Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-12-21


could show certainly:
! !. That he knew Thompson and lied
about IT.
>. That he apparently hated him.
3. That he had come TO New York
on the same boa. 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 |
F. had thought il. There were many gaps
indeed, now that | looked at it, it
seemed 10 consist largely OF gaps OBJ
] iectious TO the theory of Tremaines
/ guilt lOomed larger and larger. one
! of the weightieso was Miss Croydons
! attitude toward him-that seemed un-
! eNplalnablc. The man she described
( as the murderer was quite unlike Ire
/ maine in appearance, Was she, then.
shielding him? But why should she
/ do that? Above all, If he We're guilty
/ OF such q crime, would she have con-
! sented 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
! !! ath once and forever.
J This last question seemed so un-
| answerablc that l paused 10 look at
( II again. for 1t was evident that one
/ really insupeTable objection must in
/ validate the whole theory BY the com
/ mission OF crime, especially Of a
crime so serious a this one would
/ he not place himself as much I'm Miss
/ Croydon's power as she could possibly
{ he i'm his2 If she We're still i'm his
/ power, then, he had committed no
( crime, and II ne had committed no
crime, Why Of course, he had not
killed Thompson. But in that case, who
/ had Where had that diamond come
/ from?
l knocked out my pipe and filled
/ Il again. ! felt "a good deal as though
| was wandering around and around
H. maze, l was getting a little
dizzy.
If Tromane had not killed Thomp-
son, ! asked myself again, who had?
( Not Miss Croydon. To suppose that
a delicately reared girl would smash
a man over the head with a piece OF
pipe was TO descend to the ridiculous
Yet If he had attacked her, she might
I have nerVed herself to do it, But that
was absurd, too, since, admittedly she
had pistol in her pocket and was
not afraid 10 use it, Who else. then?
Jimmy the dude But he had already
proved an alibi; besides a motive was
wanting.
| Then I thoughC OF Cecily Could she
/ have been the assassin? Certainly II
was not impossible: that last saw
.
scious man. fitted in, somehow. with
my estimate OF her character She
might have done that. But why should
I Miss Croydon seek TO shield her? Was
/ II Cecily who possessed the secret
Was there some connection between
I them? | remembered the other famous
I case in which | had been engaged
must | look for the same solution
I here? Was there a blood relationship
/ between Cectly 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
4 IN common witS CeCily's. Both were
dark, both were
/ A knock at the door brought me out
/ OF my thoughts. ! opened ii and found
the janitor standing there.
IT'S nothing very much. Higgins"
! l said, but | thought you'd better
! fix il before il got any worse. The
I carpet has cCmc loose here along the
. door. Three or four tacks are all il
1 needs"
He stepped over the threshold ana
I looked at IT,
"All right, sir" he said. I'm fix it
. in tn mornin'. Them fellers what nut
/ 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," I asked as calmly
Right here by this angle" he said.
! indicating the place with his foot.
! i think maybe I'd better go all around
| tn wall tmorrer"
Perhaps it would be best" / said;
thank you and l closed the door
upon him.
! Tho raNt inet,,,+ T ,,-a.r ll,,,.,. 49,. -.
4 hands and knees tearing away the car
pet my blood 1inging in my ears. |
| mad round 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
/ maps we should never have penetrated
the mystery of Thonpsons death.
] Now 1t would be laid bare before us
the whole secret. What a little thing
/ IT was that had saved us.
/ had the carpet loose-I turned it
back, and there they lay, that little
/ ron or clippings, just as they had been
taken from Thompsons pocketbook.
! They We're to tell us the whole story
| We could not again be led astray.
was quite calm again. | picked them
/ up carefully and 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 i'm defer
| ring for a moment or two the revelation
| which was TO come
But at last l sat down and spread
them out on the desk before me. There
We're twelve of them, some only a few
| lines in lenth, others of half column.
or one there were four copies but OF
! the others only one apiece. They were
tattered and stained from long carry
ing; some were in English and some
were in French, and they We're dated
from places as far apart as Dieppe,
New York and Sydney.
/ piled them carefully beside me and
started hopefully on the task of de-
cipering them--of piecing together the
story they had to tell me. But the far
ther | proceeded, the more my spirits
fell for they told no story, they seemed
| to have no relation TO each other-no
common thread. Apparently they had
been gathered aimlessly al haphazard
to satisfy the whim of the moment.
one chronicled wreck at sea: another
bank robbery; a third an escape from
prison; fourth was merely a marriage
notice; fifth told of a row in a sailors
dive. and so on down the list. They
were about different people-friends of
Thompson's. perhaps; none OF them
had any connection with Tremane; !;
they told no story, furnished no clew,
shed not "A ray of light on the mys-
leiy-they were absolutely worthless.
laid them down in despair. Yet If
they were worthless, why had Miss
Croydon taken them? Why had Ire
maine sought for them? Were they
mistaken, too? Had they imagined the
clippings told a secret which in fact
they did not tell? But perhaps they
did tell it--perhaps 1 had overlooked
It. They must have some connection
with the tragedy? Why should l not
perceive it?
| ran through them feverishly again.
but with no better result At last l
! laid them down and took up my pipe
] mast submit them to a keener brain
than mine. II Godfrey We're only
! here.
! ! heard a step come down the hall
stop at my door. Someone knocked.
l hastily stuffed the clippings into my
| pocket and opened the door. But n
| ...as .E.cL,...iI, !.