The Argosy, January 1907 — page 192: what you’re looking at

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

374 seems to be only one hypothesis: Some- body or other is engaged on some sort of business deal which keeps him travel- ing, and he appears to be eminently suc- cessful. I figure that he has made about fifty-seven thousand dollars in some two weeks.” “That seems to be about the only con- struction we can put upon it. Jiminy! 1 wish he’d let us in on the ground floor!” ‘“Same here!” Jordan responded la- conically. ‘‘ However, that isn’t exactly the point. Why the deuce is he report- ing his successes to me?” ‘“And why does he put a double x in the corner of each of his envelopes, my boy?” “"That’s the other problem. [Vy is ite?” “Tommy,” said Bridger, “I don’t know!” “And you're not going to make any effort to study it out?” asked Jordan, with a trace of disappointment in his voice. Bridger laughed. “Tl try, Tommy, but I must say that I can’t see any particular: line of work except to assume the fact that the fellow ‘ F,’ whoever he may be, has made a mistake.” “Harmon P. Jordan doctor. “That’s true—and every letter is in place, too,” replied Bridger. ‘ There doesn’t seem to have been any error in the name, does there? ”’ “ Not a sign of one—and the street and number are perfectly correct as well.” . “Aha!” Bridger stared at the table. “ Well, then, about all we can do is to settle upon the identity of ‘F.’ You say that you know nobody of that-initial?” ‘c No.” exe “Think hard, Tom.” “IT have been thinking hard—as hard as ever I could. It’s no use. I haven’t a friend’ whose name begins with /.” “How about business connections, then?” ‘ Haven’t any.” “You never dabbled in stocks or any- thing of that sort?” ‘Never in my life. Why?” ‘“T had thought that there was a bare >, 7? quoted the THE ARGOSY. possibility that this might be some chap with whom you had done business, and that in this deal, whatever it-may be, he had tangled you up with somebody or other for whom he is acting at the pres- ent time.” ‘“A man who appears to be capable of taking in several thousand daily would hardly be so utterly absent-minded.” “ Very true that. Um—vwell, there is, of course, a faint chance that this might be a salesman whose orders Bosh, no! That would never jibe either, would it?” ra 4 No.”’ Bridger frowned in perplexity. ‘Here’s another idea, Tom. Have you-—have you ever had a patient whose name began with f—some one whose mind was affected?” “ Not that I recall. Why?” ‘Because the hallucination of great wealth isn’t so very uncommon, and this might easily enough be some poor mortal you have treated in the past and who be- lieves that he is making a fortune for you now.” After a moment of consideration, Jor- dan’s head shook slowly. ‘“No—no use. I’ve had such people to do with in the hospitals, but I have never had a patient with that particular afflic- tion, Dick. Try again.” The detective regarded him quizzically. “Try again, eh? What do you take me for—a sort of inspired maker of theories? Detective work isn’t guess- work, Tom. One has to have some sort of foundation for any structure.” ‘Nevertheless, can’t you make an- other guess at——” “No! Here somebody signing him- self ‘F’ takes it into his head to mail you a series of letters from various parts of the country. He speaks about things going beautifully, and mentions thou- sands very glibly. You certainly know more about your acquaintances and af- fairs than I do, and yet you haven’t the vestige of an idea as to who ‘ F’’ is and what he’s talking about. How the dick- ens can you expect me to hand you out the answer?” “But you told me once upon a time that all mysteries were capable of being figured out, my boy.” ‘So they are, if you’ve got anything (e(0) DOO AMG cS) (E@)