The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-06-21

phnNl DHalclyt anu
" Well, don say any moro. If that is
true and you love mo madly, passionate
/ ~ why, then you will surely wait till
January for your answer. This was
taid rather cmtly, and Mr. Thaurcts
hopes sank, but rose again to fever heat
as she said very softly There, did
not mean TO hurt you You must not
think me hard. But | must win that
wager. Not so much for the money as
for the qualification Of proving to Bob
that nave some control over myself,
Surely if You truly love me you will
not begrudge mo that satisfaction?F
No. no, sweet one Have your own
way. Ill wait. Only say that there is
some chance of my succeeding
why, Of course, every ono has Il
chance. But must not tell you how
great yours is, because If / did would
not be winning my bet fairly And |
must say good night, with which she
left him. Her last words fingered with
him. and he took comfort, For what
could she mean but that his chances
were good, since if otherwise how could
the telling prevent her FROM winning
her wager? Nevertheless, as the weeks
went ON he tried many times to get a
more definite reply from her, but never
succeeded Still he Rugged the cherish
ed hope to his heart and waited as pa
tiently as man could
Randolph was simply miserable all
the time Whenever he was with Dora,
she was coed to him, kind to him and
often used tender tones that thrilled his
heart But he, too, failed to get any
thing from her, save the old request that
he should be patient and wait. IIe. toe,
waited, but not patiently.
Meanwhile, in New York, Mr.. Barnes
was still bulrowing into everything that
seemed to have any connection direct or
otherwise with the mystery or mysteries
that batilcd him. OF one thing he had
satisfied himself beyond all doubt. That
was that Mr. Fisher had not been inn
plicatcd in the train robbery His spy
had found that he had been absent from
the city during three days at the time
Of the crime, but this very fact had been
shown to be his safeguard
BY some skillful work the man dis
covered that during that time he had
simply been off shooting ducks in part
Of the country where it would have
been impossible for him to be m accom-
plice This simple fact should not have
been hard to discover We're it not that
Fisher had kept his trip a secret. This
for some timo puzzled the detective, but
finally lie followed him out IF tho city,
and practically accompanied him on a
similar outing, after which he learned
that his sister was morhidly opposed TO
all killing, whether for sport or for "a
livelihood II was 10 humor this idea
that her brother made his excursions III
secret The spy learscd from tho man
from whom the dogs We're hired that
Mr.. Fisher had used them in December.
So that left him out Of the score, or at
least 10 it seemed. II was still possible
that he was implicated III the ruby rob
berry, though, save that he was present,
there seemed nothing against him. Mr..
Barnes did not entirely leave him ont
Of the account
Thus practically the detective made
no progress, and was chngrined To Ire
compelled to admit it, Finally, how
ever, an idea occurred to him, upon
which the more he dwelt the more fas-
cinated he became with it. TO put it
into practice, however, he felt that he
must await the return Of Mr.. Mitchell,
He thought he would iniure his cause
by seeking him and SO disturbing him
during his pleasure trip.
The Mitchols did not keep their prom
iso to 20 to the White mountains. bat,
on the contrary, prolonged their west
ern travel, SO that il was November be-
fore they were at home again and tenn
porarily quartered at the Fifth Avenue.
A few days after, Mr.. Barnes sent up
his card, and, as usual, was cordially
received.
Any news of my wife's ruby" ask
ed Mr. Mitchell, grasping the detective
warmly by the hand.
"No, Mr.. Mitchell. am sorry to say
that | am utterly unable to prove any
Of my theories about that But have
come to a set determination, and one
that TO You may seem peculiar one. |
have come to ask your assistance i'll the
murder case
"Why, certainly, | will help You.
Did not tell you so at the very outset?
Have l not always been willing to talk
freely to YOU"
"You have, but as long as / thought
that you yourself might have committed
: the crime, how could come 10 you to
ask you to assist me:'
Then ! am to understand that at
present yon do not suspect me;"
IL have come to that conclusion az
last and wish now that / had done so
sooner.
Would you mind telling me why
you have altered your mind: Yon have
told Inc so much that seemed 70 imph-
cate me that am curious to hear the
other side
Certainly | overheard y9ur wager
Then came the robbery and then tbs
murder. Later there was a second jewel
robbery All of these crimes occurred
within the limit which you set. One Of
them Of course you committed. ltfeems
more probable that you stole tho single
ruby, for in doing that you committed a