Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1896-07-11

49, INV v
Exactly how the idea was born I'm her
mind she did not know-it might have
been a look OF fear In Stephens handsome
eyes-it might have been the urgency
with which he insisted, begged, implored,
her TO keep silence-it might have been
some swift and sudden piecing together
OF fragments OF evidence and incidents
which had puzzled her ia the past-it
might have been any or all OF these things.
anyway, certain it is that IN the flash of a
moment, the twinkling Of any eye, much
that before Fad puzzled her suddenly be-
came clear, that which she had not been
able TO understand all at once became as
an open book to her, clear as the sun mt
Doontide; and when the realness OF it all
fairly dawned upon her, Julia Howard
crouched down into the big chair and
wtpt, poor girl, as IL her heart would
break.
She had not moved when, more than An
hour afterwards, her husband came up
again.
"They want to know IL you will 90 for n
little drive this afternoon" he began, then
when she raised her head he cried. "Ohl
my darling, what is it,"
She lifted herself up YEARLY. "No, tell
them I've got a headache--I want to rest
for the present.
"And may come backS" he asked.
"Yes. | want you
So presently he came upstairs again.
"Lock the door, she said, land come and
sit here on the sofa beside me. ] nave Q
great deal TO tell yon."
He did her bidding and sat down beside
her, putting his arm round her waist as he
always did when they had confidential
talks together. Then he kissed her and
waited for her to 90 on.
II told YOU" she began, In a dull voice
of pais, h a new dea had suggested
itself to me. Well. / have been thinking,
thinking, thinking about IL until I feel n
il my brain would burst. | must tell
you eve ything that has presented itself
10 my mind anl ! must go back to the first
time that you ever came TO our house. IL
you remember Mrs. Iovelace came that
afternoon"
Yes, | remember"
81 had occasion, or to be accurate, oc-
casion arose. 10 mention her diamonds and
you asked me carelessly enough II she had
fine diamonds3 told you'll remember 1t
perfectly-that she sometimes blaZed like
a jewelers. shop. Well. not very long after
that we went TO stay at Matcham and
whilst we were there Lady Lucifer's jew
els were stolen"
And my SISTERS" he put in. quickly.
Yes" said Julia, significantly, 'and
your sisters. II was not long after that
that Mrs. Lovelace's diamonds were Oh.
tanned by n ~cleverly thought out plan, so
! plavarlv fhnuyht ont that IN aha had nnf
happened to have been at the Maulever-
er's during the whole OF that afternoon,
she would probably always have believed
that Alice Mauleverer had stolen them.
After that three other large no uses in the
immediate ~neighborhood were robbed, and
then this great robbery took place at Lit
lie Street Hall"
Well" said Stephen, lyon are telling
me a great deal that I already know.
What do you make OF all this'" With an
immense effort Julia braced herself up to
tell the rest.
Il think, Stephen" she said, sadly, 'tha'
IL YOU and the Markhams had remained
in Australia, it is very unlikely that these
particular robberies would have been com
mitted."
He neither started nor let go his hold oil
her waist. "My DEAR" he said, with per
feet calmness-''if anyone but yourself
had said this to me ! should have taken
it very differently. A woman | should
have invited to go TO my lawyer, a man
| would have thrashed within an inch OF
his life. With you il is different-I an
sure it must pain you far more to say and
what is worse think all this, than il does
me to hear it. But have you thought out
seriously what il is that you accuse me
II q Materially OF being a thief aud in con-
SS"Iec-oue wfhcu 10 Is perhaps lucky II
you that you have made against you
husband who is not likely to use IL agains
You"
"Yes. have thought about il s~eriousl
enough, Stephen-God knows sue cried
with sudden passion; God knows" sh
repeated miserably. Thought about il
why | have been thinking until my head
feels ready to burst"
my dearest child, your poor little burst
ing head will be raging with delirium il
you let these wild ideas take root in it,
he said. tenderly. But now look ut the
other side of the question-neither I MOI
Bob and his wife have ever been at Little
Street Hall in our lives; so how do you
imagine we eau have carried out this rob.
berry,"
II have thought of all that" she said,
YEARLY. Last year did not my mother
go there's Did not she go to stay with
Mamie Immediately after she returned
home TO st. Eve's' Well, she happened
to tell me not long after rs n proof OF
Maimie's kindness Of heart, that she had
been so interested in the old ladies aud in
her visit, and how she had asked Just how
they lived and what their house was like,
and all the rest of IL. Oh. Stevie! Steviev'
she ended, w~retchedly. 81 never thought
Ii would come to this"
envy dearest child" he said, soothingly.
"as yet it has come TO nothing at all. I
assure YOU, You are worrying Yourself
very unnecessarily about q mere fancy.
OF course If you like to let your magma
ton run wild it is the simplest thing in
the world 20 build up a chain of supposi-
tious evidence out of fancy alone-I, for
instance. might believe you to be n muir
deress, but that, You know, would not
make you one"
'Can you deny iti' she burst out, 1t
last.
Certainly l caul- he answered.
"Do you deny it?'
"Yes-I do deny it. I can and will
swear that | have all my life kept my
hands from picking and st~ealing-all my
life."-
''Then why" she demanded, "why did
You make "A plan of Oxford Place while we
were staying theret"
'Of oxford ~Place-Jueyr' he cried.
"What in Heavens name are you talking
aboutti
She beat her han impatiently upon her
knee once or t~wice-then turned fully 10
him. you remember our staying at Or.
ford Placer"
'Of course I dor"
Then you may remember, TOO, that !
went to a bazaar with Lady CeespripQ
and the others."
"Yes.w
And that you stayed behind-to write
lettersf"
"well,"
well. when l came home, I sat down
on the arm OF your chair to talk to You
and noticed that you had been making
a plan, as Ii you had been idly drawing Ia
the plotting book. asked you why you
bad been making a plan and you put me
of carelessly. DO You remember all thisf"
hNn ~b L