The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1902-06-20
1S7N7N7N7N7N7N7N7N7EzNZIN Observation-Disclosures

which gave me pause:-suppose this I
rude grave broken into, and its con-
tents identified as the remains OF Mr..
Lacroix, how could | show that Stein |
hardt had buried them? How, then,
could | bring the crime home so as to
move him as | desired?
| resolved to go to Freeman and !
talk the difficulty over with him. !
had seen little Of my friend since his
return from London; he had been |
much from home on some business
of his denomination. He did not even
know yet of the successful result OF
our inquiry upon old Jaques.
| found him in his study, in which |
he was always most at ease. In ac-
cordance with his request | posted
him "up to date" In my doings and
discoveries-from the finding Of the
French papers in jacques cottage,
through the revelations at Basel, to
the discovery had made a few min
utes before He was most impressed !
with my account of the visions OF
Frauleiu Haas. He was something of
a mystic, of the pseudo-scientific kind
well known in these latter days, and
he would turn his attention to no 9th
er point till he had found an explana-
tion of the Fraulein's experiences.
His explanation at least satisfied him.
self, and it certainly was very plaus-
ible. He described the phenomena
as magnetic clairvoyance' Here,
said he, were two people who had at
one time been deeply interested in
each other, one of whom (the more
sympathetic subiectl still thought
much of the other; the one was high
ly nervous. the other was strong
willed. The strong-willed person was
in an extraordinary difficulty. In
which he had to put a resolute strain
upon all his resources of mind and
body and memory. In his casting
about in his excited mood for aid to
remove his difficulty, he might well
have thought, "If she were here!-
she who has been of all beings the
most devoted to me! Or If I were
only with her. rid Of this horrible
business!" This strong wishing, this
reaching out of spirit" for her,
would sink to a mere nothing when
the difficulty of the time was once
settled and the bond of attraction
would sink loose and lifeless, till it
was drawn tense again and thrilled
again with vigor when his need Of her
returned upon him with new diff
Guilty. This would account for Frau
lein Haas's feeling of being drawn as
If away from herself at those times
when she had her visions.
This explanation made, he was
ready to turn with me to more press
ing points. He could not see, how
ever, any more than I could, that /
was at present likely to effect any
thing with Steinhardt by private
threats of the disclosure of my knowl-
edge, by anything, indeed, but pub
| lie investigation--and even that might
do little more than create a public
| scandal
"You see," said Freeman, you have
absolutely nothing yet of a reliable
kind that can point even circumstan-
TALLY to Steinhardt as the murderer"
| could not but agree with him, and
assent to his advice to wait" In
the meantime Steinhardt must be per-
mitted to pursue his vindictive con-
duct toward our dear old friend Bir-
ley, and his chances of causing fur
ther annoyance and anxiety to Miss
Lacroix. Our helplessness In the mat
ter chafed severely both Freeman and
myself
'Ts there no way at all,"I exclaim-
ed, "but the way of evidence to bring
the crime home to him ?-to really
satisfy ourselves that the crime is
his, and to make him feel that we
know 1t is?"
Have you any objection" said he,
rising as If anticipating l would have
none, Ito take my wife into counsel
She sometimes has clear idea In
her head"
said certainly would like Mrs.
Freeman to consult with us, and in
few moments she was sitting oppo-
site me. told her the whole mat
ter, and pointed out the difficulty of
the situation,
80" said she, "you want to get at
some way of bringing it home to
him. as you say. If, now, you could
only hit upon something like Ham
let's play to catch the King"
"Ah, yes, Hamlet" we both ex-
claimed.
This was our first formative hint,
and need not describe in detail how
from that, through understanding
discussion, and wild suggestion of one
sort and another, a plan was at
length developed. ! shall but state
the result.
Friday and Saturday of that very
week were the days Of what are
known as Timperley Wakes. They
had in the past, / understood, been
celebrated with wild orgies of drink
ing, "mumming," and dancing round
and through bonfres. But this pass
ing through the fire to Moloch" was
no longer a -pastime of the people; 1t
had become the dull daily occupation
of their lives. The only orgies now
known were drinking and fighting,
and spending small sums at the
booths of the fair The church had
for some years exerted itself to pro
vide other recreation for some at
least of the people. In accordance
with this usage there was advertised
for Friday evening a mild tea enter
tainment to be followed by Grand
Dissolving Views" which last Free
man had learned would be shown by
a fine new magic lantern Stelnhardt
had just presented to the Sunday
school. Steinhardt was going to hon
or the affair with his presence. Our
plan then was this: would contrive
through the new curate (whose ac-
quaintance | had already made) TO
get a sight of the magic lantern and
Judge of the size of its slides;
would straightway go into the town
and buy a certain number Of blank
slides of that size. On these Mrs
Freeman. who had a knack of such
things, would paint the chief scenes
of our tragedy. I must then prevail
upon the curate, or upon whatever
! person | could learn was to have the
= management of the lantern, to intro
duce them in order at the end of the
! exhibition.
To carry out our plan with success
demanded dispatch, I discovered
; that very evening, by going casually
: into my landlady's kitchen, that her
herculean son was going to have
charge Of the magic lantern, he was
at that moment busilv making ac-
, quaintance with it. The rest Of my
J task was therefore easy.
!