Adventure Magazine Cover, October 1911 — page 99: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

aaa ks TELL EIT NRE, ‘2 ackesiaag’ haha - Ra Sata amtaRE Dt Id Cae Tae THE DETECTIVE, FOR THE DEFENZE. 1 | | of his face fixed in its cone impassivity,sat in a heavy leather chair in the smoking-room of Croftwith Hall, his muscular hands inter- laced upon his knee, and listened unmoved to the stout, keen-eyed bristly-mustached man who sat opposite. I, leaning my elbow on the polished mahogany, sat on the other side of the table and lent an attentive ear. Two years before the time of which I speak Anson Vokes, one of the best, if not the best man in Scotland Yard, had thrown up his position and an excellent chance of speedy promotion, and had gone in for pri- vate practise. His remarkable powers, his intense application to any case he under- took, and his consequent success had al- ready won for him some celebrity. For several years before he resigned from the force I had counted him among my dearest friends, and had been his com- panion in some of his most important cases, notably that of the Mystery of the Gold- headed Cane which I have elsewhere re- corded. Under a _ sphinx-like impassiveness of countenance and a cool deliberate manner, he concealed a warm heart and generous impulses, and I had come to conceive not only a high admiration for the detective, but a warm affection for the man. Silent almost to a fault, there was one topic alone on which he showed any enthusiasm, and that was the sport of fly-fishing, for which he had a positive mania. Slightly below the middle height, with a beautifully proportioned figure, the embodi- ment of strength in a small compass, and \ (i) BY C LANGTON CLARKE Re Sas See ONT OME PETRIE NE ie as ee with his coal-black hair, waxen complexion, and a pair of brilliant eyes half curtained by drooping lids, he was a man who would attract attention in any circle. It was in response to an urgent telegram from General Warbury, master of Croft- with Hall, that Vokes had come down, at almost an hour’s notice, and, as had been his invariable custom for some time, had invited me to accompany him. Thus it came about that we two sat in General Warbury’s luxuriously appointed smoking- room, waiting for.him to unfold the reason for his hurry call on the services of my friend. “T have sent for you, Mr. Vokes,” said General Warbury, “because I have heard much at different times of your. success in unraveling crime, and I wish to enlist your sympathies—perhaps that is the wrong word, I should have said professional] skill— on behalf of a man at present under a very heavy cloud, but who, I am positively con- vinced, is innocent of the crime with which he is charged. I need hardly say that I refer to what is known as the ‘Variole murder.’ The press from one end of the country to the other has been full of it for the past two days.” “I presumed that it was in connection with this case you had sent for me, Gen- eral,” replied Vokes. ‘‘I have read some of the press accounts, but I have been very busy on an important case which I have just brought to a conclusion, and I have had little time for anything else. I know the main facts—that Mr. Almaric Variole was found dead in his own woods with a bullet- hole in his forehead; that he has been on 9 1045 COmiclbook 5}