The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-19
CHAPTER N.
CONSTABLE TARRANT IS PUZZLED.

y
verify his conclusions. He had drawn a nor
prosaic deduction than Miss Smerdon, COZ
corning the mysterious employment praC
tlced by DR.. Lynden in his den. When o
duty. his beat really brought him Wlthl
the vicinity of the doctors house but
spent many a sleepless night, which his Oh
legations to the force did not impose upoI
him, in watching that side door II the doc
tors. We know what be supposed tnat tht
rather retiring portal would open 10 ADMIT
but with all his vigilance, he was IAN 10 nc
knowledge that, watch as he might ne hau
seen bodies neither living nor dead pass us
threshold. Had he confded his suspicious
to Polly Phybbs, that young lady, after she
had got over the first sAoca OF such an &C
cusation against the doctor, would nave
ridiculed the bare idea Of such thing.
What the doctor might do in the laboratory
she did not know but she would have been
unite uncertain that it could be nothing of
the kind that Dick Tarrant suspected; and
still more certain tina. If there had been the
fgn,est grounds for thinking such thing,
nothing would ever have induced her to en-
ter the room again. She had obeyed her
cousins command to keep her eye upon the
doctor; she had always done as Dick told
her, ard yet even ABOUT that she had her
computations, and only for that foolish be-
lief she had 10 Dicks understanding would
have pronounced that all nonsense That
so far 1t had led 10 nothing, she was well
satisfied. The doctor was a kind master,
49,. a mn, oil
said. he was enggg ed in something "agen the
law, =" well then, she supposed he deserved to
be punished, bat she did not wish hers
70 be the hand to. brlug it about. Her
Young mis- ress too She held in the highest
esteem, and then had she not Just written
that letter to Mr.. Fleming In the Crimea,
and Polly PhYbbs looked upon the fpgis of
Hugh Jennings protection as going lar to
ensure the safety of her boyish brother.
Still she never had rcfu ed to do Dicks bid
ding, and she would do il now, but it was
mucn satisfaction to fiud that nothing came
of it. What had induced the doctor to
make that mysterious addition to his houses
1t would have hardly attrac ed the curiosity
of any one but such an addle headed lnau
as Dick Tarrant. His main idea was that
in the police was easiest pro
cured by some startling discovery of crime
More than o e had taken place since he had
been in the force, but Dick argued that be
never had any luck, let him only get q
chance and they would see what was in him
His superiors believed very little, and were
not at all likely To intrust Constable Iarrani
with any delicate investigation. A slon
thinker, one to whom ideas came but sell
dom, Dick chung strongly to this main belief
of his, and also to that subsidiary notion
that the conviction of the doctor was the
case by which he was destined to achieve
greatness.
Now, without the slightest disparagemen
of the police, because it is an infirmity o.
human nature. there is always disposition
10 make evidence chime in with conviction
Once having settled in our mind who is the
author of a murder, we are more disposed t
devote our powers to proving ourselve:
right in that conjecture than to the un
biased investigation of who really com
mitted il. The faculty OF cool, judicial
analysis is rare, and it is seldom even the
best detective can resist jumping to con-
clusiou at which he should only have ar
rived step by step.
That Richard Tarrant is also obstinate, il
is almost needless to state-meu of this tyne
always are. Let them once get a maggot
into their head, and they cling to it with G
pertinacity that would he beyond all praise
If it were not observation-disclosures
owing, fancy. for want Of another idea tC
take its place. Dick Tarrant is in Thu
plight He began by suspectlng DR.. Lyn
den of vague offenses, and must continue T,
do so because he has no one else to suspect
1t is Sunday afternoon, and in the worS
possible humor MIR. Tarrant is loungins
about the road awaiting the advent of Mis-
Pnybbs. He is angry that his vigilance ha
resulted in nothing so far. Mr.. Tarrant il
an indolent man, and chafes nightly a
nights out Of bed, which produce no con-
pensating result. That he should have beer
kept waiting is an additional grievance
and moreover he has discovered that Polly
is reluctant to carry out his orders-in fact
70 use his own expression, that she isn't hal
''keeping an eye ON him."
Vow mutters MIR. Tarrant to himself
al amt going to stand that not likely, yol
know. Never give women Their heads
that's my motto. And if Polly thinks She
OF to keep her nose to the grindstone she
very much mistaken. There's my future
career all depending upon the successful
working out Of this riddle, and she think
S. amt called on to assist. If she think
after we are married she'll have nothing [,
do but SIT with her hands in her lap anC
play at being q fine lady, she won't do TO
me. A man can't d. everything himself
and my wife will have to help keep the DO
boiling"
God help poor Polly Phybbs if she should
come to wed this man under that delusion
He is of that sort for whom women o
quite content to keep their lords in indol
ence as long as they neither ill-use nor ar
false to them.
Suddenly the side door of the doctor
house opened, that door which, watch it q
he might, he had seldom succeeded in seeini
used by any one. And out of it, to the ut
ter bewilderment of Constable Tarrant
stepped well but quietly dressed lady-iik
woman. Although closely yelled, he fel
sure that it was not Miss Lvnden; be knew
the latter perfectly by sight. The doctor
visitor was both taller and stouter-i
short, much more of a woman, and her un
expected appearance so utterly upset hi
previous suspicious concerning the docto
that he neglected TO do what an ocdinar,
intelligent officer would have done unde
the circumstances, to wit, follow her
She apparently did not notice him, bu
walked quickly toward the busy part Of tn
town, while Dick first stared vacantly a
her and then looked in a mazed way at tn
portal from which she had emerged. ii
was still gazing at this last, when he wa
startled by a voice at his elbow, saying:
''You seem rather interested in that door
my man pray, what is il you see to admir-
in I'll?
He turned. and to his surprise found tn
doctor standing by his side.
How on earth did he come here" wa
Dicks first thought, utterly oblivious OF tn
fact that it was easy for the doctor TO com
out of one floor while his CTarrants) eye
were fixed on the other.
Nothing. sir, nothingr' he replied, con
fusedly. Il was only just thinking"
"Of whatp said the doctor, suavely.
"'Thinkirg, sir, thinking-just thinking
about nothing ar ell - cOnclndad Dick dos