Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

By LYON MEARSON bai ) aE i } Author of ‘* The Lost Hour,’’ etc. WHAT HAS OCCURRED IN PART 1 AL MORLEY, a wealthy young man, buys one of two bundles of books sold by a beautiful girl in poor circumstances to Mat Masterson, a book dealer. In a Bible he finds written “ Jessica Pomeroy.” a ten thousand dollar bank note. That night he dreams uneasily of a man without hands. awaking, he finds that he has been chloroformed and the books have been stolen. to the book store, he finds Masterson murdered and the second bundle of books gone. He hopes to learn her name. He is startled to discover. in the same book On Returning Through the files of a-newspaper he discovers Jessica Pomeroy is the daughter of a rich horse owner who died a year before. Locating her, he gives her the ten thousand dollar bill. As he leaves, after arranging to take her to dinner, a man without hands enters the apartment. CHAPTER IX. FREDDY TALKS. AL ordered Eddie to drive to the V University Club and settled back on the cushions to discuss with him- self this further aspect of the affair. This man without hands! Val was free to admit to himself that he did not like him, nor any part of him. There was some- thing sinister about him that repelled, yet held him with an air of hazy mystery. So it had been no dream, this vision he had had of an intruder whose arms ended in Stumpy, sawed-off wrists. He had actually been in Val’s bedroom — in fact, he had stolen the books from him. Ah, yes, the books. Val permitted him- self to consider them for an instant. Evi- dently they held the explanation of all this mystery. Everything seemed to revolve about them. A man is killed in order that they might be recovered. Another man is drugged to sleep and the books removed from his room. ‘There must be a powerful motive concealed behind such develop- This story began in the Argosy-Allstory Weekly for August 25. 40 COMMicooolk (S@)