Daily globe., 1881-07-31

SulJS. HOOr 1cuOW! Lam sorry Tor the
captain now, and never wished him. any
harm; but he got my own temper up, and
our parting words were warm ones. |
came away by the road past the chalk
pits. crossed the fields, came home, and
sat thinking I'LL two in the morning.
"And that is all? Pardon me, Gerald,
do you know anything about a pistol?'
Eyes and no. That is a strong point
against me, and my explanation must
naturally seem weak. Roberts showed
it to me, that pistol, and / cannot deny
that bought it at Tilman's sale last
spring, and had possession of it for long;
but month ago lost it.'
"Whereg''
81 believe it was stolen, and l had a
suspicion that l knew by whom; but it
was only suspicion, and never accused
the man."
"Who was he?'
ga very insignificant person, marine
store dealer I'd had quarrel with years
ago. The pistol was placed in my store
room during some alterations lat the
Lodge, and he was the most frequent and
likely visitor''
"You can prove this? Your house
keeper knows it?''
"No. l did not say anything to her,
except to ask who had been in. The good
old soul is as honest as the day, and would
have worried for weeks.'
Thoughtful as ever! the last person to
make criminal, manslayer! But all
the same, story like this made me still
more grave. To jury such a defense
would seem sadly halting. l went home
and pondered all day bootlessly, pondered
well nigh all night with equal success,
so far as any connected theory went
The inquest and the magisterial inves-
tigation were both held, and the verdict
of each was one of willful mnrder against
| Gerald Myrtlemore.
AS had proposed we had a couple of
! the cleverest London detectives down,
and gave them carte blanche in their
search. But nothing cana of it. In his
heart of hearts each one of them, l YER
| lily believe, sided with the local force and
with the village gossip, thinking that he
| was on wild-goose chase, and that the
walls Of Flinchester prison already
hemmed about the criminal. Neither can
! blame them.
| No further light had come, and not the
vestige of suspicion seemed to cling to
anybody in the wide world but Gerald
| Myrtlemore.
The Flinchester assizes drew near, and
on my shoulders the burden lay heavily.
Gerald's mother, stunned by the blow,
had hurried home from the Continent,
but his brother could not be reached by
the news.
1 had been to London to retain the
ablest advocate I knew, and was coming
down by rail to Pedbury Suddenly, as
sat back in a dark corner of the carriage
thinking-always thinking-what to-day
l can but call an Inspiration flashed upor
me. Side by side with the fact-the ter
rible fact-of that stolen pistol read the
mysterious line in Colonel Trantoh't
pocket book. In letters almost of blooC
it stood before me:
&c. on R. H.-19e-lO.3O, Goth. Imp
Qurr''
In that instant had grasped clew.
In Flinchester jail l once more met my
client, pale, but self possessed as ever
Gerald could tell by my face that hai
news to bring, and great hope beame6
from his eyes and answered mine.
"You-you know something?'
'tI believe, Gerald, / am on the righ
track at last; but before I tell you my
ideas must ask questions again. Yor
suspected marine store dealer of the
theft of your pistol. His name is Richard
Hyles?'
eyes,
"You had had dispute with him
what about?'
ssOh, he assaulted servant, and 1 lee.
tured him; it's an immense while ago.
cit may be that he has never forgiven
tyou."
| 81 do not think he has; but that
'Means to my mind great deal"
And then l told Gerald Myrtlemort
both my suspicion and plans.
had been up to Hollies Hall, and haC
obtained both the fateful red backed
memorandum book and another, semi
| key thereto. For long hours 1 had
studied them side by side, and ample re.
ward had come. The &C. on'' occurred
many times, and stood before the notes
taken in my own office prior to Captain
Tranton's trip northward. 1t was evi-
dently contraction of "called on,' anG
presented little difficulty. The "19S"
construed to mean so. many English
pounds. Over and over again records o1
moneys lent were there in this question
able guise. The s1O3O, GOTH was the
chief link of all. l read it, rightly OF
wrongly remained to be proved, as 1876
IT, NJ, Oct. Goth, the actual day and houl
of the murder. took it to fix an inter.
view with the mysterious 'tR. H." an In.
terview that had taken place and haG
ended in-crime. The 'sImp.,'' accord
ing to the key, meant invariably "Imper-
ative" The aQurr." freely translated
Is Quarreled." The line now stood thus
"Called on r. H-l98 l.-l0.30 p. NJ.
Oct. Observation-Disclosures.
Who was s'R. H."? l strolled out into
the village, and identified those letters
within dozen yards of Ashdale church.
A little, bulging shop, its window
crammed with all sorts of incongruous
goods, had "Richard Hyles'' painted
above it; and, putting my friends story
of the lost weapon and the passionate,
implacable marine-store dealer in con-
nection with these trumpet -tongued
symbols, constructed theory.
"Ah," said Gerald, as the light broke
in on him, too, s'you think Richard Hyles
stole my pistol, borrowed money of Cap
tain Tranton, had row with him, went
up to the Hall after I had left, and-did
the thing!''
''sIt looks very much like it, / shall
put detectives on the scene at once; there
L. L