The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-29
XIX.

river front. He also learns OF Leighton's in
terest in q disreputable woman.
NIX.
Make My First Move.
To attempt to fathom such nature as
this leads to little but mental confusion.
Before l had spent half hour in trying
to untangle the knotty problem offered
by Leighton Gillespies characteristics, l
decided to follow the example Of my friend
Underhill, and keep to facts.
These in themselves were startling
enough to occupy my mind and convince
me absolutely Of Leighton's guilt. But
this was not convincing Miss Meredith.
Proba abilities. possibilities even, wnlcn
might satisfy me, would count Tor put
little with her. With her nice sense OF
justice, she would demand positive ana
unbroken chain Of evidence before she
would allow herself to acknowledge the
guilt Of the mail whose innocence / pre-
sumed to challenge, and this clear and un-
broken chain did not have. How, then,
could I strengthen the evidence Just OBJ
tanned? Not by showing motive. There
seemed to be no motive. TO be sure
Leighton was in debt-so were they all
and he was known to have quarreled pit
terly with his father more than once. But
these were not new facts, nor were they
sufficiently condemnatOry to settle, even
in her mind, the torturing question en-
bodied i'll that one word already alluded
to: which?
Something OF an absolutely eliminating
character must be found against this man
some proof SO direct and unansWerable
that even her scrupulouS conscience would
be satisfied; something like positive evil
dence, say, that he had visited Mother
Merry for the purpose of obtaining III Sc
cret the poison he dared not buy openly,
l,rr rn1 n
for his father had held poison as we'll as
wine
As all attempts to establish this latter
fact had proved abortive; as the ponce
had not only failed to prove that such
mixture had been made, but to settle the
exact medium by means of which MT.
Gillespie received the poison, turned my
attention to the easier task and decldeu
to concentrate my energies upon estap-
fishing the fact that the bottle earned
from Mother Merry's by the would De
sailor was positively the man we supposed
him to be-Leighton Gillespie.
With these facts Individually estap-
lshed, even Miss Meredith must feel that
the man who could be guilty Of obtaining
a deadly drug through such underhanded
agency, and at such risk to his reputa-
ton must have had purpose in so doing
which could only be explained by the trag-
edy which took place in his home so SOON
afterwards.
This point reached in my meditations, I
next asked myself how the necessary IN
uuiries could be started without risk to
their success. 1 could not go openly to
Mother Merry, or, rather, it would pc
undesirable for me to do SO. III, as L
sometimes suspected, was myself under
surveillance, l could make no sucn
move without attracting the attention OF
the detectives to a matter which l hoped
mvself Remember that l was not WORK
ing to bring the guilty to justice, but to
free a pure heart from soul-torturlng
doubt.
But If could not go there myself, whom
was 1 to send? What man of my acqua1n-
lance was judicious enough to be en-
trusted with such a message? 4oX?
did not like the man. l looked upon him
as a very shady individual and shrank
with strong distaste from further contact
with him. UnderhiH? I laughed at the
suggestion. Who, then? Not single
name rose in my mind till,by an assocla-
ton of ideas not entirely illogical, re-
pembered the habits of certain members
of the Salvation Army, and how easy 1t
would be for one of them to enter such a
vile haunt as Mother Merry'S and inter-
view the depraved beings to be found
there without attracting the notice OF
the police or rousing the least suspicion
such a man, and if l could, would L hnd
him willing to undertake such an errand
without understanding Its full purport
and just what was to be made of the
knowledge thus obtained? This seemed
very doubtful, and | was seriously DELHI
Grating over my next move when my
mind flew straight from the topic engag-
ing 1t to that memorable moment IN my
experience when, amid the alarm and
hurry following the suspicious expressed
bv the physician called in at Mr.. Giles
pies death, the glass fell from HeWson
hand and broke into hundred pieces on
the dining-room hearth. The tinkle made
by the shattered glass, the gasp which
escaped the old mans lips, all came back
to me, and with it the startling convic-
ton-strange that it had not struck me
before!-that this old and tried servant
of a disrupted household knew who had
tempered with that glass, and by this
sudden breaking of the same had sought
to shield him. Now, II l should find out
that this man regarded Leighton with an
especial fondness- But such thoughts
were for further contemplation. With a
resolution born, peril ps, of the lateness
Of the hour, forced my mind back into
its former channel and resolutely asked
myself how connection was to be estab-
l;shed between Mother Merry and myself
The small confidence I have always had in
third parties, especially when matter
of delicate inquiry was to be pushed
made it imperative for me to see her my
self. Yet how All, an idea. What II
I took the bull by the horns and openly
requested the assistance Of the police IL
my adventure? That would disarm sus-
picion and render me Independent Of
special surveillance. ~.
The idea was happy one, and, relieved
by the prospect it offered, resigned my
self to sleep. .-
Next day went boldly to police head
quarters and asked for assistance in max
ing some inquiries in dangerous quar-
ter of the town. I said that the case Their
before me necessitated some evidence
which could only be gathered from GER
tain old woman whose name and place o.
living l had yet to learn by judicious
questioning in that quarter of the city
where she had been last seen. Woult
they give me a man to make my projected
tour safe? They would. Could I have
him now? / could.
Satisfied with the result of my frs
move and more than satisfied with the
unintelligent appearance of the man they
picked out to escort me, | made fol
Mother Merry's, but not in direct course
OF with any appearance Of knowing where
was going. 4 tried several lodging
houses and chatted across several bars
and, noting the Indifference with which
really began to cherish hopes of coming
consequences to myself. Sometimes h,
tried to help me; but as I had given n.