The Argosy, August 1905 — page 202: what you’re looking at

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

I was thinking deeply, as is my habit when confronted by anything myste- rious, when I felt a stealthy clutch at my arm. : “Sh!” whispered the policeman. * He’s somewhere else! ” Of all the absurd declarations I ever heard, that was the worst. Of course he was somewhere else. But why had he left everything in the library just as it was Tuesday afternoon when I was last in town? The light—well, now, do you know, that was the first 1 had thought of my leaving the gas lighted that after- noon after I had got through with Rabe- lais. : There was a translation and an old original, worth enough to tempt any burglar, lying on the table. No one can ever tell me again that any one can have a mind capable of remembering trifling details. I had completely for- gotten my lighting the gas instead of taking the trouble to open the shutters for light. I did not like to tell the policeman of my mistake, so when he proposed that we search further for the burglar I readily assented. The dining-room was our first objec- tive point. When we entered and hghted the gas, a scene of utmost confusion presenied itself. The sideboard drawers were pulled out and everything was in heaps upon the floor, and the silverware was strewn about the table. Then there had been a burglar! “Skeart off,’ laconically remarked the policeman, picking up a bottle of testing acid. Well, to make a long story short, we hunted all over that house, but could find no other trace of the robber. Nothing had been stolen, and the burglar had been nowhere excepi in the dining-room. This morning I found a partial expla- THE ARGOSY. nation of the mystery in the newspaper. Here it is: CONFESSES MANY BURGLARIES. TENDERLOIN POLICE MAKH IMPORTANT CAP- TURE. The police of the Tenderloin station arrested a man last night, who, after getting the Third Degree, confessed to haying robbed several Fifth Avenue man- sions. The burglaries, at the time of their commission, were great mysteries. The police believe the man committed many more than he has confessed to. Among the latter’ was the mysterious burglary in the Flacker home in lower Fifth Avenue. The man said he was passing the house, bent upon another job, when he saw the door open. He en- tered and had just begun his work when he was frightened away by a terrific crash in the hall. He waited a moment, and heard two persons mount the stairs, and then fled by the way he had come. 1¢ will be remembered that the last case caused considerable comment at the time. Why, yes, I might have left the door open when I went out after the police, I do not remember now. But note how that barricade of mine frightened away ‘the thief before he had an opportunity to steal anything. Still, with all my hard thought upon it, and with all my analytical ability, I am unable to explain what made that light disappear. Yes, it might—why, of course it did —strange I never thought about that. Don’t you see? When I took off my shoes I stepped down one stair, and it seemed as though the light disappeared. And then every time we moved up or down there on the stairway it would ap- pear and disappear, as the crack under the library door came in range or out. I knew I'd think of a solution in time. Pm now all ready for my next burglar, for there was one, you see, after all. JOY. Joys have three stages, Hoping, Having, and Had. ¢ t =< te,” “eK, = ul am F = ee. # > ee oe ill a f -. ag? The hands of Hope are empty, and the heart of Having is sad ; _ For the joy we take in the taking dies, and the joy we Had is its Now, which is the better—the joy unknown or ihe ghost. + the joy we | psed 2 * ae. — ~. = < comicbooks.com