Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-26
Copyrighted 1889 by 5. s. Mcclure.
CHAPTER XIV
CROSS LIGHTS.

he had suspected, and he very soon per-
ceived that three or four days must nee
essariIy eIapse before he would be at
liberty TO return 10 WestcIlTe and follow
up the new trails.
In the meantime he by no means ban
lshed the matter from his mind. On
the contrary, he rather devoted every
minute Of his spare time to its considera-
ton. to the no small disturbance Of his
peace of mind.
Sitting at night, after his days work
was over, with the various pieces of evil
dence, which he had obtained with so
much diligence, spread out upon the ia
BILE before him, he puzzled and puzzled,
turning and twisting the matter over in
his mind with 10 result save the constant
increase Of his bewildeTment.
''The police have no clue to the per
petrators OF the dastaTdly deed is I'M
fortunately sentence of such frequent
occurrence in our daily papers that it
might very wei be, and possibly IS,
stereotyped, but this was by no means
Mr.. PadgeT's DTediCament at this time.
He was laboriHC desperately but inef-
fectually, against a plethora Of clues,
very labyrinth Of paths, crossing and re-
tlbeelllS ullAA4-- lNCshCA klAilA NLlF u -A-4e7
leading in every possible direction, but
go two to the same destination. Each
theory was satisfactory in Itself, until
contrasted with some other, ana no two,
as far As he could see, were either sepCT-
able or consistent. Suspicion founded II
is true on cirCUmstautiaI evidence, but
on good and sufficient evidence Of It's
kind, pointed TO Miss Ennis, to Mr.. En-
his and to Dr.. Benton. It was difficult,
almost impossible to diseutaugle anyone
of them from the net, and yet some cir
cUmstanCes OF the case precluded the as
sumption that all three were concerned.
If Mr. Ennis di1 the murder, alone or
with their knowledge, what was the
meaning Of the scenes he had overheard
and witnessed between Miss Ennis and
Dr. Benton: II they alone did it, what
was TO be made OF MI. Ennis pretended
Journey to London? If Miss Ennis was
innocent. what explanation could be
found of her subsequent behavior? What
more particularly was TO be gathered
from the discovery Of the steeI-bOund
Jewel case?
Again there is a wen-known rule,
First find the motive, then the man. -
Eure also was confusion. IN each case
there was q motive, sufficient or insult
hcIeut, according 20 the dispositions Of
the Individuals for when a man can be
found TO DarbaTously do to death
helpless old fellow creature for four pen
H.es, oT fling woman over Il bridge for
q cup OF coffee, who snail say that any
motive as not strong enough 10 urge an
other TO the most brutal crime?
Jealousy, the utoieraDie burden of a
violent tempered and driuk-Tidden wo-
man, the CALLING opposition 20 n desired
marriage, above all and beyond all the
presumed contents OF that mysterious
casket
EVERYTHING seemed to lead back 10
that. That secret closed every road TO
success like a gate OF iron, and Mr..
Tadger concluded that lie would never
succeed in unravoling the tangIe until
that point was cleared M.
THAT Is the heart Of the mystery, my
boy, - ne said 10 himself, land until
you can understand thatyou may wander
ia ignorance OF the rest.
Yet how was he 20 discover the secret
OF the cypher with such scauty materials
10 work upou-the thing itself, and the
plain initials q F.?
Il was sufficiently remarkable object
If he only knew where 10 search for the
person likely to lee in q position to TecOg-
nize IL; but the removal of the lining of
the lid seemingly prevented thar effect
ualIy.
- can buc try, - said Mr.. Padger
after a period OF profound reflection and
hesitation.
He took from his pocket sharp pen
knife, and drawing the box to him raised
the lid. With a def hand he cut around
the plush covering and tore It away, re-
vealing the contents OF the box. 1t was
lined on all four sides ana at the bottom
u Il .5y.r-, -
interior of the Obloug which these formed |
the oval center was neatly fitted, but
there was no mark Of any kind TO indi- !
cate the place of Its manufacture.
The oval was lightly glued to the bot |
tom OF the box, but a very little exeTtiou !
Feemed to displace it, and IT came out |
intact 1t also was covered with red |
plush, and. scarcely hoping for any re- /
suit he ripped this off. The core of /
stHenng material seemed at first sight /
TO be constructed of plain white card /
board, hut q little investigation showed !
him that II was in reality composed Of !
long strips Of paper rolled round and /
round. The outside piece was securely !
gummed all along, but when he had /
carefully cut through this the rest I'M /
coiled rs easily as q fishing line of |
reel.
INCH 10y lucl lie uEIoiltO H. MS IalOS |
trembling, ana has heart beating high /
with excitement. Inch after inch was
blank white paper bearing no sign or
mark upon its surface AT last, when he
vas beginning 10 despair, q piece with
some printing on IT came III sight and the
last sly or seven inches were closely COW
cred with words and fragments of words.
Hastily bus carefully ne smoothed it
Cut and proceeded 40 examine 1t line by
line. Ii was Enthusiastically part OF
newspaper, but It was very narrow and
had been clipped from the center of &
Ca.nmT
''Was there, ''he asked himself with
terrible anxiety. anything to be found
IN il 10 point our the place of its publica-
Jion1''
"Ae arst side to which he devoted his
attention appeared 20 be . portion of q
market report. among many words of
no Importance he noted gold -
f'wool, osl and lam, the last two being
obviously merely portions of words The
Other side was utterly incomprehensible
but almost II the end he came to the
words, Cape To