Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-15

THE crime was committed at your insti-
gationl" she declared.
"At my instigation!" he echoed. with a
dry laugh. II suppose you will say next
that I hypnotized her, or some buncombe OF
that Sort
I'm no believer in hynotic theories.
They we're exploded long ago." she an.
swered. "But what do believe--nay, what
is positively proven from my poor sisters
own lips by a statement made before wit
nesses-is that you were the instigator OF
the crime. You met her by appointment
that night at Kew Bridge. You opened
the door Of the house for her, and you
compelled her to go in and commit the
deed. Although demented, she recolleoted
II all in her saner moments. You told her
terrible stories Of old Mr.. Courtenay, for
whom you had feigned such friendship. and
for weeks you uSged her to kill him Sc
cretly until, in the frenzy of insanity to
which you had brought her. she carried
out your design with all that careful in
genuity that is SO often characteristic OF
madness"
You lie, woman!" the old man snapped
"I had nothing whatever to do with the af-
fart ] was at home at Hove on that night.
moi mol you were not" interrupted
Jevons. Your memory requires re-
freshing. Reflect a moment. and you'll lnd
that you arrived at Brighton Station at
o'clock next morning from Victoria You
spent the night in London, and. further,
you we're recognized by a police inspector
walking along Chiswick road as early as
half past 8. have not been idle. Sir Ber-
nard. and have spent a good deal of time
at Howe OF Late
what do you allege them" he cried In
fierce anger. a dark evil expression on his
pale, drawn face. II suppose you'll de-
clare that m a murderer next!"
81 allege that at your instigation a seri
GUS and desperate attempt was made
short time ago upon the life OF my friend
Boyd. by ruffians who were well paid by
you"
Another lie!" he blurted forth defantly
"What?" l cried. "Is that the truth,
Amber? Was l entrapped at the instiga-
! tion Of this man?"
Eyes. He had reasons for getting rid of
you-as you will discern later"
81 tell you it's an untruth!" shouted the
old man in a frenzy OF rage.
Deny 1t, II you will" answered my
friend, with a nonchalant air. "It, how
ever, may be interesting to you to know
that the man LAnky Lane, one Of the des-
perate gang whom you bribed to call up
Boyd on the night in question, is what is
known at Scotland Yard as a policemans
nose or informer, and that he made a
plain statement OF the whole affair before
he fell victim to your caretully-laid plan
by which his lips we're sealed"
In an instant l recollected that the cos
termonger Of the London road was one OF
the ruf1ans.
The old mans lips compressed He saw
that he was cornered..
The revelation that to his clever cunning
was due the many remarkable features of
the mystery held me utterly bewildered.
At first 1t seemed impossible, but as the
discussion grew more heated, and the facts
poured forth from the mouth of the woman
I loved and from the man who was my
best friend, / became convinced that at
last the whole OF the mysterious AFFAIR
would be elucidated.
One point, however, still puzzled me,
namely, the inexplicable scene had wit
messed on the bank Of the Meme.
referred to 1t, whereupon Amber Jevons
drew from his breast pocket two photo
graphs, and holding them before the eyes
Of the trembling old man, said:
"You recognize these? For a long time
past I've been making inquiries into your
keen interest in amateur theatricals. My
makers. and they furnished me with the
picture showing you made up as Henry
Courtenay It seems that under the name
of slade you furnished them with a por-
| trait Of the dead man and ordered the
| disguise to be copied exactly-a fact to
which a dozen witnesses are prepared to
swear. This caused me to wonder what
game you we're playing, and after watching
found that on certain nights you wore
| the disRuise-a most complete and excel
lent one-and with 1t imposed upon the
| unfortunate widow of weak intellect. You
posed as her husband, and she believed you
to be him. So completely was the woman
In your thrall that you actually led her
to believe that Courtenay was not dead
after all. You had a deeper game to play.
1t was a clever and daring piece of inn
posture Representing yourself as her hus-
band who for financial reasons had been
compelled to disappear and was be-
lieved to be dead, you had formed a
| plan whereby to obtain the widows for
! tune as soon as the executors had given
| her complete mastery OF 1t. You had ar
ranged It all with her. She was to pose
| as a widow, mourn your loss, and then
sell the Devonshire estate and hand you
the money, believing you to be her hus>
| band and rightly entitled to 1T. The ter
rible crime which the unfortunate woman
had committed at your instigation had
turned her brain. as you anticipated, and
| she, docile and half-wltted, was entirely
beneath your influence until" and he
paused.
Until what?" ! asked. utterly astounded
at this remarkable explanation of what I
had considered to be an absolutely mex
plicable phenomenon.
He spoke again quite calmly, tugging at
his little pointed moustache-
Until this man to his dismay found that
poor Mrs. Courtenay's intellect was re-
gaining its strength. They met beside the
river and her brain. suddenly regaining
its balance, she discovered the ingenious
fraud he was imposing upon her" Turn
ing to Sir Bernard he said 'She tore on
your disguise and declared that she would
go TO the police and tell the truth OF the
whole circumstances-how that you had in
duced her to go to the house in Kew and
kill her husband. You saw that your game
was up II she were not silenced, therefore
without further ado you sent the poor
woman TO her st-account."
"You lie!" Eyton cried, his drawn face
blsnched TO the lips. 'she fell in-acei-
dentally,"
"she did not. You threw her in," de-
clared Amber Jevons. firmly. Il followed