The Arizona sentinel., 1890-04-12
4 BIT OF RETROSPECTION.

its exactness and regularity. tie attend
ed strictly to business during business
hours, and stood well in commercial
circles. He took his pleasures soberly in
his hours of relaxation. He had no vices
and no entangling alliances.
Neither the clothes cast off by the
murderer in his flight, nor the diamond
button found by Holbrook, nor the
knife left in the body of the dead man,
had proved to be clews of value to the
police.
The verdict Of the coroner's jury had
been: Game to his death by being
stabbed with knife, in the hands of a
person unknown"
The police adopted the theory that the
man had been struck in mistake, and
that another victim had been intended.
Why? That was secret they guarded
and they worked on that line.
A large reward for the detection of the
criminal was offered by the authorities
And the affair faded from the news
papers.
The funeral had been a quiet one
There were but two mourners present
an elderly lady and a younger one closely
yelled, both evincing great grief. There
were but few attendants from curiosity
Neither Mr.. Witherspoon nor Flora
Ashgrove were present.
Holbrook, who was, noted this fact
and contraSted her intense interest in
the murdered man the day after the
murder, with her absence from the flu
neral ceremonies
A few of Templeton's business ac-
quaintances, and the friends with whom
he spent the last hours of his life made
up the rest.
Apparently the tragedy was of one act
and the drop curtain was down.
Holbrook's law office was on the sew
enth story of one of those tall buildings
which in recent years have become
conspicuous feature Of lower New York
His private Office was corner room
and from the window his eye could roam
over the roofs of adjacent buildings
across the Hudson river and beyond the
houses on the Jersey shore TO the green
hills back Of them.
One afternoon. two weeks after the
murder, he was resting himself from his
labors and enjoying the extensive view
spread out before him.
In fact, he was reviewing that strange
interview with Flora Ashgrove the day
after the murder.
Her manner, her emotion, her eager
ness, her anger, all dwelt vividly in his
mind, but his perplexity was as great as
on the day he left her presence
What connection, if any, had she with
the murder? What did she know, if
anything? What relation had existed
between herself and the dead man? WHY
did she want to know so particularly the
appearance of the murderer? What was at
the bottom of the intense anxiety she dis
PLAYED? And for whom was this anxiety
displayedf She was tall and slim. OF
would be if dressed in mems clothes
could it possibly have been herself? Was
she the kind of a woman whom jealousy
would impel to such a crime?
These were the questions he had asked
himself again and again, and never had
found satisfactory answers to them.
They haunted him like nightmare
and at every leisure moment returned tG
vex him, until he plunged deeply into
work to escape them
OF this, however, he was conscious
his feelings toward Flora had undergone
a great change. As beautiful as she un.
deniably was, he preferred that she
should be some one else's wife In her
interview with him she had uncovered
disposition he did not like, and the tor
menting questions that would come un.
bidden had finally bred in him fear OF
her and he had taken alarm.
As he was thus musing, clerk in
formed him that two ladies desired to see
him.
s'What are their nanes?" he asked.
"They would not give them. they sale
,hey would con. = Tnoinformatiun. They