Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-12-26
A STORY OF
! the chance 81 ar. evening

sell.
Besides, Cccily vas a good dcal like
u highly favored iish-to be fully en-
iovca only at intervals. And. toe, there
vas only one point as yet ursettied-
where she and Tr. maine had been Tho
night of the murder. That. l felt, could
pc cleared Up without much diifculty
the first time she received me. which
would probably bc not later than to-
morrow. I a u prelnonition that
mat line of inquiry. too. would lead
1owhere-that Cccily would prove. by
a word. that neither she nor Trcmaine
had been anywhere near the Marathon
ut :hc hour OF the crime. In any event
had plenty of time. T. I could spend
This evening very profitably in weigh
lNs and classifying MY discoveries;
IN getting a fresh start.
AS L opened my door I noticed that
it scrapcd on the carpet. and an ex-
animation showed me that the carpet
mad come loose along the sill. / stepped
"Iicl!o." called up a voice in Il mo-
incnt.
is that you. Higgins"
Yes, sir"
This is Mr.. Lester. Come up after
4 while. viii you? I've Il little job up
Eere | want you to do"
ao?"
oh. yes; any time this evening""
l. got out pipe. tobacco and matches
and sat down In my most comfortab BILE
chair. l WAS no longer so discouraged
rs | had been the evening before. On
the whole. l .old myself. l had pro-
gressed-I had succeeded IN forging he
IhIin nlnl.A iivhtlS- n1,npt rN,A,,t-,
in strengthening il In many places. 1
aculG show certainty.
/. That he knew Thompson and lied
about it.
z. That he apparently hated him.
D. Ihat he htd come to New York
On the same BOAT with him. and prob
ably en- the same GRAND.
4. That Thompson had Joined him
us soon as released from Jail.
On paper, l had to admit. the chain
appeared Il good deal weaker than |
bad thought it. There were many gaps
indeed. now h a l looked ut it. it
seemed to consist largely of gaps. OBJ
Jecilons to the theory OF Tremaine's
guilt loon,cd larger and larger. One
of the weiShtiest was Miss Croydon's
attitude toward him-that seemed UNI
eN~plainable. The nan she described
as the murderer was quite unlike Ire
maine in appearance. Was she. then,
shielding him? Blu why should she
do that" Above all. if he were guilty
of sue a crime. would She have con.
scented to his admission to the Del
roy family? And again, If she feared
MN, why not denounce him to the po-
lice, or at least threaten to do So?
That would remove him :rom her
path once and forever.
This last question seemed so I'M
:tnswerable that l paused to look at
~ gam. for 1t was evident that one
really insuperable objection must in
Vtlldate the whole theory. BY the COM
mission OF a crime. especially of a
CRIME so serious as this one. would
ne not place himself as much in Miss
Croydon's power as she could possibly
be in his? If she were still in his
owe then. he had committed no
crime; and il he had committed no
crime. why. of course. he had not
killed Thompson. But in that case. who
from
1 knocked out my pipe and filled
It again. ] felt Il good deal as though
I WIS wandering AROUND and around
N a maze; l was getting "a little
dizzy. ~
If Trcmaine had not killed Thomp-
on 4 asked myself again. who had?
= delicately reared girl would smash
Il nan over the head with a piece of
pipe was to descend to the ridiculous.
get II he had attacked her. she might
have nerved herself to do it. But that
Mias absurd. too. since. admittedly, she
not afraid to use it. Who else, then?
Jimmy The dude? But he had alreadv
proved an alibi; besides, Il motive was |
wanting.
Then I thought of Cecily. Could she
nave been the assassin? Certainly it
was mo- impossible: that last saw |
age ACT. that shooting OF an nncon.
scious man. fitted in. somehow. with !
my estimate of her character. She
might have done that. But why should
MISS croydon seek to shield her? Was
IT Cecily who possessed the secret !?
was there some connection betw zen
mem! remembered the other famous
case IN which l had been engaged
must look for the same solution
mere? Was there a blood relationships
between Cecfly Miss Croydon?
Clearly. such n thing was possible:
even fnncied that one, knowing them
ooth. might be nble to detect a subtle
lesemDlance. 1 closed my eyes and en-
Ieavorcd TO recall the features Of Miss !
Croydon's portrait; her face had much
IN common with Cccily's, Both we're
dark. both were sss
A knock at the door brought me out
OF my thoughts. I opened 1t and found
the tanitor standing there.
ITS nothing very much, Higgins"
! said. b u I thought you'd better
fix It before It got any worse. The
has come loose here along the
door. Three or four tacks are all it
He stepped over the threshold and
looked at 1t.
An right. sir" he said. "ru nx II
IN tn mornin'. Them fellers what mt
carpet down didn't half do their
work. I tackled = loose 2isce down
over shere by tn wall Jest afore you
Where was IT." I asked ~ calmly
Right here By this angle" he said.
.1cicatsn the place with his foot.