initial commit of ebook 22781HEADmain

7 files changed, 11135 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/22781-8.txt b/22781-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46135fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22781-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5560 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of 32 Caliber, by Donald McGibeny
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: 32 Caliber
+
+Author: Donald McGibeny
+
+Illustrator: Hugh Mackey
+
+Release Date: September 27, 2007 [EBook #22781]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 32 CALIBER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+32 CALIBER
+
+
+by
+
+Donald McGibeny
+
+
+
+_Frontispiece by_
+
+HUGH MACKEY
+
+[Transcriber's note: frontispiece missing from book]
+
+
+
+
+INDIANAPOLIS
+
+THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1920
+
+THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I  BRING JIM HERE
+    II  TWO MEN AND A WOMAN
+   III  I COULD KILL HIM
+    IV  THE WORST HAPPENS
+     V  ACCIDENT OR MURDER
+    VI  A CLUE AND A VERDICT
+   VII  I TURN DETECTIVE
+  VIII  IT LOOKS BAD FOR HELEN
+    IX  LOOK OUT, JIM
+     X  I ACCUSE ZALNITCH
+    XI  A DOUBLE INDICTMENT
+   XII  WHO AM I
+  XIII  WE PLAN THE DEFENSE
+   XIV  BULLET PROOF
+    XV  THE ANSWER
+   XVI  THE MECHANICIAN
+  XVII  RED CAPITULATES
+ XVIII  I LISTEN TO MY FOREBEARS
+
+
+
+
+32 CALIBER
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+BRING JIM HERE
+
+I was in the locker-room of the country-club, getting dressed after the
+best afternoon of golf I had ever had.  I had just beaten Paisley
+"one-up" in eighteen holes of the hardest kind of sledding.
+
+If you knew Paisley you'd understand just why I was so glad to beat
+him.  He is a most insufferably conceited ass about his golf, for a man
+who plays as badly as he does; in addition to which he usually beats
+me.  It's not that Paisley plays a better game, but he has a way of
+making me pull my drive or over-approach just by his confounded manner
+of looking at me when I am getting ready to play.
+
+We usually trot along about even until we come to the seventh hole--in
+fact, I'm usually ahead at the seventh--and then conversation does me
+in.  You see, the seventh hole can be played two ways.  There's a small
+clay bank that abuts the green and you can either play around or over
+it to the hole, which lies directly behind.  The real golfers play over
+with a good mashie shot that lands them dead on the green, but dubs,
+like Paisley, play around with two easy mid-iron shots.  When we get to
+the place where the choice must be made, Paisley suggests that I go
+around, which makes me grip my mashie firmly, recall all the things I
+have read in the little book about how to play a mashie shot, and let
+drive with all my force, which usually lands me somewhere near the top
+of the clay bank, where it would take a mountain goat to play the next
+shot.  After that, Paisley and I exchange a few hectic observations and
+my temperature and score mount to the highest known altitude.
+
+Of course, every now and then, I forget my stance and Paisley long
+enough to send the ball in a beautiful parabola right on to the green,
+and when I do--oh, brother!--the things I say to Paisley put him in
+such a frame of mind that I could play the rest of the course with a
+paddle and a basket-ball and still beat him.  This particular afternoon
+he had tried to play the seventh hole as it should be played, and
+though we had both foozled, I had won the hole and romped triumphantly
+home with the side of pig.
+
+I was gaily humming to myself as I put on my clothes when James
+Felderson came in.  His face was drawn and his mouth was set in a way
+that was utterly foreign to Jim, whose smile has done more to keep
+peace in committee meetings and to placate irate members than all other
+harmonizing agencies in the club put together.  There was something
+unnatural, too, about his eyes, as though he had been drinking.
+
+"Have you seen Helen?" he demanded in a thick voice.
+
+"No.  Not to-day," I answered.  "What's the matter, Jim?  Anything
+wrong?"
+
+Felderson has been my law partner ever since he married my sister
+Helen.  I had left him at the office just before lunch and he had
+seemed then as cheerful and unperturbed as usual.
+
+"Helen has gone with Frank Woods!" he burst out, his voice breaking as
+he spoke.
+
+It took a second for me to grasp the meaning of what he said, then I
+grabbed him by the shoulder.
+
+"Jim, Jim, what are you saying?"
+
+My sister--left her husband--run off with another man!  I had read of
+such things in stories, but never had I believed that real people, in
+real life and of real social position, ever so disgraced themselves.
+Every one knew that Frank Woods had been seeing a lot of Helen, and
+several close friends had asked me if Jim knew the man's reputation.  I
+had even spoken to Helen, only to be laughed at, and assured that it
+was the idle gossip of scandal-mongers.  That she should have left Jim,
+darling old Jim, for Frank Woods, or any other man, was unthinkable.
+Jim sank on a bench and turned a face to me that had grown utterly
+haggard.
+
+"It's true, Bupps!  I found this on the table when I went home to
+lunch."
+
+He held out a crumpled note written in Helen's rather mannish back-hand.
+
+
+"Jim,
+
+"It is now ten-thirty.  Frank is coming for me at eleven.  He has made
+me realize that, loving him the way I do, I would be doing you a
+horrible injustice to keep up the wretched pretense of being your wife.
+
+"Had you left any other way open, I would have taken it, but you
+refused a divorce.  I hate to hurt you the way I must, but try to
+understand and forgive me.
+
+"Helen."
+
+
+I turned toward Jim.  His chin was sunk in his hands.  Two men came in
+from the tennis-courts and nodded as they went by.
+
+"What have you done?" I asked.
+
+He raised his head, and on his face was written incalculable misery.
+
+"Nothing!" he answered, dropping his hands hopelessly.  "What can I do,
+except let them go and get a divorce as soon as possible?  It's my
+fault.  After we--quarreled the other night, she asked me to divorce
+her, and I refused.  God, Bupps!  If you only knew how much I love her
+and how hard I've tried to make her love me.  And she did love me till
+Woods came along."
+
+I hurried up my dressing, turning over in my mind the details of Jim's
+married life.  In the light of the latest developments, I realized the
+painful fact that I was partly to blame myself.  Helen hadn't really
+loved Jim when she married him.  Oh, she'd loved him in the same way
+she'd loved a lot of other men whom she'd been more or less engaged to
+at one time or another.  She had married Jim, because it had been the
+thing to do that year, to get married; and she realized that Jim loved
+her more and could give her more than any of the others.  Where I came
+in was that I had urged her to marry Jim because he was the best man in
+the world and because I wanted him for my brother-in-law.
+
+I remembered now how cold Helen had been, even during their engagement,
+trumping up almost any excuse to keep from spending an evening alone
+with the man who was to be her husband.  It had made me so hot that I
+had reproached her even in Jim's presence.  My words didn't seem to
+affect Helen any, but they did affect Jim a lot.  He had taken me for a
+long ride in his car and filled me full of moonshine about how he was
+unworthy of her and how he would win her love after they were married.
+I was in such sympathy with him that I tried to believe it true,
+although I knew Helen as only a younger brother can know a sister.  I
+knew that she had been pampered and petted ever since she was a child;
+that she had never shown much affection for father and mother, who were
+her slaves, while toward me, who had insulted and made fun of her, she
+was almost effusive.  With this in mind, I had urged Jim to neglect
+her, to "treat her rough," but when a man is head-over-heels in love
+with a girl, what's the good of advice?  To tell him to mistreat her
+was like telling a Mohammedan to spit in the face of the prophet.
+
+They had been married a little over a year when Frank Woods came to
+Eastbrook on war business for the French Government.  He had been in
+Papa Joffre's Army during part of the mêlée, wore the _Croix de Guerre_
+with several palms, and could hold a company of people enthralled with
+stories of his experiences.  Whether he had a right to the decorations,
+or even the uniform, no one was quite sure, but it set off every good
+point of his massive, well-built frame.  He would stand in front of the
+fire and tell of air-scraps in such a way that, while he never
+mentioned the hero by name, it was easy to guess that "hero" and Frank
+Woods were synonymous.  He could dance, ride, play any game and shoot
+better than the best of us, and when he sat at the piano and sang,
+every man looked at his wife or his fiancée and wondered where the
+lightning was going to strike.  For although he was a very proper young
+bachelor for months, showing no unseemly interest in women, we all of
+us, I think, secretly felt that he was setting the stage for a "grand
+coup."
+
+If he had singled out Helen from the first, he couldn't have played his
+game better, for his seeming indifference to her loveliness piqued her
+almost to madness.  During the early months of our entrance in the war
+he was called back to France, and every man in Eastbrook breathed a
+sigh of relief.  There wasn't one of us who could say why we thought
+him a cad, but just the same, I doubt if there was a father in
+Eastbrook who would willingly have given his daughter to him.  He was
+too much of the ideal lover to make a good husband.  There was
+something about him, too, that made no man want to claim him as a
+particular friend, but perhaps it was because we were all jealous.
+
+While most of the younger men of the town were in France, or, like Jim
+and myself, in a training-camp, Frank Woods came back, and this time
+there was no mistaking whom he had picked out for his attentions.
+Until the war was over and Jim home, it was not noticeable, for he was
+most meticulous in his behavior, but with Jim busy trying to straighten
+out our tangled practise, Woods lost no time in taking advantage of his
+opportunities.  And there had been opportunities enough, heaven knows,
+with Jim surrounded by clients, yet trying in his clumsy, lovable way
+to remonstrate with Helen for seeing so much of Woods.  My interference
+had only increased his opportunities, for the evening I told her what
+people were saying, she quarreled with Jim, and as a result he threw
+himself into his work with an energy in which enthusiasm had no part.
+
+All the time these thoughts were running through my head--and they ran
+much faster than I can set them down--I had been throwing my clothes
+on, knowing something had to be done, yet what that something was I
+couldn't for the life of me figure out.
+
+"Come on, Jim!" I said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him from
+his dejected position.
+
+"Where to?" he responded wearily.
+
+"First of all, we're going to shut this thing up.  _The Sun_ would like
+nothing better than to spread it thick all over the front page of their
+filthy sheet."
+
+"You're right, old boy!  I'd forgotten about the newspapers.  It would
+be horrible for Helen to have her name dragged through the mud."
+
+"I wasn't thinking of Helen," I responded testily, "but a lot of cheap
+notoriety won't help our law practise any."
+
+All the spirit seemed to have seeped out of his system, so I pushed him
+into my car, preferring to take the wheel rather than have him drive.
+I can always think better when I have a steering wheel in my hands, and
+knowing with what speed Jim drove ordinarily, I didn't care to trust my
+precious body to him in his overwrought condition.
+
+We were just backing into the drive when one of the servants came
+running from the club.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Thompson!" he called.
+
+I stopped the car and waited for him to come up.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"You're wanted on the telephone."
+
+I jumped from the car and started for the club.  There were the usual
+groups of tea-drinkers and bridge-players scattered about on the broad
+veranda, and it seemed to me, as I ran up the steps, that they all
+stopped talking and looked at me, I thought, with curiosity, if not
+with pity.  There would be no use shutting up the newspapers if that
+bunch of gossips were in possession of the scandal.
+
+I hurried to the telephone and slammed the door to the booth, expecting
+to hear the voice of some reporter demand if there was any truth to the
+rumor that Mrs. James Felderson had run off with Frank Woods.  To my
+buzzing brain it seemed that the whole world must have heard the news.
+
+"Hello," I called.
+
+"Is that you, Warren?"  It was Helen's voice.
+
+"Helen!" I yelled.  "For God's sake, where are you?"
+
+"I am at the house.  Listen, Warren!  Have you seen Jim?"
+
+Her voice sounded faint and strangely uncontrolled.
+
+"Yes--yes," I shouted.  "He's here with me now."
+
+"Then bring him here quickly, Warren!  Please hurry."
+
+"But, Helen----"
+
+"Don't ask me any questions, please."  There was a catch in the voice
+on the other end of the wire.  "I c-can't answer any questions now, but
+bring Jim, and hurry!"
+
+The receiver clicked and I dashed out of the booth, a thousand
+questions pounding in my brain.  Why was Helen at the house?  Had Frank
+Woods failed to keep his appointment, thinking better of eloping with
+another man's wife; or, had Helen come to her senses, seen through the
+thin veneer that covered the cad and the libertine in Frank Woods and
+returned to her husband for good?  Over and above these questions and
+conjectures and hopes, there was thanksgiving in my heart that the
+irremediable step had not been taken; that something had intervened to
+keep scandal and disgrace away from Jim.
+
+There must have been something in my face that told Jim I had been
+talking to Helen, for he moved into the driver's seat and greeted me
+with the single question: "Where is she?"
+
+"Home!" I panted, "and drive like the devil!"
+
+
+I might have saved myself the trouble of the last, for even before I
+got into the car there was a roar of exhaust and the crunch of grinding
+gears and we were off down the smooth drive with a speed that quickly
+brought tears to my eyes and put the fear of God in my heart.
+
+How we ever escaped a smash-up after we got into the city I can't tell
+to this day, for Jim never once slackened speed.  He sat there with
+jaws set, pumping gas and still more gas into the little car.  Thrice I
+saw death loom up ahead of us, as vehicles approached from
+side-streets, but with a swerve and a sickening skid, we missed them
+somehow.  Once a street-car and a wagon seemed completely to block the
+road ahead, but Jim steered for the slender opening and when I opened
+my eyes we had skinned through, leaving a corpulent and cursing driver
+far behind.  After that I forgot my wretched fear and the blood surged
+through my veins at the delicious feel of the air as it whipped my
+cheeks.  We turned at last into the long approach to Jim's house and it
+was then that my heart sank.
+
+Frank Woods' car was standing before the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+TWO MEN AND A WOMAN
+
+Had Helen been alone, I would have dropped Jim and gone on, knowing
+that what they had to say to each other was not for outside ears, but
+when I saw Frank Woods' car there, I felt that a cool head might be
+needed.  There was an ominous set to Jim's shoulders as he walked
+toward the steps, a sort of drawing in of the head, as though all the
+muscles in his big frame were tensed.  He hesitated a fraction of a
+second at the door, either to let me catch up with him or because of
+distaste for the prospective meeting, and we entered the cool dark hall
+together.
+
+Helen was standing at the entrance to the big living-room, her tall
+figure erect, her head proudly poised, one graceful arm upraised, with
+the hand buried in the velvet hangings.  She had on a gray
+traveling-suit, the coat of which lay tossed over the back of a near-by
+chair.  A large patent-leather traveling-case lay beside it.  I had
+expected, from the urgency of the message and the sound of her voice
+over the telephone, to find Helen agitated, but, except for slight
+traces of recent tears and a high color, she looked as cool and
+collected as though she had invited us to tea.  Jim, on the other hand,
+was trembling, his face a pasty white, with great beads of perspiration
+standing on his forehead.
+
+She motioned us to enter, and I led the way, gripping Jim's hand in
+passing.  Woods was standing by the window, his back to us, and his
+whole pose so artificial, so expressive of disdain, that I felt the
+short hair rising along the back of my neck in antagonism.  When he
+heard us, Woods turned with contemptuous deliberation, but when he
+caught sight of the dumb misery on Jim's face, his own turned a dull
+crimson.  Helen crossed the room and seated herself on the divan, back
+of which Woods was standing.  The whole performance--the place she
+chose near him, the look she flashed at him as she sat down, showed so
+completely which of the men she loved, that my heart sank and I lost
+hope of ever bringing her back to Jim.  It was Helen who first spoke.
+
+"You received the note I left this morning?"
+
+Jim moistened his lips once and said, "Yes."  The word was barely
+audible.
+
+"Then there is no need to tell you I have made up my mind to go with
+Frank."
+
+Her tone was coldly final.  Woods had turned and was again gazing out
+of the window.  Jim looked at Helen with the eyes of a hound-dog.  My
+heart ached for him, but there was nothing I could do.
+
+"Why did you come back?" Jim almost whispered, keeping his eyes
+directly on her face.
+
+"Because I didn't want a scandal."  She glanced down at her lap where
+she was opening and closing a beaded vanity bag.  Evidently she was
+finding the interview harder than she had expected.
+
+"I felt--I hoped that if I could show you definitely and finally that I
+don't love you, that I am devoted to Frank, your pride, if nothing
+else, would induce you to give me the divorce for which I asked.  That
+is the reason we decided to come back--so you might make it possible
+for us to marry without a scandal."
+
+The gross selfishness of the woman--I could hardly think of her as my
+sister--her cold cruelty, yes, even her damnable beauty, seemed to go
+to my head and something snapped inside.  I couldn't bear the sight of
+Jim standing there helpless, while these two turned the knife.
+
+"That was very considerate of you," I sneered.
+
+"You keep out of this, Warren!"
+
+"I'm damned if I do," I retorted.  "I at least have a brother's right
+to tell you that a man who will sneak into another's home to make love
+to his wife, behind his back, and then----"
+
+Woods turned quickly.  "That's a lie, and you know it."
+
+Jim put his hand on my shoulder.  He knew I was ready to fight.
+
+"Don't, Bupps!"
+
+Suddenly he seemed to straighten into life.  From the way he set his
+jaw, I knew that the old courage, which had won so many cases in the
+court-room, was back on the job.
+
+"You were quite right, Helen.  While I imagine your reason for not
+wanting a scandal was largely selfish, yet I think that consideration
+for my position was partly responsible for your return, and for that I
+thank you.  When you asked for a divorce the other night, I didn't
+realize that your love for me was so entirely dead, or that you had
+fallen so completely under this man's influence.  Under the
+circumstances, I shall give you a divorce, if only to keep you from
+taking matters into your own hands.  But I shall not do it until I have
+satisfied myself that your new love is real, that the man is worthy of
+it.  If there is anything in Woods' life that does not bear looking
+into, I'll find it out; if he has done anything in the past that is
+likely to hurt you in the future, I shall know it, and you shall know
+it, too, before you take this irrevocable step."
+
+Woods flushed for a moment when Jim spoke of digging into his past, but
+he laughed easily and said:
+
+"You're getting a bit melodramatic, aren't you?"
+
+"Better melodrama than tragedy," Jim responded bitterly.
+
+"Helen has told you she doesn't love you, and that she does love me.
+This morning she was ready to face the scandal of leaving her husband;
+to go to live with me, to live openly with me, unmarried, until you
+could get a divorce.  That rather answers your first point, doesn't it?"
+
+"It makes me think no better of you, that you should have agreed to
+such a sacrifice."
+
+"I never expected to win the husband's love at the same time I won his
+wife's," Woods responded evenly.
+
+Never have I seen murder shine out of a man's eyes as it did out of
+Jim's at that moment.  Each man measured the other across the narrow
+space, and I longed that the laws of civilization might be swept aside
+so that the two might tear at each other's throats, for the woman they
+loved.  Both men were powerful, and neither feared the other.
+
+"As to looking up my past," Woods continued, "one might think you were
+the father of the lady and I a youthful suitor.  While I recognize no
+right of yours to meddle in my affairs, the fact that I was sent to
+America as the duly accredited agent of the French Government should
+have some weight.  They are not accustomed over there to hiring thugs
+and cutthroats to carry on their business."
+
+"This is all beside the point," Helen broke in.  "May I ask, Jim, where
+I am going to stay and what I am going to do while you are
+investigating Frank's past?"
+
+"You are going to stay here."
+
+"Here?  But where will you stay?"
+
+"I am going to stay here with you."
+
+Woods came around the divan.  "Look here, Felderson!  Can't you see
+Helen doesn't love you, that you've lost--?"
+
+"Keep back!" warned Jim huskily.
+
+"She can't stay here with you.  She's no more your wife than if she had
+never married you.  Do you think I'll allow her to stay in this house,
+forced to endure your attentions--?"
+
+"Who are you to say what you will or won't allow?" Jim roared, his eyes
+blazing.  "You came into my house as my guest and stole my most
+precious possession.  Get out before I kill you!"
+
+Woods' face was white.  For one minute I felt sure the two men would
+settle matters then and there.  Suddenly he turned and said: "Come,
+Helen!"
+
+"She stays here!" Jim cried.
+
+Helen had arisen from the divan when the two men came together.  Now
+she stepped forward.
+
+"I'm going with Frank.  We came back here more for your sake than our
+own.  We tried to give you a chance to do the decent thing, but I might
+have known you wouldn't.  With all your protestations of love for me,
+when I ask you to do the one thing that would show that love, the one
+thing that would make me happy, you not only refuse, but you insult the
+man who means everything in the world to me.  If I had ever loved you
+in my life, what you have just said would have made me hate you.  As I
+never loved you, I despise and loathe you now."
+
+She started to pass him, but he grabbed her by the shoulders.  His face
+was white and drawn and his eyes were the eyes of a madman.  He lifted
+her up bodily and almost threw her on the divan, crying, "By God!  You
+stay here!"
+
+Jim turned just as Woods rushed and with a mighty swing to the side of
+the head, sent him crashing into the corner.  Dazed as he was, he half
+struggled to his feet, and when I saw him reach beneath his coat, I
+sprang on him and wrenched the revolver from his hand.
+
+Disheveled and half-stupefied, he rose and glared at us like an angry
+bull.  Slowly he straightened his tie and brushed back his hair.  He
+glanced over at Helen, who was sobbing on the sofa.
+
+"Two of you--eh?  A frame-up."  All the hatred in the world gleamed in
+his eyes, as he looked at Jim.  "If you don't let Helen come to me,
+Felderson, I'll kill you; so help me God, I'll kill you!"  Then he
+picked up his coat and hat and walked out of the room.
+
+Jim went slowly to the door and into the hall.  He looked tired and
+old.  I heard the outer door slam behind Frank Woods and a motor start.
+Then I went out to Jim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+I COULD KILL HIM
+
+I was on my way back to Jim's after having gone home to change my
+clothes.  Jim had asked me to stay with him that evening and, to tell
+the truth, I was glad to do it, partly because of the threat Woods had
+made and partly because of the way Helen looked at Jim when she passed
+us in the hall on the way to her bedroom.  Being a lawyer, I have
+naturally made a pretty close study of character, and if I ever saw
+vindictiveness on the face of any human, it was on Helen's at that
+moment.
+
+I said nothing about the affair to mother while I was home, for she has
+been very frail ever since my father's death and I thought there was no
+use in needlessly upsetting her.  There would be plenty of time to
+discuss the matter after Helen left Jim.
+
+Again and again I recalled the struggle of the afternoon and again and
+again, Helen's face, distorted with anger, reappeared.  Finally I
+decided to drive the car over to Mary Pendleton's and ask her to come
+spend the night with Helen.  In her overwrought, hysterical condition,
+Helen was capable of doing almost anything.
+
+Mary has been like a second sister to me.  She really cares nothing for
+me, except in a sisterly way, but we have been together, so much so and
+so long that Eastbrook gossips have given up speculating whether we are
+engaged.  I'd marry her in a minute, or even less, if she would have
+me, but Mary insists on treating me like a kid; calls my crude attempts
+at love-making "silly tosh and flub-dub," which makes the going rather
+difficult.  She was bridesmaid to Helen and is the one person, besides
+myself, who can influence her in the least, so I felt that her presence
+would add ballast to our wildly tossing domestic craft.  Needless to
+say, my own lack of self-control during the afternoon had been as
+unexpected as it was disappointing, but when it comes to anything that
+concerns Jim, I'm not responsible.
+
+I rang the bell and Mary, herself, came to the door, looking radiant as
+usual.
+
+"Hello, Buppkins!"  She greeted me with that detestable nick-name she
+has used since I wore rompers.  "Aren't you trying for a record or
+something?  This is twice you've called on me this month."
+
+"Mary, I'm in trouble."
+
+"Is the poor 'ittle boy in trouble and come to Auntie Mary to tell her
+all about it?" she sing-songed, making a little moue, as though she was
+talking to her pet cat.
+
+"Cut it, Mary!" I said.  "I'm really in trouble."
+
+"What is it, Bupps?"
+
+"Helen ran off with Frank Woods to-day."
+
+"Heavens, Bupps!"--she was serious enough now.--"Where did they go?"
+
+"They went, but they came back.  Helen's home with Jim.  They tried to
+force him to give Helen a divorce.  There was an awful fight and Woods
+swore that he would kill Jim unless he let Helen go.  But put on your
+hat and coat and get your things.  Helen needs you with her.  I'll tell
+you the rest on the way over."
+
+"I'll be with you in a second," she called, running up-stairs.
+
+When Mary was snuggled down beside me in the car--and she does snuggle
+the best of any girl I ever knew--I told her everything, not forgetting
+the part where I wrenched the gun away from Woods.
+
+"Goodness, Bupps!  I bet you were scared," she commented, her eyes
+twinkling.
+
+"Frankly, I didn't know what I was doing, or I would never have had the
+nerve," I laughed.  "But, lord!  I feel sorry for Jim."
+
+Mary's face clouded over.
+
+"So do I, Bupps, but any one could have seen it coming.  Jim was too
+good to her.  As much as I like Helen, I will say that the only kind of
+husband she deserves is a brute who would beat her.  That's the only
+kind she can love.  I was with her the night before her wedding, and
+she confessed then that if Jim were only cruel or indifferent to her,
+just once, she thought she could love him to death.  The only reason
+Helen cares for you and me, was because we never paid any particular
+attention to her when she acted up and pouted.  That is why she is mad
+about Frank Woods.  When he came to Eastbrook, he treated her as though
+she didn't exist."
+
+"And if Jim were cruel to her now, do you think she would go back to
+him?" I asked.
+
+Mary shook her head.  "No, it's different now.  If Jim were cruel to
+her, she would probably hate him all the more for it."
+
+"Proving the incomprehensibility of woman," I jeered.
+
+"Proving the flumdability of flapdoodle," Mary responded.  "If you men
+only put one little thought into giving a woman what she wants, instead
+of giving her what you think she ought to want; if you kept as
+up-to-date in your love-making as you do in your law practise, women
+wouldn't be the incomprehensible riddle you always make them out to be."
+
+"Well, why don't you tell us what you want?" I asked.
+
+"Silly!  That would spoil it all, don't you see?  Besides we aren't
+sure just what we want ourselves."
+
+My spirits, which had risen considerably during our conversation,
+dropped with a slump when Jim's big house loomed up ahead.  Already,
+something of the unhappiness within seemed to have added a more somber
+touch to the outside.  Have you noticed how you can tell from the face
+of a house what kind of life the inhabitants lead?  Happiness or
+misery, health or sickness, riches or poverty all show as though the
+walls were saturated from the admixture of life within.
+
+I sent Mary up-stairs to see Helen, while I went into the drawing-room
+in search of Jim, but there was no one there except Wicks, the butler,
+who was lighting a fire, for, though it was only the last of September,
+the nights were chilly.  I snatched up the evening paper to see if by
+any chance a hint of the scandal had crept into print.  I felt sure
+that, as matters stood, they would not dare to put in anything
+definite, but _The Sun_ has a nasty way of writing all around a
+scandal, so that, while the persons involved are readily recognized,
+they are quite helpless as far as redress is concerned.
+
+I noticed that Wicks had taken an infernally long time to start the
+fire.  Although it was burning merrily, he still puttered about,
+brushing up the chips and rearranging the blower and tongs.  When Wicks
+hangs about he usually has a question on his mind that he wants
+answered, and he takes that means of letting you know it.  I decided
+not to notice him but to force him to come out in the open and ask, for
+once, a straightforward question.  From the fire, he moved to the table
+and straightened the magazines and books, glancing now and then in my
+direction, trying to catch my eye, but I buried myself more deeply than
+ever in the paper.  When he finally stepped back of my chair, human
+nature could stand his puttering no longer, so I laid down _The Sun_,
+and turned to him.
+
+"Well, Wicks, what do you want?" I snapped.
+
+Wicks looked at me with the expression of a small boy caught
+sticky-handed in the jam-closet.
+
+"Nothing, sir!--that is--er--nothing."  He turned and started from the
+room.
+
+"Come here, Wicks!" I called.  "I know when you hang around a room
+unnecessarily, as you have been doing for the last ten minutes, that
+you have something on your mind.  Now, out with it."
+
+"I was merely going to arsk, sir, hif I 'ad better begin lookin' arfter
+another place, sir?"
+
+That was an extraordinary question.  Wicks had been with the Feldersons
+ever since they were married.
+
+"What put that idea into your head, Wicks?"
+
+He was far more confused than I had ever seen him.
+
+"Meanin' no disrespect, sir, and I don't mean to be hinquisitive about
+what doesn't concern me, but I couldn't 'elp 'earin' a bit of what took
+place this arfternoon, sir."
+
+Good lord!  I'd forgotten there might have been other witnesses to the
+scene of the afternoon besides myself.
+
+"Do the other servants know about this, Wicks?"
+
+"Hi think they do, sir, seein' as 'ow Mrs. Felderson 'as been actin'
+and talkin' so queer."
+
+"What do you mean?" I demanded.
+
+Wicks struggled for composure.  The subject was evidently most
+distasteful to his conservative and conventional British nature.
+
+"Hit was Annie, Mrs. Felderson's maid, sir, that hupset the servants.
+W'en she came down from hup-stairs, she said as 'ow Mrs. Felderson was
+a ragin' and a rampagin' around 'er room, sayin' that if Mr. Felderson
+didn't give 'er a divorce, she would do violence to 'im, sir."
+
+"Did Annie hear her say that?" I questioned.
+
+"She says so, sir."
+
+The whole thing was so monstrous that I gasped.  For this awful
+dime-novel muck to be tumbled into the middle of my family was too
+sickening.  My sister, running away from her husband with another man
+and now threatening, in the hearing of the servants, to kill him,
+unless he gave her a divorce, disgusted me with its cheap vulgarity.  I
+hid, as best I could, the tempest that was brewing inside me.
+
+"Wicks, Mrs. Felderson is not well.  Tell the servants that she is
+greatly depressed over an accident that happened to a friend.  At the
+present time, she is so upset over that, she really doesn't know what
+she is saying.  Quiet them in some way, Wicks!  And tell Annie to stay
+with Mrs. Felderson!"
+
+"Very good, sir."  He started to leave.
+
+"And, Wicks--"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"There is no need of your looking for another place."
+
+"Yes, sir.  Thank you, sir!"
+
+Wicks departed and I was left to my gloomy thoughts.  Helen must be
+brought to her senses.  Mary and I must work, either to bring her back
+to Jim, or, if that prove hopeless, to see that the divorce was hurried
+as much as possible.  The very thought of having Mary along with me,
+with her inexhaustible fund of God-given humor and common sense, gave
+me a vast amount of comfort and confidence.
+
+At this point, Jim came in.  He had had a bath and a shave and had put
+on a dinner-coat, looking a lot more fit to grapple with his troubles
+than he had the last time I had seen him.  Only in his eyes did he show
+the shock he'd received that day.
+
+"Communing with yourself in the dark, Bupps?"--his voice was natural
+and easy.
+
+"Yes," I sighed, "I've been trying to see a way out of this mess."
+
+Jim lit a cigarette and threw himself into a chair.  For a few moments
+he puffed in silence, taking deep inhalations and blowing the smoke
+against the lighted tip, so that it showed all the rugged, strength of
+his superb head.
+
+"What would you say, Bupps, if I told you everything would come out all
+right?"
+
+"And Helen stay with you?" I asked incredulously.
+
+"And Helen stay with me," he repeated calmly.
+
+"Of her own free will?"
+
+"Of her own free will," he answered.
+
+"I should say that the events of the day had addled your brain and that
+you are a damned inconsiderate brother-in-law to try to make a fool of
+me."
+
+"I mean it, Bupps," he said quietly.
+
+"What do you mean?" I demanded.
+
+"That everything will come out all right," he smiled.
+
+"But how, man?"  His complacency almost drove me wild.
+
+"Bupps, have you noticed how much money Woods has been spending around
+here--his extravagant way of living?  Where do you think that money
+comes from?"
+
+"His contracts with the French Government," I replied.
+
+"But I happen to know he didn't land those contracts.  That's the
+reason he beat it so suddenly when we got into the war."  He tossed his
+cigarette into the fire.
+
+"His salary from the French, then.  They must have paid him some kind
+of salary."
+
+"Have you never heard what ridiculously small salaries the French
+Government pays its officers?"
+
+It was true that Woods could never have lived as he did on ten times
+the salary of a French captain.
+
+"His own private fortune then," I suggested.
+
+"Ah!  There's the point!  If he has a private fortune, then my whole
+case falls to pieces.  That's what I've got to find out.  Woods has
+been playing for a big stake, and I think he has been playing with
+other people's money.  Did you notice how he flushed this afternoon
+when I suggested looking into his private affairs?  It was the veriest
+accident--I was stalling for time--but when I saw him color up I knew
+I'd touched a sore spot.  No, Bupps, I don't think Woods has a private
+fortune."
+
+"But even if you show him up as worthless, will Helen come back to you,
+Jim?"
+
+The color came to his face and he laughed with a queer twist to his
+mouth.
+
+"Am I as horrible as all that, Bupps?"
+
+His words brought a lump to my throat.  I went over to him and almost
+hugged him.
+
+"Jim, you're such a peach--dammit all--"
+
+I heard a light step behind me.
+
+"Oh, Bupps!" laughed Mary, "if you'd only make love to me in that
+ardent fashion, I'd drag you to the altar by your few remaining hairs."
+
+I stood up, blushing in spite of myself.  She can always make me feel
+that whatever I am doing is either stupid or foolish.
+
+"Dinner is served, and I'm starving.  Come on, people!" she announced,
+leading the way to the dining-room.
+
+"Where's Helen?" I asked.
+
+"She's not coming down.  She has a slight headache," Mary answered,
+giving me a warning look.  "I am delegated to be lady of the manor this
+evening."  She looked so adorable as she curtsied to us that I felt an
+almost uncontrollable impulse to grab her in my arms and smother her
+with kisses, but remembering what she had done to me once when I
+yielded to impulse, I refrained.
+
+When we sat down to the table, Helen's empty place threatened to cast a
+gloom over the party, so Mary told Wicks to remove it.
+
+"It's too much like Banquo's ghost," she whispered, laughing merrily at
+Jim.
+
+"Speaking of ghosts," said Jim turning to me, "I hear the labor people
+are asking the governor to pardon Zalnitch."
+
+"A lot of good it will do them," I responded.  "If ever a man deserved
+hanging, he does."
+
+"I know, but labor is awfully strong now, and with the unsettled social
+conditions in the state, a bigger man than Governor Fallon might find
+it expedient to let Zalnitch off."
+
+"Who is Zalnitch?  Don't think I've met the gentleman," Mary said.
+
+"He's the Russian who was supposed to be the ring-leader of the gang
+that blew up the Yellow Funnel steamship piers in 1915," I explained.
+
+"Do you mean to say he hasn't been hanged yet?"
+
+"Yes!" Jim answered.  "And what's more, I'm afraid he's going to be
+pardoned."
+
+"Not really, Jim?" I queried.
+
+"Yes!  I'm almost sure of it.  Fallon is a machine man before
+everything else, although he was elected on a pro-American ticket.
+They are threatening to do all kinds of things to him, just as they
+threatened me, unless Zalnitch goes free, and I think Fallon is afraid
+of them, not physically perhaps, but politically.  He wants reelection."
+
+Jim had helped the prosecuting attorney convict Zalnitch; in fact it
+was Jim's work more than anything else that had sent the Russian to
+prison.  At the time, Jim had received a lot of threatening letters,
+just as every other American who denounced the Germans before we
+entered the war had received them.  Nothing had come of it, of course,
+and after we went in, the whole matter dropped from public attention.
+Zalnitch had been sent to prison, but his friends had worked constantly
+for commutation of his sentence.  With labor's new power, due to the
+fear of Bolshevism, they were again bringing influence to bear on the
+governor.
+
+Wicks had removed the soup plates and was bringing in the roast, when
+Annie appeared.  The girl was both frightened and angry.
+
+"Mr. Felderson?"
+
+Jim looked up.  "What is it, Annie?"
+
+"Will you come up-stairs, please, sir?"
+
+Mary pushed back her chair, "I'll go, Jim."
+
+"It's Mr. Felderson that's wanted," Annie said with just a touch of
+asperity.
+
+"Yes, you two better stay here and amuse each other," said Jim.
+"Bupps, you carve!"
+
+"If Bupps carves, I'm _sure_ to be amused," laughed Mary.
+
+Jim left, and I went around to his place.  If there is one thing I do
+more badly than another, it is carving.  At home it's done in the
+kitchen, but Jim takes great pride in the neatness and celerity with
+which he separates the component parts of a fowl and so insists on
+having the undissected whole brought to the table.
+
+"What is it to-night?" Mary asked as I eyed my task with disfavor.
+
+"Roast duck."  I tried to speak casually.
+
+"Wait, Bupps, while Wicks lays the oilcloth and I get an umbrella."
+
+"Smarty!" I responded, grabbing my tools firmly, "you wait and see!  I
+watched Jim the last time he carved one of these and I know just how
+it's done."
+
+I speared for the duck's back, but the fork skidded down the slippery
+side of the bird and spattered a drop of gravy in front of me.
+
+"I'm waiting and seeing," Mary chided.
+
+"Well, you wanted some gravy, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes, but on my plate, please."
+
+This time I placed the tines of the fork carefully on the exact middle
+of the duck's breast and gently pushed, giving some aid and comfort
+with my knife.  The little beast eased over on the platter an inch or
+two.
+
+"The thing's still alive," I exclaimed, getting mad.
+
+"If you'll let me have full control, I'll carve it for you," Mary spoke
+up.
+
+"Come on, then," I responded, gladly relinquishing my place.  With a
+deftness and ease that could only be explained by the fact that the
+duck was ready and willing to be carved, she removed the legs and then
+demolished the bird altogether.
+
+There was the sound of voices raised in altercation up-stairs, the
+slamming of a door and the patter of feet rapidly descending the steps.
+The next moment Helen burst into the room.  She was fully dressed for
+going out and was pinning on her hat with spiteful little jabs.
+
+"Will you take me home, Warren?"
+
+Mary left me and went over to her.
+
+"What has happened, Helen?"
+
+"Oh, I can't stay here another minute.  It is bad enough to have to
+stay in the same house with a man you loathe, but when a husband bribes
+his wife's servants to spy on her and watch over her as though she were
+a dangerous lunatic--"
+
+Her eyes were blazing.  Mary put her arm around her and tried to quiet
+her.
+
+"Helen, dear, you don't know how ridiculous that is.  No one is spying
+on you."
+
+Helen tore herself away.
+
+"That's right, stand up for him!  You're all against me, I know.  The
+only reason Warren brought you here, was to try to talk me into staying
+with him.  Well, I won't, you understand?  I won't!  I hate him!  I
+could kill him!  If you won't take me home, Warren, I'll go alone."
+She was almost hysterical.
+
+"Have you thought what this would do to mother?" I asked.  "She doesn't
+know you've quarreled with Jim.  If she found out you were
+contemplating a divorce, it would kill her.  You know how weak she is."
+
+I heard Jim's heavy tread coming downstairs.
+
+"Can I stay with you, Mary?"  Big tears stood in Helen's eyes and she
+seemed on the verge of a complete breakdown.
+
+"Of course, Honey-bunch!" Mary responded, kissing her and leading her
+into the drawing-room.  "Just go in there and lie down while I get my
+things."
+
+As Helen walked from the room, Jim came in.  Mary turned toward us,
+looked us over for the briefest moment and whispered, "You men are
+brutes!"  As she ran up-stairs, Jim gazed after her.  That same gray
+look had come back into his face.
+
+"I guess we are," he said, shaking his head, "but I don't know how or
+why."
+
+I patted him on the shoulder and went for my coat.  Whether he realized
+it or not, I knew Helen would never come back to him.
+
+I went out to the car and turned on the lights.  A white moon was
+sailing through a sky cluttered with puffy clouds, its soft radiance
+bathing the house and grounds in mellow loveliness.  It all seemed so
+remote from the sordid quarrel inside that its beauty was enhanced by
+the contrast.  Here was a night when the whole world should be in love.
+Nature herself conspired to that end.  And yet, there were thousands of
+men and women who were so forgetful of everything except their own
+petty differences that they turned their backs to the beauty around
+them, in order to try to hurt each other.
+
+As Helen and Mary came out of the door, I climbed into the car and said
+to myself, "Damn men, damn women, damn everything!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+THE WORST HAPPENS
+
+I was late getting down to the office the next morning, for I had gone
+back to Jim's and talked till all hours.  It seemed that my
+instructions to Wicks, to tell Annie to stay with Helen, had been taken
+quite literally by that estimable pair, for when Helen had told the
+girl to leave she had refused, saying that Mr. Felderson had ordered
+her to stay.  That was what had precipitated the quarrel.
+
+Even when I left Jim, to go to bed, I had heard him walking back and
+forth in his room, and once during the night, I heard him shut his
+door.  Thinking perhaps he might want me with him, I went to his door
+and knocked.  Jim was untying his shoes and explained that, unable to
+sleep, he had gone out for a walk.  The clock on the mantel-piece
+showed half past four.
+
+In spite of the fact he had practically no sleep the night before, he
+was down at his usual hour, nine o'clock, and when I went into his
+office to see him, there was no sign of fatigue on his face.
+
+"Any news?" I inquired.
+
+"This may interest you," and he tossed over the morning paper folded to
+an article on the first page.
+
+
+   ZALNITCH FREED
+
+  GOVERNOR FALLON PARDONS MAN
+  IMPLICATED IN YELLOW PIER
+  EXPLOSION
+
+  Prisoner Upon Release Makes Terrific
+  Indictment Against Those Responsible for
+  His Imprisonment
+
+
+I glanced hurriedly down the long article.  One paragraph in particular
+caught my eye.  It was part of a quotation from Zalnitch's "speech" to
+the reporters.
+
+
+"Those who were responsible for my imprisonment may well regret the
+fact that justice has at last been given me.  I shall not rest until I
+lay before the working classes the extent to which the processes of law
+can be distorted in this state, and rouse them to overthrow and drive
+out those who have the power of depriving them of their rights and
+their liberty.  I shall not rest until I see a full meed of punishment
+brought to those who have punished me and hundreds like me.  Their
+money and their high position will not help them to escape a just
+retribution."
+
+
+"It looks as though our friend was going to have a very restless time,"
+I commented, after reading the passage aloud to Jim.
+
+"'Vengeance is mine,' saith Zalnitch." Jim's eyes twinkled.
+
+"You're not afraid of him, are you, Jim?" I asked.
+
+"No more now than ever, Bupps."
+
+His face suddenly clouded over.  "Wouldn't it clear the air, though, if
+they did carry out their funny little threats and put me out of the
+way?  When I think of some of the things Helen has said to me during
+the last month, I almost wish they would."
+
+"That sounds weak and silly," I scoffed; "not a bit like you, Jim.
+Cheer up!  Give Helen a divorce and let her go!  She's not worth all
+this heartache."
+
+Jim sat for a moment thinking.  "You don't know what this has done to
+me, Bupps.  It's not as though divorcing Helen would straighten the
+whole matter out.  Ever since I've known Helen I've--idolized
+her--foolishly, perhaps.  She has been the one big thing worth working
+for; the thing I've built my whole life around.  I've got to fight for
+her, Bupps.  I can't let her smash my ideals all to pieces.  I've got
+to make her live up to what I've always believed her to be."
+
+The tone of the man, the dead seriousness of his words, made me want to
+disown Helen and then kill Woods.  I left the room with my eyes a bit
+misty and did my best, in the case I was working on, to forget.
+
+For two days I was kept so busy I hardly saw Jim except when I had to
+go into his office for papers, or to consult an authority.  I was
+trying to win a case against the L. L. & G. railroad, and though I knew
+my client could never pay me a decent fee, even if I should win, I was
+pitted against some of the best lawyers in the state, and was anxious
+for the prestige that a verdict in my favor would give me.  The case
+was going my way, or seemed to be, but the opposition was fighting
+harder every day, so that I had time for little else than food, sleep
+and work.  Frank Woods had apparently left town, either on business or
+to give Helen a clear field to influence Jim.  Helen was still at
+Mary's, and her presence on a visit there was so natural that it hid
+her separation from Jim better than if she had gone home to mother.
+
+I was just leaving for court one morning when Jim called me into his
+office.  There was a gleam of triumph in his eyes and his whole
+attitude was one of cheerful excitement.
+
+"Have you a minute, Bupps?"
+
+"Only a minute, Jim.  This is the day of days for me."
+
+There were several letters and telegrams lying on the table.  Jim
+pointed exultantly to them and cried: "I've got him, Bupps!  There is
+enough evidence there to send Woods up for twenty years.  I wouldn't
+have used such underhand methods against any one else, against anything
+but a snake, but I had to win, I had to win!"
+
+I rushed to the table and rapidly scanned one of the telegrams.
+
+"You've started at the wrong end, but it doesn't matter.  Frank Woods
+has used the money entrusted him by the French Government to gamble
+with.  He counted on the contracts with the International Biplane
+people to bring him clean and leave him a comfortable fortune besides.
+The end of the war and the wholesale cancellation of government
+contracts killed that.  To cover his deficits, he borrowed from the
+Capitol Loan and Trust, and they are hunting for their money now."
+
+"How did you find all this out, Jim?" I demanded breathlessly.
+
+"From friends, good friends, Bupps.  Men who knew that if I asked for
+this unusual information, I had need of it and that I wouldn't abuse
+their confidence."
+
+"And now that you've got it, what are you going to do with it?"
+
+"I have sent messages to Woods, to his apartment, to the club and to
+the International plant, saying that I want to see him.  I know he is
+working like the devil to get the contracts to furnish the government
+with mail planes for next year.  If he gets that contract, he may
+possibly pull through, for the bank would probably extend his credit,
+but if knowledge of his illegal use of the money entrusted to him by
+the French Government ever gets out, he knows it's the stripes without
+the stars for him."
+
+"Be careful when you meet him, Jim," I warned.  "He'll go to the limit,
+you know, to save himself."
+
+"He's all front, Bupps; just like Zalnitch.  I'll give him three days
+to straighten out his affairs and get away.  If he hasn't left by then,
+I'll put all the evidence I have into the hands of the Capitol Loan and
+Trust."
+
+"Are you going to tell Helen about this?" I asked.
+
+Jim pondered a moment.  "I haven't decided that yet.  If I was sure
+Woods would go away without any trouble, I think I'd leave her in
+ignorance; but he might use her to save himself."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"I'm not so blind I can't see that Helen's infatuated with the man.  If
+he is blackguard enough to ask her again to go with him, I think she
+would go, and that would pretty effectively tie my hands."
+
+"You mean that for Helen's sake you wouldn't prosecute Woods?" I
+demanded.  "That's stupid sentimentality."
+
+"It's for Helen's sake that I'm doing _all_ this," Jim insisted.
+"Don't think for a moment I would stop the prosecution just because she
+was with him.  The reason my hands would be tied is because Helen's
+money would pay his obligations."
+
+"Helen's money?" I laughed.  "Helen hasn't as much as I have."
+
+Jim flushed.  "Helen is quite a wealthy woman, Bupps.  When I went into
+the army I wanted to leave Helen perfectly easy in a financial way
+while I was gone, so I transferred all my railroad stock to her, so
+that she might draw the interest.  I haven't asked her for it since I
+came home, because, in the light of our recent differences, I was
+afraid she might think I didn't trust her."
+
+"And do you suppose Woods knows that?"
+
+"Of course he knows it!" Jim burst out.  "She must have told him.  Why
+do you suppose he played around so long before deciding to make love to
+Helen?  Oh, it's all so simple and clear to me now that I wonder at my
+stupidity."
+
+I glanced at my watch.
+
+"Good lord, Jim!  You've almost made me lose my case.  I have only
+three minutes to get to the court-house.  Hold up the climax until I
+get back, if you can."
+
+I jumped for the elevator and rushed to my appointment, getting there
+just in time.  The news of the morning had so raised my spirits that I
+was filled with an immense enthusiasm.  Everything went my way.  My
+summing up was a masterpiece of logic, if I do say so myself, and my
+client received a substantial judgment.
+
+There is no moment sweeter in a young lawyer's life than when another
+lawyer, of big reputation, congratulates him on his conduct of a case.
+My cup was filled to overflowing, and I must confess I had little
+thought for Jim's affairs when I lunched that day with Stevenson and
+McGuire, councils for the L. L. & G.  The prognostications that they
+made for my future were so exaggerated that a bigger man than I might
+well have been excused for increased head and chest measurements.
+
+At half past two I went back to the office to announce the good news to
+Jim.  I had made up my mind before luncheon to spend the afternoon on
+the links in honor of my victory, but the clouds, which had been heavy
+during the morning, by two o'clock opened up a steady drizzle.  Jim was
+at his desk when I came in bringing the glad tidings.  He got up and
+gripped my hand.
+
+"Good boy, Bupps!  I knew you'd do it.  Thank the Lord your affairs are
+going well anyway."
+
+"Has something happened since I've been out?" I asked.
+
+"Yes.  The First National telephoned about eleven o'clock saying that
+Helen wanted to borrow quite a large sum of money on her railroad stock
+and asking if I knew about it.  They thought the money was probably for
+me and they wanted to ask if I'd be willing to wait a few days."
+
+"How much was it?"
+
+"Fifty thousand dollars."
+
+"Is the stock worth that much, Jim?"
+
+"Yes," said Jim seriously, "the stock is worth twice that.  That's why
+I have to go slow.  She could sell that stock for fifty thousand at any
+broker's in five minutes."
+
+I whistled.  "Gee!  Fifty thousand.  Woods must have asked her for it
+because he knew you were after him."
+
+"It's open warfare now.  I told the bank I knew what the money was for
+and that it would cause no inconvenience to me to have them hold up the
+loan for a few days.  In fact I asked Sherwood, the cashier, to wait
+until he saw me before making the loan."
+
+Just then the telephone rang.  Jim answered it.
+
+"Hello--Yes--Woods?--Where are you now?"  He listened a moment.  "I
+understand--Eight-thirty promptly?--I'll be there--Yes, I
+understand--I'll be there."
+
+He hung up the receiver and looked at me with twinkling eyes.
+
+"The shoe is beginning to pinch, Bupps.  That was Woods.  He asks me to
+meet him alone this evening at the country-club, at eight-thirty
+promptly.  Says he wants to see me urgently on business that concerns
+us both."
+
+"Did he ask you to come alone?"
+
+"Yes.  He distinctly said that I was to come alone and be prompt."
+
+"Jim," I argued, "you can't go out there alone to meet that man.  It's
+too infernally dangerous."
+
+"There's no danger, Bupps; but I'm not going alone.  Helen is going
+with me."
+
+He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a leather
+portfolio, into which he put all the letters and telegrams that were
+scattered about his desk.
+
+"I'm going to prove to Helen, in his presence, what kind of man he is;
+that he loves her only for the money I gave her, and to save his yellow
+hide.  I'm going to tear out of her heart all the affection she ever
+had for him.  I think, after that, she will not only come back to me,
+but she will love me all the more for having known Frank Woods.  No
+matter how badly a leg or an arm may be shattered, a quick, clean
+operation may cause the parts to grow together again, stronger than
+they were before.  I think I win, Bupps."
+
+"Still, I believe you ought to carry a gun, in case he gets nasty."
+
+"I will, if you like," he responded; "but I won't use it, no matter
+what happens."
+
+I left the office, vaguely disquieted with the thought of Jim going out
+to the club to face a man as dangerous and desperate as Frank Woods.
+When a fellow of his standing sees the penitentiary looming up in his
+foreground he's capable of anything.  Helen, herself, in the crazed
+condition I had seen her the other night, was an added element of
+danger.  I didn't like the looks of the situation any way I turned.
+
+I climbed into my car and drove slowly through the wet slippery
+streets.  The windshield was so covered with rain-drops that I lowered
+it to see the better, and the autumn rain, beating into my face, soon
+swept away my gloomy forebodings.  After all, no man was going to stick
+his neck into the hangman's noose, no matter how eager he was for
+revenge.  This was the twentieth century, in which no man could
+deliberately flout the law.  Frank Woods would never have invited Jim
+to a "rendezvous" so public as the country-club, if he planned
+mischief.  When he found out how much Jim knew, realizing the game was
+up, he would leave town quietly.  Helen certainly would shake Woods
+when she learned of his dishonesty and trickery.  Surely, no woman with
+Helen's pride could learn how she had been duped without hating the man
+who duped her.
+
+I stopped at the University Union and found the card room well filled
+with bridge players.  The rainy afternoon had driven the golfers to
+cards, and as one of the men, Terry O'Connel, was on the point of
+leaving, I took his place.  I played till seven and then started home
+to dinner.  The rain had stopped and a fresh chilly wind was rippling
+the pools in the streets and rapidly drying the sidewalks.  The
+prospect of a cold blustery evening made me look forward with pleasure
+to the warm comfort of my study, and a good book.
+
+I had just finished a solitary dinner--mother being confined to her
+room--and had settled down in dressing gown and slippers before my
+cheerful fire, when the telephone rang.  I put down my book and tried
+to think of some excuse for staying home, in case it was my
+bridge-playing friends of the afternoon wanting me to come back to the
+club.  A strange voice called from the other end of the wire.
+
+"Mr. Thompson?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"There has been an accident to your brother-in-law's car."
+
+"What?--Where?--Who is this talking?" I shouted breathlessly.
+
+"This is Captain Wadsworth of the North District Police Station
+speaking.  Your brother-in-law had a very bad accident with his car at
+the second bridge on the Blandesville Road.  Both Mr. and Mrs.
+Felderson were pretty badly injured."
+
+"Where are they now?" I gasped, fear clutching at my throat.
+
+"They have been taken to St. Mary's Hospital."
+
+I slammed down the receiver and tore into my clothes.  I ran out to the
+car and drove through the dark wet streets regardless of speed laws.
+From out the gray gloom, the heavy bulk and lighted windows of St.
+Mary's loomed just ahead.  I ran up the steps and went at once to the
+office.  Three nurses were standing there talking.
+
+"Can you tell me where they have taken Mr. and Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"Were they the people in the automobile accident?"
+
+I nodded my head.
+
+One of the nurses led me to a large room on the second floor.  As we
+neared the door a young interne, so the nurse told me, came out.  He
+was thoughtfully polishing his glasses.
+
+"I am Warren Thompson, Mr. Felderson's brother-in-law," I explained.
+"Can you tell me how badly Mr. and Mrs. Felderson were hurt?"
+
+He put his glasses back on his nose and looked at me sympathetically.
+
+"Mr. Felderson is dead, and Mrs. Felderson is dying," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+ACCIDENT OR MURDER
+
+Have you ever had the whole world stop for you?  Well, that's what
+happened when that young interne told me that Jim was dead.  I must
+have been half mad for a few moments, at least they said I acted that
+way.
+
+Sometimes, tragic news deadens the senses, like the brief numbness that
+follows the sudden cutting off of a limb, the pain not manifesting
+itself until some time afterward.  But with me, the fact of Jim's death
+clawed and tore at the very foundation of my brain.  It stamped itself
+into my sensibilities with such crushing force that I writhed under the
+burden of its bitter actuality.  I felt as though I, myself, had died
+and my spirit, snatched from the brilliant, airy sunlight of life, had
+been plunged into the hammering emptiness of hell.  "Jim is dead--big,
+happy, kind-hearted Jim is dead" ached through my brain.
+
+They gave me something to drink--ammonia, I think--and my whirling head
+began to clear.
+
+"Can I see Mrs. Felderson?" I asked the interne.  It was he who had
+given me the ammonia.
+
+"I'm afraid not," he replied.  "She is being prepared for the operating
+table."
+
+"There is a chance, then, of her being saved?"  I clutched at his arm.
+
+He slowly shook his head.  "One chance in a thousand only, I'm afraid.
+There was severe concussion of the brain and a slight displacement of
+one of the cranial vertebra.  Luckily, Doctor Forbes is here, and if
+any one can save her, he can."  He got up from his seat beside me.
+"Now, Mr. Thompson, I advise you to go home and get a good night's
+rest.  You can do nothing here, and the next few days are bound to be a
+great strain."
+
+"You will telephone me at once the result of the operation?" I asked
+quickly.
+
+"I wouldn't count too much on the operation," he said kindly, "but I
+will let you know."
+
+He turned and walked back toward Helen's room.  Just then the door was
+opened and there appeared a sort of elongated baby-cab, without a top.
+On this wheeling table was a still white bundle, from which a stifled
+moan escaped now and then.  Shaken with terror and nausea, I ran for
+the stairs and did not stop until I got into my car and was racing away.
+
+As I drove, my brain cleared and I remembered that there were others to
+whom the tragedy was almost as vital as to myself and who ought to be
+informed.  I stopped at a corner drug store and called up Mary.  Mother
+should not be told until a physician could assure me she was strong
+enough to stand the shock.
+
+Mary was wonderfully sympathetic and tender, not voluble the way some
+women would have been.  She asked me if I had been to the scene of the
+accident, and when I told her I was just going, she asked me if I
+wanted her with me.  As it was after ten o'clock and the rain had begun
+again, I told her "No," and added that I'd come to see her in the
+morning.
+
+When I left the telephone-booth the drug clerk stared at me
+inquisitively.
+
+"You look all fagged out," he said frankly.
+
+"I'm not feeling very well," I replied, struggling into my rain-coat.
+
+"Better let me give you somethin' to fix you up," he suggested.  I
+acquiesced, and he went to the shelf and shook some white powder into a
+glass.  Then he put some water with it and it phizzed merrily.  I drank
+it at a gulp and, climbing into the car, started for the second bridge
+on the Blandesville Road.
+
+The drink braced me up and as I drove I began to recall the events of
+the last few days, and for the first time to wonder if they had any
+connection with the tragedy.  Captain Wadsworth had told me it was an
+accident.  Could Frank Woods have been in any way responsible?  No,
+certainly not, for Helen had been in the car, and he surely would never
+have done anything to put her life in jeopardy.  _But Woods didn't know
+that she was there_.  He had told Jim to come out alone; had insisted
+on it, in fact.  It was _Jim's_ idea to bring Helen with him.
+
+My heart was doing a hundred revolutions to the minute.  Now that I had
+hit on this idea, every fiber of my being cried out that Frank Woods
+was in some way responsible.  I tried to urge my car to more speed.
+The wreck would surely tell me something.  I determined to hunt every
+inch of ground around the place for a clue.  Woods would have to prove
+to me that he had nothing to do with the accident before I'd believe
+him innocent.
+
+I drove up the long hill overlooking the little bridge that had
+suddenly assumed such a tragic significance in my life.  It lies at the
+bottom of the hill, about half-way between the city and the
+country-club and on the loneliest stretch of the entire road.  There
+are no houses about; the city not having grown that far out and the
+soil being entirely unsuitable for farming.  In fact, there are only
+one or two large trees near by, to break the desolate expanse, the
+vegetation consisting mostly of thorny bushes springing from the rocky
+soil.  There have been several accidents at the bridge, for its
+narrowness is deceiving and it is impossible for two autos to pass.
+Motorists, going to the club, usually let their cars out on the long
+hill and if another car, coming around the bend from the opposite
+direction, reaches the bridge at the same time, only skilful driving
+and good brakes can avoid a smash-up.  The matter has been brought to
+the attention of the authorities several times, but nothing has ever
+been done, either to widen the bridge or to warn automobilists of the
+danger.
+
+As I reached the top of the hill, I saw that two automobiles had
+stopped at the bottom, and, noticing that their lights blinked as
+people passed back and forth in front of them, I was convinced that a
+small crowd had gathered, probably out of curiosity.  I slowed up as I
+neared the spot and came to a stop at the side of the road.  A
+motorcycle cop walked up to my car.
+
+"Inspector Robinson, sir?"
+
+"No," I answered, "I am Warren Thompson, brother-in-law of Mr.
+Felderson, who had the accident.  How did it happen, do you know,
+Sergeant?"
+
+"It was the fault of the bridge again, sir.  I've told the chief that
+something ought to be done.  This is the third accident in six months.
+We've been trying to find the other car."
+
+"What other car?" I asked.
+
+"The car that made Mr. Felderson take the ditch," he explained.  "He
+must have been driving fast--he usually did; many's the time I've had
+to warn him--and must have seen that the other car would meet him at
+the bridge.  He stopped too quick, skidded off the road and turned over
+into the creek."
+
+I shuddered as I pictured the scene.  One of the automobiles turned
+around and the lights picked out the upturned wheels of Jim's car.  It
+looked like some monster whose back had been broken.  It was a large
+Peckwith-Pierce touring car, and the force of the crash had twisted and
+smashed the huge chassis.  Several men were gathered around the car,
+examining it with the aid of a barn-lantern.
+
+"Where were the bodies found?" I asked, my voice trembling.
+
+"Mrs. Felderson was over there on the bank.  She was thrown out likely
+when the car left the road.  Mr. Felderson's body was under the
+machine."
+
+While the thought of the heavy weight crushing the life out of Jim
+sickened me, I thanked God that death must have been instantaneous.
+
+"Do you know who found them, Sergeant?"
+
+He pointed to a man standing by the wreck.  "That man over there.  He
+found them and took them to the hospital after sending one of his
+friends to notify the police."
+
+The man evidently heard our voices, and came over to us.
+
+"Is this the inspector?" he asked.
+
+"No," I replied, "I am Mr. Felderson's brother-in-law."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry!" he said quickly.  "May I express my deep, deep
+sympathy?"
+
+"Thank you.  Will you tell me how you discovered the accident?"
+
+"I had been out to Blandesville on business and was returning with a
+party of friends.  As we neared the bridge, one of them caught sight of
+the upturned automobile in the creek, and we stopped.  We found Mrs.
+Felderson first, being attracted by her moans.  We went at once to the
+car, and as there were four of us, we were able to lift the automobile
+sufficiently to get Mr. Felderson from under it.  We knew that the
+woman was still living, but none of us was doctor enough to tell
+whether Mr. Felderson was alive or not.  We carried them quickly to our
+car and hurried to St. Mary's, dropping one of my friends at the North
+District Station to inform the police what had occurred.  Afterward we
+drove back here, thinking we might be wanted in case there was an
+investigation."
+
+"Did you see the lights of any car ahead of you, as you came along the
+road?" I asked.  "Did any car pass you, going in the same direction?"
+
+"A car turned in ahead of us from the Millerstown Road about ten
+minutes before."
+
+"Do you think that might have been the car that was partly responsible
+for this accident?" I queried.
+
+"Of course, no one could be sure in a situation of that kind, but I
+wouldn't doubt it at all.  It left us behind as if we were tied."
+
+Another car had driven up while we were talking and our policeman had
+gone over to it at once.  He came back now, accompanied by a short
+heavy-set man in plain clothes.
+
+"I am Inspector Robinson, detailed to examine into this affair.  Were
+you the man who discovered the accident?" he asked, addressing my
+companion.
+
+"Yes, Inspector; Pickering is my name.  I'm with the Benefit Insurance
+Company."
+
+He told the circumstances of the discovery to the plain-clothes man,
+who, all the time Pickering was talking, bustled up and down and around
+the car.  Finally he made Pickering show him just where the bodies lay.
+
+"Distressing, distressing," the inspector chirped, "dreadful accident,
+dreadful indeed, but quite to be expected with fast driving.  If they
+will risk their lives----"
+
+"Inspector," I broke in, "I am the brother-in-law of the man who drove
+that car.  While he was a fast driver, he was not a careless one.  I've
+never known him to have an accident before."  The little man irritated
+me.
+
+"That's the way it always happens," he came back at me; "they take
+risks a dozen times and get away with them, and then--Blooey!!"
+
+"But aren't you going to find the other car?" I demanded.
+
+"What other car?" he snapped.
+
+"The one that must have been coming from the opposite direction; that
+caused this accident."
+
+"Do you know there was any such car?" he bristled.
+
+"There must have been," I answered.  "No accident has ever happened
+here except under such circumstances.  Besides, Mr. Pickering saw a car
+turn into this road ahead of him not ten minutes before the accident."
+
+Robinson looked from me to Pickering as though we were both conspiring
+to defeat justice.
+
+"Did you see such a car?" he barked at Pickering.
+
+"A car turned out of the Millerstown Road and went toward the city
+about ten minutes before we discovered the bodies," Pickering replied
+evenly.
+
+"Why didn't you say so?" the detective asked sharply.  "What kind of a
+car was it?"
+
+"A black limousine with wire wheels.  I couldn't see the number."
+
+Robinson's humor seemed to have come back.
+
+"Now we're getting on," he said, rubbing his hands.  "That's better.
+That's much better.  If you gentlemen had just told me that in the
+first place we'd have saved all this time."
+
+He turned to the motorcycle policeman.  "Feeney, go over to Millerstown
+and inquire if a black limousine with wire wheels stopped there
+to-night between eight and nine o'clock."
+
+A figure, unnoticed in the darkness, approached.  It proved to be a
+lanky farmer, who spoke with a decided drawl.
+
+"I reckon I kin help ye thar.  They was a big limozine tourin' car with
+wire wheels went through Millerstown 'bout ha'f past eight, quat' t'
+nine.  I know, 'cause it durn near run me down."
+
+"Do you live in Millerstown?" the inspector questioned.
+
+"Yep!  Come over t' see the accident."
+
+"Did that auto stop in Millerstown?"
+
+The farmer chuckled and expectorated.  "It didn't even hesitate."
+
+"Can you tell us anything else about it?" I spoke up.
+
+The inspector glared at me.  "I'll conduct this investigation,
+Mr.--err----"
+
+The farmer scratched his head.  "Waal, nothin' much.  It went too
+blamed fast fer me to git mor'n a right good look, but I did gee that
+it was full o' men an' the tail-light was bu'sted an' they wa'n't no
+license on it."
+
+"You're sure of that?" the inspector asked.
+
+"Yep!" he said, "I'm sure, 'cause I was goin' to report 'em."
+
+Again the inspector turned to Feeney, who had been listening intently.
+
+"Feeney, go in and tell the chief to issue instructions to all the
+force to keep an eye out for a black limousine with wire wheels, a
+broken tail-light and no license tag!  My friend," he said, turning to
+the farmer, "I thank you for your information.  By to-morrow night
+we'll have that car and the parties concerned.  By gad!  They had their
+nerve, running away after the accident.  The damned rascals--killing
+people and then running away.  I'll grill their toes for them."
+
+The malice of the little detective, his readiness to jump from one
+conclusion to another, reminded me for all the world of some
+disagreeable, little, barking dog that chases every passing vehicle.
+
+I bade him good night, shook hands with Pickering and was on my way
+back to my car, when another automobile drove up.  Three men jumped
+out, and as they passed in front of the lamps, I recognized Lawrence
+Brown and Fred Paisley, from the club; the third man was Frank Woods.
+As I caught sight of his well-set-up figure, all the hatred I had for
+him seemed to rise in my throat and choke me.  Try as I would I
+couldn't separate him from the tragedy.  When the farmer said the black
+limousine was full of men, I realized that Frank Woods couldn't have
+been one of them, and yet, so great was my distrust of the man, that I
+felt like accusing him on the spot.
+
+Larry Brown caught sight of me and wrung my hand.  "Dammit, old man, I
+can't fell you how sorry I am."  Paisley patted me on the back.  "If
+there is anything we can do, Thompson----"
+
+I shook my head and tears came to my eyes.  They made me realize
+poignantly how much I had lost.  Woods didn't join us.  He knew if he
+tried to sympathize with me, after the affair the other day, that I
+would throttle him for his hypocrisy.
+
+"Was Jim killed outright?" Brown asked.
+
+"Yes!  And there's one chance in a thousand for Helen."
+
+Both men started.  "Was Mrs. Felderson there?  They telephoned us at
+the club that Jim had been killed, but we didn't know she was with him."
+
+They glanced at each other and then at Woods, who was standing by the
+side of the overturned car.
+
+"You'd better tell him, Larry," Paisley muttered.
+
+"Doesn't he know?" I asked.
+
+"Of course not," replied Brown.  "He was out there at the club with us.
+I'm afraid it will hit him awfully hard."
+
+He stepped over to Woods and, taking him by the arm, they disappeared
+into the darkness.  We heard a choking cry, and the next moment Woods
+came running toward us.  His face was distorted with horror and his
+eyes were almost starting from his head.
+
+"Thompson, for God's sake, tell me he lies!  Tell me he lies!" he
+shrieked.  "Helen wasn't in that car?"
+
+The old suspicions came tumbling back an hundredfold and I turned cold
+all over.
+
+"It is true," I said, "Mrs. Felderson is in the hospital at the point
+of death."
+
+With a stifled groan, Woods sank to the ground and buried his face in
+his shaking hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+A CLUE AND A VERDICT
+
+I drove home with my thoughts in a tumult.  The look on Woods' face and
+the vehemence of his words made me sure he was in some way responsible
+for Jim's death.  I walked the floor for hours trying to build up my
+case against him.  He had sworn to kill Jim, unless he let Helen go,
+and he must have known that afternoon that not only was Jim going to
+keep Helen from him, but that he had the proof with which to ruin him
+forever.  He had planned to have it out with Jim at the country-club,
+knowing it would be a cold damp night and that few people would be out
+there.  He had emphatically stated that Jim should come alone and
+should be there promptly at half-past eight.  All those facts pointed
+to the man's guilt and I felt sure that in some way I should be able to
+unearth the proof.
+
+I knew I ought to sleep, but sleep was the last thing I could do.
+Twice I called up the hospital to inquire after Helen, but they could
+tell me nothing.  Had the operation been successful?  Yes, she had come
+through it.  Would she get well?  Ah, that they could not say.  They
+would let me know if there was any change.  I sent a telegram to Jim's
+uncle in the West, the only relative Jim ever corresponded with, and
+told him to notify any others to whom the news would be of vital
+interest.
+
+Toward five o'clock, when dawn was just graying the windows, I threw
+myself on my bed.  I suddenly realized I was extremely tired, yet my
+brain was buzzing like a dynamo.  Pictures and scenes from the last few
+days flashed through my mind: the vindictive look in Helen's eyes after
+the fight with Woods; that table being wheeled out of Helen's room at
+the hospital, with the moaning white bundle on it; the upturned car
+pricked out of the darkness by the automobile lamps, and finally, Frank
+Woods' face when he heard that Helen had been in the car.  With the
+realization that I ought to get up and close the window, where the
+morning breeze was idly flapping the curtain, I fell asleep.
+
+I awoke with a start, to find the room flooded with golden sunlight.  A
+glance at the clock on the mantel-shelf showed that it was after nine.
+My body was cramped and stiff and I felt stale and musty from having
+slept in my clothes.  It was only after a cold shower and a complete
+change that I felt refreshed enough to pick up the threads where I had
+dropped them the night before.
+
+Again, like the sudden aching of a tooth, came the heart-breaking
+realization that Jim was dead.  With it came also anxiety for Helen's
+condition, so I called up the hospital at once.  They could only say
+she had not recovered consciousness, but seemed to be resting
+comfortably.
+
+I went down to the office to tell the stenographers they might have a
+vacation until after the funeral, and to lock up.  The first person I
+found there was Inspector Robinson, who was calmly reading over the
+correspondence on Jim's desk.  With all the "sang-froid" in the world,
+he met my infuriated gaze.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Thompson.  Thought there might be something here
+touching on the case."  He waved a hand toward Jim's letter basket.
+
+"Have you found the black limousine?" I asked.
+
+"Certainly, my dear man, certainly!  We've not only found the car, but
+we found the people who were in the car and they know nothing about the
+accident.  My first explanation was the right one, as I knew it would
+be.  Felderson was driving recklessly, saw the bridge, put on the
+brakes, skidded--was killed."
+
+"But why should he put on his brakes at the bridge?" I queried.
+
+"I've thought of that," he smiled.  "Perfectly logical.  There's a
+nasty bump at the bridge and he naturally didn't want to jar Mrs.
+Felderson."
+
+"So he turned into the ditch and pitched her out on her head instead,"
+I jeered.  "That's all poppy-cock.  I've taken that bridge at full
+speed a hundred times without a jar."
+
+"It's immaterial anyway," he snapped, frowning at me.  "You can't make
+any fool mystery out of it.  The point is that Mr. Felderson put on his
+brakes rapidly, perhaps for a dog or a rabbit, and skidded into the
+ditch."
+
+"It's not immaterial!" I burst out angrily.  "There was a real reason
+for his putting his brakes on rapidly.  He was afraid of hitting
+something, or being hit himself.  Who was the driver of that other car?"
+
+"The son of one of the biggest men in the state, Karl Schreiber."
+
+"Karl Schreiber?" I cried.  "The son of the German Socialist, who was
+put in jail for dodging the draft?"  I grabbed him by the arm.  "Quick,
+man!  Who were the others with him?"
+
+Robinson gazed at me with a stupid frown.
+
+"Two reporters from _The Sun_, a fellow by the name of Pederson, Otto
+Metzger and that Russian, Zalnitch, who just got out of prison."
+
+"Zalnitch!" I yelled exultantly.
+
+Zalnitch!  The man Jim had sent to prison and who had threatened
+revenge.  Metzger, who had been his accomplice all along.  Schreiber,
+who hated Jim and all the virile Americanism that he stood for.
+Pederson and the two reporters I didn't know, but they were no doubt of
+the same vile breed.  A fine gang of cutthroats who would have liked
+nothing better than to get rid of Jim.  They probably saw his big
+search-light, that makes his car easily recognizable, and realized
+their opportunity had come.  They had driven toward him as though to
+smash into him and made Jim take the ditch to get out of the way.  That
+explained the sudden jamming on of his brakes that had caused him to
+skid and overturn.  All these thoughts passed through my mind as I
+heard the names of the men in the black limousine.
+
+"Inspector," I said, "I am fully convinced that the men in the black
+limousine are responsible for my brother-in-law's accident."
+
+"What makes you think that?" he demanded, eying me narrowly.
+
+"Because all of them had reason to hate and fear my brother-in-law.
+Zalnitch, since his release, has sworn he would get even with Mr.
+Felderson for putting him in prison.  Metzger felt the same way.  As
+for Schreiber, I'm sure if he could have manipulated that car so as to
+cause an accident to Mr. Felderson, he would have done it."
+
+"You're crazy," Robinson sneered.  "This thing's gone to your head.
+How could they have known it was your brother-in-law's car?"
+
+"By the big search-light in front.  It's the only car in the state with
+such a search-light.  Mr. Felderson's car was so fast that the police
+sometimes used it, and he had their permission to wear that light, as
+you probably know.  Also, it may have been dark enough to use the
+search-light and yet light enough so that a car could be distinguished
+at a hundred feet.  If there was any light at all, that big
+Peckwith-Pierce car could be recognized by any one."  He was impressed.
+I could see it by the thoughtful, shrewd look that, came into his eyes.
+Already, he was making arrests by the wholesale, in his mind.
+
+"But I can't go pulling these men for murder on such slight evidence as
+that," he exploded.
+
+"No one wants you to," I said sharply.  "All I want you to do is to
+help me find out whether those men were present when the accident
+happened."
+
+The idea of helping me didn't please him at all.  As soon as I had
+spoken I saw my error in not putting it the other way around.
+
+"Now, Mr. Thompson, you better keep out of this," he advised, getting
+to his feet.  "I know that you are anxious to find out if these men had
+anything to do with Mr. Felderson's death, but the case is in good
+hands.  We professionals can do a lot better, when there's no amateurs
+messing about.  You leave it to me!"
+
+"Just as you say," I acquiesced.  "Get busy, though, and if you find
+out anything, let me know!"
+
+Robinson stood a minute, turning his derby hat in his hands.  I knew
+what he was after.
+
+"By the way," I added.  "I'll pay all expenses."
+
+His face brightened at once.  "Well, now, that's good of you, Mr.
+Thompson.  I wasn't going to suggest anything like that, but it'll help
+a lot."
+
+I handed over several bills, which he pocketed with satisfaction.
+
+"Don't you worry a minute, Mr. Thompson.  We'll get those birds yet.  I
+was pretty sure they had something to do with it, all the time.  You've
+got the best man in the department on the job."
+
+He put on his derby hat with a flourish and trotted out the door.  I
+recalled that I had told Mary I would see her, so I dismissed the
+stenographers and locked up the office.  It was a perfect morning, with
+all the warm spicy perfumes of Indian summer.  Overhead, a blue sky was
+filled with tumbled clouds of snowy whiteness.  The rain of the night
+before was still on the grass and the trees, giving a dewy fragrance to
+the air that was invigorating.
+
+Now that I had found a possible solution to the tragedy, I was filled
+with enthusiasm.  I felt that if I could bring Jim's murderers to
+trial, I would conduct such a case for the prosecution as would send
+them up for life.  They had succeeded in carrying out their threats,
+but I would make them pay for it.
+
+I stopped in front of Mary's house and honked the horn.  She opened the
+door and came quickly to the car.  The tragic news of the night before
+had taken the laughter out of her eyes and the buoyancy from her step.
+
+"I could cry my eyes out, Bupps," she said as she climbed into the car.
+
+"Don't do it, or I'll start, too," I responded, a lump coming in my
+throat.
+
+"How did it happen?" she asked, as we drove away.  "The papers gave a
+long account, but said it was an accident."
+
+"Zalnitch did it, Mary.  At least, I'm almost sure it was he."  I told
+her what I had learned during the morning, and as I talked, I finally
+touched on Frank Woods' strange words of the night before.
+
+"You don't think he had anything to do with it, do you, Bupps?"
+
+"No," I said.  "I did think so, but I have changed my mind since this
+morning.  I suppose it was just his grief that made him act so queerly."
+
+"He does love Helen, Bupps," Mary murmured.  "Helen got quite
+confidential while she was staying with me, and the things she told me
+about Woods made me see he was really in love with her."
+
+"Yes, I suppose he does love her," I responded, "but he had no right to
+take her away from Jim."
+
+"It's the man who takes a woman, whether he has the right or not, that
+wins," responded Mary seriously.
+
+I looked at her and wondered whether she was growing the least bit
+personal.  She was looking straight ahead, with an unsmiling gaze.  As
+I glanced at her, there beside me, with the breeze blowing wisps of
+golden hair around her temples, I got panic-stricken.
+
+"Mary--" I began.
+
+"Watch where you are going, Bupps!"
+
+I fastened my eyes on the street ahead, but only for an instant.  With
+Jim gone, I was going to be fearfully lonesome.  I glanced at her again.
+
+"Mary, I know this isn't the right time or place, but--"
+
+"Let's go to the hospital and find out about Helen," she interposed
+quickly.  She knew we were going there all the time.  The mention of
+Helen brought me back to earth with a snap, and made me realize I had
+no business talking about love at such a time.  Yet never in my life
+did I feel more like telling Mary how much I wanted her.
+
+We had no sooner entered the cool hall of St. Mary's than the little
+interne with glasses, whom I had seen the night before, came hurrying
+up to me.
+
+"Mr. Thompson, we have been telephoning every place for you."
+
+My heart jumped to my throat.  "Is Mrs. Felderson---?"
+
+"No," he responded, "Mrs. Felderson is still unconscious.  It is Mr.
+Felderson.  The coroner has made an important discovery."
+
+I waved for Mary to stay where she was and hurried down-stairs, where
+Jim's body lay.  It had not been moved before the coroner's inquest.
+The room was dark and several people were gathered around the inquest
+table.  All eyes were turned on me as I entered the room.  A portly man
+detached himself from the group and came toward me.
+
+"Mr. Thompson?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I am the coroner.  In making my inquest, I find that death was not due
+to the automobile smash-up.  Mr. Felderson was shot through the head,
+from behind.  We have rendered a verdict of murder."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+I TURN DETECTIVE
+
+Murdered!  For a moment I was stupefied by the doctor's revelation, and
+then, as he went on to describe the course of the bullet, and certain
+technical aspects of the case, a sudden rush of thankfulness came over
+me.  Let me explain!  The coroner had given a verdict of murder by
+person or persons unknown.  From the first moment I heard of the
+accident I was certain there was something sinister about it, but had
+little on which to base my belief.  The coroner's verdict substantiated
+my suspicions and gave me a chance to work in the open; to bring into
+court, if possible, the people I suspected.
+
+Murder by person or persons unknown?  I knew the persons: Zalnitch,
+Metzger, Schreiber.  They must have recognized the car as it came
+toward them and taken a shot as they went by.  My thoughts were
+recalled from their wanderings by an unexpected sentence of the
+coroner's.  I had been following him vaguely, but now my attention was
+riveted.
+
+"One could not be sure, because of the varied course that bullets take
+through the body, but the shot seems to have been fired from above and
+behind.  Unless it were otherwise proved, I'd strongly suspect that the
+murderer had fired the shot from the back seat of the car."
+
+"Of course that is impossible," I said, "because in that case the
+murderer would have been in the accident."
+
+"I had the same idea," he said slowly, giving me a searching look.
+
+Helen!
+
+I felt suddenly sick and faint.  I wanted air, sunlight; to get away
+from that darkened room and those piercing eyes that seemed to read my
+thoughts.  I thanked him for letting me know what he had discovered,
+and hurriedly excused myself.
+
+Helen!  The blood pounded through my temples.
+
+God!  No!
+
+Wilful, spoiled woman, if you will, ready to leave her husband without
+thought of the consequences, to go with another man; but his
+premeditated murderer?  A thousand times, no!
+
+I felt that with the unworthy suspicion in my mind, I could not face
+Mary, and I waited a moment at the bottom of the stairs before going up
+to meet her.  There were two questions that had to be answered.  Was
+Helen in the back seat when the car left Mary's the evening before; and
+had Jim told Helen about the proofs he had of Woods' irregularities?
+Mary was probably there when Helen and Jim left, and could answer both
+questions.
+
+I wiped the perspiration from my forehead and assuming as calm an air
+as possible, went up-stairs.  Mary was chatting with the little
+interne, but as soon as she saw my face, she hurried toward me.
+
+"You look as though you'd seen a ghost.  What was it, Bupps?"
+
+"Not here!" I cautioned.  "Wait until we get outside!"
+
+We walked down the broad sunlit steps and climbed into the car.  I felt
+like a traitor to let Mary even think that I suspected Helen, but my
+questions had to be answered.
+
+"Will you have luncheon with me, Mary?"
+
+"Certainly," she answered.  "Let's go to Luigi's.  We can talk quietly
+there."
+
+I headed for down-town and kept my eyes on the road, dreading to put my
+questions into words.
+
+"What was it, Bupps?" Mary asked.
+
+I decided to ask what I had to ask before telling her the coroner's
+verdict.
+
+"Did you see Helen leave the house with Jim yesterday?"
+
+"Yes.  I was looking out the window when they started.  Why?"
+
+I could hardly force myself to go on.
+
+"Was Helen--did Helen get into the front seat with Jim?" I faltered.
+
+"No.  She climbed into the back," Mary replied.  "They had some sort of
+an argument before they left.  I knew Jim was excited and that Helen
+was angry.  Of course I didn't hear all that passed between them, I
+tried not to hear any, but they talked very loud and were right in the
+next room."
+
+"What did you hear?" I asked, my heart sinking.
+
+"Once Jim laughed, a hard sort of laugh, and I heard Helen say, 'You
+lie!  You know you are lying!  He will disprove everything you say!'
+Another time I heard Helen exclaim, 'Give me that pistol!  You shan't
+threaten him while I'm there!'  I knew, of course, they were speaking
+of Frank Woods, but I didn't know what it was all about.  But why do
+you ask all this, Bupps?"
+
+"Mary," I said, and I couldn't look at her, "the coroner has given a
+verdict of murder."
+
+"Murder?" Mary gasped.  I nodded.
+
+"Jim was shot from behind, while he was driving Helen out to the
+country-club to meet Woods, and Helen was in the back seat."
+
+"She didn't do it!" Mary burst out.  "She couldn't have done it."
+
+"Of course she didn't do it!" I exploded.  We were glaring at each
+other as though each was defending Helen from the other's accusation.
+"We know she didn't do it, but there are many who won't take our word
+for it.  I could see by the way the coroner looked at me this morning
+that he is ready to accuse her of murdering Jim, and it's up to us to
+save her, by finding out who really is guilty."
+
+We drove up in front of Luigi's, and I was able to get a small table,
+in the corner by ourselves.  Although no one could have overheard us, I
+sat as near Mary as I could and we talked with our heads close together.
+
+Mrs. Webster Pratt came in the door just then, with a luncheon party,
+and, noticing how we were engrossed, came bouncing over to the table at
+once.
+
+"Poor Mr. Thompson, my heart bleeds for you--simply bleeds for you."
+
+I got to my feet and permitted her to squeeze my hand.  She squeezes
+your hand or pats you at the least opportunity, and this one was
+unequaled.
+
+"Poor, dear Mr. Felderson.  It is such a loss.  I was shocked to death
+when I heard it.  And Mrs. Felderson, the poor child, is she going
+to--ah--t-t-t.  I was afraid so when I read it in the paper.  I'm
+surprised to find you here.  How is your poor dear mother?"
+
+I knew that the woman would gossip all over the place about my
+heartlessness, unless I explained my presence in a public café so soon
+after Jim's death and my sister's injury.
+
+"My mother doesn't know about it yet," I said quietly.  "I didn't think
+her strong enough to stand the shock.  I shouldn't have come here, but
+I had a very important matter to talk over with Miss Pendleton."
+
+"I could see that from the way you were sitting," she giggled.  "I'm
+afraid that you're going to give Eastbrook something to talk about as
+soon as this distressing thing is over."  She patted my arm, beamed at
+Mary and swished over to her party.
+
+"We shouldn't have come here, Mary," I said with a sour grimace.
+
+"I forgot that old cat sometimes comes here.  She'll spread it all over
+town that you were down here making love to me before Jim was decently
+buried.  She'll probably say we're engaged."
+
+"Well, I wish we were."  I know I must have shown my longing in my eyes.
+
+"Don't, please, Warren!" Mary whispered, putting her hand on my arm.
+"We've got too much to do.  That Pratt woman drove everything out of my
+mind for a moment.  I wish she hadn't seen us here."
+
+I didn't feel as though I could eat a thing and neither did Mary, so I
+told the waiter to bring us a light salad, and sent him away.
+
+"Mary," I said, after he had gone, "we know Helen didn't do this thing,
+but if you are called by the grand jury to tell what you just told me,
+they will bring an indictment against her in a minute."
+
+"They couldn't!" Mary expostulated.  "They couldn't believe such a
+thing."
+
+"Don't you think Mrs. Webster Pratt would believe it, if she knew
+everything that we know?" I argued.  "She'd believe it with only half
+as much proof, and she has just about the mental equipment of the
+average juryman.  There'll be about four Mrs. Webster Pratts on that
+jury."
+
+"What can we do, Bupps?" Mary begged with tears in her eyes.
+
+"Well," I said, "you've got to see Helen as soon as they will let you
+and as often as they'll let you, so that the first time she speaks,
+you'll be there to hear what she says."
+
+"But suppose she dies, Bupps?"
+
+"Even while she is unconscious," I went on, disregarding her query,
+"she may say something that will give us a clue.  I'm going out to the
+bridge right after lunch."
+
+"What for?" Mary asked.
+
+"To see if I can find Jim's revolver.  If it had been found on Helen,
+the coroner would have told me this morning, I think.  Of course, they
+may not have taken it at all.  In that case it will still be at your
+house.  If Helen took it with her, it must have fallen out when the car
+turned over, and if it did, I must get it before anybody else does."
+
+The waiter interrupted here with the salad.  Mary dabbled with hers a
+bit and then said:
+
+"Bupps, hadn't I better get out of town?"
+
+"No," I replied.  "They'd be sure to find you, and when you gave your
+testimony, it would hurt Helen just that much more."
+
+"But I can't stand up before them and tell what I heard.  I'll lie
+first."  Her lovely little face clouded up as though she were going to
+cry.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind!" I insisted.  "We know Helen didn't do
+it.  Don't we?"
+
+"Ye-es."  Her tone was not convincing.
+
+"Well, then, whatever we say can't hurt her.  And we're bound to find
+out who the guilty persons are."
+
+"But, Bupps, who could it have been?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"I still think it was Zalnitch and the men who were with him, but it
+might have been Woods.  I'm going to find out everything he did last
+night.  It may throw some light on the case.  After all, he is the one
+who had the most to gain by Jim's death, and his words of last night
+were mighty queer."
+
+I paid the waiter and we left the café.  On the way to Mary's I stopped
+at the undertaker's and made arrangements for Jim's burial.  The man in
+charge was the saddest looking person I have ever seen.  He had a
+woebegone look about him that was infectious--made you want to weep for
+him or with him.  He discussed the funeral arrangements in a hushed
+voice and finished by whispering, "I sincerely hope what the papers are
+hinting is not so."
+
+"What's that?" I asked.
+
+"The noon edition of _The Sun_ says, 'The finger of suspicion points
+very strongly to Mrs. Felderson.'"
+
+I hurried out to the car and jumped in.
+
+"Mary, we've got to work fast."
+
+"Is Helen suspected?" she asked.
+
+"Yes.  _The Sun_ is more than hinting."
+
+The news seemed to bring out the fight in Mary.
+
+"Well, we'll prove her innocent."
+
+When we reached the Pendletons' we hurried into the house and went at
+once to the room where Jim and Helen had their argument.  The revolver
+was not there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+IT LOOKS BAD FOR HELEN
+
+I drove Mary to the hospital with my spirits at lowest ebb.  If _The
+Sun_ were going to try to convict Helen of the murder, I realized that
+we had a hard fight ahead of us, for that yellow sheet was most zealous
+in hounding down any one who happened to be socially prominent, and in
+demanding punishment.  The blacker the scandal, the deeper they dug,
+and the more details they gave to their gluttonous, filth-loving
+public.  They would be particularly eager here, for they had no love
+for Jim, due to the stand he took against them during the war.
+
+I knew the reporters would be hot on my trail and that sooner or later
+they would interview Mary.  So I determined that Mary should spend as
+much time as possible at the hospital, feeling sure the reporters would
+not be allowed in the room where Helen lay, battered and unconscious.
+As for me, I wanted to get to the bridge on the Blandesville Road as
+quickly as possible and from there to the country-club to inquire what
+Woods had done the night before.  I made up my mind I'd lead the
+reporters a merry old chase before they ran me to earth, and when they
+did, I'd tell them nothing.  I also wanted to get in touch with
+Robinson as soon as I could, to find out whether he had discovered
+anything new of Zalnitch and his confederates--but that could wait
+until evening.
+
+At the hospital they were at first opposed to having any one in the
+room with Helen, who still lay in a coma, but with the help of one of
+the nurses in charge, it was at last arranged.
+
+As I drove over the road to the club, the bleak barrenness of the
+country struck me anew.  Twenty-four hours before Jim had been alive.
+Twenty-four hours before we had been in our office discussing the proof
+of Woods' guilt, and Woods had telephoned to Jim, asking him to come to
+the country-club alone.  My suspicions of the man stirred afresh, so
+that when I came to the bridge and found no one there, I decided to
+leave my search for the revolver until later and go straight on to the
+club.
+
+It was still early for the golfers and the bridge players and there
+were only a few people there.  These, of course, came up to me and
+pressed my hand with genuine sympathy.  I realized how many, many
+friends Jim had and what a loss his death was to them all.
+
+As soon as I could disengage myself I hunted up Jackson, the negro
+head-waiter and general house-man, who knows everything that happens at
+the club.  He had just finished his dinner and I drew him into the
+cloak-room so that our talk might be uninterrupted.  I took out a five
+dollar bill and held it up before his expectant eyes.
+
+"Do you see that, Jackson?" I questioned.
+
+"Yas, indeed Ah sees it, suh!  Ah may be gittin' old but Ah ain't blind
+yit.  Ah'll giv you whut you wants, instan'ly."
+
+He started to leave, but I grabbed him.
+
+"That's not what I want, Jackson," I laughed.  Since the prohibition
+law went into effect, it has been only through some such ritual that
+"wets" can get theirs at the club.  "All I want is to ask you a few
+questions."
+
+"Fo' dat money?"  His teeth gleamed.
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Mr. Woods was here last night?" I asked, abruptly.
+
+"Yas, suh."
+
+"What time did he come in?"
+
+"Ah cain't raghtly say, Mist' Thompsin, but he had dinnah out heah
+'bout seben-thuty," he answered.
+
+"Did he leave the club after that?"
+
+"Not 'til de telephone call come whut says Mist' Feldahson ben killt.
+Den he lef wif Mist' Brown an' Mist' Paisley."
+
+"You're sure he was here all that time?" I asked.
+
+"No, sah, I ain't suah, but Ah seen him ev'y now an' den thu de
+ev'nin'."
+
+"Was he here at quarter past eight?" I questioned.
+
+"He was heah at twenty-fahv minutes past eight, Ah knows, cause Ah done
+brought him a drink."
+
+"You're sure of that?"
+
+"Yas, suh!  Positive!" the negro answered.  "'Cause Ah looked at de
+clock raght den an' der."
+
+As near as I could figure, the accident had happened about eight-ten or
+eight-fifteen and the bridge was six miles away from the club.  Woods
+couldn't have been at the bridge at the time of the tragedy and got
+back to the club by eighty twenty-five.  Still, he might have had an
+accomplice.
+
+"Thank you, Jackson," I said, giving him the money.  "Just forget that
+I asked you any questions!"
+
+The darky chuckled.  "Ah done fohgot 'em befoh you evah asted 'em, suh.
+Thank you, suh!"
+
+As I passed into the big, central living-room, Paisley came in.
+
+"What was this I saw in _The Sun_?" he asked.
+
+"The sort of rot that nasty sheet always prints," I said.
+
+"Nothing to it of course.  I thought not.  You don't feel like golfing?"
+
+I shook my head.  "Not to-day, old chap.  By the way, were you with
+Frank Woods when the news of Jim's death reached the club?"
+
+"Yes--why?" he asked.
+
+"You won't think it too strange if I ask you how he appeared to take
+it?" I said, trying to make my remark seem as casual as possible.
+Seeing the puzzled expression on his face, I added: "I know it is a
+peculiar thing to ask, but please don't think any more about it than
+you can help, and just answer."
+
+"Why--" Paisley began, a little flustered, "why he took it just the way
+the rest of us took it, I suppose.  I don't remember exactly."
+
+"Did he seem surprised?" I questioned.
+
+"Of course," Paisley answered,
+
+"He didn't seem relieved?"
+
+"Say, what the devil are you driving at, Thompson?" Paisley burst out.
+
+I saw I could get nothing from him so I left him looking after me with
+a perplexed and somewhat indignant gaze.  As a detective it seemed I
+might make a good plumber.  I knew very well he would not repeat my
+questions, but it would be just like good old Paisley to worry himself
+to death trying to solve them.
+
+I drove back to the bridge, determined to find the revolver, if
+possible, and then hunt up Inspector Robinson to learn what he had to
+report.  Apparently, my suspicions of Frank Woods were groundless.  He
+had had dinner at the club and then waited around for Jim to keep his
+appointment.  He had been seen by Jackson at eight twenty-five; Jackson
+was positive of that fact.  Ten or fifteen minutes at the most in which
+to go six miles to the bridge and back to the club, put up his car and
+ask Jackson for a drink.  The thing couldn't be done.  He had heard of
+Jim's death with surprise and had heard of Helen's injury with the
+greatest horror.  There seemed to be no doubt of one thing: no matter
+how much he wished for Jim's death, no matter how much he benefited by
+the murder, Frank Woods, himself, didn't do the killing.
+
+An automobile was standing at the bridge when I got there and I cursed
+the whim that had sent me to the club on a false scent and kept me from
+having an uninterrupted search for the weapon.  When I saw, however,
+that the driver of the automobile was Inspector Robinson, I was greatly
+relieved, for this would not only give me a chance to learn what he had
+discovered concerning the men in the black limousine, but would not
+interfere with the search for Jim's gun.  Robinson had his coat off and
+his sleeves rolled up and was fishing around the edge of the little
+creek with his hands.  So engrossed was he in his task that I was
+almost upon him before he looked up.
+
+"Good afternoon, Inspector," I addressed him.  "What are you doing,
+digging for gold or making mud pies?"
+
+"I'm gettin' bait to catch a sucker," he snarled.  "You must have
+thought you had one this morning."
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"All that bunk you handed me about Schreiber and the men in the black
+limousine.  That was a fine stall you pulled.  I might have known you
+was tryin' to cover up somebody's tracks."
+
+He dried his hands on a rather flamboyant, yellow handkerchief.
+
+"I haven't the least idea what you are talking about," I replied coldly.
+
+"Oh, you haven't, haven't you?" the little man burst out malignantly.
+"You're innocent, you are!  Too damned innocent!  I suppose you didn't
+know that your brother-in-law was shot in the back of the head and that
+your sister was the only one that was with him when it was done.  I
+suppose that's news--eh?"
+
+My heart stood still as I heard his words.  So he was after the proof
+that Helen did it.  He had read the insinuations in _The Sun_ and had
+abandoned his work against Schreiber and Zalnitch for the fresher trail.
+
+"I found out this morning that my brother-in-law was shot, but that
+only makes the case look the blacker for those who openly threatened
+his life."
+
+"Among whom was your beautiful sister," the detective retorted acidly.
+
+"How do you know that?" I demanded.
+
+"From her maid and all the rest of the servants in the house.  I found
+that out when I went up to take another squint at the automobile.  You
+thought you were pretty smart sendin' me on a wild-goose chase after a
+couple of cracked Socialists, when all the time you knew it was your
+own sister done the thing.  Tried to keep me off the track by slippin'
+me a little dough.  Well, it didn't work, see?  There's your dough
+back."  He threw a crumpled wad of bills on the ground at my feet.  "No
+one saw you give it to me, but I ain't takin' any chances, you may have
+marked those bills.  From now on I work alone without any theories from
+you."
+
+"Look here, Inspector!" I demanded, "I was in earnest when I told you I
+wanted you to find out all you could about the men in the black
+limousine.  I'm sure they had something to do with Mr. Felderson's
+death.  I didn't try to bribe you, nor throw you off the right track.
+Even though my sister did have a little unpleasantness with her
+husband, it was no serious difference."
+
+I determined to find out just how much Robinson knew.
+
+"She was utterly incapable of doing an act like this.  What possible
+motive could she have?"
+
+I could see that Robinson was rather impatiently waiting for me to go
+before continuing his search.
+
+"Well, I ain't found out her motive yet.  That can wait.  It might have
+been money or jealousy."
+
+"Money?" I scoffed.  "My sister had plenty; more than she could use.
+And as for her being jealous of her husband, that is even more
+ridiculous."
+
+The little man eyed me angrily.  "I said that the motive could wait.
+There's no tellin' what a society woman will do.  She may have been
+crazy for all I know.  But I ain't, and all your arguin' is just so
+much time wasted.  You think those guys in the automobile done it.  I
+don't.  I think your sister done it.  You don't.  All right, then, you
+take your road and I'll take mine, and we'll see who comes out ahead."
+
+He turned and started back to where he had been hunting when I came up.
+
+"May I ask what you expect to find here?" I queried, walking after him.
+
+"Sure you can ask," he replied.  As he found me following, he turned
+and snapped: "Say, what the hell are you hangin' around here for,
+anyway?"
+
+"I merely wanted to ask what you had discovered about the men in the
+black limousine.  That's why I stopped."
+
+"Well, you've found out, haven't you?  _Nothin'_.  All right then, you
+go on into the city and see if you can find out anything more!"
+
+I walked on down the sloping bank, searching the ground to see if I
+could find the gun that might reveal so much.  I could feel the eyes of
+the inspector boring into my back.
+
+"What are you looking for?" he demanded.
+
+"A cuff-link," I answered easily.  "I think I lost one here last night.
+You didn't happen to find it, did you?"
+
+"A cuff-link?  Humph!" he grunted.  "No, I haven't found it, but I
+wouldn't be surprised if I was lookin' for that same cuff-link."
+
+All this time I was searching the bank with my eyes.  A scrubby, little
+bush overhung the creek and I kicked at it with my foot.  There was a
+"plopp" as though something heavy had dropped into the water.
+Instinctively I knew it was the object for which we were both
+searching, and I turned to find the inspector eying me quizzically.
+
+"What was that noise?"
+
+"What noise?" I asked.
+
+"Sounded as though that precious cuff-link of yours had dropped into
+the water."  He started for me, and as he did so, I bent down quickly
+and plunged my arm into the water.  My fingers closed on the revolver
+just as he came bounding toward me.  With a quick shove I pushed it far
+into the soft clay of the bank, and, grabbing a rock off the bottom of
+the creek, withdrew my arm from the water and slipped the rock into my
+pocket.  The red-faced little detective was peering over my shoulder as
+I turned.  Rarely have I seen a man so angry.
+
+"Give me what you pulled out of that creek!" he almost screamed.
+
+"What for, Inspector?" I asked quietly.
+
+"Never mind what for.  You give me what you found in that creek, or
+I'll--" he grabbed me by the shoulder.
+
+"All right," I said; "all right, Inspector, don't get so excited over
+nothing.  It's yours."  I pulled the muddy rock from my coat pocket and
+gravely handed it to him.  "It was only an ordinary, every-day rock.  I
+didn't know you were a geologist."
+
+He pounced on me and ran his fingers over my person.  Red-faced, he
+surveyed me.
+
+"I ain't a geologist, but I am a criminologist, and just one more of
+your monkey tricks like that and I'll put you where you'll have time to
+study a lot of rocks and do a lot of thinkin' before bein' funny again.
+Now, you get out!  Get into that car as quick as you can, if you know
+what's good for you!"
+
+Hoping I could retrieve the revolver later, and realizing that nothing
+could be gained by staying there longer, I started toward the car.  I
+had hardly taken five steps when I heard a joyful yell and turned to
+see Robinson struggling to his feet, the muddy revolver in his hand.
+
+"Here's your cuff-link," he cried.  "Before I'm through you'll find
+that this ain't a cuff-link, but a necklace for the neck of that pretty
+sister of yours.  You, with your Socialists and your cuff-buttons,
+tryin' to keep me from gettin' what I go after.  Well, it didn't work!
+It don't usually, when I go after somethin'.  It didn't work, did it?"
+
+"No.  It didn't work," I admitted.
+
+"Oh, I don't blame you," Robinson went on, mollified by his success and
+the soft tone of my reply; "I'd of done the same thing in your place,
+if my sister was a murderer."
+
+The word "murderer" acted like an electric shock on me.
+
+"She didn't do it, I tell you; she couldn't have done it!"
+
+"Now, Mr. Thompson," Robinson began in a soothing voice.  "These things
+happen in even the best families sometimes.  You mustn't take it too
+hard."
+
+"Will you let me examine that revolver?" I demanded.
+
+"Why, no.  I can't let you examine it.  But I'll examine it when I get
+ready."
+
+"Will you be so good as to do it now?" I asked.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Because it may not have been fired at all.  That would make things
+look entirely different, you know."
+
+The inspector took out the gaudy handkerchief again and wiped the mud
+off the barrel and the grip.  I had shoved the pistol barrel foremost
+into the bank so the muzzle was filled with clay.  It was Jim's--a "32"
+automatic.
+
+"It won't be spoilin' any evidence by my cleanin' this mud off the
+outside, because you put that there yourself," the detective said,
+wiping the pistol carefully.  He released the spring and pulled out the
+clip.  I saw a cartridge at the top of the clip and exclaimed:
+
+"There!  You see?  That gun was never fired!"
+
+The inspector looked at me with a pitying smile.
+
+"Now, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Thompson.  You see, you don't know
+the inner workings of an automatic.  When a gun like this is fired, it
+discharges the old shell and a new cartridge comes to the top of the
+clip.  There are only three cartridges left in this clip."
+
+"Do you mean to say that my sister fired more than one shot?" I asked
+sarcastically.
+
+"Not at all, not at all," the little man responded airily.  "There were
+probably only four cartridges in the gun in the first place.  You're
+gettin' all excited over this thing.  Of course, I don't blame you, Mr.
+Thompson, for tryin' to fight against facts, but it certainly looks bad
+for sister."
+
+I got into my car and started home, my heart dead within me.  It
+certainly did look bad for Helen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+LOOK OUT, JIM
+
+A good general realizes when he is beaten and changes his tactics
+accordingly.  Where I had been certain of Zalnitch's guilt before, and
+had planned his prosecution, now, with the sickening certainty that it
+was my sister herself who was guilty, I began to plan her defense.
+Yes, I'll admit right now, the gun convinced me.  I had been certain
+that Jim had not been killed through careless driving, that is why I
+had been so insistent that Inspector Robinson should hunt down those
+responsible for his death.  Now that it was too late, I cursed myself
+for not having let well-enough alone and aided the coroner in giving a
+verdict of accidental death.  My suspicions against Zalnitch had been
+based on the knowledge that he hated Jim and would have done anything
+to put him out of the way.  Coincidence had brought him over the same
+road that Jim had traveled a few minutes before his death.  This had
+strengthened my suspicions, but the case would have been hard to prove,
+while the evidence against Helen was too pronounced to be disregarded.
+Woods, too, had gained my suspicions, and yet he was miles away from
+the murder.  I realized suddenly that I had been refusing to look at
+the obvious in order that I might place the guilt where I wanted to
+believe it lay.  Yet it did seem the irony of fate that the two men
+benefiting by Jim's death should have had nothing to do with it.
+
+Helen did it!  As the awful realization of what that meant came over
+me, I hoped, for a brief second, that death would take her and so spare
+her the consequences of her act.  It would be such an easy way out.  I
+felt sure that if she died I could hush the whole thing up.  _The Sun_
+could be bought, if enough money was offered.
+
+These gruesome thoughts carried me into the city almost before I knew
+it.  I stopped at the house to change my muddy clothes, before going to
+the hospital to get Mary, and learned from the maid that mother had
+been asking for me.  I went quickly to her room.  She was lying in bed
+and at first I thought she was asleep, but she turned as I approached
+her.
+
+"Is that you, Warren?" she asked softly.
+
+"Yes, mother.  Stella said you wanted to see me."  I bent down and
+kissed her lightly.  She reached up and put her thin weak arms around
+my neck.
+
+"Warren, is there anything wrong?  If there is you must tell me."
+
+"No, mother.  What made you think that?" I asked.
+
+She slowly withdrew her arms and let them fall at her side.
+
+"I don't know.  I seemed to feel that something had happened.  Just
+lying here, I felt afraid for you children--and then there were so many
+people ringing the bell and the telephone, I was afraid that some
+accident had happened to you or Helen."
+
+I patted her wan cheek.  "It's just your imagination.  The only thing
+wrong is that my dearest, little mother isn't as well and strong as her
+good-for-nothing son."
+
+I kissed her again, and she smiled up at me.  "I'm so glad," she
+whispered.  "I was worried."
+
+I almost choked when I got outside.  If Helen should recover and be put
+on trial, it would kill mother, I felt sure.  And I would be left alone
+in the world.  Down-stairs, I asked Stella who had called, and she told
+me the reporters had been trying to find me all day.
+
+During the drive to the hospital, I tried to focus my mind on Helen's
+defense, but all the force seemed to have been sapped out of me.  I
+felt weak and miserable and unutterably lonely.
+
+At the hospital, they received me with the quiet sympathy that
+strengthens you in spite of yourself and gives you hope.  Doctor
+Forbes, who had operated on Helen the night before, was in the office.
+He had just come from Helen's room and he reported her condition to be
+"extremely satisfactory."
+
+"There is only one thing that worries me," he said.  "Your sister seems
+to have something on her mind that keeps her from resting as quietly as
+I could wish.  It is some real or fancied danger that repeats itself
+over and over in her delirium.  If we could only hit on something that
+would ease her mind of those fears, I should have every reason to
+believe she'd get well.  I say this to you because you are her brother
+and are no doubt acquainted with what has happened to her in the last
+few weeks, and may be able to suggest what it is she fears."
+
+"Perhaps it is the accident itself," I offered.
+
+He shook his head.  "It may be, but I think not.  However, suppose you
+step into the room and listen to what she says.  If we can only rid her
+of her fears and get her to rest quietly, I am positive she will
+recover."
+
+I shook his hand warmly and went upstairs to Helen's room.  I knew what
+it was Helen feared.  The consequences of her crime.  The terrible fear
+of public prosecution for the murder of her husband was torturing her
+poor delirious brain.  For a moment I forgave her everything and pitied
+her from the depths of my heart.
+
+The smell of ether lay thick in the air as I walked down the long
+corridor to Helen's room.  I knocked softly at the door and a
+white-capped nurse opened it a little way, her finger to her lips.  I
+beckoned her outside and told her Doctor Forbes wished me to find out,
+if I could, what troubled my sister's mind.
+
+As we entered, I saw Mary sitting by the bed, holding the hand of the
+poor white figure that lay, death-like, beneath the sheet.  Helen's
+head was swathed in bandages, except for the oval of her face.  She
+looked quite like some fair nun who had said her last "Ava."  It was
+impossible to believe that it was her hand that had fired the shot that
+killed Jim, and if she lived, that she would have to face the world a
+murderer.
+
+Mary only glanced up at me for a moment and then turned her eyes again
+to Helen's lips to catch any sound that might pass them.  As I watched
+her sitting there so patiently, a little pale from her cramped vigil by
+the bedside, a great tenderness welled up in my heart, for her.  Just
+then Helen's lips began to move.  At first the words were inaudible,
+although Mary leaned forward to catch them.  Then with a half-cry, in
+which there was a perfect agony of fear----
+
+"Look out, Jim!  It's going to hit us!  Oh-oh-oh----"
+
+The voice died away and was succeeded by moans, low and trembling.
+Mary glanced up with a startled look in her eyes.  The nurse went
+quickly to the bedside and soothed the impatient hand that was plucking
+at the sheets.  As for me, my forehead was bathed in sweat and tears
+were running down my cheeks, but a joy throbbed and sang through my
+heart till I felt that I should suffocate unless I left that
+ether-filled room for the open air.
+
+I tiptoed toward the door and caught a nod from Mary as I passed, which
+said she would join me later.  For a second, after I closed the door, I
+couldn't move.  My legs failed me and I felt I was going to faint.
+Gathering all my strength, I stumbled over to a chair by the window and
+sat down.
+
+I think I should have dropped to my knees and thanked God right there,
+if I hadn't feared that my prayers would have been interrupted.  That
+cry, "Look out, Jim!" proved not only that Helen had nothing whatever
+to do with Jim's death, but that she had tried to warn him of his
+danger.  "It's going to hit us!"  What could that mean but that my
+first theory was correct, that the men in the black limousine had
+recognized Jim's car and had tried to run him into the ditch?
+Schreiber and Zalnitch were at the bottom of it, after all, and Helen
+was innocent.
+
+As I had hoped she would die, when I thought her guilty, now I hoped
+and prayed she would live.  I recalled Doctor Forbes' words: "If we
+could only hit on something that would ease her mind of those fears, I
+would have every reason to believe she would get well."  I could at
+least tell him the cause of the fear and leave it to him to find a
+remedy.  With Helen well, ready to testify as to the details of that
+tragic night, we would certainly bring Jim's murderers to trial.
+
+The door opened and Mary came out.  I rose and walked over to her, my
+eyes still betraying the emotion Helen's words had roused in me.
+
+"You heard what she said?" Mary breathed.
+
+"We knew she didn't do it, didn't we?"
+
+"But, Warren, the things she says are all so weird and mixed up.
+Sometimes she talks of things that happened just recently and then
+again she babbles of things that took place a long time ago when we
+were kids.  Once when the nurse came into the room, Helen began crying
+as though her heart would break and begged that we wouldn't think too
+harshly of her.  Again she repeated over and over, 'He didn't do it--He
+didn't do it!'"
+
+"Her other fears," I replied, "probably had to do with Woods.  But that
+cry to Jim to 'Look out!' is a real clue and I'm going to sift it to
+the bottom."
+
+"What are you going to do?" Mary demanded.
+
+"I'm going to accuse Zalnitch of Jim's murder--going to accuse him to
+his face."
+
+"Oh, be careful, Bupps!  Nothing must happen to you!"
+
+The tone she used, her sweet anxiety for my safety, went to my head and
+I reached out to take her in my arms, but with a little protesting
+gesture she stopped me.
+
+"Please don't be foolish, Warren!"  Then as she saw my spirits droop,
+she added, "Not till Helen is well."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+I ACCUSE ZALNITCH
+
+"Mr. Zalnitch is busy and can't see you."
+
+The girl, evidently a stenographer or secretary, looked coolly
+competent in her white shirt-waist and well-made skirt.  I was
+surprised to find a young woman of her evident education and refinement
+in the employ of such a man.
+
+"Did you give him my message?" I asked.
+
+"Yes.  He said he was not interested."
+
+I felt vaguely disappointed that my strategy had not worked.  I had
+given the name of Anderson, and had represented myself as the head of
+the Steamfitters' Union of Cleveland, anxious for instructions on how
+to settle a labor problem in our local union.  I had done this, feeling
+that if I gave my own name, he might refuse to see me.  Apparently my
+alias was to have no better success.
+
+"When will he be free, can you tell me?"
+
+"I couldn't say," the girl answered.  "He is very busy at present, but
+if you will come in and wait, perhaps he may see you later."
+
+It seemed to me there was the faintest suggestion of a smile on the
+girl's face as I stepped across the threshold into the small
+waiting-room, but I hadn't a chance to observe more closely, for she
+turned her back on me at once and immediately resumed her typewriting.
+
+The room in which I found myself was one of a dingy suite in an old
+warehouse that had been converted into a newspaper building to house
+_The Uplift_, a weekly paper, edited by a Russian Jew named Borsky and
+financed by Schreiber.  It was a typical anarchistic sheet, and had
+been suppressed for a time, during the war.  Opposite where I sat was a
+door from which the paint had peeled in places.  This evidently led
+into Zalnitch's office, for I could hear the murmur of voices behind
+it.  The rooms were ill-lighted and unclean, and it made me mad to see
+as nice a girl as the stenographer working herself to death in such
+dingy surroundings and for such a man as Zalnitch.
+
+I watched her as she worked and marveled that any one could make her
+fingers go so rapidly.  I noticed with admiration and dissatisfaction,
+that unlike my stenographers, she didn't have to stop to erase a
+misspelled word every two minutes.  I wondered what salary Zalnitch
+paid her and if she would like to change employers.
+
+"I hope you will pardon my interrupting your work--" I began.
+
+"You're not," the girl responded, without even glancing up.
+
+"May I ask if you are entirely satisfied with your employment here?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" she inquired, stopping for a moment and fixing me
+with clear gray eyes.
+
+"I am badly in need of a competent stenographer and I thought you might
+prefer working in a place where the surroundings are pleasanter and the
+pay probably higher."
+
+She studied me a moment, as though card-indexing me, then having
+apparently decided that I was in earnest and not merely trying to
+flirt, that elusive smile again played about her mouth.
+
+"You are the first steamfitter I ever met that found himself badly in
+need of a stenographer."
+
+Caught!  I bit my lip at my stupid blunder, but had to laugh in spite
+of myself.
+
+"Your make-up is all wrong, Mr. Anderson--if your name is Anderson.  I
+don't know what you are trying to do, nor why you picked out
+steamfitting as your mythical life-work, but I do know you aren't a
+detective."
+
+This time the smile came out in the open.  I liked her immensely.  She
+might make an ally.  She would at least know what had happened in the
+office during the last few days.
+
+"Miss--?"
+
+"Miller," she added.
+
+"Miss Miller.  I am a lawyer, and my sister is about to be accused of a
+terrible crime which she didn't commit.  I think I know who did commit
+it, but so far I haven't been able to connect him definitely with the
+crime.  I think you can help me.  Will you?"
+
+"What makes you think I can help you?" she asked.
+
+"Because you are so situated you can observe the person I believe to be
+responsible for the crime," I replied.
+
+Her gaze changed from pleasant questioning to indignant surprise.  When
+she spoke her voice was coldly final.
+
+"I think you have made a mistake in judgment of character.  Please let
+me finish my work now."
+
+"Miss Miller, please don't think for a minute that I--"
+
+Behind me a door opened and, as I turned, I found myself looking into
+the wrathful eyes of a stunted little man with an enormous head.  Any
+one who has once seen Zalnitch can never forget him.  His wizened,
+misshapen body is a grotesque caricature of a man's, which, surmounted
+by his huge head with its bushy hair, makes him look for all the world
+like some scientist's experiment.  In the doorway to Zalnitch's private
+office stood Schreiber, a heavy-jowled, unsmiling mastiff of a man.
+
+"What do you want that you should be keeping my stenographer from
+working?"  Zalnitch's voice rose in a shrill crescendo.  "Get out of
+here!  You have no business here.  Get out!"
+
+"Zalnitch, I came here to speak to you."
+
+"Get out!" he screamed.  "I won't talk with you.  I have no time to
+waste, even if you have.  I know who you are.  You're the
+brother-in-law of Felderson, the blood-sucking millionaire who sent me
+to jail.  I won't talk with you, do you hear?"
+
+As he grew more excited I seemed to grow cooler.
+
+"Zalnitch, I'm going to swear out a warrant against you for my
+brother's murder."
+
+For a moment the little man blinked at me in amazement; then he threw
+back his head and laughed, a shrill, giggling squeak.  With his fists
+he pounded his misshapen legs.
+
+"You arrest me for his murder?  Hee-hee!  You hear, Schreiber?  He is
+going to--to arrest me!"
+
+Suddenly he stopped, as quickly as he had started.
+
+"Go ahead!  Arrest me!  Try to send me to prison again.  I'll make you
+sweat blood before you are through.  You think I killed him--your
+brother?  I wish I had.  I'd be proud to say I killed him!  You hear?
+I wish I had killed him.  I wish he were alive so I _could_ kill him."
+
+The little monstrosity emphasized each of his staccato sentences by
+stamping a puny foot on the floor.  His gloating over Jim's death was
+more than flesh could stand.
+
+"Stop!" I yelled.  "If it wasn't you that killed him, it was one of
+that murderous gang of cutthroats and anarchists that was with you.  If
+it wasn't you, then it was Schreiber's son--that Prussian jail-bird, or
+one of his friends."
+
+Zalnitch's eyes blazed.  "You call us anarchists and cutthroats.  You,
+who are a product of the rotten government that has ground down and
+oppressed the people I represent.  Because we rebel, you throw us in
+prison, making a mockery of your boasted liberty.  So they did for a
+time in Russia.  You call us 'cutthroats.'  It's a good term.  I hope
+to God we earn that title."
+
+Finding that the talk was turning into a political harangue, I turned
+my back on Zalnitch and started toward the door.  Schreiber followed me.
+
+"Chust one minud."  There was heavy menace in his look.  "You galled my
+son a chail-bird a minud ago.  He vas in chail because he did righd,
+but dot don't matter.  You're egsited, because your brodder vas gilled.
+Ve don't know nodding aboud it.  Ve heard aboud it de nexd day.  I
+don'd have nodding against Velderson, bud if you dry to pud my son,
+Karl, in chail again, someding vill happen to you.  I'm delling dis to
+you vor your own good."
+
+Disappointed at the interview, I closed the door behind me and started
+down the hall.  I don't know just what I had hoped to find out, but I
+thought Zalnitch would betray himself in some way--must in some way
+show his guilty knowledge of Jim's death.  Instead, he had laughed at
+me when I threatened to arrest him, even wished he could claim the
+credit for the crime.
+
+I heard the pattering of feet and turned to find Miss Miller behind me.
+
+"Mr. Thompson."
+
+"Yes, Miss Miller."
+
+"A few moments ago you asked me to help you discover who killed your
+brother-in-law.  For some reason you think Mr. Zalnitch had something
+to do with it, and you wanted me to give you any information I could
+about him."
+
+"Yes," I responded.
+
+"When you made that proposal, I was very angry because I resented your
+thinking I'd spy on my employer.  However, your suspicions are so
+ridiculous I feel it is only fair to tell you that you are wasting your
+time."
+
+"What makes you so sure that Zalnitch had nothing to do with it, Miss
+Miller?"
+
+"Because I know he is utterly incapable of doing anything of that
+kind," she answered.
+
+I half smiled.  "Mr. Zalnitch has the reputation of holding life very
+cheaply--that is, the lives of others who stand in his way.  He hated
+my brother-in-law for that very reason.  If he didn't kill him, it
+wasn't because he didn't want to.  For proof of it, you heard what he
+said in there."
+
+The girl looked me over for a minute.  A far-away look had come into
+her eyes.
+
+"Mr. Thompson, Mr. Zalnitch is obsessed by a wonderful idea.  You
+people call him 'Bolshevist' and 'anarchist,' because he is trying to
+overthrow the existing order of things.  In working out his great
+theory, he would stamp out a nation if it interfered with the
+fulfillment of his plan, and he would not think that he had done
+anything wrong.  In fact, he would think it the only thing to do.  In
+that much, he holds life cheaply.  But if you think he would descend to
+wreaking vengeance on individuals for personal spite, you are all
+wrong.  He is too big a man for that."
+
+"Did Zalnitch send you out to say this to me?" I asked suspiciously.
+
+The girl flushed angrily.  "Really, Mr. Thompson, you make it almost
+impossible for any one to help you.  Instead of being sent, I may be
+dismissed for having come out here to talk to you.  You asked for my
+assistance and now that I have tried to give it, you make me regret the
+impulse."
+
+She turned and started to leave, but I called her back.
+
+"Miss Miller, please forgive me and don't think me ungrateful.  Mr.
+Felderson meant more to me than any person living, and I have made up
+by mind to bring his murderer to justice if I have to devote the rest
+of my life to it.  I know that I have been jumping at conclusions.
+I've done a lot of things since Mr. Felderson's death that I can't
+understand, myself,--things that were entirely unlike me--but I feel
+that I would be a traitor to my brother-in-law's memory unless I follow
+every possible clue.  He had only three enemies and one was Zalnitch,
+who threatened him.  Isn't it only natural that I should suspect him?"
+
+Her look was entirely sympathetic as she replied.
+
+"I know how Mr. Felderson's death must have affected you, Mr. Thompson,
+and I do want to help you.  You say he had three enemies; then I advise
+you to look for the other two, for I am positive Mr. Zalnitch had
+nothing to do with the murder."
+
+I thanked her and went down the rickety stairs, believing somehow that
+she had told me the truth.  But if not Zalnitch, then who?  I knew that
+in less than a week, as soon as Helen was well enough to stand the
+shock, she would be indicted, unless in the meantime, I could discover
+the murderer.  Helen had regained consciousness the night before, but
+was far too weak to undergo any questioning.  My impatience at the
+delay, necessary before she could tell the story of the crime, had
+driven me, most foolishly, I now realized, into trying to force
+Zalnitch to a guilty admission of complicity.
+
+When I got hold of myself, I knew well enough that the only sensible
+course was to wait until Helen should be able to clear up the mystery,
+so I went to the office and began the heavy task of putting Jim's
+effects in order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+A DOUBLE INDICTMENT
+
+Jim was buried on Tuesday.  The funeral was very quiet, only Mary and
+myself, with a few of Jim's most intimate friends, attending.  I have
+always had a repugnance to large and ostentatious funerals and I felt
+that Jim would have preferred to have the actual ceremony over as
+quickly and quietly as possible.  It affected me too much to allow me
+to think of anything else but my loss, at the time, and I should have
+left town the day after, had I not received a summons to appear before
+the grand jury.
+
+Mary called me up and told me that she, too, had been summoned, so I
+drove the car around for her.  She was nervous and frightened at the
+thought of having to testify and she asked me all the questions she
+could think of on what to do and what to say.  I reassured her, telling
+her the district attorney was friendly to Jim and that I was confident
+our testimony as to Helen's words would stave off any indictment until
+Helen was well enough to testify.
+
+"But, Warren, the fact that she was delirious will make it pretty shaky
+testimony, won't it?" Mary argued.
+
+"Yes, that's true.  But I don't think that they will want to bring an
+indictment while Helen is ill.  You see, the indictment couldn't be
+served anyway, and I think our testimony will convince them there's a
+reasonable doubt as to Helen's guilt."
+
+She seemed convinced until the gloomy bulk of the court-house came in
+view, when terror rushed back fourfold.
+
+"Oh, Bupps, can't I get out of it?"
+
+"No, dear, it's got to be gone through with.  Remember it depends on
+you and me."
+
+"But what if they ask me Jim's and Helen's conversation before they
+started for the country-club?"
+
+"Tell them as little as possible, but stick to the truth.  We know
+Helen's innocent and the truth can't hurt her."
+
+We passed Inspector Robinson in the hall down-stairs and the half smile
+on his lips irritated me.  It was his report to the grand jury that had
+stirred things up.  He knew only too well that with the sensational
+_Sun_ to back him, an indictment would be taken by the public to mean
+proven guilt.
+
+At the entrance to the anteroom we found Wicks, his face drawn into
+lines of the most acute misery.
+
+"I couldn't 'elp it, sir.  They made me come."
+
+"I know it, Wicks.  Don't worry!  It's a mere formality," I reassured
+him.
+
+"I 'ope so, sir, but I don't like it."
+
+"None of us do, Wicks, but it can't be helped," I replied.  "Did Annie
+come with you?"
+
+"No, sir.  Strange to say she wasn't called, sir."
+
+Good!  That helped our case some.  Mary and I walked into the anteroom
+to await our turn.  The coroner was already there.  Wicks had followed
+us and took a seat close by.  Mary's face was a study in suppressed
+nervousness.
+
+"Couldn't you go in there with me, Bupps?" she asked.
+
+"No, Mary, the grand jury does its work in secret."
+
+A clerk called the coroner and as he passed from the room, Robinson and
+Pickering came in.  Robinson didn't even glance in my direction, but
+Pickering walked over quickly and shook hands.
+
+"Devilish sorry things have taken the turn they have, old man," he said.
+
+"You mean about--my sister?"
+
+"Yes.  Robinson seems to think he has all the proof he needs.  I wish I
+could help you."
+
+"Thanks awfully," I replied.
+
+He had only been seated a few moments when he was called to testify.
+As the coroner left the room, I tried to read in his face the nature of
+his testimony, but it was inscrutable.  Pickering was out in less than
+ten minutes, and then Wicks was called.  His legs seemed a bit shaky as
+he started for the door and he gave me a parting look, half awe, half
+terror.
+
+Robinson paced up and down, his short stubby legs expressing confidence
+and satisfaction.  Every turn, he scrutinized Mary, as if trying to
+place her in some criminal category.
+
+At last Wicks came out, perspiring as if he'd been in a steam bath.
+Robinson looked him over once, gave a snort of derision and passed into
+the jury room.  I wanted to ask Wicks some questions, but the poor man
+fled before I could attract his notice.
+
+Mary got up and walked over to the big windows where a flood of warm
+September sunlight poured into the room.  For a moment she stood gazing
+down on the crowded square below, then suddenly turned and half sobbed:
+
+"Bupps, I can't stand it!  I may say something that will hurt Helen."
+
+Great sobs shook her slender body.  I went over and clumsily tried to
+comfort her.
+
+"Mary, dear, Helen didn't do it.  When she is well enough, we'll be
+able to find out all about it.  Even if they do bring an indictment,
+Helen can prove her innocence."
+
+The sobs diminished to sniffles, and then to occasional sighs.  She
+opened her bag, extracted a miniature powder-puff and dabbed at her
+small upturned nose spitefully.  I knew that the storm had passed.
+
+"I know--that--that I'm foolish to c-cry, but I just c-couldn't help
+it."
+
+A clerk opened the door and called Mary's name.  She gave me a startled
+glance and her face blanched.  I thought she was going to break down
+again, but suddenly I saw her raise her chin defiantly and an angry
+sparkle come to her eyes.  She snapped shut her vanity-bag and marched
+toward the jury room like a soldier, sentenced to be shot, yet
+determined to die bravely.
+
+It was only after she had left that I began to think about my own
+testimony.  After all, the evidence was terrifyingly strong against
+Helen.  She had threatened to kill Jim.  She had quarreled with him
+just before their last ride, had chosen the back seat purposely, had
+Jim's revolver with her, and knew she was being taken to see her lover
+humiliated and threatened.  Against all this, I had only a brother's
+faith in his sister and those half dozen words cried out in a delirium.
+A sickening certainty that they would indict Helen came over me.  What
+if she did--?  What if she should confess?
+
+In some way I had to save Helen if only for mother's sake.  After all,
+Woods, too, had threatened Jim.  He knew Jim had proof of his
+dishonesty.  He had made the engagement and had asked Jim to come
+alone.  At this point of my review of the facts I decided to tell the
+jury all.  If Woods was at the country-club the entire evening he would
+be able to establish a complete alibi and my testimony would not hurt
+him, while it might be enough, if I could make it so, to hold the jury
+until Helen could testify.  Hearing steps outside, I turned to see the
+object of my mental attentions walk into the room.
+
+"You here, Woods?" I queried.
+
+"Yes.  Those admirable servants of your sister's gave the police just
+enough of the vulgar details of that meeting between Felderson and
+myself to make them think I--well, they ordered me to report and here I
+am."
+
+He looked worried and irritable.  For the first time I realized what
+the man must have gone through during the last few days, with his
+business troubles and Helen's injury.  How he had met his obligations
+without Helen's money, I didn't know.
+
+"I should have thought you'd have been glad to testify to save Helen
+from an indictment."
+
+Woods whirled around.  "You don't mean to say there's a chance of that,
+Thompson?  Why, she didn't do it, she couldn't have done it.  She--she
+isn't capable of doing such a thing.  It's monstrous.  I've read the
+rot that _The Sun_ has been printing, but I didn't think--I can't think
+any one would take it seriously."  A gray shadow seemed to fall across
+his face.
+
+"Felderson was shot from behind and Helen was the only one with him," I
+threw out, watching Woods closely to see what effect my words would
+have on him.  The man looked as though he knew more about the crime
+than I had supposed.
+
+"I know that!  But haven't people sense enough to see that Helen is
+utterly incapable of such an act.  Good God, they must be blind!"
+
+I was brought back to the business on hand by hearing my name shouted.
+They must have let Mary out by another door for when I entered the jury
+room she was not there.  It was hot and stuffy, smelling of stale
+tobacco and staler clothing.  I noticed that the jurymen seemed deeply
+interested and that they were, for the most part, a rather intelligent
+lot.  The foreman, a near-sighted business-looking person, seemed to
+radiate sympathy through his glasses.  The district attorney,
+Kirkpatrick, knew Jim well, had his help often and was one of his best
+friends.
+
+"What is your name?" he asked.
+
+"Warren Thompson."
+
+"Your address?"
+
+"Eleven thirty-two Grant Avenue."
+
+"Your business?"
+
+"I am a lawyer," I responded.
+
+The district attorney seated himself at a table and arranged some
+papers before him.
+
+"You were what relation to the deceased?"
+
+"The brother-in-law," I replied.
+
+"Mr. Thompson," the attorney began, leaning on the table in front of
+him, "will you please tell the jury if there was any unhappiness in the
+married life of your sister and brother-in-law?"
+
+"Until recently Mr. and Mrs. Felderson were very happy together.
+During the last three months their happiness has not been quite--so
+pronounced."
+
+"What was the cause of their disagreement?"
+
+I determined to begin my attack on Woods at once.
+
+"A man whom Mr. Felderson disliked and did not wish to come to the
+house."
+
+"Can you tell the jury that man's name?"
+
+"Frank Woods."
+
+The attorney glanced at his notes.
+
+"Did this man Woods make love to Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"I couldn't say.  He was very attentive to her."
+
+"Did Mrs. Felderson ask her husband to divorce her?"
+
+"Yes," I replied.
+
+"And Mr. Felderson refused?"
+
+"No.  Mr. Felderson consented."
+
+"You are sure of that?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes.  I was present when he said he would give her a divorce."
+
+"Was Woods there at the time?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The foreman of the jury interrupted here.
+
+"Will you tell the jury just what took place at that meeting?"
+
+I told them briefly what happened, not forgetting to mention that Woods
+had threatened Jim's life in case he did not let Helen go.
+
+"Has that man been summoned?" asked the foreman.
+
+"Yes.  He is waiting to appear now," a clerk responded.
+
+"Mr. Thompson, did you hear your sister threaten to kill her husband?"
+Kirkpatrick asked.
+
+"My sister was very excited at that time and said several things--"
+
+"Please answer my question!" fired the district attorney.
+
+"I can't remember," I replied.
+
+Kirkpatrick again consulted his papers.
+
+"A witness says that on the evening of the disagreement between Mr. and
+Mrs. Felderson, she used the words: 'I could kill him,' referring to
+her husband.  Did you hear her use those words?"
+
+"I don't think she realized what she was saying."
+
+"I did not ask for your opinions.  Did you hear her say she could kill
+him or that she would like to kill him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The attorney seemed satisfied and I noticed the foreman of the jury
+lean back in his chair.
+
+"Now, Mr. Thompson," Kirkpatrick began, "on the evening of the tragedy
+did you see Mrs. Felderson leave with Mr. Felderson?"
+
+"No," I replied.
+
+"Do you know if she was sitting in the back seat or the front seat of
+that automobile?" he asked.
+
+"I couldn't say."
+
+Kirkpatrick took Jim's revolver from the table.
+
+"Is this revolver familiar to you?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Did Mr. Felderson have a revolver like this?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you know whether he was carrying it at the time of the tragedy?"
+
+"I'm not sure," I stated.
+
+"Did Mr. Felderson usually carry a gun?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did Mrs. Felderson have a revolver?"
+
+"No," I replied, "I don't think she even knows how to use one."
+
+"Please only answer my questions!" Kirkpatrick rebuked me sharply.
+
+"You have stated to the jury that Mr. Woods had threatened Mr.
+Felderson's life in case he did not give Mrs. Felderson a divorce.
+When did Mr. Felderson intend giving his wife the promised divorce?"
+
+"I don't think he really intended to give Mrs. Felderson a divorce."
+
+"But you stated that he consented to a divorce?"
+
+"He did, but with certain reservations," I answered.
+
+"What were those reservations?"
+
+"That there should be nothing in Mr. Woods' past that could cause Mrs.
+Felderson trouble in the future, in case she married Woods."
+
+"Did Mr. Woods know of Mr. Felderson's intention not to divorce Mrs.
+Felderson?" he demanded.
+
+"I don't know.  I know that Mr. Felderson had made an important
+discovery about Mr. Woods' past life."
+
+"Was this discovery of such a nature as to cause Mr. Felderson to
+refuse a divorce?"
+
+"It was!" I answered.
+
+"Can you tell the jury what this discovery was?"
+
+"No, I can not."
+
+"Did Mr. Woods know that Mr. Felderson had made this discovery?"
+
+"I think he did."
+
+"Aren't you certain?"
+
+"No."
+
+"This is important, Mr. Thompson.  Will you tell the jury why you think
+Mr. Woods knew of Mr. Felderson's discovery?"
+
+"Because Mr. Woods called Mr. Felderson up shortly after the discovery
+was made and asked for an interview at the country-club."
+
+"Was Mr. Felderson on his way to that meeting when he met his death?"
+the attorney queried.
+
+"Yes," I responded.
+
+"Do you know whether Mr. Felderson intended to inform Woods that he
+would not divorce Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"I think he intended to accuse Woods of dishonesty," I replied.
+
+"Mrs. Felderson knew the purpose of the meeting, did she not?"
+
+"I couldn't say."
+
+Kirkpatrick turned to the jury.
+
+"Has the jury any questions they wish to ask?"
+
+I seized my opportunity.
+
+"I would like to say a few words with the permission of the jury."
+
+Receiving a nod of consent, I related to them as briefly as possible my
+conviction of my sister's innocence, her cry of danger to her husband,
+and the coincidence of the black limousine on the road at about the
+same time as the tragedy.  I also told of the enmity of Zalnitch for
+Jim and of his presence with the others in the black limousine.  The
+foreman of the jury leaned forward.
+
+"Will you repeat the words that your sister uttered?"
+
+"She cried, 'Look out, Jim!  It's going to hit us!'"
+
+"Your sister was delirious at the time, was she not?"
+
+"Yes," I answered.  "But from the tone of her voice I feel perfectly
+sure she referred to something that occurred on the night of the
+tragedy."
+
+"You think she referred to the black limousine when she said, 'It's
+going to hit us'?" the foreman continued.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Yet the coroner's verdict was that your brother-in-law was killed by a
+bullet, fired, apparently, from behind and above."
+
+I felt the weakness of my ground.
+
+"The bullet might have been fired from the automobile and ricochetted
+from some part of Mr. Felderson's machine."
+
+I saw the incredible smile that played on the face of the prosecutor.
+
+"That will do, Mr. Thompson," Kirkpatrick announced, and I passed out
+of the stuffy room into the corridor.  Wicks had returned and was
+standing with Mary.  They looked at me with wide and anxious eyes.
+
+Mary saw the droop in my shoulders and caught my arm.
+
+"What happened, Warren?" she asked.
+
+"Nothing yet," I responded.
+
+"Are they going to----?"
+
+"I don't know, I don't know."
+
+Tears welled up in Mary's eyes.  "Oh, Warren, that man was terrible!"
+
+"What man?" I asked.
+
+"The man who asked me all the questions," Mary sobbed.  "There wasn't
+anything he didn't ask me."
+
+"Did he ask you about the conversation between Helen and Jim?"
+
+"He asked me everything, I tell you!" Mary exclaimed angrily.  "He
+twisted and turned everything I said into something horrible."
+
+Discouraged, I led the way to the car.  I drove out into the country,
+thinking the fresh air might quiet Mary's nerves.  Twice I tried to
+start a conversation about some trivial thing, to take her mind off her
+unpleasant experience of the afternoon, but with no success.  It always
+came back to the jury room.  Our drive, for the most part, was a silent
+one.  At length we turned back and as we walked up the steps of Mary's
+home, her father came from the house with a newspaper in his hand.
+
+"This is terrible, Warren."
+
+"What is it?" I cried, reaching for the sheet.
+
+It was an extra edition of _The Press_, our only respectable paper.  In
+black head-lines, I read the words:
+
+  "SOCIETY LEADER INDICTED FOR
+  HUSBAND'S MURDER!"
+
+Then underneath in small type:
+
+"Frank Woods, Well Known Business Man, Released on $10,000 Bail."
+
+Helen and Frank Woods had both been indicted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+WHO AM I
+
+I jumped into the automobile and drove as fast as I could to the
+offices of Simpson and Todd, the best criminal lawyers in the state, to
+retain them as council for Helen.  Simpson had already gone home, but
+George Todd was there, and I talked the case over with him.
+
+"You can get a stay of proceedings, can't you?" I asked.
+
+"Surely," he replied.  "I'll see that the warrant isn't served until
+Mrs. Felderson's doctor assures me she is out of danger.  The trial
+needn't come off for three or four months--six if you wish.  We can see
+to that.  In the meantime, when will you be able to see Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"I was going up there now," I answered.  "The chances are the doctor
+won't let me question her yet, but it may be we can see her.  Will you
+come with me?"
+
+"I'd like very much to.  Wait till I get my coat!"
+
+We ran up to the hospital and asked if we could be admitted if only for
+a few moments to Mrs. Felderson's room.  Johnson, the little interne
+with the glasses, had just come in, and when he heard my request he was
+splutteringly indignant.
+
+"What the devil do you think Mrs. Felderson is suffering from, a broken
+ankle?  Don't you realize she has been desperately ill?  If you tried
+to question her now, she'd become excited and it might result in a
+serious relapse.  Of course you can't see her!  You won't be able to
+talk to her for two or three weeks yet."
+
+"I'm sorry," I said, "I should have known better.  It was stupid of me,
+but then, I've been little else than stupid for days.  This tragedy has
+been too much for me.  You will let me know as soon as she can be seen,
+won't you, Johnson?"
+
+"I'll let you know," he murmured.  "You may be able to _see_ her
+to-morrow, but I won't let you bother her with any infernal questions
+until she is well."
+
+
+The week passed only too slowly.  Each day I went to the hospital and
+sat for a brief fifteen or twenty minutes by Helen's side.  She was
+fully conscious and I thought I could see at times that there were
+questions she wanted to ask me.  Remembering the doctor's emphatic
+instructions, I said very little, never asking any questions, only
+telling her a few of the unimportant happenings of the town.  She
+seemed uninterested and lay apathetically quiescent except when some
+apparently perplexing question corrugated her brows.  They told her of
+Jim's death early in the week, but far from being shocked, she had
+appeared almost indifferent, showing only too plainly how little he
+meant in her life.  Woods she never referred to.
+
+Mary, of course, was her devoted slave, hardly leaving her bedside, and
+in our daily meetings at the hospital, I fell more and more in love
+with her, if such a thing were possible.  Once when I was coming up the
+corridor with a large bunch of flowers, I met her outside Helen's door.
+As she took the blooms from me, she reached up and patted my cheek.
+
+"Bupps, you're a darling to bring these lovely flowers to Helen every
+day.  I think you're quite the nicest brother a girl could have."
+
+"If you think that, why won't you have me?" I asked.
+
+"I think I will----" she answered, smiling, "for a brother."
+
+She started to open the door, but I grasped her hand.
+
+"Mary, do be serious!  You know I love you."
+
+She haughtily drew herself up in all the majesty of her five feet three
+inches and commanded: "Unhand me, villain!  I spurn your tempting
+offer."  Then earnestly, "Let me go, Bupps!  I've got to put these
+flowers away."
+
+With a quick wrench she freed herself and was gone, leaving me half
+sick with love of her.
+
+After the first sensational extra, the newspapers had said but little
+of Helen's and Frank's indictment.  Somehow I was confident that Helen
+would be able to clear herself.  Woods had published a statement in
+which he said he would be able to prove where he was every minute of
+the evening of the tragedy, and so had had no difficulty in finding
+bail.  In fact, since the indictment, he seemed to have gained a good
+deal of sympathy and popularity.  Every one who knew of his devotion to
+Helen felt that he had indicted himself to try to save her.
+
+One morning, about a week after my interview with the be-spectacled
+interne, I met Doctor Forbes as he was coming from Helen's room and he
+gave me permission to ask her a few questions.
+
+"I'm trusting to your good sense, Thompson, not to overdo it," Forbes
+cautioned.  "Remember, she is still in a very weak condition and don't
+be surprised if she fails to respond to your questions as you expect.
+Above all things, do not refer in any way to the fact that she has been
+indicted, the shock might be too much for her."
+
+"Thank you, Doctor," I replied, eager to get away, "I'll be very
+careful."
+
+"And remember, no more than ten minutes this first time."
+
+I nodded and opened the door.  Helen was propped up in bed and showed
+unmistakably the great suffering she had been through.  She was pale
+and wan, but smiled when she saw me and gave me her cheek to kiss.
+
+"Good morning," she whispered.  "The flowers were lovely."
+
+"I'm glad you liked them, Sis, dear," I said, sitting down by the side
+of her bed.
+
+I asked her the usual questions, how she felt and if she wanted
+anything, and then tried to lead up to the only question that was of
+any consequence to either of us.
+
+"Helen, dear, there are certain questions about your accident that have
+puzzled us.  The doctor said that you could talk for ten minutes this
+morning and I want to ask you some questions."
+
+"Wait a minute!" she interrupted.  "Did the doctor say I might really
+talk this morning?"
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+"There are a hundred questions then that you must answer me.  I want to
+know so many things."  She looked away and passed a thin hand over her
+forehead.  Finally she turned her big brown eyes toward me and said:
+
+"First, tell me who I am!"
+
+For a brief second I felt numb all through.  My brain whirled until I
+thought my head would burst.
+
+"Helen, dear, what did you say?"
+
+My speech was thick, as though my tongue was swollen.  Still keeping
+her gaze fixed on me, she continued:
+
+"They call me Helen, and I gather that you are my brother.  There is a
+beautiful girl who comes here every day.  She and I seem to be great
+friends, but I don't know her, I have heard them call her Mary; tell me
+who she is!"
+
+If I could have run from the room I should have done so.  A horror
+gripped me such as I never felt before.  Then I saw two large tears
+tremble in Helen's eyes, overflow and course down her cheeks and I
+gathered all the strength that I could muster for the task of trying to
+awaken a memory that had apparently ceased to function.
+
+"Helen, dearest little sister, I am your brother.  The beautiful girl
+you speak of is Mary Pendleton, one of the best and truest friends you
+ever had.  She was your bridesmaid, don't you remember?"
+
+Helen shook her head weakly.
+
+"I have been married, then?" she asked.
+
+"You were married to James Felderson.  Can't you remember him?" I
+begged.
+
+Again she shook her head.  "No.  It's all gone."  She thought hard a
+minute, then she asked: "He is dead--my husband?"
+
+"Yes," I muttered, trying to keep the tears back, "he was killed in the
+same accident--"
+
+"What was he like?" she interrupted.
+
+"Helen, think!" I cried, fighting blindly against the terror that was
+choking me.  "Little sister.  You must think--_hard_.  Jim.  Don't you
+remember big handsome Jim?"  I snatched my watch from my pocket and
+opened the back, where I carried a small picture of Jim, taken years
+before.  I had put it there in boyish admiration when I first knew him.
+I held it up in front of her eyes.  "You must remember him, Helen!"
+
+She gazed at the picture with eyes in which there were tears and a
+little fright, but not a spark of recognition.  Fearing that I was
+over-exciting her, I sat close to her and drew as best I could a mental
+picture of Jim.  I was only half-way through the recital when the door
+opened and Doctor Forbes came in.
+
+"The ten minutes are up, Mr. Thompson."
+
+I stooped and kissed Helen.
+
+"Promise that you'll come back to-morrow," she whispered.
+
+I promised and hurried from the room.  Outside the doctor awaited me
+questioningly.
+
+"Her memory is completely gone!" I gasped.
+
+The doctor patted me on the shoulder sympathetically.
+
+"We suspected that day before yesterday.  I would have told you before,
+but thought that your questions might start her memory functioning."
+
+I gripped him by both arms.  "But, Doctor, can nothing be done?  Will
+she have to--have to begin all over again?"
+
+"I can't say yet.  There may be some pressure there still.  We'll have
+to wait until she is much stronger before we can tell."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+WE PLAN THE DEFENSE
+
+Helen's loss of memory was the last straw.  The shock of finding her
+unable to remember the most familiar things was bad enough from a
+purely physical standpoint, but when I realized how completely it swept
+away all my plans for Helen's defense, how it fastened the guilt on her
+poor shoulders, I felt that our case was hopeless indeed.
+
+I drove to the offices of Simpson and Todd and was lucky enough to find
+both of them in.  Simpson, a slender man with steel-gray hair and eyes,
+at once ordered a closed session to thrash out the whole affair.  He
+first made me repeat everything I knew about Jim's murder, from the
+beginning.  Several times he interrupted me, to ask a question, but for
+the most part he sat with his back to me, gazing out of the window, the
+tips of his fingers to his lips.  Half the time I thought he wasn't
+listening, until a quick question would show his interest.  Todd, on
+the contrary, was the picture of attention.  He took notes in shorthand
+most of the time I was talking.  When I had finished, Simpson rose and
+came over to me.
+
+"Let's examine this thing from the start.  You have three people who
+had a motive for killing Felderson--Zalnitch, Woods and Mrs. Felderson.
+Let's take Zalnitch first, for I think suspicion falls the slightest on
+him.  You say that Felderson helped to convict Zalnitch in the Yellow
+Pier case and that he made vague threats against those who had put him
+in prison, after he was released.  Good!  There's a motive and a
+threat.  He was seen on the same road that Mr. Felderson traveled, a
+short time before the murder.  All those facts point to Zalnitch's
+complicity.  But--the bullet that killed Felderson was fired from
+behind and above, according to the coroner's statement.  Knowing the
+average juryman, I should say that we would have to stretch things
+pretty far to make him believe that a shot fired from one rapidly
+moving automobile at another rapidly moving automobile would ricochet
+and kill a man.  That's asking a little too much.  Also, it is hard to
+believe that Schreiber, who was driving the car, would risk a smash-up
+to his own car and possible death for himself and party, in order to
+try to make Felderson go into the ditch.  Then, too, if Zalnitch
+recognized Felderson's car, why didn't he fire point-blank at Felderson
+instead of waiting till he got past?  No!  The case against Zalnitch
+falls down.  We can strike him off the list."
+
+I hated to give him up, but I had to admit Simpson's logic was
+faultless.
+
+"Now let us take up the case of Woods.  Here is a man who threatened
+Felderson's life unless he gave his wife a divorce, which you say
+Felderson did not intend to do.  There, again, is a motive.  Woods knew
+that Felderson was in possession of certain papers that would ruin him.
+There is a stronger motive."  He turned to me.  "By the way, you have
+those papers, haven't you?"
+
+I hadn't thought of them until that very minute.
+
+"I don't know where they are right now, but I'm pretty sure I can find
+them."
+
+He nodded.
+
+"Get hold of them by all means!  They may be important to us."  He lit
+a cigar and threw himself into a chair.
+
+"Well, let's go on.  Woods had all the motive necessary for killing
+Felderson.  He made a definite engagement with Felderson on the night
+of the murder, to meet him at a certain time and place specified by
+Woods.  That's important.  Everything up to that point is as clear as
+crystal, yet you say you have positive testimony that Woods was at the
+country-club waiting for Felderson at about the time the murder took
+place, and Woods claims that he has an absolute alibi.  If that is
+true, it lets him out."
+
+"But I'm not sure he was at the country-club at the time the murder
+took place," I explained.  "I only know he was there just before and
+just afterward."
+
+"What do you know of his movements that night?" Simpson asked.
+
+"I know he dined there at seven-thirty or thereabouts and that he
+ordered a drink at eight twenty-five."
+
+"And what time was the murder?"
+
+"Probably about a quarter past eight--the bodies were found at half
+past, they say," I answered.
+
+Simpson shook his head.  "I'm afraid his alibi is good.  It's cutting
+things too fine to think that he could have run six miles and back in
+less than half an hour and committed a murder in the bargain.  It would
+have taken a speedy automobile.  Do you know whether he had an
+automobile that night?" he queried.
+
+"I think he did.  I can find out in a minute," I added, going to the
+telephone.
+
+I called up the country-club and finally succeeded in getting Jackson
+on the wire.  Jackson thought Mr. Woods did not have an automobile that
+night, because he had gone to town in Mr. Paisley's car.
+
+"He might have used somebody else's car," Todd suggested.
+
+Simpson shook his head again.  "We're getting clear off the track, now."
+
+An idea came to me suddenly and I called Up Pickering at the Benefit
+Insurance Company.
+
+"This is Thompson speaking, Pickering," I said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you remember if an automobile passed you on the night of the
+Felderson murder, going toward the country-club?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Do you mean you don't remember?"
+
+"No, I remember perfectly.  There was only one automobile passed us and
+that was the black limousine."
+
+"You're sure?" I asked.
+
+"I'm positive, old man.  We only saw one car from the time we left
+Blandesville, until we reached the city."
+
+I put up the receiver and sank back in my chair.
+
+"Well?" Todd flung at me.
+
+"I'm out of luck!" I responded.
+
+Simpson rose.  "Let's go on.  We have crossed off two of our suspects
+from the list, let's see--"
+
+"I'd rather not go on," I interrupted, looking out of the window to
+escape Todd's searching eyes.  There was a moment's silence, then
+Simpson spoke.
+
+"We'll do our best but it will be a hard fight.  If Mrs. Felderson
+could only recall what happened that night and before, we might have a
+chance, but every woman that has come up for murder during the last few
+years, has worked that lost memory gag."
+
+"But my sister really _has_ lost her memory!" I exclaimed.
+
+"I know, my dear boy," Simpson soothed.  "That is what makes it so
+difficult.  If she were only shamming now, we could--.  But with your
+sister as helpless as a child, the prosecuting attorney will so confuse
+her, that our case will be lost as soon as she takes the stand."
+
+"Why put her on at all?" I asked.
+
+"Because we have to, if we hope to win our case," he replied.  "The one
+big chance to win your jury comes when your beautiful client testifies."
+
+For a few minutes he was silent, obviously thinking, and thinking hard.
+
+"Of course, our defense will have to be temporary insanity," he
+declared at last.
+
+"Oh, not that!" I begged.
+
+"It's our only chance," Simpson argued, "and I don't mind saying that
+it's a pretty poor chance at that.  Three years ago it might have been
+all right, because a conviction only meant a few months at a
+fashionable sanitarium, and then freedom.  But when that Truesdale
+woman went free, an awful howl went up all over the country and I'm
+afraid the next woman who is found, 'guilty but insane,' will be sent
+to a real asylum."
+
+A shudder of horror ran through me.  For Helen to be sent to an asylum
+while her mind was in its weak state might well mean permanent insanity.
+
+"You talk to your sister as often as you can and try to help her
+recover her lost memory.  Of course you'll have the best specialists
+examine and prescribe for her.  In the meantime, we'll investigate both
+the Woods and Zalnitch cases to see if they are hole-proof."
+
+"You might get those papers on Woods, if you will," Todd reminded me.
+
+I thanked them and left, greatly depressed but ready to fight to the
+last ditch to save Helen's life.  The papers dealing with Woods had not
+been among Jim's effects when I had looked them over at the office and
+I was confident they had not been picked up on the night of the murder,
+for they would have been returned to me.  Thinking they had probably
+been left in one of the pockets of the automobile, and overlooked when
+the machine was searched, I decided to run out to the Felderson home
+the first thing in the morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+BULLETPROOF
+
+Jim's car had been moved to his own garage the morning after the
+accident, and as I had a pass-key to the place I found it unnecessary
+to go to the house at all.  Wicks and Annie were taking care of the
+establishment until Helen should come home, or the house be sold.
+
+I opened the door of the garage and shuddered involuntarily as I caught
+sight of the wrecked Peckwith-Pierce.  It had been more badly smashed
+than I had at first supposed.  On the night of the murder I saw that
+the chassis was twisted and the axle broken, but I had not noticed what
+that jolting crash had done to the body of the car.  The steering rod
+was broken and the cushions were caked with mud.  One wheel sagged at a
+drunken angle like a lop-ear and the wind-shield was nothing but a
+mangled frame.  One long gash ran the length of the body, as though it
+had scraped against a rock, and this gash ended in a jagged wound the
+size of a man's head.  In the back were three small splintered holes.
+
+I examined these with particular interest, wondering what could have
+caused them.  Evidently the police had neglected to examine the
+machine.  The sight of what looked like the end of a nail caused me to
+drop to my knees and to begin digging frantically at the wood with my
+pen-knife.  At the end of five feverish minutes I held the prize in my
+hand.
+
+It was a misshapen, steel, "32" rifle bullet.
+
+In the floor of the car, near where Jim's feet must have been, I found
+two more splintered holes, apparently made by the same rifle from which
+the shots had been fired into the back of the car.
+
+Two thoughts flashed through my mind, exuberant assurance that this
+latest discovery cleared Helen completely.  She couldn't have fired a
+rifle from the rear seat of the automobile, nor could she have put
+those bullet holes into the back of the car.  In my joy that I had
+found proof of my sister's innocence, I forgot to speculate on who
+could have committed the murder.  My second thought was really a
+continuation of the first, that I must bring the coroner and Simpson at
+once to confirm my discovery.
+
+I carefully locked the door of the garage, as though fearful some one
+would rob me of my find, or that the automobile might move away of its
+own volition, then I ran to the house and rang the bell.  All the
+curtains were drawn and I had about decided there was no one at home,
+when, after what seemed an interminable wait, I heard the sound of
+footsteps within, and Wicks opened the door.
+
+"Who'd you expect to see, Wicks, a policeman?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir.  One of those blarsted reporters, sir."
+
+"Poor old Wicksy," I sympathized.  "Well, it'll soon be over now.  I
+want to use the telephone."
+
+I ran down the hall to the table where I knew the telephone to be, and
+called up Simpson.  He promised he would come right up.
+
+The coroner demurred for a moment, pleading important business, but
+when he heard I had proof that would clear Mrs. Felderson, he, too,
+promised to be with me in a few minutes.
+
+Wicks, who had been listening, was so excited that he momentarily
+forgot himself and clutched me by the arm as I put down the receiver.
+
+"Is it true, sir, that you can prove Mrs. Felderson 'ad nothing to do
+with it?" he gasped.
+
+"Truest thing you know, Wicks!"
+
+"I fear I'm going to act unseemly, sir.  I feel like yelling, 'ip, 'ip,
+sir."  Then he noticed he had me by the arm and hastily murmured
+apology.
+
+"That's all right, Wicksy, old top.  Go as far as you like," I cried.
+"I'm so happy and relieved I could kiss the Kaiser."
+
+"You surely wouldn't do that, sir," Wicks reproved.
+
+"All right, Wicks.  I guess it's not being done this year."
+
+The butler turned to leave but stopped at the door to say: "Mr. Woods
+called about a week ago, sir."
+
+"What did he want?" I demanded.
+
+"He stated as 'ow 'e was after some papers concerning a business deal
+that 'e and Mr. Felderson were interested in."
+
+In the excitement over my discovery, I had completely forgotten the
+real errand that had brought me to the house.
+
+"What did you tell him, Wicks?"
+
+"I told 'im that you had charge of all Mr. Felderson's effects, sir,
+and that he could probably obtain them from you," the butler replied.
+
+"That was right.  Did he leave after that?"
+
+"Shortly after that, sir," Wicks answered.  "But first he asked for the
+key to the garage, sayin' that 'e would like to hinspect the auto."
+
+"Did you give it to him?" I snapped.
+
+"Y-yes, sir.  I saw no 'arm in that, sir."
+
+I ran to the garage and quickly searched the broad pockets of Jim's
+car.  The portfolio was not there.  I hurried toward the house to ask
+Wicks if Woods had had any papers with him when he returned the garage
+key, but slackened my pace before I had gone half-way.  After all, it
+made very little difference.  The evidence had only been gathered to
+keep Helen with her husband.  Now, since that was no longer an issue,
+what did it matter if Woods had stolen the proofs of his own
+dishonesty.  True, Simpson and Todd had asked me to get them, but I
+felt that they had urged the importance of those papers more to give me
+something to do than for any real need of them.
+
+Just then an automobile came up the drive and Simpson jumped out.  He
+was gravely skeptical until I led him into the garage and showed him
+the bullet holes; then he was enthusiastic.  He examined the back of
+the car minutely, and at the end of his scrutiny he turned to me.
+
+"I'm not at all sure that we were justified in giving Zalnitch a clean
+bill of health so soon.  It is just possible he had a lot more to do
+with this than we supposed."
+
+While we were talking the coroner drove up.  He took the bullet I had
+extracted from the back of the car and looked at it as though he
+expected to find its owner's name etched on it, after which he examined
+the holes in the back of the car and in the foot-board.  Then I eagerly
+related our suspicions against Zalnitch, but he shook his head.
+
+"This would seem to clear Mrs. Felderson but it also makes it look as
+though every other suspect is innocent.  Look at these holes in the
+floor!  The bullets that lodged there must have been fired from above.
+Also you will notice there are three bullet holes in the back of the
+car and two in the foot-board, besides the shot that killed Mr.
+Felderson.  Unless your friends, the Socialists, were carrying a young
+armory with them, they could never have fired that many shots in the
+short space of time that it took Mr. Felderson to pass them.  I should
+say that it would take a man from--well, from fifteen to thirty
+seconds, at least, to fire six shots at _any_ target, and before that
+time, the automobile would have been out of range."
+
+"He might have used an automatic rifle," I interposed.
+
+The coroner took off his hat and rubbed the bald spot on the back of
+his head.
+
+"That is possible," he admitted, "but it doesn't explain how those
+bullet holes got into the floor.  There might have been a struggle and
+the gun discharged into the floor that way."
+
+"That doesn't explain the holes in the back of the car," I objected,
+fearing that they would again go back to the theory that Helen was
+responsible.
+
+"The holes in the foot-board seem to me positive proof that the shots
+were fired from above," Simpson argued.  "Are there any buildings or
+trees along that road where the murderer might have stationed himself
+and waited for Felderson to come along?"
+
+"There are no buildings," I replied, "but there must be trees in the
+vicinity of that stream."
+
+"That sounds as though it might bring results," Simpson said.
+"Thompson, suppose you take the coroner out there and see what you can
+find.  In the meantime I'll start proceedings to quash that indictment
+against Mrs. Felderson."
+
+The coroner insisted he was due at an inquest that very moment, but
+would go with me in the afternoon.  As we walked toward the cars,
+Simpson asked me if I had found the papers dealing with Woods' case,
+and I told him I thought Woods had stolen them and repeated the
+information Wicks had given me.
+
+"I don't think we shall need them, fortunately," Simpson replied.
+"Todd saw Woods last night.  He's making a frantic effort to raise
+money and came to him, among others.  He says that Woods can clear
+himself of all connection with the crime.  Men who were with him that
+night can testify he didn't leave the club.  By the way, Woods hasn't
+approached you, has he?"
+
+"No," I laughed, "he knows I have no money, and if I had I wouldn't
+give it to him."
+
+After they had left, I decided to go out to the Blandesville bridge and
+do a little preliminary scouting on my own.  Eager for Mary's company,
+and wishing to tell her the glorious news that was to clear Helen, I
+drove to the hospital, only to find that Mary had not been there and
+Helen was asleep; so I drove on to Mary's, hoping to find her home.
+
+"Miss Pendleton is just going out, but I will ask if she will see you,"
+the maid informed me.
+
+I stepped into the living-room and picked up a magazine.  As I took it
+in my hand it fell open to a story entitled, "Who Murdered Merryvale?"
+I looked at one of the illustrations and quickly laid the magazine
+down, conscious that I'd never again read a mystery story built around
+a tragic death.  Then I heard Mary's light step pattering down the
+stairs and turned to greet her.  She was dressed in a smart,
+semi-military costume which she had worn while a volunteer chauffeur
+during the war, and she looked simply radiant.
+
+"Mary, we've made certain discoveries which absolutely clear Helen of
+suspicion," I cried, taking her hands in mine.  I told her of my find
+of the morning, and watched her eyes widen with joy and surprise.  "So,
+while we haven't found out yet who murdered Jim, we know that Helen had
+no part in it."
+
+Mary was thinking hard about something, but she recalled herself
+quickly, and said:
+
+"Oh!  It's wonderful, Bupps, simply _wonderful_!"
+
+"I'm going out to the Blandesville bridge to do a little sleuthing on
+my own hook.  Can you come with me?"
+
+"I'm sorry, but I can't, Warren.  I have another engagement," she
+answered.
+
+"Some other man?" I asked, disappointed and a bit jealous.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is it that young Davis?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"It's some one you don't like very well."
+
+"That's natural," I replied.  "I don't love any of my rivals.  Who is
+it?"
+
+"Promise you won't say anything if I tell you who it is?"
+
+"Of course I won't say anything," I said a little haughtily.  "You have
+a perfect right to go with any one you care to."
+
+"It's Frank Woods."
+
+"Mary," I gasped, "do you mean to say you'd be seen with that man,
+after what he did to Jim?"
+
+"Now, Bupps, you promised not to say anything."
+
+"I know--but this is different.  Do you think I'll stand quietly by and
+see that man make a fool of you as he did of Helen?  Do you think I'll
+let that--that rake make love to you?"
+
+"He's not going to make love to me!" Mary answered with some asperity.
+
+"That's what you think.  That's what Helen thought and Jim thought.
+That's what all of them think when he starts.  Do you know what he
+wants to do?  He asked you to go out with him so he could try to borrow
+money of you, to save his rotten hide."
+
+"But, Bupps, he didn't ask me to go riding with him.  I asked him to
+take me."
+
+"You asked him to take you?" I cried.
+
+"Don't talk so loud, Bupps!  The people on the street will hear you."
+
+If there was anything she could have said that would have made me
+angrier than I already was, it was that.
+
+"I'm not talking loud," I shouted, "and what if I do?  The people on
+the street may hear me, but they will _see_ you with Frank Woods, which
+is a hundred times worse.  Why, it is as much as a girl's reputation is
+worth to be seen alone with him."
+
+"I'll take care of my reputation," she replied coldly.
+
+"You think you will," I said, flinging myself into a chair.
+
+"Warren!  Do you know that's insulting?" Mary exclaimed angrily.
+"You're acting like a schoolboy.  I have good reasons for wanting to go
+out with Frank Woods."
+
+"Reasons!" I sneered.
+
+She went into the hall and I followed.
+
+"Mary, I don't know what your reasons are, and I don't care.  I'm not
+going to have that man making love to you.  Either you don't go out
+with him, or I quit."
+
+Mary turned and looked me straight in the eyes.
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked.
+
+"Any girl who is Frank Woods' friend, after the mess he stirred up in
+my family, isn't my friend."
+
+Mary's face was white, but her little chin was set determinedly.
+
+"That's just as you wish," she said, and ran up-stairs.
+
+I picked up my hat and gloves and left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+THE ANSWER
+
+The coroner and I drove out to the bridge that afternoon and I must
+admit I was mighty poor company.  Mary's unreasonableness, her stupid
+obstinacy, when she knew she was wrong and I was right, her willingness
+to break our friendship at the first opportunity, gave me little room
+to think of anything else.
+
+That she should risk her reputation to run after that man was
+inexplicable, but it was just like a woman.  Show them a place they
+must not go or a man they must not see and they will sacrifice life,
+liberty and everybody else's happiness to satisfy their curiosity.  It
+has been true from Pandora to Pankhurst.
+
+Well, if she could get along without me, I could get along without her.
+I'm the easiest going person in the world, but when it comes to
+allowing the girl you are practically engaged to, to make a fool of
+herself over another man, I won't stand for it.  I knew she would
+probably come to me afterward and say she was sorry and she didn't
+know, but I made up my mind that she would have to give me an awfully
+good reason for her sudden interest in Frank Woods before I would
+forgive her.
+
+These thoughts held my attention all the way out.  Now and again I
+would be recalled from my gloom by some question from the coroner.  He
+was trying to solve the problem of who murdered Jim and I am sure he
+must have thought it strange that I was so preoccupied.
+
+As we neared the bridge, I noticed again how scant the vegetation was
+on both sides of the road.  Any one wishing to murder Jim would have
+been able to see him coming for at least a half-mile.  On the left of
+the road was clay soil, sparsely covered with weeds and shrubs, while a
+half-mile away could be seen the thirteenth hole of the country-club
+golf links.
+
+When we reached the crest of the hill leading down to the bridge, our
+eyes at once caught sight of a tall maple tree, on the right-hand side
+of the road and about two hundred yards from it.
+
+As he saw it the coroner gave a grunt of satisfaction.
+
+"There's our tree."
+
+We stopped the car and scrambled through the thorny bushes that lined
+the road.  The ground was hard clay with only burdock and weeds growing
+on it.  There was nothing that would lead us to believe that any one
+had been there before.  When we reached the tree, the coroner examined
+the ground around it carefully.  When he arose he seemed disappointed.
+
+"What did you expect to find here?" I asked.
+
+"I didn't know what we might find.  If the man who fired those shots
+used this tree, I thought we might find an empty cartridge or two.
+There ought to be at least some broken twigs or something to show that
+he was up there, but I find nothing at all."
+
+"Still, the fact that the tree is where it is, makes the theory
+plausible."
+
+He shook his head.  "No.  Now that I've seen how far we are from the
+road I don't think it does.  Those bullet holes in the back of the car
+were fired from above and behind the machine.  They slanted down but
+not sidewise.  If a tree had been at the very side of the road, our
+theory would be acceptable, but if the murderer used this tree, two
+hundred yards from the road, he would have started firing before the
+car came opposite, with the probability that the holes would have been
+found in the side of the car.  I'm sorry, for when I saw this tree, I
+thought we'd struck the right track."
+
+"There's one thing I can't make out," I stated, "and that is the
+strange cry of my sister in her delirium.  'Look out, Jim!  It's going
+to hit us,' she called out, and I would be willing to swear it had
+something to do with the murder."
+
+The coroner thought a moment, then turned to me.
+
+"What else did she say?"
+
+"Nothing that seemed to refer to the accident.  All the rest was
+apparently delirium.  She begged forgiveness for some fancied wrong,
+and repeated that a certain man was not guilty of dishonesty.  But her
+first weird cry had to do with the murder, I'm sure."
+
+We walked back toward the road together.  High overhead we heard the
+droning of an aeroplane and we both stopped to gaze at it.  Suddenly
+the coroner clapped me on the shoulder.
+
+"I've got it!"
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked, bewildered.
+
+"An aeroplane, man!  Who owns an aeroplane around here?"
+
+"I don't know.  There are several at the aviation grounds.  What's that
+got to do with it?"
+
+"Everything!  Don't you see?  The bullets fired from above and behind.
+The number of bullets fired.  Those two bullet holes in the foot-board
+of the car--everything points to an aeroplane.  It was done a hundred,
+yes, a thousand times in the war.  While I was over there with my
+hospital unit we used to get a lot of cases of motorcycle despatch
+riders who had been picked off by German aviators.  They machine-gunned
+moving trains and military automobiles.  It is one of the simplest
+tricks of a pilot's repertoire.  Has Woods an aeroplane?"
+
+"He was a military pilot in the French army and is the head of an
+aeroplane firm, but I don't think he has an aeroplane here."
+
+"He could get one easy enough."
+
+"The clever devil!  Look over there!  He had the broad sweep of the
+golf course as a perfect landing ground and this road hasn't a tree on
+it for a mile.  He could have come down within fifty feet of the ground
+and followed that car, pumping bullets into it all the way.  He had
+absolutely everything in his favor."
+
+For a moment I saw red as I pictured Jim, helpless before approaching
+death.  I could imagine Helen's agony as she saw that dim black shape
+come closer and closer and screamed in her terror, "Look out, Jim!
+It's going to hit us."
+
+"Yes, but how are we going to prove it?" I asked.
+
+"That's up to us now.  An aeroplane has such speed that it was easy for
+Woods to fashion an ingenious alibi to account for every minute of his
+time on the night of the murder, but there must be some holes in it;
+there always is in a manufactured alibi.  I want you to go over to the
+country-club and check up Mr. Woods' schedule of that night while I
+examine the golf links to see if he landed there."
+
+We jumped into my car and drove rapidly to the club.  I went into the
+house by the back way to avoid meeting people and asked for Jackson.
+
+"Jackson, what time did Mr. Woods get out here on the evening Mr.
+Felderson was killed?"
+
+"Ah espect he got heah 'bout six o'clock, Mistuh Thompson," the negro
+replied.
+
+"Did you see him at that time?"
+
+"Did Ah see him at dat time?  Le'me see?  Why, no, suh, Ah don' think
+Ah did."
+
+"When was the first time you did see him, Jackson?"
+
+"Ah guess it was at dinnah time, suh.  He was heah den."
+
+"You're sure he was here all through dinner?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, suh!  He must hab been, 'cause he ohdahd dinnah."
+
+"What time was he through dinner, do you know?"
+
+The darky scratched his head.  "Ah reckon it war just befoh he ohdahd
+me ter bring him dat drink."
+
+"And he was here all that time?" I demanded.
+
+"Yes, suh!  He was right heah."
+
+"Where did he sit?"
+
+"Lemme see.  Ah recollec' now, he ask me speshul fo' dat table ovah
+yondah by de winder."
+
+"Can you find the boy that waited on that table that night?"
+
+The old darky hurried away, but came back presently leading a scared
+yellow boy by the sleeve.
+
+"Now, Geoge Henry, you-all quit youah contrahiness an' ansuh de
+genleman's questions o' Ah 'low Ah whup you."
+
+"George, did you wait on that table over there by the window two weeks
+ago?"
+
+"Ya-yas, suh!  Ah ben waitin' on dat table fo' mo'n a month."
+
+"Do you remember waiting on Mr. Frank Woods two weeks ago last Thursday
+night?" I asked.
+
+The boy was trembling.  He rolled frightened eyes toward Jackson who
+was glaring at him.  Finally he broke into a wail.  "Oh!  Pappy
+Jackson, da's all Ah knows.  He tell me he go to de bah an' ef'n
+anybuddy ask whah he go dat night to sen' em in dah."
+
+"Just tell me what you know, George!" I said, motioning the angry
+Jackson away.
+
+"He--he set down at de table but he ain't eat none," the boy stuttered.
+
+"What do you mean, George?"
+
+"He sit down an' look out de winder.  Ah brung him some soup but he got
+up powful sudden, lak he had a call to de telephome, an' he ain't come
+back."
+
+"Are you sure of that, George?"
+
+"Yas, suh, Ah ast him did he want dinnah aftah he come back but he say
+he ain't hongry."
+
+"What time was it when he came back?" I asked.
+
+"Ha'f past eight, suh."
+
+I gave the boy a dollar and he went away happy.  Jackson had a sheepish
+look on his face.
+
+"Then Mr. Woods wasn't here all through dinner, Jackson?"
+
+"Drat dat boy, he make me out a liah fo' a dollah," he grinned.
+
+"Are you sure, absolutely sure, that you saw Mr. Woods at half past
+eight?" I questioned.
+
+"Yas, suh!  You cain't catch me up no mo'.  I saw Mistuh Woods at eight
+twenty-fahv exackly."
+
+I handed him a bill and went into the bar.  Grogan, the old bartender
+was there alone.
+
+"Grogan, do you remember who was in the bar between seven-thirty and
+eight-thirty on the night of the Felderson murder?"
+
+"Only one or two of the gentlemen, sir.  There was Mr. Farnsworth and
+Mr. Brown and I think Mr. Woods."
+
+"Are you sure Mr. Woods was in here?"
+
+"Well, no, sir, not exactly.  I remember Mr. Farnsworth and Mr. Brown.
+There were probably some others.  The reason I think Mr. Woods was here
+was because he called my attention to the fact a few nights after the
+murder.  There were a few gentlemen in here and they were talking of
+Mr. Felderson's death.  Mr. Woods said, in view of the fact that the
+murderer hadn't been found, almost any one might be accused.  Some one
+asked him if he was worried--we all knew, sir, that Mr. Felderson and
+Mr. Woods were not very friendly--and Mr. Woods laughed and said that
+fortunately he had a perfect alibi and called my attention to the fact
+that he was in here at about the time the crime was committed."
+
+"And you're not sure that he was?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, his alibi is good of course, because he was around the club all
+that evening.  I guess he was here and I don't remember it."
+
+I shook hands with him and left.
+
+Far out on the golf links the coroner was bending over, examining
+something on the ground.  When I reached him he grabbed me by the
+sleeve and pointed to two barely discernible tracks paralleling each
+other for almost a hundred yards.  Between them ran a shallow, jagged
+rut, where the spade of an aeroplane had dug up the turf.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+THE MECHANICIAN
+
+"We've got it!  We're on the trail at last!" I exclaimed.  "I just
+found out at the club that Woods left his dinner hurriedly and was not
+seen again until twenty-five minutes past eight."
+
+"We've got to go slow," cautioned the coroner.  "A man who is ingenious
+enough to devise this means of murdering a man won't be tripped up for
+lack of a perfect alibi."
+
+"I've found what that is too.  He has the bartender at the club half
+believing that he was in the bar at the time the murder was committed."
+I told him briefly what I had discovered.
+
+"See!" the coroner pointed out.  "If they bring him into court, the
+bartender won't be able to swear he wasn't in the bar and the short
+time that he was absent will convince the jury that Woods is telling
+the truth and that our theory is all bunk."
+
+"But we're not going to leave things as they stand, just when we are
+hot on the trail.  What do we do now?"
+
+"I'm of the opinion that there is a short-cut to the solution of the
+whole affair.  Woods must have had a mechanician with him on the night
+of the murder."
+
+"What makes you think that?" I asked rather impatiently.
+
+"Because we know Woods came back to the club immediately after the
+murder and played cards the rest of the evening.  He returned to the
+city in another man's car; obviously, then, some one else must have
+taken the aeroplane back to its hangar, since it would have caused too
+much comment had it been on the links in the morning.  Our plan, then,
+is to find that mechanician and bribe or threaten him into telling the
+truth.  If Woods hasn't got rid of him, he ought to be around the
+aviation grounds.  We must wait until we are certain Woods is not there
+before trying to see our man."
+
+"Then there is no better time than right now, for I know Woods is
+taking a certain young lady automobiling this afternoon."
+
+"Let's go quickly then," exclaimed the coroner.
+
+We climbed into the car and sped toward the city.  Since Eastbrook is
+on the aerial postal route, we have a well-equipped aviation field just
+outside the city.  Several of our younger set with special sporting
+proclivities have taken up aerial joy-riding since the war, so that
+there is always a group of mechanicians and hangers-on around the field.
+
+I proposed to the coroner that we stop for Simpson and he agreed.  When
+Simpson heard who it was he came down at once.  As we sped toward the
+aerodrome I told him of our findings of the afternoon.  He was
+astounded.
+
+"You know, I'll hand it to the man who thought up that scheme.  That's
+the cleverest piece of work I ever heard of, if your theories are
+correct and he really did do it."
+
+"What makes you think Woods didn't do it?" I questioned.
+
+"Not a thing," Simpson answered, "only I didn't know Woods kept a plane
+in Eastbrook.  Of course, it would be easy enough for him to get one.
+Lord!  Think of the possibilities it opens up.  It fairly takes your
+breath away.  Automobile bandits aren't in it.  Imagine trying to cope
+with a gang of thieves who add an aeroplane to their kit of tools.
+Suppose they decide to rob the Guarantee Trust Company of New York or
+Tiffany's.  The robbery itself would be the simplest part of the thing.
+It is getting the swag away that worries the criminals.  Suppose they
+pull this robbery off and the police put a net around the city to guard
+against their escape.  Mr. Thief and his gang sail away calmly over the
+heads of the police.  Think of your diamond smugglers!  Why, that big
+British dirigible could have flooded the American market with diamonds
+and laughed in the face of the customs authorities.  I say it gets you."
+
+"Yes, but in the meantime, we get Mr. Woods," I said grimly.
+
+"Don't be too sure of that!" Simpson warned.  "The man who thinks up
+such a scientific way of murdering people isn't going to be an easy man
+to catch."
+
+Memories of big whole-hearted Jim came to my mind and I swore I would
+get Woods if I had to hang for it.  Woods--murderer of Jim, after
+stealing his wife away, and now making love to Mary Pendleton, putting
+his bloody hands on her!  The thought almost drove me mad.
+
+We stopped our machine at the entrance to the field and walked toward
+the hangars.  Three aeroplanes were out, being tuned up.  They looked
+like birds, ready to take wing at the slightest disturbance.  The
+coroner walked over to one of the helpers.
+
+"Can you direct me to the hangar Mr. Frank Woods uses?"
+
+"Woods?" the man repeated with a puzzled frown.  "I don't remember any
+such machine here.  I know most of 'em, but I don't think any Woods has
+a machine here.  Wait!  I'll ask Bill.  He'd know if any one did."
+
+He walked over to a group of mechanicians and returned in a moment.
+
+"It's the last one down.  He ain't had a machine here only two weeks.
+That's the reason I didn't know the name."
+
+We thanked him and started for the other end of the field.  A pilot
+climbed into one of the machines.  Two mechanicians spun the propeller
+and the engine sputtered and roared.  The plane wabbled and swayed
+drunkenly out on to the field, then as the roar increased, it gathered
+speed and was off.
+
+At the door of the Woods hangar, a red-haired mechanic of powerful
+build was cleaning and oiling some delicate-looking piece of mechanism.
+He looked up with a questioning frown as we approached, then became
+engrossed again in his work.
+
+"Is this where Mr. Woods keeps his aeroplane?" the coroner asked.
+
+"Un-hu," grunted the mechanician, continuing with his work.
+
+"Mr. Woods isn't here, is he?"
+
+"No," was the laconic reply.
+
+"Are you Mr. Woods' mechanician?"
+
+"One of 'em," the red one responded.
+
+"How many has he?"
+
+"Three."
+
+"Are the others about?" continued the coroner.
+
+"One of 'em is," said the mechanic, "and he just loves to answer fool
+questions."
+
+The coroner laughed.  "Excuse me, my friend, but I am in need of some
+important information.  Will you tell me which one of the mechanicians
+was with Mr. Woods when he visited the country-club two weeks ago last
+Thursday night?"
+
+The mechanic scrambled to his feet and advanced toward the coroner, his
+face twisted with passion.  For a moment I thought he was going to
+attack us, but he stopped a foot in front of the coroner and snarled:
+"I don't know who you are, nor what you are, nor what you want, but I
+ain't no information bureau--See?  So git t' hell out o' here if you
+know what's good for you!"  With that he turned and disappeared inside
+the hangar.
+
+We looked at one another.  The signs seemed propitious.
+
+"Would it do any good to try to bribe him?" I asked.
+
+"You can try it if you want to; I don't care for the job," Simpson
+smiled.
+
+"No," the coroner interposed.  "He was with Woods that night and he
+won't talk."
+
+"Shouldn't we get the police?" suggested Simpson.
+
+"That wouldn't do any good," the coroner replied.  "Wait a minute!  I
+think I've got it."  And with that he went inside.
+
+Above us we heard the hum of a plane.  We turned to watch it dip and
+glide and loop, in the afternoon sunlight.  The sun, catching its
+wings, made it stand out against the blue sky like some fiery
+dragon-fly.  It flew up, turned a somersault and nose-dived for a
+thousand feet, swung around in a wide circle, flew across the field at
+about four hundred feet, circled again and slid downward.  Closer and
+closer it came to the ground, until the horizon was lost and it seemed
+to be gliding along the earth itself at terrific speed.  Finally it
+nosed up, touched the earth, bounced away as though it were a rubber
+ball, touched again, and at last came to a stop within a hundred yards
+of where we were standing.
+
+A girl climbed from it, and with a sickening clutch at my heart I
+recognized who it was.  Mary had been aeroplaning with Woods instead of
+automobiling as I had supposed.  At the sight of her, laughing gaily at
+some witticism that Woods made as they walked across the field toward
+us, my head spun with hatred and jealousy of the man.
+
+I had no time to observe more, for there were angry shouts within the
+hangar and the coroner came bounding out, with the red-haired
+mechanician close behind him.  The coroner had in his hand what looked
+like an iron crow-bar, and as the mechanician caught him, this bar
+became the center of the struggle.  We hurried to the coroner's aid,
+but before we could reach him, the mechanician gave him a vicious kick
+in the stomach that sent him sprawling and helpless.  With a curse, the
+mechanic picked up the tool they had been struggling for and dashed
+back into the hangar.
+
+The coroner lay writhing where he had fallen, and could not speak.  His
+breath was completely knocked out.  We pumped his arms until at last he
+was able to gasp: "Get that----!  Get that----!"
+
+"It looks as though you had a little disagreement here," a laughing
+voice sounded behind us.  "This isn't at all my idea of a hospitable
+reception for my guests."
+
+We all turned to look into the smiling face of Woods.  As we helped the
+coroner to his feet and began brushing him off Woods continued:
+"Gentlemen, if you are going to present me with the key to the city,
+please make it as unostentatious as possible."  His smile still
+continued, but there was an odd glint in his eyes.  Mary had left his
+side and was walking away.  She had evidently seen me and did not want
+to speak to me.
+
+The coroner cleared his throat.  "Mr. Woods, I'm not here to make any
+presentation speeches.  I am here to accuse you of the murder of James
+Felderson."
+
+Not for an instant did the smile leave Frank Woods' face, nor did his
+expression change.  He looked us over calmly and slowly and then he
+said: "Why, that is very interesting, but you seem to forget that I
+have already been accused of that murder once."
+
+"You were accused on mere suspicion before, but now we have the proof."
+
+The red-haired mechanic sauntered out of the doorway and walked over
+toward the aeroplane.  Behind him followed another youth with a bunch
+of waste in his hand.  The coroner pointed to the former.
+
+"I had the machine gun with which you did the murder until your man
+there kicked me in the stomach and jerked it away from me.  It's in the
+hangar now.  But we don't need the gun, we've got enough evidence
+without it to convict you."
+
+Woods looked us over carefully.  He was by far the calmest one of the
+party.
+
+"Gentlemen, I have already sent to the papers a statement that I am
+able to produce testimony as to my whereabouts during every minute of
+the night when James Felderson was killed.  When the trial comes, I
+shall produce that testimony.  If you think that machine gun is any
+proof against me, just step inside and I'll show you that it is of an
+entirely different caliber from the gun that killed Felderson."
+
+We hesitated for a second, I think because of the brazen effrontery,
+the splendid calmness of the man.  A doubt began to form in my mind as
+to whether he had anything to do with the murder at all.  Woods noticed
+my hesitation and turning to me said with a smile: "Surely you aren't
+afraid of me, Thompson, when you so readily trust me with both your
+sister and your fiancée."
+
+I longed with all my soul to hit the man between the eyes, to crush
+that half-sneering smile into his face with my heel, but I let the
+insult pass and followed the others inside.
+
+"Here is the machine gun, gentlemen.  If you will notice, it is a 36
+caliber and not a 32 at all.  If you will wait one minute, I'll get you
+the magazine.  That will prove it to you beyond a doubt."
+
+He left the hangar and the coroner picked up the gun.
+
+"I could have sworn that the gun I had hold of was a 32.  The barrel
+seems too small for a 36.  Why, look here!  This _is_ a 32.  Here is
+the caliber marked on it."
+
+From outside came the sputter and crack of an aeroplane engine.
+Simpson caught it first and dashed to the door.
+
+"It's Woods' plane.  He's going to escape."
+
+We ran out of the hangar and across the field toward the aeroplane
+which, by now, was enveloped in blue vapor.  Before we had gone
+half-way, it was taxi-cabbing across the field, careening first to one
+side and then to the other.  Suddenly it swerved and turned in our
+direction.  We stood there, a little breathless, to see what it would
+do.  The engines of the plane droned higher as it came toward us.
+
+Suddenly Simpson clutched my arm and yelled: "Look out! he's trying to
+run us down."
+
+I ran wildly to one side of the field, not daring to look back but only
+trying to reach a place of safety.  The sound of the engines came
+crashing to my ears like the staccato roar of a hundred machine guns.
+My legs felt as if they were lead.  I seemed to be standing still.  One
+frightened glance over my shoulder showed the machine, like some
+monstrous vulture, bearing down on me.  I could feel it gaining and
+gaining.  The heavy drone of the engines seemed to fill the air with
+its noise.  A pitiful sense of helplessness gripped me.  I knew I was
+going to die like a rat in the jaws of a fox terrier.  I screamed aloud
+in my terror and pitched headlong on the turf.  With a roar, and a rush
+of wind that almost lifted me from the ground, the aeroplane passed
+over me, its wheels no more than four feet from my head.
+
+I am not sure to this day, whether Frank Woods tried to kill me or not.
+I don't know whether he was cheated of his game when I stumbled and the
+speed of his motor carried the plane off the ground, or whether he was
+just trying to put the fear of God in me.  I will swear, however, that
+as the motor passed over my head, I heard Frank Woods' voice raised in
+a demoniacal laugh.
+
+As the drum of the motor passed and I knew that I was safe for the
+moment, I raised my head to see if the devil should be planning to come
+back.  With joy I saw he had risen to the height of fifteen or twenty
+feet.  Suddenly the plane swooped up as though Woods were trying to
+loop.  For a second it tipped sidewise like a cat boat reeling over in
+the wind, and then there was the sound of splintering wood and tearing
+silk, and the plane crashed miserably to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+RED CAPITULATES
+
+We hurried over to the smashed plane, the coroner leading.  Woods, in
+his effort to run me down, had forgotten the telegraph wires at the end
+of the field.  Too late, he had seen them and vainly tried to lift his
+machine clear of them.  The wires had caught a wing and sent him
+crashing to the earth.
+
+We found him underneath the engine, quite dead, the fall having killed
+him instantly.  We made an improvised litter out of one of the wings
+and carried him to the nearest hangar.  As we placed an overcoat over
+the shapeless form, I heard a sniffle behind me and found the
+red-haired mechanician at my side.
+
+"You didn't get him, you dirty cops.  He got away from you, after all."
+
+"Yes, he's safe now," I murmured.
+
+"Sure!  An' he would 'a' been always if he hadn't been daff' over
+women.  He never had no luck when he played the women.  His takin' that
+skirt out this afternoon was what give him the hoodoo."
+
+The coroner came over to him.
+
+"Now that we can't get him, will you tell us about the night Mr. Woods
+killed Mr. Felderson?"
+
+The mechanic showed himself distinctly hostile to the coroner.
+
+"Oh, no you don't, you fly cop!  Think I'll spill the beans and get
+meself in Dutch?  You can go to hell!"
+
+"I'll promise you won't be prosecuted if you will tell us what happened
+that night."
+
+He looked us over suspiciously, but apparently reassured, he said:
+"Well, that's fair enough, especially since I didn't have nothin' to do
+with the croakin', although I know pretty much how it happened.
+
+"The boss there come over to the plant--the International plant, you
+know--about two weeks ago and had me bring that plane out there over
+here.  We always got along together, the boss and me.  Wasn't pals or
+anything like that, but we understood each other.  I'd seen, for a
+couple of months, that the boss had somethin' on his mind.  I knew it
+wasn't any jane, because they never worried him none.  He worried them
+a lot, but somehow he just took 'em as they come.  He talked with me
+some--he claimed I was the best mechanician he had over there,--and I
+figured it out at last that what he was worryin' about was money.  He
+spent a lot, an' was free an' easy, an' it worried him to figure that
+he was goin' to go bu'st pretty soon.  The first day I was here, he
+brought a woman out, a swell looker--I didn't find out till afterwards
+that it was Felderson's wife--an' he kinda kidded her along about
+helpin' him over the rough spots by lendin' him a little of her dough.
+I sort of figured out he was goin' to run off with the woman, 'cause
+the next morning he come out and said we could take a month's lay-off
+if we wanted to, as he was goin' on his honeymoon.  I thought he was
+goin' to take me along, but when he said that, I made up my mind to
+beat it back to the plant to keep from goin' bugs watchin' them other
+guys callin' theirselves mechanics, tinkerin' around them other busses
+when they didn't know their job.  It's a darn wonder more of these fool
+dudes out here ain't been killed.
+
+"Somethin' must 'a' slipped up, because he come out late that afternoon
+cussin' like the devil.  He had one whale of a temper when he got
+started, the boss did.  He took me with him in the buss and we cruised
+around the country for a while.  Every time he spotted a straight
+stretch of road without too many trees, he'd come down and look it
+over.  Finally we found that straight stretch of road out by the golf
+links at the country-club, an' that must 'a' suited him 'cause that was
+the only place we come to after that.  He mounted that machine gun in
+there on the plane, an' it was then I decided he was a-goin' to slip
+somepin over on somebody.  He didn't take me with him after that, but
+two or three times when he come into the field he'd swoop down on that
+there square target he made and put over in the corner and I'd hear the
+ratti-tat-tat of that machine gun a-goin'.  I ast him what was he goin'
+to do with it an' he said: 'We're a-goin' out one of these nights and
+kill a skunk.'
+
+"The afternoon of the night we went out to the country-club he come out
+here, kind of excited, but cool, if you know what I mean.  You could
+see they was somethin' on his mind, but just the same he had his head
+with him every minute.  Get me?  He told me, as soon as it begin to get
+dusk, to take the plane out to the country-club and land on the links,
+about a half a mile from the club house, an' when I got there to flash
+my pocket lamp, until I see him light a cigarette on the club-house
+porch.  I done as he told me, an' he come out.  He wasn't dressed in a
+jumper, but just had a cap an' a rain-coat over his clothes.  He told
+me to stay there, and after I started the engine, he streaked away.  He
+left about eight o'clock and was back in fifteen minutes.  He slipped
+me a fifty and told me to take the plane back an' to forgit 'at I'd
+brought it out.  I ast him had he killed his skunk an' he laughed an'
+said, 'I made him pretty sick anyway.'  I'd told the boys to have the
+flares out at the park as I was a-goin' to test the machine, so I
+didn't have no trouble in landin'."
+
+He stopped and rolled a cigarette.
+
+"That's all you know, is it?" the coroner asked.
+
+"That's all I know, so help me Henry--but ain't it enough?"
+
+He looked around at the three of us who had been listening intently to
+his story.
+
+"I should say it is," said Simpson.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+I LISTEN TO MY FOREBEARS
+
+Helen had come home.  She preferred living with mother and myself,
+rather than opening up Jim's house, which she had been told belonged to
+her.  Yes, her memory of past events was still gone, and each night I
+sat with her and repeated bits here and there of the experiences through
+which she had lived.  Every now and then a thought would come to her and
+she would be able to fill in parts of the narrative, but this was
+seldom. In a way, it was fortunate, for I was able to leave out all the
+sordid details of her past and give her only the recollections worth
+keeping. As soon as she is quite strong, Doctor Forbes is going to
+reconstruct the tragedy for her, and he says he has every reason to
+believe that he will be successful in restoring her memory.  In the
+meantime, she is entirely happy and content, and more beautiful than
+ever.
+
+Mary had not spoken to me for a month. Somehow we could not get
+together.  I realized how hasty and peremptory I had been in commanding
+her not to go with Woods, and I tried in a thousand different ways to
+make her realize that I was sorry.  Whenever I found we were to be
+invited to the same dance or supper party, I lay awake half the night
+before, planning how I would approach her; what she would say and what I
+would say.  It was a delightful game to play, because I always came out
+the victor.  I made her say and do just the things that would make a
+reconciliation easy, but when we actually met, it was vastly different.
+
+We were both invited to the Rupert-Smiths' ball, and I made up my mind
+that before the evening was over, I would be back in her good graces, on
+the same old footing. As much as I hated being treated like a younger
+brother, it was far better than being treated like a stepchild.
+
+As soon as I saw her come into the ballroom, I hurried toward her, but
+at that moment the orchestra began a fox-trot and she whirled away in
+the arms of young Davis, smiling into his face as though she adored him.
+Davis holds a girl so tightly that it is actually indecent, but she
+seemed to enjoy it.
+
+I was by her side, almost before the music stopped, but she turned away
+without looking in ray direction and, literally hanging on Davis' arm,
+made her way from the ballroom.
+
+I finally caught her alone while she was waiting for some yokel to get
+her a glass of punch.
+
+"Mary, may I have a dance?" I blurted out.
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Thompson, but my program is full," she answered
+sweetly--too sweetly.
+
+"But there aren't any programs," I insisted.
+
+"Nor have I any dances left," she countered.
+
+"Mary, I'm awfully sorry--"
+
+"Oh!  There you are, Mr. Steel," she laughed over my shoulder, "I almost
+thought you had forgotten me."  I fled, leaving that ass, Steel, cooing
+the most puerile rot about how he couldn't forget her and so forth.
+
+I called up Anne McClintock before the McClintock dinner and begged her
+as my guardian angel to put me next to Mary.  She agreed on condition
+that she could put that Sterns woman, the parlor Bolshevic, on the other
+side of me.  I consented, and through the entire dinner, Mary talked to
+old Grandfather McClintock about the labor disputes although she doesn't
+know the difference between a strike-out and a lock-out.  She actually
+seemed perfectly contented to shout into that old man's ear all evening,
+though I did everything to get her attention except spill my plate in
+her lap.  Afterward I heard her telling that Sterns woman what a
+charming couple we'd make.  I tried to call on Mary twice and both times
+she was out--to me.
+
+Finally people began to see that there was a serious difference between
+us and they avoided inviting us to small parties together, so that I saw
+her at only the largest, most formal and most stupid functions.
+
+I had told Helen one day that I would be late to dinner on account of an
+important case.  About three o'clock in the afternoon, however, I found
+that a certain book I needed was at the house, so I jumped into the car
+and went up after it.  Mary's electric was out in front.  For a moment I
+contemplated flight, Mary so obviously disliked me, but being determined
+that no girl in the world could keep me from going where I pleased, I
+trotted up the steps.
+
+The door opened just as I reached the porch, and disclosed Mary hastily
+saying "Good-by" to Helen.  The sight of her leaving, so as to avoid
+meeting me, angered me and some piratical old forebear of mine came down
+from above or came up from below at that moment and perched on my right
+shoulder.
+
+"Treat 'em rough!" he whispered.
+
+I hurried over to the door, walked in and slammed it after me.
+
+Helen laughed and said: "Warren, dear, aren't you getting noisy?"
+
+"Helen," I said, "will you please go into the other room?"
+
+"Helen, stay here!" Mary ordered.
+
+"I shall do neither the one nor the other. I shall go up-stairs."  She
+turned to leave.
+
+"If you go, Helen, I'll go with you," Mary announced.
+
+Another ancestral spook with dwarfed, hairy body and gorilla arms,
+climbed to my left shoulder, sat down on his hunkers and whispered in my
+ear: "Treat 'em rough!"
+
+"You're going to stay right here!" I commanded, grabbing her by the
+hand.
+
+"Let go of my hand!" Mary demanded.  "I am _not_ going to stay here."
+
+The sight of her sweet indignant face made my heart jump to my throat.
+Helen laughed and went up-stairs.
+
+"Mary--" I began, my voice softening.
+
+My ancient forebears made wry faces at each other and hopped down from
+my shoulders.
+
+"He's a fool!" announced the cave man.
+
+"I'll say he is," answered the pirate.
+
+"I'm not going to stay here a minute longer.  Will you please get out of
+my way?" Mary said coldly.
+
+"No, I won't!" I yelled.  "I've had about enough of this, Mary.  You
+think you can dangle me on the end of a string, like a damned jumping-
+jack, until you see fit to let me have a little rest."
+
+My guiding ancestors hopped back on my shoulders.
+
+"That's the stuff to give 'em!" yelled Hunkers.
+
+"Treat 'em rough!" shouted Captain Kidd.
+
+"You know I was right when I objected to your going with Frank Woods.
+It wasn't a friendly thing to do, after the way he messed up things in
+my family."
+
+"Well, if you hadn't been so dictatorial--"
+
+"Why shouldn't I be dictatorial?" I shouted, while my ancestors held
+their sides with laughter, "and this being my house I'm going to talk as
+loud as I please.  If the girl I love, as no man ever loved a girl
+before, tries to go out with a man I think is wholly unworthy of her,
+why shouldn't I object?  I'll do it again. I want you and I'm to have
+you, if I've got to fight for you.  Even if I have to fight _you_ for
+you."
+
+Suddenly Mary buried her face in her hands.  Her shoulders shook.
+
+"Don't cry, Mary!  I know I've--"
+
+"I'm not crying, I--I'm laughing," she gurgled, dropping into a chair.
+"Bupps, you do look so funny when you get excited."
+
+I went over to her and made her make room for me on her chair, and then
+I put my arms around her.
+
+"Mary, lover-darling, why did you go out with Frank Woods that day?"
+
+"Why, Bupps, I was hunting the same proof that you were.  I felt all
+along that Frank was guilty."
+
+"I'm a brute!"
+
+"You're a foolish boy," she said, twisting one of my few locks of hair.
+
+She snuggled closer.
+
+"Dearest of dearests, when are you going to stop teasing me?" I asked.
+
+"Never, Buppkins!" she replied.  "I just discovered that it brings out
+your strong points."
+
+"Do you remember what you said when I tried to ask you to marry me?" I
+whispered. She shook her head.
+
+"You told me to wait until Helen was well."
+
+"You know, Bupps--the first thing I said to Helen this--this afternoon
+was--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"'How--how well you're looking.'"
+
+With her face so close to mine and those lovely lips smiling at me so
+invitingly, there was only one thing to do, so I did it.
+
+"The kid's got the stuff in him after all," said Hunkers.
+
+"I'll say he has," agreed Captain Kidd.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 32 Caliber, by Donald McGibeny
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 32 CALIBER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 22781-8.txt or 22781-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/8/22781/
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/22781-8.zip b/22781-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa4fa52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22781-8.zip
diff --git a/22781.txt b/22781.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6a9189
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22781.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5559 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of 32 Caliber, by Donald McGibeny
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: 32 Caliber
+
+Author: Donald McGibeny
+
+Illustrator: Hugh Mackey
+
+Release Date: September 27, 2007 [EBook #22781]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 32 CALIBER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+32 CALIBER
+
+
+by
+
+Donald McGibeny
+
+
+
+_Frontispiece by_
+
+HUGH MACKEY
+
+[Transcriber's note: frontispiece missing from book]
+
+
+
+
+INDIANAPOLIS
+
+THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+
+PUBLISHERS
+
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHT 1920
+
+THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I  BRING JIM HERE
+    II  TWO MEN AND A WOMAN
+   III  I COULD KILL HIM
+    IV  THE WORST HAPPENS
+     V  ACCIDENT OR MURDER
+    VI  A CLUE AND A VERDICT
+   VII  I TURN DETECTIVE
+  VIII  IT LOOKS BAD FOR HELEN
+    IX  LOOK OUT, JIM
+     X  I ACCUSE ZALNITCH
+    XI  A DOUBLE INDICTMENT
+   XII  WHO AM I
+  XIII  WE PLAN THE DEFENSE
+   XIV  BULLET PROOF
+    XV  THE ANSWER
+   XVI  THE MECHANICIAN
+  XVII  RED CAPITULATES
+ XVIII  I LISTEN TO MY FOREBEARS
+
+
+
+
+32 CALIBER
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+BRING JIM HERE
+
+I was in the locker-room of the country-club, getting dressed after the
+best afternoon of golf I had ever had.  I had just beaten Paisley
+"one-up" in eighteen holes of the hardest kind of sledding.
+
+If you knew Paisley you'd understand just why I was so glad to beat
+him.  He is a most insufferably conceited ass about his golf, for a man
+who plays as badly as he does; in addition to which he usually beats
+me.  It's not that Paisley plays a better game, but he has a way of
+making me pull my drive or over-approach just by his confounded manner
+of looking at me when I am getting ready to play.
+
+We usually trot along about even until we come to the seventh hole--in
+fact, I'm usually ahead at the seventh--and then conversation does me
+in.  You see, the seventh hole can be played two ways.  There's a small
+clay bank that abuts the green and you can either play around or over
+it to the hole, which lies directly behind.  The real golfers play over
+with a good mashie shot that lands them dead on the green, but dubs,
+like Paisley, play around with two easy mid-iron shots.  When we get to
+the place where the choice must be made, Paisley suggests that I go
+around, which makes me grip my mashie firmly, recall all the things I
+have read in the little book about how to play a mashie shot, and let
+drive with all my force, which usually lands me somewhere near the top
+of the clay bank, where it would take a mountain goat to play the next
+shot.  After that, Paisley and I exchange a few hectic observations and
+my temperature and score mount to the highest known altitude.
+
+Of course, every now and then, I forget my stance and Paisley long
+enough to send the ball in a beautiful parabola right on to the green,
+and when I do--oh, brother!--the things I say to Paisley put him in
+such a frame of mind that I could play the rest of the course with a
+paddle and a basket-ball and still beat him.  This particular afternoon
+he had tried to play the seventh hole as it should be played, and
+though we had both foozled, I had won the hole and romped triumphantly
+home with the side of pig.
+
+I was gaily humming to myself as I put on my clothes when James
+Felderson came in.  His face was drawn and his mouth was set in a way
+that was utterly foreign to Jim, whose smile has done more to keep
+peace in committee meetings and to placate irate members than all other
+harmonizing agencies in the club put together.  There was something
+unnatural, too, about his eyes, as though he had been drinking.
+
+"Have you seen Helen?" he demanded in a thick voice.
+
+"No.  Not to-day," I answered.  "What's the matter, Jim?  Anything
+wrong?"
+
+Felderson has been my law partner ever since he married my sister
+Helen.  I had left him at the office just before lunch and he had
+seemed then as cheerful and unperturbed as usual.
+
+"Helen has gone with Frank Woods!" he burst out, his voice breaking as
+he spoke.
+
+It took a second for me to grasp the meaning of what he said, then I
+grabbed him by the shoulder.
+
+"Jim, Jim, what are you saying?"
+
+My sister--left her husband--run off with another man!  I had read of
+such things in stories, but never had I believed that real people, in
+real life and of real social position, ever so disgraced themselves.
+Every one knew that Frank Woods had been seeing a lot of Helen, and
+several close friends had asked me if Jim knew the man's reputation.  I
+had even spoken to Helen, only to be laughed at, and assured that it
+was the idle gossip of scandal-mongers.  That she should have left Jim,
+darling old Jim, for Frank Woods, or any other man, was unthinkable.
+Jim sank on a bench and turned a face to me that had grown utterly
+haggard.
+
+"It's true, Bupps!  I found this on the table when I went home to
+lunch."
+
+He held out a crumpled note written in Helen's rather mannish back-hand.
+
+
+"Jim,
+
+"It is now ten-thirty.  Frank is coming for me at eleven.  He has made
+me realize that, loving him the way I do, I would be doing you a
+horrible injustice to keep up the wretched pretense of being your wife.
+
+"Had you left any other way open, I would have taken it, but you
+refused a divorce.  I hate to hurt you the way I must, but try to
+understand and forgive me.
+
+"Helen."
+
+
+I turned toward Jim.  His chin was sunk in his hands.  Two men came in
+from the tennis-courts and nodded as they went by.
+
+"What have you done?" I asked.
+
+He raised his head, and on his face was written incalculable misery.
+
+"Nothing!" he answered, dropping his hands hopelessly.  "What can I do,
+except let them go and get a divorce as soon as possible?  It's my
+fault.  After we--quarreled the other night, she asked me to divorce
+her, and I refused.  God, Bupps!  If you only knew how much I love her
+and how hard I've tried to make her love me.  And she did love me till
+Woods came along."
+
+I hurried up my dressing, turning over in my mind the details of Jim's
+married life.  In the light of the latest developments, I realized the
+painful fact that I was partly to blame myself.  Helen hadn't really
+loved Jim when she married him.  Oh, she'd loved him in the same way
+she'd loved a lot of other men whom she'd been more or less engaged to
+at one time or another.  She had married Jim, because it had been the
+thing to do that year, to get married; and she realized that Jim loved
+her more and could give her more than any of the others.  Where I came
+in was that I had urged her to marry Jim because he was the best man in
+the world and because I wanted him for my brother-in-law.
+
+I remembered now how cold Helen had been, even during their engagement,
+trumping up almost any excuse to keep from spending an evening alone
+with the man who was to be her husband.  It had made me so hot that I
+had reproached her even in Jim's presence.  My words didn't seem to
+affect Helen any, but they did affect Jim a lot.  He had taken me for a
+long ride in his car and filled me full of moonshine about how he was
+unworthy of her and how he would win her love after they were married.
+I was in such sympathy with him that I tried to believe it true,
+although I knew Helen as only a younger brother can know a sister.  I
+knew that she had been pampered and petted ever since she was a child;
+that she had never shown much affection for father and mother, who were
+her slaves, while toward me, who had insulted and made fun of her, she
+was almost effusive.  With this in mind, I had urged Jim to neglect
+her, to "treat her rough," but when a man is head-over-heels in love
+with a girl, what's the good of advice?  To tell him to mistreat her
+was like telling a Mohammedan to spit in the face of the prophet.
+
+They had been married a little over a year when Frank Woods came to
+Eastbrook on war business for the French Government.  He had been in
+Papa Joffre's Army during part of the melee, wore the _Croix de Guerre_
+with several palms, and could hold a company of people enthralled with
+stories of his experiences.  Whether he had a right to the decorations,
+or even the uniform, no one was quite sure, but it set off every good
+point of his massive, well-built frame.  He would stand in front of the
+fire and tell of air-scraps in such a way that, while he never
+mentioned the hero by name, it was easy to guess that "hero" and Frank
+Woods were synonymous.  He could dance, ride, play any game and shoot
+better than the best of us, and when he sat at the piano and sang,
+every man looked at his wife or his fiancee and wondered where the
+lightning was going to strike.  For although he was a very proper young
+bachelor for months, showing no unseemly interest in women, we all of
+us, I think, secretly felt that he was setting the stage for a "grand
+coup."
+
+If he had singled out Helen from the first, he couldn't have played his
+game better, for his seeming indifference to her loveliness piqued her
+almost to madness.  During the early months of our entrance in the war
+he was called back to France, and every man in Eastbrook breathed a
+sigh of relief.  There wasn't one of us who could say why we thought
+him a cad, but just the same, I doubt if there was a father in
+Eastbrook who would willingly have given his daughter to him.  He was
+too much of the ideal lover to make a good husband.  There was
+something about him, too, that made no man want to claim him as a
+particular friend, but perhaps it was because we were all jealous.
+
+While most of the younger men of the town were in France, or, like Jim
+and myself, in a training-camp, Frank Woods came back, and this time
+there was no mistaking whom he had picked out for his attentions.
+Until the war was over and Jim home, it was not noticeable, for he was
+most meticulous in his behavior, but with Jim busy trying to straighten
+out our tangled practise, Woods lost no time in taking advantage of his
+opportunities.  And there had been opportunities enough, heaven knows,
+with Jim surrounded by clients, yet trying in his clumsy, lovable way
+to remonstrate with Helen for seeing so much of Woods.  My interference
+had only increased his opportunities, for the evening I told her what
+people were saying, she quarreled with Jim, and as a result he threw
+himself into his work with an energy in which enthusiasm had no part.
+
+All the time these thoughts were running through my head--and they ran
+much faster than I can set them down--I had been throwing my clothes
+on, knowing something had to be done, yet what that something was I
+couldn't for the life of me figure out.
+
+"Come on, Jim!" I said, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him from
+his dejected position.
+
+"Where to?" he responded wearily.
+
+"First of all, we're going to shut this thing up.  _The Sun_ would like
+nothing better than to spread it thick all over the front page of their
+filthy sheet."
+
+"You're right, old boy!  I'd forgotten about the newspapers.  It would
+be horrible for Helen to have her name dragged through the mud."
+
+"I wasn't thinking of Helen," I responded testily, "but a lot of cheap
+notoriety won't help our law practise any."
+
+All the spirit seemed to have seeped out of his system, so I pushed him
+into my car, preferring to take the wheel rather than have him drive.
+I can always think better when I have a steering wheel in my hands, and
+knowing with what speed Jim drove ordinarily, I didn't care to trust my
+precious body to him in his overwrought condition.
+
+We were just backing into the drive when one of the servants came
+running from the club.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Thompson!" he called.
+
+I stopped the car and waited for him to come up.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"You're wanted on the telephone."
+
+I jumped from the car and started for the club.  There were the usual
+groups of tea-drinkers and bridge-players scattered about on the broad
+veranda, and it seemed to me, as I ran up the steps, that they all
+stopped talking and looked at me, I thought, with curiosity, if not
+with pity.  There would be no use shutting up the newspapers if that
+bunch of gossips were in possession of the scandal.
+
+I hurried to the telephone and slammed the door to the booth, expecting
+to hear the voice of some reporter demand if there was any truth to the
+rumor that Mrs. James Felderson had run off with Frank Woods.  To my
+buzzing brain it seemed that the whole world must have heard the news.
+
+"Hello," I called.
+
+"Is that you, Warren?"  It was Helen's voice.
+
+"Helen!" I yelled.  "For God's sake, where are you?"
+
+"I am at the house.  Listen, Warren!  Have you seen Jim?"
+
+Her voice sounded faint and strangely uncontrolled.
+
+"Yes--yes," I shouted.  "He's here with me now."
+
+"Then bring him here quickly, Warren!  Please hurry."
+
+"But, Helen----"
+
+"Don't ask me any questions, please."  There was a catch in the voice
+on the other end of the wire.  "I c-can't answer any questions now, but
+bring Jim, and hurry!"
+
+The receiver clicked and I dashed out of the booth, a thousand
+questions pounding in my brain.  Why was Helen at the house?  Had Frank
+Woods failed to keep his appointment, thinking better of eloping with
+another man's wife; or, had Helen come to her senses, seen through the
+thin veneer that covered the cad and the libertine in Frank Woods and
+returned to her husband for good?  Over and above these questions and
+conjectures and hopes, there was thanksgiving in my heart that the
+irremediable step had not been taken; that something had intervened to
+keep scandal and disgrace away from Jim.
+
+There must have been something in my face that told Jim I had been
+talking to Helen, for he moved into the driver's seat and greeted me
+with the single question: "Where is she?"
+
+"Home!" I panted, "and drive like the devil!"
+
+
+I might have saved myself the trouble of the last, for even before I
+got into the car there was a roar of exhaust and the crunch of grinding
+gears and we were off down the smooth drive with a speed that quickly
+brought tears to my eyes and put the fear of God in my heart.
+
+How we ever escaped a smash-up after we got into the city I can't tell
+to this day, for Jim never once slackened speed.  He sat there with
+jaws set, pumping gas and still more gas into the little car.  Thrice I
+saw death loom up ahead of us, as vehicles approached from
+side-streets, but with a swerve and a sickening skid, we missed them
+somehow.  Once a street-car and a wagon seemed completely to block the
+road ahead, but Jim steered for the slender opening and when I opened
+my eyes we had skinned through, leaving a corpulent and cursing driver
+far behind.  After that I forgot my wretched fear and the blood surged
+through my veins at the delicious feel of the air as it whipped my
+cheeks.  We turned at last into the long approach to Jim's house and it
+was then that my heart sank.
+
+Frank Woods' car was standing before the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+TWO MEN AND A WOMAN
+
+Had Helen been alone, I would have dropped Jim and gone on, knowing
+that what they had to say to each other was not for outside ears, but
+when I saw Frank Woods' car there, I felt that a cool head might be
+needed.  There was an ominous set to Jim's shoulders as he walked
+toward the steps, a sort of drawing in of the head, as though all the
+muscles in his big frame were tensed.  He hesitated a fraction of a
+second at the door, either to let me catch up with him or because of
+distaste for the prospective meeting, and we entered the cool dark hall
+together.
+
+Helen was standing at the entrance to the big living-room, her tall
+figure erect, her head proudly poised, one graceful arm upraised, with
+the hand buried in the velvet hangings.  She had on a gray
+traveling-suit, the coat of which lay tossed over the back of a near-by
+chair.  A large patent-leather traveling-case lay beside it.  I had
+expected, from the urgency of the message and the sound of her voice
+over the telephone, to find Helen agitated, but, except for slight
+traces of recent tears and a high color, she looked as cool and
+collected as though she had invited us to tea.  Jim, on the other hand,
+was trembling, his face a pasty white, with great beads of perspiration
+standing on his forehead.
+
+She motioned us to enter, and I led the way, gripping Jim's hand in
+passing.  Woods was standing by the window, his back to us, and his
+whole pose so artificial, so expressive of disdain, that I felt the
+short hair rising along the back of my neck in antagonism.  When he
+heard us, Woods turned with contemptuous deliberation, but when he
+caught sight of the dumb misery on Jim's face, his own turned a dull
+crimson.  Helen crossed the room and seated herself on the divan, back
+of which Woods was standing.  The whole performance--the place she
+chose near him, the look she flashed at him as she sat down, showed so
+completely which of the men she loved, that my heart sank and I lost
+hope of ever bringing her back to Jim.  It was Helen who first spoke.
+
+"You received the note I left this morning?"
+
+Jim moistened his lips once and said, "Yes."  The word was barely
+audible.
+
+"Then there is no need to tell you I have made up my mind to go with
+Frank."
+
+Her tone was coldly final.  Woods had turned and was again gazing out
+of the window.  Jim looked at Helen with the eyes of a hound-dog.  My
+heart ached for him, but there was nothing I could do.
+
+"Why did you come back?" Jim almost whispered, keeping his eyes
+directly on her face.
+
+"Because I didn't want a scandal."  She glanced down at her lap where
+she was opening and closing a beaded vanity bag.  Evidently she was
+finding the interview harder than she had expected.
+
+"I felt--I hoped that if I could show you definitely and finally that I
+don't love you, that I am devoted to Frank, your pride, if nothing
+else, would induce you to give me the divorce for which I asked.  That
+is the reason we decided to come back--so you might make it possible
+for us to marry without a scandal."
+
+The gross selfishness of the woman--I could hardly think of her as my
+sister--her cold cruelty, yes, even her damnable beauty, seemed to go
+to my head and something snapped inside.  I couldn't bear the sight of
+Jim standing there helpless, while these two turned the knife.
+
+"That was very considerate of you," I sneered.
+
+"You keep out of this, Warren!"
+
+"I'm damned if I do," I retorted.  "I at least have a brother's right
+to tell you that a man who will sneak into another's home to make love
+to his wife, behind his back, and then----"
+
+Woods turned quickly.  "That's a lie, and you know it."
+
+Jim put his hand on my shoulder.  He knew I was ready to fight.
+
+"Don't, Bupps!"
+
+Suddenly he seemed to straighten into life.  From the way he set his
+jaw, I knew that the old courage, which had won so many cases in the
+court-room, was back on the job.
+
+"You were quite right, Helen.  While I imagine your reason for not
+wanting a scandal was largely selfish, yet I think that consideration
+for my position was partly responsible for your return, and for that I
+thank you.  When you asked for a divorce the other night, I didn't
+realize that your love for me was so entirely dead, or that you had
+fallen so completely under this man's influence.  Under the
+circumstances, I shall give you a divorce, if only to keep you from
+taking matters into your own hands.  But I shall not do it until I have
+satisfied myself that your new love is real, that the man is worthy of
+it.  If there is anything in Woods' life that does not bear looking
+into, I'll find it out; if he has done anything in the past that is
+likely to hurt you in the future, I shall know it, and you shall know
+it, too, before you take this irrevocable step."
+
+Woods flushed for a moment when Jim spoke of digging into his past, but
+he laughed easily and said:
+
+"You're getting a bit melodramatic, aren't you?"
+
+"Better melodrama than tragedy," Jim responded bitterly.
+
+"Helen has told you she doesn't love you, and that she does love me.
+This morning she was ready to face the scandal of leaving her husband;
+to go to live with me, to live openly with me, unmarried, until you
+could get a divorce.  That rather answers your first point, doesn't it?"
+
+"It makes me think no better of you, that you should have agreed to
+such a sacrifice."
+
+"I never expected to win the husband's love at the same time I won his
+wife's," Woods responded evenly.
+
+Never have I seen murder shine out of a man's eyes as it did out of
+Jim's at that moment.  Each man measured the other across the narrow
+space, and I longed that the laws of civilization might be swept aside
+so that the two might tear at each other's throats, for the woman they
+loved.  Both men were powerful, and neither feared the other.
+
+"As to looking up my past," Woods continued, "one might think you were
+the father of the lady and I a youthful suitor.  While I recognize no
+right of yours to meddle in my affairs, the fact that I was sent to
+America as the duly accredited agent of the French Government should
+have some weight.  They are not accustomed over there to hiring thugs
+and cutthroats to carry on their business."
+
+"This is all beside the point," Helen broke in.  "May I ask, Jim, where
+I am going to stay and what I am going to do while you are
+investigating Frank's past?"
+
+"You are going to stay here."
+
+"Here?  But where will you stay?"
+
+"I am going to stay here with you."
+
+Woods came around the divan.  "Look here, Felderson!  Can't you see
+Helen doesn't love you, that you've lost--?"
+
+"Keep back!" warned Jim huskily.
+
+"She can't stay here with you.  She's no more your wife than if she had
+never married you.  Do you think I'll allow her to stay in this house,
+forced to endure your attentions--?"
+
+"Who are you to say what you will or won't allow?" Jim roared, his eyes
+blazing.  "You came into my house as my guest and stole my most
+precious possession.  Get out before I kill you!"
+
+Woods' face was white.  For one minute I felt sure the two men would
+settle matters then and there.  Suddenly he turned and said: "Come,
+Helen!"
+
+"She stays here!" Jim cried.
+
+Helen had arisen from the divan when the two men came together.  Now
+she stepped forward.
+
+"I'm going with Frank.  We came back here more for your sake than our
+own.  We tried to give you a chance to do the decent thing, but I might
+have known you wouldn't.  With all your protestations of love for me,
+when I ask you to do the one thing that would show that love, the one
+thing that would make me happy, you not only refuse, but you insult the
+man who means everything in the world to me.  If I had ever loved you
+in my life, what you have just said would have made me hate you.  As I
+never loved you, I despise and loathe you now."
+
+She started to pass him, but he grabbed her by the shoulders.  His face
+was white and drawn and his eyes were the eyes of a madman.  He lifted
+her up bodily and almost threw her on the divan, crying, "By God!  You
+stay here!"
+
+Jim turned just as Woods rushed and with a mighty swing to the side of
+the head, sent him crashing into the corner.  Dazed as he was, he half
+struggled to his feet, and when I saw him reach beneath his coat, I
+sprang on him and wrenched the revolver from his hand.
+
+Disheveled and half-stupefied, he rose and glared at us like an angry
+bull.  Slowly he straightened his tie and brushed back his hair.  He
+glanced over at Helen, who was sobbing on the sofa.
+
+"Two of you--eh?  A frame-up."  All the hatred in the world gleamed in
+his eyes, as he looked at Jim.  "If you don't let Helen come to me,
+Felderson, I'll kill you; so help me God, I'll kill you!"  Then he
+picked up his coat and hat and walked out of the room.
+
+Jim went slowly to the door and into the hall.  He looked tired and
+old.  I heard the outer door slam behind Frank Woods and a motor start.
+Then I went out to Jim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+I COULD KILL HIM
+
+I was on my way back to Jim's after having gone home to change my
+clothes.  Jim had asked me to stay with him that evening and, to tell
+the truth, I was glad to do it, partly because of the threat Woods had
+made and partly because of the way Helen looked at Jim when she passed
+us in the hall on the way to her bedroom.  Being a lawyer, I have
+naturally made a pretty close study of character, and if I ever saw
+vindictiveness on the face of any human, it was on Helen's at that
+moment.
+
+I said nothing about the affair to mother while I was home, for she has
+been very frail ever since my father's death and I thought there was no
+use in needlessly upsetting her.  There would be plenty of time to
+discuss the matter after Helen left Jim.
+
+Again and again I recalled the struggle of the afternoon and again and
+again, Helen's face, distorted with anger, reappeared.  Finally I
+decided to drive the car over to Mary Pendleton's and ask her to come
+spend the night with Helen.  In her overwrought, hysterical condition,
+Helen was capable of doing almost anything.
+
+Mary has been like a second sister to me.  She really cares nothing for
+me, except in a sisterly way, but we have been together, so much so and
+so long that Eastbrook gossips have given up speculating whether we are
+engaged.  I'd marry her in a minute, or even less, if she would have
+me, but Mary insists on treating me like a kid; calls my crude attempts
+at love-making "silly tosh and flub-dub," which makes the going rather
+difficult.  She was bridesmaid to Helen and is the one person, besides
+myself, who can influence her in the least, so I felt that her presence
+would add ballast to our wildly tossing domestic craft.  Needless to
+say, my own lack of self-control during the afternoon had been as
+unexpected as it was disappointing, but when it comes to anything that
+concerns Jim, I'm not responsible.
+
+I rang the bell and Mary, herself, came to the door, looking radiant as
+usual.
+
+"Hello, Buppkins!"  She greeted me with that detestable nick-name she
+has used since I wore rompers.  "Aren't you trying for a record or
+something?  This is twice you've called on me this month."
+
+"Mary, I'm in trouble."
+
+"Is the poor 'ittle boy in trouble and come to Auntie Mary to tell her
+all about it?" she sing-songed, making a little moue, as though she was
+talking to her pet cat.
+
+"Cut it, Mary!" I said.  "I'm really in trouble."
+
+"What is it, Bupps?"
+
+"Helen ran off with Frank Woods to-day."
+
+"Heavens, Bupps!"--she was serious enough now.--"Where did they go?"
+
+"They went, but they came back.  Helen's home with Jim.  They tried to
+force him to give Helen a divorce.  There was an awful fight and Woods
+swore that he would kill Jim unless he let Helen go.  But put on your
+hat and coat and get your things.  Helen needs you with her.  I'll tell
+you the rest on the way over."
+
+"I'll be with you in a second," she called, running up-stairs.
+
+When Mary was snuggled down beside me in the car--and she does snuggle
+the best of any girl I ever knew--I told her everything, not forgetting
+the part where I wrenched the gun away from Woods.
+
+"Goodness, Bupps!  I bet you were scared," she commented, her eyes
+twinkling.
+
+"Frankly, I didn't know what I was doing, or I would never have had the
+nerve," I laughed.  "But, lord!  I feel sorry for Jim."
+
+Mary's face clouded over.
+
+"So do I, Bupps, but any one could have seen it coming.  Jim was too
+good to her.  As much as I like Helen, I will say that the only kind of
+husband she deserves is a brute who would beat her.  That's the only
+kind she can love.  I was with her the night before her wedding, and
+she confessed then that if Jim were only cruel or indifferent to her,
+just once, she thought she could love him to death.  The only reason
+Helen cares for you and me, was because we never paid any particular
+attention to her when she acted up and pouted.  That is why she is mad
+about Frank Woods.  When he came to Eastbrook, he treated her as though
+she didn't exist."
+
+"And if Jim were cruel to her now, do you think she would go back to
+him?" I asked.
+
+Mary shook her head.  "No, it's different now.  If Jim were cruel to
+her, she would probably hate him all the more for it."
+
+"Proving the incomprehensibility of woman," I jeered.
+
+"Proving the flumdability of flapdoodle," Mary responded.  "If you men
+only put one little thought into giving a woman what she wants, instead
+of giving her what you think she ought to want; if you kept as
+up-to-date in your love-making as you do in your law practise, women
+wouldn't be the incomprehensible riddle you always make them out to be."
+
+"Well, why don't you tell us what you want?" I asked.
+
+"Silly!  That would spoil it all, don't you see?  Besides we aren't
+sure just what we want ourselves."
+
+My spirits, which had risen considerably during our conversation,
+dropped with a slump when Jim's big house loomed up ahead.  Already,
+something of the unhappiness within seemed to have added a more somber
+touch to the outside.  Have you noticed how you can tell from the face
+of a house what kind of life the inhabitants lead?  Happiness or
+misery, health or sickness, riches or poverty all show as though the
+walls were saturated from the admixture of life within.
+
+I sent Mary up-stairs to see Helen, while I went into the drawing-room
+in search of Jim, but there was no one there except Wicks, the butler,
+who was lighting a fire, for, though it was only the last of September,
+the nights were chilly.  I snatched up the evening paper to see if by
+any chance a hint of the scandal had crept into print.  I felt sure
+that, as matters stood, they would not dare to put in anything
+definite, but _The Sun_ has a nasty way of writing all around a
+scandal, so that, while the persons involved are readily recognized,
+they are quite helpless as far as redress is concerned.
+
+I noticed that Wicks had taken an infernally long time to start the
+fire.  Although it was burning merrily, he still puttered about,
+brushing up the chips and rearranging the blower and tongs.  When Wicks
+hangs about he usually has a question on his mind that he wants
+answered, and he takes that means of letting you know it.  I decided
+not to notice him but to force him to come out in the open and ask, for
+once, a straightforward question.  From the fire, he moved to the table
+and straightened the magazines and books, glancing now and then in my
+direction, trying to catch my eye, but I buried myself more deeply than
+ever in the paper.  When he finally stepped back of my chair, human
+nature could stand his puttering no longer, so I laid down _The Sun_,
+and turned to him.
+
+"Well, Wicks, what do you want?" I snapped.
+
+Wicks looked at me with the expression of a small boy caught
+sticky-handed in the jam-closet.
+
+"Nothing, sir!--that is--er--nothing."  He turned and started from the
+room.
+
+"Come here, Wicks!" I called.  "I know when you hang around a room
+unnecessarily, as you have been doing for the last ten minutes, that
+you have something on your mind.  Now, out with it."
+
+"I was merely going to arsk, sir, hif I 'ad better begin lookin' arfter
+another place, sir?"
+
+That was an extraordinary question.  Wicks had been with the Feldersons
+ever since they were married.
+
+"What put that idea into your head, Wicks?"
+
+He was far more confused than I had ever seen him.
+
+"Meanin' no disrespect, sir, and I don't mean to be hinquisitive about
+what doesn't concern me, but I couldn't 'elp 'earin' a bit of what took
+place this arfternoon, sir."
+
+Good lord!  I'd forgotten there might have been other witnesses to the
+scene of the afternoon besides myself.
+
+"Do the other servants know about this, Wicks?"
+
+"Hi think they do, sir, seein' as 'ow Mrs. Felderson 'as been actin'
+and talkin' so queer."
+
+"What do you mean?" I demanded.
+
+Wicks struggled for composure.  The subject was evidently most
+distasteful to his conservative and conventional British nature.
+
+"Hit was Annie, Mrs. Felderson's maid, sir, that hupset the servants.
+W'en she came down from hup-stairs, she said as 'ow Mrs. Felderson was
+a ragin' and a rampagin' around 'er room, sayin' that if Mr. Felderson
+didn't give 'er a divorce, she would do violence to 'im, sir."
+
+"Did Annie hear her say that?" I questioned.
+
+"She says so, sir."
+
+The whole thing was so monstrous that I gasped.  For this awful
+dime-novel muck to be tumbled into the middle of my family was too
+sickening.  My sister, running away from her husband with another man
+and now threatening, in the hearing of the servants, to kill him,
+unless he gave her a divorce, disgusted me with its cheap vulgarity.  I
+hid, as best I could, the tempest that was brewing inside me.
+
+"Wicks, Mrs. Felderson is not well.  Tell the servants that she is
+greatly depressed over an accident that happened to a friend.  At the
+present time, she is so upset over that, she really doesn't know what
+she is saying.  Quiet them in some way, Wicks!  And tell Annie to stay
+with Mrs. Felderson!"
+
+"Very good, sir."  He started to leave.
+
+"And, Wicks--"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"There is no need of your looking for another place."
+
+"Yes, sir.  Thank you, sir!"
+
+Wicks departed and I was left to my gloomy thoughts.  Helen must be
+brought to her senses.  Mary and I must work, either to bring her back
+to Jim, or, if that prove hopeless, to see that the divorce was hurried
+as much as possible.  The very thought of having Mary along with me,
+with her inexhaustible fund of God-given humor and common sense, gave
+me a vast amount of comfort and confidence.
+
+At this point, Jim came in.  He had had a bath and a shave and had put
+on a dinner-coat, looking a lot more fit to grapple with his troubles
+than he had the last time I had seen him.  Only in his eyes did he show
+the shock he'd received that day.
+
+"Communing with yourself in the dark, Bupps?"--his voice was natural
+and easy.
+
+"Yes," I sighed, "I've been trying to see a way out of this mess."
+
+Jim lit a cigarette and threw himself into a chair.  For a few moments
+he puffed in silence, taking deep inhalations and blowing the smoke
+against the lighted tip, so that it showed all the rugged, strength of
+his superb head.
+
+"What would you say, Bupps, if I told you everything would come out all
+right?"
+
+"And Helen stay with you?" I asked incredulously.
+
+"And Helen stay with me," he repeated calmly.
+
+"Of her own free will?"
+
+"Of her own free will," he answered.
+
+"I should say that the events of the day had addled your brain and that
+you are a damned inconsiderate brother-in-law to try to make a fool of
+me."
+
+"I mean it, Bupps," he said quietly.
+
+"What do you mean?" I demanded.
+
+"That everything will come out all right," he smiled.
+
+"But how, man?"  His complacency almost drove me wild.
+
+"Bupps, have you noticed how much money Woods has been spending around
+here--his extravagant way of living?  Where do you think that money
+comes from?"
+
+"His contracts with the French Government," I replied.
+
+"But I happen to know he didn't land those contracts.  That's the
+reason he beat it so suddenly when we got into the war."  He tossed his
+cigarette into the fire.
+
+"His salary from the French, then.  They must have paid him some kind
+of salary."
+
+"Have you never heard what ridiculously small salaries the French
+Government pays its officers?"
+
+It was true that Woods could never have lived as he did on ten times
+the salary of a French captain.
+
+"His own private fortune then," I suggested.
+
+"Ah!  There's the point!  If he has a private fortune, then my whole
+case falls to pieces.  That's what I've got to find out.  Woods has
+been playing for a big stake, and I think he has been playing with
+other people's money.  Did you notice how he flushed this afternoon
+when I suggested looking into his private affairs?  It was the veriest
+accident--I was stalling for time--but when I saw him color up I knew
+I'd touched a sore spot.  No, Bupps, I don't think Woods has a private
+fortune."
+
+"But even if you show him up as worthless, will Helen come back to you,
+Jim?"
+
+The color came to his face and he laughed with a queer twist to his
+mouth.
+
+"Am I as horrible as all that, Bupps?"
+
+His words brought a lump to my throat.  I went over to him and almost
+hugged him.
+
+"Jim, you're such a peach--dammit all--"
+
+I heard a light step behind me.
+
+"Oh, Bupps!" laughed Mary, "if you'd only make love to me in that
+ardent fashion, I'd drag you to the altar by your few remaining hairs."
+
+I stood up, blushing in spite of myself.  She can always make me feel
+that whatever I am doing is either stupid or foolish.
+
+"Dinner is served, and I'm starving.  Come on, people!" she announced,
+leading the way to the dining-room.
+
+"Where's Helen?" I asked.
+
+"She's not coming down.  She has a slight headache," Mary answered,
+giving me a warning look.  "I am delegated to be lady of the manor this
+evening."  She looked so adorable as she curtsied to us that I felt an
+almost uncontrollable impulse to grab her in my arms and smother her
+with kisses, but remembering what she had done to me once when I
+yielded to impulse, I refrained.
+
+When we sat down to the table, Helen's empty place threatened to cast a
+gloom over the party, so Mary told Wicks to remove it.
+
+"It's too much like Banquo's ghost," she whispered, laughing merrily at
+Jim.
+
+"Speaking of ghosts," said Jim turning to me, "I hear the labor people
+are asking the governor to pardon Zalnitch."
+
+"A lot of good it will do them," I responded.  "If ever a man deserved
+hanging, he does."
+
+"I know, but labor is awfully strong now, and with the unsettled social
+conditions in the state, a bigger man than Governor Fallon might find
+it expedient to let Zalnitch off."
+
+"Who is Zalnitch?  Don't think I've met the gentleman," Mary said.
+
+"He's the Russian who was supposed to be the ring-leader of the gang
+that blew up the Yellow Funnel steamship piers in 1915," I explained.
+
+"Do you mean to say he hasn't been hanged yet?"
+
+"Yes!" Jim answered.  "And what's more, I'm afraid he's going to be
+pardoned."
+
+"Not really, Jim?" I queried.
+
+"Yes!  I'm almost sure of it.  Fallon is a machine man before
+everything else, although he was elected on a pro-American ticket.
+They are threatening to do all kinds of things to him, just as they
+threatened me, unless Zalnitch goes free, and I think Fallon is afraid
+of them, not physically perhaps, but politically.  He wants reelection."
+
+Jim had helped the prosecuting attorney convict Zalnitch; in fact it
+was Jim's work more than anything else that had sent the Russian to
+prison.  At the time, Jim had received a lot of threatening letters,
+just as every other American who denounced the Germans before we
+entered the war had received them.  Nothing had come of it, of course,
+and after we went in, the whole matter dropped from public attention.
+Zalnitch had been sent to prison, but his friends had worked constantly
+for commutation of his sentence.  With labor's new power, due to the
+fear of Bolshevism, they were again bringing influence to bear on the
+governor.
+
+Wicks had removed the soup plates and was bringing in the roast, when
+Annie appeared.  The girl was both frightened and angry.
+
+"Mr. Felderson?"
+
+Jim looked up.  "What is it, Annie?"
+
+"Will you come up-stairs, please, sir?"
+
+Mary pushed back her chair, "I'll go, Jim."
+
+"It's Mr. Felderson that's wanted," Annie said with just a touch of
+asperity.
+
+"Yes, you two better stay here and amuse each other," said Jim.
+"Bupps, you carve!"
+
+"If Bupps carves, I'm _sure_ to be amused," laughed Mary.
+
+Jim left, and I went around to his place.  If there is one thing I do
+more badly than another, it is carving.  At home it's done in the
+kitchen, but Jim takes great pride in the neatness and celerity with
+which he separates the component parts of a fowl and so insists on
+having the undissected whole brought to the table.
+
+"What is it to-night?" Mary asked as I eyed my task with disfavor.
+
+"Roast duck."  I tried to speak casually.
+
+"Wait, Bupps, while Wicks lays the oilcloth and I get an umbrella."
+
+"Smarty!" I responded, grabbing my tools firmly, "you wait and see!  I
+watched Jim the last time he carved one of these and I know just how
+it's done."
+
+I speared for the duck's back, but the fork skidded down the slippery
+side of the bird and spattered a drop of gravy in front of me.
+
+"I'm waiting and seeing," Mary chided.
+
+"Well, you wanted some gravy, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes, but on my plate, please."
+
+This time I placed the tines of the fork carefully on the exact middle
+of the duck's breast and gently pushed, giving some aid and comfort
+with my knife.  The little beast eased over on the platter an inch or
+two.
+
+"The thing's still alive," I exclaimed, getting mad.
+
+"If you'll let me have full control, I'll carve it for you," Mary spoke
+up.
+
+"Come on, then," I responded, gladly relinquishing my place.  With a
+deftness and ease that could only be explained by the fact that the
+duck was ready and willing to be carved, she removed the legs and then
+demolished the bird altogether.
+
+There was the sound of voices raised in altercation up-stairs, the
+slamming of a door and the patter of feet rapidly descending the steps.
+The next moment Helen burst into the room.  She was fully dressed for
+going out and was pinning on her hat with spiteful little jabs.
+
+"Will you take me home, Warren?"
+
+Mary left me and went over to her.
+
+"What has happened, Helen?"
+
+"Oh, I can't stay here another minute.  It is bad enough to have to
+stay in the same house with a man you loathe, but when a husband bribes
+his wife's servants to spy on her and watch over her as though she were
+a dangerous lunatic--"
+
+Her eyes were blazing.  Mary put her arm around her and tried to quiet
+her.
+
+"Helen, dear, you don't know how ridiculous that is.  No one is spying
+on you."
+
+Helen tore herself away.
+
+"That's right, stand up for him!  You're all against me, I know.  The
+only reason Warren brought you here, was to try to talk me into staying
+with him.  Well, I won't, you understand?  I won't!  I hate him!  I
+could kill him!  If you won't take me home, Warren, I'll go alone."
+She was almost hysterical.
+
+"Have you thought what this would do to mother?" I asked.  "She doesn't
+know you've quarreled with Jim.  If she found out you were
+contemplating a divorce, it would kill her.  You know how weak she is."
+
+I heard Jim's heavy tread coming downstairs.
+
+"Can I stay with you, Mary?"  Big tears stood in Helen's eyes and she
+seemed on the verge of a complete breakdown.
+
+"Of course, Honey-bunch!" Mary responded, kissing her and leading her
+into the drawing-room.  "Just go in there and lie down while I get my
+things."
+
+As Helen walked from the room, Jim came in.  Mary turned toward us,
+looked us over for the briefest moment and whispered, "You men are
+brutes!"  As she ran up-stairs, Jim gazed after her.  That same gray
+look had come back into his face.
+
+"I guess we are," he said, shaking his head, "but I don't know how or
+why."
+
+I patted him on the shoulder and went for my coat.  Whether he realized
+it or not, I knew Helen would never come back to him.
+
+I went out to the car and turned on the lights.  A white moon was
+sailing through a sky cluttered with puffy clouds, its soft radiance
+bathing the house and grounds in mellow loveliness.  It all seemed so
+remote from the sordid quarrel inside that its beauty was enhanced by
+the contrast.  Here was a night when the whole world should be in love.
+Nature herself conspired to that end.  And yet, there were thousands of
+men and women who were so forgetful of everything except their own
+petty differences that they turned their backs to the beauty around
+them, in order to try to hurt each other.
+
+As Helen and Mary came out of the door, I climbed into the car and said
+to myself, "Damn men, damn women, damn everything!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+THE WORST HAPPENS
+
+I was late getting down to the office the next morning, for I had gone
+back to Jim's and talked till all hours.  It seemed that my
+instructions to Wicks, to tell Annie to stay with Helen, had been taken
+quite literally by that estimable pair, for when Helen had told the
+girl to leave she had refused, saying that Mr. Felderson had ordered
+her to stay.  That was what had precipitated the quarrel.
+
+Even when I left Jim, to go to bed, I had heard him walking back and
+forth in his room, and once during the night, I heard him shut his
+door.  Thinking perhaps he might want me with him, I went to his door
+and knocked.  Jim was untying his shoes and explained that, unable to
+sleep, he had gone out for a walk.  The clock on the mantel-piece
+showed half past four.
+
+In spite of the fact he had practically no sleep the night before, he
+was down at his usual hour, nine o'clock, and when I went into his
+office to see him, there was no sign of fatigue on his face.
+
+"Any news?" I inquired.
+
+"This may interest you," and he tossed over the morning paper folded to
+an article on the first page.
+
+
+   ZALNITCH FREED
+
+  GOVERNOR FALLON PARDONS MAN
+  IMPLICATED IN YELLOW PIER
+  EXPLOSION
+
+  Prisoner Upon Release Makes Terrific
+  Indictment Against Those Responsible for
+  His Imprisonment
+
+
+I glanced hurriedly down the long article.  One paragraph in particular
+caught my eye.  It was part of a quotation from Zalnitch's "speech" to
+the reporters.
+
+
+"Those who were responsible for my imprisonment may well regret the
+fact that justice has at last been given me.  I shall not rest until I
+lay before the working classes the extent to which the processes of law
+can be distorted in this state, and rouse them to overthrow and drive
+out those who have the power of depriving them of their rights and
+their liberty.  I shall not rest until I see a full meed of punishment
+brought to those who have punished me and hundreds like me.  Their
+money and their high position will not help them to escape a just
+retribution."
+
+
+"It looks as though our friend was going to have a very restless time,"
+I commented, after reading the passage aloud to Jim.
+
+"'Vengeance is mine,' saith Zalnitch." Jim's eyes twinkled.
+
+"You're not afraid of him, are you, Jim?" I asked.
+
+"No more now than ever, Bupps."
+
+His face suddenly clouded over.  "Wouldn't it clear the air, though, if
+they did carry out their funny little threats and put me out of the
+way?  When I think of some of the things Helen has said to me during
+the last month, I almost wish they would."
+
+"That sounds weak and silly," I scoffed; "not a bit like you, Jim.
+Cheer up!  Give Helen a divorce and let her go!  She's not worth all
+this heartache."
+
+Jim sat for a moment thinking.  "You don't know what this has done to
+me, Bupps.  It's not as though divorcing Helen would straighten the
+whole matter out.  Ever since I've known Helen I've--idolized
+her--foolishly, perhaps.  She has been the one big thing worth working
+for; the thing I've built my whole life around.  I've got to fight for
+her, Bupps.  I can't let her smash my ideals all to pieces.  I've got
+to make her live up to what I've always believed her to be."
+
+The tone of the man, the dead seriousness of his words, made me want to
+disown Helen and then kill Woods.  I left the room with my eyes a bit
+misty and did my best, in the case I was working on, to forget.
+
+For two days I was kept so busy I hardly saw Jim except when I had to
+go into his office for papers, or to consult an authority.  I was
+trying to win a case against the L. L. & G. railroad, and though I knew
+my client could never pay me a decent fee, even if I should win, I was
+pitted against some of the best lawyers in the state, and was anxious
+for the prestige that a verdict in my favor would give me.  The case
+was going my way, or seemed to be, but the opposition was fighting
+harder every day, so that I had time for little else than food, sleep
+and work.  Frank Woods had apparently left town, either on business or
+to give Helen a clear field to influence Jim.  Helen was still at
+Mary's, and her presence on a visit there was so natural that it hid
+her separation from Jim better than if she had gone home to mother.
+
+I was just leaving for court one morning when Jim called me into his
+office.  There was a gleam of triumph in his eyes and his whole
+attitude was one of cheerful excitement.
+
+"Have you a minute, Bupps?"
+
+"Only a minute, Jim.  This is the day of days for me."
+
+There were several letters and telegrams lying on the table.  Jim
+pointed exultantly to them and cried: "I've got him, Bupps!  There is
+enough evidence there to send Woods up for twenty years.  I wouldn't
+have used such underhand methods against any one else, against anything
+but a snake, but I had to win, I had to win!"
+
+I rushed to the table and rapidly scanned one of the telegrams.
+
+"You've started at the wrong end, but it doesn't matter.  Frank Woods
+has used the money entrusted him by the French Government to gamble
+with.  He counted on the contracts with the International Biplane
+people to bring him clean and leave him a comfortable fortune besides.
+The end of the war and the wholesale cancellation of government
+contracts killed that.  To cover his deficits, he borrowed from the
+Capitol Loan and Trust, and they are hunting for their money now."
+
+"How did you find all this out, Jim?" I demanded breathlessly.
+
+"From friends, good friends, Bupps.  Men who knew that if I asked for
+this unusual information, I had need of it and that I wouldn't abuse
+their confidence."
+
+"And now that you've got it, what are you going to do with it?"
+
+"I have sent messages to Woods, to his apartment, to the club and to
+the International plant, saying that I want to see him.  I know he is
+working like the devil to get the contracts to furnish the government
+with mail planes for next year.  If he gets that contract, he may
+possibly pull through, for the bank would probably extend his credit,
+but if knowledge of his illegal use of the money entrusted to him by
+the French Government ever gets out, he knows it's the stripes without
+the stars for him."
+
+"Be careful when you meet him, Jim," I warned.  "He'll go to the limit,
+you know, to save himself."
+
+"He's all front, Bupps; just like Zalnitch.  I'll give him three days
+to straighten out his affairs and get away.  If he hasn't left by then,
+I'll put all the evidence I have into the hands of the Capitol Loan and
+Trust."
+
+"Are you going to tell Helen about this?" I asked.
+
+Jim pondered a moment.  "I haven't decided that yet.  If I was sure
+Woods would go away without any trouble, I think I'd leave her in
+ignorance; but he might use her to save himself."
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"I'm not so blind I can't see that Helen's infatuated with the man.  If
+he is blackguard enough to ask her again to go with him, I think she
+would go, and that would pretty effectively tie my hands."
+
+"You mean that for Helen's sake you wouldn't prosecute Woods?" I
+demanded.  "That's stupid sentimentality."
+
+"It's for Helen's sake that I'm doing _all_ this," Jim insisted.
+"Don't think for a moment I would stop the prosecution just because she
+was with him.  The reason my hands would be tied is because Helen's
+money would pay his obligations."
+
+"Helen's money?" I laughed.  "Helen hasn't as much as I have."
+
+Jim flushed.  "Helen is quite a wealthy woman, Bupps.  When I went into
+the army I wanted to leave Helen perfectly easy in a financial way
+while I was gone, so I transferred all my railroad stock to her, so
+that she might draw the interest.  I haven't asked her for it since I
+came home, because, in the light of our recent differences, I was
+afraid she might think I didn't trust her."
+
+"And do you suppose Woods knows that?"
+
+"Of course he knows it!" Jim burst out.  "She must have told him.  Why
+do you suppose he played around so long before deciding to make love to
+Helen?  Oh, it's all so simple and clear to me now that I wonder at my
+stupidity."
+
+I glanced at my watch.
+
+"Good lord, Jim!  You've almost made me lose my case.  I have only
+three minutes to get to the court-house.  Hold up the climax until I
+get back, if you can."
+
+I jumped for the elevator and rushed to my appointment, getting there
+just in time.  The news of the morning had so raised my spirits that I
+was filled with an immense enthusiasm.  Everything went my way.  My
+summing up was a masterpiece of logic, if I do say so myself, and my
+client received a substantial judgment.
+
+There is no moment sweeter in a young lawyer's life than when another
+lawyer, of big reputation, congratulates him on his conduct of a case.
+My cup was filled to overflowing, and I must confess I had little
+thought for Jim's affairs when I lunched that day with Stevenson and
+McGuire, councils for the L. L. & G.  The prognostications that they
+made for my future were so exaggerated that a bigger man than I might
+well have been excused for increased head and chest measurements.
+
+At half past two I went back to the office to announce the good news to
+Jim.  I had made up my mind before luncheon to spend the afternoon on
+the links in honor of my victory, but the clouds, which had been heavy
+during the morning, by two o'clock opened up a steady drizzle.  Jim was
+at his desk when I came in bringing the glad tidings.  He got up and
+gripped my hand.
+
+"Good boy, Bupps!  I knew you'd do it.  Thank the Lord your affairs are
+going well anyway."
+
+"Has something happened since I've been out?" I asked.
+
+"Yes.  The First National telephoned about eleven o'clock saying that
+Helen wanted to borrow quite a large sum of money on her railroad stock
+and asking if I knew about it.  They thought the money was probably for
+me and they wanted to ask if I'd be willing to wait a few days."
+
+"How much was it?"
+
+"Fifty thousand dollars."
+
+"Is the stock worth that much, Jim?"
+
+"Yes," said Jim seriously, "the stock is worth twice that.  That's why
+I have to go slow.  She could sell that stock for fifty thousand at any
+broker's in five minutes."
+
+I whistled.  "Gee!  Fifty thousand.  Woods must have asked her for it
+because he knew you were after him."
+
+"It's open warfare now.  I told the bank I knew what the money was for
+and that it would cause no inconvenience to me to have them hold up the
+loan for a few days.  In fact I asked Sherwood, the cashier, to wait
+until he saw me before making the loan."
+
+Just then the telephone rang.  Jim answered it.
+
+"Hello--Yes--Woods?--Where are you now?"  He listened a moment.  "I
+understand--Eight-thirty promptly?--I'll be there--Yes, I
+understand--I'll be there."
+
+He hung up the receiver and looked at me with twinkling eyes.
+
+"The shoe is beginning to pinch, Bupps.  That was Woods.  He asks me to
+meet him alone this evening at the country-club, at eight-thirty
+promptly.  Says he wants to see me urgently on business that concerns
+us both."
+
+"Did he ask you to come alone?"
+
+"Yes.  He distinctly said that I was to come alone and be prompt."
+
+"Jim," I argued, "you can't go out there alone to meet that man.  It's
+too infernally dangerous."
+
+"There's no danger, Bupps; but I'm not going alone.  Helen is going
+with me."
+
+He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a leather
+portfolio, into which he put all the letters and telegrams that were
+scattered about his desk.
+
+"I'm going to prove to Helen, in his presence, what kind of man he is;
+that he loves her only for the money I gave her, and to save his yellow
+hide.  I'm going to tear out of her heart all the affection she ever
+had for him.  I think, after that, she will not only come back to me,
+but she will love me all the more for having known Frank Woods.  No
+matter how badly a leg or an arm may be shattered, a quick, clean
+operation may cause the parts to grow together again, stronger than
+they were before.  I think I win, Bupps."
+
+"Still, I believe you ought to carry a gun, in case he gets nasty."
+
+"I will, if you like," he responded; "but I won't use it, no matter
+what happens."
+
+I left the office, vaguely disquieted with the thought of Jim going out
+to the club to face a man as dangerous and desperate as Frank Woods.
+When a fellow of his standing sees the penitentiary looming up in his
+foreground he's capable of anything.  Helen, herself, in the crazed
+condition I had seen her the other night, was an added element of
+danger.  I didn't like the looks of the situation any way I turned.
+
+I climbed into my car and drove slowly through the wet slippery
+streets.  The windshield was so covered with rain-drops that I lowered
+it to see the better, and the autumn rain, beating into my face, soon
+swept away my gloomy forebodings.  After all, no man was going to stick
+his neck into the hangman's noose, no matter how eager he was for
+revenge.  This was the twentieth century, in which no man could
+deliberately flout the law.  Frank Woods would never have invited Jim
+to a "rendezvous" so public as the country-club, if he planned
+mischief.  When he found out how much Jim knew, realizing the game was
+up, he would leave town quietly.  Helen certainly would shake Woods
+when she learned of his dishonesty and trickery.  Surely, no woman with
+Helen's pride could learn how she had been duped without hating the man
+who duped her.
+
+I stopped at the University Union and found the card room well filled
+with bridge players.  The rainy afternoon had driven the golfers to
+cards, and as one of the men, Terry O'Connel, was on the point of
+leaving, I took his place.  I played till seven and then started home
+to dinner.  The rain had stopped and a fresh chilly wind was rippling
+the pools in the streets and rapidly drying the sidewalks.  The
+prospect of a cold blustery evening made me look forward with pleasure
+to the warm comfort of my study, and a good book.
+
+I had just finished a solitary dinner--mother being confined to her
+room--and had settled down in dressing gown and slippers before my
+cheerful fire, when the telephone rang.  I put down my book and tried
+to think of some excuse for staying home, in case it was my
+bridge-playing friends of the afternoon wanting me to come back to the
+club.  A strange voice called from the other end of the wire.
+
+"Mr. Thompson?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"There has been an accident to your brother-in-law's car."
+
+"What?--Where?--Who is this talking?" I shouted breathlessly.
+
+"This is Captain Wadsworth of the North District Police Station
+speaking.  Your brother-in-law had a very bad accident with his car at
+the second bridge on the Blandesville Road.  Both Mr. and Mrs.
+Felderson were pretty badly injured."
+
+"Where are they now?" I gasped, fear clutching at my throat.
+
+"They have been taken to St. Mary's Hospital."
+
+I slammed down the receiver and tore into my clothes.  I ran out to the
+car and drove through the dark wet streets regardless of speed laws.
+From out the gray gloom, the heavy bulk and lighted windows of St.
+Mary's loomed just ahead.  I ran up the steps and went at once to the
+office.  Three nurses were standing there talking.
+
+"Can you tell me where they have taken Mr. and Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"Were they the people in the automobile accident?"
+
+I nodded my head.
+
+One of the nurses led me to a large room on the second floor.  As we
+neared the door a young interne, so the nurse told me, came out.  He
+was thoughtfully polishing his glasses.
+
+"I am Warren Thompson, Mr. Felderson's brother-in-law," I explained.
+"Can you tell me how badly Mr. and Mrs. Felderson were hurt?"
+
+He put his glasses back on his nose and looked at me sympathetically.
+
+"Mr. Felderson is dead, and Mrs. Felderson is dying," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+ACCIDENT OR MURDER
+
+Have you ever had the whole world stop for you?  Well, that's what
+happened when that young interne told me that Jim was dead.  I must
+have been half mad for a few moments, at least they said I acted that
+way.
+
+Sometimes, tragic news deadens the senses, like the brief numbness that
+follows the sudden cutting off of a limb, the pain not manifesting
+itself until some time afterward.  But with me, the fact of Jim's death
+clawed and tore at the very foundation of my brain.  It stamped itself
+into my sensibilities with such crushing force that I writhed under the
+burden of its bitter actuality.  I felt as though I, myself, had died
+and my spirit, snatched from the brilliant, airy sunlight of life, had
+been plunged into the hammering emptiness of hell.  "Jim is dead--big,
+happy, kind-hearted Jim is dead" ached through my brain.
+
+They gave me something to drink--ammonia, I think--and my whirling head
+began to clear.
+
+"Can I see Mrs. Felderson?" I asked the interne.  It was he who had
+given me the ammonia.
+
+"I'm afraid not," he replied.  "She is being prepared for the operating
+table."
+
+"There is a chance, then, of her being saved?"  I clutched at his arm.
+
+He slowly shook his head.  "One chance in a thousand only, I'm afraid.
+There was severe concussion of the brain and a slight displacement of
+one of the cranial vertebra.  Luckily, Doctor Forbes is here, and if
+any one can save her, he can."  He got up from his seat beside me.
+"Now, Mr. Thompson, I advise you to go home and get a good night's
+rest.  You can do nothing here, and the next few days are bound to be a
+great strain."
+
+"You will telephone me at once the result of the operation?" I asked
+quickly.
+
+"I wouldn't count too much on the operation," he said kindly, "but I
+will let you know."
+
+He turned and walked back toward Helen's room.  Just then the door was
+opened and there appeared a sort of elongated baby-cab, without a top.
+On this wheeling table was a still white bundle, from which a stifled
+moan escaped now and then.  Shaken with terror and nausea, I ran for
+the stairs and did not stop until I got into my car and was racing away.
+
+As I drove, my brain cleared and I remembered that there were others to
+whom the tragedy was almost as vital as to myself and who ought to be
+informed.  I stopped at a corner drug store and called up Mary.  Mother
+should not be told until a physician could assure me she was strong
+enough to stand the shock.
+
+Mary was wonderfully sympathetic and tender, not voluble the way some
+women would have been.  She asked me if I had been to the scene of the
+accident, and when I told her I was just going, she asked me if I
+wanted her with me.  As it was after ten o'clock and the rain had begun
+again, I told her "No," and added that I'd come to see her in the
+morning.
+
+When I left the telephone-booth the drug clerk stared at me
+inquisitively.
+
+"You look all fagged out," he said frankly.
+
+"I'm not feeling very well," I replied, struggling into my rain-coat.
+
+"Better let me give you somethin' to fix you up," he suggested.  I
+acquiesced, and he went to the shelf and shook some white powder into a
+glass.  Then he put some water with it and it phizzed merrily.  I drank
+it at a gulp and, climbing into the car, started for the second bridge
+on the Blandesville Road.
+
+The drink braced me up and as I drove I began to recall the events of
+the last few days, and for the first time to wonder if they had any
+connection with the tragedy.  Captain Wadsworth had told me it was an
+accident.  Could Frank Woods have been in any way responsible?  No,
+certainly not, for Helen had been in the car, and he surely would never
+have done anything to put her life in jeopardy.  _But Woods didn't know
+that she was there_.  He had told Jim to come out alone; had insisted
+on it, in fact.  It was _Jim's_ idea to bring Helen with him.
+
+My heart was doing a hundred revolutions to the minute.  Now that I had
+hit on this idea, every fiber of my being cried out that Frank Woods
+was in some way responsible.  I tried to urge my car to more speed.
+The wreck would surely tell me something.  I determined to hunt every
+inch of ground around the place for a clue.  Woods would have to prove
+to me that he had nothing to do with the accident before I'd believe
+him innocent.
+
+I drove up the long hill overlooking the little bridge that had
+suddenly assumed such a tragic significance in my life.  It lies at the
+bottom of the hill, about half-way between the city and the
+country-club and on the loneliest stretch of the entire road.  There
+are no houses about; the city not having grown that far out and the
+soil being entirely unsuitable for farming.  In fact, there are only
+one or two large trees near by, to break the desolate expanse, the
+vegetation consisting mostly of thorny bushes springing from the rocky
+soil.  There have been several accidents at the bridge, for its
+narrowness is deceiving and it is impossible for two autos to pass.
+Motorists, going to the club, usually let their cars out on the long
+hill and if another car, coming around the bend from the opposite
+direction, reaches the bridge at the same time, only skilful driving
+and good brakes can avoid a smash-up.  The matter has been brought to
+the attention of the authorities several times, but nothing has ever
+been done, either to widen the bridge or to warn automobilists of the
+danger.
+
+As I reached the top of the hill, I saw that two automobiles had
+stopped at the bottom, and, noticing that their lights blinked as
+people passed back and forth in front of them, I was convinced that a
+small crowd had gathered, probably out of curiosity.  I slowed up as I
+neared the spot and came to a stop at the side of the road.  A
+motorcycle cop walked up to my car.
+
+"Inspector Robinson, sir?"
+
+"No," I answered, "I am Warren Thompson, brother-in-law of Mr.
+Felderson, who had the accident.  How did it happen, do you know,
+Sergeant?"
+
+"It was the fault of the bridge again, sir.  I've told the chief that
+something ought to be done.  This is the third accident in six months.
+We've been trying to find the other car."
+
+"What other car?" I asked.
+
+"The car that made Mr. Felderson take the ditch," he explained.  "He
+must have been driving fast--he usually did; many's the time I've had
+to warn him--and must have seen that the other car would meet him at
+the bridge.  He stopped too quick, skidded off the road and turned over
+into the creek."
+
+I shuddered as I pictured the scene.  One of the automobiles turned
+around and the lights picked out the upturned wheels of Jim's car.  It
+looked like some monster whose back had been broken.  It was a large
+Peckwith-Pierce touring car, and the force of the crash had twisted and
+smashed the huge chassis.  Several men were gathered around the car,
+examining it with the aid of a barn-lantern.
+
+"Where were the bodies found?" I asked, my voice trembling.
+
+"Mrs. Felderson was over there on the bank.  She was thrown out likely
+when the car left the road.  Mr. Felderson's body was under the
+machine."
+
+While the thought of the heavy weight crushing the life out of Jim
+sickened me, I thanked God that death must have been instantaneous.
+
+"Do you know who found them, Sergeant?"
+
+He pointed to a man standing by the wreck.  "That man over there.  He
+found them and took them to the hospital after sending one of his
+friends to notify the police."
+
+The man evidently heard our voices, and came over to us.
+
+"Is this the inspector?" he asked.
+
+"No," I replied, "I am Mr. Felderson's brother-in-law."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry!" he said quickly.  "May I express my deep, deep
+sympathy?"
+
+"Thank you.  Will you tell me how you discovered the accident?"
+
+"I had been out to Blandesville on business and was returning with a
+party of friends.  As we neared the bridge, one of them caught sight of
+the upturned automobile in the creek, and we stopped.  We found Mrs.
+Felderson first, being attracted by her moans.  We went at once to the
+car, and as there were four of us, we were able to lift the automobile
+sufficiently to get Mr. Felderson from under it.  We knew that the
+woman was still living, but none of us was doctor enough to tell
+whether Mr. Felderson was alive or not.  We carried them quickly to our
+car and hurried to St. Mary's, dropping one of my friends at the North
+District Station to inform the police what had occurred.  Afterward we
+drove back here, thinking we might be wanted in case there was an
+investigation."
+
+"Did you see the lights of any car ahead of you, as you came along the
+road?" I asked.  "Did any car pass you, going in the same direction?"
+
+"A car turned in ahead of us from the Millerstown Road about ten
+minutes before."
+
+"Do you think that might have been the car that was partly responsible
+for this accident?" I queried.
+
+"Of course, no one could be sure in a situation of that kind, but I
+wouldn't doubt it at all.  It left us behind as if we were tied."
+
+Another car had driven up while we were talking and our policeman had
+gone over to it at once.  He came back now, accompanied by a short
+heavy-set man in plain clothes.
+
+"I am Inspector Robinson, detailed to examine into this affair.  Were
+you the man who discovered the accident?" he asked, addressing my
+companion.
+
+"Yes, Inspector; Pickering is my name.  I'm with the Benefit Insurance
+Company."
+
+He told the circumstances of the discovery to the plain-clothes man,
+who, all the time Pickering was talking, bustled up and down and around
+the car.  Finally he made Pickering show him just where the bodies lay.
+
+"Distressing, distressing," the inspector chirped, "dreadful accident,
+dreadful indeed, but quite to be expected with fast driving.  If they
+will risk their lives----"
+
+"Inspector," I broke in, "I am the brother-in-law of the man who drove
+that car.  While he was a fast driver, he was not a careless one.  I've
+never known him to have an accident before."  The little man irritated
+me.
+
+"That's the way it always happens," he came back at me; "they take
+risks a dozen times and get away with them, and then--Blooey!!"
+
+"But aren't you going to find the other car?" I demanded.
+
+"What other car?" he snapped.
+
+"The one that must have been coming from the opposite direction; that
+caused this accident."
+
+"Do you know there was any such car?" he bristled.
+
+"There must have been," I answered.  "No accident has ever happened
+here except under such circumstances.  Besides, Mr. Pickering saw a car
+turn into this road ahead of him not ten minutes before the accident."
+
+Robinson looked from me to Pickering as though we were both conspiring
+to defeat justice.
+
+"Did you see such a car?" he barked at Pickering.
+
+"A car turned out of the Millerstown Road and went toward the city
+about ten minutes before we discovered the bodies," Pickering replied
+evenly.
+
+"Why didn't you say so?" the detective asked sharply.  "What kind of a
+car was it?"
+
+"A black limousine with wire wheels.  I couldn't see the number."
+
+Robinson's humor seemed to have come back.
+
+"Now we're getting on," he said, rubbing his hands.  "That's better.
+That's much better.  If you gentlemen had just told me that in the
+first place we'd have saved all this time."
+
+He turned to the motorcycle policeman.  "Feeney, go over to Millerstown
+and inquire if a black limousine with wire wheels stopped there
+to-night between eight and nine o'clock."
+
+A figure, unnoticed in the darkness, approached.  It proved to be a
+lanky farmer, who spoke with a decided drawl.
+
+"I reckon I kin help ye thar.  They was a big limozine tourin' car with
+wire wheels went through Millerstown 'bout ha'f past eight, quat' t'
+nine.  I know, 'cause it durn near run me down."
+
+"Do you live in Millerstown?" the inspector questioned.
+
+"Yep!  Come over t' see the accident."
+
+"Did that auto stop in Millerstown?"
+
+The farmer chuckled and expectorated.  "It didn't even hesitate."
+
+"Can you tell us anything else about it?" I spoke up.
+
+The inspector glared at me.  "I'll conduct this investigation,
+Mr.--err----"
+
+The farmer scratched his head.  "Waal, nothin' much.  It went too
+blamed fast fer me to git mor'n a right good look, but I did gee that
+it was full o' men an' the tail-light was bu'sted an' they wa'n't no
+license on it."
+
+"You're sure of that?" the inspector asked.
+
+"Yep!" he said, "I'm sure, 'cause I was goin' to report 'em."
+
+Again the inspector turned to Feeney, who had been listening intently.
+
+"Feeney, go in and tell the chief to issue instructions to all the
+force to keep an eye out for a black limousine with wire wheels, a
+broken tail-light and no license tag!  My friend," he said, turning to
+the farmer, "I thank you for your information.  By to-morrow night
+we'll have that car and the parties concerned.  By gad!  They had their
+nerve, running away after the accident.  The damned rascals--killing
+people and then running away.  I'll grill their toes for them."
+
+The malice of the little detective, his readiness to jump from one
+conclusion to another, reminded me for all the world of some
+disagreeable, little, barking dog that chases every passing vehicle.
+
+I bade him good night, shook hands with Pickering and was on my way
+back to my car, when another automobile drove up.  Three men jumped
+out, and as they passed in front of the lamps, I recognized Lawrence
+Brown and Fred Paisley, from the club; the third man was Frank Woods.
+As I caught sight of his well-set-up figure, all the hatred I had for
+him seemed to rise in my throat and choke me.  Try as I would I
+couldn't separate him from the tragedy.  When the farmer said the black
+limousine was full of men, I realized that Frank Woods couldn't have
+been one of them, and yet, so great was my distrust of the man, that I
+felt like accusing him on the spot.
+
+Larry Brown caught sight of me and wrung my hand.  "Dammit, old man, I
+can't fell you how sorry I am."  Paisley patted me on the back.  "If
+there is anything we can do, Thompson----"
+
+I shook my head and tears came to my eyes.  They made me realize
+poignantly how much I had lost.  Woods didn't join us.  He knew if he
+tried to sympathize with me, after the affair the other day, that I
+would throttle him for his hypocrisy.
+
+"Was Jim killed outright?" Brown asked.
+
+"Yes!  And there's one chance in a thousand for Helen."
+
+Both men started.  "Was Mrs. Felderson there?  They telephoned us at
+the club that Jim had been killed, but we didn't know she was with him."
+
+They glanced at each other and then at Woods, who was standing by the
+side of the overturned car.
+
+"You'd better tell him, Larry," Paisley muttered.
+
+"Doesn't he know?" I asked.
+
+"Of course not," replied Brown.  "He was out there at the club with us.
+I'm afraid it will hit him awfully hard."
+
+He stepped over to Woods and, taking him by the arm, they disappeared
+into the darkness.  We heard a choking cry, and the next moment Woods
+came running toward us.  His face was distorted with horror and his
+eyes were almost starting from his head.
+
+"Thompson, for God's sake, tell me he lies!  Tell me he lies!" he
+shrieked.  "Helen wasn't in that car?"
+
+The old suspicions came tumbling back an hundredfold and I turned cold
+all over.
+
+"It is true," I said, "Mrs. Felderson is in the hospital at the point
+of death."
+
+With a stifled groan, Woods sank to the ground and buried his face in
+his shaking hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+A CLUE AND A VERDICT
+
+I drove home with my thoughts in a tumult.  The look on Woods' face and
+the vehemence of his words made me sure he was in some way responsible
+for Jim's death.  I walked the floor for hours trying to build up my
+case against him.  He had sworn to kill Jim, unless he let Helen go,
+and he must have known that afternoon that not only was Jim going to
+keep Helen from him, but that he had the proof with which to ruin him
+forever.  He had planned to have it out with Jim at the country-club,
+knowing it would be a cold damp night and that few people would be out
+there.  He had emphatically stated that Jim should come alone and
+should be there promptly at half-past eight.  All those facts pointed
+to the man's guilt and I felt sure that in some way I should be able to
+unearth the proof.
+
+I knew I ought to sleep, but sleep was the last thing I could do.
+Twice I called up the hospital to inquire after Helen, but they could
+tell me nothing.  Had the operation been successful?  Yes, she had come
+through it.  Would she get well?  Ah, that they could not say.  They
+would let me know if there was any change.  I sent a telegram to Jim's
+uncle in the West, the only relative Jim ever corresponded with, and
+told him to notify any others to whom the news would be of vital
+interest.
+
+Toward five o'clock, when dawn was just graying the windows, I threw
+myself on my bed.  I suddenly realized I was extremely tired, yet my
+brain was buzzing like a dynamo.  Pictures and scenes from the last few
+days flashed through my mind: the vindictive look in Helen's eyes after
+the fight with Woods; that table being wheeled out of Helen's room at
+the hospital, with the moaning white bundle on it; the upturned car
+pricked out of the darkness by the automobile lamps, and finally, Frank
+Woods' face when he heard that Helen had been in the car.  With the
+realization that I ought to get up and close the window, where the
+morning breeze was idly flapping the curtain, I fell asleep.
+
+I awoke with a start, to find the room flooded with golden sunlight.  A
+glance at the clock on the mantel-shelf showed that it was after nine.
+My body was cramped and stiff and I felt stale and musty from having
+slept in my clothes.  It was only after a cold shower and a complete
+change that I felt refreshed enough to pick up the threads where I had
+dropped them the night before.
+
+Again, like the sudden aching of a tooth, came the heart-breaking
+realization that Jim was dead.  With it came also anxiety for Helen's
+condition, so I called up the hospital at once.  They could only say
+she had not recovered consciousness, but seemed to be resting
+comfortably.
+
+I went down to the office to tell the stenographers they might have a
+vacation until after the funeral, and to lock up.  The first person I
+found there was Inspector Robinson, who was calmly reading over the
+correspondence on Jim's desk.  With all the "sang-froid" in the world,
+he met my infuriated gaze.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Thompson.  Thought there might be something here
+touching on the case."  He waved a hand toward Jim's letter basket.
+
+"Have you found the black limousine?" I asked.
+
+"Certainly, my dear man, certainly!  We've not only found the car, but
+we found the people who were in the car and they know nothing about the
+accident.  My first explanation was the right one, as I knew it would
+be.  Felderson was driving recklessly, saw the bridge, put on the
+brakes, skidded--was killed."
+
+"But why should he put on his brakes at the bridge?" I queried.
+
+"I've thought of that," he smiled.  "Perfectly logical.  There's a
+nasty bump at the bridge and he naturally didn't want to jar Mrs.
+Felderson."
+
+"So he turned into the ditch and pitched her out on her head instead,"
+I jeered.  "That's all poppy-cock.  I've taken that bridge at full
+speed a hundred times without a jar."
+
+"It's immaterial anyway," he snapped, frowning at me.  "You can't make
+any fool mystery out of it.  The point is that Mr. Felderson put on his
+brakes rapidly, perhaps for a dog or a rabbit, and skidded into the
+ditch."
+
+"It's not immaterial!" I burst out angrily.  "There was a real reason
+for his putting his brakes on rapidly.  He was afraid of hitting
+something, or being hit himself.  Who was the driver of that other car?"
+
+"The son of one of the biggest men in the state, Karl Schreiber."
+
+"Karl Schreiber?" I cried.  "The son of the German Socialist, who was
+put in jail for dodging the draft?"  I grabbed him by the arm.  "Quick,
+man!  Who were the others with him?"
+
+Robinson gazed at me with a stupid frown.
+
+"Two reporters from _The Sun_, a fellow by the name of Pederson, Otto
+Metzger and that Russian, Zalnitch, who just got out of prison."
+
+"Zalnitch!" I yelled exultantly.
+
+Zalnitch!  The man Jim had sent to prison and who had threatened
+revenge.  Metzger, who had been his accomplice all along.  Schreiber,
+who hated Jim and all the virile Americanism that he stood for.
+Pederson and the two reporters I didn't know, but they were no doubt of
+the same vile breed.  A fine gang of cutthroats who would have liked
+nothing better than to get rid of Jim.  They probably saw his big
+search-light, that makes his car easily recognizable, and realized
+their opportunity had come.  They had driven toward him as though to
+smash into him and made Jim take the ditch to get out of the way.  That
+explained the sudden jamming on of his brakes that had caused him to
+skid and overturn.  All these thoughts passed through my mind as I
+heard the names of the men in the black limousine.
+
+"Inspector," I said, "I am fully convinced that the men in the black
+limousine are responsible for my brother-in-law's accident."
+
+"What makes you think that?" he demanded, eying me narrowly.
+
+"Because all of them had reason to hate and fear my brother-in-law.
+Zalnitch, since his release, has sworn he would get even with Mr.
+Felderson for putting him in prison.  Metzger felt the same way.  As
+for Schreiber, I'm sure if he could have manipulated that car so as to
+cause an accident to Mr. Felderson, he would have done it."
+
+"You're crazy," Robinson sneered.  "This thing's gone to your head.
+How could they have known it was your brother-in-law's car?"
+
+"By the big search-light in front.  It's the only car in the state with
+such a search-light.  Mr. Felderson's car was so fast that the police
+sometimes used it, and he had their permission to wear that light, as
+you probably know.  Also, it may have been dark enough to use the
+search-light and yet light enough so that a car could be distinguished
+at a hundred feet.  If there was any light at all, that big
+Peckwith-Pierce car could be recognized by any one."  He was impressed.
+I could see it by the thoughtful, shrewd look that, came into his eyes.
+Already, he was making arrests by the wholesale, in his mind.
+
+"But I can't go pulling these men for murder on such slight evidence as
+that," he exploded.
+
+"No one wants you to," I said sharply.  "All I want you to do is to
+help me find out whether those men were present when the accident
+happened."
+
+The idea of helping me didn't please him at all.  As soon as I had
+spoken I saw my error in not putting it the other way around.
+
+"Now, Mr. Thompson, you better keep out of this," he advised, getting
+to his feet.  "I know that you are anxious to find out if these men had
+anything to do with Mr. Felderson's death, but the case is in good
+hands.  We professionals can do a lot better, when there's no amateurs
+messing about.  You leave it to me!"
+
+"Just as you say," I acquiesced.  "Get busy, though, and if you find
+out anything, let me know!"
+
+Robinson stood a minute, turning his derby hat in his hands.  I knew
+what he was after.
+
+"By the way," I added.  "I'll pay all expenses."
+
+His face brightened at once.  "Well, now, that's good of you, Mr.
+Thompson.  I wasn't going to suggest anything like that, but it'll help
+a lot."
+
+I handed over several bills, which he pocketed with satisfaction.
+
+"Don't you worry a minute, Mr. Thompson.  We'll get those birds yet.  I
+was pretty sure they had something to do with it, all the time.  You've
+got the best man in the department on the job."
+
+He put on his derby hat with a flourish and trotted out the door.  I
+recalled that I had told Mary I would see her, so I dismissed the
+stenographers and locked up the office.  It was a perfect morning, with
+all the warm spicy perfumes of Indian summer.  Overhead, a blue sky was
+filled with tumbled clouds of snowy whiteness.  The rain of the night
+before was still on the grass and the trees, giving a dewy fragrance to
+the air that was invigorating.
+
+Now that I had found a possible solution to the tragedy, I was filled
+with enthusiasm.  I felt that if I could bring Jim's murderers to
+trial, I would conduct such a case for the prosecution as would send
+them up for life.  They had succeeded in carrying out their threats,
+but I would make them pay for it.
+
+I stopped in front of Mary's house and honked the horn.  She opened the
+door and came quickly to the car.  The tragic news of the night before
+had taken the laughter out of her eyes and the buoyancy from her step.
+
+"I could cry my eyes out, Bupps," she said as she climbed into the car.
+
+"Don't do it, or I'll start, too," I responded, a lump coming in my
+throat.
+
+"How did it happen?" she asked, as we drove away.  "The papers gave a
+long account, but said it was an accident."
+
+"Zalnitch did it, Mary.  At least, I'm almost sure it was he."  I told
+her what I had learned during the morning, and as I talked, I finally
+touched on Frank Woods' strange words of the night before.
+
+"You don't think he had anything to do with it, do you, Bupps?"
+
+"No," I said.  "I did think so, but I have changed my mind since this
+morning.  I suppose it was just his grief that made him act so queerly."
+
+"He does love Helen, Bupps," Mary murmured.  "Helen got quite
+confidential while she was staying with me, and the things she told me
+about Woods made me see he was really in love with her."
+
+"Yes, I suppose he does love her," I responded, "but he had no right to
+take her away from Jim."
+
+"It's the man who takes a woman, whether he has the right or not, that
+wins," responded Mary seriously.
+
+I looked at her and wondered whether she was growing the least bit
+personal.  She was looking straight ahead, with an unsmiling gaze.  As
+I glanced at her, there beside me, with the breeze blowing wisps of
+golden hair around her temples, I got panic-stricken.
+
+"Mary--" I began.
+
+"Watch where you are going, Bupps!"
+
+I fastened my eyes on the street ahead, but only for an instant.  With
+Jim gone, I was going to be fearfully lonesome.  I glanced at her again.
+
+"Mary, I know this isn't the right time or place, but--"
+
+"Let's go to the hospital and find out about Helen," she interposed
+quickly.  She knew we were going there all the time.  The mention of
+Helen brought me back to earth with a snap, and made me realize I had
+no business talking about love at such a time.  Yet never in my life
+did I feel more like telling Mary how much I wanted her.
+
+We had no sooner entered the cool hall of St. Mary's than the little
+interne with glasses, whom I had seen the night before, came hurrying
+up to me.
+
+"Mr. Thompson, we have been telephoning every place for you."
+
+My heart jumped to my throat.  "Is Mrs. Felderson---?"
+
+"No," he responded, "Mrs. Felderson is still unconscious.  It is Mr.
+Felderson.  The coroner has made an important discovery."
+
+I waved for Mary to stay where she was and hurried down-stairs, where
+Jim's body lay.  It had not been moved before the coroner's inquest.
+The room was dark and several people were gathered around the inquest
+table.  All eyes were turned on me as I entered the room.  A portly man
+detached himself from the group and came toward me.
+
+"Mr. Thompson?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I am the coroner.  In making my inquest, I find that death was not due
+to the automobile smash-up.  Mr. Felderson was shot through the head,
+from behind.  We have rendered a verdict of murder."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+I TURN DETECTIVE
+
+Murdered!  For a moment I was stupefied by the doctor's revelation, and
+then, as he went on to describe the course of the bullet, and certain
+technical aspects of the case, a sudden rush of thankfulness came over
+me.  Let me explain!  The coroner had given a verdict of murder by
+person or persons unknown.  From the first moment I heard of the
+accident I was certain there was something sinister about it, but had
+little on which to base my belief.  The coroner's verdict substantiated
+my suspicions and gave me a chance to work in the open; to bring into
+court, if possible, the people I suspected.
+
+Murder by person or persons unknown?  I knew the persons: Zalnitch,
+Metzger, Schreiber.  They must have recognized the car as it came
+toward them and taken a shot as they went by.  My thoughts were
+recalled from their wanderings by an unexpected sentence of the
+coroner's.  I had been following him vaguely, but now my attention was
+riveted.
+
+"One could not be sure, because of the varied course that bullets take
+through the body, but the shot seems to have been fired from above and
+behind.  Unless it were otherwise proved, I'd strongly suspect that the
+murderer had fired the shot from the back seat of the car."
+
+"Of course that is impossible," I said, "because in that case the
+murderer would have been in the accident."
+
+"I had the same idea," he said slowly, giving me a searching look.
+
+Helen!
+
+I felt suddenly sick and faint.  I wanted air, sunlight; to get away
+from that darkened room and those piercing eyes that seemed to read my
+thoughts.  I thanked him for letting me know what he had discovered,
+and hurriedly excused myself.
+
+Helen!  The blood pounded through my temples.
+
+God!  No!
+
+Wilful, spoiled woman, if you will, ready to leave her husband without
+thought of the consequences, to go with another man; but his
+premeditated murderer?  A thousand times, no!
+
+I felt that with the unworthy suspicion in my mind, I could not face
+Mary, and I waited a moment at the bottom of the stairs before going up
+to meet her.  There were two questions that had to be answered.  Was
+Helen in the back seat when the car left Mary's the evening before; and
+had Jim told Helen about the proofs he had of Woods' irregularities?
+Mary was probably there when Helen and Jim left, and could answer both
+questions.
+
+I wiped the perspiration from my forehead and assuming as calm an air
+as possible, went up-stairs.  Mary was chatting with the little
+interne, but as soon as she saw my face, she hurried toward me.
+
+"You look as though you'd seen a ghost.  What was it, Bupps?"
+
+"Not here!" I cautioned.  "Wait until we get outside!"
+
+We walked down the broad sunlit steps and climbed into the car.  I felt
+like a traitor to let Mary even think that I suspected Helen, but my
+questions had to be answered.
+
+"Will you have luncheon with me, Mary?"
+
+"Certainly," she answered.  "Let's go to Luigi's.  We can talk quietly
+there."
+
+I headed for down-town and kept my eyes on the road, dreading to put my
+questions into words.
+
+"What was it, Bupps?" Mary asked.
+
+I decided to ask what I had to ask before telling her the coroner's
+verdict.
+
+"Did you see Helen leave the house with Jim yesterday?"
+
+"Yes.  I was looking out the window when they started.  Why?"
+
+I could hardly force myself to go on.
+
+"Was Helen--did Helen get into the front seat with Jim?" I faltered.
+
+"No.  She climbed into the back," Mary replied.  "They had some sort of
+an argument before they left.  I knew Jim was excited and that Helen
+was angry.  Of course I didn't hear all that passed between them, I
+tried not to hear any, but they talked very loud and were right in the
+next room."
+
+"What did you hear?" I asked, my heart sinking.
+
+"Once Jim laughed, a hard sort of laugh, and I heard Helen say, 'You
+lie!  You know you are lying!  He will disprove everything you say!'
+Another time I heard Helen exclaim, 'Give me that pistol!  You shan't
+threaten him while I'm there!'  I knew, of course, they were speaking
+of Frank Woods, but I didn't know what it was all about.  But why do
+you ask all this, Bupps?"
+
+"Mary," I said, and I couldn't look at her, "the coroner has given a
+verdict of murder."
+
+"Murder?" Mary gasped.  I nodded.
+
+"Jim was shot from behind, while he was driving Helen out to the
+country-club to meet Woods, and Helen was in the back seat."
+
+"She didn't do it!" Mary burst out.  "She couldn't have done it."
+
+"Of course she didn't do it!" I exploded.  We were glaring at each
+other as though each was defending Helen from the other's accusation.
+"We know she didn't do it, but there are many who won't take our word
+for it.  I could see by the way the coroner looked at me this morning
+that he is ready to accuse her of murdering Jim, and it's up to us to
+save her, by finding out who really is guilty."
+
+We drove up in front of Luigi's, and I was able to get a small table,
+in the corner by ourselves.  Although no one could have overheard us, I
+sat as near Mary as I could and we talked with our heads close together.
+
+Mrs. Webster Pratt came in the door just then, with a luncheon party,
+and, noticing how we were engrossed, came bouncing over to the table at
+once.
+
+"Poor Mr. Thompson, my heart bleeds for you--simply bleeds for you."
+
+I got to my feet and permitted her to squeeze my hand.  She squeezes
+your hand or pats you at the least opportunity, and this one was
+unequaled.
+
+"Poor, dear Mr. Felderson.  It is such a loss.  I was shocked to death
+when I heard it.  And Mrs. Felderson, the poor child, is she going
+to--ah--t-t-t.  I was afraid so when I read it in the paper.  I'm
+surprised to find you here.  How is your poor dear mother?"
+
+I knew that the woman would gossip all over the place about my
+heartlessness, unless I explained my presence in a public cafe so soon
+after Jim's death and my sister's injury.
+
+"My mother doesn't know about it yet," I said quietly.  "I didn't think
+her strong enough to stand the shock.  I shouldn't have come here, but
+I had a very important matter to talk over with Miss Pendleton."
+
+"I could see that from the way you were sitting," she giggled.  "I'm
+afraid that you're going to give Eastbrook something to talk about as
+soon as this distressing thing is over."  She patted my arm, beamed at
+Mary and swished over to her party.
+
+"We shouldn't have come here, Mary," I said with a sour grimace.
+
+"I forgot that old cat sometimes comes here.  She'll spread it all over
+town that you were down here making love to me before Jim was decently
+buried.  She'll probably say we're engaged."
+
+"Well, I wish we were."  I know I must have shown my longing in my eyes.
+
+"Don't, please, Warren!" Mary whispered, putting her hand on my arm.
+"We've got too much to do.  That Pratt woman drove everything out of my
+mind for a moment.  I wish she hadn't seen us here."
+
+I didn't feel as though I could eat a thing and neither did Mary, so I
+told the waiter to bring us a light salad, and sent him away.
+
+"Mary," I said, after he had gone, "we know Helen didn't do this thing,
+but if you are called by the grand jury to tell what you just told me,
+they will bring an indictment against her in a minute."
+
+"They couldn't!" Mary expostulated.  "They couldn't believe such a
+thing."
+
+"Don't you think Mrs. Webster Pratt would believe it, if she knew
+everything that we know?" I argued.  "She'd believe it with only half
+as much proof, and she has just about the mental equipment of the
+average juryman.  There'll be about four Mrs. Webster Pratts on that
+jury."
+
+"What can we do, Bupps?" Mary begged with tears in her eyes.
+
+"Well," I said, "you've got to see Helen as soon as they will let you
+and as often as they'll let you, so that the first time she speaks,
+you'll be there to hear what she says."
+
+"But suppose she dies, Bupps?"
+
+"Even while she is unconscious," I went on, disregarding her query,
+"she may say something that will give us a clue.  I'm going out to the
+bridge right after lunch."
+
+"What for?" Mary asked.
+
+"To see if I can find Jim's revolver.  If it had been found on Helen,
+the coroner would have told me this morning, I think.  Of course, they
+may not have taken it at all.  In that case it will still be at your
+house.  If Helen took it with her, it must have fallen out when the car
+turned over, and if it did, I must get it before anybody else does."
+
+The waiter interrupted here with the salad.  Mary dabbled with hers a
+bit and then said:
+
+"Bupps, hadn't I better get out of town?"
+
+"No," I replied.  "They'd be sure to find you, and when you gave your
+testimony, it would hurt Helen just that much more."
+
+"But I can't stand up before them and tell what I heard.  I'll lie
+first."  Her lovely little face clouded up as though she were going to
+cry.
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind!" I insisted.  "We know Helen didn't do
+it.  Don't we?"
+
+"Ye-es."  Her tone was not convincing.
+
+"Well, then, whatever we say can't hurt her.  And we're bound to find
+out who the guilty persons are."
+
+"But, Bupps, who could it have been?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"I still think it was Zalnitch and the men who were with him, but it
+might have been Woods.  I'm going to find out everything he did last
+night.  It may throw some light on the case.  After all, he is the one
+who had the most to gain by Jim's death, and his words of last night
+were mighty queer."
+
+I paid the waiter and we left the cafe.  On the way to Mary's I stopped
+at the undertaker's and made arrangements for Jim's burial.  The man in
+charge was the saddest looking person I have ever seen.  He had a
+woebegone look about him that was infectious--made you want to weep for
+him or with him.  He discussed the funeral arrangements in a hushed
+voice and finished by whispering, "I sincerely hope what the papers are
+hinting is not so."
+
+"What's that?" I asked.
+
+"The noon edition of _The Sun_ says, 'The finger of suspicion points
+very strongly to Mrs. Felderson.'"
+
+I hurried out to the car and jumped in.
+
+"Mary, we've got to work fast."
+
+"Is Helen suspected?" she asked.
+
+"Yes.  _The Sun_ is more than hinting."
+
+The news seemed to bring out the fight in Mary.
+
+"Well, we'll prove her innocent."
+
+When we reached the Pendletons' we hurried into the house and went at
+once to the room where Jim and Helen had their argument.  The revolver
+was not there.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+IT LOOKS BAD FOR HELEN
+
+I drove Mary to the hospital with my spirits at lowest ebb.  If _The
+Sun_ were going to try to convict Helen of the murder, I realized that
+we had a hard fight ahead of us, for that yellow sheet was most zealous
+in hounding down any one who happened to be socially prominent, and in
+demanding punishment.  The blacker the scandal, the deeper they dug,
+and the more details they gave to their gluttonous, filth-loving
+public.  They would be particularly eager here, for they had no love
+for Jim, due to the stand he took against them during the war.
+
+I knew the reporters would be hot on my trail and that sooner or later
+they would interview Mary.  So I determined that Mary should spend as
+much time as possible at the hospital, feeling sure the reporters would
+not be allowed in the room where Helen lay, battered and unconscious.
+As for me, I wanted to get to the bridge on the Blandesville Road as
+quickly as possible and from there to the country-club to inquire what
+Woods had done the night before.  I made up my mind I'd lead the
+reporters a merry old chase before they ran me to earth, and when they
+did, I'd tell them nothing.  I also wanted to get in touch with
+Robinson as soon as I could, to find out whether he had discovered
+anything new of Zalnitch and his confederates--but that could wait
+until evening.
+
+At the hospital they were at first opposed to having any one in the
+room with Helen, who still lay in a coma, but with the help of one of
+the nurses in charge, it was at last arranged.
+
+As I drove over the road to the club, the bleak barrenness of the
+country struck me anew.  Twenty-four hours before Jim had been alive.
+Twenty-four hours before we had been in our office discussing the proof
+of Woods' guilt, and Woods had telephoned to Jim, asking him to come to
+the country-club alone.  My suspicions of the man stirred afresh, so
+that when I came to the bridge and found no one there, I decided to
+leave my search for the revolver until later and go straight on to the
+club.
+
+It was still early for the golfers and the bridge players and there
+were only a few people there.  These, of course, came up to me and
+pressed my hand with genuine sympathy.  I realized how many, many
+friends Jim had and what a loss his death was to them all.
+
+As soon as I could disengage myself I hunted up Jackson, the negro
+head-waiter and general house-man, who knows everything that happens at
+the club.  He had just finished his dinner and I drew him into the
+cloak-room so that our talk might be uninterrupted.  I took out a five
+dollar bill and held it up before his expectant eyes.
+
+"Do you see that, Jackson?" I questioned.
+
+"Yas, indeed Ah sees it, suh!  Ah may be gittin' old but Ah ain't blind
+yit.  Ah'll giv you whut you wants, instan'ly."
+
+He started to leave, but I grabbed him.
+
+"That's not what I want, Jackson," I laughed.  Since the prohibition
+law went into effect, it has been only through some such ritual that
+"wets" can get theirs at the club.  "All I want is to ask you a few
+questions."
+
+"Fo' dat money?"  His teeth gleamed.
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Mr. Woods was here last night?" I asked, abruptly.
+
+"Yas, suh."
+
+"What time did he come in?"
+
+"Ah cain't raghtly say, Mist' Thompsin, but he had dinnah out heah
+'bout seben-thuty," he answered.
+
+"Did he leave the club after that?"
+
+"Not 'til de telephone call come whut says Mist' Feldahson ben killt.
+Den he lef wif Mist' Brown an' Mist' Paisley."
+
+"You're sure he was here all that time?" I asked.
+
+"No, sah, I ain't suah, but Ah seen him ev'y now an' den thu de
+ev'nin'."
+
+"Was he here at quarter past eight?" I questioned.
+
+"He was heah at twenty-fahv minutes past eight, Ah knows, cause Ah done
+brought him a drink."
+
+"You're sure of that?"
+
+"Yas, suh!  Positive!" the negro answered.  "'Cause Ah looked at de
+clock raght den an' der."
+
+As near as I could figure, the accident had happened about eight-ten or
+eight-fifteen and the bridge was six miles away from the club.  Woods
+couldn't have been at the bridge at the time of the tragedy and got
+back to the club by eighty twenty-five.  Still, he might have had an
+accomplice.
+
+"Thank you, Jackson," I said, giving him the money.  "Just forget that
+I asked you any questions!"
+
+The darky chuckled.  "Ah done fohgot 'em befoh you evah asted 'em, suh.
+Thank you, suh!"
+
+As I passed into the big, central living-room, Paisley came in.
+
+"What was this I saw in _The Sun_?" he asked.
+
+"The sort of rot that nasty sheet always prints," I said.
+
+"Nothing to it of course.  I thought not.  You don't feel like golfing?"
+
+I shook my head.  "Not to-day, old chap.  By the way, were you with
+Frank Woods when the news of Jim's death reached the club?"
+
+"Yes--why?" he asked.
+
+"You won't think it too strange if I ask you how he appeared to take
+it?" I said, trying to make my remark seem as casual as possible.
+Seeing the puzzled expression on his face, I added: "I know it is a
+peculiar thing to ask, but please don't think any more about it than
+you can help, and just answer."
+
+"Why--" Paisley began, a little flustered, "why he took it just the way
+the rest of us took it, I suppose.  I don't remember exactly."
+
+"Did he seem surprised?" I questioned.
+
+"Of course," Paisley answered,
+
+"He didn't seem relieved?"
+
+"Say, what the devil are you driving at, Thompson?" Paisley burst out.
+
+I saw I could get nothing from him so I left him looking after me with
+a perplexed and somewhat indignant gaze.  As a detective it seemed I
+might make a good plumber.  I knew very well he would not repeat my
+questions, but it would be just like good old Paisley to worry himself
+to death trying to solve them.
+
+I drove back to the bridge, determined to find the revolver, if
+possible, and then hunt up Inspector Robinson to learn what he had to
+report.  Apparently, my suspicions of Frank Woods were groundless.  He
+had had dinner at the club and then waited around for Jim to keep his
+appointment.  He had been seen by Jackson at eight twenty-five; Jackson
+was positive of that fact.  Ten or fifteen minutes at the most in which
+to go six miles to the bridge and back to the club, put up his car and
+ask Jackson for a drink.  The thing couldn't be done.  He had heard of
+Jim's death with surprise and had heard of Helen's injury with the
+greatest horror.  There seemed to be no doubt of one thing: no matter
+how much he wished for Jim's death, no matter how much he benefited by
+the murder, Frank Woods, himself, didn't do the killing.
+
+An automobile was standing at the bridge when I got there and I cursed
+the whim that had sent me to the club on a false scent and kept me from
+having an uninterrupted search for the weapon.  When I saw, however,
+that the driver of the automobile was Inspector Robinson, I was greatly
+relieved, for this would not only give me a chance to learn what he had
+discovered concerning the men in the black limousine, but would not
+interfere with the search for Jim's gun.  Robinson had his coat off and
+his sleeves rolled up and was fishing around the edge of the little
+creek with his hands.  So engrossed was he in his task that I was
+almost upon him before he looked up.
+
+"Good afternoon, Inspector," I addressed him.  "What are you doing,
+digging for gold or making mud pies?"
+
+"I'm gettin' bait to catch a sucker," he snarled.  "You must have
+thought you had one this morning."
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"All that bunk you handed me about Schreiber and the men in the black
+limousine.  That was a fine stall you pulled.  I might have known you
+was tryin' to cover up somebody's tracks."
+
+He dried his hands on a rather flamboyant, yellow handkerchief.
+
+"I haven't the least idea what you are talking about," I replied coldly.
+
+"Oh, you haven't, haven't you?" the little man burst out malignantly.
+"You're innocent, you are!  Too damned innocent!  I suppose you didn't
+know that your brother-in-law was shot in the back of the head and that
+your sister was the only one that was with him when it was done.  I
+suppose that's news--eh?"
+
+My heart stood still as I heard his words.  So he was after the proof
+that Helen did it.  He had read the insinuations in _The Sun_ and had
+abandoned his work against Schreiber and Zalnitch for the fresher trail.
+
+"I found out this morning that my brother-in-law was shot, but that
+only makes the case look the blacker for those who openly threatened
+his life."
+
+"Among whom was your beautiful sister," the detective retorted acidly.
+
+"How do you know that?" I demanded.
+
+"From her maid and all the rest of the servants in the house.  I found
+that out when I went up to take another squint at the automobile.  You
+thought you were pretty smart sendin' me on a wild-goose chase after a
+couple of cracked Socialists, when all the time you knew it was your
+own sister done the thing.  Tried to keep me off the track by slippin'
+me a little dough.  Well, it didn't work, see?  There's your dough
+back."  He threw a crumpled wad of bills on the ground at my feet.  "No
+one saw you give it to me, but I ain't takin' any chances, you may have
+marked those bills.  From now on I work alone without any theories from
+you."
+
+"Look here, Inspector!" I demanded, "I was in earnest when I told you I
+wanted you to find out all you could about the men in the black
+limousine.  I'm sure they had something to do with Mr. Felderson's
+death.  I didn't try to bribe you, nor throw you off the right track.
+Even though my sister did have a little unpleasantness with her
+husband, it was no serious difference."
+
+I determined to find out just how much Robinson knew.
+
+"She was utterly incapable of doing an act like this.  What possible
+motive could she have?"
+
+I could see that Robinson was rather impatiently waiting for me to go
+before continuing his search.
+
+"Well, I ain't found out her motive yet.  That can wait.  It might have
+been money or jealousy."
+
+"Money?" I scoffed.  "My sister had plenty; more than she could use.
+And as for her being jealous of her husband, that is even more
+ridiculous."
+
+The little man eyed me angrily.  "I said that the motive could wait.
+There's no tellin' what a society woman will do.  She may have been
+crazy for all I know.  But I ain't, and all your arguin' is just so
+much time wasted.  You think those guys in the automobile done it.  I
+don't.  I think your sister done it.  You don't.  All right, then, you
+take your road and I'll take mine, and we'll see who comes out ahead."
+
+He turned and started back to where he had been hunting when I came up.
+
+"May I ask what you expect to find here?" I queried, walking after him.
+
+"Sure you can ask," he replied.  As he found me following, he turned
+and snapped: "Say, what the hell are you hangin' around here for,
+anyway?"
+
+"I merely wanted to ask what you had discovered about the men in the
+black limousine.  That's why I stopped."
+
+"Well, you've found out, haven't you?  _Nothin'_.  All right then, you
+go on into the city and see if you can find out anything more!"
+
+I walked on down the sloping bank, searching the ground to see if I
+could find the gun that might reveal so much.  I could feel the eyes of
+the inspector boring into my back.
+
+"What are you looking for?" he demanded.
+
+"A cuff-link," I answered easily.  "I think I lost one here last night.
+You didn't happen to find it, did you?"
+
+"A cuff-link?  Humph!" he grunted.  "No, I haven't found it, but I
+wouldn't be surprised if I was lookin' for that same cuff-link."
+
+All this time I was searching the bank with my eyes.  A scrubby, little
+bush overhung the creek and I kicked at it with my foot.  There was a
+"plopp" as though something heavy had dropped into the water.
+Instinctively I knew it was the object for which we were both
+searching, and I turned to find the inspector eying me quizzically.
+
+"What was that noise?"
+
+"What noise?" I asked.
+
+"Sounded as though that precious cuff-link of yours had dropped into
+the water."  He started for me, and as he did so, I bent down quickly
+and plunged my arm into the water.  My fingers closed on the revolver
+just as he came bounding toward me.  With a quick shove I pushed it far
+into the soft clay of the bank, and, grabbing a rock off the bottom of
+the creek, withdrew my arm from the water and slipped the rock into my
+pocket.  The red-faced little detective was peering over my shoulder as
+I turned.  Rarely have I seen a man so angry.
+
+"Give me what you pulled out of that creek!" he almost screamed.
+
+"What for, Inspector?" I asked quietly.
+
+"Never mind what for.  You give me what you found in that creek, or
+I'll--" he grabbed me by the shoulder.
+
+"All right," I said; "all right, Inspector, don't get so excited over
+nothing.  It's yours."  I pulled the muddy rock from my coat pocket and
+gravely handed it to him.  "It was only an ordinary, every-day rock.  I
+didn't know you were a geologist."
+
+He pounced on me and ran his fingers over my person.  Red-faced, he
+surveyed me.
+
+"I ain't a geologist, but I am a criminologist, and just one more of
+your monkey tricks like that and I'll put you where you'll have time to
+study a lot of rocks and do a lot of thinkin' before bein' funny again.
+Now, you get out!  Get into that car as quick as you can, if you know
+what's good for you!"
+
+Hoping I could retrieve the revolver later, and realizing that nothing
+could be gained by staying there longer, I started toward the car.  I
+had hardly taken five steps when I heard a joyful yell and turned to
+see Robinson struggling to his feet, the muddy revolver in his hand.
+
+"Here's your cuff-link," he cried.  "Before I'm through you'll find
+that this ain't a cuff-link, but a necklace for the neck of that pretty
+sister of yours.  You, with your Socialists and your cuff-buttons,
+tryin' to keep me from gettin' what I go after.  Well, it didn't work!
+It don't usually, when I go after somethin'.  It didn't work, did it?"
+
+"No.  It didn't work," I admitted.
+
+"Oh, I don't blame you," Robinson went on, mollified by his success and
+the soft tone of my reply; "I'd of done the same thing in your place,
+if my sister was a murderer."
+
+The word "murderer" acted like an electric shock on me.
+
+"She didn't do it, I tell you; she couldn't have done it!"
+
+"Now, Mr. Thompson," Robinson began in a soothing voice.  "These things
+happen in even the best families sometimes.  You mustn't take it too
+hard."
+
+"Will you let me examine that revolver?" I demanded.
+
+"Why, no.  I can't let you examine it.  But I'll examine it when I get
+ready."
+
+"Will you be so good as to do it now?" I asked.
+
+"What for?"
+
+"Because it may not have been fired at all.  That would make things
+look entirely different, you know."
+
+The inspector took out the gaudy handkerchief again and wiped the mud
+off the barrel and the grip.  I had shoved the pistol barrel foremost
+into the bank so the muzzle was filled with clay.  It was Jim's--a "32"
+automatic.
+
+"It won't be spoilin' any evidence by my cleanin' this mud off the
+outside, because you put that there yourself," the detective said,
+wiping the pistol carefully.  He released the spring and pulled out the
+clip.  I saw a cartridge at the top of the clip and exclaimed:
+
+"There!  You see?  That gun was never fired!"
+
+The inspector looked at me with a pitying smile.
+
+"Now, that's where you're wrong, Mr. Thompson.  You see, you don't know
+the inner workings of an automatic.  When a gun like this is fired, it
+discharges the old shell and a new cartridge comes to the top of the
+clip.  There are only three cartridges left in this clip."
+
+"Do you mean to say that my sister fired more than one shot?" I asked
+sarcastically.
+
+"Not at all, not at all," the little man responded airily.  "There were
+probably only four cartridges in the gun in the first place.  You're
+gettin' all excited over this thing.  Of course, I don't blame you, Mr.
+Thompson, for tryin' to fight against facts, but it certainly looks bad
+for sister."
+
+I got into my car and started home, my heart dead within me.  It
+certainly did look bad for Helen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+LOOK OUT, JIM
+
+A good general realizes when he is beaten and changes his tactics
+accordingly.  Where I had been certain of Zalnitch's guilt before, and
+had planned his prosecution, now, with the sickening certainty that it
+was my sister herself who was guilty, I began to plan her defense.
+Yes, I'll admit right now, the gun convinced me.  I had been certain
+that Jim had not been killed through careless driving, that is why I
+had been so insistent that Inspector Robinson should hunt down those
+responsible for his death.  Now that it was too late, I cursed myself
+for not having let well-enough alone and aided the coroner in giving a
+verdict of accidental death.  My suspicions against Zalnitch had been
+based on the knowledge that he hated Jim and would have done anything
+to put him out of the way.  Coincidence had brought him over the same
+road that Jim had traveled a few minutes before his death.  This had
+strengthened my suspicions, but the case would have been hard to prove,
+while the evidence against Helen was too pronounced to be disregarded.
+Woods, too, had gained my suspicions, and yet he was miles away from
+the murder.  I realized suddenly that I had been refusing to look at
+the obvious in order that I might place the guilt where I wanted to
+believe it lay.  Yet it did seem the irony of fate that the two men
+benefiting by Jim's death should have had nothing to do with it.
+
+Helen did it!  As the awful realization of what that meant came over
+me, I hoped, for a brief second, that death would take her and so spare
+her the consequences of her act.  It would be such an easy way out.  I
+felt sure that if she died I could hush the whole thing up.  _The Sun_
+could be bought, if enough money was offered.
+
+These gruesome thoughts carried me into the city almost before I knew
+it.  I stopped at the house to change my muddy clothes, before going to
+the hospital to get Mary, and learned from the maid that mother had
+been asking for me.  I went quickly to her room.  She was lying in bed
+and at first I thought she was asleep, but she turned as I approached
+her.
+
+"Is that you, Warren?" she asked softly.
+
+"Yes, mother.  Stella said you wanted to see me."  I bent down and
+kissed her lightly.  She reached up and put her thin weak arms around
+my neck.
+
+"Warren, is there anything wrong?  If there is you must tell me."
+
+"No, mother.  What made you think that?" I asked.
+
+She slowly withdrew her arms and let them fall at her side.
+
+"I don't know.  I seemed to feel that something had happened.  Just
+lying here, I felt afraid for you children--and then there were so many
+people ringing the bell and the telephone, I was afraid that some
+accident had happened to you or Helen."
+
+I patted her wan cheek.  "It's just your imagination.  The only thing
+wrong is that my dearest, little mother isn't as well and strong as her
+good-for-nothing son."
+
+I kissed her again, and she smiled up at me.  "I'm so glad," she
+whispered.  "I was worried."
+
+I almost choked when I got outside.  If Helen should recover and be put
+on trial, it would kill mother, I felt sure.  And I would be left alone
+in the world.  Down-stairs, I asked Stella who had called, and she told
+me the reporters had been trying to find me all day.
+
+During the drive to the hospital, I tried to focus my mind on Helen's
+defense, but all the force seemed to have been sapped out of me.  I
+felt weak and miserable and unutterably lonely.
+
+At the hospital, they received me with the quiet sympathy that
+strengthens you in spite of yourself and gives you hope.  Doctor
+Forbes, who had operated on Helen the night before, was in the office.
+He had just come from Helen's room and he reported her condition to be
+"extremely satisfactory."
+
+"There is only one thing that worries me," he said.  "Your sister seems
+to have something on her mind that keeps her from resting as quietly as
+I could wish.  It is some real or fancied danger that repeats itself
+over and over in her delirium.  If we could only hit on something that
+would ease her mind of those fears, I should have every reason to
+believe she'd get well.  I say this to you because you are her brother
+and are no doubt acquainted with what has happened to her in the last
+few weeks, and may be able to suggest what it is she fears."
+
+"Perhaps it is the accident itself," I offered.
+
+He shook his head.  "It may be, but I think not.  However, suppose you
+step into the room and listen to what she says.  If we can only rid her
+of her fears and get her to rest quietly, I am positive she will
+recover."
+
+I shook his hand warmly and went upstairs to Helen's room.  I knew what
+it was Helen feared.  The consequences of her crime.  The terrible fear
+of public prosecution for the murder of her husband was torturing her
+poor delirious brain.  For a moment I forgave her everything and pitied
+her from the depths of my heart.
+
+The smell of ether lay thick in the air as I walked down the long
+corridor to Helen's room.  I knocked softly at the door and a
+white-capped nurse opened it a little way, her finger to her lips.  I
+beckoned her outside and told her Doctor Forbes wished me to find out,
+if I could, what troubled my sister's mind.
+
+As we entered, I saw Mary sitting by the bed, holding the hand of the
+poor white figure that lay, death-like, beneath the sheet.  Helen's
+head was swathed in bandages, except for the oval of her face.  She
+looked quite like some fair nun who had said her last "Ava."  It was
+impossible to believe that it was her hand that had fired the shot that
+killed Jim, and if she lived, that she would have to face the world a
+murderer.
+
+Mary only glanced up at me for a moment and then turned her eyes again
+to Helen's lips to catch any sound that might pass them.  As I watched
+her sitting there so patiently, a little pale from her cramped vigil by
+the bedside, a great tenderness welled up in my heart, for her.  Just
+then Helen's lips began to move.  At first the words were inaudible,
+although Mary leaned forward to catch them.  Then with a half-cry, in
+which there was a perfect agony of fear----
+
+"Look out, Jim!  It's going to hit us!  Oh-oh-oh----"
+
+The voice died away and was succeeded by moans, low and trembling.
+Mary glanced up with a startled look in her eyes.  The nurse went
+quickly to the bedside and soothed the impatient hand that was plucking
+at the sheets.  As for me, my forehead was bathed in sweat and tears
+were running down my cheeks, but a joy throbbed and sang through my
+heart till I felt that I should suffocate unless I left that
+ether-filled room for the open air.
+
+I tiptoed toward the door and caught a nod from Mary as I passed, which
+said she would join me later.  For a second, after I closed the door, I
+couldn't move.  My legs failed me and I felt I was going to faint.
+Gathering all my strength, I stumbled over to a chair by the window and
+sat down.
+
+I think I should have dropped to my knees and thanked God right there,
+if I hadn't feared that my prayers would have been interrupted.  That
+cry, "Look out, Jim!" proved not only that Helen had nothing whatever
+to do with Jim's death, but that she had tried to warn him of his
+danger.  "It's going to hit us!"  What could that mean but that my
+first theory was correct, that the men in the black limousine had
+recognized Jim's car and had tried to run him into the ditch?
+Schreiber and Zalnitch were at the bottom of it, after all, and Helen
+was innocent.
+
+As I had hoped she would die, when I thought her guilty, now I hoped
+and prayed she would live.  I recalled Doctor Forbes' words: "If we
+could only hit on something that would ease her mind of those fears, I
+would have every reason to believe she would get well."  I could at
+least tell him the cause of the fear and leave it to him to find a
+remedy.  With Helen well, ready to testify as to the details of that
+tragic night, we would certainly bring Jim's murderers to trial.
+
+The door opened and Mary came out.  I rose and walked over to her, my
+eyes still betraying the emotion Helen's words had roused in me.
+
+"You heard what she said?" Mary breathed.
+
+"We knew she didn't do it, didn't we?"
+
+"But, Warren, the things she says are all so weird and mixed up.
+Sometimes she talks of things that happened just recently and then
+again she babbles of things that took place a long time ago when we
+were kids.  Once when the nurse came into the room, Helen began crying
+as though her heart would break and begged that we wouldn't think too
+harshly of her.  Again she repeated over and over, 'He didn't do it--He
+didn't do it!'"
+
+"Her other fears," I replied, "probably had to do with Woods.  But that
+cry to Jim to 'Look out!' is a real clue and I'm going to sift it to
+the bottom."
+
+"What are you going to do?" Mary demanded.
+
+"I'm going to accuse Zalnitch of Jim's murder--going to accuse him to
+his face."
+
+"Oh, be careful, Bupps!  Nothing must happen to you!"
+
+The tone she used, her sweet anxiety for my safety, went to my head and
+I reached out to take her in my arms, but with a little protesting
+gesture she stopped me.
+
+"Please don't be foolish, Warren!"  Then as she saw my spirits droop,
+she added, "Not till Helen is well."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+I ACCUSE ZALNITCH
+
+"Mr. Zalnitch is busy and can't see you."
+
+The girl, evidently a stenographer or secretary, looked coolly
+competent in her white shirt-waist and well-made skirt.  I was
+surprised to find a young woman of her evident education and refinement
+in the employ of such a man.
+
+"Did you give him my message?" I asked.
+
+"Yes.  He said he was not interested."
+
+I felt vaguely disappointed that my strategy had not worked.  I had
+given the name of Anderson, and had represented myself as the head of
+the Steamfitters' Union of Cleveland, anxious for instructions on how
+to settle a labor problem in our local union.  I had done this, feeling
+that if I gave my own name, he might refuse to see me.  Apparently my
+alias was to have no better success.
+
+"When will he be free, can you tell me?"
+
+"I couldn't say," the girl answered.  "He is very busy at present, but
+if you will come in and wait, perhaps he may see you later."
+
+It seemed to me there was the faintest suggestion of a smile on the
+girl's face as I stepped across the threshold into the small
+waiting-room, but I hadn't a chance to observe more closely, for she
+turned her back on me at once and immediately resumed her typewriting.
+
+The room in which I found myself was one of a dingy suite in an old
+warehouse that had been converted into a newspaper building to house
+_The Uplift_, a weekly paper, edited by a Russian Jew named Borsky and
+financed by Schreiber.  It was a typical anarchistic sheet, and had
+been suppressed for a time, during the war.  Opposite where I sat was a
+door from which the paint had peeled in places.  This evidently led
+into Zalnitch's office, for I could hear the murmur of voices behind
+it.  The rooms were ill-lighted and unclean, and it made me mad to see
+as nice a girl as the stenographer working herself to death in such
+dingy surroundings and for such a man as Zalnitch.
+
+I watched her as she worked and marveled that any one could make her
+fingers go so rapidly.  I noticed with admiration and dissatisfaction,
+that unlike my stenographers, she didn't have to stop to erase a
+misspelled word every two minutes.  I wondered what salary Zalnitch
+paid her and if she would like to change employers.
+
+"I hope you will pardon my interrupting your work--" I began.
+
+"You're not," the girl responded, without even glancing up.
+
+"May I ask if you are entirely satisfied with your employment here?"
+
+"Why do you ask?" she inquired, stopping for a moment and fixing me
+with clear gray eyes.
+
+"I am badly in need of a competent stenographer and I thought you might
+prefer working in a place where the surroundings are pleasanter and the
+pay probably higher."
+
+She studied me a moment, as though card-indexing me, then having
+apparently decided that I was in earnest and not merely trying to
+flirt, that elusive smile again played about her mouth.
+
+"You are the first steamfitter I ever met that found himself badly in
+need of a stenographer."
+
+Caught!  I bit my lip at my stupid blunder, but had to laugh in spite
+of myself.
+
+"Your make-up is all wrong, Mr. Anderson--if your name is Anderson.  I
+don't know what you are trying to do, nor why you picked out
+steamfitting as your mythical life-work, but I do know you aren't a
+detective."
+
+This time the smile came out in the open.  I liked her immensely.  She
+might make an ally.  She would at least know what had happened in the
+office during the last few days.
+
+"Miss--?"
+
+"Miller," she added.
+
+"Miss Miller.  I am a lawyer, and my sister is about to be accused of a
+terrible crime which she didn't commit.  I think I know who did commit
+it, but so far I haven't been able to connect him definitely with the
+crime.  I think you can help me.  Will you?"
+
+"What makes you think I can help you?" she asked.
+
+"Because you are so situated you can observe the person I believe to be
+responsible for the crime," I replied.
+
+Her gaze changed from pleasant questioning to indignant surprise.  When
+she spoke her voice was coldly final.
+
+"I think you have made a mistake in judgment of character.  Please let
+me finish my work now."
+
+"Miss Miller, please don't think for a minute that I--"
+
+Behind me a door opened and, as I turned, I found myself looking into
+the wrathful eyes of a stunted little man with an enormous head.  Any
+one who has once seen Zalnitch can never forget him.  His wizened,
+misshapen body is a grotesque caricature of a man's, which, surmounted
+by his huge head with its bushy hair, makes him look for all the world
+like some scientist's experiment.  In the doorway to Zalnitch's private
+office stood Schreiber, a heavy-jowled, unsmiling mastiff of a man.
+
+"What do you want that you should be keeping my stenographer from
+working?"  Zalnitch's voice rose in a shrill crescendo.  "Get out of
+here!  You have no business here.  Get out!"
+
+"Zalnitch, I came here to speak to you."
+
+"Get out!" he screamed.  "I won't talk with you.  I have no time to
+waste, even if you have.  I know who you are.  You're the
+brother-in-law of Felderson, the blood-sucking millionaire who sent me
+to jail.  I won't talk with you, do you hear?"
+
+As he grew more excited I seemed to grow cooler.
+
+"Zalnitch, I'm going to swear out a warrant against you for my
+brother's murder."
+
+For a moment the little man blinked at me in amazement; then he threw
+back his head and laughed, a shrill, giggling squeak.  With his fists
+he pounded his misshapen legs.
+
+"You arrest me for his murder?  Hee-hee!  You hear, Schreiber?  He is
+going to--to arrest me!"
+
+Suddenly he stopped, as quickly as he had started.
+
+"Go ahead!  Arrest me!  Try to send me to prison again.  I'll make you
+sweat blood before you are through.  You think I killed him--your
+brother?  I wish I had.  I'd be proud to say I killed him!  You hear?
+I wish I had killed him.  I wish he were alive so I _could_ kill him."
+
+The little monstrosity emphasized each of his staccato sentences by
+stamping a puny foot on the floor.  His gloating over Jim's death was
+more than flesh could stand.
+
+"Stop!" I yelled.  "If it wasn't you that killed him, it was one of
+that murderous gang of cutthroats and anarchists that was with you.  If
+it wasn't you, then it was Schreiber's son--that Prussian jail-bird, or
+one of his friends."
+
+Zalnitch's eyes blazed.  "You call us anarchists and cutthroats.  You,
+who are a product of the rotten government that has ground down and
+oppressed the people I represent.  Because we rebel, you throw us in
+prison, making a mockery of your boasted liberty.  So they did for a
+time in Russia.  You call us 'cutthroats.'  It's a good term.  I hope
+to God we earn that title."
+
+Finding that the talk was turning into a political harangue, I turned
+my back on Zalnitch and started toward the door.  Schreiber followed me.
+
+"Chust one minud."  There was heavy menace in his look.  "You galled my
+son a chail-bird a minud ago.  He vas in chail because he did righd,
+but dot don't matter.  You're egsited, because your brodder vas gilled.
+Ve don't know nodding aboud it.  Ve heard aboud it de nexd day.  I
+don'd have nodding against Velderson, bud if you dry to pud my son,
+Karl, in chail again, someding vill happen to you.  I'm delling dis to
+you vor your own good."
+
+Disappointed at the interview, I closed the door behind me and started
+down the hall.  I don't know just what I had hoped to find out, but I
+thought Zalnitch would betray himself in some way--must in some way
+show his guilty knowledge of Jim's death.  Instead, he had laughed at
+me when I threatened to arrest him, even wished he could claim the
+credit for the crime.
+
+I heard the pattering of feet and turned to find Miss Miller behind me.
+
+"Mr. Thompson."
+
+"Yes, Miss Miller."
+
+"A few moments ago you asked me to help you discover who killed your
+brother-in-law.  For some reason you think Mr. Zalnitch had something
+to do with it, and you wanted me to give you any information I could
+about him."
+
+"Yes," I responded.
+
+"When you made that proposal, I was very angry because I resented your
+thinking I'd spy on my employer.  However, your suspicions are so
+ridiculous I feel it is only fair to tell you that you are wasting your
+time."
+
+"What makes you so sure that Zalnitch had nothing to do with it, Miss
+Miller?"
+
+"Because I know he is utterly incapable of doing anything of that
+kind," she answered.
+
+I half smiled.  "Mr. Zalnitch has the reputation of holding life very
+cheaply--that is, the lives of others who stand in his way.  He hated
+my brother-in-law for that very reason.  If he didn't kill him, it
+wasn't because he didn't want to.  For proof of it, you heard what he
+said in there."
+
+The girl looked me over for a minute.  A far-away look had come into
+her eyes.
+
+"Mr. Thompson, Mr. Zalnitch is obsessed by a wonderful idea.  You
+people call him 'Bolshevist' and 'anarchist,' because he is trying to
+overthrow the existing order of things.  In working out his great
+theory, he would stamp out a nation if it interfered with the
+fulfillment of his plan, and he would not think that he had done
+anything wrong.  In fact, he would think it the only thing to do.  In
+that much, he holds life cheaply.  But if you think he would descend to
+wreaking vengeance on individuals for personal spite, you are all
+wrong.  He is too big a man for that."
+
+"Did Zalnitch send you out to say this to me?" I asked suspiciously.
+
+The girl flushed angrily.  "Really, Mr. Thompson, you make it almost
+impossible for any one to help you.  Instead of being sent, I may be
+dismissed for having come out here to talk to you.  You asked for my
+assistance and now that I have tried to give it, you make me regret the
+impulse."
+
+She turned and started to leave, but I called her back.
+
+"Miss Miller, please forgive me and don't think me ungrateful.  Mr.
+Felderson meant more to me than any person living, and I have made up
+by mind to bring his murderer to justice if I have to devote the rest
+of my life to it.  I know that I have been jumping at conclusions.
+I've done a lot of things since Mr. Felderson's death that I can't
+understand, myself,--things that were entirely unlike me--but I feel
+that I would be a traitor to my brother-in-law's memory unless I follow
+every possible clue.  He had only three enemies and one was Zalnitch,
+who threatened him.  Isn't it only natural that I should suspect him?"
+
+Her look was entirely sympathetic as she replied.
+
+"I know how Mr. Felderson's death must have affected you, Mr. Thompson,
+and I do want to help you.  You say he had three enemies; then I advise
+you to look for the other two, for I am positive Mr. Zalnitch had
+nothing to do with the murder."
+
+I thanked her and went down the rickety stairs, believing somehow that
+she had told me the truth.  But if not Zalnitch, then who?  I knew that
+in less than a week, as soon as Helen was well enough to stand the
+shock, she would be indicted, unless in the meantime, I could discover
+the murderer.  Helen had regained consciousness the night before, but
+was far too weak to undergo any questioning.  My impatience at the
+delay, necessary before she could tell the story of the crime, had
+driven me, most foolishly, I now realized, into trying to force
+Zalnitch to a guilty admission of complicity.
+
+When I got hold of myself, I knew well enough that the only sensible
+course was to wait until Helen should be able to clear up the mystery,
+so I went to the office and began the heavy task of putting Jim's
+effects in order.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+A DOUBLE INDICTMENT
+
+Jim was buried on Tuesday.  The funeral was very quiet, only Mary and
+myself, with a few of Jim's most intimate friends, attending.  I have
+always had a repugnance to large and ostentatious funerals and I felt
+that Jim would have preferred to have the actual ceremony over as
+quickly and quietly as possible.  It affected me too much to allow me
+to think of anything else but my loss, at the time, and I should have
+left town the day after, had I not received a summons to appear before
+the grand jury.
+
+Mary called me up and told me that she, too, had been summoned, so I
+drove the car around for her.  She was nervous and frightened at the
+thought of having to testify and she asked me all the questions she
+could think of on what to do and what to say.  I reassured her, telling
+her the district attorney was friendly to Jim and that I was confident
+our testimony as to Helen's words would stave off any indictment until
+Helen was well enough to testify.
+
+"But, Warren, the fact that she was delirious will make it pretty shaky
+testimony, won't it?" Mary argued.
+
+"Yes, that's true.  But I don't think that they will want to bring an
+indictment while Helen is ill.  You see, the indictment couldn't be
+served anyway, and I think our testimony will convince them there's a
+reasonable doubt as to Helen's guilt."
+
+She seemed convinced until the gloomy bulk of the court-house came in
+view, when terror rushed back fourfold.
+
+"Oh, Bupps, can't I get out of it?"
+
+"No, dear, it's got to be gone through with.  Remember it depends on
+you and me."
+
+"But what if they ask me Jim's and Helen's conversation before they
+started for the country-club?"
+
+"Tell them as little as possible, but stick to the truth.  We know
+Helen's innocent and the truth can't hurt her."
+
+We passed Inspector Robinson in the hall down-stairs and the half smile
+on his lips irritated me.  It was his report to the grand jury that had
+stirred things up.  He knew only too well that with the sensational
+_Sun_ to back him, an indictment would be taken by the public to mean
+proven guilt.
+
+At the entrance to the anteroom we found Wicks, his face drawn into
+lines of the most acute misery.
+
+"I couldn't 'elp it, sir.  They made me come."
+
+"I know it, Wicks.  Don't worry!  It's a mere formality," I reassured
+him.
+
+"I 'ope so, sir, but I don't like it."
+
+"None of us do, Wicks, but it can't be helped," I replied.  "Did Annie
+come with you?"
+
+"No, sir.  Strange to say she wasn't called, sir."
+
+Good!  That helped our case some.  Mary and I walked into the anteroom
+to await our turn.  The coroner was already there.  Wicks had followed
+us and took a seat close by.  Mary's face was a study in suppressed
+nervousness.
+
+"Couldn't you go in there with me, Bupps?" she asked.
+
+"No, Mary, the grand jury does its work in secret."
+
+A clerk called the coroner and as he passed from the room, Robinson and
+Pickering came in.  Robinson didn't even glance in my direction, but
+Pickering walked over quickly and shook hands.
+
+"Devilish sorry things have taken the turn they have, old man," he said.
+
+"You mean about--my sister?"
+
+"Yes.  Robinson seems to think he has all the proof he needs.  I wish I
+could help you."
+
+"Thanks awfully," I replied.
+
+He had only been seated a few moments when he was called to testify.
+As the coroner left the room, I tried to read in his face the nature of
+his testimony, but it was inscrutable.  Pickering was out in less than
+ten minutes, and then Wicks was called.  His legs seemed a bit shaky as
+he started for the door and he gave me a parting look, half awe, half
+terror.
+
+Robinson paced up and down, his short stubby legs expressing confidence
+and satisfaction.  Every turn, he scrutinized Mary, as if trying to
+place her in some criminal category.
+
+At last Wicks came out, perspiring as if he'd been in a steam bath.
+Robinson looked him over once, gave a snort of derision and passed into
+the jury room.  I wanted to ask Wicks some questions, but the poor man
+fled before I could attract his notice.
+
+Mary got up and walked over to the big windows where a flood of warm
+September sunlight poured into the room.  For a moment she stood gazing
+down on the crowded square below, then suddenly turned and half sobbed:
+
+"Bupps, I can't stand it!  I may say something that will hurt Helen."
+
+Great sobs shook her slender body.  I went over and clumsily tried to
+comfort her.
+
+"Mary, dear, Helen didn't do it.  When she is well enough, we'll be
+able to find out all about it.  Even if they do bring an indictment,
+Helen can prove her innocence."
+
+The sobs diminished to sniffles, and then to occasional sighs.  She
+opened her bag, extracted a miniature powder-puff and dabbed at her
+small upturned nose spitefully.  I knew that the storm had passed.
+
+"I know--that--that I'm foolish to c-cry, but I just c-couldn't help
+it."
+
+A clerk opened the door and called Mary's name.  She gave me a startled
+glance and her face blanched.  I thought she was going to break down
+again, but suddenly I saw her raise her chin defiantly and an angry
+sparkle come to her eyes.  She snapped shut her vanity-bag and marched
+toward the jury room like a soldier, sentenced to be shot, yet
+determined to die bravely.
+
+It was only after she had left that I began to think about my own
+testimony.  After all, the evidence was terrifyingly strong against
+Helen.  She had threatened to kill Jim.  She had quarreled with him
+just before their last ride, had chosen the back seat purposely, had
+Jim's revolver with her, and knew she was being taken to see her lover
+humiliated and threatened.  Against all this, I had only a brother's
+faith in his sister and those half dozen words cried out in a delirium.
+A sickening certainty that they would indict Helen came over me.  What
+if she did--?  What if she should confess?
+
+In some way I had to save Helen if only for mother's sake.  After all,
+Woods, too, had threatened Jim.  He knew Jim had proof of his
+dishonesty.  He had made the engagement and had asked Jim to come
+alone.  At this point of my review of the facts I decided to tell the
+jury all.  If Woods was at the country-club the entire evening he would
+be able to establish a complete alibi and my testimony would not hurt
+him, while it might be enough, if I could make it so, to hold the jury
+until Helen could testify.  Hearing steps outside, I turned to see the
+object of my mental attentions walk into the room.
+
+"You here, Woods?" I queried.
+
+"Yes.  Those admirable servants of your sister's gave the police just
+enough of the vulgar details of that meeting between Felderson and
+myself to make them think I--well, they ordered me to report and here I
+am."
+
+He looked worried and irritable.  For the first time I realized what
+the man must have gone through during the last few days, with his
+business troubles and Helen's injury.  How he had met his obligations
+without Helen's money, I didn't know.
+
+"I should have thought you'd have been glad to testify to save Helen
+from an indictment."
+
+Woods whirled around.  "You don't mean to say there's a chance of that,
+Thompson?  Why, she didn't do it, she couldn't have done it.  She--she
+isn't capable of doing such a thing.  It's monstrous.  I've read the
+rot that _The Sun_ has been printing, but I didn't think--I can't think
+any one would take it seriously."  A gray shadow seemed to fall across
+his face.
+
+"Felderson was shot from behind and Helen was the only one with him," I
+threw out, watching Woods closely to see what effect my words would
+have on him.  The man looked as though he knew more about the crime
+than I had supposed.
+
+"I know that!  But haven't people sense enough to see that Helen is
+utterly incapable of such an act.  Good God, they must be blind!"
+
+I was brought back to the business on hand by hearing my name shouted.
+They must have let Mary out by another door for when I entered the jury
+room she was not there.  It was hot and stuffy, smelling of stale
+tobacco and staler clothing.  I noticed that the jurymen seemed deeply
+interested and that they were, for the most part, a rather intelligent
+lot.  The foreman, a near-sighted business-looking person, seemed to
+radiate sympathy through his glasses.  The district attorney,
+Kirkpatrick, knew Jim well, had his help often and was one of his best
+friends.
+
+"What is your name?" he asked.
+
+"Warren Thompson."
+
+"Your address?"
+
+"Eleven thirty-two Grant Avenue."
+
+"Your business?"
+
+"I am a lawyer," I responded.
+
+The district attorney seated himself at a table and arranged some
+papers before him.
+
+"You were what relation to the deceased?"
+
+"The brother-in-law," I replied.
+
+"Mr. Thompson," the attorney began, leaning on the table in front of
+him, "will you please tell the jury if there was any unhappiness in the
+married life of your sister and brother-in-law?"
+
+"Until recently Mr. and Mrs. Felderson were very happy together.
+During the last three months their happiness has not been quite--so
+pronounced."
+
+"What was the cause of their disagreement?"
+
+I determined to begin my attack on Woods at once.
+
+"A man whom Mr. Felderson disliked and did not wish to come to the
+house."
+
+"Can you tell the jury that man's name?"
+
+"Frank Woods."
+
+The attorney glanced at his notes.
+
+"Did this man Woods make love to Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"I couldn't say.  He was very attentive to her."
+
+"Did Mrs. Felderson ask her husband to divorce her?"
+
+"Yes," I replied.
+
+"And Mr. Felderson refused?"
+
+"No.  Mr. Felderson consented."
+
+"You are sure of that?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes.  I was present when he said he would give her a divorce."
+
+"Was Woods there at the time?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The foreman of the jury interrupted here.
+
+"Will you tell the jury just what took place at that meeting?"
+
+I told them briefly what happened, not forgetting to mention that Woods
+had threatened Jim's life in case he did not let Helen go.
+
+"Has that man been summoned?" asked the foreman.
+
+"Yes.  He is waiting to appear now," a clerk responded.
+
+"Mr. Thompson, did you hear your sister threaten to kill her husband?"
+Kirkpatrick asked.
+
+"My sister was very excited at that time and said several things--"
+
+"Please answer my question!" fired the district attorney.
+
+"I can't remember," I replied.
+
+Kirkpatrick again consulted his papers.
+
+"A witness says that on the evening of the disagreement between Mr. and
+Mrs. Felderson, she used the words: 'I could kill him,' referring to
+her husband.  Did you hear her use those words?"
+
+"I don't think she realized what she was saying."
+
+"I did not ask for your opinions.  Did you hear her say she could kill
+him or that she would like to kill him?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The attorney seemed satisfied and I noticed the foreman of the jury
+lean back in his chair.
+
+"Now, Mr. Thompson," Kirkpatrick began, "on the evening of the tragedy
+did you see Mrs. Felderson leave with Mr. Felderson?"
+
+"No," I replied.
+
+"Do you know if she was sitting in the back seat or the front seat of
+that automobile?" he asked.
+
+"I couldn't say."
+
+Kirkpatrick took Jim's revolver from the table.
+
+"Is this revolver familiar to you?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"Did Mr. Felderson have a revolver like this?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you know whether he was carrying it at the time of the tragedy?"
+
+"I'm not sure," I stated.
+
+"Did Mr. Felderson usually carry a gun?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Did Mrs. Felderson have a revolver?"
+
+"No," I replied, "I don't think she even knows how to use one."
+
+"Please only answer my questions!" Kirkpatrick rebuked me sharply.
+
+"You have stated to the jury that Mr. Woods had threatened Mr.
+Felderson's life in case he did not give Mrs. Felderson a divorce.
+When did Mr. Felderson intend giving his wife the promised divorce?"
+
+"I don't think he really intended to give Mrs. Felderson a divorce."
+
+"But you stated that he consented to a divorce?"
+
+"He did, but with certain reservations," I answered.
+
+"What were those reservations?"
+
+"That there should be nothing in Mr. Woods' past that could cause Mrs.
+Felderson trouble in the future, in case she married Woods."
+
+"Did Mr. Woods know of Mr. Felderson's intention not to divorce Mrs.
+Felderson?" he demanded.
+
+"I don't know.  I know that Mr. Felderson had made an important
+discovery about Mr. Woods' past life."
+
+"Was this discovery of such a nature as to cause Mr. Felderson to
+refuse a divorce?"
+
+"It was!" I answered.
+
+"Can you tell the jury what this discovery was?"
+
+"No, I can not."
+
+"Did Mr. Woods know that Mr. Felderson had made this discovery?"
+
+"I think he did."
+
+"Aren't you certain?"
+
+"No."
+
+"This is important, Mr. Thompson.  Will you tell the jury why you think
+Mr. Woods knew of Mr. Felderson's discovery?"
+
+"Because Mr. Woods called Mr. Felderson up shortly after the discovery
+was made and asked for an interview at the country-club."
+
+"Was Mr. Felderson on his way to that meeting when he met his death?"
+the attorney queried.
+
+"Yes," I responded.
+
+"Do you know whether Mr. Felderson intended to inform Woods that he
+would not divorce Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"I think he intended to accuse Woods of dishonesty," I replied.
+
+"Mrs. Felderson knew the purpose of the meeting, did she not?"
+
+"I couldn't say."
+
+Kirkpatrick turned to the jury.
+
+"Has the jury any questions they wish to ask?"
+
+I seized my opportunity.
+
+"I would like to say a few words with the permission of the jury."
+
+Receiving a nod of consent, I related to them as briefly as possible my
+conviction of my sister's innocence, her cry of danger to her husband,
+and the coincidence of the black limousine on the road at about the
+same time as the tragedy.  I also told of the enmity of Zalnitch for
+Jim and of his presence with the others in the black limousine.  The
+foreman of the jury leaned forward.
+
+"Will you repeat the words that your sister uttered?"
+
+"She cried, 'Look out, Jim!  It's going to hit us!'"
+
+"Your sister was delirious at the time, was she not?"
+
+"Yes," I answered.  "But from the tone of her voice I feel perfectly
+sure she referred to something that occurred on the night of the
+tragedy."
+
+"You think she referred to the black limousine when she said, 'It's
+going to hit us'?" the foreman continued.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Yet the coroner's verdict was that your brother-in-law was killed by a
+bullet, fired, apparently, from behind and above."
+
+I felt the weakness of my ground.
+
+"The bullet might have been fired from the automobile and ricochetted
+from some part of Mr. Felderson's machine."
+
+I saw the incredible smile that played on the face of the prosecutor.
+
+"That will do, Mr. Thompson," Kirkpatrick announced, and I passed out
+of the stuffy room into the corridor.  Wicks had returned and was
+standing with Mary.  They looked at me with wide and anxious eyes.
+
+Mary saw the droop in my shoulders and caught my arm.
+
+"What happened, Warren?" she asked.
+
+"Nothing yet," I responded.
+
+"Are they going to----?"
+
+"I don't know, I don't know."
+
+Tears welled up in Mary's eyes.  "Oh, Warren, that man was terrible!"
+
+"What man?" I asked.
+
+"The man who asked me all the questions," Mary sobbed.  "There wasn't
+anything he didn't ask me."
+
+"Did he ask you about the conversation between Helen and Jim?"
+
+"He asked me everything, I tell you!" Mary exclaimed angrily.  "He
+twisted and turned everything I said into something horrible."
+
+Discouraged, I led the way to the car.  I drove out into the country,
+thinking the fresh air might quiet Mary's nerves.  Twice I tried to
+start a conversation about some trivial thing, to take her mind off her
+unpleasant experience of the afternoon, but with no success.  It always
+came back to the jury room.  Our drive, for the most part, was a silent
+one.  At length we turned back and as we walked up the steps of Mary's
+home, her father came from the house with a newspaper in his hand.
+
+"This is terrible, Warren."
+
+"What is it?" I cried, reaching for the sheet.
+
+It was an extra edition of _The Press_, our only respectable paper.  In
+black head-lines, I read the words:
+
+  "SOCIETY LEADER INDICTED FOR
+  HUSBAND'S MURDER!"
+
+Then underneath in small type:
+
+"Frank Woods, Well Known Business Man, Released on $10,000 Bail."
+
+Helen and Frank Woods had both been indicted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+WHO AM I
+
+I jumped into the automobile and drove as fast as I could to the
+offices of Simpson and Todd, the best criminal lawyers in the state, to
+retain them as council for Helen.  Simpson had already gone home, but
+George Todd was there, and I talked the case over with him.
+
+"You can get a stay of proceedings, can't you?" I asked.
+
+"Surely," he replied.  "I'll see that the warrant isn't served until
+Mrs. Felderson's doctor assures me she is out of danger.  The trial
+needn't come off for three or four months--six if you wish.  We can see
+to that.  In the meantime, when will you be able to see Mrs. Felderson?"
+
+"I was going up there now," I answered.  "The chances are the doctor
+won't let me question her yet, but it may be we can see her.  Will you
+come with me?"
+
+"I'd like very much to.  Wait till I get my coat!"
+
+We ran up to the hospital and asked if we could be admitted if only for
+a few moments to Mrs. Felderson's room.  Johnson, the little interne
+with the glasses, had just come in, and when he heard my request he was
+splutteringly indignant.
+
+"What the devil do you think Mrs. Felderson is suffering from, a broken
+ankle?  Don't you realize she has been desperately ill?  If you tried
+to question her now, she'd become excited and it might result in a
+serious relapse.  Of course you can't see her!  You won't be able to
+talk to her for two or three weeks yet."
+
+"I'm sorry," I said, "I should have known better.  It was stupid of me,
+but then, I've been little else than stupid for days.  This tragedy has
+been too much for me.  You will let me know as soon as she can be seen,
+won't you, Johnson?"
+
+"I'll let you know," he murmured.  "You may be able to _see_ her
+to-morrow, but I won't let you bother her with any infernal questions
+until she is well."
+
+
+The week passed only too slowly.  Each day I went to the hospital and
+sat for a brief fifteen or twenty minutes by Helen's side.  She was
+fully conscious and I thought I could see at times that there were
+questions she wanted to ask me.  Remembering the doctor's emphatic
+instructions, I said very little, never asking any questions, only
+telling her a few of the unimportant happenings of the town.  She
+seemed uninterested and lay apathetically quiescent except when some
+apparently perplexing question corrugated her brows.  They told her of
+Jim's death early in the week, but far from being shocked, she had
+appeared almost indifferent, showing only too plainly how little he
+meant in her life.  Woods she never referred to.
+
+Mary, of course, was her devoted slave, hardly leaving her bedside, and
+in our daily meetings at the hospital, I fell more and more in love
+with her, if such a thing were possible.  Once when I was coming up the
+corridor with a large bunch of flowers, I met her outside Helen's door.
+As she took the blooms from me, she reached up and patted my cheek.
+
+"Bupps, you're a darling to bring these lovely flowers to Helen every
+day.  I think you're quite the nicest brother a girl could have."
+
+"If you think that, why won't you have me?" I asked.
+
+"I think I will----" she answered, smiling, "for a brother."
+
+She started to open the door, but I grasped her hand.
+
+"Mary, do be serious!  You know I love you."
+
+She haughtily drew herself up in all the majesty of her five feet three
+inches and commanded: "Unhand me, villain!  I spurn your tempting
+offer."  Then earnestly, "Let me go, Bupps!  I've got to put these
+flowers away."
+
+With a quick wrench she freed herself and was gone, leaving me half
+sick with love of her.
+
+After the first sensational extra, the newspapers had said but little
+of Helen's and Frank's indictment.  Somehow I was confident that Helen
+would be able to clear herself.  Woods had published a statement in
+which he said he would be able to prove where he was every minute of
+the evening of the tragedy, and so had had no difficulty in finding
+bail.  In fact, since the indictment, he seemed to have gained a good
+deal of sympathy and popularity.  Every one who knew of his devotion to
+Helen felt that he had indicted himself to try to save her.
+
+One morning, about a week after my interview with the be-spectacled
+interne, I met Doctor Forbes as he was coming from Helen's room and he
+gave me permission to ask her a few questions.
+
+"I'm trusting to your good sense, Thompson, not to overdo it," Forbes
+cautioned.  "Remember, she is still in a very weak condition and don't
+be surprised if she fails to respond to your questions as you expect.
+Above all things, do not refer in any way to the fact that she has been
+indicted, the shock might be too much for her."
+
+"Thank you, Doctor," I replied, eager to get away, "I'll be very
+careful."
+
+"And remember, no more than ten minutes this first time."
+
+I nodded and opened the door.  Helen was propped up in bed and showed
+unmistakably the great suffering she had been through.  She was pale
+and wan, but smiled when she saw me and gave me her cheek to kiss.
+
+"Good morning," she whispered.  "The flowers were lovely."
+
+"I'm glad you liked them, Sis, dear," I said, sitting down by the side
+of her bed.
+
+I asked her the usual questions, how she felt and if she wanted
+anything, and then tried to lead up to the only question that was of
+any consequence to either of us.
+
+"Helen, dear, there are certain questions about your accident that have
+puzzled us.  The doctor said that you could talk for ten minutes this
+morning and I want to ask you some questions."
+
+"Wait a minute!" she interrupted.  "Did the doctor say I might really
+talk this morning?"
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+"There are a hundred questions then that you must answer me.  I want to
+know so many things."  She looked away and passed a thin hand over her
+forehead.  Finally she turned her big brown eyes toward me and said:
+
+"First, tell me who I am!"
+
+For a brief second I felt numb all through.  My brain whirled until I
+thought my head would burst.
+
+"Helen, dear, what did you say?"
+
+My speech was thick, as though my tongue was swollen.  Still keeping
+her gaze fixed on me, she continued:
+
+"They call me Helen, and I gather that you are my brother.  There is a
+beautiful girl who comes here every day.  She and I seem to be great
+friends, but I don't know her, I have heard them call her Mary; tell me
+who she is!"
+
+If I could have run from the room I should have done so.  A horror
+gripped me such as I never felt before.  Then I saw two large tears
+tremble in Helen's eyes, overflow and course down her cheeks and I
+gathered all the strength that I could muster for the task of trying to
+awaken a memory that had apparently ceased to function.
+
+"Helen, dearest little sister, I am your brother.  The beautiful girl
+you speak of is Mary Pendleton, one of the best and truest friends you
+ever had.  She was your bridesmaid, don't you remember?"
+
+Helen shook her head weakly.
+
+"I have been married, then?" she asked.
+
+"You were married to James Felderson.  Can't you remember him?" I
+begged.
+
+Again she shook her head.  "No.  It's all gone."  She thought hard a
+minute, then she asked: "He is dead--my husband?"
+
+"Yes," I muttered, trying to keep the tears back, "he was killed in the
+same accident--"
+
+"What was he like?" she interrupted.
+
+"Helen, think!" I cried, fighting blindly against the terror that was
+choking me.  "Little sister.  You must think--_hard_.  Jim.  Don't you
+remember big handsome Jim?"  I snatched my watch from my pocket and
+opened the back, where I carried a small picture of Jim, taken years
+before.  I had put it there in boyish admiration when I first knew him.
+I held it up in front of her eyes.  "You must remember him, Helen!"
+
+She gazed at the picture with eyes in which there were tears and a
+little fright, but not a spark of recognition.  Fearing that I was
+over-exciting her, I sat close to her and drew as best I could a mental
+picture of Jim.  I was only half-way through the recital when the door
+opened and Doctor Forbes came in.
+
+"The ten minutes are up, Mr. Thompson."
+
+I stooped and kissed Helen.
+
+"Promise that you'll come back to-morrow," she whispered.
+
+I promised and hurried from the room.  Outside the doctor awaited me
+questioningly.
+
+"Her memory is completely gone!" I gasped.
+
+The doctor patted me on the shoulder sympathetically.
+
+"We suspected that day before yesterday.  I would have told you before,
+but thought that your questions might start her memory functioning."
+
+I gripped him by both arms.  "But, Doctor, can nothing be done?  Will
+she have to--have to begin all over again?"
+
+"I can't say yet.  There may be some pressure there still.  We'll have
+to wait until she is much stronger before we can tell."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+WE PLAN THE DEFENSE
+
+Helen's loss of memory was the last straw.  The shock of finding her
+unable to remember the most familiar things was bad enough from a
+purely physical standpoint, but when I realized how completely it swept
+away all my plans for Helen's defense, how it fastened the guilt on her
+poor shoulders, I felt that our case was hopeless indeed.
+
+I drove to the offices of Simpson and Todd and was lucky enough to find
+both of them in.  Simpson, a slender man with steel-gray hair and eyes,
+at once ordered a closed session to thrash out the whole affair.  He
+first made me repeat everything I knew about Jim's murder, from the
+beginning.  Several times he interrupted me, to ask a question, but for
+the most part he sat with his back to me, gazing out of the window, the
+tips of his fingers to his lips.  Half the time I thought he wasn't
+listening, until a quick question would show his interest.  Todd, on
+the contrary, was the picture of attention.  He took notes in shorthand
+most of the time I was talking.  When I had finished, Simpson rose and
+came over to me.
+
+"Let's examine this thing from the start.  You have three people who
+had a motive for killing Felderson--Zalnitch, Woods and Mrs. Felderson.
+Let's take Zalnitch first, for I think suspicion falls the slightest on
+him.  You say that Felderson helped to convict Zalnitch in the Yellow
+Pier case and that he made vague threats against those who had put him
+in prison, after he was released.  Good!  There's a motive and a
+threat.  He was seen on the same road that Mr. Felderson traveled, a
+short time before the murder.  All those facts point to Zalnitch's
+complicity.  But--the bullet that killed Felderson was fired from
+behind and above, according to the coroner's statement.  Knowing the
+average juryman, I should say that we would have to stretch things
+pretty far to make him believe that a shot fired from one rapidly
+moving automobile at another rapidly moving automobile would ricochet
+and kill a man.  That's asking a little too much.  Also, it is hard to
+believe that Schreiber, who was driving the car, would risk a smash-up
+to his own car and possible death for himself and party, in order to
+try to make Felderson go into the ditch.  Then, too, if Zalnitch
+recognized Felderson's car, why didn't he fire point-blank at Felderson
+instead of waiting till he got past?  No!  The case against Zalnitch
+falls down.  We can strike him off the list."
+
+I hated to give him up, but I had to admit Simpson's logic was
+faultless.
+
+"Now let us take up the case of Woods.  Here is a man who threatened
+Felderson's life unless he gave his wife a divorce, which you say
+Felderson did not intend to do.  There, again, is a motive.  Woods knew
+that Felderson was in possession of certain papers that would ruin him.
+There is a stronger motive."  He turned to me.  "By the way, you have
+those papers, haven't you?"
+
+I hadn't thought of them until that very minute.
+
+"I don't know where they are right now, but I'm pretty sure I can find
+them."
+
+He nodded.
+
+"Get hold of them by all means!  They may be important to us."  He lit
+a cigar and threw himself into a chair.
+
+"Well, let's go on.  Woods had all the motive necessary for killing
+Felderson.  He made a definite engagement with Felderson on the night
+of the murder, to meet him at a certain time and place specified by
+Woods.  That's important.  Everything up to that point is as clear as
+crystal, yet you say you have positive testimony that Woods was at the
+country-club waiting for Felderson at about the time the murder took
+place, and Woods claims that he has an absolute alibi.  If that is
+true, it lets him out."
+
+"But I'm not sure he was at the country-club at the time the murder
+took place," I explained.  "I only know he was there just before and
+just afterward."
+
+"What do you know of his movements that night?" Simpson asked.
+
+"I know he dined there at seven-thirty or thereabouts and that he
+ordered a drink at eight twenty-five."
+
+"And what time was the murder?"
+
+"Probably about a quarter past eight--the bodies were found at half
+past, they say," I answered.
+
+Simpson shook his head.  "I'm afraid his alibi is good.  It's cutting
+things too fine to think that he could have run six miles and back in
+less than half an hour and committed a murder in the bargain.  It would
+have taken a speedy automobile.  Do you know whether he had an
+automobile that night?" he queried.
+
+"I think he did.  I can find out in a minute," I added, going to the
+telephone.
+
+I called up the country-club and finally succeeded in getting Jackson
+on the wire.  Jackson thought Mr. Woods did not have an automobile that
+night, because he had gone to town in Mr. Paisley's car.
+
+"He might have used somebody else's car," Todd suggested.
+
+Simpson shook his head again.  "We're getting clear off the track, now."
+
+An idea came to me suddenly and I called Up Pickering at the Benefit
+Insurance Company.
+
+"This is Thompson speaking, Pickering," I said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you remember if an automobile passed you on the night of the
+Felderson murder, going toward the country-club?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Do you mean you don't remember?"
+
+"No, I remember perfectly.  There was only one automobile passed us and
+that was the black limousine."
+
+"You're sure?" I asked.
+
+"I'm positive, old man.  We only saw one car from the time we left
+Blandesville, until we reached the city."
+
+I put up the receiver and sank back in my chair.
+
+"Well?" Todd flung at me.
+
+"I'm out of luck!" I responded.
+
+Simpson rose.  "Let's go on.  We have crossed off two of our suspects
+from the list, let's see--"
+
+"I'd rather not go on," I interrupted, looking out of the window to
+escape Todd's searching eyes.  There was a moment's silence, then
+Simpson spoke.
+
+"We'll do our best but it will be a hard fight.  If Mrs. Felderson
+could only recall what happened that night and before, we might have a
+chance, but every woman that has come up for murder during the last few
+years, has worked that lost memory gag."
+
+"But my sister really _has_ lost her memory!" I exclaimed.
+
+"I know, my dear boy," Simpson soothed.  "That is what makes it so
+difficult.  If she were only shamming now, we could--.  But with your
+sister as helpless as a child, the prosecuting attorney will so confuse
+her, that our case will be lost as soon as she takes the stand."
+
+"Why put her on at all?" I asked.
+
+"Because we have to, if we hope to win our case," he replied.  "The one
+big chance to win your jury comes when your beautiful client testifies."
+
+For a few minutes he was silent, obviously thinking, and thinking hard.
+
+"Of course, our defense will have to be temporary insanity," he
+declared at last.
+
+"Oh, not that!" I begged.
+
+"It's our only chance," Simpson argued, "and I don't mind saying that
+it's a pretty poor chance at that.  Three years ago it might have been
+all right, because a conviction only meant a few months at a
+fashionable sanitarium, and then freedom.  But when that Truesdale
+woman went free, an awful howl went up all over the country and I'm
+afraid the next woman who is found, 'guilty but insane,' will be sent
+to a real asylum."
+
+A shudder of horror ran through me.  For Helen to be sent to an asylum
+while her mind was in its weak state might well mean permanent insanity.
+
+"You talk to your sister as often as you can and try to help her
+recover her lost memory.  Of course you'll have the best specialists
+examine and prescribe for her.  In the meantime, we'll investigate both
+the Woods and Zalnitch cases to see if they are hole-proof."
+
+"You might get those papers on Woods, if you will," Todd reminded me.
+
+I thanked them and left, greatly depressed but ready to fight to the
+last ditch to save Helen's life.  The papers dealing with Woods had not
+been among Jim's effects when I had looked them over at the office and
+I was confident they had not been picked up on the night of the murder,
+for they would have been returned to me.  Thinking they had probably
+been left in one of the pockets of the automobile, and overlooked when
+the machine was searched, I decided to run out to the Felderson home
+the first thing in the morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+BULLETPROOF
+
+Jim's car had been moved to his own garage the morning after the
+accident, and as I had a pass-key to the place I found it unnecessary
+to go to the house at all.  Wicks and Annie were taking care of the
+establishment until Helen should come home, or the house be sold.
+
+I opened the door of the garage and shuddered involuntarily as I caught
+sight of the wrecked Peckwith-Pierce.  It had been more badly smashed
+than I had at first supposed.  On the night of the murder I saw that
+the chassis was twisted and the axle broken, but I had not noticed what
+that jolting crash had done to the body of the car.  The steering rod
+was broken and the cushions were caked with mud.  One wheel sagged at a
+drunken angle like a lop-ear and the wind-shield was nothing but a
+mangled frame.  One long gash ran the length of the body, as though it
+had scraped against a rock, and this gash ended in a jagged wound the
+size of a man's head.  In the back were three small splintered holes.
+
+I examined these with particular interest, wondering what could have
+caused them.  Evidently the police had neglected to examine the
+machine.  The sight of what looked like the end of a nail caused me to
+drop to my knees and to begin digging frantically at the wood with my
+pen-knife.  At the end of five feverish minutes I held the prize in my
+hand.
+
+It was a misshapen, steel, "32" rifle bullet.
+
+In the floor of the car, near where Jim's feet must have been, I found
+two more splintered holes, apparently made by the same rifle from which
+the shots had been fired into the back of the car.
+
+Two thoughts flashed through my mind, exuberant assurance that this
+latest discovery cleared Helen completely.  She couldn't have fired a
+rifle from the rear seat of the automobile, nor could she have put
+those bullet holes into the back of the car.  In my joy that I had
+found proof of my sister's innocence, I forgot to speculate on who
+could have committed the murder.  My second thought was really a
+continuation of the first, that I must bring the coroner and Simpson at
+once to confirm my discovery.
+
+I carefully locked the door of the garage, as though fearful some one
+would rob me of my find, or that the automobile might move away of its
+own volition, then I ran to the house and rang the bell.  All the
+curtains were drawn and I had about decided there was no one at home,
+when, after what seemed an interminable wait, I heard the sound of
+footsteps within, and Wicks opened the door.
+
+"Who'd you expect to see, Wicks, a policeman?" I asked.
+
+"No, sir.  One of those blarsted reporters, sir."
+
+"Poor old Wicksy," I sympathized.  "Well, it'll soon be over now.  I
+want to use the telephone."
+
+I ran down the hall to the table where I knew the telephone to be, and
+called up Simpson.  He promised he would come right up.
+
+The coroner demurred for a moment, pleading important business, but
+when he heard I had proof that would clear Mrs. Felderson, he, too,
+promised to be with me in a few minutes.
+
+Wicks, who had been listening, was so excited that he momentarily
+forgot himself and clutched me by the arm as I put down the receiver.
+
+"Is it true, sir, that you can prove Mrs. Felderson 'ad nothing to do
+with it?" he gasped.
+
+"Truest thing you know, Wicks!"
+
+"I fear I'm going to act unseemly, sir.  I feel like yelling, 'ip, 'ip,
+sir."  Then he noticed he had me by the arm and hastily murmured
+apology.
+
+"That's all right, Wicksy, old top.  Go as far as you like," I cried.
+"I'm so happy and relieved I could kiss the Kaiser."
+
+"You surely wouldn't do that, sir," Wicks reproved.
+
+"All right, Wicks.  I guess it's not being done this year."
+
+The butler turned to leave but stopped at the door to say: "Mr. Woods
+called about a week ago, sir."
+
+"What did he want?" I demanded.
+
+"He stated as 'ow 'e was after some papers concerning a business deal
+that 'e and Mr. Felderson were interested in."
+
+In the excitement over my discovery, I had completely forgotten the
+real errand that had brought me to the house.
+
+"What did you tell him, Wicks?"
+
+"I told 'im that you had charge of all Mr. Felderson's effects, sir,
+and that he could probably obtain them from you," the butler replied.
+
+"That was right.  Did he leave after that?"
+
+"Shortly after that, sir," Wicks answered.  "But first he asked for the
+key to the garage, sayin' that 'e would like to hinspect the auto."
+
+"Did you give it to him?" I snapped.
+
+"Y-yes, sir.  I saw no 'arm in that, sir."
+
+I ran to the garage and quickly searched the broad pockets of Jim's
+car.  The portfolio was not there.  I hurried toward the house to ask
+Wicks if Woods had had any papers with him when he returned the garage
+key, but slackened my pace before I had gone half-way.  After all, it
+made very little difference.  The evidence had only been gathered to
+keep Helen with her husband.  Now, since that was no longer an issue,
+what did it matter if Woods had stolen the proofs of his own
+dishonesty.  True, Simpson and Todd had asked me to get them, but I
+felt that they had urged the importance of those papers more to give me
+something to do than for any real need of them.
+
+Just then an automobile came up the drive and Simpson jumped out.  He
+was gravely skeptical until I led him into the garage and showed him
+the bullet holes; then he was enthusiastic.  He examined the back of
+the car minutely, and at the end of his scrutiny he turned to me.
+
+"I'm not at all sure that we were justified in giving Zalnitch a clean
+bill of health so soon.  It is just possible he had a lot more to do
+with this than we supposed."
+
+While we were talking the coroner drove up.  He took the bullet I had
+extracted from the back of the car and looked at it as though he
+expected to find its owner's name etched on it, after which he examined
+the holes in the back of the car and in the foot-board.  Then I eagerly
+related our suspicions against Zalnitch, but he shook his head.
+
+"This would seem to clear Mrs. Felderson but it also makes it look as
+though every other suspect is innocent.  Look at these holes in the
+floor!  The bullets that lodged there must have been fired from above.
+Also you will notice there are three bullet holes in the back of the
+car and two in the foot-board, besides the shot that killed Mr.
+Felderson.  Unless your friends, the Socialists, were carrying a young
+armory with them, they could never have fired that many shots in the
+short space of time that it took Mr. Felderson to pass them.  I should
+say that it would take a man from--well, from fifteen to thirty
+seconds, at least, to fire six shots at _any_ target, and before that
+time, the automobile would have been out of range."
+
+"He might have used an automatic rifle," I interposed.
+
+The coroner took off his hat and rubbed the bald spot on the back of
+his head.
+
+"That is possible," he admitted, "but it doesn't explain how those
+bullet holes got into the floor.  There might have been a struggle and
+the gun discharged into the floor that way."
+
+"That doesn't explain the holes in the back of the car," I objected,
+fearing that they would again go back to the theory that Helen was
+responsible.
+
+"The holes in the foot-board seem to me positive proof that the shots
+were fired from above," Simpson argued.  "Are there any buildings or
+trees along that road where the murderer might have stationed himself
+and waited for Felderson to come along?"
+
+"There are no buildings," I replied, "but there must be trees in the
+vicinity of that stream."
+
+"That sounds as though it might bring results," Simpson said.
+"Thompson, suppose you take the coroner out there and see what you can
+find.  In the meantime I'll start proceedings to quash that indictment
+against Mrs. Felderson."
+
+The coroner insisted he was due at an inquest that very moment, but
+would go with me in the afternoon.  As we walked toward the cars,
+Simpson asked me if I had found the papers dealing with Woods' case,
+and I told him I thought Woods had stolen them and repeated the
+information Wicks had given me.
+
+"I don't think we shall need them, fortunately," Simpson replied.
+"Todd saw Woods last night.  He's making a frantic effort to raise
+money and came to him, among others.  He says that Woods can clear
+himself of all connection with the crime.  Men who were with him that
+night can testify he didn't leave the club.  By the way, Woods hasn't
+approached you, has he?"
+
+"No," I laughed, "he knows I have no money, and if I had I wouldn't
+give it to him."
+
+After they had left, I decided to go out to the Blandesville bridge and
+do a little preliminary scouting on my own.  Eager for Mary's company,
+and wishing to tell her the glorious news that was to clear Helen, I
+drove to the hospital, only to find that Mary had not been there and
+Helen was asleep; so I drove on to Mary's, hoping to find her home.
+
+"Miss Pendleton is just going out, but I will ask if she will see you,"
+the maid informed me.
+
+I stepped into the living-room and picked up a magazine.  As I took it
+in my hand it fell open to a story entitled, "Who Murdered Merryvale?"
+I looked at one of the illustrations and quickly laid the magazine
+down, conscious that I'd never again read a mystery story built around
+a tragic death.  Then I heard Mary's light step pattering down the
+stairs and turned to greet her.  She was dressed in a smart,
+semi-military costume which she had worn while a volunteer chauffeur
+during the war, and she looked simply radiant.
+
+"Mary, we've made certain discoveries which absolutely clear Helen of
+suspicion," I cried, taking her hands in mine.  I told her of my find
+of the morning, and watched her eyes widen with joy and surprise.  "So,
+while we haven't found out yet who murdered Jim, we know that Helen had
+no part in it."
+
+Mary was thinking hard about something, but she recalled herself
+quickly, and said:
+
+"Oh!  It's wonderful, Bupps, simply _wonderful_!"
+
+"I'm going out to the Blandesville bridge to do a little sleuthing on
+my own hook.  Can you come with me?"
+
+"I'm sorry, but I can't, Warren.  I have another engagement," she
+answered.
+
+"Some other man?" I asked, disappointed and a bit jealous.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Is it that young Davis?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"It's some one you don't like very well."
+
+"That's natural," I replied.  "I don't love any of my rivals.  Who is
+it?"
+
+"Promise you won't say anything if I tell you who it is?"
+
+"Of course I won't say anything," I said a little haughtily.  "You have
+a perfect right to go with any one you care to."
+
+"It's Frank Woods."
+
+"Mary," I gasped, "do you mean to say you'd be seen with that man,
+after what he did to Jim?"
+
+"Now, Bupps, you promised not to say anything."
+
+"I know--but this is different.  Do you think I'll stand quietly by and
+see that man make a fool of you as he did of Helen?  Do you think I'll
+let that--that rake make love to you?"
+
+"He's not going to make love to me!" Mary answered with some asperity.
+
+"That's what you think.  That's what Helen thought and Jim thought.
+That's what all of them think when he starts.  Do you know what he
+wants to do?  He asked you to go out with him so he could try to borrow
+money of you, to save his rotten hide."
+
+"But, Bupps, he didn't ask me to go riding with him.  I asked him to
+take me."
+
+"You asked him to take you?" I cried.
+
+"Don't talk so loud, Bupps!  The people on the street will hear you."
+
+If there was anything she could have said that would have made me
+angrier than I already was, it was that.
+
+"I'm not talking loud," I shouted, "and what if I do?  The people on
+the street may hear me, but they will _see_ you with Frank Woods, which
+is a hundred times worse.  Why, it is as much as a girl's reputation is
+worth to be seen alone with him."
+
+"I'll take care of my reputation," she replied coldly.
+
+"You think you will," I said, flinging myself into a chair.
+
+"Warren!  Do you know that's insulting?" Mary exclaimed angrily.
+"You're acting like a schoolboy.  I have good reasons for wanting to go
+out with Frank Woods."
+
+"Reasons!" I sneered.
+
+She went into the hall and I followed.
+
+"Mary, I don't know what your reasons are, and I don't care.  I'm not
+going to have that man making love to you.  Either you don't go out
+with him, or I quit."
+
+Mary turned and looked me straight in the eyes.
+
+"What do you mean?" she asked.
+
+"Any girl who is Frank Woods' friend, after the mess he stirred up in
+my family, isn't my friend."
+
+Mary's face was white, but her little chin was set determinedly.
+
+"That's just as you wish," she said, and ran up-stairs.
+
+I picked up my hat and gloves and left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+THE ANSWER
+
+The coroner and I drove out to the bridge that afternoon and I must
+admit I was mighty poor company.  Mary's unreasonableness, her stupid
+obstinacy, when she knew she was wrong and I was right, her willingness
+to break our friendship at the first opportunity, gave me little room
+to think of anything else.
+
+That she should risk her reputation to run after that man was
+inexplicable, but it was just like a woman.  Show them a place they
+must not go or a man they must not see and they will sacrifice life,
+liberty and everybody else's happiness to satisfy their curiosity.  It
+has been true from Pandora to Pankhurst.
+
+Well, if she could get along without me, I could get along without her.
+I'm the easiest going person in the world, but when it comes to
+allowing the girl you are practically engaged to, to make a fool of
+herself over another man, I won't stand for it.  I knew she would
+probably come to me afterward and say she was sorry and she didn't
+know, but I made up my mind that she would have to give me an awfully
+good reason for her sudden interest in Frank Woods before I would
+forgive her.
+
+These thoughts held my attention all the way out.  Now and again I
+would be recalled from my gloom by some question from the coroner.  He
+was trying to solve the problem of who murdered Jim and I am sure he
+must have thought it strange that I was so preoccupied.
+
+As we neared the bridge, I noticed again how scant the vegetation was
+on both sides of the road.  Any one wishing to murder Jim would have
+been able to see him coming for at least a half-mile.  On the left of
+the road was clay soil, sparsely covered with weeds and shrubs, while a
+half-mile away could be seen the thirteenth hole of the country-club
+golf links.
+
+When we reached the crest of the hill leading down to the bridge, our
+eyes at once caught sight of a tall maple tree, on the right-hand side
+of the road and about two hundred yards from it.
+
+As he saw it the coroner gave a grunt of satisfaction.
+
+"There's our tree."
+
+We stopped the car and scrambled through the thorny bushes that lined
+the road.  The ground was hard clay with only burdock and weeds growing
+on it.  There was nothing that would lead us to believe that any one
+had been there before.  When we reached the tree, the coroner examined
+the ground around it carefully.  When he arose he seemed disappointed.
+
+"What did you expect to find here?" I asked.
+
+"I didn't know what we might find.  If the man who fired those shots
+used this tree, I thought we might find an empty cartridge or two.
+There ought to be at least some broken twigs or something to show that
+he was up there, but I find nothing at all."
+
+"Still, the fact that the tree is where it is, makes the theory
+plausible."
+
+He shook his head.  "No.  Now that I've seen how far we are from the
+road I don't think it does.  Those bullet holes in the back of the car
+were fired from above and behind the machine.  They slanted down but
+not sidewise.  If a tree had been at the very side of the road, our
+theory would be acceptable, but if the murderer used this tree, two
+hundred yards from the road, he would have started firing before the
+car came opposite, with the probability that the holes would have been
+found in the side of the car.  I'm sorry, for when I saw this tree, I
+thought we'd struck the right track."
+
+"There's one thing I can't make out," I stated, "and that is the
+strange cry of my sister in her delirium.  'Look out, Jim!  It's going
+to hit us,' she called out, and I would be willing to swear it had
+something to do with the murder."
+
+The coroner thought a moment, then turned to me.
+
+"What else did she say?"
+
+"Nothing that seemed to refer to the accident.  All the rest was
+apparently delirium.  She begged forgiveness for some fancied wrong,
+and repeated that a certain man was not guilty of dishonesty.  But her
+first weird cry had to do with the murder, I'm sure."
+
+We walked back toward the road together.  High overhead we heard the
+droning of an aeroplane and we both stopped to gaze at it.  Suddenly
+the coroner clapped me on the shoulder.
+
+"I've got it!"
+
+"What do you mean?" I asked, bewildered.
+
+"An aeroplane, man!  Who owns an aeroplane around here?"
+
+"I don't know.  There are several at the aviation grounds.  What's that
+got to do with it?"
+
+"Everything!  Don't you see?  The bullets fired from above and behind.
+The number of bullets fired.  Those two bullet holes in the foot-board
+of the car--everything points to an aeroplane.  It was done a hundred,
+yes, a thousand times in the war.  While I was over there with my
+hospital unit we used to get a lot of cases of motorcycle despatch
+riders who had been picked off by German aviators.  They machine-gunned
+moving trains and military automobiles.  It is one of the simplest
+tricks of a pilot's repertoire.  Has Woods an aeroplane?"
+
+"He was a military pilot in the French army and is the head of an
+aeroplane firm, but I don't think he has an aeroplane here."
+
+"He could get one easy enough."
+
+"The clever devil!  Look over there!  He had the broad sweep of the
+golf course as a perfect landing ground and this road hasn't a tree on
+it for a mile.  He could have come down within fifty feet of the ground
+and followed that car, pumping bullets into it all the way.  He had
+absolutely everything in his favor."
+
+For a moment I saw red as I pictured Jim, helpless before approaching
+death.  I could imagine Helen's agony as she saw that dim black shape
+come closer and closer and screamed in her terror, "Look out, Jim!
+It's going to hit us."
+
+"Yes, but how are we going to prove it?" I asked.
+
+"That's up to us now.  An aeroplane has such speed that it was easy for
+Woods to fashion an ingenious alibi to account for every minute of his
+time on the night of the murder, but there must be some holes in it;
+there always is in a manufactured alibi.  I want you to go over to the
+country-club and check up Mr. Woods' schedule of that night while I
+examine the golf links to see if he landed there."
+
+We jumped into my car and drove rapidly to the club.  I went into the
+house by the back way to avoid meeting people and asked for Jackson.
+
+"Jackson, what time did Mr. Woods get out here on the evening Mr.
+Felderson was killed?"
+
+"Ah espect he got heah 'bout six o'clock, Mistuh Thompson," the negro
+replied.
+
+"Did you see him at that time?"
+
+"Did Ah see him at dat time?  Le'me see?  Why, no, suh, Ah don' think
+Ah did."
+
+"When was the first time you did see him, Jackson?"
+
+"Ah guess it was at dinnah time, suh.  He was heah den."
+
+"You're sure he was here all through dinner?" I asked.
+
+"Yes, suh!  He must hab been, 'cause he ohdahd dinnah."
+
+"What time was he through dinner, do you know?"
+
+The darky scratched his head.  "Ah reckon it war just befoh he ohdahd
+me ter bring him dat drink."
+
+"And he was here all that time?" I demanded.
+
+"Yes, suh!  He was right heah."
+
+"Where did he sit?"
+
+"Lemme see.  Ah recollec' now, he ask me speshul fo' dat table ovah
+yondah by de winder."
+
+"Can you find the boy that waited on that table that night?"
+
+The old darky hurried away, but came back presently leading a scared
+yellow boy by the sleeve.
+
+"Now, Geoge Henry, you-all quit youah contrahiness an' ansuh de
+genleman's questions o' Ah 'low Ah whup you."
+
+"George, did you wait on that table over there by the window two weeks
+ago?"
+
+"Ya-yas, suh!  Ah ben waitin' on dat table fo' mo'n a month."
+
+"Do you remember waiting on Mr. Frank Woods two weeks ago last Thursday
+night?" I asked.
+
+The boy was trembling.  He rolled frightened eyes toward Jackson who
+was glaring at him.  Finally he broke into a wail.  "Oh!  Pappy
+Jackson, da's all Ah knows.  He tell me he go to de bah an' ef'n
+anybuddy ask whah he go dat night to sen' em in dah."
+
+"Just tell me what you know, George!" I said, motioning the angry
+Jackson away.
+
+"He--he set down at de table but he ain't eat none," the boy stuttered.
+
+"What do you mean, George?"
+
+"He sit down an' look out de winder.  Ah brung him some soup but he got
+up powful sudden, lak he had a call to de telephome, an' he ain't come
+back."
+
+"Are you sure of that, George?"
+
+"Yas, suh, Ah ast him did he want dinnah aftah he come back but he say
+he ain't hongry."
+
+"What time was it when he came back?" I asked.
+
+"Ha'f past eight, suh."
+
+I gave the boy a dollar and he went away happy.  Jackson had a sheepish
+look on his face.
+
+"Then Mr. Woods wasn't here all through dinner, Jackson?"
+
+"Drat dat boy, he make me out a liah fo' a dollah," he grinned.
+
+"Are you sure, absolutely sure, that you saw Mr. Woods at half past
+eight?" I questioned.
+
+"Yas, suh!  You cain't catch me up no mo'.  I saw Mistuh Woods at eight
+twenty-fahv exackly."
+
+I handed him a bill and went into the bar.  Grogan, the old bartender
+was there alone.
+
+"Grogan, do you remember who was in the bar between seven-thirty and
+eight-thirty on the night of the Felderson murder?"
+
+"Only one or two of the gentlemen, sir.  There was Mr. Farnsworth and
+Mr. Brown and I think Mr. Woods."
+
+"Are you sure Mr. Woods was in here?"
+
+"Well, no, sir, not exactly.  I remember Mr. Farnsworth and Mr. Brown.
+There were probably some others.  The reason I think Mr. Woods was here
+was because he called my attention to the fact a few nights after the
+murder.  There were a few gentlemen in here and they were talking of
+Mr. Felderson's death.  Mr. Woods said, in view of the fact that the
+murderer hadn't been found, almost any one might be accused.  Some one
+asked him if he was worried--we all knew, sir, that Mr. Felderson and
+Mr. Woods were not very friendly--and Mr. Woods laughed and said that
+fortunately he had a perfect alibi and called my attention to the fact
+that he was in here at about the time the crime was committed."
+
+"And you're not sure that he was?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, his alibi is good of course, because he was around the club all
+that evening.  I guess he was here and I don't remember it."
+
+I shook hands with him and left.
+
+Far out on the golf links the coroner was bending over, examining
+something on the ground.  When I reached him he grabbed me by the
+sleeve and pointed to two barely discernible tracks paralleling each
+other for almost a hundred yards.  Between them ran a shallow, jagged
+rut, where the spade of an aeroplane had dug up the turf.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+THE MECHANICIAN
+
+"We've got it!  We're on the trail at last!" I exclaimed.  "I just
+found out at the club that Woods left his dinner hurriedly and was not
+seen again until twenty-five minutes past eight."
+
+"We've got to go slow," cautioned the coroner.  "A man who is ingenious
+enough to devise this means of murdering a man won't be tripped up for
+lack of a perfect alibi."
+
+"I've found what that is too.  He has the bartender at the club half
+believing that he was in the bar at the time the murder was committed."
+I told him briefly what I had discovered.
+
+"See!" the coroner pointed out.  "If they bring him into court, the
+bartender won't be able to swear he wasn't in the bar and the short
+time that he was absent will convince the jury that Woods is telling
+the truth and that our theory is all bunk."
+
+"But we're not going to leave things as they stand, just when we are
+hot on the trail.  What do we do now?"
+
+"I'm of the opinion that there is a short-cut to the solution of the
+whole affair.  Woods must have had a mechanician with him on the night
+of the murder."
+
+"What makes you think that?" I asked rather impatiently.
+
+"Because we know Woods came back to the club immediately after the
+murder and played cards the rest of the evening.  He returned to the
+city in another man's car; obviously, then, some one else must have
+taken the aeroplane back to its hangar, since it would have caused too
+much comment had it been on the links in the morning.  Our plan, then,
+is to find that mechanician and bribe or threaten him into telling the
+truth.  If Woods hasn't got rid of him, he ought to be around the
+aviation grounds.  We must wait until we are certain Woods is not there
+before trying to see our man."
+
+"Then there is no better time than right now, for I know Woods is
+taking a certain young lady automobiling this afternoon."
+
+"Let's go quickly then," exclaimed the coroner.
+
+We climbed into the car and sped toward the city.  Since Eastbrook is
+on the aerial postal route, we have a well-equipped aviation field just
+outside the city.  Several of our younger set with special sporting
+proclivities have taken up aerial joy-riding since the war, so that
+there is always a group of mechanicians and hangers-on around the field.
+
+I proposed to the coroner that we stop for Simpson and he agreed.  When
+Simpson heard who it was he came down at once.  As we sped toward the
+aerodrome I told him of our findings of the afternoon.  He was
+astounded.
+
+"You know, I'll hand it to the man who thought up that scheme.  That's
+the cleverest piece of work I ever heard of, if your theories are
+correct and he really did do it."
+
+"What makes you think Woods didn't do it?" I questioned.
+
+"Not a thing," Simpson answered, "only I didn't know Woods kept a plane
+in Eastbrook.  Of course, it would be easy enough for him to get one.
+Lord!  Think of the possibilities it opens up.  It fairly takes your
+breath away.  Automobile bandits aren't in it.  Imagine trying to cope
+with a gang of thieves who add an aeroplane to their kit of tools.
+Suppose they decide to rob the Guarantee Trust Company of New York or
+Tiffany's.  The robbery itself would be the simplest part of the thing.
+It is getting the swag away that worries the criminals.  Suppose they
+pull this robbery off and the police put a net around the city to guard
+against their escape.  Mr. Thief and his gang sail away calmly over the
+heads of the police.  Think of your diamond smugglers!  Why, that big
+British dirigible could have flooded the American market with diamonds
+and laughed in the face of the customs authorities.  I say it gets you."
+
+"Yes, but in the meantime, we get Mr. Woods," I said grimly.
+
+"Don't be too sure of that!" Simpson warned.  "The man who thinks up
+such a scientific way of murdering people isn't going to be an easy man
+to catch."
+
+Memories of big whole-hearted Jim came to my mind and I swore I would
+get Woods if I had to hang for it.  Woods--murderer of Jim, after
+stealing his wife away, and now making love to Mary Pendleton, putting
+his bloody hands on her!  The thought almost drove me mad.
+
+We stopped our machine at the entrance to the field and walked toward
+the hangars.  Three aeroplanes were out, being tuned up.  They looked
+like birds, ready to take wing at the slightest disturbance.  The
+coroner walked over to one of the helpers.
+
+"Can you direct me to the hangar Mr. Frank Woods uses?"
+
+"Woods?" the man repeated with a puzzled frown.  "I don't remember any
+such machine here.  I know most of 'em, but I don't think any Woods has
+a machine here.  Wait!  I'll ask Bill.  He'd know if any one did."
+
+He walked over to a group of mechanicians and returned in a moment.
+
+"It's the last one down.  He ain't had a machine here only two weeks.
+That's the reason I didn't know the name."
+
+We thanked him and started for the other end of the field.  A pilot
+climbed into one of the machines.  Two mechanicians spun the propeller
+and the engine sputtered and roared.  The plane wabbled and swayed
+drunkenly out on to the field, then as the roar increased, it gathered
+speed and was off.
+
+At the door of the Woods hangar, a red-haired mechanic of powerful
+build was cleaning and oiling some delicate-looking piece of mechanism.
+He looked up with a questioning frown as we approached, then became
+engrossed again in his work.
+
+"Is this where Mr. Woods keeps his aeroplane?" the coroner asked.
+
+"Un-hu," grunted the mechanician, continuing with his work.
+
+"Mr. Woods isn't here, is he?"
+
+"No," was the laconic reply.
+
+"Are you Mr. Woods' mechanician?"
+
+"One of 'em," the red one responded.
+
+"How many has he?"
+
+"Three."
+
+"Are the others about?" continued the coroner.
+
+"One of 'em is," said the mechanic, "and he just loves to answer fool
+questions."
+
+The coroner laughed.  "Excuse me, my friend, but I am in need of some
+important information.  Will you tell me which one of the mechanicians
+was with Mr. Woods when he visited the country-club two weeks ago last
+Thursday night?"
+
+The mechanic scrambled to his feet and advanced toward the coroner, his
+face twisted with passion.  For a moment I thought he was going to
+attack us, but he stopped a foot in front of the coroner and snarled:
+"I don't know who you are, nor what you are, nor what you want, but I
+ain't no information bureau--See?  So git t' hell out o' here if you
+know what's good for you!"  With that he turned and disappeared inside
+the hangar.
+
+We looked at one another.  The signs seemed propitious.
+
+"Would it do any good to try to bribe him?" I asked.
+
+"You can try it if you want to; I don't care for the job," Simpson
+smiled.
+
+"No," the coroner interposed.  "He was with Woods that night and he
+won't talk."
+
+"Shouldn't we get the police?" suggested Simpson.
+
+"That wouldn't do any good," the coroner replied.  "Wait a minute!  I
+think I've got it."  And with that he went inside.
+
+Above us we heard the hum of a plane.  We turned to watch it dip and
+glide and loop, in the afternoon sunlight.  The sun, catching its
+wings, made it stand out against the blue sky like some fiery
+dragon-fly.  It flew up, turned a somersault and nose-dived for a
+thousand feet, swung around in a wide circle, flew across the field at
+about four hundred feet, circled again and slid downward.  Closer and
+closer it came to the ground, until the horizon was lost and it seemed
+to be gliding along the earth itself at terrific speed.  Finally it
+nosed up, touched the earth, bounced away as though it were a rubber
+ball, touched again, and at last came to a stop within a hundred yards
+of where we were standing.
+
+A girl climbed from it, and with a sickening clutch at my heart I
+recognized who it was.  Mary had been aeroplaning with Woods instead of
+automobiling as I had supposed.  At the sight of her, laughing gaily at
+some witticism that Woods made as they walked across the field toward
+us, my head spun with hatred and jealousy of the man.
+
+I had no time to observe more, for there were angry shouts within the
+hangar and the coroner came bounding out, with the red-haired
+mechanician close behind him.  The coroner had in his hand what looked
+like an iron crow-bar, and as the mechanician caught him, this bar
+became the center of the struggle.  We hurried to the coroner's aid,
+but before we could reach him, the mechanician gave him a vicious kick
+in the stomach that sent him sprawling and helpless.  With a curse, the
+mechanic picked up the tool they had been struggling for and dashed
+back into the hangar.
+
+The coroner lay writhing where he had fallen, and could not speak.  His
+breath was completely knocked out.  We pumped his arms until at last he
+was able to gasp: "Get that----!  Get that----!"
+
+"It looks as though you had a little disagreement here," a laughing
+voice sounded behind us.  "This isn't at all my idea of a hospitable
+reception for my guests."
+
+We all turned to look into the smiling face of Woods.  As we helped the
+coroner to his feet and began brushing him off Woods continued:
+"Gentlemen, if you are going to present me with the key to the city,
+please make it as unostentatious as possible."  His smile still
+continued, but there was an odd glint in his eyes.  Mary had left his
+side and was walking away.  She had evidently seen me and did not want
+to speak to me.
+
+The coroner cleared his throat.  "Mr. Woods, I'm not here to make any
+presentation speeches.  I am here to accuse you of the murder of James
+Felderson."
+
+Not for an instant did the smile leave Frank Woods' face, nor did his
+expression change.  He looked us over calmly and slowly and then he
+said: "Why, that is very interesting, but you seem to forget that I
+have already been accused of that murder once."
+
+"You were accused on mere suspicion before, but now we have the proof."
+
+The red-haired mechanic sauntered out of the doorway and walked over
+toward the aeroplane.  Behind him followed another youth with a bunch
+of waste in his hand.  The coroner pointed to the former.
+
+"I had the machine gun with which you did the murder until your man
+there kicked me in the stomach and jerked it away from me.  It's in the
+hangar now.  But we don't need the gun, we've got enough evidence
+without it to convict you."
+
+Woods looked us over carefully.  He was by far the calmest one of the
+party.
+
+"Gentlemen, I have already sent to the papers a statement that I am
+able to produce testimony as to my whereabouts during every minute of
+the night when James Felderson was killed.  When the trial comes, I
+shall produce that testimony.  If you think that machine gun is any
+proof against me, just step inside and I'll show you that it is of an
+entirely different caliber from the gun that killed Felderson."
+
+We hesitated for a second, I think because of the brazen effrontery,
+the splendid calmness of the man.  A doubt began to form in my mind as
+to whether he had anything to do with the murder at all.  Woods noticed
+my hesitation and turning to me said with a smile: "Surely you aren't
+afraid of me, Thompson, when you so readily trust me with both your
+sister and your fiancee."
+
+I longed with all my soul to hit the man between the eyes, to crush
+that half-sneering smile into his face with my heel, but I let the
+insult pass and followed the others inside.
+
+"Here is the machine gun, gentlemen.  If you will notice, it is a 36
+caliber and not a 32 at all.  If you will wait one minute, I'll get you
+the magazine.  That will prove it to you beyond a doubt."
+
+He left the hangar and the coroner picked up the gun.
+
+"I could have sworn that the gun I had hold of was a 32.  The barrel
+seems too small for a 36.  Why, look here!  This _is_ a 32.  Here is
+the caliber marked on it."
+
+From outside came the sputter and crack of an aeroplane engine.
+Simpson caught it first and dashed to the door.
+
+"It's Woods' plane.  He's going to escape."
+
+We ran out of the hangar and across the field toward the aeroplane
+which, by now, was enveloped in blue vapor.  Before we had gone
+half-way, it was taxi-cabbing across the field, careening first to one
+side and then to the other.  Suddenly it swerved and turned in our
+direction.  We stood there, a little breathless, to see what it would
+do.  The engines of the plane droned higher as it came toward us.
+
+Suddenly Simpson clutched my arm and yelled: "Look out! he's trying to
+run us down."
+
+I ran wildly to one side of the field, not daring to look back but only
+trying to reach a place of safety.  The sound of the engines came
+crashing to my ears like the staccato roar of a hundred machine guns.
+My legs felt as if they were lead.  I seemed to be standing still.  One
+frightened glance over my shoulder showed the machine, like some
+monstrous vulture, bearing down on me.  I could feel it gaining and
+gaining.  The heavy drone of the engines seemed to fill the air with
+its noise.  A pitiful sense of helplessness gripped me.  I knew I was
+going to die like a rat in the jaws of a fox terrier.  I screamed aloud
+in my terror and pitched headlong on the turf.  With a roar, and a rush
+of wind that almost lifted me from the ground, the aeroplane passed
+over me, its wheels no more than four feet from my head.
+
+I am not sure to this day, whether Frank Woods tried to kill me or not.
+I don't know whether he was cheated of his game when I stumbled and the
+speed of his motor carried the plane off the ground, or whether he was
+just trying to put the fear of God in me.  I will swear, however, that
+as the motor passed over my head, I heard Frank Woods' voice raised in
+a demoniacal laugh.
+
+As the drum of the motor passed and I knew that I was safe for the
+moment, I raised my head to see if the devil should be planning to come
+back.  With joy I saw he had risen to the height of fifteen or twenty
+feet.  Suddenly the plane swooped up as though Woods were trying to
+loop.  For a second it tipped sidewise like a cat boat reeling over in
+the wind, and then there was the sound of splintering wood and tearing
+silk, and the plane crashed miserably to the ground.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+RED CAPITULATES
+
+We hurried over to the smashed plane, the coroner leading.  Woods, in
+his effort to run me down, had forgotten the telegraph wires at the end
+of the field.  Too late, he had seen them and vainly tried to lift his
+machine clear of them.  The wires had caught a wing and sent him
+crashing to the earth.
+
+We found him underneath the engine, quite dead, the fall having killed
+him instantly.  We made an improvised litter out of one of the wings
+and carried him to the nearest hangar.  As we placed an overcoat over
+the shapeless form, I heard a sniffle behind me and found the
+red-haired mechanician at my side.
+
+"You didn't get him, you dirty cops.  He got away from you, after all."
+
+"Yes, he's safe now," I murmured.
+
+"Sure!  An' he would 'a' been always if he hadn't been daff' over
+women.  He never had no luck when he played the women.  His takin' that
+skirt out this afternoon was what give him the hoodoo."
+
+The coroner came over to him.
+
+"Now that we can't get him, will you tell us about the night Mr. Woods
+killed Mr. Felderson?"
+
+The mechanic showed himself distinctly hostile to the coroner.
+
+"Oh, no you don't, you fly cop!  Think I'll spill the beans and get
+meself in Dutch?  You can go to hell!"
+
+"I'll promise you won't be prosecuted if you will tell us what happened
+that night."
+
+He looked us over suspiciously, but apparently reassured, he said:
+"Well, that's fair enough, especially since I didn't have nothin' to do
+with the croakin', although I know pretty much how it happened.
+
+"The boss there come over to the plant--the International plant, you
+know--about two weeks ago and had me bring that plane out there over
+here.  We always got along together, the boss and me.  Wasn't pals or
+anything like that, but we understood each other.  I'd seen, for a
+couple of months, that the boss had somethin' on his mind.  I knew it
+wasn't any jane, because they never worried him none.  He worried them
+a lot, but somehow he just took 'em as they come.  He talked with me
+some--he claimed I was the best mechanician he had over there,--and I
+figured it out at last that what he was worryin' about was money.  He
+spent a lot, an' was free an' easy, an' it worried him to figure that
+he was goin' to go bu'st pretty soon.  The first day I was here, he
+brought a woman out, a swell looker--I didn't find out till afterwards
+that it was Felderson's wife--an' he kinda kidded her along about
+helpin' him over the rough spots by lendin' him a little of her dough.
+I sort of figured out he was goin' to run off with the woman, 'cause
+the next morning he come out and said we could take a month's lay-off
+if we wanted to, as he was goin' on his honeymoon.  I thought he was
+goin' to take me along, but when he said that, I made up my mind to
+beat it back to the plant to keep from goin' bugs watchin' them other
+guys callin' theirselves mechanics, tinkerin' around them other busses
+when they didn't know their job.  It's a darn wonder more of these fool
+dudes out here ain't been killed.
+
+"Somethin' must 'a' slipped up, because he come out late that afternoon
+cussin' like the devil.  He had one whale of a temper when he got
+started, the boss did.  He took me with him in the buss and we cruised
+around the country for a while.  Every time he spotted a straight
+stretch of road without too many trees, he'd come down and look it
+over.  Finally we found that straight stretch of road out by the golf
+links at the country-club, an' that must 'a' suited him 'cause that was
+the only place we come to after that.  He mounted that machine gun in
+there on the plane, an' it was then I decided he was a-goin' to slip
+somepin over on somebody.  He didn't take me with him after that, but
+two or three times when he come into the field he'd swoop down on that
+there square target he made and put over in the corner and I'd hear the
+ratti-tat-tat of that machine gun a-goin'.  I ast him what was he goin'
+to do with it an' he said: 'We're a-goin' out one of these nights and
+kill a skunk.'
+
+"The afternoon of the night we went out to the country-club he come out
+here, kind of excited, but cool, if you know what I mean.  You could
+see they was somethin' on his mind, but just the same he had his head
+with him every minute.  Get me?  He told me, as soon as it begin to get
+dusk, to take the plane out to the country-club and land on the links,
+about a half a mile from the club house, an' when I got there to flash
+my pocket lamp, until I see him light a cigarette on the club-house
+porch.  I done as he told me, an' he come out.  He wasn't dressed in a
+jumper, but just had a cap an' a rain-coat over his clothes.  He told
+me to stay there, and after I started the engine, he streaked away.  He
+left about eight o'clock and was back in fifteen minutes.  He slipped
+me a fifty and told me to take the plane back an' to forgit 'at I'd
+brought it out.  I ast him had he killed his skunk an' he laughed an'
+said, 'I made him pretty sick anyway.'  I'd told the boys to have the
+flares out at the park as I was a-goin' to test the machine, so I
+didn't have no trouble in landin'."
+
+He stopped and rolled a cigarette.
+
+"That's all you know, is it?" the coroner asked.
+
+"That's all I know, so help me Henry--but ain't it enough?"
+
+He looked around at the three of us who had been listening intently to
+his story.
+
+"I should say it is," said Simpson.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+I LISTEN TO MY FOREBEARS
+Helen had come home.  She preferred living with mother and myself,
+rather than opening up Jim's house, which she had been told belonged to
+her.  Yes, her memory of past events was still gone, and each night I
+sat with her and repeated bits here and there of the experiences through
+which she had lived.  Every now and then a thought would come to her and
+she would be able to fill in parts of the narrative, but this was
+seldom. In a way, it was fortunate, for I was able to leave out all the
+sordid details of her past and give her only the recollections worth
+keeping. As soon as she is quite strong, Doctor Forbes is going to
+reconstruct the tragedy for her, and he says he has every reason to
+believe that he will be successful in restoring her memory.  In the
+meantime, she is entirely happy and content, and more beautiful than
+ever.
+
+Mary had not spoken to me for a month. Somehow we could not get
+together.  I realized how hasty and peremptory I had been in commanding
+her not to go with Woods, and I tried in a thousand different ways to
+make her realize that I was sorry.  Whenever I found we were to be
+invited to the same dance or supper party, I lay awake half the night
+before, planning how I would approach her; what she would say and what I
+would say.  It was a delightful game to play, because I always came out
+the victor.  I made her say and do just the things that would make a
+reconciliation easy, but when we actually met, it was vastly different.
+
+We were both invited to the Rupert-Smiths' ball, and I made up my mind
+that before the evening was over, I would be back in her good graces, on
+the same old footing. As much as I hated being treated like a younger
+brother, it was far better than being treated like a stepchild.
+
+As soon as I saw her come into the ballroom, I hurried toward her, but
+at that moment the orchestra began a fox-trot and she whirled away in
+the arms of young Davis, smiling into his face as though she adored him.
+Davis holds a girl so tightly that it is actually indecent, but she
+seemed to enjoy it.
+
+I was by her side, almost before the music stopped, but she turned away
+without looking in ray direction and, literally hanging on Davis' arm,
+made her way from the ballroom.
+
+I finally caught her alone while she was waiting for some yokel to get
+her a glass of punch.
+
+"Mary, may I have a dance?" I blurted out.
+
+"I'm sorry, Mr. Thompson, but my program is full," she answered
+sweetly--too sweetly.
+
+"But there aren't any programs," I insisted.
+
+"Nor have I any dances left," she countered.
+
+"Mary, I'm awfully sorry--"
+
+"Oh!  There you are, Mr. Steel," she laughed over my shoulder, "I almost
+thought you had forgotten me."  I fled, leaving that ass, Steel, cooing
+the most puerile rot about how he couldn't forget her and so forth.
+
+I called up Anne McClintock before the McClintock dinner and begged her
+as my guardian angel to put me next to Mary.  She agreed on condition
+that she could put that Sterns woman, the parlor Bolshevic, on the other
+side of me.  I consented, and through the entire dinner, Mary talked to
+old Grandfather McClintock about the labor disputes although she doesn't
+know the difference between a strike-out and a lock-out.  She actually
+seemed perfectly contented to shout into that old man's ear all evening,
+though I did everything to get her attention except spill my plate in
+her lap.  Afterward I heard her telling that Sterns woman what a
+charming couple we'd make.  I tried to call on Mary twice and both times
+she was out--to me.
+
+Finally people began to see that there was a serious difference between
+us and they avoided inviting us to small parties together, so that I saw
+her at only the largest, most formal and most stupid functions.
+
+I had told Helen one day that I would be late to dinner on account of an
+important case.  About three o'clock in the afternoon, however, I found
+that a certain book I needed was at the house, so I jumped into the car
+and went up after it.  Mary's electric was out in front.  For a moment I
+contemplated flight, Mary so obviously disliked me, but being determined
+that no girl in the world could keep me from going where I pleased, I
+trotted up the steps.
+
+The door opened just as I reached the porch, and disclosed Mary hastily
+saying "Good-by" to Helen.  The sight of her leaving, so as to avoid
+meeting me, angered me and some piratical old forebear of mine came down
+from above or came up from below at that moment and perched on my right
+shoulder.
+
+"Treat 'em rough!" he whispered.
+
+I hurried over to the door, walked in and slammed it after me.
+
+Helen laughed and said: "Warren, dear, aren't you getting noisy?"
+
+"Helen," I said, "will you please go into the other room?"
+
+"Helen, stay here!" Mary ordered.
+
+"I shall do neither the one nor the other. I shall go up-stairs."  She
+turned to leave.
+
+"If you go, Helen, I'll go with you," Mary announced.
+
+Another ancestral spook with dwarfed, hairy body and gorilla arms,
+climbed to my left shoulder, sat down on his hunkers and whispered in my
+ear: "Treat 'em rough!"
+
+"You're going to stay right here!" I commanded, grabbing her by the
+hand.
+
+"Let go of my hand!" Mary demanded.  "I am _not_ going to stay here."
+
+The sight of her sweet indignant face made my heart jump to my throat.
+Helen laughed and went up-stairs.
+
+"Mary--" I began, my voice softening.
+
+My ancient forebears made wry faces at each other and hopped down from
+my shoulders.
+
+"He's a fool!" announced the cave man.
+
+"I'll say he is," answered the pirate.
+
+"I'm not going to stay here a minute longer.  Will you please get out of
+my way?" Mary said coldly.
+
+"No, I won't!" I yelled.  "I've had about enough of this, Mary.  You
+think you can dangle me on the end of a string, like a damned jumping-
+jack, until you see fit to let me have a little rest."
+
+My guiding ancestors hopped back on my shoulders.
+
+"That's the stuff to give 'em!" yelled Hunkers.
+
+"Treat 'em rough!" shouted Captain Kidd.
+
+"You know I was right when I objected to your going with Frank Woods.
+It wasn't a friendly thing to do, after the way he messed up things in
+my family."
+
+"Well, if you hadn't been so dictatorial--"
+
+"Why shouldn't I be dictatorial?" I shouted, while my ancestors held
+their sides with laughter, "and this being my house I'm going to talk as
+loud as I please.  If the girl I love, as no man ever loved a girl
+before, tries to go out with a man I think is wholly unworthy of her,
+why shouldn't I object?  I'll do it again. I want you and I'm to have
+you, if I've got to fight for you.  Even if I have to fight _you_ for
+you."
+
+Suddenly Mary buried her face in her hands.  Her shoulders shook.
+
+"Don't cry, Mary!  I know I've--"
+
+"I'm not crying, I--I'm laughing," she gurgled, dropping into a chair.
+"Bupps, you do look so funny when you get excited."
+
+I went over to her and made her make room for me on her chair, and then
+I put my arms around her.
+
+"Mary, lover-darling, why did you go out with Frank Woods that day?"
+
+"Why, Bupps, I was hunting the same proof that you were.  I felt all
+along that Frank was guilty."
+
+"I'm a brute!"
+
+"You're a foolish boy," she said, twisting one of my few locks of hair.
+
+She snuggled closer.
+
+"Dearest of dearests, when are you going to stop teasing me?" I asked.
+
+"Never, Buppkins!" she replied.  "I just discovered that it brings out
+your strong points."
+
+"Do you remember what you said when I tried to ask you to marry me?" I
+whispered. She shook her head.
+
+"You told me to wait until Helen was well."
+
+"You know, Bupps--the first thing I said to Helen this--this afternoon
+was--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"'How--how well you're looking.'"
+
+With her face so close to mine and those lovely lips smiling at me so
+invitingly, there was only one thing to do, so I did it.
+
+"The kid's got the stuff in him after all," said Hunkers.
+
+"I'll say he has," agreed Captain Kidd.
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 32 Caliber, by Donald McGibeny
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 32 CALIBER ***
+
+***** This file should be named 22781.txt or 22781.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/8/22781/
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/22781.zip b/22781.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30f24cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/22781.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b788d25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #22781 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22781)