The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-05
che barrow GniQ111a
49, = BY MELVIN L. SEVERY
Corigh by Dodd.M Mead & Co.
CHAPTER IV.

until morning, l do not know. Perhaps
he desired to make sure that everything
remained untouched, or, it may be, that
ne chose this method Of preventing
body. 1 thought this latter view very
probable at the time, as had been sin
gularly impressed with the remarkable
foresight my friend had displayed in so
quickly and adroitly getting Gwen
her fathers sad and mysterious death.
Arriving at my house my sister took
an early opportunity to urge upon Gwen
glass of wine, in which I had placed
q. generous, sedatiye. The terrible ten.
than half an hour she was sleeping
quietly. I dreaded the moment when
she should awake and the memory of all
that had happened should descend like
an avalanche upon her. l. told my SIS
ter that this would be critical mo-
ment, cautioning her to stay by Gwen
and to give her, Immediately upon her
arising, q draught / had prepared for
the purpose of somewhat deadening her
senssIbilitiess., 7 arose early, and went EN-
things he desired. When [ returned
Gwen was awake, and to my intense
qualification in even a better condition
than [ had dared to hope.
1t was quite late when we reached
her house, and Maitland had evidently
been at work several hours. He looked
sharply at Gwen when she entered, and
seemed much pleased at her condition;
"You have obeyed my instructions, l
and and he s sbs r as he gaye n Res
very tired, and the, Doctor cordial
inquiring glance at. the network Of
white string which Maitland had
into squares like an immense checker
ooF he said re4 h9t deteeives arg
the most thoro in the, world, and ], am
about to make use of their method OF
instituting an exhaustive search. Each
tersecting strings is numbered, and
represents one square foot of carpet,
the numbers running from one to two
hundred and lightweight. Every inch
Of every one of these squares l shall ex-
amino under microscope, and anything
found which can be Of any possible in
terest will be carefully preserved, and
its exact location accurately marked
upon this chart | have prepared, which,
as you will see, has the same number of
square being reduced from one square
foot to one square inch. You will note
that I have already marked the location
Of all doors, windows, and furniture.
very minute, but if it be on the floor
we may be assured the microscope will
find it. The walls of the room, espe.
cially any shelving projections, and the
furniture, I shall examine with equal
thoroness, tho l have now some add
tional reasons for believing the weapon
IS not here"
"Have you discovered anything
new7o Gwen exclaimed, unable to con
troll the excitement caused by this last
remark. "You must pardon me, - Matt
land rejoined, "if I ask you and the
doctor a question before replying.' She
nodded assent, and he continued: 81
wish to know if you agree with me that
we shall be moro likely to arrive at 6
pollution Of the problem before us if we
keep our own counsel than II we take
the officers of the law, or, for that mat
You undoubtedly noticed how carefully
NJ. Godin kept his own counsel. Oficia
methods, and the hasty generalization
which form part thereof-to say moth
ing Of the petty rivalries and the pas
der our own work, and, I believe, moth
ing to help it. What say you9,,
"fhat we keep our work to ourselves,
Gwen quickly reioined, and I signife'
that was of the f4, same opinion spntinoa e.
I may say this in answer to your question
! 7 have ascertained something which ma,
! bear upon the case in hand. You vii
remember that part of the gravel TO
redressiing the croquet ground wa
| The painters, I learn, finished -paintin
! that side Of the house yesterday fore
noon before the gravel was remove
and placed upon the ground, so that an
! FOOTPRINTS they may have made In
while about their workwere obliteratec
AS you see, there was loose gravel lef
under the window to the depth of abou
two inches. I carefully examined thi
gravel this. morning-there were n
footprints. -
I glanced at Gwen; her face had a Sc
.'There were, however, he continued
tamped down as if by the pressure Of
rectangular board. l examined thes
and close seruting Of some peculia
markings suggestive Of the grain Q
wood, satisfied myself that the depre
sions in the gravel were made by tw
and not, as L had at first thought, b
one small piece of wood. found flu
borne certain relative relations to eac
other, and that when one had bee
turned around the other had undergon
q similar rotation. This last is, to m
mind, most important point, for, whe
coupled with the fact that between an
/ two Impressions of the same board tn
distance was sensibly constant, and We
that of short stride, there could be r
reasonable doubt but these boards ha
been worn upon some persons fee
They could not have been thrown dow
merely to be stepped upon, for, in tht
case, they would not have borne fixe
relations to each other-probab
would not have been turned end for er
at all-and certainly, both would n
always have happened to get turned
the same time. I procured q board
the combined area Of the two suppose
to have made the Impressions in tt
gravel, and weighted it down UNTIL
hearty as l could measure, it impactt
the soil to the same extent the othe
had. The weight was one hundred al
thirty-fve pounds, which is about rig
for man five feet five inches tall. II
position Of the depressions in the gra
ell indicated stride just about right
man Of that height.
"There was one other most impol
. ant discovery which [ made after hi
divided the Impressions into two elias
es-according as they were produced
the right or left board-which was tn
when the right foot was thrown fl
ward the stride was from three to TO
\ inches longer than when the left 70
/. led. Directly under the window the
/ was deep impression in the sand:
took plaster cast Of it, and here it is
he said, producing an excellent fs
smile Of closed hand. "There G.
be little Doubt he continued, I" fro
{ the position occupied by the depressic
of which this is reverse copy, that