Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-08-07
the morning they left-in her gar

By heaven, Armitage, suppose did write that letter? What does it prove but what say-that somebody has been pryingand spying into my affairs? How came the colonel by it if not by fraud or treachery?"
 ''He picked it up in the garden, tell you, among the rosebushes, where she where Miss Renwick-had been but Q few moments before, and where it might appear that she had dropped it. !"
 "Shel That letter. What had she to do with it? What right had she to read it?''
 Armitage stepped impulsively for ward A glad. glorious light was burst ing upon his soul. He could almost have seized Jerrold's hand and thanked him, but proofs, proofs were what he needed It was not his mind that was to be con vinced; it was society that must be satisfied of her utter innocence, that it might be able to say, Well, never for a moment believed word of il. '' Link by link the chain of circumstantial evil dence must be destroyed, and this was only one.
 You mean that that letter was not intended for Miss Renwick:' he asked, with eagerness he strovc hard to repress.
 Ut was never meant for anybody, 7" said Jerrold, the color coming back to his face and courage to his eyes That letter was never sent by me to any wo- man. It's my writing. of cOurse-I cant deny that-but 1 never even meant it to go If it left that desk, it must have be, I stolen. I've been hunting high and low for it. l knew that such q thing lying around loose would be the cause of mischief. God! is that what all this fuss is about?' And he looked warily, yet with infinite anxiety, into his cap tain's eyes.
 ''There is far more to it, as you well know, sir, " was the stern answer. For whom was this written if not for her: It won't do to half clear her name"
 Answer me this, Captain Armitage. Do you mean that that letter has com promised Miss Renwick; that it is she whose name has been involved, and that it was of her that Chester meant to speak?''
 Certainly 1t was-and 1 too.
 There was an instant's silence; then Jerrold began to laugh nervously:
 ''Oh, well, fancy it isn't the first
  has got away off the track. All the same, l do not mean to overlook his language to me, and I may say right now, Captain Armitage, that yours, too, calls for an explanation.
 "You shall have it in short order, MT. Jerrold, and the sooner you under stand the situation the better. So far as am concerned, Miss Renwick need ed no defender; but, thanks to your mysterious and unwarranted absence from quarters two very unlucky nights, and to other circumstances I have no need to name, and to your penchant for letter writing of a most suggestive character, it is Miss Renwick whose name has been brought into question here at this post and most prominently so. In plain words, MT. Jerrold, you who brought this trouble upon her by your own misconduct must clear her. no matter at whose expense, or''-
 ''Or what?'
 I make no threats. 1 prefer that you should make the proper explana- tions from a proper sense of what is due"
 And suppose say that no man is
 
 has been distorted and misrepresented by the evil imagination of his fellOws:''
 ''Then I may have to wiring the truth out of you-and will; but, for her sake want as little publicity as possible After this display on your part l am not bound to show you any considera- tion whatever. Understand this, how ever-the array of evidence that you were feloniously inside Colonel May nard's quarters that night and at his cottage window last night is of such a character that a court would convict you unless your alibi was conclusive. Leave the service you certainly shall unless this whole thing is cleared up. "
 ''I never was anywhere near Colonel Maynard's either last night or the other night 1 was absent. ''
 You will have to prove it. Mere de nials won't help you in the face of such evidence as we have that you were there the first time
 What evidence?''
 ''The photograph that was stolen from Mrs. Maynard between and 1 o'clock that morning was seen in your drawer by Major Sloat at rcveille. You were fool enough to show it to him.
 Captain Armitage, shall be quite able to show, when the proper time comes, that the photograph I showed Major Sloat was not stolen. It wa. given me. :"
 That is beyond belief, Mir Jerrold Once and for all understand this case You have compromised her good nam, by the very mystery of your actions You have it in your power to clear hel by proving where you were, since VOL were not near her; by showing how yot got that photographs; by explaining how 1 you came to write so strange q letter | Now say to you, will you do 1t instant ly, or must we wiring it from you:' A sneering smile was the only answer | for a moment, then:
 II shall take great pleasure in con founding my enemies should the matter be brought before a court Pm sure i the colonel can stand that sort of thinl can, but as for defending myself o anybody else from utterly unjust anC ] proofiess suspicious it's quite anothel thing"
 Good God, Jerrold, do you realiz, what a position you are taking? D, ! you"-
 'Oh. not at all, captain," was tn, airy reply, mot at all. It is not posi- tion I have taken. It is one into whicl I you misguided conspirators have forced me. I certainly am not required to com promise anybody else in order to reliev, a suspicion which you, not I, have ere ated. How do you know that there may not be some other woman whose name l propose to guard? You have been real ly very flattering in your theories SC far"
 Armitage could bear no more. Tn, airy conceit and insolence of the mar overcame all self restraint and resolu tion. With one bound he was at hi.