The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-12-08
The Schemes of Colonel Clay
Continued from PAGE 1.


then, reflected Con Charles principle
of taking nothing for granted), we had
never before suspected Colonel Clay
himself except in the one case of the
Hon. David. whose red hair and Wnis-
kers even Madame Picardet had ad-
mitted to be absurdly false by her ac-
ton of pointing at them and tittering
irfepressibly. 1t was possible that in
every case, if We had scrutiniZed our
man closely. we should have found that
the disguise betrayed itself at once las
Medhurst had suggested to an acute
observer.
The detective, in fact had told us too
much. ! remembered what he said TO
us about knocking off David Grantons
E red wig the moment we doubted him:
4. and positively tried to help myself
awkwardly to potato chips, when the
footman offered them, so as to hit the
supposed wig with an apparently care
less brush of my elbow. But it was
of no avail. The fellow seemed to an
ticipate or suspect my intention, and
lodged aside carefully, like one well
accustomed to saving his disguise from
all chance OF such real or seeming ac-
cidents.
was so full of my discovery that
Immediately after lunch I induced Is
. abel to take our new friends round the
home garden and show them Charles
famous prize dahlias, while l proceed
ed myself to narrate TO Charles and
Amelia my observations and my frus-
trated experiment.
1T is a wig" Amelia assented "I
Z spotted ii at once. A very good wig
too, and most artistically planted. Men
don't notice these things, though wo-
men do. Tt is creditable to you, Sey-
mour, to have succeeded in detecting
it,
Charles was less complimentary.
You fool he answered, with that
unpleasant frankness which is much
too common with him. "Supposing it
is why on earth should you try to
knock it off and disclose him? What
good would it have done? If it is a
wig, and we spot it, that's all that we
need. We are put on our guard; we
Know with whom we have now TO deal
But you can't take a man up on a
charge of wig-wearing. The law does
not interfere with it. Most respecta-
bic men may sometimes wear wigs.
Why, / knew promoter who did, and
also the director of fourteen compa-
niesl What we have TO do next is,
wait till he tries to cheat us. and then
-pounce down upon him. Sooner or
later, you may be sure, his plans will
reveal themselves"
80 we cOncocteo an excellent scheme
10 keep them under constant observa-
ton. lest they should slip away again,
as they did from the island First of
all, Amelia was to ask them TO come
and stop at the castle, on the ground
That the rooms at the inn were uncom-
fortably small We felt sure, however
that, as on previous occasion, thev
would refuse the invitation, in order to
Se able to stink off unpercetved. i'm case
they should find themselves apparent
~ suspected Should they decline, it
was arranged that Cesarine should
take a room at the "Cromarty Arms
as long as they stopped there and re-
port upon their movements, while. dur
ing the day. we would have the house
watched by the head giIlie's son
most intelligent young man, who could
be trusted, with true Scotch canniness.
10 say nothing to anybody.
To our great surprise Mrs. Forbes
Gaskell accepted the invitation with
the utmost alacrity. She was profuse
IN her thanks, indeed, for she told us
Inc Arms was an i'll kept house, and
the cookery by no means agreed with
her husbands liver. 1t was sweet Of
US to invite them; such kindness TO ner-
rect strangers was quite unexpected
She should always say that nowhere
on earth had she met with so cordial
or friendly reception as at Seldom
castle. But-she accepted unreserved-
ly.
1T can't be Colonel Clay" I remarked
TO Charles. He would never have
come here. Even as David Granton.
with Tar more reason for coming. he
wouldn't put himself In our power. he
preferred the security and freedom of
the Cromarty Arms
Sey," my brother-in-law said. SEN
tenuously, you're incorrigible. You
viii persist in being the slave of pre-
possessions. He may have some good
reason Of his own for accepting. Wait
I'll he shows his hand-and then we
shall understand everything"
So for the next three weeks the
-Gaskells formed part Of the
house party at Seldom. I must saw
Charles paid them most assiduous at
tention. He positively neglected the
other guests in order to keep close to
the two newcomers. Mrs. Forbes-Gas-
kell noticed the fact and commented on
II.
You are really too good to us. Sir
Charles" she said. I'm afraid Won AL
low us quite TO monopolize your
But Charles, gallant as ever, replied
with smile:
I'VE have you with us for so short
tfilcs YOU Know. winch made Mrs.
Forbes Gaskell blush again that deli
cious blush of hers.
During all this time the professor
went on calmly and persistently miner
alogizing. Wonderful character!"
Charles said to me. He works out his
parts so WE'LL Could anything exceed
the picture he gives one of scientific
ardor?" And, indeed. he was at il.
morning, noon and night. Sooner or
later" Charles observed, Something
practical must come of it,
Twice, meanwhile, little episodes oc-
Cured which are well worth notice.
One day I was out with the professor
on the Long mountain, watching him
hammer at the rocks and a little bored
by his performance, when. to pass the
time. I asked him what a particular
small water worn stone was. He looked
at it and smiled. ''If there were a little
more mica in it," he said, ''it would
be the characteristic gneiss of ice borne
powders, hereabouts. But there isn't
quite enough" And he gazed at #.
curiously.
Indeed" I answered; 1T doesn't
come up TO sample, doesn't it?"
He gave me a meaning look.
Ten per cent" he murmured in a
slow, strange voice. 10 per cent is more