And standing there, fighting for a grip upon himself,
Jimmie Dale read the message----almost illegible! in places--and then, as
though a strange incredulity, a strange inability to grasp and
understand its import fully, were prompting him, he read it again,
murmuring snatches of it aloud.
"... I did not mean to bring you into the shadows... but there is
another life, not mine, at stake ... I have no right to do anything else
... if I intervened, or gave warning, the evidence that will convict
Clarke's agent, and will convict Clarke through the agent, is lost...
that is why, in spite of all, I am writing this ... do you understand?
... for three nights he disappeared, and somehow, I do not yet know how,
evaded me in the daytime ... no trace, just as I believed I had the man
through whom Clarke is working trapped ... dared not take the chance of
giving up watch for an instant ... did not know about this afternoon
until an hour ago ... too late ... Jathan Lane's murder at the bank ...
Klanner, the janitor of the bank ... very fair hair, scar on left cheek
bone ... worked at night ... under passage from private office ...
blackjack with which murder was done, document and money in Klanner's
room .
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