Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-03

him-as a meddling old granny. You remember tho time he so spoke of him last year, but he holds you in respect or is afraid of you, which in a man of his caliber is about the same thing. It may not be too late for you to act Then, when he is disposed of once and for all, I can know what must be done, where she is concerned"
 And under no circumstances can you question Mrs. Maynard?'
 "No, mol If she suspected anything of this, it would kill her. In any event, she must have no suspicion of it now."
 But does she not ask? Has she no theory about the missing photograph Surely she must marvel over its disap- pearance"
 "She does, at least she did, but I'm ashamed to own it, Armitage-we had to quiet her natural suspicious in some way, and I told her that it was my doing; that took it to tease Alice, put the photograph in the drawer of my desk and hid the frame behind her sofa pillow. Chester knows of the ar rangcment, and we had settled that when the picture was recovered from Mir. Jcrrold he would send it to me. "
 Armitagc was silent A frown settled on his forehead, and it was evident that the statement was far from welcome to him. Presently he held forth his hand.
 Well, good night, sir. I must go and have a quiet think over this. Ihope you will rest well. You need it, colo nel."
 But Maynard only shook his head. 
 any kind. He stood gazing out toward the park, where the tall figure of his ex-adjutant had disappeared among the trees. He heard the low toned, pleasant chat of the ladies ill the sitting room, but he was ill no mood to join them. He wished that Armitage had not gone, he felt such strength and comparative hope in his presence, but it was plain that even Armitage was confounded by the array of facts and circumstances that he had so painfully and slowly communi- catcd to him. The colonel went drearily back to the room ill which they had had their long conference. His wife and sis ter both hailed him as he passed the sit ting room door and urged him to come and join them-they wanted to ask about Captain Armitagc, with whom it was evident they were much impressed-but he answered that he had some letters to put away, and he must attend first to that.
 Among those that had been shown to the captain, mainly letters from Chester telling of the daily events at the fort and of his surveillance in the case of Jcrrold, was one which Alice had brought him two days before This had seemed to him of unusual importance, as the others contained nothing that tended to throw new light on the case. It said:
 II am glad you have telcgraphcd for Armitage and heartily approve your de- cision to lay the whole case before him. presume he can reach you by Sunday, and that by Tuesday he will be here at the fort and ready to net. This will be great relief to me, for, do what I could to allay 1t, there is no concealing the fact that much speculation and gos- sip is afioat concerning the events of that unhappy night. Lcary declared he has been close mouthed. The other men on guard know absolutely nothing, and Captain Wilton is the only officer to whom ill my distress of mind betrayed that there was mystery, and he has pledged himself to me to say nothing Sloat, too, has an inkling and big one, that Jerrold is the suspected party, but l never dreamed that anything had been seen or heard which in the faint est way connected your household with the matter until yesterday. Then Lcary admitted to me that two women, Mrs. ClifforCl's cook and the doctors nursery maid, had asked him whether it wash { Lieutenant Jcrrold he fired at. and if it was true that he was trying to get in the | colonel's back door. Twice Mrs. Clifford has asked mo very significant questions, ! and threo times today have officers made remarks to me that indicated their | knowledge of the existence of some gravo trouble What makes matters worse is that Jerrold, when twitted about his absence from reveillc, loses | his temper and gets confused. There came near being quarrel between him and Rollins at the mess n day or two since. He was saying that tho reason he slept through roll call was tho fact that he had been kept up very late at the doctors party. and Rollins happened tc come in at the moment and blurtcd out l lllsll II Ic W siS tit slll II lluSl luNt been after he left the party and remind cd him that he had left before midnight with Miss RenwiCk This completely staggered Jerrnld. who grew confused and tried to cover it with n display oi anger. Now, two weeks ago Rollin: was most friendly to Jcrrold and stooC up for him when l assailed him, but ever since that night he has no word {, say for him. When Jerrold playet wrathful and accused Rollins of mixing in other men 's business, Rollins bounced up tO him like young bull terrier and believe there would have been row had not Sloat and Hoyt prompt, intcrfcrcd. Jerrold apolOgized, and Rol lins accepted the apology, but has avoid ed him ever sinct-wOn't speak of hin to me now that I haze reason to want [, draw him out. As soon as Armitagc get: here he can do what cannot-find ou just what and who is suspected ant talked about
 "Mr. Jerruld, of course, avoids me. H, nsbeen attending strictly to his dut! and is evidently confoundcd that diC not press the matter of his going ta town as he did tho day I forbade 1t MT. Hoyt's being too late to sec hin personally gavo me sufficient grounds oi which to excuse it, but he seems to un dcrstand that something is impending and is looking nervous and harassed He has not renewed his request for leav' of absence to run down to Sablon. I tolt him curtly it was out of the question. '
 The colonel took n few strides up m, down tho room. It had como then Tn good namo of those he loved was alread, l hcsrnirchnd hy I,urrisnn gnSsin. md h