The Portland daily press., 1898-10-17
pUBL1sHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
BY WILLIAM LIE QUEUX,
COPYRIGHTED, 1897, BY WILLIAM LIE oUEUx
Chapter III.
1--WE MUST NOT MARRY !"

COPYRIGHTED, 1877, ~
Chapter III.
1--WE MUST NOT MARRY"
George Stratf1eld stood aghast and hor,
rified. 1t was nearly dark, hut there stu
terrible truth that Nelly Bridson, his gay,
yiyacioua friend. had been foully muir
dered. Tsnderly he lifted her, and placed
his hand iA)on her heart. But there was
no movement. 1t had ceased its beating
Her face, with its hard drawn features
so unlike hers, was absolutely Mucous IN
death. Her hair was whitened ~ tho
dust while her blue eyes were wide open,
staring flxedly into space with look OF
inexpressible horror.
For some moments, still kneeling be-
side her inanimate form, George hesi-
tstsd. Suddenly his eager eyes caugnt
sight of some round fiat OBJECT lying IN
forsh his hand and picked it up, finding
TO his surprise that 1t was an exquisiteiy
natnted old miniature OF beautiful
woman set round with fine brilliants.
He held At close to HIS eyes, examining u
infinitely until convinced OF faot most
This m bv Gesw WAS one Of xsy
Ammo 6tratfeld, Q noted beauty OF her
time. which for many years had been
minin1 from the collection at Stratfield
Court. It correspondent exactly In every
particular with the description his father
had 60 often given him of the missing
portrait, the disappearance OF which mad
He remained speechless, dumbfounded at
The discovery. At length thought Q
dashed across his mind, that BY prompt
aorion the assassin might perhaps be dis.
covered. He could not bear the appalled,,
sronised gage Of those glazed, stony eyes
which seemed fixed desPairinsiy upon
pared to move the body to the road side.
Suddenly he reoollected that suoh action
would bs unwise The police sho uld view
me Victim Just ~ she had fallen. There.
surs in breataless haste he sprang again
to the saddle, and tore down into STRAIT
field Mortimer, distance OF mile ana
a hnK. as hard as tho mare could gallop.
Ouickiy he summousd the village con-
stsble and tho doctor. The former, be-.
fpre lsayine for the scene, scrtbbled tel
earam 30 Heading requesting the assist.
apoo Of detsceives; then both returned
With him to the spot When they reached
Il they found the body still undissurDed,
and q oursory eKanination made by the
doctor BY aid OF she constable's lentorn
ouiokly corroborated Georges belief that
the unfortunate girl had been shot
through the throat.
Neatly an hour the three men waited
iunpatiently for the arrival OF the detec-
dives, speaking in hushed tones, examin-
inc the recovered miniature and discus
slug the tragedy, until at last the lights
of = tran were seen in the distance, and
very soon two plain clothes officers Joined
them. INSPECTED the body and the tiny
nortrait. and made q close examination
of the road in every direction. In the
dust they found the mark OF her tire,
and followed it back beneath the railway
arch and up upon the road towards
Burghfeld. With the rays of their lam
terms upon the dust shey all followed the
track. winding sometimes but distinct,
for about three hundred yards, when sud-
denly. instead of proceeding along the
i.ue, it turned into gateway leading %
:, deld.
This fact puzzled them but soon, on
Samining the grass growing between the
ate and the road, they found 1t had been
,ecsntly trodden down. There were other
MARKS too. in the thick dust close BY,
but, strangely enough. these were not
footprints. 1t seemed as II some object
about foot wide had been dragged along
from the gate into the lane Long and
earnestly the detectives searched over the
suot while the others stood aside, but
they found nothing to serve a. q clue. 1t
was. however. evident that the unfortu
nate GIRL had approached. on her return
from Burehfeld, and dismountang, had
placed 1t there while she rested. Here
she had undoubtedly been Joined by some
one, as the grass and weeds bore distinct
traces of having besn trodden upon by
two different persons, and then, having
remountsd, sho rode down beneath the
railway bridge, and while ascending tow
ards Strattieid Mortimer had been foully
shot
The position in which both the body
and the cycle were found pointed to the
conclusion that she was riding hor ma
ohine whom fired at, but dismounting In
stantly she staggered few uneven steps,
and then sank dying.
From the gateway the mark OF the cycie
could b traced with ease away towards
Burshneld; Indeed few yards from
where the unknown person had apparent
" met her there were marks Of her quick
footsteps where she had dismount ed.
For fully q quarter Of an hour the de too
tives searched both inside and outside the
cato to try and distinguish accurately the
footprints Of the stranger whom she had
met, and In this they were actively a..
sisted By the vill.ge constable and
George. all being careful not TO tread
upon the weeds and dust themselves.
But to distinguish traces OF footprints at
night u exceedingly difficult; therefore
they searched along earnestly without
any success, until a5 last something half
hidden In some long rank weeds caught
Georges eye.
"Why. what's thisp' he cried, excited.
". as putting out his hand he drew forth
q purely feminine object-an ordinary
black hair.pin.
The Detectives eager for anything which
might lead TO the discovery Of the identi'
~ Of the assassin, took 1t, examining 1t
closely beneath tho light Of one of theil
buiIs eyes. It was pin Of q common
Kind, and what at first scanned like clue
ives quickly discarded, for on taking II
back to whore the body was lying and t.
king one Of the pins that held tho unfor.
tunats girls wealth of fair hair 1t was 81
once seen In comparison to be OF the same
thickness and make. although of slight.
~ different length.
Halt q dozen pins wers taken one by
one from her hair and compared, but
strangely enough all were about half an
inch shorter than the one discovered by