Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-03-25
CHAPTER w.

CHAPTER "
1t will be a truism to declare that
human nature is about as complicat-
ed a piece of machinery as could be
found in the human world. And yet
/ do not know why it should be con-
sidered so. All things and all men
do not run in grooves. A man to be
a criminal need not be hopelessly
bad in every other sense. l have met
murderers who did not possess sufi-
cient nerve to kill rabbit, burglars
who would rob a poor man of all his
possessions in the world, and yet
would not despoil little child of
half-penny. The fact of the matter
is we all have our better points, our
own innate knowledge of good and
evil. Hayle had betrayed Kitwater
and Codd in the cruelest fashion
demned them to the most fiendish
torture the mind of man could con-
ceive. Yet it was through his ono
| good point. his weakness, if l might
SO describe it. that | was enabled to
come to my first grip with him.
1t was between the hours of two
! and three that l entered the gates of
Brompton cemetery and commenced
my examination of the various graves
therein contained. Up one path
wandered and down another il
search of the resting place of the
poor crippled sister of whom Gideon
Hayle had been SO fond. 1t was a
long time before l found it, but at
last l was successful. To my aston
ishment the stone was plainly a new
one, and the grave was tastefully
of fact it was one of the prettiest in
its neighborhood, and to me this told
its own tale. / went in search of the
necessary official and put the case to
him. He informed me that / was cor
rect in my supposition, and that the
stone had only lately been erected
and, what was more to the point, he
had given the order for it had only
the week before paid the necessary
sum for insurng the decoration OF
the grave for many years to come.
II gather from your words thai
, the gentleman, who must be rela
tive of the deceased, has been here
! lately" | said.
t 'IIe was here last Sunday after
: noon" the man replied. ''He is {
most kindly and generous gentleman
and must have been very fond of hi
sister. The way he stood and looked
at that stone the last time he wa
here was touching to see. He'd beer
in foreign parts, sir, and is likely t.
go out there again, SO | gathered
from what he said. 1t is a pit.
there are not more like him."
This was news, indeed, and
pricked up my ears on hearing it.
Having learnt all I was likely t.
discover, l thanked the man for hi
kindness and left the cemetery. If
had done nothing else, had at leas
satisfied myself upon one point, an
this was the fact that Gideon Hayl
had been in London within the week
Under such circumstances it shoul
not be very difficult to obtain his ad
dress. But l knew from experienc
that when things seemed to be run
ming most smoothly they are a
much liable to a breakdown as a
any other time-sometimes eve
J more SO. l accordingly hailed a ca
{. and drove back to my Office. One
there 1 entered up my diary accord
ing to custom, wrote note to Kit
v water, informing him that had dis
id covered that Gideon Hayle had no
left London on the previous Sunday
# and also that I believed him to hav
negotiated certain of the stones i
ST London, after which I returned t
re my hotel to dine.
ID Most people who know me woul
lie tell you that it might be considere
lie consistent with my character that
re still occupied the same apartment
ID in the private hotel. off the Stran'
s. in which ] had domiciled myse
~ when l first arrived in England.
" am made comfortable I prefer I
stick to my quarters, and the hot
q in question was quiet one; tt
cooking and the service were exec
;" lent, and, as every one did his, {
le her, best for me, I saw no sort {
u reason for moving elsewhere. 1t