The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-05-07

~ llliNl NitN Which, Idh DNti uI-
III liyercd to Miss Moore during
the half hour preceding her
marriage had come not from the bride
groom, as | had supposed, but from
the so called stranger. sIr. Pfeiffer.
For all this proof that Mr. Pfeiffer
was we'll known to her, if not to the
rest of the bridal party, no acknowl-
edgment of this was made by any of
them then or afterward, nor any con-
tradiction given either by husband or
wife to the accepted theory that this
seeming stranger from the west had
gone into this fatal room of the
Moores 10 crafty his owl morbid Gu
riosity.
On the contrary, an eXtraor linary
effort was Immediately made Mr..
Jeffrey to rid himself of the only wit
nesses who could tell the truth con
corning those fatal ten minutes. but
this brought no peace to the miserable
Wife, who never again saw a really
happy moment.
Extraordinary efforts at concealmcnt
argue extraordinary causes for fear.
Fully to understand the circumstances
of Mrs. Jeffrey's death, it would be
necessary first to know what had hap
pened in the Moore house when Mr.
Jeffrey learned from Curly Jim that
the man, whose hold upon his bride
had been such that he dared to demand
an interview with her just as she was
on the point of descending to her
nuptials, had been seated. or was
about TO be seated, in the room where
death had once held its court ana
might easily be persuaded to hold court
again.
The encouragement afforded me by
my late discoveries was such that |
felt confident that nothing could hinder
my success save the necessity of com
pletcly pulling down the house. Re
sides. all investigation had hitherto
started, If ii had not ended, in the
hH'"lp' Ndo lNoplNtN ~ btSll NOlh
in quite a different spot. | had not
forgotten the sensations had ex,
pericnced in the southwest chamber
During my absence this house had
been released from surveillance. But
the major still held the keys, ana had
no difficulty in obtaining them The
pnyt thtup ,voc IN aooono tic pv,tunr',
vigilance, This | managed to do
through the assistance of jimmy, and
when midnight came and all lights
went out in the opposite cottage | en-
tered boldly upon the scene. AS be.
fore, | went first of all to the library.
| wished to make certain that | had
exhausted every suspected rs well as
every known clew TO the information
sought In my long Journey home ana
the hours Of thought it had forced upon
me | had more than once been visited
by fitting visions Of things seen in this
old house and afterward nearly for
gotten. Among these was the book
which on that first night Of hurried
search had given proofs of being in
some ones hand within a very short
period. The attention | had given it
ut moment Of such haste was nrccs-
sarily cursory, ana when later Il sec
ond opportunity was granted me of
looking into it again | had allowed
very slight obstacle to deter me. This
was a mistake | was anxious TO rectify.
which had been touched with
purpose at or near the time of so mys-
FERROUS a tragedy-and the position Of
this book on shelf 50 high that
chair was needed to reach it proved
that 1t had lcen sought ana Touched
with purpose-held out the promise Of
4 clew which one on SO blind q Trail as
myself could not afford to ignore
But when | had taken the bool, down
and read again its totally unintcFcSting
and unsuggestivc title and by another
reference TO its dim and faded leaves
found that my memory had not played
me false and that it contained nothing
but stupid and wholly Irrelevant
my confidence in il as
possible aid in the work had in hand
departed just as it had on the previous
occasion. ! was about TO put it back
on the shelf, when bcth0uglt me
IF running my hand in behind the two
books between which it had stood.
All. that was it! Another book lay
Hat against the wall al the bacl; Of the
shelf: by the removal Of those In front
was enabled to draw this bnok out
soon saw why 1t had been rclcgatcd
10 such remote place Of conccalmcnt
IN the shelves Of the Moore library.
It was a collection Of obscure memoirs
written by m Englishwoman. bat an
1nglisllwoman who had been in Amer
ca during the early part Of tic century
md who had been brought more or less
nto contact with the mysteries con.
lected with the Moore house in Wash.
ngt0n. Several passages were marked. /
me particularly, 10y a heavy pencil liac
the length of the MARGIN. As
he name of Moore WAS freely scatter
ID through these passages as well as
trough two or three faded newspaper
clippings which | discovered pasted on
he inside cover. lest 30 time in set (
Ing about their pcrasal.
The following extracts are from the I
look itself taken in tie onler in which /.
found them marked.
ut was about This time that / srcut I
week in The Moore house. that giahd 4
nd historic structure concerning which I