The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1890-12-24

nearly burst out at the bare idea of
Charles daring to say he had pumped
me; but, as will be seen, he could twist
anything that was said to. such an extent
that it was perfectly useless to CONTRA
dict him any longer. said not single
word and he went Oh
''All Middleton told mo confirmed nae
in my suspicious. Sir John had been
murdered the night before Middleton
sailed for England, a whisper of the
jewels having no doubt gone abroad.
Carr came on board next day and made
friends with Middleton. Whether he
had anything to do with the murder or
not God knows! but he found out-nay,
Middleton~openly told him that he had
Jewels of great value in his possession,
which he carried about On his person.
Carr was the only person aware Of
that fact. What follows? Carr has Mid
dleton's address in London. Middleton
goes to the house and finds that his sis
ter has moved to the next street. That
house to which he first went is broken
into and the poor woman in it is
murdered or dies of fright that same
night. I mention this as coincidence
number one. The following evening
Middleton, having by chance left the
jewels at home, dimes and goes to- the
theatre by appointment with Carr.
Unique cab accident occurs, in which
Middleton is knocked on the head and
rendered unconscious. Coincidence num-
Der two. Miss Middleton's house is
broken into that same night on Middle
toms return to it. Coincidence number
three. When put all this together last
night, remembering that Carr, by Mid
dleton's own account, was the only per-
son aware that he had jewels of great
value in his keeping, felt absolutely
certain Gas feel stilD that he had &C
copied the invitation and come down
from London solely for the purpose of
stealing them. 1t was pure conjecture on
my part, and I dared say nothing be-
yond begging Ralph not to leave the
Jewels in the ibrary-which, however,
he did. Iwent straight off to my room
when the others went to smoke, but I
did not go to bed. The more I thought
it over the more certain | felt that Carr
would not let slip such an opportunity;
the more convinced that an attempt
would be made that very night. I did
not know that he was not sleeping in
the house, but knew Ralph was at'the
lodge, so l cot11d not go and consult with
him as should otherwise have done.
thought of going to Middleton, whose
room was close to mine, but on second
thoughts gave up the idea. I am glad l
did. At last determined l would wait
till the house was quiet, and that then I
would go down alone and watch in
the library in the dark. lay down
on my bed in my clothes to
wait, and them had been up
most of the night before with Denis,
was dead beat with acting and dancing
by i'll luck fell asleep. When Invoke
up 1 found to my horror that it was close
on o'clock I Instantly slipped off my
shoes and crept out of my room and
down the stairs. could not get to the
library from the hall, as the stage blocked
the way, and I had to go all the way
round by the drawing room and morning
room. AS went I thought how easy it
would be for Carr to force the lock Of
the drawer, and so it flashed across me
could 1? Oh, Ralph" said Charles, Il