Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-18

, to the paper which he held, and back again. He
heStated for second what trial? Who is
4 us woman| he said slowly. "Zis woman here
' he tapped the paper with his inger-"zs won.
d an either committed one of ze most cold-blooded
murders Of re last fifty years, or--or she was
5 one OF re greatest martyrs who ever lived. But
sne committed 1t, of course; zere is no doubt
OF 1t But is IL possible you do not know who she
is; zat You ave never card Of re Bolton case"
The Belton easel! Mrs Beltoni Good heav.
ems, yes, of course; the woman who poisoned her
husband | remember perfectly. She was fend.
But Mrs. Cathcart! Oh IL is impossible, Joseph
1t is absurdl"
Joseph shook his head, regarding me with an
anxious look which seemed to have something Of
Ipity and fear in t. "No it is not impossible !" he
said; II must tell you something zat would not
ave told you otherways, cough it is betraying no
confidence for I ave only made it out in my own
way. Eat woman, Mrs Cathcart, 'as been in
prison. I am of it. / cannot tell you 'ow
l know, but know IT,"
His solemn manner impressed me more than
cared to show, but still fought off the thoughts
he had raised. Even SO" ! said at last. ''What
has she to do with Mrs. Bolton? Why Mrs.
Belton was sentenced for life. II says so here"
Joseph's eyes still looked anxiously into mine
from behind his glasses, and his glance never
wavered. "a life sentence means twenty years in
England, sometimes fifteen, wiz good conduct" he
said.
But still l insisted "And you pretend that after
fifteen years, fifteen such years those must
have been, you can recognize woman from
portrait in paper" cried
! Joseph took up the paper and held in out to
me- 1T is from a photograph, and looks good
Cathcart re kind of woman you see every day?
Was Mrs. Belton? Look again at zis picture and
tell me zat you doubt And remember it was
not / who recognized her first; it was you your
SELF
| L felt the room going round with me- "But,
good God, do you know what you saying"
cried; "do you know what it means if it's true?
Do you want to make me think that this woman
this coldblooded murderess and convict, is living
in the same house Miss Grey seeing her almost
Ihourly-God, perhaps even nursing her-and /, 1
am standing here doing nothing? But must go;
Elsie must know; she must be warned. No, not
Elsie; she is ILL., she need not perhaps be told.
must see Dunn"
| And without waiting even to say goodbye to Jo-
seph, | caught up my hat and set out
| With my thoughts in whirl made my way
rapidly along the road from Wimbledon. l had
no definite plan in my mind when left Joseph's
home, nor as neared The Elms had decided any
more clearly to the course | was to take, but
had firm conviction that it was imperative
should act at once upon the discovery l had
made I must inform Mr.. Dunn who was the
woman he had taken into his house. M
! was destined to meet with check, however,
at the very outset. A strange servant opened the
door to me at The Elms, and informed me that
| Mr.. Dunn not at home.
! I knew that Elsies guardian had forbidden nv
entry into his house, and guessing the airl had
had her orders given her, 1 slipped half SOW
ereign into her hand
"And Miss Grey?" / asked "How is she to-
day."
| The girls face frightened at last "Oh she is
little better today, cir, ! think. I heard Mr.
Jennings say 80 before he left"
4
| tip BY answering me favorably in one particular
at least and / almost commenced to believe that
I had been wrong to doubt her Still, it was
impossible to say, for | know Mr.. Dunn is
man who is accustomed to be well served; and
determined to keep close watch on the house
| for the rest Of the day. If he was in The Elms
/ might catch sight of him before the evening;
| if he had gone to town, he would return by the
last train or perhaps sooner, and l could meet
him and force him to listen to what had to
say.
Having made this determination I crossed over
to my house. and taking up position at my study
window, set myself to watch.
The hours passed, however, and no sign came
! from The Elms.
The night closed down on us, till I awoke at
last from dream of sunshine and Elsie to find
that it was pitch dark and nearly midnight The
| last train was in nearly an hour ago, and Mr..
Dunn had not arrived.
There could be no question about it; the girl
who had opened the door to me at The Elms
must have been lying, and Mr.. Dunn must have
been there all along
Il felt that | could not wait till the morrow
that at any cost / must see Mr.. Dunn that night,
and / quickly made my resolve. His study was
at the opposite side of the house, so could not
look To see if there was a light burning; but I
knew that he was accustomed to sit there work.
ing or reading until long after midnight on ordi-
nary occasions, and / determined to make my
way across, and, tapping at his window, take him
by surprise.
When / reached it, discovered that was
destined to meet with another disappointment.
The window of Mr. Dunn's study was in darkness,
and there was no sign of light here either.
Hesitatng for a second, l was about to turn
and go back disconsolate, when saw the rehec.
ton Of a light pass slowly across some shrubs
which faced the end Of the building. Unreason.
ably startled, / yet marked the window from
which ] fancied rays had come, and made my
way towards the spot
| As ! drew near the reflection appeared again
but further on, still crossing the shrubs, slowly,
almost stealthily il seemed and saw that it came
from the windows Of corridor which ran for
some distance along that side of the house, sepa.
rating Elsie's apartments from the rest of the
building
Who was it who used that corridor at this
hour Of the night? determined to discover; and
keeping ON the grass TO deaden the sound of NV
footsteps, hastened along to see.
Y AS reached the third and last window. drew
near to the glass and peered in. Yet, at the first
glance, started and drew back for opposite TO
me. not three yards away, and looking directly
I at me las il seemed 10 my startled senses) stood
Mrs, Cathcart.
She carried in her hand lamp, which she had