Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-10-01

through the will. privately took con.
troll OF Frances and revealed to h.
tho plot Of which she was to he th.
victim. From that moment France,
turned from Holbin as from /. Grim
inal, and Holbin was piouSd To com.
Asr with fiercer jealousy.
II was to this heart. consumed hy 9
hopeless passion, that the revelation
made by Louise had winged its light
like shaft of flame. Try as he might,
he could not in the face of corroborat.
ing facts convince himself that she
spoke altogether falsely or labored un.
der complete Authorization. Yet,
looking with the eyes of memory into
the open, pallid face of Frances, he
could not, he would not, accept the
inevitable conclusion forced upon him
by Louise. Such was his frame of
mind on the day of the funeral. when
he remained at the Brookin residence,
perhaps his only opportunity to make
an examination of Frances apart
ments. Before the carriages had
reached the cemetery he turned the
latch and entered her deserted bed
room.
The appointments of this room were
few, but tasteful. It abounded in the
little belongings of a young girl. To-
day there were many evidences of q
scene which had defeated good order.
A jaunty hat and bright ribbons were
hastily thrown aside, and the open bu-
reau drawers revealed dainty laces
and lingerie. But the eyes of the in
qufsitive intruder took notice of none
of these things; they were riveted in
stantly to an object that lay beside
q book upon the comfortable, near
which stood an armchair. That OBJ
Ject was a slender cigar. He took Il
unanswered. He knew that in thu
Brookin household he was the only
smoker-and he did not smoke slender
cigars. To the mind of this man, ever
open to suspicious and suggestions of
evil, that strange cigar was testimony
unimpeachable. 1t was the knife in
the heart of a jealous love. With in
expressible rage and with a fierce
hatred Of every living thing, he placed
the weed in his own case. Here, then,
he reasoned, had the man described
by Louise been sitting before the
dawn Of that fatal day; here had the
little saint kneeled to place her arms
about him and say FAREWELL Yonder
was the window, straight ahead from
which Louise had fred. Brave, faith
full Louisel His heart warmed towards
her, despite the fact that she had fred
to kill him. Somewhere in that GRIM
son carpet was the blood of her vic
tim If her aim had been true. Was
it true? he glanced back over his
shoulder; the ball would have struck
the wall behind him had she missed
her aim. And there in the wall, a
little out of line, it is true, was
small hole. Amazed, he hurriedly ex-
amined it. The shot, after all, had
missed
Then this doubt came to the active
mind: Why had the man been car
ried away il the shot failed?
Holbin went quickly to his own
room where Re secured a candle and
class. s'-'-ss-.-- 4L-
the sTasion ia The pias-
tering, he discovered a slight red
stain.
Blood" he whispered; "she did not
miss" Opening his penlSnife, he care
fully cut a section from the broken
plaster. Whoever the man was, he
was struck in the head. Here is the
hair"
For few moments holbin was deep
in thought. Then he drew from his
pocket the pistol which he had taken
from Louise and examined 1t with the
eye OF an army expert. Apparently
puzzled, he tried the depth of the hole
in the plastering with a pencil and
found that the perforation was COM
plete. He seated himself in the arm
chair facing the window. II Frances
had been lxneeling with her back to
the window, the face of the unknown
man must have been fully exposed.
The weapon did not have power
enough to fire n bullet through the
head OF man, an inch of plaster and
a lath, and 10 carry away hair and
biood-the bullet must have glanced
from the side of the head. The posi-
ton of the hole indicated that the
right side of the mans head had been
struck.
Holbin's final conclusions were that
the stranger had been only stunned.
His friends could not have concealed
his death, for no common man would
have won the privileges of the room,
nor would it have been possible for
Frances to have borne herself so calm
" with the memory of a murder fresh
m her mind. ~ society man is miss
ing from his club in Richmond to-
day!" he said aloud. "The MYSTERY
IS half solved. As for you, nv lovely
'ride!'-he finished the sentence with
L smothered oath.