Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-12-27

Then I thought Of Cecily. Could she
have been the assassin Certainly 1t
was not impossible. That last savage
act, that shooting Of an unconscious
man, fitted in somehow with my est-
mate Of her character. She might have
done that. But why should Miss Croy
don seek to shield herr Was II Cecily
who possessed the secret7 Was there
some connection between them? l re-
membered the other famous case In
which I had been engaged-must look
for the same solution here? Was there
blood relationship between Cecily
and Miss Croydon? Clearly such
thing was possible. even fancied that
one, knowing them both, might be able
to detect subtle resemblance. closed
my eyes and endeavored to recall the
features Of Miss Croydon's portrait;
her face had much In common with
Cecily's. Both were dark, both were
A knock at the door brought me out
Of my thoughts. opened 1t and found
the janltor standing there.
ITS nothing very much, Higgins" I
said, but thought you'd better fix 1t
before 1t got any worse The carpet
has come loose here along the door.
Three or four tacks are all it needs"
He stepped over the threshold and
looked at It.
"All right, sir" he said. "I'll fix it in
tn mornn'. Them fcllers what put tn
carpet down didn't half do their work.
l tackled loose place down over thtre
by TIL wall jest afore you moved in"
where was 'itv' asked as calmly
as l could
Fright here by this angle" he said.
ndicating the place with his foot. II
think maybe I'd better go all around
tn walls t'morrer."
Perhaps it would be best" l said.
THANK you" And closed the door
upon him.
! The next instant was down on my
hands and knees tearing away the car
pet. my blood singing in my ears.
had found them-the clippings-it was
here they must be hidden. But for
those chance tacks driven by the jan
itor Tremaine would have had posses
sion Of them long ago, and perhaps we
|
terry Of Thompson's death. Now it
would be laid bare before us - the
whole secret. What little thing it
was that had saved us!
I had the carpet loose-I turned 1t
back. and there they lay. that little roll
Of clippings. just as they Ind been
taken from Thompson's pocketbook.
They We're to tell us the whole story
we could not again be led astray.
was quite calm again. l picked them
up carefully and laid them on my desk.
Then l washed my hands and filled my
pipe. There was Il certain exquisite
pleasure in holding myself back from
them, in tAntalizing myself, in defer
ring for a moment or two the revea-
ton which was to come.
But at last sat down and spread
them out on the desk before me. There
were twelve of them, some only few
lines IN length, others of half q column.
OF one there were four copies, but Of
the others only one apiece. They were
tattered and stained from long carry
ing; some were in English and some
were in French, and they We're dated
from places as far apart as Dieppe,
New York. Sydney.
piled them carefully beside me and
started hopefully on the task of de-
ciphering them-of piecing together the
story they had to tell me. But the
farther l proceeded the more my
spirits fell. for they told no story. they
n rnta 10 nv,
other-no common thread. Apparently
they had been gathered aimlessly at
haphazard to satisfy the whim of the
moment. Ore chronicled a wreck at
sea; another bank robbery; third
an escape from prison; fourth was
merely marriage notice; fifth told
of row in sailors dive, and so on
ent people-friends Of Thompson's, per
haps; none of them had any connec.
ton with Tremaine; they told no story
furnished no clew. shed not ray OF
light on the mystery-they were abso
lutely worthless.
laid them down in despair. Yet II
they were worthless, why had Miss
Croydon taken them? Why had Ire
maine sought for them? Were they
mistaken too? Had they imagined the
clippings told a secret which in fact
they did not tell? But perhaps they
did tell it-perhaps had overlooked 1t
They must have some connection with
the tragedy? Why could not per
ceive It?
ran through them feverishly again,
but with no better result. At last |
laid them down and took up my pipe.
| must submit them to keener brain
than mine. If Godfrey were only here
| heard step come down the hall,
stop at my door. Some one knocked.
hastily stuffed the clippings into
my pocket and opened the door. But
it was not Tremaine who stood there
1t was Godfrey.
"Well, of all things!" cried. II was
just wishing for you. Come in"
With that quiet smile of his he step
ped over the threshold.
THAT must mean you've got some
new problem to solve" he said, still
smiling
Il have; the worst yet; impenetrable
as the countenance Of the sphinx. But
first give me your coat and hat"