Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-11-02
of The officer that nothing had bee

~ placed for Il visitor. III might nave
been moved. or the stranger might have
stood during the interview. That being
so, he would have stood opposite Mars
den, so Darrent rose and took the place
of the supposed visitor and, as human
nature is so prone to loll, felt an incli-
nation to rest his arm upon the high
mantelshelf.
He smiled a quiet smile of self salts
faction rs he glanced at the shelf and
noticed the impression left In the dust
whore an arm had recently rested. 1t
was a high shelf too, and the impress
sion in the dust was that of an elbow
only. The man had stood with his chin
in his hand and his elbow on the shelf
Darrent was well proportional man
and tried the position. 1t was not one
of comfort For ease he would have
laid his whole arm full length upon
the shelf and rested his shoulder against
ii. The man who had stood there was
taller than he and close upon If not over
six feet in height So far, he thought,
so good. The search was narrowing.
Surely to trace a man of six feet in
that little town would not be difficult.
He wondered how tall Young Marsden
was; then, setting to work again drop
ped ON his knees and carefully examined
the fireplace
No papers had been burned. Only the
dead ashes remained on the hearth and
something he had almost overlooked
hut now caught up with an excited ex
clamation and carried to the window
a plug of half burned tobacco that had
been cut out Of pipe, because it had
been rammed in too tightly, and dis
carded, dug out with the blade of n
knife, il was obvious, for a dainty
shred of meerschaum adhered to the
side
Another step--another clew The
murderer was not tramp who had be-
guilcd the old man to let him stay the
night Tramps were not so wastcful of
their tobacco and did not smoke meer-
schaums.
Six feet hich-smoked a meerschaum
pipel Darrent felt he was moving.
A quarter of an hour afterward,
when Policeman Thompson returned to
The Grange, he found Herbert Darrent
sitting in the library writing at top
most speed in his notebook, with a
fragment of thread, a plug of tobacco,
a scrap of ivory, a carved ivory chess
man and a few matches spread ont on
a sheet of paper before him.
Have you discovered anything sir ?"
he ventured to ok as Darrent confirmed
to fill sheet after sheet as if unaware Of
his presence.
Darrent quietly nodded his head and
closed the book.
Listen to me, - he SAID, land tell
me if You know any one who answers
to this description: Appearance, very
tall-say a good six feet-and broad in
proportion, brOnzed and bearded, strong
as an OK; temper very passionate.
dress of homespun cloth; soft hat I;
smokes a meerschaum pipe lately re-
turned from somewhere abroad, prob
ably South Africa"
Thompson, with his eyes wide open,
gazed in establishment at the detective
and shifted uneasily from foot TO foot
HE wears Il heavy gold signet ring
on the little finger of the left hand and
has recently cut the forefinger of the
right Do you know him?'
"No, indeed sir! You've made a
mistake He wouldn't do it. He could
not. -
"Ah Then my description fits some
one.n
at is Astray Marsden to the life, sir,
but he didn' Z commit the murder -
THAT is to be proved. He was at
this house on the night of the murder.
You met him on that night.
81, sir?'
eyes, you, Thompson. You've got to
do your duty, whether it is palatable
to you or not. Astray Marsden left the
town nearly two years ago came back
here the night of the murder and left
next morning. If you did not meet him
that night, you would not know he an
swered to my description. A man does
not look the same and certainly does
not dress the same after an absence
abroad Of two years. Where did you
meet him.
'Near the Palace hotel"
"What time?'
"a little after , o'clock in the morn
ing"
"Was it snowing?'
"No, sir it had stopped "
"What did he say? Did he seem OK
cited?'
He did seem rather ratified. He said
that he'd come back to try and be
friends with old Marsden, but no one
could be, ann ne was off again.
VERY well; then one thing is GER
tain, and that is that Astray Marsden
was in this room ON the night of the
murder. 1t will rest for him to clear
himself or for the law to bring the
charge home to him. Marsden himself
opened the door, and the two men en-
tered this room. Marsden sat in his
chair there, the chessboard was on that
small table beside him, and he was un-
doubtedly working out "a problem when
he was interrupted, 1t needs only a
glance at the bookcase to show his hob
by. Old Mardsen sat there, the board
beside him. The young man stood here"
-Darrent took up his position by the
fender again-''hiS elbow upon the
mantelpiece-so. You can see where
the elbow rested. He must be tall
man who stands so, Thompson. That
gave me an idea as to his height; this
thread of wool, the texture Of his