home for chri stmas t eaving the opera house on a night of whirling december snow young mr fichester turned up his col lar against the storm and pushed his way through the crowd to the nearest comer where a taxi might be less dif ficult to find suddenly it occurred to him that he was hungry and there rose before him the vision of a snug little waffle shop only a block away it had been months since he had vis ited the place but it still existed as he seated himself he glanced at his watch it was exactly midnight waffles and little pig sausages he told the waiter and a pot of tea at one oclock or thereabouts when he had dawdled over a newspaper and consumed a good many cigarettes he resumed his homeward trek the streets were all but deserted now for the storm had increased it was get ting steadily worse the snow now awept the city in blinding sheets it was beginning to hillock in doorways and in the gutters it was powdery and dry however and not too cold and fichester pushed through it to the first intersection not a cab was in sight and as he reached the corner a trolley bus was just pulling away its troiey sparking furiously along the snowy wire the lord only knew when there would be another he stepped into a doorway out of the gusts shook the snow from his garments lit a cigarette and did a brief war dance in his confinement the minutes began to pass he strained his eyes into the white smother he strained his ears for the sound of clanking tire chains but he was alone in a world of snow that seemed always to have existed and that threatened to last forever with a decisive gesture he tossed his cig arette into the street and turned in the direction of the nearest el sta tion at the same instant there was a sound in the distance he stopped and listened- it was not a vehicle and in a minute he knew that it was some one approaching in the whirl of snow some belated traveler like himself perhaps cursing the dearth of taxi- cabs a hundred feet away was the waffle shop its window lights at tempting to pierce the white obscur ity a moment later a slim figure flickered into the area of light and fichester realized that the newcomer was a girl what was it she was carrying she was bent almost double against the storm yet she was struggling with an by vincent starrett a memorable new tale by the famous creator of jimmie lavender poet essayist and prosemaster whose stories appear in many anthologies unwieldy burden that threatened con stantly to capsize her a number of times in the space of a few feet she lipped and recovered herself as she was about to pass him fichester stepped forward and spoke i beg your pardon he said but can i cant i she had been unconscious of his presence and with a litle cry she dropped her clumsy burden in the snow and leaned against the stone pillar of a neighboring building im sorry said fichester for give me he stooped and lifted the curious object she had dropped it was heavy and awkward about the size and weight of a typewriter he thought end 11 was swathed in heavy wrap ping paper that had begun to tear in several places a gust of wind turned back one of the corners revealing some sort of mahogany box what under the sun thought fichester aloud he said again im sorry her voice was low and pleasant thank you she smiled a bit breathlessly and retrieved her burden its a music box she explained i couldnt find a cab and i was trying to get to the el station perhaps i can help mid fichest er and added dont mind me im a newspaperman accustomed to ac costing strangers in the snow at he glanced at his watch at half past one in the morning a few days before christmas do you go north as far as the park she agreed im sure therell be a bus along in a few minutes you are more confident than i tin said fichester he smiled she waa immensely attractive perhaps twentyfive why the devil hadnt he sent the thing home by express or something it was a wild night and a strange hour to be wandering about the chicago loop with a king size music box but it was none of his business of course however she was right about the bus it did come along in a few min utes lumbering out of a whirl of snow like a drugstore coming up out of the sea it cast anchor beside them and fichester helped her aboard thank you again she said as he handed her unwieldy burden up to her and that was all the door closed in his face as he stood for a moment in indecision hey cried young mr fichester but the bus was gone and he was alone again in the snow and then the gods bejgan to hurl taxicabs at him or so it seemed actually there were only two h hailed the first where to asked the driver where to indeed just follow that bus driver until i tell you to stop ordered fichester i want to see everybody who gets off all that was on a saturday night and as usual the next day was sunday it was monday morning be fore jimmie lavender was called into the curious investigation that led him ultimately to the story of young mr ficheslers adventure what i have written above came to us some time after the fact of course the case began with a telephone call about ten oclock monday morn ing we taxied to the anderson gal leries as requested and asked for mr nazareth also as requested it ap peared that a valuable museum piece had disappeared a historic music box once said to have been the property of the empress elizabeth of austria all we know is that it has van ished said mr nazareth it was here when we locked our doors on saturday it was not here this morn ing i have a photograph of it if you think it will aid you he tossed the photograph across his desk and jimmie lavender studied it with interest it was about half the size of the thing itself we were told a handsome mahogany toy that once perhaps had played ach rfw licbcr augustin to an empress without being priceless it was worth a pretty penny i supposed you havent notified the police said lavender he produced the clock from his locker a little gilded thing not much bigger than a watch that fairly reeked of femininity and the dressing table i have not and i dont want to the less publicity there is right now the better our reputation is at stake the box has been on exhibition here for a week it was to have been sold at auction in february then we have more than a month in which to recover it it isnt yours it belonged to mr alexander ca- baness the collector on his death it passed to his son and on the death of his son it was ordered to auction some cousins are the only other heirs they would have benefited by its sale but that is all we havent notified them either not yet anyway wed rather not unless we have to you have carte blanche of course that was the way the case began and if we had then known what fi chester was later to tell us a lot of time and worry would have been saved of course said lavender when we had toured the two floors occupied by the galleries a number of things are obvious it is apparent the thief did not break in for instance in ef fect he broke out he was here when the galleries closed on saturday hid den in some obscure nook and he emerged when the coast was clear he left by the side door into the cor ridor of the main building what does your night watchman say there are two night watchmen our own and the building watchman our own watchman does not leave these premises the watchman for the build ing usually sits in a chair near the elevators not far from our door in the corridor jimmie lavender nodded but both watchmen have their duties and their habits which would be known to the thief you have two floors here con nected by an interior stairway and your own man does not remain in one spot the building watchman has his rounds to make at stated intervals the thief waited his time and when the disappearance of both watchmen coincided he let himself out into the corridor and so out of the building which is open all night it was simple enough but not that simple nazareth de murred our man has his orders he does not visit the upper floor after the doors are locked he is constantly here where he can see everything that goes on then he disobeyed his orders said lavender coolly however i suppose he has some discretionary powers if he heard a noise on your second floor he would be allowed to investi gate of course very well then he heard a noise whatever it was it was arranged what does he say himself you can ask him that yourself we held him here for you my part ner mr wells opened up this morn ing and kennedy thats the watch man had nothing to report it was mr wells who noticed that the music box was missing you have no reason to suspect any of your own people we have trusted them for years nazareth shrugged they are all here for you totalk to f enou saict lavender lets see what kennedy can tell us and the watchman was brought in he looked honest enough to me but not particularly bright lavender smiled reassuringly j have only one question for you ken nedy what called you upstairs sat- urday night a sound of some sort the watchman stared at him blank ly then banged an enormous right fist into his left palm by god he swore how did you know that sir then it was a noise it was sir and i cant explain it yet i know what it was but i cant figure it at all it happened some time after midnight sunday morning i was sitting in my chair there near the front door where i could watch the people in the street when i heard a telephone ringing thats what i thought it was anyway and it was upstairs on the crc floor a tele phone where there aint any it was a bell though it was a bell sir and i hustled i up them stairs as fast as i could make it it had stopped ringing be fore i really started and when i got there in the dark of course there wasnt a sound i had my torch with me and i went all over the place at first i couldnt find anything then in one of the back coiners behind a pile of canvasses there it was it was an alarm clock sir ticking away like a little mouse delightful said jimmie laven der what a charming touch the eyes of messrs nazareth and wells were popping their mouths had fallen open what did you think then asked jimmie lavender what could i think i thought some damn fool girl begging your pardon had brought her clock to the office and hid it there one of the stenographers maybe some of them cant see the office clock from where they sit why didnt you report this to mr wells when he arrived this morning the question came coldly from the senior partner so help me sir i never thought of it you see there was all of sun day after that and it just slipped my mind he produced the clock from his locker a little gilded thing not much bigger than a watch that fairly reeked of femininity and the dressing table illustrations by a s packer it was now tuesday morning and little it seemed to me had been ac complished the feminine staff at the anderson gallties in lavenders opinion were almost certainly in the clear somebody i said looking up from the gossip column in the morning herald has his own way of seeking or avoiding publicity as the case may be these newspaper paragraphs are a scream how do you like this i read the paragraph aloud if the young lady who struggled home through a recent blizzard with a juke box of old records will communicate with this department she will not be sorry lavender pricked up his ears juke box he echoed and reached for the paper a moment later he reached for the telephone in less than a minute miraculously enough he was talking with cornelia crane of the morning herald miss crane he said when he had introduced himself your column this morning contains a line that has in terested me deeply i suppose you are sworn to secrecy about the young lady who struggled home with a juke box but it would be a great favor to me if you could tell me her name the fact is i beg your pardon you what you dont know her name oh dear then perhaps you can tell me where you got your information he listened eagerly for a minute one of your reporters i sec well he appears to be seeking information himself perhaps i can help him he listened again not really i wonder if you could put him on and now the narrative comes around to the point where i began it that evening after dinner there was young mr fichester a friendly youngster sitting in our best chair telling us what he had to tell us taken with what we already knew it was con siderable his blue eyes were dancing with excitement his impudent in quiry had borne fruit but his fairy tale was turning into a story of crime and detection i dont believe shes a crook mr lavender he said obstinately shes the girl who stole that music box however said jimmie lavender what a pity you didnt ask her name did she know you followed her i dont think so anyway i can lead you right to the house very well agreed lavender what are we waiting for it was an oldfashioned house on what chicago calls the near north side a darkish place even in sunlight i should imagine somewhere inside a dim light was burning a christ mas wreith hung in the front window thin wisps of smoke from several chimneys curled in the gusty cold snow crunched under us as we climbed the steps and confronted an antique knocker we waited impatiently while someone toiled creakingly down a staircase inside the door was opened by an old woman we would like to have a word with the young lady who is staying with you said lavender with his most deferential bdw the old womans lips creased in a mirthless smile that was intended to be gracious shes gone replied the apparition in the doorway surely not permanently com mented my friend in the winning voice he reserved for old women shes gone for good im afraid if anybody called i was to tell them that she expected a call then a young man might call she said this young man she indicated the astonished fichester so the girl had noticed him outside the house that night the old womans eyes were remarkably keen and bright in the semidarkness i thought she took her belongings with her when was that on monday said the old woman i was sorry to lose her we are sorry to have missed her smiled lavender since we cant see the young lady herself perhaps we might look at her room he showed her his badge we are detectives of course the woman accepted the statement without curiosity i was afraid there was something odd about her she commented she was almost too goodlooking to be straight come in gentlemen there is only me and my sister here two old women che led the way to a flight of steps up which she plodded ahead of us without a backward glance a dim light burned in the upper hall but for the most part the place was in darkness then we crossed a threshold and another light was snapped on in an empty bedroom look around said the old woman hospitably look all through the house if you like my sister and 1 are honest women i am sure of it responded laven der politely what was your room ers name he asked suddenly it was a funny name said the old woman it was cabaness i was to tell you that too if you called she stopped abruptly with a gesture of dismay somewhere in the depths of the house a thin sweet music had begun a ghostlike tinkle of melouy that even i recognized it was heilige nacht a shouting silence followed save for the trickle of music we stood motionless until the old song had ended then jimmie lavender smiled thank you miss cabaness he said and now if we may see your sister well try not to be too tiresome about this miserable business arua- she explained its a music box i couldnt find a cab and i was trying to get to the el station i was afraid you had unmasked me she said if you can defer the arrest until after christmas i would appreciate it she gestured recklessly and in an instant was no longer an old woman the shawl she had worn about her head was thrown aside the hair that had hung about her eyes was pushed back and at the same moment fich ester said good lord in such a voice that helpless laughter overcame the rest of us phats much better agreed lav- ender we were getting too melodramatic all of us your clever ness at the galleries was remarkable but your management of events to night was less adept you are an ac tress are you not i am an expert at makeup myself and you didnt baffle me for an instant i knew you were a fraud even before your sister inad- ventently turned on the music shes not my sister shes my mother and shes a little deaf i doubt if she even knew you were here lavender was surprised you are not the cousins who are the heirs to the cabaness estate oh no their name is ellis and they live in nova scotia or is it new zealand weve never met them ours is another branch of the family the old womans lips creased in a mirthless smile shes gone replied the apparition in the doorway but mother was a favorite with old mr cabaness the collector when she was a child she of ten played the music box in his home and once he gave it to her it was always his in tention that she should have it thats why you stole it said lav ender of course this may be mothers last christmas and she wanted to hear those old songs again i knew the galleries with an important auc tion coming up would never lend it so i stole it and now what are you going to do with me nothing said jimmie lavender im not a policeman you may have to return the music box of course i could do it for you anonymously by express but not till after christmas she insisted young mr fichester entered the conversation with a rush why re turn it at all he asked belligerently he looked at laura cabaness no body knows whos got it and it be longs to your mother anyway you can bet those cousins in new bruns wick never heard of it mr nazareth of the anderson gal lons has heard of it ln ender re minded him three rousing jeers foi mr naz areth said fichester truculently if i cant handle mr nazareth im not much of a police reporter possibly i can help yni peis le him said laveiuier hes not a bad fellow really it was at this point that charie gilruth to wit myself was suddenly inspired invite him here for christmas and tell him the whole story i suggested not bad said jimmie lavender and ill sec that he comes ill tell him ive found the music box if hes small enough to take it away let him have it that means ill have to come too of course laura cabaness gestured recklessly its a big house she said and im only a poor actiess but why dont you all come mother will be delighted and my brother is sending me a tur key from wisconsin so it was arranged and i think we all remember it as one of the happiest chrislmases in our lives even mr nazareth after all the music box was not his and he lost only a small commission lavender joked with him on that score and congratulated him on his sportsmanship mr nazareth spread his hands and shrugged in a single characteristic movement am i a scrooge he asked of no body in particular o 1558 vincent stirrett distributed by king features syndicate