The Million-Dollar Suitcase   By: Perry Newberry (1870-1938)

BY

ALICE MacGOWAN AND PERRY NEWBERRY

NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1922, by FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

Copyright, 1921, by THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY under the title "Two and Two"

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I WORTH GILBERT 1

II SIGHT UNSEEN 16

III A WEDDING PARTY 27

IV AN APPARITION 45

V AT THE ST. DUNSTAN 57

VI ON THE ROOF 65

VII THE GOLD NUGGET 75

VIII A TIN HORN GAMBLER 87

IX SANTA YSOBEL 101

X A SHADOW IN THE FOG 110

XI THE MISSING DIARY 124

XII A MURDER 137

XIII DR. BOWMAN 147

XIV SEVEN LOST DAYS 155

XV AT DYKEMAN'S OFFICE 164

XVI A LUNCHEON 171

XVII CLEANSING FIRES 181

XVIII THE TORN PAGE 188

XIX ON THE HILL TOP 196

XX AT THE COUNTRY CLUB 209

XXI A MATTER OF TASTE 214

XXII A DINNER INVITATION 225

XXIII A BIT OF SILK 231

XXIV THE MAGNET 240

XXV AN ARREST 250

XXVI MRS. BOWMAN SPEAKS 261

XXVII THE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL 273

XXVIII THE COUNTRY CLUB BALL 293

XXIX UNMASKED 303

XXX A CONFESSION 311

XXXI THE MILLION DOLLAR SUITCASE 320

THE MILLION DOLLAR SUITCASE

CHAPTER I

WORTH GILBERT

On the blank silence that followed my last words, there in the big, dignified room with its Circassian walnut and sound softening rugs, Dykeman, the oldest director, squalled out as though he had been bitten,

"All there is to tell! But it can't be! It isn't possib " His voice cracked, split on the word, and the rest came in an agonized squeak, "A man can't just vanish into thin air!"

"A man!" Knapp, the cashier, echoed. "A suitcase full of money our money can't vanish into thin air in the course of a few hours."

Feverishly they passed the timeworn phrase back and forth; it would have been ludicrous if it hadn't been so deadly serious. Well, money when you come to think of it, is its very existence to such an institution; it was not to be wondered at that the twelve men around the long table in the directors' room of the Van Ness Avenue Savings Bank found this a life or death matter.

"How much ?" began heavy set, heavy voiced old Anson, down at the lower end, but stuck and got no further. There was a smitten look on every face at the contemplation a suitcase could hold so unguessably great a sum expressed in terms of cash and securities.

"We'll have the exact amount in a few moments I've just set them to verifying," President Whipple indicated with a slight backward nod the second and smaller table in the room, where two clerks delved mole like among piles of securities, among greenbacks and yellowbacks bound round with paper collars, and stacks of coin.

The blinds were down, only the table lamps on, and a gooseneck over where the men counted. It put the place all in shadow, and threw out into bolder relief the faces around that board, gray white, denatured, all with the financier's curiously unhuman look. The one fairly cheerful countenance in sight was that of A. G. Cummings, the bank's attorney.