Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-12
Copyrighted 1889 by S. s. Mcclure.


Yes, he walked that morning.
As Mr.. Padger retraced his steps to his
| lodgings he pondered over the extraor-
binary interview of which he had been
an unseen witness, and the facts which
he had that evening elected from the
| tattling hOusemaid. The first was quite
| beyond his comprehension 1t was
easy enough to put a construction
upon the meaning of their words, but
it was one which he was most unwill-
ing to adopt. Untoward circufnr
stances had prevented his obtaining a.
| sight of the man, and he could not then
, see his way to repairing the defect in his
information. The other matter was
comparatively simple. There was a
man, an old acquaintance of Mrs Ennis,
who had twice visited her in the absence
of her husband, without doubt by pre-
vious appointment, and over whom she
had apparently some hold. Was he the
murderer? What could his motives have
been? Not robbery as far as was ascer-
tainable. There must then be something
III that unknown past which had
prompted 1t. If this was the real solu-
tiOn of the mystery the only way to get
at it was to discOv 7 the details of Mrs.
Ennis past life, ID what her connec-
ton had been with that man. 1t was no
easy task with no material to work upon
except that solitary footmark.
There were, however, two serious OBJ
stacles 10 the acceptance of this theory.
The first was the proved impOssibility Of
accounting for a man 5 presence in the
machine. The second lay i'll Miss Ennis
conduct, the interview in the public gar
den and what he had himself overheard
that night.
Was it possible that the mysterious
stranger who called on her stepmOther
was the man she had met on the day Of
the murder2 He had little doubt that
the night s visitor was the same. Was
she the murderess, and be only an ac-
complete? What common interest could
she have with man concerned IN some
way with Mrs Ennis past2
Mr.. POdgeT' head was i'll a whirl with
all these conflicting suppositiOns.
When he came to arrange these various
matters III his notes be became still fur
Their bewildered. He recalled the woman
RozaU s belief that the man Miss Ennis
met was her father.
He was rapidly growing inturiated.
He had been accustomed, not with JUS
tice to plume himself upon his unfailing
penetration, and now he found himself
bahied at every turn, meandering hope
lessly in an endless labyrinth of theories,
unable to find any sold footing i'll this
slough of inconsistent facts.
Did Miss Ennis commit the murder?
Or the stranger? Or neither one nor the
other?
He put these questions plainly to him
self, and to each and all he could only
answer, 81 do not know.
As he wrote down at the end of that
evenings discoveries, Mr.. Ennis re-
turned home at half past 80 an idea
suddenly flashed across him.
He rose, and fetched from table in
the corner a railway time table. For
five minutes he consulted it with utmost
care md then started TO his feet with an
exclamation:
''BY jingo!!!''
Again he went over the columns, but
he had made no mistake. No train ar
rived at the Westcliffe station from Lon
don between ten minutes past and
twenty minutes to 6.
What was the meaning of this?
Mr. Ennis could not have taken more
than half an hour to walk from the sta
ton to his house. He had heard the
news of the murder before he reached
home, and was not likely to lingeT on the
way, and yet instead of arriving before
3, as he should have done, he did Lot
appear until half past.
MIR Padger glanced at his watch. 1t
was Just eleven, and he knew that there
was q late train due at twenty minutes
past twelve The booking clerk would
still be at his office, and as he felt it 10
be impossible to sleep i'll this uncertain
ty, he set off for the station.
He found the clerk i'll solitude as he
l., Id
get hold of anybody willing to relieve the
tedium of his enforced waiting by a lit
tie gossip, while flask of whisky with
which Mr.. Padger had thOughtfully pro-
vided himself served TO lubricate mat
ters considerably, and soon put their re-
lations on a friendly basis.
pretty dTeary waiting here, ism I
it?'' said Mr.. Padger presently.
''Well l should rather think it was, -
said the clerk taking a sip of his whisky
and water.
''what time do you generally get
off?''
.'Twelve-twenty She's the last
stopper that goes through here
lis she punctual as rule?''
''Punctual? l believe you There
hash t been q train ten minutes late N
here for the last six weeks at least. -
InlS ulSpOSSu o. one punt IudI MT.
Padger desired TO ascertain. After an
interval he discreetly preached the other.
''You know Mr.. Ennis by sight sup
pose?'' he said, after a careless remark
or two about the murder.
''Yes, rather, - replied the clerk with
a little yawn and glance at the clock.
"'Does he go TO town often?'
''Oh yes, pretty often.
"Has season ticket, I Supposed
Eyes. -
''Ah! Then you wouldu I notice
whether he went to town or not. -
''Weu, might or 1 mightn t. Just
chance,
Ibid he go on July the l4th?''
July the four-the day of the muir
der. Pom my word I don I know. Wait
g minute. Yes, think he did. -
''Oh?'i said Mr.. Padger.
"Stop bit, though, continued the
clerk. ''I'm not sure. He came in
here about $3.50 and bought paper, I
remember now, and l thought he was
going by the $40; but he must have
missed her somehow, for I saw him on
the DlatforIn after she had gone out -