The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-12-08
CHAPTER Xxx.

groom. as | had supposed, but from
the SO called stranger. Mr.. Pfeiffer
For all this proof that Mr. Pfeiffer
| was well known 70 her. If not to the
rest of the bridal party, no aeknowl-
edgmenr Of this was made by any OF
them then or afterward. nor any con-
tradiction given either by husband or
wife 10 the accepted theory that this
seeming stranger from the west had
gone into this fatal room of the
+ Moores 70 CRAFTY his own morbid Gu
I riosity.
On the contrary. an extraordinary
/ effort was Immediately made by Mr..
| Jeffrey to rid himself of the only wit
nesses who could tell the truth con-
/ corning those fatal ten minutes. but
| this brought no peace to the miserable
/ wife. who never again saw a really
| happy moment.
| Extraordinary efforts at concealment
| argue extraordinary causes for fear.
| Fully to understand the circumstances
| Of Mrs. Jefrrey's death. 1t would be
necessary first to know what bad hap
pened in the Moore house when Mr..
Jeffrey learned from Curly Jim that
the man. whose hold upon his bride
f
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 it's court and
might easily be persuaded to hold court
again.
The encouragement afforded me by
my late discoveries was such that l
felt confident that nothing could hinder
my success save the necessity OF COM
pletely pulling down the house. Be
sides, all investigation had hitherto
started, il it had not ended. in the
library. l was resolved to begin work
in quite a different spot. / had not
forgotten the sensations I had ex-
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 / 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. 1 went first Of all to the library.
/ wished to make certain that l had
exhausted every suspected as well as
every known clew to the information ]
sought. In my long journey home and
the hours of thought it had forced upon
me l 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 a very short
period. The attention I had given it
at moment of such haste was neces-
Sarily cursory, and when later sec
ond opportunity was granted me of
looking into 1t again / had allowed a
very slight obstacle to deter me. This
was a mistake was anxious to rectify.
Anything which had been touched with
purpose at or near the time of so mys-
terious a tragedy-and the position OF
this book on shelf so high that
chair was needed to reach it proved
that it had been sought and touched
with purpose-held out the promise of
a clew which one on so blind trail as
myself could not afford to ignore.
But when I had taken the book down |
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 it as a
possible aid in the work had in hand |
departed just as it had on the previous I
occasion. l was about to put it back |
on the shelf, when I bethought me /
Of running my hand in behind the two /
books between which it had stood. |
All. that was it! Another book lay |
fat against the wall at the back OF the |
shelf: by the removal of those in front I
l was enabled to draw this book out, |
/ soon saw why 1t had been relegated I
to such a remote place of concealment /
on the shelves OF the Moore library.
1t was collection Of obscure memoirs /
written by an Englishwoman, but an I
Englishwoman who had been in Amer |
lea during the early part of the century |
and who had been brought more or less I
into contact with the mysteries con-
nected with the Moore house In Wash |
ington. Several passages were marked. I
one particularly, by heavy pencil line /
running the length of the margin. As /
the name OF Moore was freely scatter |
ed through these passages as well as
through two or three faded newspaper
clippings which I discovered pasted on /
the inside cover, I lost no time in set /
ting about their perusal.
The following extracts are from the
book itself. taken in the order in which /
found them marked:
at was about this time that spent
q week in the Moore house. that grand
and historic structure concerning which
and its occupants SO many curious ru-
mors are afioat. l knew nothing then
of its discreditable fame, but from the
first moment of my entrance into its
ample and well lighted halls expert
enced a sensation which I will not call
dread, but which certainly was far
from being the impulse of pure delight
which the graciousness OF my hostess
and the imposing character of the place
itself were calculated to produce. This
hY,$ i~h /