The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1886-10-06

could not restrain the cry Of Joy and
thankfulness which broke from my lips.
"My friends" ] said to the men and
women around me, "your poor mistress viii
yet be saved
Mrs Cawthorne burst into tears, as did
most of the women I can only answer for
myself among the men, / could not keep
back the tears Of Joy which were yelling
from my eyes.
ltnow occurred to me that, as most Of the
rooms in the hall had been searched by the
police under Mr. Eastmead himself at the
time of Daisy's arrest, might begin my
own investigation by exploring this secret
passage in which we had already found SO
important piece Of evidence. Bidding tho
servants remain where they were, we slowly
climbed the narrow winding stair. It led
into corridor equally narrow and very
long. unlighted and ill-ventilated. so that
more than onee the candle which Eastmead
carried seemed to be on the point Of exptr-
ing.
At the end was apparently blank wall Of
dark oak. But looking closely at it / de-
tected the place where the girl had intro
iuced the knife on the night when she had
brought to me the note from Daisy. had
brought the knife with me, and in another
instant, Dy HledIlS VI " udN CauSoA bAe
panel to slide into recess. Il revealed an
opening of the depth of the wall, beyond
which there was another panel This was
able to move without difficulty. pushed il
aside with my hand. Still the way was
barred, but upon this occasion 1t was moth
ing more substantial than the heavy leather
hangings of the haunted room. Great inge-
nuity mad been shown in the arrangement by
which an opening could be made at win
through these hangiDgs without any evidence
Of its existence being afforded to an occupant
Of the room
Once more found myself ia that weIl-re-
membered chamber. It looked cold and
dark despite its handsome furniture Ap-
parently it had not bsen occupied since the
night when I slept there. opened the door
leading into the little sitting room whore
had breakfasted by myself ON the morning
on which left the hall. To my surprise it
showed signs Of having been recently occu-
pied. There was book lying ON the table.
recognized it instantly Il was the copy Of
Guy and Terriers @Forensic Medicine,
which had stu1ied so intently during my
imprisonment on board the yacht
ave ere in the enemys stronghold,
said to Eastmead And bade him take the
book in his hand and see where it opened
He did so with the result which / expected
He shook his head gravely. Il think, Mr..
Fenton, we shall be justified in taking q
very close look at anything we can find
here"
There were several books on the table
They were for the most part old account
books, some of them bearing FIinter's name.
They apparently related to transactions
wi ich had taken place some years previously
in Australia One volume was of a different
Kind 1t was cheap metallic memorandum
book, such as man like Flinter might very
well have used for the purpose of keeping
notes of incidents Of Importance Eastmead
took it up and opened it, For some time he
appeared to be examining it with a look Of
bewilderment on his honest face.
II can't make anything Of this, can yonl
Is it Greekln
He handed the open book to me, and to
my disappointment I saw that, whatever
none the wiser through possessing II. Every
page was covered with cabalissic marks lilEs
nothing had ever seen before.
Il think we may as well leave that behind
u.s." said the chief constable sBut l am
going to take these other books 70 examine
at my leisure.
acquiescel for the moment in his pro
posal to leave the little note book in cipher
where we had found it, but before we had
completed our close examination Of the two
rooms had changed my mind, and without
any scruple regarding the robbery / was
committing upon the unconscious Flinter,
slipped the volume into my pocket.
It would be tedious to tell Of the long
hours which we spent In examining the other
portions OF the hall Nowhere did we find
any evidence that seemed to bear ON the
crime OF which the place had been the scene.
Indeed. Eastmead warned me beforehand
that this would probably be the result The
one part Of the hall which had escaped his
notice on his first visit had been the secret
staircase The other articles which be had
found, and which might possibly be Of use
against Flinter, had evidently been brought
to the hall after our party had landed from
the yacht and consequently after Daisys
arrest
When our tedious task was comnleted, we
Vie. to the dining room, where we found
Dr. Handsome awaiting Us Cold meas and
wins were upon the table; and we we're 50
thoroughly exhausted BY our labors that we
/ were glad to make hurried meal before de-
parting TO catch the last train to YORK I
/ did not care to talk much to Branksome
de had heard Of the discc.ery Of the strych-
! mia, but said wonderfully little about it
/ thought, indeed, that for once somsthiEg
must haye occurred 20 stay the fow Of his
brilliant conversation
lTo BE CONTINUED.