San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-10-10

had done the deed among those VINO
could have access to Leycester Court
For Sir Jaffray himself the time was
one of the most distressing trouble, and
his disappointment when Lola was not
found and did not of her own free will
return to the manor was keen and poign-
ant.
81 am afraid she is dead, Beryl," he
said ON the third day after the discov-
cry of the murder. ''She has made
away with herself in her sorrow and
madness
"There is nothing to suggest that,
nothing more than there was two days
ago, " replied Beryl, thinking secretly
that it could perhaps be the best end
ing for them all.
"Yes, there is the fact that she has
not come back" he answered. IF,
which heaven forbid, she did this deed
in her madness and any knowledge
came to her afterward of what she had
done, she would do one of two things
either come back at once and own the
full truth or lay violent hands ON her
own life. know her,"
"There is time for her to come back
yet Suppose, as you say, that she did
this in her delirium. She may yet be
wandering somewhere in the same state
and may know nothing of what has
happened.
'The whole country is ringing with
news of the mans death. She could not
fail to hear of it if she were alive. /
tell you she is dead, and if her end were
peaceful it is best So" He sighed heav-
lily. at is an awful thing that should
ever have to say that about her, but /
would rather see her dead than mad,
and she must be one or the other, or
we are all out of our senses.
Beryl did not answer this at once,
but sat thinking out the problem as it
showed in the light of her own knowl
edge.
1--WE may all be out of our senses in
that respect, Jaffray- We may be judg-
ing her without cause"
- would to God that could think
SOP he exclaimed, with fierce energy.
Il would give my life to feel sure of it,
but can't Beryl, can't. i have tried
to piece the things together that you
and l know and to find in them any
thing but the proofs of her deed, and /
can't Look at the things as / will,
they lead me nowhere but to one con-
clusion. There is not a man in England
who if he knew what we know would
not think what we think. l don't un-
derstand the thing. 1 can't, except on
the one supposition that she is mad,
and it breaks my heart to think that"
He paused, but Beryl did not break
the silence.
1.-THE thing is all SO horribly COM
plete! have talked it over and over
with Clifford, trying to get from him
suggestion that may point in another
direction, but all his ingenuity cannot
offer hint that the evidence doesn't
utterly smash. 1t is perfectly clear that
she left the manor house before this
man was killed. 1t is quite as certain
that he wrote to her the letter telling
her to meet him. 1t is clear again that
she got the letter, and that she did go
to see him, and just as clear that she
was there and dropped that bracelet in
the struggle with him and used that
dagger, and then on the top of all
comes this absolutely inexplicable fight
1t would all be different if only she
were here. If she would come here and
lay her hand in mine and tell me she
knew nothing of all this, would be-
lieve her and hold out for her innocence
against the whole world, mad or sane
But she doesn't come. And yet l hate
and loathe myself for harboring the
thought that, mad or sane, she could
even think of taking this mans life.
And the strain of it all is enough to
kill one"
Beryl thought it best to let him speak
freely and without interruption.
''There is only the one thing that
have often mentioned to you that can't
fathom-whether there was any sort Of
understanding between Lola and that
brute. have thought sometimes-in
fact, Clifford suggested the idea to me
that he may have had some kind Of hold
over her, something that-but, there.
l won't try to think in that vein.
wish to heaven I'd had the beggar out
and shot him before he caused all this
troubled
"She says in her letter." he said,
barking back suddenly to the thought
which he had started and left and tax
ing from his pocket Lola's last letter to
him, already thumbed and soiled from
constant reading, that she was within
an ace of telling me when something
said stopped her. What a tactless,
laundering dolt must bel If ! hadn't
checked her, all this misery and trag-
edy and ruin might have been saved.
Oh, how / have cursed myself for that
olumsinessr he cried angrily.
II see no need for self reproach,
said Beryl. 1T would have been better
if she had been led to speak, butt
She left the sentence unfinished, and
Sir Jaffray looked at her as though to
question her.
While he was thinking what to reply
the DOlipa insnectOr was onnOnnced