The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1900-10-26

/ his face was unmoyed as before when
he went on with his inquiries.
''There is dark corner here,'' he
said, entering the passage. Anyone
hiding in it woul6 be unseen by man
ascending the stairs. You could have
waited here, Mr.. Smithson."
what the--of course, but / went
straight downstairs after leaving
| Jackson 1t must be plain that could
not be the one Vernon alleges alleges,
bear in mind-struek him.
/ "Quite plain, eh? Yet such thing
is as probable as the supposition that
a dying man struck him with such
| force as to render him Unconscious 70,
nearly an hour. But I have seen all ]
require. Shall we go below again?"
Phillips agreed, and the five men
went downstairs, Vernon having by
this quite recovered. They seated
themselves round the table again, and
after a moment or Two the question
was put to Desmond whether he had
formed his conclusions.
| 'Yes, to my own satisfaction, if not
! to yours was the reply. In the first
place, Vernon is quite innocent. His
story believe to be true. Perhaps in
a law court my evidence would be in.
sufficient to convict, but / unhesitat.
ingly declare Mr.. Smithson to be the
murderer!"
For moment there was strained
silence in the room, to be broken by a
loud oath from Smithson, whose face
had suddenly become livid. 'Your
proofs?" he shouted, hoarsely.
| Eyes, your proofs2" echoed the
others, eagerly.
| First, this shred of cloth that /
found in that dark corner of the pas
sage upstairs belongs, if mistake not,
to the coat Mr.. Smithson has on. That
proves that he stood there against the
wall, does it not? Secondly, let me ask
| q question. Has any one of you been
In Jackson's company of late between
| the hours of $3.50 and o'clock? But,
| OF course, as he only exists in the imag-
nation, the question is"
mo, no! / have been in his company
| about that time," put in Phillips,
| quickly. "You see, the real Jackson is
Lovely" he added. in explanation.
| Have you seen him, then, do any
thing with his watch?"
| Il have seen him take it out and
open the front, but what he did can
not say"
"Your watch, please, Mr., Lovely.
Thank you. Now, observe the hands.
Do you see anything peculiar? But, of
| course, you know about it, don't you?o
| mo! Why, the handshave caught in
| one another. The watch has stopped
about II minutes to 8! And Smith.
SON declared that Jackson told him the
time from the watch later than that.
That statement was untrue! You,
Smithson, must have been in the room
when Vernon entered the house. You
heard him ascending the stairs, and
took Jackson's stick and hid in the pas.
| sage with the rest, as Vernon has
stated. You are correct, Mr..
Desmond. Allow me to congrat-"
Smithson sprang up with cry OF
rage. "Curse you'll" he shouted. "Curse
you'll" And before the unfortunate de.
tective could do anything to defend
himself the man lifted the chair high
In the air and brought it down with
| dull thud upon his skull, knocking him
| senseless to the floor.
Desmond knew no more until he
found himself in bed in his own home,
with nurse sitting beside him.
How long have I been here?" he
asked, weakly.
"You were brought in a cab early
this morning, I and the doctor were
sent on by stranger. Do you. feel bet.
ter now?"
"I'm getting stronger every minute.
| What was the stranger like? Can YOU
| describe him?"
Neither the doctor nor saw him.
but here is letter he left for you with
instructions that you had to read it as
ssoon as you were better. Will you sit
up?"
When the nurse had arranged the
pillows he tore the envelope open. His
head was aching badly, but In his
anxiety to hear the truth about his ad-
venture he forgot that. The first thing
he pulled out was 100 bank note;
then came the following letter:
my Dear Friend: I call you this be-
cause you have saved my life AS YOU
| VIII no doubt guess, last nights AFFAIR
mad more reason for 1t than a mere bet,
/ 1t was matter of life and death. We
/ are peculiar society of American ORR
| gin; more l cannot say for obvious rea-
| sons. The story we told and acted for
| you had actually occurred, only the real
| Jackson was not killed outright He was
| lying unconscious in the house the whole
OF the time It was absolutely necessary
/ that we should know who had attacked
him, so your aid was invoked. You
/ proved that I. who was accused, with
| great reason / admit, am innocent, and
| found Smithson guilty, for after his
assault upon you he confessed all. Ac-
/ cording to our rules he will not live
| long. must warn you not to attempt
to trace us. BY the time you read this
/ we shall have vanished. Again do /
thank you, Believe me to be. always your
| debtor,
"JAMEsFoNE VERNON"
And this was all. Though Desmond
has since devoted days to the search of
the street and the brick house, or to
some of the men whom he saw therein,
he has not succeeded, They have dis.
appeared as utterly as II the earth had
swallowed them up. Did the real Jack
son recover from his wound? Did
Smithson meet with the penalty hinted
| at in the letter? These are questions
he may never have answered. But he
will never forget that nights strange
adventure, when he solved mystery
by the two hands of a watch catching
in.eaeh other-Tit-Bits.
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