Johnston McCulley

“ As Moberg had said, he had danced, and the piper remained to be paid.
He got up, straightened his shoulders, sighed, and looked once more at his employer. Moberg was not even looking at him now—he was staring across the room.
“At least, I'll show you that I can take my medicine like a man,” Calderton said. “If you wish to send to prison your old friend's son——”
“Ah!” Moberg exclaimed. “So you have to make that last whine, do you? You cannot stand on your own feet. You play on my friendship for your dead father!”
“Pardon me, sir, but I play on nothing,” Calderton said. ”

“ Calderton walked down the long hall toward the door of the library. He braced himself for trouble. Mr. Moberg's temper, which was a well-known quantity to his associates, might have been directed solely at his fair daughter, Margaret, because of some infraction of household rules such as the magnate always was making. Possibly Calderton was not concerned in it at all. He certainly hoped not!
Yet he hesitated before the library door, and he realized once more that he was afraid. He tried to tell himself that he was man enough to face the situation, even if the worst came to pass. ”

“ Noggins observed.
“Say, do you realize who it is that's been shuffled off?” the finger-print man wanted to know. “Garland Moberg! One of the richest men in town.”
“What about it?” Noggins asked. “Probably easier to find the murderer of a rich man than of some poor devil nobody knows. Stop fussing about it. Wait until we get there.”
The finger-print man grunted and clasped closer to his breast the box he held. If you asked him, Peter Noggins wasn't human. He never got a bit excited. You couldn't impress the man. They called him “the common-sense detective.” ”

“ Moberg said. “No argument, now! I have decided, and I'm boss in this! Go ahead at the office if you wish, but stay away from Margaret! As an employee you're all right, but not as a son-in-law. Matter of fact, you'd never win her. But I don't intend to let you try. I don't want it said all over town that I'm letting a clerk try to marry my girl and get his fingers into the business!”
Calderton, on the veranda, started at Moberg's words and the tone he used. ”

“ The finger-print man did his work swiftly and well and then went out into the hall again. Noggins followed him and handed him the cigarette case.
“Take care of all the evidence,” he directed. “Let me know as soon as you have made the comparison.”
Noggins stepped back into the room. Snade and Calderton were sitting opposite, their hatred of each other showing plainly in their faces.
“We seem to be getting down to the bottom of things,” Noggins said. “I always have said that no man can commit a murder and get away with it forever. There is always a clew left behind. ”

“ You have posed, not as a gentleman, but as a cheap sport! You have tried to make men believe that you have a fortune. You wasted money on unworthy companions. You stole for vicious reasons.”
“Are you sure of that, sir?” “It would not surprise me to learn that an enemy of mine has been getting misinformation around to you. I wouldn't put it past Morgan Snade, for instance. He thinks, with me out of the way, that he would have a chance with Margaret——”
“That's enough!” Moberg replied. ”

“ Renkin and the doctor were excluded from this interview.
“This is terrible!' Calderton was saying. “I do not seem to be able to realize it. Poor Mr. Moberg! He has been like a father to me. This will almost kill Margaret.”
“Sudden death always is terrible,” Noggins said softly. “I must ask you some questions, Mr. Calderton. In a case like this we try to get at the facts as quickly as possible.”
“I understand,” Calderton “I'll gladly answer your questions, sir, if I can aid in bringing Mr. Moberg's murderer to justice. But I do not know that I can be of much help.” ”

“ Noggins, do not make this terrible thing still more terrible by accusing an innocent man of my father's death.”
“My dear Miss Moberg, I have accused nobody yet,” Noggins said. “When I do accuse a man, he will be the guilty one. I have merely pointed out the obvious clew. Mr. Snade visited your father, had a quarrel with him, left the house unnerved. Your father was found dead, and beside the body was Mr. Snade's cigarette case.”
“Morgan Snade could not have done this,” she declared. “He is an honest, sincere man. ”

“ A thief always is found out sooner or later. He cannot escape forever. The law of retribution doesn't work that way.”
The young man made no reply. He sighed deeply once, and then he looked across library toward the French windows that opened to the veranda. One of them was open a few inches, and the soft breeze was fluttering the curtains. Calderton wondered that he could notice such a trivial thing at such a time.
“You have stolen more than nine thousand dollars!” Moberg said, and his voice grew even sterner. “What have you to say for yourself?”
“I—I am sorry, sir.” ”

“ The little clews that other men overlooked were the ones upon which Peter Noggins built his success and his reputation.
The taxicab reached the Moberg residence, and Noggins and the finger-print man entered quickly. They found a doctor there and a man from the coroner's office and old Renkin, with a white face. Noggins looked at the doctor and the coroner's man and raised his eyebrows.
“Stabbed through the heart,” the doctor reported. “Death was instantaneous. Nothing has been touched. A glance was enough to assure me that Mr. Moberg was beyond all help.” ”

“ Sometimes it is a little thing that a man might overlook while making an investigation. The most careful criminal makes his little slip and is caught.”
“I never killed him!” Snade said again. “Why, I—I couldn't do such a thing!”
“Of course you never killed him, Morgan,” said a soft voice at the door.
The three men were upon their feet instantly. Margaret Moberg, just returned from her father's country place, stood there. Though they could see that she was suffering, yet she was calm. Noggins offered a chair, and she seated herself. ”

“ He picked up a heavy, sharp paper knife from the table and toyed with it he while waited. Moberg suddenly bent forward, and, though he spoke in a moderate tone, Calderton, out on the veranda, could hear every word that was said.
“Snade, possibly you may not like what I am going to say to you,” the financier began, “but you've got to hear it, whether you like it or not. You're a good man in the office. I've been watching you for some time. You work hard, you have a natural ability, and there is no reason, so far as I know, why you should not succeed.”
“Thank you, sir,” Snade said. ”

“ Moberg expects you, sir,” Renkin said.
“I trust Mr. Moberg is in his usual good health, Renkin?”
Renkin lifted his eyebrows slightly and made reply. He was the perfect servant, but Mr. George Calderton was almost like one of the family, and that made quite a difference.
“I am afraid that he is in a fearful temper, sir,” Renkin said in a very soft voice. “He had quite an argument with Miss Margaret, sir, and sent her out to the country place.”
“Um!” Calderton felt his anxiety was growing.
“You are to go right to the library, sir,” the butler continued. ”

“ Snade replied frankly. “He as good as called me a gutter pup! I tried to reason with him, but that could not be done. He would hear no argument. Both of us grew furious.”
“What was the result?”
“I told him that I would not continue in his employ. I told him that I had been insulted enough, that I would endure no more. Then I left him.” ”

“ Moberg said. “I am glad, Snade, to pick up a young man of no family or position, let him enter my employ, and prove that I am a good judge of men, and that a man can succeed by his own merits alone. If he makes good, I'm very much pleased. But, whereas I am willing to take a man in that manner into my office, I might not be willing to take him into my family.”
“Sir?” ”

“ He scarcely could talk—either angry or scared, And his waistcoat and the bottom of his dress shirt are soiled with crimson stains.”
“'Um—thanks!” Noggins hurried into the reception room and sat down before Morgan Snade. Snade had been made acquainted with the tragedy, and he seemed to be shocked, also. He was nervous, as the officer had told Noggins, and his face was the color of ashes,
“This is a terrible business, Mr. Snade,” Noggins said. “I sent for you because I was informed you had called here this evening. In fact, I believe you are the last person known to have seen Mr. Moberg alive. ”

“ Moberg!” he said. “I hope that you get a good night's rest!”
That moment of bravado almost sent an innocent man to the electric chair.
CHAPTER II.
NOBODY KNOWS.
WITH that smile still upon his face, as though it had been frozen there, Calderton stepped briskly along the hall and came face to face with old Renkin. The butler glanced at him questioningly.
“He's all right,” Calderton said. “Just a bit huffy at something that has happened.”
“I hate to see him excited, sir,” said the butler. “His heart isn't any too good, I am afraid, sir.”
“Bosh! I don't believe that he has a heart!” ”