Average Jones

feasible angle. No experience should come amiss to a detective; he should be a pundit of all knowledge. A detective he now frankly considered himself; and the real drudgery of his uniqu

erage Jones picked out the most interesting or unusual human being in any assembly where he found himself, for study and analysis. This man was peculiar in that he alone was not perspiring in the sodden August humidity. The clear-browned skin and the rangy strength of the figure gave him a certain distinction. He held in his

mbarrassing pos

e, regardless of

end. Consultati

Owl Buildin

Jones saw his man drop lightly off. He foll

t your pape

," he said. "Thanks. Perhaps you can

u going

es

ould

rprise appeared on the

ouldn't," he r

our business,"' said Ave

at sort," admitt

onsult with Everbody's Frie

rawled Average Jones, "I wouldn't risk a

er. The keen eyes, flattening almost to slit

glance swept the range of vision and settled upon a r

adway, and, being wise in th

've declared in on my game. Ma

all," replied the other frankly. "And I don't

know

I've made 'em change t

now me. And you

mond ring. Not for ornament; you aren't that sort of a dresser. It's there for, convenience until you can find a place to put it. When a deeply troubled man wears an engagement ring on his watch chain

now I've just

just got in from the Far West and haven't thought to rectify your time. At a venture I'd say you were a mining man from down arou

it had stayed there, al

Eastern college man, I think. Anyway, your father or some older

s the

atch-chain. It's the old metal, antedating the California gold. Did y

51. I'm '89.

s rather a coincidence," he said. "Two of us from the Old Hill.

the small, close-knit old college. Presently, however, Kirby's forehead wrinkled again. He sat

was a mixture of tenderness and bitterness in his tone. "Chance brought that advertisement to her eyes. A hat-pin she'd dropped stuck through it, or something of the sort. Enough for her. Nothing

e Jones drew a card from h

ES, AD

all matters

ert

t Temple 2

re's going to be an advertisement in the Eveni

took the sli

of curious b

night of Aug

alue of stones

o questi

es," commented Average Jones. "The

he case?" return

ok into it," repl

and lunch with me, and I'l

e quiet, old-fashioned Hotel D

Hale. She's a young widow. We've been engaged for six months; were to be married

is chair. "Really, Mr. Kirby, lov

ble; only semiprecious. The devil of it is that they're the subject of an Indian legend. The Indians and Mexicans call them "blue fires," and say they have the power to bind and loose in love. Edna has been out in that country; she's naturally high strung and responsive to that sort of thing, as I told you, and she fairly soaked in all that nonsense. To make it worse, when I sent them to her I wrote that-that-" a dull red surged up under the tan skin-"that as long as the fire in the stones burn

aid Average

om she had never seen. Mother's here, too, on the same floor. Night before last Mrs. Hale thought she heard a noise in her outer r

ad it be

in her sit

ng else

, with over a hundred dollars in it, whic

ave valuables around

stayed at the Denton and sh

thefts in

or with Mrs. Hale saw a fellow acting queerly that same night.

dy interested in the case, was w

at your room?' He didn't even look at me. In a moment he started down the hallway. He walked very fast, and I could hear him muttering to himself. He seemed to be carrying something in front of him with both hands. It was his keys, I suppose. Anyway I could hear it clink. At the end

ed brows of inquiry. Kirby nodded, indi

n dressed?" ask

nd bed-slippers. He was

. Kirby, will you tak

sensitive type of womanhood; her piquant face marred by the evidences of sleeplessn

ld bring us help," she said wistfu

e young man, smiling. "Mr. Kirby tell

efinite roused me; it was rather an impression of some one's being about. I came

ink to look fo

th a little gasp;

appen to hear a clin

N

om he'd put the key up, wou

ming that he

the ball saw him trying it on the other

rs first?" propounded Average Jones. "As for the clinking noise, in

metal setting. The resultant sound was dull and wooden. "Not much of th

get into my room?

e your door

missed the necklace I

morning. But th

been left unsprung so that Mr. Kirby's mother could come in and out o

ever down. There was a click, but the ward failed to slip. At the second attempt the loc

Jones, "I think we may

oor this morning?

ay have done th

Kirby, in a tone which indi

est that he'd escaped by the fire-escape. Presumably he w

curtains which hung before the balcony window. Instea

rn before yesterday?

l people are very, careful i

cending, he tugged tentatively at the other curtain, first with his right hand, then with his left

held in his hand some scrapings of the ru

irby," he said. "Would you

nting particles. "Gold

me violence against the railing. Now,

ing of wagons below kept up for a little while. And I heard

l ring. He turned it around five accurate times and turned it

hat I

, Mrs. Hale's escritoire, and, with an abrupt "

s toil to Mrs. Hale, "this street happens to be the regular cross-town route for the milk that comes over by one of

Hale

, ATTENTION-D

e. Who talked

orning of Aug

ght man. Appl

, Astor Court T

or me-Mrs. Hale can help you, since she has known the hotel people for years-the names of all those who gave up room

is still in the hot

the figure through the smoke is not-" Average Jones broke off, shak

afternoon of August tenth, a lank, husky-voiced teamster called at t

hat twenty,"

Average Jones wi

Guy on the thir

t so

give him a hello. 'Takin' a nip of night a

do any

ack over his shoulder. Meanin' it was too ho

himsel

his hands awkwardly, cupped them

h both

see him

op

s. "You're long on sense and short on w

ain," said the tea

t of the guests who had given u

N. Y., well known to hotel p

er, New Orl

ll; quiet elderly peopl

Locke, N. Y. Middle-

going to hotel for ten years;

Jones went to the Hotel Den

he same floor with Mrs. Hale's suite, at the farther end of the hall. He had only one piece of luggage, a suitcase marked H. M. G. That information I got from the porter. He left

you make

xerted in a peculiar way would have broken it as it was broken

M. Gillespie, of Locke

id Avera

s square jaw f

nry M. Gillespie, of Locke, New York.

ter; just where, the finder couldn't remember. For the second a South Brooklyn pawnbroker demanded (and received) an exorbitant reward. A florist in Greenwich, Connecticut, contributed the last. With that p

ts with the Greenwich Floral Company. His roaming eye, keen for every detail, had noticed a row of tubbed azaleas within the ground enclosure of the Denton. Recalling this to mind, it was easy for the Ad-Visor to surmise that the gem had dropped from the fire-escape into a tub, which was, shortly after, shipped to the florist. Thus it was apparent that the three jewels had be

e formal-minded Kirby as evidences of a wavering intellect. Indeed, they present a curious and incongruous appearanc

MEN! Come th

. What's he don

t and we'll swap

orma

r Court Temple

e medium of Mine Host's Weekly an

by this, of a so

ry Sams, Huma

ral reward to

ateur, with in

l details, ti

urt Temple,

throughout "the profession." Thousands read it, and one answered it. A

Mrs. Hale to-morrow a

re the hour the pair were at Average Jones' office. Kirby fairly pranced with impatience while they were kept waiting in a side room. The only other occupant was a man with

first questions to him were significant of the m

he necklace?" c

the thief?"

the thief," announced Average Jones; "but I

nd it over to him

of thought, which Old Chips used to preach

I ever knew it,

deluding yourself with a name. Because the law, which is always rigid and sometimes stupid, says that a man who takes that which does not belong to him is a thief, you've got your mind fixed

t possible that that decent-looking o

I shall ask you, whatever may occur, to guard your speech

ng me how you figure out a man traveling under an alias and helping hims

. B-Nor take necklaces and leave purses. C-Nor strip gems violently apart and scatter them

ered and nervously acknowledged

night of August sixth at the Hotel Denton and"-he paused for a moment and shifted his

n emotion; startled surprise, for example. "What?" cried Greene

n appeared at the corner

examination; when you came to the Hotel Denton on August sixth, did y

nearly as

gistered under the name

w and strained as he rep

reasons of

es

left the hotel quite early

es

mpels you to trav

es

register und

the other, his

not a

N

itials, H. M. G., on your dress-suit case. But in a small town where you were known, you'd be obliged t

ow you did it," sai

desk Jones produced a piece of

the material, Mr

as the Hotel Denton curt

the curtain rod at the side door. "Now, w

loose, won't i

what it wil

ed from the hoo

curtain was torn partly across, and not

oth hands and tautened it

s a bedpost, exactly like the one in room 168, occupied by Mr. Greene at the D

y in a chair for the tri

it with both h

hold. But there isn't surf

und the post and handed the end to Kirby. He pulled

by. "But it doesn't

rrying something in both hands. The milk driver who hailed him on the balcony noticed that he gestured awkwar

dubiously at Greene, who had been followin

it wouldn't f

kness," sugge

om. I assumed the theory that the phenomena of that night were symptomatic rather than acciden

itials really were H. M

ie's' suitcase. So I sent out loudly printed call to all

HOTEL MEN" advertisem

mall wonder that you use an alias. From the Hotel Carpathia in Boston I got a response more valuable than I had dared to hope. An H.

. It was endless and some twelve feet in total length, and had two small loops

with composure. "I left it because it

Of course when I examined it and found no locks, I guessed that it was

his bed with a trick chain?" questioned Mr

cing a specimen of his advertisements in the theatrical publications, "I set out to find what professional had sold a 'prop', to an amateur. I found the sale had been made at Marsfield, Ohio, late in November of last year, by a 'Slip

is my necklace?"

lace," asserted Greene, with a painful contraction of hi

t night's events after you broke off the bedpost and left your room-t

til I awoke and found my

rby. "Were you as

fighting', crazy in my sleep when I couldn't break away. That's why I slept in my dressing-gown that night at the Denton. There was a red light in the hall outside and any light, parti

"You-er-say that you are-er-peculia

es

which the necklace lay in l

ct ray of an electric globe shi

your eye. You seized on the necklace and carried it out on the fire-escape balcony, where the c

aintest, u

opped it to the groun

stones. If the whole necklace had dropped it would have broken up fine, and more than three stones would have returned to us in reply to the advertisements. And in that case

the balcony," said Kirby. "It w

y the process of exclusion. The necklace didn't fall. It d

ed," she s

ene," added A

eman vehemently, "I haven't se

ake. You may recall, Mr. Greene, that in my message I asked you to pack your suitcas

exception of the conjur

you had on, that night, I ass

I folded it to pack. You see, I-I've had to gi

ess-suit case, drew out the garment and thrust his

d-er-leaning over

he young man, with a swift motion, looped over her shoulders a cha

the time," she exclai

couldn't well be elsewhere-unless on the untenable hy

Kirby soberly, "that evidence m

rage Jones, "that there's no fire, even