The Gold Bag | Page 3

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This Etext prepared by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer.

THE GOLD BAG

by CAROLYN WELLS

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. THE CRIME IN WEST SEDGWICK
II. THE CRAWFORD HOUSE
III. THE CORONER'S JURY
IV. THE INQUEST
V. FLORENCE LLOYD
VI. THE GOLD BAG
VII. YELLOW ROSES
VIII. FURTHER INQUIRY
IX. THE TWELFTH ROSE
X. THE WILL
XI. LOUIS'S STORY
XII. LOUIS'S CONFESSION
XIII. MISS LLOYD'S CONFIDENCE
XIV. MR. PORTER'S VIEWS.
XV. THE PHOTOGRAPH EXPLAINED
XVI. A CALL ON MRS. PURVIS
XVII. THE OWNER OF THE GOLD BAG

XVIII. IN MR. GOODRICH'S OFFICE
XIX. THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN
XX. FLEMING STONE
XXI. THE DISCLOSURE

THE GOLD BAG

I
THE CRIME IN WEST SEDGWICK
Though a young detective, I am not entirely an inexperienced one, and
I have several fairly successful investigations to my credit on the
records of the Central Office.
The Chief said to me one day: "Burroughs, if there's a mystery to be
unravelled; I'd rather put it in your hands than to trust it to any other
man on the force.
"Because," he went on, "you go about it scientifically, and you never
jump at conclusions, or accept them, until they're indubitably
warranted."
I declared myself duly grateful for the Chief's kind words, but I was
secretly a bit chagrined. A detective's ambition is to be, considered
capable of jumping at conclusions, only the conclusions must always
prove to be correct ones.
But though I am an earnest and painstaking worker, though my habits
are methodical and systematic, and though I am indefatigably patient
and persevering, I can never make those brilliant deductions from
seemingly unimportant clues that Fleming Stone can. He holds that it is
nothing but observation and logical inference, but to me it is little short
of clairvoyance.
The smallest detail in the way of evidence immediately connotes in his
mind some important fact that is indisputable, but which would never
have occurred to me. I suppose this is largely a natural bent of his brain,
for I have not yet been able to achieve it, either by study or experience.
Of course I can deduce some facts, and my colleagues