Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-09-07

"HE peremptory demand for an
Interview which had been de-
livered to Miss Moore during
the half hour preceding her
marriage had come not from the bride
groom, as l had supposed, but from
the SO called stranger, Mr.. Pfeiffer
For all this proof that Mr.. Pfeiffer
was well known to her, il not to the
rest Of the bridal party, no acknowl-
edgmcnt 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
Moorcs to crafty his own morbid GU
riosity.
On the contrary, an extraordinary
effort a aaade-by At MI.
Jeffrey to rid himself of the only wit
nesscs who could tell the truth con-
corning those fatal ten minutes, but
this brought no peace to the miserable
wife, who never again saw really
happy moment.
Extraordinary efforts at concealment
argue extraordinary causes for fear.
Fully to understand the circumstances
of Mrs. Jeffreys death, it would be
necessary first to know what had hap
pened in the Moore house when MI.
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 and
might ensily 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. Be-
sides, all investigation had hitherto
started, IL it had not ended, in the
library. was resolved to begin work
in quite different spot. l had not
forgotten the sensations had cx-
perienced in the southwest chamber.
During my absence this house had
been released from surveillance. But
the major still held the keys, and had
no difficulty in obtaining them. The
next thing was to escape its owners
vigilance. This l managed to do
through the assistance of jimmy, and
when midnight came and all lights
went out in the opposite cottage l en-
tered boldly upon the scene. AS be-
fore, l went first of I'LL to the library.
wished to make certain that l had
exhausted every suspected rs well US
every known clew to the information
sought. In my long journey home and
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 very short
period. The attention I had given 1t
ut moment Of such haste was neces-
sarily cursory, and when later sec
ond opportunity was granted me of
looking into 1t again I had allowed n
very slight obstacle to deter me. This
was mistake was anxious to rectify.
Anything which had been touched with
purpose at or near the time of SO mys-
terious tragedy-and the position of
this book on n shelf so high that
chair was needed to reach it proved
that 1t had been sought and touched
with purpose-held out the promise of
clew which one on so blind trail as
myself could not afford to ignore.
But when had taken the book down
and read again Its totally uninteresting
and unsuggestive 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
statistics, my confidence in 1t as n
possible aid in the work had in hand
departed just as 1T had on the previous
occasion. l was about to put 1t back
on the shelf, when bethought me
of running my hand In behind the two
books between which 1t had stood.
All, that was it! Another book law
flat against the wall at the back of the
oAAS'A ~ 'ae van VI tl!oSe III IrOuC
i was enabled to draw this book out,
I soon saw why 1t had been RELOCATED
to such remote place of conccalment
on the shelves Of the Moore library.
1t was u collection of obscure memoirs
written by an Englishwoman, but an
who had been in Amer :
lea during the early part of the century
and who had been brought more or less