Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-05-18

y DID some tall thinking that night.
| @ | remembered that this man had
| E held some conversation with the
.Ieffreys at their carriage door
| previous to their departure from the
| Moore house. and found myself com
| PEELED to believe that only matter Of
| Importance TO themselves as well as
to him would have detained them at
| such minute oh, that Tampa were
not so far off or that had happened
| on this clew earlier! But Tampa was
at that moment far prospect for ME,
and | could only reason from such
| facts as / had been able to collect in
| Washington.
| Fixing my mind now on Mrs. jeffrey.
which had marked her conduct on her
wedding morning. Why had she per-
sisted in dressing alone, and what oc-
casioned the absorption which led to
| her ignoring all appeals at her door at
| time when n woman is supposed to
be more than usually gracious? But
one answer suggested itself. Her
| heart was not in her marriage and
| that last hour of her maidenhood had
been an hour of anguish and struggle.
Perhaps she not only failed to love
Francis Jeffrey, but loved some other
man. This seemed Improbable, but
things as strange as this have hap
pened in our complex society, and no
reckoning can be made with wo-
mans fancy. II this was so-and
what other theory would better or
even so we'll account for her peculiar
behavior both then and afterward7
The hour usually given by brides to
dress and gladstone expectation was
with her one Of farewell to past hopes
and an unfortunate If not passionate
attachment No wonder that she
| wished to be alone. No wonder that
interruption angered her. Perhaps 1t
had found her on her knees. Perhaps
Here felt myself seized by strong
and sudden excitement. remembered
the filings had gathered up from the
| small stand by the window, filings
| which had glittered and which must
| have been Of gold. What was the con-
clnsion? In this last hour Of her maid
en- life she had sought to rid herself Of
some article of jewelry which she
| found it undesirable to carry into her
new life What article Of jewelry? In
| consideration of the circumstances and
| the hour ! could think Of but one-a
ring, the symbol of some old attach
| ment.
The slight abrasion at the base Of
| her third finger. which had been looked
| upon as the result Of too rough and
speedy withdrawing of the wedding
ring ON the evening Of her death, was
much more likely to have been occa-
| stoned by the reopening of some little
wound made two weeks before by the
| file. II Durbin and the rest had taken
into account these filings. they must
have come to very much the same con-
clusion, but either they had overlooked
/ them in their search about the place
or, having noted them, regarded them
| as clew leading nowhere
| But for me they led the way to
very definite inquiry. Asking to see
the rings Mrs. Jeffrey had left behind
| her on the night she went for the last
| time to the Moore house. looked them
carefully over and found that none OF
them showed the least mark Of the
! file. This strengthened my theory, and
proceeded to take my next step with
| Increased confidence. 1t seemed an
easy one, but proved Unexpectedly diff
flcult. My desire was to ascertain
whether she had worn previous to her
| marriage any rings which had not
been seen on her finger since, and 1t
took me one whole week to establish
/ the fact that she had.
But that fact once learned the way
cleared before me. Allowing my fam
cy full rein, I pictured to myself her
anxious figure standing alone in that
ancient and ghostly room filing OF this
old ring from her dainty finger. Then
| I asked myself what she would be
likely to do with this ring after dis
engaging 1t from her hand? Would
she keep It? Perhaps. But. if SO, why
cot1sd it not be found? None such had
been discovered among her effects.
Or had she thrown it away, and il so,
where? The vision of her which
had just seen in my minds eye came
out with cle8rneSs at this, which
struck me as providential. could
discern us plainly as If had been a
part of the scene the white clad form
of the bride bending toward the light
which came in sparsely through the
half open shutter she had loosened for
this task. This was the shutter which
had never again been fastened and
whose restless blowing to and fro had
first led attention to this house and
the crime it might otherwise have con-
cealed Indefinitely Had some glimpse
of the rank grass growing underneath
this window lured her eye and led her
to cast away the ring which she had no
longer any right to keep? 1t would he
like u woman to yield to such an iin-
pulse, and on the strength of the posi-
biIity | decided to search this small
plot for what it might very reasonably
conceal.
Calling together posse OF stree
urchins. l organized them into band
with the promise of good supper all
around If one of them brought me the
pieces of broken ring which l mad
lost in the grass plot Of house where