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About The Alliance herald. (Alliance, Box Butte County, Neb.) 1902-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1916)
1 1 1 B FLETQBIEE Ca)idlhir wStiHn A. (Cqes-ie yE Hi "Tike Eotcmdl 5 (Hh IIL,!kEirytilksB0B Edc. The Story of Amaroff The Pole 1 i ...... a i : .. I If . .. Y I HlilV llllllK JOUISCH l.'l Mv'lM nrtw)." tt-riitc tnv uncle." hut 1 call you n silly youun foul." 1 remembered tho s-cnl fin- and t'lo reading 'f it Wl'" 'iioi:;.h, t l.oujrh time has not Mood i ilc since that Septem ber evening of tlio year s)2. From the point of view of Pradford, my undo might be light; hut what did ho know, I argued, of tho higher ideal which I had chosen preferring the de velopment of my artistic sense to the mere accumulation of money that I could not (spend? Where was his joy of life he who spent his days in ihe whirr of wheels and the fog of many chimneys? How could it compare with mine in the iicient peace of the eight 1 eriith century house that lay un der the towers that crowned the an cient idihey lit Westminster? 1 looked iiround me at the delicate tapestries that I had brought from Florence to my London rooms; at the glowing I'r:!",ouards souvenirs of my year of artistic study in Paris; at the Dres den groups redolent of old Saxony. Was 1 the fool or my uncle (leorge? There seemed to me no douht about it. It was plainly uncle George. Vet the letter had unsettled me. I opened the swing doors that led to my ttu.lio, switched on the light, mid stepped from easel to easel, examin ing my half-finished work with a grow ing dissatisfaction. Were they indeed merely the dauhs of a wealthy ama teur? 1 loitered hack to my sitting room in ii sulky depression, and had picked up an art paper, when there came a tapping at the door, and the grizzled head of old Jacob Hendry came peering in. A perfect servant was old Hendry, once sergeant of in fantry, and now a combination of cook, valet, and housemaid, who kept my rooms in spotless order, grilled a steak to a turn, was a fair hand with a needle, ami spent his spare time in producing the most inartistic wood carving 1 have ev r seen. "Well, and what is it?" 1 !. 1; ' him; for he seemed in some hotitaii n. "1 bog your pardon, Mr. 11 illips, sir," he said, 'but- there's a young man would like to see you. A mo.-t respectable young man, sir, as lodges above us on the third floor, but " ''(lo on, Jacob, go on." "The fact is, sir, he's from the Yard." "The Yard! What Yard?" "Scotland Yard, sir, where the de tectives come from." :rV; UW 1 ; I ill -h;.. Vv ' 1? : I ; With Extraordinary Rapidity Took An Imprettion of a Key And where I wish to Heaven they would remain, thought 1. This intrusion was simply insuffer able. I had a mind to refuse the man admittance. " 'Is boots is quite clean," said Jacob, entirely mistaking my hesi tation. "'K 'as wiped 'em on the mat. 1 saw 'im." "Oh, show him in." "The person, sir, of the name of In spector Peace," said Hendry, swinging open the door. He was a tiny slip of a fellow, of about five and thirty years of age. A stubble of brown hair, a hard, clean shaven mouth, and a confident chin such was my impression. Ho took one quick look at me, and then waited, with his eyes on the carpet and his head a trifle tilted over the right shoulder. "I fear that 1 have taken a groat liberty, Mr. Phillips," he said, in a very smooth and civil manner. "lint, I had an idea that you would help me, and time was of importance." "Well, and what is it?" "You have many friends amongst the foreign artists lure in London. You attend their concerts and some times even their little dances. We are near neighbors, you see," he con cluded, with a slight bow, th:.t was at once an apology and an explanation. "I am flattered by the interest you have taken in my movements." "Two hours ago," he continued cheerfully, "a body was found in a passage off Leman street, Stepney a body which we cannot idoiilify. The man was of good position, a sculptor, and, I believe, a Pole. A cab is wait ing at the door. It is late, 1 know, Mr. Phillips; it cannot fail to be a great personal inconvenience; but will you drive down with me ami take n look at him?" "Certainly Hot." lie saw that I considered his pro posal an impertinence, for he hesi tated a moment, regarding mo with an air of depression. "It has stopped raining," he said, "and the cab has most comfortabh cushions. I noticed a fur coat in the hall which can be slipped on in a mo ment. May I fetch it for you?" "You merely Waste time, Mr. Peace," I told him, "1 will have nothing ti do with an affair in which 1 am nowise concerned." "This sculptor may be an acquain tance of your own," he said gravely; "and while we are arguing his mur derers may escape." "Murderers?" "Yes, sir; murderers! The man lias been strangled ami robbed." Tho position was most embarrass ing. Ho asked me to go into a part of London that I had always earefullj avoided. It was sufficient to know that filth, immorality, ami crime exist without personally inspect ing t lie muck heap. Yet there he stood, his head on one side, staring at my toes like ai: inquisitive terrier, and mj' arguments failed before his stolidity. Why had Hendry ever lot him in? I should certr.inly speak to the old rascal about his "Well, Mr. Phillips." "If 1 agree to go, will you see to it that I am not again troubled in this matter?" I answered sulkily enough. "Tor I will not be a witness or a jury man or anything like that, you under stand?" "Certainly. I will see that you an not further molested." "Then, in the name of common sense, let us get it over as quickly ai possible," I said, kicking off my slip pers and ringing the bell for my boots- I'.ig Hen was striking cloven as out hansom trotted down the long Km bankmont with its lights winking on tin rushing tide below. Past tho great restaurants of pleasure, glowing with shaded lamps from the windows of all their balconies; into the silent city where the tall offices of Ihe day laj like deserted palaces under the moon: over macadam, over clattering as phalt, over greasy wood pavement; so we journeyed till of a sudden wi dropped from wealth to destitution, from solitude to babble, from the West to the Kast. Costers bawling their wares under spouting fh.ns, frinrod the sidewalks along which j'stled the I r i.