Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1906-11-10

would remove him from her path once
and forever.
This last question seemed so unan-
swerabie that l paused 70 look az Il
again. for IL was evident that one
really insuperable objection must In
validate the whole theory. BY the
commission Of a crime. especially OF
. crime so serious as this one. would
be not place himself as much In Miss
CroydOn's power as she could possibly
be Ia hisf II she were still In his
power then he had committed no
crime. and II be had committed no
crime. why. OF course he had not killed
Thompson. But iu that case who hadf
Where had that diamond come fromf
I Knocked out my pipe and filled Il
again 7 felt a good deal as though I
was wandering around and around in
maze was getting a little dizzy.
II Tremaine had not killed Thomp-
son. ! asked myself again. who had?
Not Miss Croydonl To suppose that a
deiicately reared girl would smash
man over the head with q piece Of pipe
was 20 descend TO the ridiculous. Yet
II be had attacked her she might have
nerved herself 10 do IL. But that was
absurd. TOO. since admittedly she had
pistol In her pocket and was not
afraid TO use 10. Who else then?
Jimmy the Dudeg But he had already
proved an ahbi; besides. a motive was
wanting
Then I thought Of Cecily Could she
have been the assassin Certainly Il
was rot impossible That last savage
act. that shooting OF an unconscious
man. fitted in somehow with my esti-
mate Of her character She might have
done that But why should Miss Crov-
don seek % shield her? Was IL Cecily
who possessed the secret2 Was there
some connection between them2 I re-
mcmbered the other famous case in
which had been engaged must / look
FOR the same solution here? Was there
a blood relationship between Cecily
and Miss Croydonf Clearly such
thing was possible I even fancied that
one. knowing them both. might be able
TO detect subtle resemblance. closed
my eyes and underworld TO recall the
features OF Miss Croydon's portrait:
her face bad much IN common with
Cecily's Both were dark. both were
A knock at tire door brought me out
or my thoughts. 7 opened it and found
the janitor standing there
Its nothing very much. Higgins" I
said. "but I thought you'd better fix 10
before 1t got amy worse. The carpet
has come loose here along the door.
Three or four tacks are all st needs"
He stepped over the threshold and
looked ct &c.
IAN right. sir" he said "Tu fix it in
tn mornu' Them fellers what put tn
carpet down didn't half do their work
/ tackled loose place down over there
by IN wall jest afore you moved In"
Where was itT 1 asked as calmly
as I could.
fright here 10y this angle" ne said.
indicating The place with his foot. Il
think maybe Ia better go all around
Ga walls tmorrer"
Perhaps it would be best" I said
Thank YOU" And I closed the door
upon him.
The next instant Twas down on my
hands and knees tearing away the car
pet my blood singing in my ears
had found thcm-the cllppings-lt was
here they must DE hidden But for
those chance tacks driven by the jan
Itor Trcmaine would have had posses.
sion OF them long ago. and perhaps we
should newer have penetrated the mys-
terry of Ihompson's death Now 10
would Dec laid bare before us - the
whole secret. What O Ttde thing 10
was that had sawed MS,
I had the carpet LOOSE turned 1t
back. ana there they lay. that little roll
~ clippings just as they had been
taken from Thompson's pocketbool.
They were t0 tell us the whole story
we could not again Doe Ted astray
was quite calm again. 7 picked them
up carefully aud iaid them on ny desk.
Then J washed my hands and filled my
pipe. There was % certain exquisite
pleasure ia lo.-.aS myself back from
them. il tau'alzu- lyseif. In defer
ring for "a moment or two the rcvela-
lion which was TO come
But at last SAT- down and spread
them out ou the de.,s before me. There
were twelve OF them. some only Few
lines in length. others Of half a column.
or one there were four copies. but OF
the others ouiy ono apiece. They were
tattered and stained from long carry
Ing; some were Ca English and some
were i'm French aul they were dated
from places as far apart as Dieppe.
New York. sydney.
piled thrm carefully beside me ana
started hopefully on the task OF de
cipheriug thcm-of pi@cing together the
story they bad to- tell me. But tho
farther / proceeded the more MY
spirits FELL Tor they told no story. they
seemed 20 have 40 relation 20 each
other-no common thread Applreutly.
they had been gathered aimlcssly an
haphaZard 10 satisfy the within OF the
moment one chrouiclcd a wreck at
sea; another a bank robbery; third
an escape from prison; a fourth was
merely marriage notice: NTH told
OF row in sailors dive. aud SO on
down fhn Ief rTNav ,r-a,.o d. ,,,f AM.