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

body. Padger, my boy, that you vo.
there before them.
He took out his notebook, and stu5io,
it thoughtfully before he once more ~
gan to write.
"Such a wound - he wrote when
commenced-''s said the doctor. wo,,-s
have bled a great deal, but there Vos ,NI
q spot on the floor of the machine TS NJ
body was laid straight, with the lin
arranged in an orderly manner, not a.!
would have fallen from the blow.
Conclusion. Mrs. Ennis was stabh.,
in the water and the body afterws-3'
placed in the machine.
''The floor was quite dry with tvos-
ceptions-the place where the BODY NJ,
lying, and
'And this, " said Mr.. Padgsr ~.
rolling the piece of paper he had reca1,--
taken from the drawer.
1t was blistered in places, as if +, b,,
been wetted; and a line was draw =
pencil completely inclosing the dame..1
portion The outline was that Of ~
impression of a wet foot. 1t was the 1s..
foot, and was at once remarkable for ,t'
fact that the great toe was missing
s'And this, - repeated Mr.. Pa7rs.
tapping it gently with his foredngs-'
''clew number two.
There was something written ON ,b.
paper, and he read it thoughtfuUv.
''Nearly in the center of the foo-
pointing outwards, eighteen inches fr,,I
the door. n. 3. Not made bv Mr..
Ennis. -
Next he took a foot rule from the man
tie piece and measured it with care T,
was exactly eight inches in length.
''Rather large for a woman. Pa,bs-
small for a man. Might have basr
either.' He reflected, ''but l bpIfar-
it was a man.
He continued to regard it with sstfs-
faction which seemed altogether OUT NJ
proportion to its probable usefuIuas.
Had 1t been a hand the case would bars
been different, but people are not accus.
toned in civilized society to wander
about barefooted, and it was obvfors,y
impossible to detect such q small das.
cheney through the friendly covering ola
boot. Nevertheless, Mr.. Padger did not
seem daunted by the difficulty of the
problem presented to him.
''That is my man, he repeated me-
chanically again and again, rs he turned
the owner of that foot Obtain admlttaucs
to the machine.
From the front was on the face Off
was out of the question. Apart from the
impossibilIty of entering without befno
seen, Miss Ennis had declared that when
she left she had fastened the door after
her, and Mr.. PadgeT had ascertained
that the only means of reopeniug it from
the outside was a key which Mrs. Mae
nally assured him was never out Of her
own keeping.
The only alternative, assuming as he
did the innocence of Miss Ennis, was
that the entrance was effected from be-
hind. If the intruder had been a wo-
man there was little difficulty in accept.
ing this theory, but if, as Mr.. Padger
unjustifiably forced himself to believe,
1t had been a man, the ease was alto
gether different. The men 5 bathing
place, he knew well, was separated JT
considerable interval from the women 5,
and the space between them was ALWAYS
occupied during the bathing hours by
| q boat padded by an old sailor, to pre-
vent any intrusion on either side, and
| to render assistance if necessary to any
swimmer who should presume too greatly
on his powers of endurance.
That man could have eluded the Wig
| lance of this guardian of public morality
was difficult to believe, but if d. de-
MED its possibility he was driven back
upon the certainty that the deed was
! committed by a woman. and if that was
| once granted it was piece of gTatut0us
| absurdity to refuse to admit the validity
! of all the evidence which pointed 50 con-
sistently to Miss Ennis.
Wearied at length, and irritated ut his
| inability to find any other explanation OF
! this puzzle, Mr.. Padger determined 70
| go and have another look at the snot and
see if chance would not throw some fresh
! light on the subject.
Before setting out he again locked I'D
| the outline of the teil-tale foot-mark
with its missing toe, and having read
| through the manuscript he had Just COM
| pleted three or four times, in order to tx
| its contents in his memory, he tore ii into
| half dozen long slips, and placing them
| in Il heap upon the hearth, set fire to
| them with q match and watched them
until the last spark had hickered out,
| after which he ground the remaining
ashes to powder with the heel of his boot.
''I don t want anyone spying about
| and stealing my ideas, - he said to HIM
self, as he put on his hat and went out
ITO be Continued Nert Heck.