Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-09-29

WHY uOt ucuOuuCo Him lO tue pOuCc, or at least threaten to do sol That would remove him from her path once and forever.
 This last question seemed so unan- swerable that I paused to look at 1t again, for 1t was evident that one really insuperable objection must in- validate the whole theory. By the commission of crime, especially of a crime so serious as this one. would he not place himself as much In Miss Croydon's power as she could possibly be in his? If she were still in his power then he had committed no crime, and if he had committed no crime, why, of course he had not killed Thompson. But in that case who had? Where had that diamond come from?
 I knocked out my pipe and filled 1t again. I felt good deal as though I was wandering around and around in maze. was getting little dizzy.
 If Tremaine had not killed Thomp- son, I asked myself again, who had? Not Miss Croydon! To suppose that delicately reared girl would smash a man over the head with piece of pipe was to descend to the ridiculous. Yet If he had attacked her she might have nerved herself to do it. But that was absurd, too, since admittedly she had pistol in her pocket and was not afraid to use 1t. Who else, then? Jimmy the Dude2 But he had already proved an alibi; besides, motive was wanting. ....r
 Then I thought of Cecily. Could she have been the assassin? Certainly it was not 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 Croy- don seek to shield her? Was it Cecily who possessed the secret? Was there some connection between them? I re- membered 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 Croydon? Clearly such a 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 Ivyse nfh nrt haf1
 A knock at the door brought me out of my thoughts. opened it and found the janitor standing there. ' "It's nothing very much, Higgins" I said, "but I thought you'd better fix it before it got any worse. The carpet has come loose here along the door. Three or four tacks are all 1t needs"
 He stepped over the threshold and looked ct 1t.
 "All right, sir" he said. "rn fix it in tn mornin'. Them fcllers what put tn carpet down didn't half do their work. I tackled loose place down over there by tn wall jest afore you moved in."
 "Where was it?' I asked as calmly as could.
 Right here by this angle" he said, indicating the place with his foot q think maybe I'd better go all around tn walls t'morrer."
 Perhaps it would be best" I said. ''Thank you" And closed the door upon him.
 The next instant I 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 Jacks driven by the jan itor Tremaine would have had posses sion of them long ago, and perhaps we should never have penetrated the mys- tery of Thompson's death. Now it would be laid bare before us = the whole secret. What little thing it was that had saved us!
 had the carpet l0ose-I turned it back, and there they lay, that little roll of clippings, just as they had been taken from Thompson's pocketbook. They were to. tell us the whole story we could not again be led astray. I was quite calm again. I picked them up carefully and laid them on my desk. Then I washed my hands and filled my pipe. There was certain exquisite pleasure in holding myself back from them, in tantalizing myself. in defer ring for moment or two the revela- ton which was to come.
 But at last I 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 a 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 were 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 thern-of piecing together the story they had to tell me. But tho farther I proceeded the more my spirits fell. for they told no story. they seemed to have no relation to each o;her-no common thread. Apparently. they had been gathered aimlessly at haphazard to satisfy the whim of the moment. O-s, chronicied a wreck at sea; another a bank robbery: a third an escape from prison: a fourth was merely a marriage notice: a fifth told