Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-11
SECOND NSTALLMENT.

per, do you think something is the matter
with papa%
Il cannot tell yet" answered DIR. Will
liams, unable to prevaricate even to gave
her feelings when thus directly addressed.
Don't keep anything from me!' she
pleaded, regarding him wistfully.
mo, Miss Drummond, shall tell you the
truth" he said; and his heart beat with
painful eagerness as he saw her eyes fixed
hopefully and trustfully upon him.
She returned to Amelia, seeing that the
doctor wished to speak to her father alone
Prof. Drummond had sat down, and was
resting his head on his hands when the
doctor entered.
1T was this way" he began Immediately
looking up; The and l had just finished
breakfast. There had been some general
conversation, in the course of which he
had remarked upon his good health and
prospects,. Then he started. quite as Usual.
for the shop, as 1 call the room where /
conduct my mechanical experiments. 1 in
tended to join him later, but before he had
reached the door he fell. heard him. He
was dead when 1 reached him. I carried
him upstairs and laid him on the bed of
the little room, as I told you, and then
started out to find you. didn't know that
I had locked the door. That l did so. can
only attribute to my agitation"
IA perfectly lucid statement" thought
the doctor, land 1 couldn't think of Ques-
tioning the accuracy Of it If it were not
for the impossibility of dead man vanish
ing from room out of which a live man
could not have gone without leaving some
trace" Aloud, he said: What was the
evidence Of death, Professor Drummond?"
Entire failure of the pulse" responded
the professor, promptly, lack of sensitive
ness in the eyes and a rapidly increasing
pallor. l listened for the heart and made
several crude attempts to restore anima-
ton
What were your attempts7"
The professor explained.
Well" said the doctor, thoughtfully,
the fact remains, If you are certain that
you placed Starkweather's body in that
chamber" he was looking sharply at the
professor and stopped when the elder man
flushed and frowned Indignantly.
Il hope 1 do not need to repeat again
what have twice told you." he interposed,
coldly.
No, and the fact remains, then, that a
dead man vanished into thin air. 1t won't
DO, professor You are an older and wiser
man than /, and do not need to be told that
that is an impossibility."
You state the impossible proposition"
said the professor, calmly. Il did not sug-
air."
you have suggested no other hypothe-
Sis"
What time have 1 had to think?" re-
torted Professor Drummond irritably.
He clenched his fist and stared out of the
window at the tree tops just visible across
the river. The doctor was silent. There
was no evidence of Authorization in the
professors replies and then, there was
BetSeyS evidence, winch the uoCtoT Hau
momentarily forgotten. She had spoken
incoherently and almost inarticulately, but
both he and the young ladies had inferred
that somebody at Fairview had dropped
dead.
I'D give a good deal to know what Betsey
saw" thought the doctor.
TT comes down to this said the pro-
fessor, talking as If to himself, II must have
been mistaken in the symptoms of death
Starkweather must have left the room
Did he have key to it?" asked the
doctor.
Il didn't know that he had, but an expert
mechanician with odds and ends of tools IN
his pockets might have got out
And locked the DOOR after him. Humph!"