Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-03-14

Don WAS admirable one OF the pess
! things ! .ver SAM.
! bowed my acknowledgements.
You were there. them" l asked.
"Oh. yes. [ couldn't afford TO miss it,
The color blind theory was d simple
or"
so simple that it never occurred to
anyone else. ! think we're too apt TO
overlook the simple explanations which
are. after all. nearly always the true
ones. It's onlJ in books that we meet
The reverse. You remember it's
Gaboriau who advises one always TO
distTusi The probable?'
YES. | don't agree with him.
Nor /. Now take This case. for In
stance. ! thinN it's safe to state that
maider. where it's not the result of
sudden passion. is always committed
tor ore of We objccts-revenge or gain.
I,ut Mir. Iiolladay's past life has been
pretty thoroughly probed by the re-
portors, ard nothing has been found TO
Indicate that he had eyer made a dead
Is enemy. III least among the class OF
people who resort TO murder-so that
does away with revenge. ON the other
hand. no one will gain by his death
many VIII lose by tin fact. the whole
circle of his associates Will lose by it.
1t might seem at first glance, that his
daughter would gain. but | think she
! loses most OF all. She already had all
INC money Snt tOulu possibly Iceu,
and she's lost her father. whom. it's
quite certain. she loved dearly. SO
what reiHainS?"
only one thing" I said. deeply in
torested in this exposition. Sudden
passion"
He nodded ~exultantiy.
"That'S II. Now. who was the wom-
an" From the first | was certain 1t
could not be his daughter-the very
thought was preposterous. 1t seems
almost equally absurd, however, to
suppose that Holiday could be mixed
UP with any other woman He GER
tainly has not been for the last quar-
ter of II century-but before that
we'll it's not so certain. And there's
one striking point which seems to in
6icate his guilt"
"fes-you mean. of course, her re-
semblance to his daughter"
"Precisely. Such n resemblance must
even
striking-or it would not for a mo-
ment have deceived Rogers. We must
remember. however. thai Rogers office
was not brilliantly lighted. and that he
merely glanced at her. Still. whatever
MINOR differences there may have been,
she had the air. the general appearances.
the look of Miss Holiday. Mere facial
resemblance may happen in a hundred
ways. by chance. b the air. the look.
the ';,ltoSether is V different--it IN
dicates Il bloot. Relationship. My theory
is thai she is AN illeci;imatc child. per-
haps four OF five years older than
Miss l~'o!iadaN.
| paused TO consider. The theory was
reasonable. and ye, ii had its faults.
Nov. lets see where this leads US"
he continued. Let MS assume thai
Holladay has been providing for this
illegitimate daughter for wears. AZ
last far M alNn, t,, ;S ,l.,,l -,
hdr his support; or. perhaps. the
girl thinks her allowance Insufficient.
Az n rate after, let us ppos in
effettual appeals by letter. she does
the desperate thing of calling at his
Office to protest in person. She finds
him inexorable-we know his reputa-
ton for obstinacy when he had once
made up his mind. She reproaches him
she is already desperate, remember
and he answers with that singing sar-
casm for which he was noted. In an
eestacy OF anger. she snatches up the
knife and stabs him: then. in an agony
OF re1norse, e%ndeavors to check the
blood. In sees at last that 1T is USE
less. that she cannot save him, and
leaves the office. All this is plausible,
isn't it,"
Very plausible" I assented. looking
at him in some establishment. You
forget one thing. however. Rogers tes-
titled that he was intimately ac-
quainted with the affairs Of his em-
ployer. and that he would inevitably
have known of any intrigue such as
you suggest"
My companion paused for q mo.
ment's thought.
II don't believe Rogers would so i'm
evitably have known OF it, he said,
at last. But admit that-then there
is another theory. Holiday has not
heen supporting his iilesitimate child,
who learns of her %parentase. and goes
To him TO demand her rights. This fits
the case. doesn't ft?"
Yes l admitted. 1T also is plaus-
| ible."
1T is more than plausible" he said
quietly. "Whatever the details may be,
the body Of the theory itself is unim.
peachable-lts the only n which fits
the facts. ] believe II capable of proof.
Don't you see now the note helps prove
! it,"
THE note?"
I started at the word. ane my sus-
picions sprang into life again. looked
at him quickly, but his eyes were on
the cloth. n he was rolling up in
Vulnerable little pellets of bread.
That note" he added. proved two
things. One was that the writer was
deeply interested In Miss Holidays
welfare: the other was that he or she
knew Rogers. the clerk. intimately
more than intirnately-almost as well
as a physician knows an old patient"
II admit the first" 1 said. You'll
have TO explain the second
THE econd il ~self-evident. How did
the writer of the note know of Rogers
infrmity?"
His infirmity?" e.
"Certainly-his color blindness. / con.
TESS. I'm puzzled. How could anyone
else know 1t when Rogers himself
didn't know it.: That's what l should
like to have explained. Perhaps there's
only n man or woman in the world
who could know-well. that's the one
who wrote the note. Now. who is it?,
But. began quickly. then stopped: