Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-08-08


edge and righteousness which makes
The girl-woman forever irresistible to
men OF experience. Himself accom-
pliShed and versatile, he set about the
pleasant task of winning her conf
dence, and he might perhaps have
succeeded but for over-assiduousness
and the wonderful intuition Of the
suits of his efforts were that within
two weeks he had fatally alarmed her
and as fatally involved himself For
the first time in his life he was genu-
incly in love.
II was at This time that DR.. Rrod-
'nr. lowering around his aged patient,
discovered the drift Of affairs, and. be-
coming aware Of the infamy planned
through the will, privately took con-
troll Of Frances and revealed to her
the plot Of which she was to be the
victim. From that moment Frances
TUNED from Holbin as from a Grim
nal and Holbn was piqusd to court
her with a fiercer jealousy.
It was to this heart, consumed by a
hopeless passion, that che revelation
made by Louise had winged it's fight
like shaft of fame. Try as he might,
he could not in the face of corroboret-
ing facts convince himself that she
spoke altogether falsely OF labored I'M
der complete hsllucination. Yet,
looking with the eyes Of memory into
Che open, palid face Of Frances. he
could not, he would not. accept the
Inevitable conclusion forced upon him
by Louise. Such was his frame OF
mind on the day of the funeral, when
he remained at the Brookin residence,
perhaps his only opportunity to make
an examination Of Frances apart
ments. Before the carriages had
reached the cemetery he turned the
latch and entered her deserted bed
room.
The appointments of this room were
few, but tasteful. IL abounded in the
little belongings OF a young girl. To-
day there were many evidences OF a
scene which had defeated good order.
A iaunty hat and bright ribbons were
hastily thrown aside, and the open bu-
reau drawers revealed dainty laccs
and lingerie. But the eyes of the in
ouisitive 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
jcct was a slender cigar. He took it
unanswered. 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 10 suspicious and suggestions of
ell, that strange cigar was testimony
unimpeachable. 1t was the knife in
the heart of a jealous love. With in
eNpressble rage and with a fierce
hatred of every living thing. he placed
the weed in his own case. Here. then,
he reasoned. had the man described
by Louise been sitting before the
dawn of that fatal day; here had the
little saint knceled to place her arms
about him and say farewell! Yonder
was the window. straight ahead from
which Louise had fired. Brave, faith
f,ll Louise, His heart warmed iowa rds
/ her, despite the fact that she had fired
80 Kill him Somewhere in that Grim
/ son carpet was the blood of her vic
/ tim if her aim had been true. Was
1t 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 ont 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 had the man been car
ried away II the shot failed?
Holbin went quickly to his own
room. where he secured candle and
latter over the perforation in the plas-
tcring, he discovered a slight red
stain.
"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 few moments Holbin was deep
in thought. Then he drew from his
pocket the pistol which he had take
from Louise and examined IL with the
eye of an army expert. Apparently
puzzled. he tried the depth of the hole
in the plastering with pencil and
found that the perforation was COM
plete. He seated himself in the arm
chair facing the window. II 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 n bullet through the
head of man, an inch of plaster and
a 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
his death, for no common man would
have won the privileges of the room,
nor would IL have been possible for
Frances to have borne herself so calm
~ with the memory Of a murder fresh
in her mind. "A society man is miss
day." he said aloud, The mystery