Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1907-03-15

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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" I repeated. Get it out
of me?'
He stared at me In establishment.
do you mean to tell me, Mr.. Les
ter" he questioned, that haven't
been spending the evening with Jim
Godfrey, of the Record?"
Their in a fash, l understood, and as
| looked at h rueful faces Of the men
gathered about me, l laughed until the
tears came.
so it was YOU" l gasped, who
chased us up Broadway"
He nodded.
Yes; but our horses weren't good
enough. Where did he take your"
ITO the Studio-Sixth avenue"
O course!" he cried slapping his
leg. I'VE might have known. Boys,
we'd better go back to Podunk."
Well, at least, Mr.. Lester" spoke up
another, you oughtn't TO give Godfrey
a scoop"
But I didn't give him a scoop. l
didn't even know who he was
Didn't you tell him what was in the
Not a word of 1T told him only
one thing"
And what was that?"
That the person who wrote the note
didn't know hat Rogers was color
blind. You are welcome to that state
too. You see. I'm treating you ali
They stood about me staring down al
me, silent with establishment.
But" I added. Il think Godfrey
suspects what was In the note"
"Why?"
We'll, his theory fits 1t pretty close
ly."
His theoryl 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, l
fancied, CRASHED their teeth.
II seems a pretty clever fellow" /
added, just to pile up, the agony. Il
fancy you'll say so, too, when you see
his theory in tomorrow'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
You're sure you didn't tell him ny
thing else, Mr.. LESTER" he added
a~nxiously. "Godfrey's capable Of get
ting a story out of a fence post"
mo, I'm quite sure l didn't tell him
anything else. / 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's it." cried Rankin. That's
what he wanted. Now, it isn't his
theory any more. It's yours. Oh, /
see his headlines! Won't you tell
what 1t Was?"
/ looked up at him.
Now, frankly. Mr.. Rankin" l asked,
'if you were in my place, would you
He hesitated for a moment, and then
held out his hand.
NO" he said, as I took it. II
shouldn't. Shake hands, sir; you're all
right. Come on, boys, we might as well
going"
They filed out after him and l heard
them go singing up the street. Then
sank back into my chair and thought
again of Godfrey's theory; it seemed
to fit the case precisely, point by point
/ started at the thought
TO Miss Holidays r%eticeRce as
to her whereabouts the afternoon
The whole mystery lay plain
before me. In some way she had 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
TO come-though, in that case, why
she not remained at home to re-
ceive her? At any rate Miss Holiday
had awaited her return, had noticed
agitation; had, perhaps, even seen
marks of blood upon her. The
of her fathers death had pointed
all too clearly to what that agitation
and those biood-spots meant. She had
remained silent that she might not be-
snnirch her fathers name, and also, per-
that she might protect the other
woman. l felt that 1 held in my hand
the key to the whole problem.
Point by point-but what q snarl it
was, That there would be a vigorous
search for the other woman l could
doubt, but she had a long start and
should easily escape. Yet. perhaps she
had not started-she must have re-
in town, else how could hat
note have been sent to us? She had
remained, then-but why? That she
should feel any affection for Frances
Holiday seemed absurd, and yet how
else explain the note?
| felt that / was getting tangled up
in the snarl a~gain-there seemed no
limit TO its i~ntricacies; so, in very de-
SPAR, 4 put the IldllSF uOWn from me
completely as l could and went to
bed.
The mornings Record attested the
truth of Rankin's prophecy. / had
grown famous in a night; for Godfrey
had, in a measure, made me responsible
for his theory. describing me with a
wealth of adjectives which / blush to
remember, and which / have, even yet,
quite forgiven him. / smiled as i
the first lines:
"A Record representative had the
pleasure, yesterday evening, of dining
with MI. Warwick Lester, the brilliant
young attorney who achieved such a
remarkable victory before Coroner
Goldberg yesterday afternoon, in the
hearing Of the Holiday case, and. of
course, took occasion to discuss with
him the latest developments OF this ex-
traordinary crime. Mr.. Lester agreed
with the Record in a theory which is
only one that fits the facts Of the
case, and completely and satisfactorily
explains all its r~amiflcations."
The theory was then developed at
great length and the article concluded
with the statement that h Record
was assisting the police in a strenuous
endeavor to n the guilty woman
Now that the police knew in which
to spread their net. / had little
doubt that she would soon be found,
since she had tempted providence by
In w
Mr.. Graham and Mr.. Royce were
looking through the Record article.
| reached the office. and explained