Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1901-05-30
CHAPTER NI.-CoNTINUED.

The appointments of this room were
little belongings of a young girl. To-
day there were many evidences of
scene which had defeated good order.
A iaunty hat and bright ribbons were
hastily thrown aside, and the open bu-
reau drawers revealed dainty laces
and lingerie. But the eyes of the in
.quisitive intruder took notice of none
of these things; they were riveted in
stantly to an object that lay beside
q book upon the comfortable, near
which stood an armchair. That OBJ
iect was a slender cigar. He took it
up-answered. He knew that in the
Brookin household he was the only
smoker-and he did not smoke slender
cigars. To the mind of this man, ever
open to suspicious and suggestions of
evil, that strange cigar was testimony
unimpeachable. 1t was the knife in
the heart of jealous love. With in
-Expressible rage and with a fierce
hatred of every living thing, he placed
the weed in his own case. Here, then,
ne reasoned, had the man described
by Louise been sitting before the
dawn of that fatal day; here had the
little saint kneeled to place her arms
about him and say farewell! Yonder
was the window, straight ahead from
which Louise had fired. Brave, faith
full Louise! His heart warmed towards
her, despite the fact that she had fired
to kill him. Somewhere in that Grim
son carpet was the blood of her vic
tim if her aim had been true. Was
-ft true? He glanced back over his
shoulder; the ball would have struck
the wall behind him had she missed
her aim. And there in the wall, a
little out of line, it is true, was a
small hole. Amazed, he hurriedly ex-
amined it. The shot, after all, had
missed.
Then this doubt came to the active
mind: Why bad the man been car
rfed away if the shot failed?
Holbin went quickly to his own
room, where he secured candle and
q powerful sun glass. Holding the
latter over the perforation in the plas-
eering, he discovered slight red
,Gtain.
'Blood!" he whispered; "she did not
miss!" Opening his penknife, he care
fully cut section from the broken
plaster. "Whoever the man was, he
was struck in the head. Here is the
hair"
For a few moments Holbin was deep
I'm thought. Then he drew from his
pocket the pistol which he had taken
q 7 pI -
eye of an army expert Apparently
puzzled, he tried the depth of the hole
I'm the plastering with a pencil and
found that the perforation was COM
pleGe- He seated himself in the arm
chair facing the window. If Frances
had been kneeling with her back to
the window, the face of the unknown
man must have been fully exposed
The weapon did not have power
enough to fire bullet through the
head of a man, an inch of plaster and
q iath, and to carry away hair and
blood-the bullet must have glanced
from the side of the head. The posi-
ton of the hole indicated that the
right side of the mans head had been
struck.
Holbin's final conclusions were that
the stranger had been only stunned
His friends could not have concealed
Afs deash, for no common man would
have wen the privileges of the room
nor would it have been possible for
Frances to have borne herself so calm
ay with the memory of murder fresh
Su her ndnd. "a society man is miss
tug from his club in Richmond to.
1ay!" he said aloud. "The mystery
is half solved. AS for you, my lovely
brfde!"-he finished the sentence with
q smothered oath.
CH ApTER W.T.