The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1907-12-26
THE MARATHON MYSTERY
A STORY OF MANHATTAN.
Nv BURTON e. STEVENSON
Author Of The HcJadsy Case" -cadsts o., oaseenN" Etc
A o OF MANHATTAN.

l niue .HtICI16CkVCS III OUG VI NnG WIN
shor and afterwards to scale the out
er Wal. In the morning Thompson was
found at the foot OF the wall with his
! head cut open and nearly frozen. Tre-
! maine got clear away. Thompson was
brought around with the greatest diifi-
Guilty and would say nothing except to
indulge In terrible i~mprecations against
Godfrey. looking up. I'VE begin to set
"Yes," I agreed, 'lt's very plain,
now you've started on the right track.
It's a good deal like Columbus's egg"
Godfrey smiled and turned to the
sixth clipping the longest OF them all.
TITS that way with most mysteries.'
he said. 'and here's the internal evil
dence that all this theorizing is pretty
straight. It's the clew, too, which we've
been seeking so long"
1T explains Miss Croydon's presence
here2" ! asked, intensely interested and
deeply stirred. !
%Just tfat!ss he said, ara shot me a
triumphant glance. Let us see II you
and though my French isn't OF the
highest order, I can get the n OF IL
pretty well. 1t Is dated Suresnes, and
10 evidently a letter from a provincial
correspondent to a Paris newspaper,
who like most other provincial corres-
pondents, is delightfully."- vague. How
ever. gather from Il that on
a beautiful young English girl
name not given-ran away from
the convent school Of the Sacred
Heart at Suresnes and that the next
morning she was safely married to a
gallant Observation-Disclosures, OF
course-by the cure OF the little village
Of Petits Colonies. The marriage was
ntIffa aQtIIar-thntIo Vn 6Afnhf r. fho
cures fee was larger than usual-for
the banns had been published as re-
quired. Thus concludes the eloquent
correspondent, does the grand passion
once more prevail w the ~hypocrises
OF the cloister.' Evidently the cores
pendent Is a rabid anti -clerical."
but, STILL I objected, Il don't see
that that explains anything"
Let me help you. 1t was this clip
ping I happened to look at first the
night we found the body. I read two
or three lines aloud, then Simmonds
gut II back in the pocket. II must have
been those few lines which told Miss
Croydon the nature OF the clippings
and their Importance to her. The date
line would have been enough to do
that. Besides. IL she'd already known
OF them she'd have taken them before
we got here"
you mean Miss Croydon Is the girl
who ran away with Tremaine? But
then, she couldn't have been more than
10 or IL years old in 1891" L
Eleven" corrected Godfrey, and /
was struck by the radiant expression
of his face as he took q yellow paper
from his pocket. Let me read you
two sentences from this old report
concerning the Croydon family-you
ought to have recalled them, my dear
Lester"
go ahead" I said helplessly.
Eldest daughter. Edith, born in
France, August rs, 1874. Educated at
school there, but broke down from
overstudy and returned to Beckenham.
Religion, Catholic Now" he demand
ed, do you understand who 1t was
married Tremaine at Petits Colonies
in 1917"
AT last I saw It, and I could only sit
and stare at him, marveling at my own
stupidity. This was the key-the key
to the whole enigma Miss Croydon
had taken her sisters place, had tried
to buy him off, to get him out OF her
sisters way. 1t was Tremaine who llad
opened the door-it was Tremaine
whom she had come to the Marathon
to meet. But--and I started upright
since they were Catholics, only his
death could release Mrs. Delroy. Per-
haps II was Thompson, after all, and
his death had released her. But no;
and In an instant the whole terrible
position OF the elder woman burst up
on me. She was not Delroy's wife.
$50" I said hoarsely, ''Tremaine is
then the true husband OF Mrs. Delroy."
Let us finish the story OF the clip
pings before going into that" sug-
gested Godfrey. 1T confess, I don't
quite see the bearing Of this next one.
It's a New York dispatch. perhaps to
a London paper, under date of Feb
ruary IS, 1892, and chronicles the loss
OF the bark Centaur, with all on board,
or the coast OF Martinique. The Cen
taur vas bound from Marseilles to
Fort-de-France with q cargo OF wines
and muslins. Let us leave II, for a
moment, and pass or to the next one,
which Is the last.
This is dated Sydney, Australia, Oc-
tober %, 1896, and relates how a daring
scheme to rob the Bank OF New South
Wales was frustrated by a sailor who
had been a member OF the gang, but
who got frightened and informed the
police. The ringleader, a Frehchman,
was captured n would receive a term
OF years in prison. There are four
means that IL Is the n which Thomp-
son was some times In the habit OF
sending to Tremaines to remind him OF
that Australian experience.
Nov, don't you see, we reconstruct
the whole story. Tremaine, starting
out as a defaulter and robber, escapes
from prison, leaving his partner In ghe
lurch, treacherously, no doubt, since II
awakened his violent anger-there
isn't any hatred more vindictive thar
that OF one criminal for another who
has betrayed him. Tremaine finally
goes back to France and succeeds In
entangling Edith Croydon, then only
about 16, in a marriage. We know how
fascinating he is. and It's not won
derful that he should be able to mis-
lead an inexperienced girl. or course
what he wants Is money, and SO she
writes to her father. He comes for hel
and takes her home--no doubt paying
Tremaine a handsome sum to talks
himself off-in fact, m~ortgaging his
home to do II.
Miss Croydon gradually RECEIVERS;
but she Is Tremaine's wife. Yet In
1900 she marries Delroy. She mus
therefore have had good reason to be
lieve Tremaine dead"
Don't you see?''I cried. That's tn,
meaning OF that item about the found
ering of the Centaur, with all on board
Tremaine was a passenger and sh'
knew it,"