The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 3, 1901, Page 7

s T DRI R T il gl e [ AR i wuuu \hI‘mmmM il i u it il h l" TH TR 3 a e genileman on your right,”” I continued, W ee the most monstrous thief unhung.” 2 | you may rely RN t 2 but I cannot sur- e vive another ordea h as the first 5 Howev my of another rcign of : With g he said, smiliZ | terror,” he added, smiling. “are shared K er by Dr. Skerrett nor my son.” ey ¥ Y our I asked. frankly sur- 3 s prised. “I did not know of your having the ctos; t e ; . “He is the commandant of our mili- . ng my thanks, he turned to| 4. company, bearing the rank of cap- room, but, stopping abrupt tz capital instructor in drill and tac . ; the door, he asked: “How long w tics, but not a companionable chap—not es. If e last theft was en- n £ Barkes ba b et i companionable. : ort in three days, I was struck with this remark, half y u will accept our hos- | revery, Lialf regret, but said nothing and pitality ior that period?” presently withdeew, I replied with some indifference: “You | Going to my room at the hotel es t are very kind, but I—er—well, you see, ) leaning to 2 2 funds of some valus, I am-intrusted with I had no well-defined wek and should feel less responsible were the 3, OF IRERG 0N {she the safe at the hotel ess, 1-would 4 k |- A curious gleam came into his eyes<. e e new perso e el 1 had failed but he merely bowed silently and left. o g P s It was but a morient after I had| ¢ ¢ observati £t i-2iols N touched a light to one of his rare Per- n rolled iato COV-| gocins when Skerrett returned. With him'came Dr. Jaspér. ' As we were mus- | téring the roomi plans.a bell sounded the corridor, followed by a hum of boy- | | ish voices and a scuffling. of feet. Sker- | { rett arose. “My period on Biblical his- | | tory, Doctor. 1 think Mr.—" | leck,” I suggested, as- he smiled | toward me. ‘ “I”think ‘Mr. Sleck: understands the| plans. you, 1 As he withdrew I turned to Dr. Jas- | per-and remarked that: I had rarely seen | a more kindly face. | secret f; if Tn‘!‘d be second; F] \nd 1 dare say you have never| a2 more kindly heart,” he an- “But now, as regards the cost | electrician Here 1 thought necessary to interrupt. “You will pardon me, Doctor: I am not | | an electrician—unless: Chief Barker is also one "I answered The ‘old’ principal looked at me in | blank amazement. “Then Barker sent | you? And you said nothing to Sker- rett? | “Scarcely ‘necessary,” I answered. The ruse | “The chief has disclosed everything of y identity even. from | importance to date. It will simplify mat. y argued, th:re] ters. if imy identity is known .only to to : be gaiucd}’you." I pro- ceeded to master the facts as Chief Ba:# | had | ker and his friend, laid them before me. the principal, Thinking to dis- pose at once of the least probable of my | hypotheses, view, from the chief's point culminating in Heenan’s death were parts of the same bold scheme. What, then, were the facts to be held in mind? The thefts, ered first and last, had now cov- a period of more than four yeare. Since the complete academic course re~‘ quired a residence of precisely three years, -it was obvious that students - :si- dent at the academy when the robberies | began might not be suspected of recent | Conversely, it was equally ab- | The question of cost I leave to | surd to assume that any student now res- ident knew anything of the original | offenses. crimes, Thus, one might have started | the plan and passed his profitable secre:, as a sort of class heritage, on to another. But, to 1y mind, this was most improb- able. It was, however, beyond perad- venture that the culprit was to be found among those permanently resident at the His intimate knowledge of secrets and habits allowed n> other hypothesis. Eliminating, there- | fore, the boys themselves from the prob- lem, there remained only twenty-eight other persons otherwise living at the school. permanently Of these seventeen included the faculty and their wives, ten were servants, and the other was the militar¥ son of the reverend principal. The thefts had occurred at irregular intervals and ranged in amount from %> cents to §93. Of these amounts I had of | I based theories on the first as-| sumption that the last robbery and those | THE SUNDAY CALL. z ! been careful to require an accurate list | | of Dr. Jasper, together with the exac: | | dates on which the losses occurred. | Thus 1 had a complete record of the| scoundrel’s operations, and it came w;‘ io:| l: Y\ 1 vas the prob- | indeed, me that if I could in any w Jist T shiould be on the track of my 1 But to accomplish thi lem, such a list existed—would assuredly be since o among the of the culpr next mornir secret possessions sclf Accordis he boys and their tutors were immerse in their studics, I procured the keys fi Dr. Skerrett on the pretense that I was [ to survey the premises for the new wir- | ing, and, d | plans, prosecuted a most diltg car hoped, named Bec armed with those y flogr and search. I found no list, as [ had studeat short iron bar with which undoubtedly the trunks and doors h yet 2d been forced open. But T ared to abs ndon t! that the was not pre | present hypothesis for the first last theit Consequen the th apart from I set asid, for future use Returning to the hot reflected that the morning’s | failed dismally to est However, the necessity of from surrender. I realiz gitation [ | one rett’s f Per 1 have ever found consolatio cigar. With ner of the v interest | To soothe my menta Ske rawing to I t from my resting s of vines I cou own pr shadow of a familiar figure coming down | the road t that I was surprised to | see Dr. Skerrett at hour or in this place, but I felt th 1hout unusual walk st wer | backwa and 8} atterapt at concealment. path i lay toward the station. but when he | reached a point within 100 yards of the hotel he otly to the right | | »ded lane that made a direction of the academy At | »er end, which la¥ a short hal above the schoc was a cottage 1 dwelt a widow with a ather So § I 1T quiry no shadow rested on eit the | mother or gir), save a frank and | | men and e attention of open li an : e of a not uncommon ment a gems and precious stones who, I learned Indeed, the mother indulged the hter in this folly, to the ruin of | an ampler purse than that of | | | young Captain Jasper, s her one faithful and many of them, who had plunged and lost dur with eager interest, w admirer. There were c rs, ing the five years Mrs. Cassell and her | daughter had lived but her favor waned when fortune fled, and in Covington, only they who financially could stand the pace were now in the running. Could it be possible that Skerrett, too, was after the phantom? If so. what could it avail him, since he was happily wed and cosily harbored at the academy, where I had met his charming little wife that very morning? [ On the first impulse X let him follow | alone his hidden lane; on the 1 tossed aside my cigar and took the mysterious path. second likewise | He was some | distance in advance and quite out of | sight. But there was no need of a trail. The almost tangible aroma of the matchless Periecto I had seen between his lips had not yet sifted away through the dense foliage. It bore me directly onward until I saw the discarded cigar end, still smoking, where he had thrown it beneath the bushes. I was just in time to see Skerrett carcfully extract a dainty package from one of his pockets | and with it enter the pretty house of the widow Cassell. I waited. Two hours passed before he emerged and retraced | his course down the lane and thence up t the highway to th: school. I assure you it was a remarkably brief space of time before I had returned tc the town and called at the Covingtoa bank. ‘The cashier was good enough to supply the information T desired, and, equipped with this—and the iron bar—I returned to the academy. Fifteen minutes passed before I was admitted to the presence of the lea ned principal, a delay which seemed to me quite unnecessary, in view of the impor- tance of my errand. Evidently a con- sultation had been in progress. for at the large, square study table, on cither side CARTIR. of Dr. Jasper, were seated his son and' pair of bracelets over his wrist. whlle‘ was brought back by the pilot who car- Dr. Skerrett. sper ried his steamer out of the harbor. [f young Ja applied his best energies You are come in good time. Mr.| to res z consciousness to his un-| his idea was to escape pursuit he must Sleck,” said he | happy parent, who, overcome by the | Dave f“";*t'm the sweet quality of soiae | p mercy that once belc 2 him I took the seat he indicated at the va- | suddenness of the shock, had swooned ) ce before had spared him shment he so richly deserved: American Line Steamer Paris, ant side “I trust you will not regard what I am in his chair The interruption had lasted but a mo- | October 4, 1892 i i f Sl t 2 Archibald sper, ) fov- about to tell you in the light of an indis- | ment. Skerrett revived in time to hear A - ““"1” Ja bes D[ ll[ « vl A e Jelaware: This letter will cretion—above all, not as an intrusion e ask for the police or a messenge sign for you kmow its 1 will see that only one mis- could have written its cor ts 2 for your noble f last you shall ever and contrite man, be- ht the coward to his and the moans and tears he let sickened a dog. Still nd it was only Dr. Skerrett | The remark bro in my confidenc= | Knees, -l 1 | loose would hav on your rights among us. and my son have be these many y s, so thar inevitably rely on their affection ahd good sense.” ocence, he protested it d ; when I di ed how for four vea-s he when, to-morrow night, you I acquiesced. The affair was takinZ | pad been cing dishonestly the affec- these words, he will be 300 a most happy turn for me. tion Gemma Cassell; how he had rxt.hfll . -hor:nm whose = b e 18 to devo “In brief, Mr. Sleck. I could not bring | sought tc buy her with costly gifts: how. | ger o¢ pis days, te the rem myself to withhold from them the true | undoubtedly, he had lived with others a however grossly he may have purpose of your presence here. And 1| life of sly profligacy; how, his carnings ou; he begs that you will spea . { . as a teacher having heen insufficient to bly of him should you have ever think you will approve my action when g : 1 ¢ t him gullty of a more mortal sin you le what in ance they ) SURPOrE. more. thgw: s ® I k was right; it was his love v had resorted to kna 2 . for a frivolous girl that can be to-you how*his deposits in the Covington bank | cause . But, as there is a God, “I am quite s ed, Dr. Jasper,” 1| coincided strangely in dates and amounts f‘h”" t he s, he never meant that answered quietly. “But I think the case | with the mysterious thefts. It was 30, he- 4 ‘M‘!‘;‘;;::::o‘l‘f:kmlf is now heyond even their efforts.” { in face of these facts that he confesse admit, then may your " r of his vele eIV, o Tt “Do 1 understand that you have aland the cur of his breed, groveled | servant be acquitted in spirit, even though : 3 G oy blood be upon his hands. When, on that clew, M; \I» | 1 and I were for giving him "kl Heenan on the road I smiled Something rather more over. but Dr. Jasper—agreat ven- cu; he young girl was to be- ver, bu Jaspes—g ALeC t was jealous madness tangible, Docte erable iool that he was—would hear | that struck ths first blow. But It was Heenan who drew the weapon, and as it was then one m: T'here was a moment of vital suspense. ead he drew a check for X i life or the other's, a B 3T SO > table . turnec rom the villain » The three faces at the table turned o to choose | f8iF f8ht In self-defense was only natu hly pale; I alone was undisturbed m to choose Would to God the vietor u will glance at | been the vanquished! but that was not '!l\_ wife with him, | plan of Providence. In His inflnite m tain with abund: ght® I co He will wipe out the Wi ywed to believe his dtaeat = . the most monstrous thief unhung.” | gleanings in green ds and pastures the most monstrous thief unhung frie tc ¢ p o o = e due to her own f;“l‘-"~ new. For is it not written: “Though your The cf w a bomb had been idow of his crime did not | sins be as scarlet, I will make them hurled in their midst. Skerrett jutnped | ath to the day she died. whiter than snow"? to his feet, livid with murderous rage. himself, he joined the| There was i deed no need of a signa- You he shrieked. “Bv. known mstitute in the | ture. Isa er on the occasion of resumed his teaching | Dr. Jasper's visit to New York and Biblical history . through mistaken f . : i Bl Bt #6543 when, through mistaken friendship, he wa eard of him until, the death of his wife, he| suge for England, whence he! he fields of Seuth liowing letter | Nothing more ventured to read it to the chief. “A true penit said the reverend sweetly. * growled Skerrett grasped an ng paper cutter and made a vicious shortly : took pa sent him prostrate | sail principa “Or lunge at my throat, he chief, “a most anwhile 1 slipped a | MME- TEQEOQ GARRENG, The Great Pianist Who Will Be Heard in This City Shortly.