St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-08-10

Lawns. has acted strangely ever sin.e
l missed the image"
..Yes:"
I'VE have trusted him fully. sin. up
to the present, and l do not wish TO
wrong him, but"
Il understand. l will accompany
you and investigate"
Miss Grandis' carryall stood ut the
door. and closing my Office. l accepted
a seat in the vehicle. She was her
own driver. and handled the reins with
a firm hand. 1t was two miles from
Rock Ridge. the Western mushroom
town, to the Grandis ranch. and the
| spirited horses were not long in cover
ing the distance.
| The stone house in the basin was
moss-srown aud ancient. There was a
tradition that il had been constructed
a century before by missionaries from
the East All that MIR. Grandis or his
daughter could tell about il was that il
vas on the ground when the land came
into possession OF its present owner.
| some ten years before.
l went through the house from
cellar to garnet, met the two servants.
John Lawns and Miss Peggy White.
interviewed them, and then. after
hearing Irene's story. sat me down to
mediate on the situation.
| The HindoO idol had stood always
on the little bureau i'm lrencs room.
Peggy White knew it was there. had
in fact often taken it in her hand and
admired il. She and John Lawns
were on good terms. aud it might be
that the two had conceived and exc
cutcd the plan of possessing themselves
Of the valuable image.
The two, however. had been faith
full servants in the Grandis household
during twelve long years. Strange.
that with the gold image in the house
for years neither had thought OF APP
pro2riating it until now!
1t was not likely that either servant
had stolen the Indian idol.
| The unexpected often occurs in de-
tective experience, SO was not ready
to accept the theory OF the guilt or in
nocence of Peggy and John. I ex-
amined Irene's room, and soon made
the discovery that it could be entered
from the outside by means of tree
| covered with vines. that grew close
against the house. within easy reach of
the window. Doubtless this was the
wav tho fh;of had faEau
''But not a soul knew of the exist
ence of the image outside of our fami-
| ly," avowed Irene, when pointed out
the probable manner of the robbery.
You are quite sure of this?"
Quito sure, sir"
ut may be that the thief entered fer
the purpose of robbery, and found the
idol by accident"
Il would think SO but for one rea-
son."
And tha.?'
''On the night the image disap.
peared my wallet lay on the bureau,
not a foot from the image. containing
over one thousand dOiiars-not our
money. understand. for we are not SO
well situated. but the money sent m,
father by an acquaintance in the East.
who wished him TO invest it for him.
We would have been ruined had the
money tcen taken. shudder when
think of it,
''And the wallet was untouched"
This is the fact. sir; only the image
was taken. and card that lay beside
it."
"A card?''
"A photograph of myself"
"Ahr'
She seemed TO guess tho meaning of
that monOsyllable, and FASTENED to
explain that she had no lover. and that
no one among the Western rangers
had thought Of paying court even to
Peggy.
WELL" l said. after a time. ''rll do
the best l can, Miss Grandis. but ut
present the outlook does not point to
immediate success"
''Oh. sir. Ihope you will find and re-
turn the image; it's the only keepsake
l have from dear Frank"
Il shall do my best"
And then left the house, refusing to
accept Miss Grandis' offe- to return
me to Rock Ridge. resolved TO remain
in the vicinity for time and shadow
every person who promised any thing
in his appearance
A single thread will sometimes lead
to wonderful and startling results.
had not found even SO much rs IA thread
i'm the present case on which to hang n
theory.
My inward questioning ran like this:
Why had the image been taken and
the wallet. with the one thousand dol
lars, left untouched? Was it possible
that the thief had overlooked the
greater prize? Yes. it was barely pos
sible, but not at all probable.
In detective work l usually prose-
cute my plans on probabilities. and
have found that in ninety-nine cases
out of hundred have not erred.
In the present case. then. the thief
had not stolen the Indian idol for gain.
This promised, and On this theory l
proposed to work.
Although Irene Grandis had asserted
that che had no admirers among tho
sterner sex / was satisfied that she
was mistaken In a partial sense at
least On this supposition proceeded
to work.
For several days hung about the