Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-08-13
CHAPTER XIX.

''What man could thus have had the
entrance to the back of the .house?' Stu
art asked II am bewildered with hor-
rible thoughts!''
II also was bewildered, but am now
no longer so. I knew the mans face; now
-to-day-I know for certain who he was.
Within the last few days it flashed upon
me, yet / doubted but my doubts are
satisfied. I only learned of his existence
ten days ago, or should have suspected
him before
"Who was it?'' Stuart said. ''Tell me
at once"
"Wait yet a moment and listen to me.
AS I saw that man enter the house,
! house that I, stranger, could see was
the mansion Of some person Of impor-
| lance, it came to my mind that this was
| the owner, the master of that house, who
| had killed my friend. His reason for do
! ing so | could not guess-it might have
! been for the love Of woman, or for
! hate or about money-but that it was so
| | was confident. And / said to myself,
| so! you cannot escape me! / know your
! house, tomorrow I shall know your name,
and, if in two or three days the police
| have not got you in their power--l will
wait that while, for it is better they
should take you than then l will kill
! you.' And l went away thinking thus;
! there was no need to watch more. | held
him, for he could not escape, thought,
in my hand.'
"But it was not the owner of the house"
! Stuart said, ''it was not Lord Penlyn who
killed him. He was away at an hotel at
, the time" A. 81 .sAlsl
Eyes, he was-though still it would be
possible for him then to have entered his
own house-but his was not the face of
the man had seen. learned that, to my
amazemert, when for the first time l
stood before him. But, listen again; In
the morning, 1T Restaurant, found in
directory, Of which / had learned the
use, that that house was Occleve House,
and that Lord Penlyn was the owner Of
| it. And then my surprise was great, for
only an hour or so before had found
that Occleve was the right name Of Wal
ter Cundall."
"You had learned that?'
| "When l lifted Walter in my arms in
the park, I felt against his breast book
half out of his pocket. The murderer had
! missed that! / took that book, for even
in my haste and grief / thought that in
it might be something that would give
me Il clew. But what were really in it of
i Importance were a certificate of his moth
! er's marriage another Of his own birth,
and letter, years old, from her to him.
They told me all, and, moreover, they
! proved to me, as / then thought, that his
murderer lived in the very house and bore
the very name that by right seemed to
be his"
''They were the certificates he showed
to them on the morning he disclosed him
self" Stuart said, land he had not re-
moved them from his pocketbook when
he was killedw
Eyes! that he showed to them; you have
said it! 1t was to two of them that he
showed these papers. And one was the
friend of the other, he lived with and
upon him, he dares not meet me face to
face, he evades me! he, he is the muir
derer. He Philip Smerdonv'
Stuart sprang to his feet.
"Philip Smerdonv' he exclaimed. ''No,
no! it cannot be!''
ut is, 1 say! 1t is he. OF all others,
who but he could have done this deed !?
| Who but he who crept back to Occleve
House having in his pocket the keys
| whereby to enter it, who but he who
shuns ME because it has been told him
that knew the assassin's face! And on
the very night that he is back in London,
sleeping in that house, are not the clothes
that might have led to his identification
removed?"
| Stuart paused a moment, deep in
| thought, and then he said: ut cannot be!
On the day before the murder, in the
| morning, he left London for Occleve
House. He must have been there when
it was committed"
"Bah!' Guffanta said, with a shrug of
| his shoulders, che did not leave London.
| he only made pretense of doing so. All
| that day he, in his disguise, must have
been engaged in tracking my poor friend,
and at night he killed him." Then he
| paused moment, and when he next
spoke he asked question.
"Where was he going when he left Oc-
| cleve House this afternoon in the cab,
and with his luggage"
"He was going to join his father, he
said" Stuart answered. His father is
i'll and has been ordered abroad for his
health, and, having recovered some money
from his ruined business, he is going on
| the Continent, and Smerdon is going with
him."
"And to what part o. the Continent
are they going?'
81 do not know, though he said some
thing about the French coast, and after
wards, the Tyrol. Why do you ask"
''Why do I ask? Why? Because /
! must so also! have to stand face to face
with him, and be able to convince myself
that either / have made some strange
mistake, or that am right"
''And-if you are right?"
''Then / have to take him to the nearest
| magistrate, or, if he resists. to kill him"
"You will do that?"
II will do anything necessary to pre-
| vent him ever escaping me again"
! They talked on into the night, and
i Senior Guffanta extracted from the other
promise that he would lend him any
assistance in his power, and that, above
all, he would say nothing to Lord Pen
!: yn that, by being retold to Smerdon,
| should, IL he were actually the murderer,
| help him to still longer escape.
| IT promise you," Stuart said, land the
more willingly because I myself would
give him up to justice if I We're sure he
| is the man. But that, of course, cannot
bc. it is you alone who can identify this
cruel murderer. But, in one thing I am
sura ron are wrong"