Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-12-20

animation showed me that the carpe
had come loose along the sill. / steppet
to the speaking tube and blew down
ii.
Hello" called up a voice in a mo
ment.
rs that you. Higgins?"
Yes, sir"
This Is Mr.. Lester. Come up afteI
a while, will you? I've a little job vi
here l wan you TO do"
1"All right, sir; will half an hour
do?"
'Oh. yes; any time this evening"
l got out pipe, tobacco and matches
and sat down in my most comfortable
chair. / was no longer so discouraged
as l had been the evening before. Or
the whole, ! told myself. i had pro-
gressed-I a succeeded in forging the
chain more tightly about Tremaine
In strengthening 1t In many places.
could show certainly:
j. That he knew Thompson and lied
about ii.
2. That ne apparently hated him.
8. That he htd come to New York
on the same boat with him, and prob
ably on the same errand.
4. That Thompson had Joined him
as soon as released from Jail.
On paper, l had to admit. the chain
appeared a good deal weaker than l
had thought II. There were many gaps
Indeed, now that / looked at 1t, IL
seemed to consist largely OF gaps. OBJ
Jections to the theory of Tremaine's
guilt doomed larger and larger. One
OF the weightiest was Miss Croydon's
attitude toward him--that seemed un-
explainable. The man she described
as the was quite unlike Ire
maine In appearance. Was she, then,
shielding him? But why should she
do that? Above all, IL he were guilty
OF such a crime, would she have con-
scented to his admission to the Del
roy family? And again, IL she feared
him, why not denounce him to the po-
lice, or at least threaten to do so?
That would remove him from her
path once and forever.
h last question seemed so un-
answerable that / paused to look at
IL again. for IL was evident that one
really insuperable objection must In
validate the whole theory. BY the com
mission OF a crime, especially Of a
crime 80 serious as this me-, would
he not place himself as much In Miss
Croydon's power as she could possibly
be In his? II she were still in his
power. then, he had committed no
crime; and IL he had committed no
killed Thompson. But In that case, who
had? Where had that diamond come
from?
/ knocked out my pipe and filled
" again. l felt a good deal as though
l was wandering around and around
IN a maze; / was getting a little
dizzy.
II Tremaine had not killed Thomp-
son., / asked myself again, who had?
Miss Croydon. To uppos that
a delicately reared girl would smash
a man Owe the head with a piece OF
pipe was to descend to the ridiculous.
Yet IL he had attacked her, she might
have nerved herself to do II. But that
was absurd, too, since, admittedly. she
a pistol In her pocket and was
afraid to use II. Who else, then?
the dude? But he had already
proved an alibi; besides. a motive was
wanting.
Then l thought of Cecily. Could she
been the assassin? Certainly II
was not impossible; tina last saw
age act, that shooting of an uncon-
scious man. fitted In. somehow, with
estimate of her character. She
might ave done that. But why should
Miss Croydon seek to shield her? Was
1t Cecily who possessed the secret?
was there some connection betweeu
them? l remembered the other famous
case in which had been engaged
l look for the same solution
here? Wa 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 a subtle
resemblance. | closed my eyes and en-
deavored to recall the features OF Miss
Croydon's portrait; her face had much
IN common wi.A Cecily's. Both were
dark, both were "*
A knock at the door brought me out
nf INV fhntlUhtg nnannd ~ a-I T.,-I
the ~janitor standing there.
It's nothing very much, Higgins"
l said. but l thought you'd better
fix 1t before 1t got any worse. The
carpet a come loose here along the
door. Three or four tacks are all 1t
needs"
He stepped over the threshold and
looked at II.
"Alf right. sir" he said. 'rn fix It
in tn mornin'. Them fellers what put
tn carpet down didn't half do their
work. / tackled a loose place down
over there by tn wall jest afore you
moved in"
Where was it?" | asked as calmly
as I could.
Right here by this angle" he said,
indicating the place with his foot.
II think maybe I'd better go all around
tn wall t'morrer.'
Perhaps 1t would be best" I said:
thank you," and I 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. l
had found them-the clippings-it was
here they must be hidden; but for
those chance tacks driven by the jan
itor, Tremaine would have had pos
session OF them long ago, and per-
haps We should nev have penetrated
the mystery of Thompson's death.
Now. II would be laid bare before us
1.-The whole secret. What a little thing
IT was that had saved Us.
/ had the carpet LOOSE turned 1t
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 n laid them on my desk.
Then washed my hands and filed my
pipe. There was a certain exquisite
pleasure In holding myself back from
them. In tantalizing myself. In defer
ring Tor a moment or two h revelation
which was TO come.
But at last. / sat down and spread
them u on the desk before me. There
were twelve OF them. some only IA few
lines In Tenth. others OF half a column.
Of n there were -four copies. but Of
the others only one apiece. They were
tatfered and stained from long carry
Ing; some were IN Epgiisi1 and romp