The Irish standard., 1897-06-05

the young lady. 'sf you had been pres
ent last night, Miss Dehnar, you would
not have let them think so."
slow are you going to prove it?"
asked Col. Wafrenton, hopefully. "Don't
make any mistake this time. Much de-
ponds on it. WILDLY has been fretting
his heart out over the horrible idea"
'May we 60 into Mr.. Whidby's room
now?" asked Hendricks. "Miss Del
mar may come also. I can explain things
better to ladies than to men,"
Warrenton opened the door. Ger
tainly; the room has been put to rights.
Come on"
-. ..Now,".. began tho detective, when
they had entered Whidby's room, 1--WE
won't indulge in so much realism as to
have the colonel representing the dead
man. nor Mr.. WILDLY playing the role
- peaceful sleeper, out of respect for
Miss De1mar's nerves; for, while she
would really make better detective
than any one Of you. she is only a
woman, after all, and we won't make
the picture any more gruesome than is
necessary. For our purpose we will
simply imagine that the other room
contains a sleeper, and that Mr.. Whid-
by is reclining on this bed. Now, DR..
.Lampkin, when Mr.. WILDLY was hyp-
Noticed last night and you made him
get up, did you notice whether his right
hand WAS closed or open?"
II did not" replied the doctor, with
sudden start and then questioning
stare into Hendricks face.
''Then you could not tell whether
he had a knife in his hand when he got
up on the fatal night or not?"
:. "Ah! No. j was fool not to think
of that; but could not watch every
thing. One has to concentrate his mind
ON a single idea to hypnotic success
fully" e.,
-"Quite right, doctor; but, having my
eyes we'll open last night. though I
did have to look through slit in that
screen over there, observed that Mr..
WILDLY, before getting up, seemed to
be trying to push something away from
him. It was knife the murderer was
trying to give him. And finally when
Mr.. WILDLY did get out of he'd his hand
was not closed"
"Ah! 1 see.'' cried DIR. Lamplin. II
was very stupid"
mot at ALL" returned the detective,
with a laugh. Il make a great many
mistakes, and sometimes my mistakes
help me to get on the right track in
the end That was one point you
missed. Here is the other. Come over
to this window. Do you see anything
unusual here?"
II examined it early this morning."
broke in Col. Warrenton, putting on his
eyeglasses, "but to save my life could
not guess what you were looking at
last night" -
The detective put his finger on the
window-sill.
Don't you see that little crack?''
PLAINLY now," said DR.. Lampkin;
"but it means nothing to me-"
Hendricks looked around at the circle
of faces. 80
'tAfter failing to put the knife into
Mr.. Whidby's hand, the murderer stuck
ia big one it was, too-right here,
with the handle up; then he stood away
and tried to make Mr.. WILDLY go to
it and take it. He failed three times.
You remember how Mr.. WILDLY would
elowly>draw near the window and then
go back? Well, that is the explanation.
The hypnotist could not control his
subject sufficiently. What did he do
next? He made Mr.. WILDLY sit on
the side of the bed, just as he did last
night, you know, for about ten min
utes. Then he took the knife himself,
hastily, perhaps angrily, for you notice
the wood is splintered little. If he
had been perfectly cool lie would have
drawn it out carefully. He was vexed
over his failure to control Mr.. WILDLY.
His next move was to hypnotize Mr..
Strong into a merry mood, and then
he committed the deed.
"What did he do after that? To me
it is as plain as the nose on mans
face, for made thorough examina-
ton of that corner last night. He stood
there with his dripping knife in his
hand, and succeeded in controlling Mr..
WILDLY to the extent of making him
20 into the other room. He made him