Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-08-15
appreciated this and took my time
Il L L

appreciated this and took my time.
Presently said
II have confession to make. Up tc
a certain moment / never had thought
but that it was silly Rufus they held
imprisoned in William S room and who
died there, nor am quite sure that
am yet ready to embrace any other the
DRY but, Mr.. Gryce, in the minute
took to look about the room from which
the victim had been so lately carried
saw standing in one corner a pair OF
shoes that could never have been worn
by any boy tramp have ever seen or
known Of Neither could they have been
the property Of any one ! had ever met
in the Knollys house. Loreen and Luz
cetta both have trim feet, but these were
the shoes of child of 10, very dainty
and of "a cut and make worn by women,
or rather, ! should say, by girls Now
what do you make of that
/ He did not seem to know what to
make of it. Tap, tap went his finger On
his seasoned palm, and as | watched
the slowness with which it fell | said
to myself, Il have proposed problem
to him now that will tax even Mr.
Gryce's powers of deduction.
And had. 1t was minutes before he
ventured an opinion, and then it was
with a shade of doubt in his tone that
acknowledge to have felt some pride at
putting there,
They were Lucetta's shoes. The
emotions under which you labored-
very pardonable emotions, madam, con
sidering the circumstances and the
hour
Excuse me, ;" said l. 1--WE do not
want to waste a moment Twas excited,
suitably and duly excited, or | would
have been a stone. But | never lose my
head under excitement nor my sense OF
proportion. The shoes We're not Lucet-
ta's She never wore any approaching
them in smallness since her tenth year y
HAS Simsbury daughter: Has there
not been a child about the house some
time to assist the cook in errands and sc
on?''
"No, or l would have seen her. Be.
sides, how would the shoes Of such a
person come into William room:'
Easily, Secrecy was required. You
were not to be disturbed; so shoes were
taken off that quiet might result. y
WAS Lucetta shoeless or William or
even Mother Jane: You have not told
me that you Were requested to walk in
stocking feet up the hall. No Mr.
Gryce. the shoes were the shoes of
girl. know it because it was matched
by dress | saw hanging up in sort
OF wardrobe.
"Ah. You looked into the wardrobe!''
Il did and felt justified i'll doing so.
1t was after had spied the shoes. -
Very good. And you saw dress?'
"A little dress; a dress with short
skirt The Misses Knollys do not ride
bicycle, l take it, and this could only
he the dress of one who did or Of
child. 1t was silk dress-anothe1
the color, l think, was
blue, but l cannot swear to that point.
I felt very hurried and took the brief
est glance. But my brief glances can be
trusted, Mr. Gr"cc. That. | think. you
are ltSlullHS II E!lON.
Certainly - said he, and as proof
of il we will nov act upon these tvs
pTemlses-that the victim IN whose bur
ial | was an innocent partaker was
human being and that that human be
ing was a girl child who came into that
house well dressed. Now where did that
girl come from: The town, SO far as we
10 Lost Of its in IA hitanf.
lately"
THAT you should know" said l.
"A visitor But no visitor could en-.
ter this house, without it being known
far and wide Why l heard Of your ar
rival here before l left the train on
which l followed you. Had we allowed
ourselves to be influenced by what the
people about here say we would have
turned that knollys house inside out
week ago But | don't believe in put.
ting too much confidence in the preju
dice of country people. The idea they
and which you suggest with
ont putting IL too clearly into words, Is
much too horrible to be acted upon
without the best of reasons. Perhaps we
have found those reasons, yet | still feel
like asking where did this girl come
from and how could she have become
prisoner i'll the Knollys house without
the knowledge Of Madam, you have
met Mr., TrohmE'
The question was so sudden had not
time to collect myself. But perhaps ii
was not necessary, for the simple affir
nation l used seemed to satisfy Mr.
Gryce, who went on to say:
1T is he who first summoned us here,
and it is he who has the greatest inter
EST in locating the source of these dis
yet he has seen no child
come here.
>"Mr, Trohm is not a spy" said l, {
out the remark, happily, perhaps fell
Inheeded.
"No one has, he began. I'VE must
yive another turn to our suggestions.
Suddenly silence fell upon us both.
His finger ceased to lay down the law,
md my gaze which had been searching
lis face inquiringly, became fixed AT
he same moment and in much the same
one Of voice we both spoke, he saying,
Humph'' and l, 'Ah"' followed by .
similar Il have found it.
The phantom carriage, explained l.
(Which rolled SO quietly into Lost
Man 5 lane the evening preceding your
rrival. y