Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-08

As Mr.. PadEeT TetTaced 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 construction
upon the meaning of their words, but
IT was one which he was most unwill-
ing to adopt Untoward circum-
stances had prevented his obtaining q
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 i'll the absence
of her husband, without doubt by pre-
vious appointment, aud 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
IN that unknown past which had
prompted It. If this was the real sOlu-
ton Of the mystery the only way TO get
at It was to discover the details Of Mrs.
Ennis past life, and what her cOnnec-
ton had been with that man. 1t was no
easy task with no material to work upon
except thai solitary fOotmark.
There were, however, two serious OBJ
staclss to the acceptance Of this theory.
The first was he proved impcssibiIity OF
accounting for man 5 presence in the
machine. The second lay in Miss Ennis
conduct, the Interview in the public gar
den and what lie had himself overheard
that night.
Was it possible that the mysterious
STRANGER who called on her SteDmOther
was Tie man sli" III" LAet on the Jay Oh
the murder: ne HitA niue uouDU tnHt
the night visitor vas the same was
she the nH1G"resS' ana ne only an ac-
compUce: " "2S common interest coulo
sue nave WI" . man 'oi'cgd iIeU III So'Iio
way with Mrs. Ennis past!
MIR. Pad%er 5 head was IN n "hin with
all these coE1ictia& s"ppos.tioHS.
When be came TO arrange these various
matters III his notes he became still fur
Their bewiIieTed. lie recalled The woman
RoZaJ 5 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
bafIed at every turn, meandc~ing hope
Iessly in an endless labyrinth OF theories,
unable to lind any solid footing IN this
slough OF inconsistent Iac1S'
Dlu MISS Ennis commit the Lhuruet'
Or the stranger! Or heItAer one HoF the
other!
lie pun tAeSe qnestions Plalhiy 10 MIN
sell, ana 10 Cach anu al ne coui" oHly
answer 90 not know.
As he wrote down at the end of that
! evening" discoveries, Mr.. Ennis re-
I,E >
suddenly flashed across him.
He roseS and fetched from a table in
the corner a railway timetable For
FIVE minutes he consulted II with utmost
care, and then started. 10. his feet With an
exclamation
''By iiuE0!!!''
Again he went over the columns, but
he had made no mistake. No train ar
rived al the Westclitfe station from Lon
don between ten minutes past and
twenty minutes to 6.
What was the meaning of this?
Mr.. Ernfs could not nave taken more
than half an hour to walk from the sta
ton to his house. Ire had heard the
news Of the murder before he reached
home, ard was not likely to lingsr on the
way, and yet instead of arriving Before
3. as he should have done, he did lot
appear until h3ll past.
Mr. p,door Glanced at his watch It
,-os 5,,st ele1-on and he knew that tbara
,,os . Io+a +r,afn 5ue Mt twenty minutes
90. +r-nl--a rrfo bools;ng clerk Womb
ain he NJ his of,ire ana rs he felt Il to
ba frnnossiblo to slee,, in This uncertain
~ be cot off for the station
H. found the cIprl- in solitude rs he
evnect.d and he was onIv too clad to
COZ I,oI,3 of anvIfodv WILLING n relieve the
+s gS NM Of his Srforced waiTing bv lit-
tIe gossf1 lille - 5iasl, Of whisky with
when Mr.. .Padrer had tnoughtfuiIv pro
vided himself served TO Iubricate mat
+a~s considerably and soon mn their re-
Io+ions an a friendly basis
.,Pre+fv d~porv waiting here isn't
i+2,5 enid Mr. Podcer presently.
Gwen J sl,ou1d rather think if was. -
said the cIerl, taking q sip of his whisky
nd ,votar
. ssWbat time do ,von generally get
orr,
.rTveIve-twentv She's the last
s+onner that goes through here -
lis She nunctnal as ruIe?''
s.2rncti,aI9 believe Won There
boen = been n train ten minutes late in