Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1895-12-27

to him he had written, urging that he
be permitted a few moments talk.
'This is no time for a personal misun-
derstanding," he wrote. "I must see
you at once. I can clear away the
doubts, can explain my action; but, for
heavens sake, intercede for me with
Captain Chester that may go with the
command"
As luck would have it, Armitage was.
with Chester at the Office when the let-i
ter was handed in..' He opened it, gave
whistle of surprise and simply held
it forth to the temporary commander.
"Read that" he said.
Chester frowned, but took the note.
and looked it curiously over.
II have no patience with the mani
now," he said. "Of course, after what
1 saw last night, I begin to understand
the nature of his defense, but we don'4
want any such man in the regiment
after this. What's the use Of taking
him with us?'
"That isn't the point" said Armif
tage. "Now or never, possibly, is thd
time to clear up this mystery. o.
course Maynard will be up to join II
by the first train, and what won't it b4
worth to him to have positive proof thai
all his fears were unfounded?' I
even if it wasn't Jerrold, there i
still the fact that saw man clamberf
ing out of her window. How is that II
be cleared up?" said Chester gloomily. |
"That may come later and won't bA
such bugbear as you think. IF you are
not worried into q morbid condition
over all this trouble, you would not
look so seriously upon thing which /
regard as piece of mere night prowl-
ing, with possible spice of romance"
"What romance, I'd like to know?'T
"Never mind that now. I'm playing
detective for the time being. Let me
see Jerrold for you and find out what
he has to offer. Then you can decide.
Are you willing? All right! But re-
member this while think Of it. Yqn
admit that the light you saw on the
wall Sunday night was exactly like that
which you saw the night of your adven-
ture, and that the shadows were thrown
in the same way. You thought that
night that the light was turned up and
afterward turned out in her room, and
that it was her figure you saw at the
window. Didn't you?''
eyes, What then?"
-i-"Well, I believe her~statement that
she saw and heard nothing until reveille.
I believe it was Mrs. Maynard who did
the whole thing without Miss Rem
wick's knowing anything about it,
"Why?"
because I accomplished the feat
with the aid of the little night lamp that
found beside the colonel's bedside. It
is my theory that Mrs. Maynard was
restless after the colonel finally fell
asleep; that she heard your tumble and
took her little lamp, crossed over into
Miss Renwick's room, opened the door
without creaking, as I can do to your
satisfaction, found her sleeping quietly,
but the room q trifle close and warm,
set her night lamp down on the table,
as I did, threw her shadow on the wall,
as did, and opened the shade, as you
thought her daughter did Then she
withdrew and left those doors open
both hers and her daughters the
light, instead Of being turned down, as
you thought, was simply carried back
into her own room. 4.
''That is all possible. But how about
the man in her room? Nothing was
stolen, though money and jewelry were
lying around loose. If theft was not the
object, what was?"
"Theft certainly was not, and I'm
not prepared to say what was, but I
have reason to believe it wasn't Miss
Renwick.
Anything to prove it?'
"Yes, and, though time is precious
and cannot show you, you may take
my word for it. We must be off at
noon, and both Of us have much to do,
but there may be no other chance to
talk, and before you leave this post I
want you to realize her utter innocence. "
IT want to, Armitage."
81 know you do, so look here. We
assume that the same man paid the
night visit both here and at Sablon, and
that he wanted to see the same person.
if he did not come to steal; do we not?"
"Yes."
"We know that at Sablon it was
Mrs. Maynard he sought and called.
The colonel says so.
EYES,"
Presumably, then, it was she-not
her daughter had some reasons for
wanting to see here at Sibley. What
is more, if he wanted to see Miss Rem
wick, there was nothing to prevent his
going right into her Window"
Nothing"
"Well, I believe I can prove he
didn't. On the contrary, that he went
around by the roof Of the porch to the
colonels room and tried there, but
found it risky on account Of the blinds
and that finally he entered the hall win"
dow-what might be called neutral
ground. The painters had been at work
there, as you said, two days before, and
the paint on the Stats was not quite dry.
The blinds and stills were the only
things they had touched up on that
| front. il seems. and nothing ON the