Various

“ I’ll stake my reputation that the young man in the brown overcoat is a woman, and that the woman is the murderer of Mr. Marchburn.”
The superintendent rapidly outlined his plans. “I want you,” he said to Richardson, “to look up Marchburn’s past record in the West. Look for the woman there, or for the chapter in his life in which the woman figures. It’s there, although it may be difficult to find. Johnson, you look up his record from the time he came to New York to the day of his death. See if there is any woman entanglement here. Keep your eye upon Wright. I can’t quite size that man up. ”

“ Marsh smiled. The loss of his whiskers showed him to be a man of about forty, with a firm jaw, a keen blue eye, and a high forehead. “I wish to God I was dead,” he said. “When a man tries to live straight he gets snagged and is disgraced.”
The cab drew up at the big building on Mulberry Street, and the superintendent, pushing his prisoner before him, led the way to his private room. “Now, Marsh, you say you have been living straight. Prove it and I’ll release you.”
The man eyed his captor sullenly. “Not till I’ve seen a lawyer,” he said.
Walton touched an electric button. ”

“ The newspapers next morning contained long accounts of the murder of Mr. Marchburn; but they were able to add little to the reports printed in the extras of the evening before. The murder of a wealthy business man in practically broad daylight, in a building on one of the most frequented streets of the city, caused a tremendous sensation, and in business circles the tragedy was more eagerly discussed than the course of the market. The coroner’s inquest brought out these facts:
Mr. Marchburn had spent the day at the factory, and returned to his office about five o’clock. ”

“ We do not hesitate to pronounce it the finest Rose in existence for summer blooming, as it will make a large growth and is loaded with its glorious blossoms from May until November. For winter blooming it has no equal in beauty or profusion. Just the Rose to train up in a conservatory or bay-window, where its exquisite blossoms will show to wonderful advantage every day, summer or winter. Quite hardy, and will produce more flowers than a dozen ordinary Roses. ”

“ Still trying [29] to fit the face to a name, Walton followed the man into Wall Street, and as he passed the sub-treasury he saw Brixton coming down the steps. The sight of the government agent was like a flash in the dark, and the object he was groping for was instantly made plain. The superintendent determined to take desperate chances. “By gad,” he muttered, “I’ll risk it. If he’s the man his voice will give him away.” Quickening his walk, he stepped up to the man, and, tapping him on the shoulder, said very quietly:
“I want you, John Marsh.” ”

“ Finally Brixton made this suggestion: “Make Chesterfield understand that he is suspected of the murder and that you have the dots on him. You’ll have to sweat him and put him through the third degree. Don’t say a word about the counterfeiting. When he’s charged with the murder, and things begin to look black, he will squeal to save his neck. He’ll give his pals away dead sure and tell all he knows about the counterfeiting. I believe the scheme will work.”
Walton agreed with him and proceeded without delay in putting his prisoner through the sweating process. ”

“ The girl leaned forward, and absently smoothed the General’s head, as he lay there watching the coals. Presently she said:—
“Mr. Richards, then, and not till then, did I find I did not love him. But,” she added, “I did not tell him so. I said only: ‘We’ve been friends since we were children. Come to me next Sunday night, and I will give you my answer.’”
For a moment she sat without speaking; then she concluded: “Mr. Richards, you are Bob Cutting’s dearest friend. He hasn’t but one friend like you. No man has; no man can have; no [18] man wishes more. ”

“ I am going to start a factory to make counterfeits. I shall have an office in New York and a factory in New Jersey, where we can work undisturbed and everything will look straight. I have money enough to start the factory and buy all the machinery. After a year we can retire with two fortunes and become respectable. ”

“ We never need move anything, for [43] you could keep a suit of clothes in each house. I’m sure I shall never be happy to live down on the riverside. There’s really nobody living there, and still I never, never can be happy if you are not able to come home to lunch.”
Young Mr. Arburton quite agreed with his wife and her mother. It would be very desirable to live on the bluff, two hundred feet above the river, and very desirable to live immediately below, down by the boat landing and near the office. It would be very convenient to live in two places at the same time. ”

“ It isn’t exactly strange, then, is it, that when a man almost deifies a girl he has known only two months he should like to sit down on a hearth-rug and talk to an old dog he has known for ten years? A club, and cocktails, and gossip, and late hours are no solace at all, under such circumstances.
But we left them on the hearth-rug, gazing into the coals. ”

“ And Neil stood, with a decanter in each hand, coatless, and mussed, and speechless. The silence did not last long, however. Miss Howland smiled, bowed sweetly to Neil, and stepped into the room. “Good-evening, Mr. Richards,” she said, and held out her hand. Neil managed, in a dazed sort of a way, to set down the decanter that was in his right hand without breaking it, and accepted the proffered hand. Bob Cutting looked on and smiled. “Too astounded to speak, Mr. Richards,” remarked the young woman. “Well, an explanation certainly is due you. ”

“ As no record is kept of the thousands of daily calls, the telephone office can throw no light on the murder. There is no known motive for the crime, as Mr. Marchburn was not supposed to have an enemy, and was highly respected in business and social circles. The inquest to-morrow is expected to throw some light upon the awful crime.
“Mr. Marchburn was president of the International Bank Note and Engraving Company, whose offices are on the eleventh story of the Empire Building, their factory being in New Jersey. ”

“ As soon as the verdict had been rendered, Detective Sergeants Johnson and Richardson, who had been detailed by Superintendent of Police Walton to attend the inquest, reported to him for further instructions. They briefly repeated the testimony and especially the startling evidence of Wright. When they had finished the chief said:
“What do you make of it?”
“The man in the brown overcoat is the murderer,” said Johnson.
“The man in the brown overcoat had nothing to do with it; but Wright knows a great deal more than he has told,” was Richardson’s analysis. ”

“ There’s a connection between the murder and the counterfeiting, and when we pull the right string both knots will come untied.”
Walton told his associate of his theory as to the murderer being a woman.
Brixton doubted it. “But it’s of no consequence,” he said. “Whoever fired the shot was a member of the gang; Marchburn knew him and expected him to call that evening. When we land our man we shall have the murderer and the counterfeiter as well.” ”

“ But, after his latest peripatetic streak, he was back again, at last, in New York, in his old rooms, in his favorite seat on the hearth-rug, with his dog beside him, and—in love. The fellows at the club had said for several weeks past, as Richards would excuse himself, get up, and go out about nine o’clock evenings: “Funny about Neil, isn’t it? He leaves us every night at nine o’clock, and goes home, and they say he sits down and talks to [12] that old dog, General, of his till midnight. Guess he must be in love.” ”

“ The Leslies’ death remains a mystery, and to explain the Presence that occupied this cottage after their death would be to account for a side of life which we barely touch and cannot comprehend.
The house is still to let.
[11]
Of Course—Of Course Not. BY HARRY M. PECK.
They sat, side by side, on a big hearth-rug, gazing into the glowing coals. The one was a young man, of perhaps twenty-eight, and the other an old dog, of perhaps ten. That’s not a criticism on the poverty of the English language. It simply shows how much more a dog can “get out,” or perhaps “put into,” ten years than a man. ”

“ We could live every other week in each house.”
They were staying at her mother’s on the Heights, pending the purchase or erection of the new house. Mrs. Arburton had advanced this happy thought of having two homes at the breakfast table. The idea pleased her mother greatly, and she remarked to her son-in-law that, in her opinion, it was an excellent arrangement. She would gladly live in the uptown house and take care of it while they were spending the week in the other house down by the river. ”

“ At times, for example, she would dance and golf, pour at teas, and talk [2] small talk to eligible young men with a persistency and success that made her for the time the sun of society’s solar system. Then, suddenly, and with no excuse whatever, she would withdraw into herself, refuse all invitations, and spend a month or more in studying Buddhism or in inquiring into the condition of the poor in great cities. As to her suitors, the most remarkable reports had existed concerning Miss Stevens’ treatment of those gentlemen. ”

“ There are four elevators in the Empire Building. The conductor of No. 4 elevator, Richard Wright, testified as follows: “I have been employed only two days at the Empire Building. It is the rule to close down two of the elevators at half past five; at six o’clock the third is closed, and the other half an hour later. I am ‘late man’ this week. Just as six o’clock was striking and elevator No. 3 was making its last downward trip, the annunciator in my car dropped for the tenth story. I ran my car up and took in a young man. ”

“ All the bicycle goodness that the best bicycle makers know is incorporated in this king of wheels. No chronometer could be made with more care, or with greater accuracy. Every part of the Monarch is in perfect harmony with all other parts. So perfect is the distribution of weight, so accurate the adjustment of gear, that the Monarch will outspeed, outlast, outrival, any wheel on the market to-day. ”

“ If I knew that I could ask a policeman. I [48] declare, I was never so turned round in my life. This looks like the neighborhood—and yet—”
She gave it up in despair and took the trolley back to her home in the lower town. Then for several days nothing happened. Mrs. Arburton tried to be happy and failed miserably. Her husband, of course, observed it, and said at the dinner table:
“My love, I fear you do not enjoy being down here among these lumber yards and shops. After dinner we’ll go up town.”
She was delighted. When she reached the Heights she would ask him to take her to the other house. ”

“ The screams of the frightened woman brought to her assistance the janitor and some of the tenants, although nearly all of them had left the building for the day.
“A hasty examination showed that Mr. Marchburn had been shot.
“When found he was sitting at his desk, his head dropped forward and resting on his left arm, his hand clutching the receiver of the telephone with the death grip. This would seem to indicate that Mr. Marchburn had been shot in the very act of using the telephone, which was affixed to his desk. The body was still warm, but life was quite extinct. ”

“ Every possible inquiry was made. No trace of poison or of foul play could be found. Numberless theories were advanced, and the wonder and excitement over the tragic death of the young couple grew daily.
After some months their relatives removed the furnishings, and “To Let” appeared in the cottage windows. The house was immediately taken by a man from Boston, whose family consisted, beside himself, of his wife and two little girls. None of [8] this family had heard the story of the Leslies, nor did they hear it until they had been in the cottage for some weeks. ”

“ The dog thumped his tail appreciatively on the rug, and they both went to work staring at the coals again.
[13]
And so they sat on,—Neil solemnly meditative, the General silently sympathetic. It was a good hour later, when Neil’s pipe had burned out, and the dog’s head had drowsily fallen against his shoulder, that Richards heard the elevator bell ring, and a moment after the upward rush of the car. Then, as the elevator stopped at his landing, he heard the voice of old Barker, the janitor, saying, “Yes, sir; Mr. Richards is always in nights now, sir. I am sure you will find him still up. ”

“ Then, finally, Richards raised his head, and quietly said:—
“Miss Howland, I think it would be very wrong for you to marry Bob. As you say, I know him well. He is a fellow with such a wealth of love for those he cares for that if he finds it is not reciprocated he is miserable. Think what a lifetime of it would mean to him. And now, you see, in what I’ve said so far I’ve considered only Bob. I think you also ought to consider yourself. Two lives are involved ”

“ He leaves a daughter, his only child, and, his wife having died several years ago, the sole heir to his vast wealth, which is estimated at millions.”
Like all detectives, Brixton was interested in any story of crime; but just now a case of his own engrossed the larger part of his attention. For some months past the country had been flooded with counterfeit notes, and, although the entire secret service force and the police of all the leading cities had been hunting the counterfeiters, they had made little progress. ”

“ Still others, who were now happily married, hesitated at opening the old wound and endangering their domestic bliss, even for twenty-five thousand dollars; while hardly one but felt some qualms at the thought of openly profiting by an experience that most men hide in the deepest recesses of the heart. ”

“ Yarrow, will you come back at six o’clock this evening? And, Mr. Richald, I shall still have to subject you to my hospitality.”
That evening the lawyer once more entered the superintendent’s room. He found Walton and Richald busily engaged in conversation, and with them was Brixton. “Now we will get to business,” said the superintendent, seating himself at his desk.
Into this company Marsh was called. “In the first place,” said the superintendent, “it may be well to explain that Lawrence Marchburn and the prisoner were brothers.” Turning to Marsh, he said, “Now tell us your story.” ”

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