Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-11-04
CHAPTER XVIII.

DID some tall thinking that night.
l remembered that this man had
held some conversation with the
Jeffreys at their carriage door
previous to their departure from the
Moore house, and found myself COM
PEELED to believe that only a 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
Mt 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,
l 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 &C.
casioned the absorption which led to
her ignoring all appeals at her door at
a time when a 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 a 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 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 it
had found her on her knees. Perhaps
Here felt myself seized by a strong
and sudden excitement. I 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-
clusion? 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 l 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 q 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 va to a
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
1 proceeded to take my next step with
increased confidence. 1t seemed an
easy one. but proved unexpectedly diff
ficult. 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 it
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. pictured to myself her
anxious figure standing alone in that
ancient and ghostly room filing off this
old ring from her dainty finger. Then
/ asked myself what she would be
likely to do with this ring after dis
engaging it from her hand? Would
she keep it? Perhaps. But. If so. why
could it not be found? None such had
been discovered among her effects.
Or had she thrown it away, and If so,
where? The vision of her which I
had just seen in my minds eye came
out with clearness at this. which
struck me as providential. l could
discern as plainly as II had been
part Of the scene the white clad form