The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-25
Narratives by Officers of the Provin-
cial Police, as to Dealings with the
Eminent Expert, Mr.. Radford Shone.
Edited by HEADoN HILL.

l am concerned as deeply as she is.
What are you going to do with us,
Il was about to lay the matter be-
fore her grace; if you will be so good
as TO accompany us, we snail be the
nearer TO clearing it up"
The toady Martin began to mutter
TO his chief: What's the mumskuu
shiliy-shallying for-why's he so civil
to EN-" But Sbone was silent.
think his superior intelligence grasped
! mat had carried the case into regions
beyond his ken.
Miss Pereival turned and Joined US.
ana, when We had all passed into the
mansion, bade her puzzled charges
run away 10 the nursery. At my re-
quest one Of the footmen lowering i'm
! the entrance hall went to inform the
! duchess of my wish TO see her, and she
! did not keep us waiting long In less
than a minute we heard the swish of
/ her dress, and then she appeared on
| the hrst landing Of the grand stair
case. She paused and uttered a little
cry as she saw Sterling and Miss Per-
cival at my side; then she ran down,
/ two steps at a time, and flung Open
the dining room door.
In here, please-all of YOU" she
| said in a strained voice.
! We followed her in and faced her,
as she stood with one hand resting on
the white draped table and the other
plucking more nervOusly than ever at
the buttons of her pretty silk blouse
What does this mean, Mr.. Foster?"
she demanded. Surely you have not
arrested those two after what l said
to you this morning."
| They are not under arrest at pres
/ ent, your grace" 1 replied. But l
have verified an important detail of
the case as formulated by Mr.. Radford
| Shone, and unless there is any ex-
PLANTATION il will be my painful duty
to bring them before the magistrates
Here are your grace's rubies. 1 found
them in a paper parcel at the bottom
of the we'll"
With which 1 produced the gems
from my pockets, spreading them in ali
their blinking splendOr on the damask
| tableclOth, and placing at their side
/ the paper and string with which they
/ had been packed. Radford Shone and
| Martin emitted gratifed chuckles.
The parcel theory, your grace will
| perceive, is justified" Shone purred
unctiOusly. 1T was because of the in
/ formation that 1 extracted from the
| unfortunate Lupin that these persons
are detained on suspicion. Mr. Foster?"
| Without that there would be abso-
| lutely nothing against either Of them,'
l replied in matter of fact tone.
| Shone beamed all round. He even
| looked at Sterling and the governess
as though claiming their applause.
Martin wrote in his note book at fu-
rious speed. The two young people on
/ either side of me exchanged glances in
which dawning apprehension could
be discerned. Then, suddenly peal
after peal Of half-hysterical laughter
rang through the room. 1t came from
/ the duchess, who was nearly exhaust
/ ed before she mastered herself and
said:
Mr.. Foster, you must take me into
custody if you take anybody. That is,
] for the robbery of my rubies-not for
/ the murder of the tutor"
| There has been no murder Lupin's
death was due TO accident. There is
| indisputable evidence that he was alive
/ when he descended the WELL" I inter-
| posed.
Thank God for that" her grace
proceeded. AS for the rubies, ! did
them up in the paper and threw them
down the well myself. You will never
guess Why-except that it was the act
of very foolish woman who wodld
never have confessed her folly but for
the danger 10 which it has brought
Madeleine Percival and Harold Ster-
ling. / suppose that, to satisfy you,
must tell you why l did this silly
thing?'
II your grace pleaSeS.
Il am tired of bridge-that's all"
she went on. turning her troubled face
from one to the other of us L am
martyr to the latest fashionable craze.
whatever II may be, and / thought il
would be good fun TO have Mr. Rad
ford ShOne down to the abbey and set
him nut TO crack. But I never
dreamed of his making such mischief
as this"
ss1Fa5a-,4 Uo,,r 10 - cboro to-,,,,
TO splutter, but the duchess checked
him with a gesture.
Il do not blame you, sir. for your
creduiity in accepting the dead mans
spiteful tale" she went on. Il blame
myself entirely-nay, 1 shall never for
give myself-for subjecting you to a
test too strong for your powers, and I
shall see that you DO not suffer finsn-
cially for an error that is more humil-
iating TO myself than to you"
A movement behind caused me to
look round. The expert and his chron-
icIer could stand no more. Muttering
together. and with their very backs
eloquent Of Indignation, the pair were
hurrying to the door. When it had
closed to them the duchess tearfully
begged forgiveness for the conse-
quences of her whim.
"Of course. I ought TO have con-
fessed directly Lupin Matched that
false evidence" she faltered. But I
trusted to my position to overawe
Shone into accepting my assurance Of
your innocence, deferring my explana-
ton till today to see what he would do
next. Then Lupins death and the call
ing in of the police upset all my call
culations and frightened me-"
The lovers fOrgave her very prettily,
losing, I have reason to believe. moth
ing in the end by the annoyance they
had suffered. Then everyone turned
to me for explanations. I told them
that from the first 1 had no faith in
the story that had misled Shone. and
that I has descended the well in the
hope of proving that Lupin had gone
down OF his own accord. In this | had
been fully justified, my scrutiny Of the
brickwork convincing me that. hav-
ing no one to lower him. he had used
his feet on the sides of the well, after
looping a moose under one Of his arms.
When he was forty feet down the rope
had hitched on the windlass, and the
moose, slipping to his neck. had
strangled him, the broken bricks show
ing the marks of his frantic efforts to