The herald., 1893-09-15

ndys cniu Eulbn. - Will SUBSTITUTE q
lighter piece Of paper"
|. This she did and almost Immediately
twas caught by current, and it fioated
across the room. AS it fell on the floor
they were both startled to see little
kitten spring from the open doorway
and pounce upon the paper. rolling over
and over with it in her teeth.
THAT explains it all" exclaimed Edith.
catching up the little animal in her
arms. "Oh, Kitty Oh, Kitty? How
little you know the terrible mischief you
have donew
Her eyes were full of tears, and she
was pale and trembling with apprehen-
sion. The kitten must have carried Off
the confession in this way to play with,
and its recovery was hopeless.
sLor, miss" suddenly broke in Mrs.
Morton, ''now rememberl When the
gent shot 'isself, was working in the
'ouse opposite, and came back to see
what was the matter That little kitten
belongs to the party in the next set, and
when come up to the landing she was
a-playing just like that with bit B. pa.
per, which she runs away with and leaves
ON the stairs"
EYES," said Edith, in breathless eager
ness.
well, paper about the stairs looks SO
untidy, miss, SO picked it up and"-
What did you do with it?"
~ throw it in the pail with tho other
rubbish"
For tho second time the contents of the
pail were emptied by tho laundress and
carefully examined. 1t was absolutely
certain that the paper was not there.
''Are you positive that you put the pa
per in the pail?" asked Edith.
"Td take my 'davy on it. miss. And
it was just such q scrap of writing as
you say"
Edith sent the laundress home, shut
herself in the solitary chambers and be-
gan the hunt nfrcsh.
1t was late in the evening when she
ceased her fruitless search.
Next morning she returned to her
hopeless task. Mrs. Morton she had re-
lieved from further attendance, and was
walking up and down the chambers in
thought when there came q knock at the
door. 1t was the laundress herself.
II know where that bit O. paper is,
miss remembers that, when the police
was here that morning, steps into the
bedroom to hear what they has to say
One of 'em says to me, impudentlike,
We'll, what do you want. old ladyY and
l says wanted the bedroom candle
stick"
EYES," interrupted Edith, "but where
is the paper?"
''I'm just coming to that, miss. stays
a bit in the lsitchen-just to see if might
be any use, you understands--and whilo
was waiting, puts new candle in
the candlestick. Them mines is rather
small for the candlestick, SO takes bit
O paper out o the pail to make it fl.
Come into the bedroom, miss-why, its
gonel'
Good heavens!" cried Edith. DO
you mean to say that the paper ror..a
that candle was the missing document
That's my belief, miss. Where is IL
gomez"
81 was here late last night, and
bnrred the candid very low-and the
paper took fret"
"And you burned it, miss" 80
"Only slightly. remember. l blew
it out, threw the paper away, and put In
a new candle that i removed from the
piano. What tlidaI do with the paper?
Oh, remembersI threw it under the
CRATE. You'll find, it there. Thank
heaven, we have found it at last! Gill
bert is sayed"svs4
"Thercis nothing here, miss" said the
woman on her knees. "The CRATE is
quite empty!"
1t was true, and tho shock was a ter
rible one to Edith. She tainted in the
old laundress' arms. Mrs. Morton, how
ever, soon restored her to consciousness.
"You can take my word for it" she
said, THAT papers bewitched.
~ don't care whether it is bewitchcd
or not" said Edith. II mean to find it.
Fetch me that magnifying glass from
the table in the next room"
Edith removed the fender and care
fully examined tho dust that Mrs. Nor
toms not overscrupulous cleanliness had
allowed to accumulate.
81 thought as much, she said. mice!
They have been attracted by the-candle
grease and have dragged the paper to
their hole. Every moment now is valu-
able, or it will be all destroyed"
They searched round about utcyerywhere
but no mouse hole could be found. Edith
then directed the woman to mix a quanti-
ty of whiting which she placed in alarge
fat dish on the floor in the middle of the
room. In the dish was laid small saucer,
and in that piece of toasted cheese. They
then left the chamber for several hours.
When they returned. there was track
of little white footprints across the
room that led to little hole above the
narrow slrirting board, hidden by loose
piece of tho wall paper. A man was
called in, and after breaking down somn
of the plaster and taking up corner Of
the flooring the coveted scrap of paper
was at last secured.
Tie confession was of course in part
destroyed and required very delicets
handling. but when the precious relic
had been carefully mounted on another
piece of paper it was found to read as
follows, the words in brackets being
supplied by supposition:
Il ami sck offs,y iise and Iresolvedl 10 put an
end Ito i'll. In case suspicion falls on Gilbert
Stanton, The Isl innocent. die lby myl own
hand. RAYMOND WILlDl
Gilbert and Edith are how married
,,,1 C+o,+n,, t,,c,otc fl,of ba nxx-oc kio 1ifa