Chicago (Ill.) -- Fiction; Detective and mystery stories; Extortion -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- Veterans -- Fiction
How many perplexing things seemed to assume a new and easily explained
meaning. "Friend of the POOR"—an appropriate title seen from the
viewpoint of Red schemers. Lucy, a woman close to the soil, her color a
bar to progress, despite her education, would be an easy convert.
Forrester was sure the mystery embraced her at some point, yet Green had
said she could not resist the temptation of displaying her prosperity.
But working fanatically for what she believed a great cause, would
explain it. It was possible that she was the one who collected the money
and passed it on.
And Mary Sturtevant’s part became less blameworthy. Many women of her
class had dabbled in amateur Bolshevism. In her case she had, perhaps,
gone a little too far, and the Red tentacles were reaching out and
seeking to draw her closer. Probably she was making a brave struggle to
free herself and hoping at any moment to win.
But at what point could he begin his attack in the light of this new
development? There must be something more tangible than theories and
fanciful ideas to lay before the police. The responsibility must be laid
upon some one, with facts to back up the accusation. Forrester thought
of Humphrey and his triangulation theory. It seemed as whimsical as
tossing a coin, but Forrester decided to try.
Taking a pad and pencil he first placed a small circle for the oak tree.
His recent speculative conclusions led him to draw a small square for
Lucy’s cottage in its approximate position near the tree. Obviously,
Mary Sturtevant was the next most prominent figure in the case, and with
a mental measurement of the probable location of the house she occupied,
he drew another square. The connecting of these three points with lines
astounded Forrester. He saw that he had an obtuse-angled triangle, _with
Lucy occupying the controlling point_.
However, there must be one or more additional triangles that would
overlap, for Humphrey, in explaining his theory, had said: "At some
point the lines will _cross_."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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