Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-25

his landlady had cleared away the things
and retired, he rose and having lighted
his pipe paced the little room from end
to end for half an hour, from which he
reused himself at intervals sufficiently to
refill and relight his pipe.
At length he suddenly shook himself,
and woke, as it were, with start from
his reverie. He looked all around the
room, and out of the window, and then,
having carefully and noiselessly locked
the door, he put the paper and pens he
had purchased on the round table In the
center of the room. and, producing
portable ink bottle, sat down to write.
During his distractions he had delioer-
ately reviewed all the known circum-
stances of the murder, and was now
about to draw out an exact report OF
them, together with the differences he de-
duced from the various details. This was
course he pursued in every case that oe-
cupied his attention, and he found that
the act of inscribing the facts upon pa
per Strengthened his ideas wonderfully,
and gave him much stronger grasp OF
the subject.
For some time he sat meditatively re-
garding the nib of the pen that ne had
selected from the packet, then he dipped
forming with extreme percision each let
ter of his neat, round handwriting, as a
man in doubt as TO what he is going TO
say fingers over his words to gain time
for thought.
"Mrs. Ennis was murdered on July
the fourteenth in bathing machine at
Westcliffe. Fact.
He underlined the last word, and
paused to think before he resumed.
1.-the weapon employed was pearl
handled Spanish knife. Not probably,
but undoubted.
''The knife was found in the sea, be-
low low water mark, about five yards
away, and was freely identified by Miss
Ennis as hers. Fact.
''Miss Ennis was known TO be antago-
nistic to the murdered woman. Fact.
1.-THE time was certainly between
twelve and half past one.
ga slight noise was heard from the
rear of the machine about 1855 o CLOCK.
Fact. Mrs. Ennis was probably alive at
the time.
conclusion: The murder took place
between 1856 and $50 o 'cloek.
''Miss Ennis declares that she left the
machine at 1890. She did not reach
home until :45 and refuses positively to
give any explanation of her whereabouts
meantime. Why?'
He underlined this word also, and ris-
ing paced the room several times before
recommending.
"Nobody can be found, by the most
diligent inquiry, who saw her leave.
elf she did leave at the time she
states, no one could have entered after
departure, as she herself admits that she
I, cd rrriT q
spring.
'The sound already referred to was
gasp of surprise, not terror or pain.
1" Conclusion: 1t was caused by the
appearance of someone whom she did not
expect but was not alarmed at seeing.
''There was no cutlery, and the spot
was carefully chosen for blow that
should be instantly fatal.
Conclusion: She was stabbed by
some one who could approach her closely
without exciting fear or resentment. -
''Who was this someone?' said Mr..
Padger half aloud.
He laid down the pen, and pondered
for a long time on the difficult point.
Somehow, although all the circumstances
were suspicious, partly perhaps because
they were so conspicuOusly so, he could
not bring himself to accept the one lnev-
liable conclusion, that the girl was guilty
of so horrible crime. Her frank ad-
mission of the ownership of the knife
was possibly in her favor, though it
would have been useless and impolitic to
deny it. Her youth and beauty pleaded
strong for her-and yet?
Putting this matter on one side for q
moment he resumed his task. There
was, he knew, an axiom that it was well
in such cases to begin by finding out who
it was most likely to benefit by the
death, but he knew also that this was
very often fallaciOus, and even If 1t were
infallible there seems to be no means of
applying it on this occasion. Mr.. Ennis
had no private fortune, and her life had
not been insured. Revenge? There was
nothing to point to that, for though Miss
Ennis was proved to have frequently
quarreled with her stepmother, she was
scarcely likely to have adopted so ex-
tremely dangerous q method of removing
her from her path.
"What was the motive?' He wrote {.
Not robbery apparently, for though the
watch was missing, it was impossible to
believe that a thief would take that and
leave twenty seven pounds odd in money &.
What then?
The doctor who was on the spot ap-
peared to have some understanding with
Miss Ennis, though he denied knowing
her, and she ignored him in public.
Again Mr. Padger paused to reflect.
Had that silent encounter of looks, twice
repeated, been merely the work of his
imagination. No. That strange look of
chill horror on each of the two faces
when the pearl handled knife was ac-
counted for, was neither chance nor fan
cv. Had the doctor then found Miss En-
mis- on the spot and connived at her es-
cape, or had he discovered and destroyed
some damnlng pieee of evidence? He had
shown no excessive signs of emotion in
the machine, and had appeared sur
prised and Mortified on revealing the
wound, but he had been alone in the
place for some minutes, and Mr.. Padger
could not be certain that he was not
really aware of his entrance.
1.-THE doctor knows something, and
Miss Ennis knows that he does so. He
conceals that something; it is in some
way connected with the knife, and both
are Mortified at the prospect of its revela-
ton. For what reason?'
With much thought he reread all that
he had written, and then with sigh
took up the pen and wrote more slowly
than before: