Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-05-23

door. Among them were one or two of Park.
| mans clerks looking unlike themselves, and
one or two policemen unable to look anything
.What is upr' he asked lightly; but though
they all seemed to be looking at him, no one
said audibly, "that is Mr.. Crisp!' and strange
| voice answered emphatfcally. shat is the
man!' This seemed to cause a sensation amid
| which short stout person with q blunt hearty
| voice and a humorous eye pushed through the
group and SAID, "this way, sir, please" in a
What in the world is the natter" asked
Crisp, Dr.. o. 49,.
ms sS up n Mr. And
thought an odd fashion. and so led him up, and
swiftly through the clerks office, which was
half full of staring gapers, and into the junior
partners room.
Crisp looked round him in utter bewider-
pale and agitated. BY the window two gentle
men were talking. At the table, apparently
WATSON" said his conductor, shutting the
door firmly behind them, lido you take himr'
he seemed to busy himself with an old Joe
Miller, so very facetious that it rendered him
| obiivious to all going on around him.
| While Crisp stood looking from one to the
other, the superintendent rose abruptly and
stepped close to him. "Mine is painful bust
ness, sir. You are Mr.. Ernest Crisp, think?"
L
| put the police in motion in the matter OF that
little discrepancy in his accounts; but single
| glance at MIR. Parkmans pale, sympathiZing
face sufficed to dispose of that. ayes" he said,
II am. That is my name"
aou or not then that
afternoon. The cashier, Mr.. Critchlow, has been
found dead in his office, stabbed to the heart
"Mr. Critchlow,' the head clerk whispered
with white shaking lips:
| no m n
that must take you into custody on suspicion;
must warn you too Mr.. Crisp, that anything
ION Saturday afternoon Crisp muttered in
awed accents, looking around him with eyes
that DID not see. "But what-why ain sus-
"All that you will hear at the Mansion House.
l am anxious to take you there at once and
sibe. . '''e oi'p'eaS''neSS % '0uf'eA ''S p'S
at is a mere formality, Crisp" Mr.. Park man
tSr 5mf
say how perfectly ridiculous your conduct for
years years makes this charge appear" .,
"Thank you, sir" he said
Perhaps you will let yourself be searched
quiescence, and did not finch when the opera "a
ton began. But the first articles to appear were
two keys; The policeman looked carelessly at
the f1rst' but his face lit up wonderfully as he
This is the missing key!' he exclaimed. and
thrill OF Intelligence seemed to pass round the
"That key said Crisp, still bewildered and
graphing with the memory of things which
the key of Mr.. CritcR@H he stopped with trem,
bling lips. He had gone SO far unthnking: and
across his mind. He remembered ali that the
presence of that key upon him, all that the
words ne had uttered might mean for him.
The room began to go round, visions of Ethel
and Mr.. Critchlow SWAIN before his eyes Amid
an appalling silence, which had greeted his
words, he fell to the floor in a dead faint.
save It's owners and the short stout man. 81 can
not believe it nOw,' Mr.. Parkman was saying,
land yet the key!-the key! How can he
plain that? How can he explain that?'
You remember, sir, told you it was a pretty
| clear case?" answered the detective-for such he
was. and a well-known one.
You did, and did not believe you, ;" the mer-
chant answered with groan. He was very
greatly distressed, and no wonder.
well, sir, I'm inclined to think that you
| ed dryly.
'Eh! Less clear now, inspector? But the
ut is the key, and another matter or two. that
puzzle me, the man answered thoughttully.
stupid things, sir? There that nurse who
strangled her patient and then could not refrain
from laying her outo Yes, quite so. But
never heard of a murderer carrying a proof
against himself in his pocket, and that proof Il
thing he had no motive for keeping and every
1t almost seemed as if the merchant i'm his in
terest In the puzzle thus presented TO him for
"But,'' he suggested, ''it was very likely sheer
carelessness. Its discovery you could see was IA
terrible shock to him"
quite true, sir, the detective said
And the female who. ii the policeman is to
be believed, was with him--if You could get u
clue to her, she might clear it all up.
Il hope she may, the man answered coolly
Tor nave not only got the clue to her. shall
see her to-day don't think there can be any
from a large pocl<ctbook which ne produced a
tiny newspaper cutting. Mr. ParI,nan looked
at 1t with IL face OF great amazenent. 1t read
thus:
''GL vGsvO NZRMGIvv sLFHv sRTsTZGv Nvvl;
Nv wvZIvHG zG II xszMTv zoovB ZG ULFI
GLNDIILD YB GszG GRNv RDROo sZEv IHw
NBHVOU LIZ LII DLIHG WINNIE BLFI OLEKMT
vIMvHG."
But this is gbberish. the merchant said,
after turning it over.
NO, not gibberish,' the detective answered,
wondering thatsuc man should know so lit
tie of such subject, "only cipher. and the
easiest sic that exists, sincerely a transposition
here is my translation. l may add that the adj
y vel appeared in the Standard Of last
The translation ran as follows:
TO Ethel Ma!ntree House. Highgate,
"Meet me dearest, at Il Change Alley, at four
by that time will have rid myself of our
""fs oo edhey cried tho iovIng
with excitement. "He is lost /! This is almost
conclusive evidence. 1 don't know-good
this
"Umph!" the detective said. ''This adver-
tisement Is another thing which had not when
! gave You my opinion this morning" He said
1t meaningly, and paused as if expecting to be
questioned. But Mr.. Parkman had not marked
the drift of his last words, and let them pass
unchalienged.
Shortly afterward the merchant pale but col
iected, had to be present at the Lords Mayors
inquiry at the justice room of the Mansion
House. We need not attend him thither for
only such evidence was taken as would Justify
remand, ana the reader can guess what that
was Inc policeman was examined who mad
seen Crisp go into the house on the SATURDAY.
afternoon, and had likewise seen him a little
later, each time in company with a lady. Then
the superintendent of Police produced the kew
found upon the prisoner and proved that it
was the key of Mr.. Critchlows Office the door
OF which was found locked upon the outside
Ana two or Parkmans clerks reluctantly de-
Scfioed the bad terms upon which the prisoner
and deceased were, and the quasi threat with
which the former had left Critchlow upon the
last occasion, when the cashier was SO far as
could be proved, seen alive by any one except
the murderer. This amply suificed: and Ernest
Crisp, clerk, was formally remanded-bail being
OF course refuSed-until the following Thursday
upon the charge of wilful murder The in
quest opened the same day, was adjourned to
await the result of the magisterial inquiry.
CHAPTER w.
"a clergyman to see Miss Maunder? T will
see him first myself said Miss Maintree in her
stlf1eSt tone. She was the principal of the Main
Tree mousse seminary, the prOpriety of which was
SO rigid that no letters were permitted to be re-
cefved by pupils or gOvernesses, save such as
could first be read by that dragon OF virtue, the