San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-08-15
pol Thought be had that all thorongh.

cied that you believe Mr.. Marvel inno-
cent. I wish you to try to prove it"
Precisely. Meanwhile you yourself
suspect that he is guilty, do you not?"
81 do not say so. !"
ut is so, nevertheless. But we shall
not get along in this way. You must
not fence with me any more. We are ON
the same side now, and though Burrows
has not had as much experience as /
have it will take all my skill to destroy
the case which he has made out against
your lover. " Mr. Barnes used this word
purposely to arouse her to action.
II trust you, Mr.. Barnes, and place
our affair in your hands. Ask me what
you please, and will reply"
very good. In the first place tell
me am l not right in saying that you
have believed that Mr.. Marvel is
guiltyP'
"Yes. You are right"
Very good. That proves your inno-
cence. Now / will demonstrate his, to
your satisfaction at least" He explain
ed the discrepancy as to time in the
theory of the other detective.
but, then," said Virginia, 1.-THE real
murderer must have placed the pistol
where 1t was found, so as to throw sus-
picion on Mr.. Maxwell"
Exactly! You are quick to see
things, quicker than our adversary, Mr..
Burrows. Before we go into that, how
ever, tell me why you consider Marvel
guilty. You must have more reason for
that opinion than is known to me-"
II have. After we separated across
the river, as you shrewdly discovered,
he returned to the farm. He admitted
to you that he had entered the house,
but he did not tell you that he had left
note for me. / found this in the morn.
ing and, as / see now, misconstrued it,
That was the secret motive of all my
actions thereafter.
"Have you the letter now?"
Eyes, here it is. Taking it from her
pocket, she handed it to Mr.. Barnes 1t
read as follows:
When we parted tonight, you spoke as though
you could not give me the answer that l wish.
Perhaps when this reaches you you may see
things differently. By morning what now
seems an obstacle in your judgment may be
removed, and you may feel free TO decide your
own and my fate yourself. Should you decide
against me, write to me, as agreed, and will
leave you and this country forever.
WALTER.
Mr.. Barnes read this carefully, and
then said:
II see your mistake In reading it
you placed a comma after the word
Judgment, whereas he meant it to be
after the word obstacle However, this
paper alone will prove the alibi SO nee
essary to Mr.. Marvel, and so you may
rest easy, although shall not until /
have found the man who manufactured
all this evidence against Mr.. Marvel.
There is another point which wish
cleared up. How did you know there
were two wounds in the body and SO be
able to arrange your story to meet the
requirements of the case so well?"
when Alice tainted, and was brought
out of the room, Harry Lucas came with
her, and, while the doctor was attend
ing to her, / questioned Lucas. f"
"Of course. OF course. was fool
to let him leave the room, but then
man cannot think of everything. You
are clever woman, Miss Lewis, and it
will be pleasure for me to serve you
Now. one thing more Tell me why you
did not destroy that paper upon which
your uncle had written Mr.. Marvels
name, accusing him of the crime. That
was dangerous bit of evidence to keep
if you wished to shield him."
"Yes, know, but it is just because
it seemed so conclusive that did keep
it / thought that should be able to
prevent its existence from being discov-
cred, but in that / was sadly mistaken.
/ kept it for this reason. was willing
to shield Mr.. Marvel at any sacrifice,
because-because / love him. But
should never have received him again
so long as knew him to be or thought
that he was criminal. Suppose that
he had gone away, and then should re-
turn after year or two, never having
been publicly accused? Don't you see
how terrible my position would be? To
be obliged to accuse him of crime
when had no proof"
Exactly. You were willing to sup
press the evidence to save him, but you
preserved it to save yourself. Very
proper perhaps, but, you see, very risky,
your primary purpose. OF
course that paper will tell against him
now. Then there is the matter of the
locket That certainly looks very bad
How do you account for that?"
"Why-why-don't you see? That
was my last hope destroyed. When /
heard that Walter-Mr. Marvel--had
taken the locket and remembered that
had found it tight in my dead uncle's
hand, the whole thing seemed too terri
bly, certain. But now
"Ahl You have theory"
"Mr. Barnes, you men never quite
us women. We love a man
and after that we cling to him forever
We hope against reason and manufac-
ture reasons upon which to build hope.
SO, ever since the inquest, have striven
10 find an explanation of this locket af-
y