Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-01-12
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CHAPTER XIII.
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was alive. | was even ignorant that
/ Felix had been In the inn on that night.
I He had ridden round the back way Of
the housa. and As my room was over
the iron. .ioor | had not heard his ar
rival. Under these circumstances It
Was easy fur mt to make the mistake
and think the dead man was Francis,
particularly Is I was misled hy the
mar, -lous resemblance between the
/ brothers. and. moreover. saw IN. pearl
ring on thee finger If the corpse. My
mistake was a PERFECTLY excusable one,
I and | iIa,l been confirmed in >ilch err
rcun"uS belief by the airoit fashion i'll
which Francis. for his own safety, kept
/ up the deception.
Nav knew the tfuth-that Francis
was alive and Felix dead-yet As regards
tiIe name uf the man who had commit
ted the crime | was still quite in the
| dark. Rose Gcrnon knew. but it was
questionable whether she would confess,
even Ia save her own skin. Either she
or Strent was the guilty person, a. none
other was i'm the inn at thar time. Str-nt
| had vanished, hut M doubt she Enew
/ his whereabouts. The question was
whether she would tell.
! "Oh, she'll tell where he i, right
enough, said Mcrrick, To WHOM | put
this view of the matter, especially ii
she is guilty herself. -
lyon don think she is the criminal,
Merrick:''
There is no reason why she should
not be-" he replied argumcntatively.
''She had every reason to hate Felix
| Eriarfield. He had promised to marry
her aid was engaged to Olivia. Quite
enough reason there for u jealous wom-
an such as she seems to be.
But she wanted Felix to kill his
brother. so that she might force him to
marry her"
YES. but that little arrangement did
not come off. My idea is that she saw
Felix when he arrived at the inn and
asked him straight ont if he had ar
ranged to marry Olivia. She would
hear of the engagement while passing
through Westminster on her way to
the lone inn. No doubt Felix lied about
the matter, and she lost her temper. 1t
may be- that she did not intend to kill
him, bat having the poisoned arrowhead
| in her hand had forgot how dangerous
it was and threw herself on him. He
put nut his hand tn keep her off, and
! so was wounded. Then he died, and, ter
rificd at what the consequences might
be, she and .;trent left the inn.
''bur what ABOUT her ilackmailing
| FrIuri -
! Isle sUcss,d what rra., 5 lad done
AMI saw u CHARGE of securing her aims
! 10y putting the murder on to him. He
/ had so compromised himself by his fool
ish actions that of course he was afraid
To d,nounce her.
''Still. why did she want To marry
him: She loved Felix, not Francis. "
ITS my opinion she loved neither of
them. said Merrick dryly. land simply
wanted to marry for responsibility
do you think she will denouncc
Strent:'
self -
Won't you come and hear her con-
/ fession. Merrick:''
Not |. A respectable practitioner
like myself has no business to be mixed
up in such crininality. Hitherto have
"'ii 'hc sleeping partner III thlS analr,
ana ynu nave carried through my ideas
rSce.!2ntiy well 96atInue to do so and
Then come and tell fse all about u.
Very pieasantt Sar wa, = II gfhm-,
Diet hnt l have;;l1 eile iiara work
M'ffi'h laughed anu pushed me out
/" in "'"r. re haa dozeh parents
waiting ana could spare no more time.
He sara one last word before l left
'n' 10y me way i'-hham' said ne.
iii''hs Il warming lorei'iSer' doh
you ,r"a' una. nos.' oer'i"h IN me least
We tTh making inquiries about her,
IN" she mas a biack fecord-about the
WORST III LONDON l shouid say.
oh my way 10 'efmsn street won
uere'' now ne haH gained inns lhforma-
non speclaiist Of Merrick's stand
ing o"s1> hot go roniiu making inquiries
'"No' loose characters Aet 1 knew he
sp"he the tr'tth- His Faculty Tor learn
ing thinss was marvellous. Decidedly.
,nerr'ck shouia nave been a detective
ii,s otihi',i ''oou' "o>e vernon coincid-