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coveries, 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."
CHAPTER 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