The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-09-22
CHAPTER \NIII.

remembered llNI tlllS man uau
held some conversation with the
Jeffreys at their carriage door
previous 60 their departure from the
Moore house. and found myself COM
PEELED to believe that only a matter Of
importance to themselves as well as
such a minute. oh. that Tampa were
not so far of or that had happened
on this clew earlier. But Tampa was
at that moment a far prospect for me-
and l could only reason from such
facts as had been able to collect in
Washington.
Fixing my mind now on Mrs. Jeffrey.
I asked the cause of the many caprices
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
a time when woman is supposed to
be more than usually graciousf But
one answer suggested itself. Her
heart was not in her marriage and
that last hour of her maidcnhood 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. If this was so-and
what other theory would better or
even SO well account for her peculiar
behavior both then and afterward?
The hour usually given by brides to
dress and gladstone expectation vas
with her one of farewell to past hopes
and an unfortunate If not passionate
attachment. No wonder that she
wished to he alone. No wonder that
interruption angc"ed her. Perhaps it
had found her on her knees. Perhaps
Here | felt myself seized by strong
and sudden excitement. | remembered
the filings l 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-
clusion? In this last hour Of her maid
en- life she had sought to rid herself Of
some article of jewelry which she
found 1t 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
har thtpl HnnpY y,.lli.h had hnan Ionly oil
upon as the result of too rough and
speedy a 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, hayin- noted them. regarded them
IS clcw 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, I looked them
carefully over and found that none Of
them showed the least mark of the
file. This strengthened my theory, and
l proceeded 10 take my next step with
increased confidence. 1t seemed an
easy one, but proved unexpectedly diff
fcult. Ny desire was to ascertain
whether she had worn previous TO her
marriage any rings which had not
been seen on her finger since, and it
took me one whole week 10 establish
the fact that she had.
But that fact once learned the way
cleared before ne. Allowing my fan
cy full rein, pictured TO myself her
anxious figure standing alone in that
ancient and Gnostly room filing of this
old ring from tier dainty finger. Then
! asked myself what she would be
likely TO do with this ring after dis
engaging II from her handi Would
she keep it? Perhaps But. II so, why
could IL not he founur None such had
beer discovered among her effects.
Or had she thrown il away, and If So
whcrey The vision of her which |
had just seen in my minds eye came
out with clearness at this, which
struck ne as proyldential. / could
discern as plainly as If had been a
part of tie 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 il 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? II would be
like a woman to yield to such an i'm
pulse, and on the strength of the possi-
bility ! decided TO search this small
plot for what 1t might very reasonably
conceal
Calling together a posse of street
urchins, organized them into a band,
with the promise Of good supper all
around II one Of them brought me the
pieces Of broken ring which ] had
lost In the grass plot Of house where
had been called upon to stay all
night That they might win the sup
.lt Ht " i..i q K Z u .ii t, 4. II