The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-12-03

had list med TO me.n
| IL don't want either TO throw doubt upor
| your story or to seem TO accept IL without
further inquiry; but must ask you to tel
me who. in your belief, Miss Stancliff, iss'
sid not tell you just nowa No Well
she is the daughter. am told, of poor old
parson named sheldon, who died at Mel
bourne twenty years ago His wife lived
twelve or eighteen months after him, and
then she died. too. and Daisy was left little
child, without friend in the world. 1t was
then. as I've said. that Mrs Branksome
took pity on her. and adopted her. She was
good woman. was the doctors wife, and be
never dared TO carry out his plot about
Daisy until sne was gone God knows
whether he did not help her Off in the end.
He was equal TO it At all events, as soon
as she diei, Branksom, gees to poor old
Mauleverer, and tells him the whole tale
! the tale he had made up-how he had kept
the secret of Daisy's real birth until then,
partly because of his proms 80 to her mother.
ard partly for his fe's sake. as sh, would
never have pare l with the girl Mauleverer
swallowed the bait whole, and from that
time Branksome had complete command. not
only over Daisy, but over the old man also"
"How have you got to learn all thisp
"That's my business" he said in sullen
tones. But Immediately some swift fear Of
the consequence of giving me offense took
possession of his mind. @If you must know,
learned it all from an old servant Of Drank
some's whom / got hold of. always sus-
pected there was something wrong. and after
Branksome quarrele with me, and got me
dismissed by Mauleverer, wormed the truth
out of the old woman
Harding and were so much astounded by
the extraordinary revelation thus made to
us that neither of us felt capable of carrying
Gregson's examination further. Strange as
it may seem, we had no doubt as to the
truth Of his story. Rascal rs the fellow UNI
mistakably was, he had told his tale in a
manner which compelled our acceptance of
it l sat bewildered, almost paralyzad, by
the nature of his statements. Daisy not the
niece of Maulevererl And Branksome the
head Of gang of scoundrels, whose dia-
bolical plot against the life Of the millionaire
had only now been carried out. after years
Of careful preparation It seemed incredi-
BILE, and yet in my heart felt certain that it
was true. 4slit.E
Harding was the first to recover the full
use Of his faculties.
j sWill you be good enough" he said, adj
dressing Gregson, ITO give us your opinion,
IL you have one, as to the way in which Mr..
Mauleverer was murdsredi' ~,
~ thought you knew oil about that. Daisy
Stancliffe gave. him the poison instead of his
powder that nights Ash
BY look Harding warned me to keep
calm. Edo / understand" he pursued, athat,
In your opinion, Miss Stanclffe-for so, i
think, we, may still call her-administered
the poison knowinglyw
"Why, put it to your own sense, sir.
Some body gave the old gentleman his dose
that night 1t was not done by Branksome,
or by Fiinter, or by Fosdyke, nor by Mr..
Fenton here Who did it, Not any of |. the
English servants at Great Lorton. There's
none Of them in the secret, am sure. Don't
you sec it must have been done by the girl
who had boon brought up for that very pur-
pose-ever since she was babyl"
"Nol" I cried, regardless OF Hardings APP
pealing glance. II do not see it. God only
knows how the thing was done, but il Miss
Stancliffe was the accomplish OF these viii
lains, she was On unconscious and an inno-
cent one.n
"Then will you tell me how the thing was
donei Why, you know yourself that neither
Branksome nor Flinter had been near the
hall for weeks before the old man died; and
they were thousand miles away when the
dose was given"
put my hand to my forehead YEARLY.
@Ah, IL could only tell you how 1t was
ionei I have thought, and thought over
everything till my brain has grown giddy.
There is only one theory that has even
chance In its favor, and of that, alasl il it
be the true one, we can never obtain the
proof"
1And what may that theory ber asked
Oregon, with an air of interest
hesitated as to whether to reveal my idea
to him. 1t was one which had occurred to
me more than once during the long sleepless
wa tches of the night; but had said moth
ing of it to any one, chiefly, think, because
it was but, and in the nature of things never
could be anything more than, q theory. I'm
less miracle were to happen, no proof of IL,
short of the confession of the criminals,
could ever be adduced. Still, Il might be
well to hear Gregson's opinion OF it
: "May It not have been possible" said.
afor powder containing strychnia to have
been secretly substituted by Flinter for one
CONTAINING Mr.. Mauleverer's proper medi-
cinea In that case Flinter might be able to
prove an alibi although he was really tho
culprit; and Miss Stancliffe may have given
the poison to Mr.. Maueverer, although per-
fectly innocent Of any knowledge Of its
nature
1 heard low chuckle and looked up.
Belski had entered ths room while l was
speaking and had heard my theory;
II beg your pardon, gentlemen. knocked
twice, but i could not make you hear me.
You'll excuse me, Mr. Fenton, but / should
like to tell you that you have got on the right
track ut last. As soon as Mr.. Harding tod
me the facts I saw the trick had been done
In that way. But lori What a pity Mr..
Belmore didn't bring it out before the juryp
NTJ=aI7 | !.