Edgar Wallace

“ Sharpe bent his brows in thought.
“It is all very curious. Why give her the money at all if they are going to take it away? Did you form a theory?”
“I never have theories,” said Peter. “They hamper my work. All I wanted were a few facts, and I did not get one until about a week ago——”
He stopped and asked abruptly: “Do you know a man named Fatty Storr?”
The chief nodded. “Yes, I know Fatty,” he said. “He's an Englishman—a lanky, cadaverous-looking man; even a worse looker than you, Peter. He's a chronic circulator of bad money. ”

“ I unwrapped the package on my bed, and to my amazement discovered that it was made up of four fat packages of bills, each for a thousand dollars. I looked at the girl and she looked at me, and then I had another look at the money.
“The first thing I saw when I detached a bill from the package was that on the back was stamped a neat little figure of an idol, as I thought, which had been dusted over with printers' gold dust and had been done in a rather amateurish fashion, since the edges were smudged and blurred.”
“And it was real money?” asked the chief.
“Real money,” said Peter. ”

“ Stethmann's bank balance by a series of twists, and Eddie never complained of Peter's lethargy.
“I told you the whole of the story, Correlly,” said the chief, “and you know very nearly as much as Smith does. I'm telling you because you are the man to take this case in hand. The possibility of running the gang to earth is now an imperative necessity. This crowd, whatever it is, has come right up against us and thrown out a challenge which at all costs we must take up. ”

“ CHAPTER IV. CORRELLY'S STORY. PETER CORRELLY came back from a visit to the hospital where Wilbur Smith was lying.
“A gunshot wound in the right shoulder, two legs broken, a small fracture of the skull, concussion and a few bruises about the body,” he reported. “The body bruises are not important, the shoulder wound is healing, and the only thing that troubles the doctor is the fracture. As it is a skull fracture it may be pretty serious.”
“Has he recovered consciousness?” asked Sharpe, twisting his hands nervously on the blotting pad. ”

“ That is invariably the best way to see people.”
“Then why didn't you say so?” growled Sharpe.
“He walked in the store, made a small purchase, and tendered a hundred-dollar bill. Either there was some delay in the bill being changed, or else Fatty detected some movement which he interpreted as being hostile to himself, but at any rate he left the shop hurriedly and walked quickly away. Turning his head, he saw me and stopped walking.”
“Was he waiting for you?” asked the chief.
Peter shook his head. “When I say he stopped walking,” he said, “I mean he started running, and Fatty sure can go. ”

“ She's a genuine Uplifter, though she's got hardly two cents to rub against each other. No, she isn't pretty or interesting or anything except just a very serious, genuine kind of girl with a cheerful view of life—which is a most surprising thing to me, because, if there is anything in life that makes for cheerfulness——”
“Leave out the philosophy,” said the chief, “and come to the facts.”
“This girl's name was Madison,” Peter continued. ”

“ I don't see much of it, but I see enough to know the good stuff when it comes my way. The girl, of course, was delighted. She was one of those simple creatures who believe in miracles. It appears that she had a great scheme at the back of her mind to build a big rest home in the country for working girls. ”

“ When I opened the door, however, I was immediately invited in by the Uplifter girl, who was evidently sitting up waiting for me. She then told me that I had hardly left the house before a car drove up to the door, and an elderly man had alighted, carrying a black bag. ”