The Argosy — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

204 THE ARGOSY. ‘“‘Where to?’”’ I asked suddenly. The question took him by surprise, as he had evidently not yet made up his mind. ‘*Stoneham,’’ he finally answered. ‘Dr. Throck,’’ I said seriously, ‘‘we have several questions to put to you yet in regard to that girl. The mystery is so perfectly bewildering that we do not like to relinquish without a hard struggle the only clue we have so far been able to obtain.”’ ‘“ You must excuse me now,”’ he replied hesitatingly ; ‘‘I shall be pleased and happy to help you all I can, but I must not miss my train.’’ I looked at my watch. ‘‘ There is no train north for an hour and a half, doctor. Walk with me to the station house.’’ I started on a step or two as if expecting him to follow without any further demur. He paused, shifted uneasily, looked up and down the street, began an excuse, then abruptly ended it and took his place beside me. We barely spoke on the way. I led him into the private office, fol- lowed by the chief, closed the door, and before he had time to recover his composure, laidmy hand upon his quivering shoulder, looked him squarely in the eyes, and solemnly said : | ‘Dr. Throck, I arrest you for the brutal murder of the woman known as Bella Seaford ! ”’ . His pallid face flushed for an instant, then grew pale as death. His lips trembled as in an effort to speak; his big blue eyes glared like those of a frightened fawn; his knees knocked together like reeds in a storm, and he sank helpless as a baby into the chair beside him. I had arrested him in the very act of fleeing from the hands of outraged justice. ‘There was no doubt of his intentions, as the satchel revealed upon examination. He had gone to the Third National Bank, and drawn out a small amount he had on deposit there, something like a thousand dollars, if I remember correctly, and this money was found in the satchel. A man would not do that if he only contemplated going to Stoneham upon a matter of professional consultation. As I looked back upon his actions in the light of the evidence in my posses- sion, his conduct throughout appeared that of a most cowardly impotent. Without leaving one trace behind him, as he thought, to connect him with _ the murder of the girl, he yet had not the courage to act out the part he had assumed. Instead of assisting me in my investigations, he retarded my progress in various ways, which now appeared to me as utterly childish and idiotic. Had he really the nerve of a man bold enough to perpetrate so foul a crime, why did he not preserve a cool demeanor and a smiling face to the end? His chances of escape would have been infinitely better, for nothing was further from my mind than the idea of connecting Dr. Throck with the murder, when I called to inquire regarding the woman. ‘This reasoning may smack of sadly perverted mortals to some good people, but we detectives like to see a man play his game out. If we go after a desperado we like to land a dangerous villain, not a weak kneed boy, and if we sharpen our wits to catch a daring, cold blooded murderer, we do not like to find him, after all, Eomilcbooks (Eo)