Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-08-24
DAILY STORY
THE MYSTERIOUS SQUARES.
IOriginal.l

There was 4 cOmmOtiOn in SaraSOn
Hall, where a house party composed Of
wealthy British people was making
merry. Lady Barnickel, the wife Of
Sir Michael Barnickel, on retiring to
her room TO go to bed missed Il brooch
in which was n rose diamond her hus-
band had brought her from India and
which he had procured from one of the
native princes. 1t was of priceless
value. Every guest was known to be
above suspicion except Edgar Ken
worthy, young American. Ken
worthy was a student at oxford, where
he was trying for the honor of senior
wrangler, a distinction TO be obtained
only by proficiency in the higher
mathematics.
Lady Barnickel declared that her
brooch could not have been stolen from
her by a servant, for she did not trust
servants and took care not to expose
her jewelry to them. 1t must have be-
come unclasped during the evening of
its loss and been picked up by some of
her associates At any rate, no servant
had come near her in the evening. y
number of persons had been with her,
among them Kenworthy. Lord Sara
son directed personally Il search of the
house and grounds, but the brooch was
not found. An unspoken opinion grad
ually settled upon the guests that Ken
worthy knew something about the loss
Of the treasure.
The first intimation lie had that he
was suspected was from Miss Lucy
Trevor. Il young lady to whom he had
been devoted, who gave him 4 hint
He showed such unaffected surprise
that the girl had no doubt OF his limo
cence from that moment. But she had
no influence with the others. Ken
worthy, after learning of the position
he occNpied. went to his room to think.
Either the brooch must be found or he
must endure the obloquy of being con-
sidered thief.
That night after all had gone TO bed
Miss Trevor, whose room overlooked
the front lawn, heard some one be-
meath her window and saw dark
figure pouring something out of Il wa
tering pot on the grass. Either his
build or walk or some other feature in
dicatad to her that he was Kenworthy.
The figure soon passed too far away
TO be visible. and Miss Trevor went to
bed wondering. She wondered still
more the next morning when one of
the guests asked, ''Who was that per-
ambulating over the lawn with 4 IAN
tern before daylight this morning.
She did not catch what followed, but
she naturally put the remark with
what she had seen. Then when she
went out on the terrace she saw a
number OF guests looking at the lawn,
which had been divided into squares
by lime lines, the process used in
marking lawn tennis courts. These
squares had been made during the
night and no one could tell who had
made them. The host denied any
knowledge of the work, and none of
the guests attempted to explain it
Miss Trevor looked on with the others
and said nothing.
The mystery of the squares on the
lawn engaged the attention of the
household all that day. The only per-
son who did not appear to take any
interest in the matter was Kenworthy,
who sat over sheets of paper on which |
he was figuring or porting over a book |
on optics. At luncheon time he left |
his books and papers on a table on the |
terrace, and they We're examined by |
several persons, hoping some evidence |
could be adduced from them to con-
vict the American of theft.
The next night one of the guests, |
whose room overlooked the lawn, was |
awakened by seeing Il light through |
the Stats of Il window blind. He got |
up. went 10 the window and looked out. |
\ light was moving on the lawn. And |
a very singular motion it was. The |
light would go. say. to the right, then |
at Il right angle then at another and |
still another right angle. This process
was repeated over and over again.
What did it mean?
The watcher kept his post till the
of the moving light made
him sleepy, when he went back to bed.
In the morning he informed the house
hold that the place must be haunted,
for he had seen Il light moving. over the
lawn about two feet from the ground /
Il succession of right angles /
Then some one suggested that alantern /
had been carried over the squares.
That day the host told KenwOrthy
that he was suspected of having laid
Town the squares and asked him if he
bad done SO; also if he had moved
over them with a lantern at night.
Kenworthy admitted that he had done
both. Then when his lOrdship asked
MS object in this strange proceeding he
said he was working out a problem
which would be finished that night and
would not object to spectators.
AS soon as it was dusk, while the
terrace overlooking the lawn was
with people waiting in anx-
Gus expectation for a revelation of the
mystery. the American came out with
1 lantern and said:
81 saw Lady Barnickel on this lawn