The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-24

own free will. had told us the secret"
The butler was standing very pale
but very collected before US.
Il may have spoken too warmly, sir,
said he, and if l have / am sure that
! beg your pardon. At the same time,
l was very much surprised when 1
heard you two gentlemen come back
this morning and learned that you
had been chasing Selden. The poor
fellow has enough to fight against
without my putting more upon his
track"
IF you had told us of your own free
will II would have been a different
thing" said the baronet, you only
told us, or rather your wife only told
us, when it was forced from you and
you could not help yourself"
Il didn't think you would have taken
advantage of it, Sir Henry-indeed I
didn't"
The man is a public danger. There
are lonely houses scattered over the
moor and he is a fellow who would
stick at nothing. You only want to
get glimpse of his face to see that.
Look at Mr.. Stapleton's house. for ex-
ample, with no one but himself to de-
fend it. There's no safety for anyone
until he is under lock and key"
He'll break into no house, sir. 1
give you my solemn word upon that.
But he will never trouble anyone in
this country again. l assure you, Sir
Henry, that in very few days the
necessary arrangements will have been
made and he will be on his way to
South America. For Gods sake, sir,
l beg of you not to let the police know
that he is still on the moor. They
have given up the chase there, and he
can lie quiet until the ship is ready
for him. You can't tell on him with
out getting my wife and me into trou-
Bile | beg you, sir, to say nothing to
the police"
What do you say, Watson?"
shrugged my shoulders. IF he
were safely out of the country it would
relieve the taxpayer of burden"
But how about the chance of his
holding someone up before he goes?"
He would not do anything so mad,
sir. We have provided him with all
that he can want. To commit a crime
would be to show where he was hid
ing"
That is true" said Sir Henry.
We'll Barrymore"
God bless you, sir. and thank you
from my heart! 1t would have killed
my Door wife had he been taken
again."
II guess we are aiding and abetting
a felony, Watson? But, after what we
have heard, 1 don't feel as if 1 could
give the man up, so there is an end of
1t. All right Barrymore, you can CO."
With a few broken words of graft
tude the man turned, but he hesitated
and then came back.
you've been so kind to us, sir, that
I should like to do the best l can for
YOU in return. 1 know something, Sir
Henry, and perhaps 1 should have said
1t before, but it was long after the in
quest that l found it out. I've never
breathed a word about it yet to NOR
tai man. It's about poor Sir Charles
death"
The baronet and l were, both upon
our feet. do you know how he died?"
mo, sir, 1 don't know that"
What them"
81 know why he was at the gate at
that hour. 1t was to meet a woman"
ITO meet a woman! HEP"
Yes, sir
And the womans name?"
Il can't give you the name, sir, but
1 can give you the initials. Her mi
tials We're L. L."
"Ilow do you know this, Barrymore"
well, Sir Henry, your uncle
had letter that morning. He
had usually great many letters. for
he was public man and we'll known
for his kind heart, so that everyone
who was in trouble was glad to turn
to him. But that morning, as it
CHANGED, there was only this one let
ter, so l took the more notice of it.
1t was from Coombe Tracey, and it
was addressed in woman's hand"
"Well?"
We'll. sir, I thought no more of the
matter, and never would have done
had it not been for my wife. Only
a few weeks ago she was cleaning our
Sir Charles study-it had never been
touched since his death-and she found
the ashes of a burned letetr in the
back of the CRATE. The greater part of
it was charred to pieces, but one little
slip, the end of a page, hung togeth-
er, and the writing could still be read,
though it was grey on a black ground.
1t seemed to us to be a postscript at
the end of the letter, and it said:
Please, please, as you are a gentle
man. burn this letter, and be at the
gate by 10 O'clock Beneath it were
signed the initials L. L.
Have you got that slip?"
No, sir, it crumbled all to bits aft
er we moved it,"
Had Sir Charles received any other
letters in the same writing?"
well. sir l took no particular no.
tice of his letters. 1 should not have
noticed this one only it happened to
come alone"
And you have no idea who L. L.
is?"
mo, sir. No more than you have.
But l expect if we could lay our
hands upon that lady we should know
more about Sir Charles DEATH
II cannot understand, Barrymore
how you came to conceal this import
ant information"
We'll, sir, it was Immediately after
that our own trouble came to us. And
then again, sir, we were both of us
very fond of Sir Charles, as we we'll
might be considering all that he has
done for us. To rake this up couldn't
help our poor master, and it's we'll to
go carefully when there's a lady in
the case Even the best of us"
you thought it might injure his
reputation"
We'll. sir, I thought no good could
come of it. But now you have been
kind to us. and l feel as if it would be
treating you unfairly not to tell you
all that l know about the matter"
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