The Man Called Gilray by Fred M. White

With a smile for his folly, Temple began to turn over the offerings contained in his desk. He might find that it was an idle fancy, but he was going on. He was particularly busy just now, he was in arrears in his work and now he was going to waste an hour or so reading some wild rubbish which would not be of the slightest use to himself or anybody else. Undoubtedly his visitor had been a lunatic, and it might have been wise in the long run to have handed him over to the custody of the police. And even in the improbable event of Scaff's story being published, it could not possibly appear in the 'Herald,' for the simple reason that Temple was pledged to return it. Still, the natural curiosity of the journalist spurred him on, and there was just the chance that he might be able to find something decidedly out of the common. He sifted the story presently out of a huge pile of other matter, and sat down to read it.

Really, it was not so bad. The descriptive matter was well done, and the writer showed undoubted powers of observation. Evidently he had seen what he was writing about; and it occurred to Temple that he, too, had been somewhere at one time or other in the same rooms which the writer was describing. This to a certain extent was puzzling, but not unduly so, and the story itself had power. It described the love story of a man and woman who were placed by circumstances in quite different walks of life. Once more Temple had the peculiar feeling that he knew all about this. But he put the idea aside without any question. He had read such a tremendous amount of fiction in his time that doubtless these memories were more or less reminiscent. But presently there came little touches and strokes here and there which caused Temple to push the manuscript aside for a moment and think the matter out. He got a clue, presently, but it was a clue so wild and improbable that he smiled at his own imagination. Once more he began to read, and as he turned over the typed pages the mocking smile died from his lips, and his face grew quite serious.