The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-12-08

erred, but In that I was sadly mistaken.
kept it for this reason. / was willing
to shield Mr.. Marvel at any sacrifice,
because-because I love him. But I
should never have received him again
80 long as I knew him to be or thought
that he was criminal. Suppose th; t
he had gone away, and then should re-
turn after a 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 mad no proof"
Exactly. You were willing to sup
press the evidence to save him. but you
preserved it to save yourself Very
proper perhaps, bat, you see, very risky,
considering 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 thae?'
4'Why-why-don't you see? That
was my last hope destroyed. When I
heard that Walter-Mr. Marvel-had
taken the locket and remembered that I
had found it tight in my dead uncle's
hand, the whole thing seemed too terri
bly, certain. But now
"Ahl You have a theo1yT'
"Mr. Barnes, you men never quite
understand Us women. We love man
and after that wacling to him forever
We hope against reason and manufac-
ture reasons upon which to build hope.
So, ever since the inquest, I have striva1
to find an explanation Of this locket af-
fair. There is one possibility that has
occurred to me. Mr.. Marvel certainly
entered the house after I had retired
and probably while my uncle was yet
alive. May he not have dropped the
locket and may not my uncle, disturbed
by some noise, have searched the house
and accidentally have found the locket?"
"That is very we'll argued, Miss
Lewis, but fear that 1t will not prove
to be true. Unless Mr.. Lewis was killed
Immediately after he would scarcely
have retained the locket in his hand.
Still, it Is a possibility. It would do at
a pinch in trying to confuse jury; but,
unless be greatly mistaken, nothing OF
that sort will be necessary. hope to
discover the whole solution of this sin
gularly complex affair. y
"Where will you begin?'
"Where Burrows did, only I will go
the other way. He followed the man
away from the scene Of the murder and
allowed himself to get on false scent.
Twill trace him to the place from which
he came ard there discover his identity.
Meanwhile you must go home again.
When is the funeral?''
"It is-to be this afternoon.
"Then I go back with you. But, first,
there is something that can find out,
even here in Boston. If you will wait
for me, my housekeeper will get you
some breakfast while I do my errand.
Miss Lewis agreed, and Mr.. Barnes
went out He proceeded to the main
Office Of the Boston and Maine railroad
and asked for the superintendent. Be-
ing shown into the presence Of that
official, he at once explained the object
Of his visit.
81 am tracing a man, said he, "and
know that he reached Lee, N. r., ON
the train which is due there about 8
O'Clock. Can you find the ticket which
he gave to the conductor on that train
last Sunday night"
every easily, provided he was the
only passenger for that place. -
Calling an attendant, he gave him
orders to find the ticket, and few min
utes later Mr. Barnes held it in his
hand. It read, Worcester to Lee. !"
Mr.. Barnes was troubled, for he re-
membered that Marvel had testified that
he had been in Worcester, hiding from
the authorities. He examined the ticket
closely and noted that it was rough on
one edge, as though portion had been
torn off. He handed it to the superin-
tendent and asked:
..Can you tell me where this ticket
was bought? I see that one or mere
coupons have been torn of. Therefore
the passenger must have started from
some point the other side Of Worcester. "
The superintendent looked at the tick
ct and replied:
"This was originally sold in New
York, and is the form used by the Nor
wich line of steamers But your nan
may have bought this half Of the ticket
from scalper IL Worcester.
Mr.. Barnes thanked the superintend-
ent and left the Office.
E