called in by the night it happened after a ten minutes walk we came suddenly upon a n house a massive stone building half covered with ivy A large veranda ran across the front forming at one end a glas glam enclosed sun parlor what appealed to me most was vins the huge stone tower that rose from the renter center of the building to a height of some thirty feet the house with nith its well kept lawn stretching to the woods in the distance made si a beautiful picture though we ne had not paused long to admire the scene we did not have time to ascend the steps and ring the belr bell before the butler opened the door currle currie gave gare his name and we were ushered into a great room which from its furnishings might have been called a library it if there had bad been any books in it when the butler had left us bartley said to currie Ci irrie 1 I presume that tills this Is the room they found the burglars currie nodded and I 1 turned to look gibout it had two large windows opening on the side of the house where there was vils no veranda and nearby a small sate safe half hidden in the wall tills this I 1 judged must have been what the burglars were seeking I 1 tried to picture to myself what had taken place on the night of tile the burglary there could not have been much light aal I 1 wondered how stepdaughter dau ahter standing on the stairs at the far end of the room could have seen well enough to recognize the men when who was close by could not dot do so I 1 had little time for my conjectures for at that moment entered the but you were never sure that they were guilty room after greeting currle currie he be was introduced to us while currle currie was wag talking with him about the strip of land that he had bought I 1 examined him closely he was a small decidedly nervous man weighing about a hundred and thirty pounds with low forehead shifty eyes and flabby lips that drooped ills his face twitched again and again and his hands bands were never still it was not until currle currie had told him who bartley was that he showed the slightest sign of interest in either ot of us and even then ills manner was tar for from cordial you could see in fact that lie he was wondering why bartley had come and wishing him a thousand miles away earlley bartley himself seeing how bow felt aid with a friendly laugh its hardly right to run in on you this way mr air I 1 was coming over to see forni formally ally in the morning but as mr currie said he had some business with you this afternoon I 1 decided to come with him lie ile then told why we had bad come to circle lake the man made no response to this nor did he b say any anything when bartley told him of the governors interest in tile two men me now in prison for the burglary when bartley had finished he actually snarled 1 I am sick of the whole thing those men had a fair trial und and were found guilty what more do ou bartley whose eyes bad never left his film face though sloe refused to roeer them shot out suddenly aud denly but you wore were never sure that they were guilty tills ati remark was wai so BO unexpected ohrt s face grew rl red and he tarn inbred but well angway iino wiy ury they were proven guilty but you yourself said cald that you yoa could not identify them that may be so BO but there were others that did recognize them even though I 1 could not answered bartley changed his tactics when be sets out to win a person there are few that can resist hi him in and la in a moment or two even thawed under his bis smile 1 I can understand bartley remarked how bored you must be with the whole affair but as you probably know mr air there Is a growing crowing feeling that those men in prison are innocent what I 1 am to do la Is to find out whether bether there Is I 1 any ground for such a feeling I 1 know that you will be the very first person to wish them pardoned it if they are innocent can I 1 come over tomorrow morning and 1 have l are a talk falk with you about the burgi baryt ary my bly wide experience may help me to see things that the others have overlooked the governor asked me to look into the matter you know did not seem over pleased at this suggestion and muttered that lie he as going fishing is liing in tile the morning lie finally agreed that ills stepdaughter step daughter kuth could give bartley whatever information he wanted seeing that so far its as he be was concerned the conversation vas mas over we took our leave As we reentered entered re the woods bartley remarked with a laugh Us ue was vas not what you mi might call keen to see us that burglary for some reason see seems nis to be a sore subject with him when we arrived at the house currie excused himself to see about some matters on the estate and we went up to our rooms currle currie had said that if 11 we came down to dinner dincer in evening dress lie he would throw us out so still in white visite flannels we joined him in the dining room ue he was talking with a young man of about thirty five whom he introduced trod as doctor king ue he aas as a likable sort of chap with clean shaven face tanned red by outdoor life and dark blue eyes with a twinkle in them thein upon ills his coat was the little insignia that showed he be had bad seen ser service ilce currle currie had bad promised us a good dinner and we were not disappointed the doctor showed himself to be as well nell read as hartley bartley who Is lute interested rested in anything that Is a book As tile dinner progressed we found that the doctor and bartley found many a congenial topic their discussion finally settled down upon the two to schools of psych abaly ina y balki sis cis from tile the first tills this talk blied fe currle currie and every once in a while mille he would throw me an appealing glance at last the conversation turned to crime and currle currie suddenly asked bartley it if it had ever been discovered who aho jack the ripper was what made him ask the question I 1 do not know bartley replied that though no name had ever been given out scotland yard had come to the conclusion that the crimes had been committed either by a crazy polish jew or more probably by a doctor A well known doctor had been on the border line of insanity at the time the murders had occurred and anen he dropped out of sight the murders ceased the english detectives were a almost most positive that lie he vios as the the murderer but they could not prove it no more than they were able to prove currle currie interrupted that those men they sent to jail ever broke into sikes les house the doctor remarked 1 I was called in as all the family physician by on the night of the burglary ue he told me at the time that lie he had not recognized either of tho the men bartley did not speak but sat ant wa watching telling the glowing tip of his cl cigarette ar I 1 knew be was as waiting altini tor for the doctor to say more both the men that were arrested the doctor continued had bad worked at one time or another for you would have eliou thought ht that it if they had been the ones who ho broke into till lila house lie would have recognized them but he told me positively that night or rather that morning that he had not recognized either of them As aa the doctor did not continue bartley asked then lie he never at any time said he recognized either of the men benr the doctor shook his head no he be never did at the trial he said there had not been enough light for him to see their faces ruth kuth tile the step daugh ter vias as the only one who thought she recognized them that Is one of them bartley asked quietly what was the mix up between the state police and the local police king looked sural surprised why I 1 never knew there was any of course there Is some foolish jealousy between the two branches the state police arrested those men simply because they were sneaking through the fields at three in the morning and refused to te give an account of themselves them selve I 1 have heard beard that tile officer in command of the troopers never believed that these men had anything to do with the affair most of the cri evidence credence dence against them wax was oot not found until several leveral days later some by the local police and some by chauffeur when the police were first called in they diani ond find any evidence indeed I 1 do noi think they looked for any until tn next morning they found style in his hl bed shot they told king it was stil clde TO BS |