The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-03-22
BOOK 1.-THE MAN
XVII
The Monogram.

had made my promise to Miss Mere
dith with an apparent hopefulness which
may have deceived her, but did not de-
ceive myself. When, the glow of my first
enthusiasm passed, I sat down in the soil
tude Of my own room to reconsider the
events Of the day, but one thing was clear
TO me, and that was the unpromising ma
ture Of the task had set myself to per-
form. What excuse had 1 for the self
confidence l had shown? What means
were at my command which were not also
at the command Of the police2 She her
self had asked the same question, and |
had parted it. But I could not parry
the demands Of my own Intelligence.
They must be met and answered. But
how? In vain I pondered ways and
means: laid innumeratle plans and re-
lentlessly discarded them; projected IN
terviews which / knew were fru1tless, and
worked myself through labyrinths OF rea-
soning which ended in nothing and left
me no farther advanced at the end than
| was in the beginning.
Wearied at last in mind and body, re-
tired, and during my sleep had an in
spiration upon which 1 proceeded to act
early the next morning. Reylsltlng sam
Underhill's apartment, 1 told MIN MY diff
fculty and opened W. my scheme sam
Underhill, with all his faults ana NUM-
berless eccentricities, was good fellow
at bottom, and Just the man to respect
my confidence. He was, besides, the only
person within the range or my acQualnC-
arIces who could assist me in the plan
| had formed; plan which demanded the
active cooperation Of someone not so
we'll known to the police as myself HAM
pered as l was by my well-knoWn connec-
tjon with the Gillespie poisoning case, l
could not personally make move towards
the rayelment of it's mystery without SUP
iecting myself to the curiosity OF the
people among whom my Investigations
might carry me, even if I escaped drawing
upon myself the attention OF the clstrlct
attorneys office and the suspicion or the
mon whose business I was in measure
ATTEMPTING to usurp. But he was Tree
agent. he could come and go without
arousing~ distrust or awakening profess
sional jealousy. At all events ne, anu
he alone. could put me into comn'unlcsa-
lion with the private detective Wnom
ba5 dacided TO employ AS I had always
been accustomed to visit Sans rooms, my
nreserIce there at any hour of the day or
night would raise no comment. NAY
only his laZiness to fear q lazlneSS Which
with him was as marked characteristic
at it was with Alfred Glllesple' WHO'LL Aie
SO carelessly criticized.
Seated with him over an llnpio1ipt;u u
chafing -dish breakfast, | 1lrst tested ms
good nature by q sally or TWO, anu
finding it we'll UP to the marx TOOK nlln
as | have already said. sufhclentiy mo
my confidence to rouse his interest," then
put the blunt question: !,
(which of the three Gillespie poys 40
. you unon mature reflection, consider the
most capable of the crime attrlDuteu "
this family?
His manner changed at once. -,
'Oh. come now" he cried, don cal
culate upon putting me IN mat DON Li a;t
the rest of the world l prefer to await
DEVELOPMENTS before committing myself
on so delicate a matter. Why, OuthWalte,
nreiudice is as bad as the hangman! II
! had settled positively in my own NINA
which of the three had emptled that phlai
of poison into the old gentleman even
ing glass. 1 would not impart my conVlc-
lions, These fellows have enough to carry
without my throwing the least weight
into so trembling balance
| glrded myself for the struggle.
wait" said I; have l fully made
clear to you Miss Meredith's position?'
yes. | comprehend that we'll enough
Very well, then. Which is most i'm
portant, to assist this unhappy woman
TO escape from her anomalous position or
TO prevent prejudice from being formed
in my mind, when you know how lmpos-
sible it would be for me to misuse 1t TO
my advantage?'
Il don't know of fellow more likely to
be carried away by his convictions than
yourself. If you were not lawyer you
would be doing all sorts OF quixotic
things; but, being hemmed in by profess
sional conventionalities, you show some
restraint though not enough to warrant
me in trusting you with my opinion on
this matter-since it is only an opinion
Naturally, I became eager to know
what lay behind this break Opinions are
not formed without some show of reason
and the lightest reason might suffice to
Ill, q G II
my resolution in my face, and made an
effort to resist.
Il am as sorry as you are for Miss
Meredith" he drawled. helping me tc
fresh coffee. "If I had seen her the day
she gave her testimony might be sorriel
still; but did not have that pleasure
and so am willing to leave the matter
with those whose duty it is to see that
Justice is meted out to the guilty"
do you think their efforts are likely
to be successful?"
'tOh, the question will be solved some
day
"Do YOU think so?"
At this repetition Of the phrase which
I had made forcible by my intonation, he
raised his eyebrows, and, emptying his
cup before answering, gave me an oppor.
tunity to add:
With nothing to go upon but an &C.
cusation which, while involving all three
of Mr. Gil1espie's sons, specifies none
how can any official action be taken be-
yond that very ordinary one Of submitting
the whole household to continual sur.
yellance? Unless fresh evidence comes il
or conscience drives the guilty to con-
fession, weeks, months, nay, years will
go by, and the hand which hesitates tt
move now will hesitate still; justice
needing something more definite to e
upon than a suspicion equally divided
amongst three men,"
''You are right there, but what can you
do to better the situation? 1t appears to
me that you will have to wait too.''
Which contradicts your former asser-
ton
Every possibly; man is full of contra.
dictions at so early an hour as this, and
with only one cup of coffee between him
and the possible nightmare Of the night
before
Drink another cup, then, while I tel
you what my hopes are. Guided by i'm
pressions which more than once in my
life have proved infallible, l mean to rur
my man down till he succumbs to the
pressure I will bring upon him, and con-
fesses. This. believe, can be done if al
my force is concentrated on one man. Al
all events it is the only way see of at
tanning the desired end Now, will yo,