ound myself confronting
one of those intricate problems which every lawyer has sometimes to
untangle.
Reciprocally, Godfrey sometimes sought my assistance; but, of course,
it was only with a very few of his cases that I had any personal
connection. The others I had to be content to follow, as the general
public did, in the columns of the Record, certain that it would be the
first to reach the goal. Godfrey had a peculiar advantage over the
other police reporters in that he had himself, years before, been a
member of the detective force, and had very carefully fostered and
extended the friendships made at that time. He was looked on rather as
an insider, and he was always scrupulously careful to give the members
of the force every bit of credit they deserved--sometimes considerably
more than they deserved.
In consequence, he had the entree at times when other reporters were
rigorously barred.
It was nearly eleven o'clock before Godfrey arrived that evening, but
I was neither surprised nor impatient. I knew how many and unexpected
were the demands upon his time; and I always found a lively interest
in watching the comings and goings at the station across the
way--where, alas, the entrances far exceeded the exits! But finally, a
car swung in from the Avenue at a speed that drew my eyes, and I saw
that Godfrey was driving it.
"Jump in," he said, pushing out his clutch and pausing at the curb;
and as I grabbed my suit-case and sprang to the seat beside him, he
let the clutch in again and we were off. "No time to lose," he added,
as he changed into high, and turned up Seventh Avenue.
At the park, he turned westward to the Circle, and then northward
again out Amsterdam Avenue. There was little traffic, and we were soon
skimming along at a speed which made me watch the cross-streets
fearfully. In a few minutes we were across the Harlem and running
northward along the uninteresting streets beyond. At this moment, it
occurred to me that Godfrey was behaving singularly as though he were
hastening to keep an appointment; but I judged it best not to
distract his attention from the street before us, and restrained the
question which rose to my lips.
At last, the built-up portion of the town was left behind; we passed
little houses in little yards, then meadows and gardens and strips of
woodland, with a house only here and there. We were no longer on a
paved street, but on a macadam road--a road apparently little used,
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