Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-03-21

tiidt III tu'St tWo hours Suc NdS iDStllt
from her carriage. she may have
changed her gown. gone to her fathers
office and then changed back again >
IN that case, would She not naturally
nave chosen a green gown. since she
never wore green
oh, nonsense" | cried. That's
p%uerile. Either she would disguise her
self eifcctually or not at all. l sup
pose if YOU were ;oipg To commit a
capital crime. you would merely put on
"A high hat. because YOU never wear
one. I'll tell you this much: I'm NOR
ally certain that Miss Holladay is quite
innocent, So. l belize. is the district
attorney"
But how about The note. Mr.. Les
ter? What did it %coniain"'
ON. ! can't tell YOU that, you know.
It's none of my business"
But YOU ought to treat us all alike
he protested.
Il do treat you all alike"
But didn't Godfrey get it out of
YOU"
"Godfrey?" 1 repeated. Get it u
of me-"
He stared at me in establishment.
ID you mean to tell me. Mr.. Les
ter" he questioned, that you haven't
been spending the evening with Jim
Godfrey. of the R%ecord?"
Then in a flash. l understood. and as
| looked at the rueful faces of the men
gathered about me. | laughed until the
tears anne.
so it was you" sasped. who
chased us up Broadway"
lie nodded.
Yes; but our horses weren't good
enough. Where did he take you
Ito the Studio-SiXth
OF course!" he cried %slapping his
leg. we might have known. Boys,
we'd better go back to Podunk."
We'll, at least. Mr.. Lester" spoke up
another, You oughtn't to give Godfrey
a scoop"
But l didn't give him a scoop. 1
didn't even know who he was
Didn't you tell him what was i'm the
note?"
Not a word of til told him only
n thing"
And what was that: ."
Tha the person who wrote the note
dldn't know that Rogers was color
blind. You are welcome to that state
ment. too. You see, I'm treating you all
alike"
They stood about me staring down at
me. silent with establishment.
But" l added. Il him Godfrey
suspects what was in the note"
"Why?"
Well, his theory fits it pretty close
Ills theory! What is his theory. Mr..
LESTER"
"Oh. come" 1 laughed. That's tell
ing. It's a good theory, too"
They looked at each other. and, 1
fancled. gnashed their teeth.
H seems a pretty clever fellow" 1
added. just to pile up the agony. Il
fancy you'll say so, too. when you see
his theory in tornorrow's paper"
"Clever!' cried Rankin. Why, he's
a very fiend Of cleverness when it
comes to a case of this kind. We're not
In the same class with him. He's a
fancy fellow-just the Record kind.
You're sure you didn't tell him any
anXtously. "Godfrey's capable of get
ting a story out of a fence post"
No. I'm quite sure l didn't tell him
anything else. l only listened To his
theory with great interest"
And assented to it"
Il said l thought it plausible"
An electric shock seemed to run
around the room.
That it," cried Rankin. That's
theory any more. It's yours. Oh. 1
can see his headlines! Won't you tell
us what 1t vas"
1 looked up ut him.
Now. frankly. Mr.. Rankin / asked.
If you were in my place. would you
tcll?"
He hcsitated for a moment. and then
held gu his hand.
No" he said, as l took If. .I
shouldn't. Shake hands. sir; you're all
right. Come on. boys. we might as we'll
be going"
They filed out after him and 1 heard
them go singing up the street. Then
l sank back into my chair and thought
again of Godfrey's theory: it seemed
| tn Hf tho - ,,.,,icot,, -,s-.
overland l started at the thought
to Miss Holladay's reticence as
to her whereabouts the afternoon
before. The whole mystery lay plain
before me-. In some way she nae dis
covered the existence of her half-sister.
had secured her address; she had gone
to visit her and had found her away
from home-it was probable, even. that
the half sister had written her, asking
her to com~e-though, in that case. why
had she not remained at home to re-
ceive her? At any rate Miss Holiday
had awaited her return. had noticed
her agitation: had. perhaps, ever seen
certain marks of blood upon her. The
news of her fathers death had pointed
all. too clearly to what that agitation
II those blood-spOts meant. She had
remained silent that she might NOT he.
smfrch her ather's anne. and also. per
maps. that she might protect the other
woman. l felt that l held in my hand
the key to the whole problem.
Point by point-but what a snarl it
was! That there would be a vigorous
search for the other woman I could
not doubt. but she had a long start and
should easily escape. Yet, perhaps she
had not started-she must have re-
manned In town. else how could that
note nave been sent to us? She had
remained. then-but why? That she
should feel anv affection for U,o.-~
Holiday seemed absurd, and vet how
else explain the note?
l felt that L was getting tangled up
IN h snarl a~gain-there seemed m
limit to its i~ntricacies: SO. In very de-
SPAR. l put the matter down from me