ASHTON-KIRK

INVESTIGATOR

BY

John T. McIntyre

Author of "In the Dead of Night," &c.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY
RALPH L. BOYER

PHILADELPHIA
1910

To my Friend
GRANT GIBNEY

INTRODUCTION

Ashton-Kirk, who has solved so many mysteries, is himself something of a problem even to those who know him best. Although young, wealthy, and of high social position, he is nevertheless an indefatigable worker in his chosen field. He smiles when men call him a detective. "No; only an investigator," he says.

He has never courted notoriety; indeed, his life has been more or less secluded. However, let a man do remarkable work in any line and, as Emerson has observed, "the world will make a beaten path to his door."

Those who have found their way to Ashton-Kirk's door have been of many races and interests. Men of science have often been surprised to find him in touch with the latest discoveries, scholars searching among strange tongues and dialects, and others deep in tattered scrolls, ancient tablets and forgotten books have been his frequent visitors. But among them come many who seek his help in solving problems in crime.

"I'm more curious than some other fellows, that's all," is the way he accounts for himself. "If a puzzle is put in front of me I can't rest till I know the answer." At any rate his natural bent has always been to make plain the mysterious; each well hidden step in the perpetration of a crime has always been for him an exciting lure; and to follow a thread, snarled by circumstances or by another intelligence has been, he admits, his chief delight.

There are many strange things to be written of this remarkable man—but this, the case of the numismatist Hume, has been selected as the first because it is one of the simplest, and yet clearly illustrates Ashton-Kirk's peculiar talents. It will also throw some light on the question, often asked, as to how his cases come to him.

A second volume that shows the investigator deep in another mystery, even more intricate and puzzling than this, is entitled "Ashton-Kirk and the Scarlet Scapular."

CONTENTS

I. PENDLETON CALLS UPON ASHTON-KIRK

II. MISS EDYTH VALE STATES HER CASE

III. THE PORTRAITS OF GENERAL WAYNE

IV. STILLMAN'S THEORY

V. STILLMAN ASKS QUESTIONS

VI. ASHTON-KIRK LOOKS ABOUT

VII. THE SCHWARTZ-MICHAEL BAYONET

VIII. THE NEWSPAPERS BEGIN TO PLAY THEIR PART

IX. MISS VALE TELLS WHAT SHE KNOWS

X. ASHTON-KIRK ASKS QUESTIONS

XI. PENDLETON IS VASTLY ENLIGHTENED

XII. ANTONIO SPATOLA APPEARS

XIII. A NEW LIGHT ON ALLAN MORRIS

XIV. MISS VALE UNEXPECTEDLY APPEARS

XV. MISS VALE DEPARTS SUDDENLY

XVI. STEEL AGAINST STEEL

XVII. WHAT HAPPENED ON THE ROAD

XVIII. ASHTON-KIRK TELLS WHY

XIX. THE TWO REPORTS

XX. ONE OF THE OLD SORT

XXI. ASHTON-KIRK BEGINS TO PLAN

XXII. ASHTON-KIRK IS ANNOYED

XXIII. THE SECRET OF THE PORTRAIT

XXIV. THE SECOND NIGHT

XXV. APPROACHING THE FINISH

XXVI. THE FINISH

ILLUSTRATIONS

"JUST AS I THOUGHT"...FRONTISPIECE