Argosy, Vol. 111, No. 1 — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

Yaci Sh (4 ow ? the- Y Carolyn Wells Author of “ Vicky Van,” etc. CHAPTER XV. WISE’S PIPE DREAM. HE mystery was a baffling one. I Je learned from Pennington Wise that he had a pipe dream that. Amory Manning had killed Amos Gately. But, save for the faithful Zizi, he could find no one to share his suspicion. It was too absurd. In the first place, had Man- ning done the deed, he never would have hung around the scene of the crime, as he did, for nearly an hour. I remembered perfectly his demeanor and expression, as I saw him, with Olive Raynor that after- noon. He was deeply concerned, greatly shocked, and most considerate and thought- ful of Olive, but there was no shadow of guilt on his fine, strong face. [had looked at him closely, both during the excitement of the tragedy itself, and later, as we were in the street car, and I noted his grave, serious countenance, but though he seemed puzzled and anxious, there was no mark of Cain on his brow— of that I was confident. I told Wise this, and he listened, duly impressed, but, as he finally owned up, he saw no other way to look. “It wasn’t Rodman,” he asserted; “ that chap is a traitor and a spy, but he’s no murderer. And, too, he was in cahoots with Gately, and the last thing he wanted was to lose his patron. It wasn’t Sadie, of course; she too, wanted Gately alive, not dead. I know the unwillingness of Olive’s guardian to listen to Manning’s suit seems a slight motive, yet where can we find a suspect with a stronger one?”’ “We haven’t as yet,” I returned, “ but there must be people implicated in that spy business—if that’s a true bill against Gately—”’ ‘““Oh, it’s a true bill, all right. Amos Gately was a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Miss Raynor will have to know it sooner or later. She really knows it now, but she won’t let herself believe it.” ‘What about that paper, Zizi took from Sadie Kent?” ‘“‘ That’s what I’m working on. Meet me this afternoon at the Raynor house, and I may be able to tell you.” The big, cheerful library at Olive’s house had come to be our general meeting place of an afternoon. I usually dropped in there about four o’clock, and was pretty sure to find Wise or Rivers or both there. Zizi was a whole vaudeville show herself, and Olive was always cordial and hospitable, Mrs. Vail, too, was a gentle old lady, and I had grown to like her. So, I went, as Wise had suggested, and found him poring over the paper. Looking at it for the first time, I -saw merely a lot of letters, pen-written, and arranged in long rows that ran clear across the sheet. There were perhaps twenty rows or so, and each row held about thirty letters. They were carefully aligned, and evenly spaced, and without doubt, con- tained a hidden message. This story began in The Argosy for July 19. 9 Arcosy 129 Comicloool CO