Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-01-03

thV lblNldi vi LIS lttil IlUIilp, observed
Godfrey. 81 thought It was: 1t had
been there long time, and an eff
fort had been made to erase It. After
man has started on the crooked path
be doesn't want any tattoo marks on
him; they make Identification too easy.
For Johnson, then, Wen hereafter read
Thompson"
/ nodded; I was beginning TO be con-
WINGED
We'll" continued Godfrey. "Tre-
maine and Thompson. then, were ar
rested In New York July 90, 1885, Mt
a low resort where they were having
n carouse. They had beaten and rob
bed another sailor. 1t seems that moth
tng was left OF the 10000 francs. and
naturally Trcmaine found it difficult t.
so honestly to work again. The fourth
clipping, undated, but probably some
months later, shows that Tremainc and
Thompson were sentenced to three
years each In Sing Sing. But they
didn't stay there SO long" he added
turning TO the next clipping, "at least
Tremaine didn't On the night Of Jan
2, 1856, in the midst of a tremendous
snowstorm they managed to hide
themselves In one of the work shops
and afterward to scale the outer wall
In the morning Thompson was found
at the foot of tho wall with his head
cut open and nearly frozen. Tremaine
got clear away. Thompson was
brought around with the greatest diff.
Guilty and would say nothing except to
indulge in terrible irnprecations against
his companion. You see," concluded
Godfrey, looking up, I'VE begin to get
at the motive"
Yes" l agreed; cts very plain,
now you've started on the right track
It's good deal like Columbus egg"
Godfrey smiled and turned to the
sixth clipping, the longest of them all.
ITS that way with most mysteries, y
he said, land here's the internal evil
dence that all this theorlzing is pretty
straight. It's the clew, too, which
we've been seeking so long"
1T explains Miss Croydon's presence
here?" l asked intensely interested
and deeply stirred
Just that he said, and shot me n
triumphant glance Let us see If you
can catch it. The clipping is in French,
and, though my French isn't of the
highest order, can get the sense of it
pretty well. 1t is dated Suresnes and
is evidently a letter from a provincial
correspondent to Paris newspaper,
who like most other provincial CORE
spondents, is delightfully."- vague. How
ever, | gather from it that on the night
OF Sept. 10. 1891. beautiful young
English girl-name not given-ran
away from the convent school of the
Sacred Heart 1t Sure3ncs and that the
next morning she was safely married
to gallant acknowledgements OF
course-by the cure Of the little village
quite regular-though no doubt the
cures fee was larger than usual-for
the banns had been published as re-
CURED"
But still" objected, II don't see
that that explains anything"
A-Nt hSiP Nou. II was tlllS Nill'-
ping / happened to lool, at first the
night we found the body. read two
or three lines aloud, then Simmonds
put 1t back in the pocket. 1t must
have been those few lines which told
Miss Croydon the nature Of the clip
pings and their Importance to her The
date line would have been enough to
do that. Besides, If she'd already
known Of them she'd have taken them
before we got here"
You mean Miss Croydon is the girl
who ran away with Tremaine? But,
then, she couldn't have been more
than ten or twelve years old in 1901"
Eleven" corrected Godfrey, and [
was struck by the radiant expression
of his face as he took yellow paper
from his pocket. Let me read you
two sentences from this old report con,
corning the Croydon family. You
ought to have recalled them, my dear
Lester"
go ahead" said helplessly.
Eldest daughter, Edith, born IN
France, Aug. 2G, 1874 Educated at
school there, but broke down from
overstudy and returned to Beckenham.
Religion, Catholic Now" he demand
cd, do you understand who it was
married Tremaine at Petits Colombes
in 1912"
At last l saw it, and l could only sit
and stare at him, marvelng at my
own stupidity. This was the key--the
key to the whole enigma. Miss Croy-
don had taken her sisters place, had
tried to buy him off to get him out of
her sisters way. 1t was Tremalne
who had opened the door; it was Ire
maine whom she had come to the
Marathon to meet But--and ! started
uprght-since they were Catholics,
only his death could release Mrs. Del
roy! Perhaps 1t was Thompson, after
all, and his death had released her!
But, no, and in an instant the whole
terrible position of the elder woman
burst upon me. She was not Delroy's
wife; she was
$50" l said hoarsely, "Tremaine is,
then, the true husband of Mrs. Del
roy!'
LET us finish the story of the clip
pings before going into that" suggest
ed Godfrey. II confess l don't quite
zee the bearing Of this next one. It's a
New York dispatch perhaps to Lon
don paper, under date Of Feb Is, 1892,
II.