The Norfolk weekly news., 1900-02-08


tW. tE
wedding. William, your business will
be to sec that these grounds are put i'll
| as good order as can be done in three
days. l will bear the expense, and Lo-
! reeu"-
! But William had word to say for
I himself.
Miss Butterworth, " said he, you're
q right good sort of woman, as Saracen
has found out, and we, too, in these last
| few plaguy days of our trouble here
But I'm not such bad lot either, and
if l do like my own way, which may
not be other peoples way, and if l am
sometimes short with the girls for some
of their id nonsense, have little
decency about me, too, and say will
fix these grounds and out of my own
money too. Now that nine -tenths of our
income does not have to 60 abroad we'll
have chink enough to let us go respect
able once more in place where one
horse, if he's good enough, will give
fellow standing and make him the
envy Of even those who for some other
pesky reasons may think themselves
called upon to hoot him. / don't be-
grudge the old place few dollars, es.
pecially as l mean to live and die in it
SO look out, you three women folks, and
work lively as you can Oh the inside of
the old rookery or the sickness of the
outside will put you to open shame,
and that would never please Loreen,
nor, as 1 take it, Miss Butterworth
either"
1t was challenge we were glad to
accept, especially as from the number
of persons we now saw come flOcking
into the lane it was very apparent that
we should experience no further diff
Guilty in obtaining any help we might
need to carry out our undertakings.
Meantime my thoughts were not alto
gether concentrated even upon these
pleasing plans for Lucetta's benefit.
There were certain points yet to be made
clear in the matter whose termination
still lay heavy on my heart, and there
was Il confession for me to make, with
out which | could not face Mr.. Gryce
with all that unwavering composure
which our peculiar relations seemed to
demand.
The explanations came first. They
were volunteered by Mr.. Gryce, whom
l met in the course of the morning at
Mother James cottage. She had been
perfectly happy all night, sleeping with
the coin in her hand and waking to
again devour it with her greedy but
loving eyes. AS we were looking at her
and Mr.. Gryce directing with his hand
| %l,, tr tl,- 4
come to smooth down her garden and
make it presentable again the detective
spoke
Il suppose you have been wondering
| how this old woman came to have those
mementos Of the crimes which took
place up there Well, we have figured
it out thus The trinket from the ped
dler's pack she probably stole from that
pack before it was found by the villagers
and given up to the proper authorities
The other, the ring, has different his
tory, and the finding of it in Mother
James possession can only be explained
by q series of causes SO bizarre that
they must ever rank as among the most
remarkable that have ever adorned the
annals of our police register. Should l
| give it out rs a puzzle you could never
answer it. How could ring which was
OH the finger of Mr.. five minutes
before he vanished from the light of the
sun forever pass from the mouth of
that old we'll into Mother James hand
q half mile away without compromis-
ing Mr.. Trohm in the eyes of mortal
man, or even Mother Jane, who was as
| ~ .,, 81,
You cannot tell. You might quote Scrip
ture and say, A bird of the air carried
it, But, Miss Butterworth, you would
never believe the truth of your own
| words, and yet that was the very way
| it was done--a bird of the air carried
it. In those days-it is three months
ago now-Mother Jane kept two tame
| pigeons. They slept on her house top,
they ate from her hand and they flew
sometimes as far away as Mr.. Trohm's
garden. One day young man, equipped
for travelling, paused for a glass of wa
ter at the famous well there while
these pigeons were picking up corn
which Mr.. Trohm had scattered for
them, for his tastes are confined to the
cultivation of fruits and flowers, but
extend to dumb animals, to whom he
is uniformly kind. The young man wore
ring, and being nervous was fiddling
with it as no talked to the pleasant old
gentleman who was lowering the bucket
for him. AS he fiddled with it the
earth fell from under him, and as the
daylight vanished above him the ring
flew out of his up thrown hand and lay,
the only token of his now blotted out
existence, upon the emerald sward he
had but a moment before pressed with
his unsuspicious feet. 1t burned-this
ruby burned like drop of blood in
the grass when that demon came again
to his senses, and being telltale evil
dence of crime to him who had allowed
nothing to ever speak against him of
these matters, he stared at it as at "A
deadly thing directed against himself
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