The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1907-03-15

LIZ e. W taaiA LIN II tNA..Ast4tAa
"oh. l can't tell YOU thAg. you know
Its none OF my business
"Sut You ought 10 treat Us all alike,
he protested,
I do treat you ali alike
But didn't Godfrey get IT out OF
you
Godfrey" repeated Get 1T on,
OF meg'
He stared at me in establishment.
DO YOU mean To tell me Mr., Les
ter" he questioned. that You haven't
been spending the evening With Jim
Godfrey. OF the Record"
Then in a fash. l understood, n as
l looked Mt the rueful faces of the men
gathered about me. l laughed until the
tears came.
S it was YOU i gasped, who
chased us up Broadway? %
He nodded.
Yes; but our horses weren't good
enough. Where did he take you?"
t the Studio-SiXth
"of course.' he cried Shaping his
leg We might have known. Boys.
we'd better &c back to Podunk.'
We'll, at least, Mr.. Lester" spoke up
another. you oughtn't to give Godfrey
a COOP"
But I didn't give him a scoop. 1
didn't ven now who he was"
Didn't you tell him what was in the
note?"
Not a word of 1T old him only
one thing"
And what was that"
That the person who wrote the note
didn't know that Rogers was color
blind. You are welcome to that state
ment, too. You see, I'm treating you all
alike"
They stood about me staring down at
me, silent with establishment.
But" I added. II think Godfrey
suspects what was In the note"
"Why?"
Well, his theory fits it pretty close
ly."
His theory! What is his theory. Mr..
Lester?"
ooh, come" I laughed. That's tell
ing. It's a good theory, too"
They looked at each other, and. 1
fancied, CRASHED their teeth.
H seems a pretty clever fellow" 1
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 fend of cleverness when 1t
comes to a case of this kind. We're not
in the same class with him. He's a
fancy fellow-just the Record kind.
You're sure you didn't tell him any
thing else Mr.. Lester" he added
.anXiously. "Godfrey's capable of get
ting a story out of a fence post"
wv \ ~ qSAIS L dASAIl I ICll H.
anything else. 1 only listened to his
theory with great interest"
"And assented to it?"
II said 1 thought it plausible"
An electric shock seemed to run
round the room.
That's it," cried Rankin. That's
what he wanted. Now, it isn't his
can see his headlines! Won't you tell
US what it VASE"
l looked up at him..
Now, frankly. MI. Rankin" 1 asked,
IF you were in my place. would you
tell?"
He hesitated for a moment. and then
held out his hand.
NO." he said, as I took 1t. "I
shouldn't. Shake hands, sir; you're all
right. Come on, boys. we might as we'll
be going"
They filed out after him and 1 heard
them go singing up the street. Then
1 sank back into my chair and thought
to fit the case precisely. point by point
-even-and l started at the thought
to Miss Holidays reticence as
to her whereabouts the afternoon
before. The whole mystery lay plain
before me. In some way she had dis
had secured her address; she had gone
to visit her and had u her away
from home-it was probable, even, that
the half sister a written her, asking
her to come-though, in that case, why
had she not remained at home to re-
ceivc her? At any rate Miss Holiday
had awaited her return, nae noticed
her agitation; had, perhaps, ever seen
certain marks of blood uPon her. The
news of her fathers death had pointed
all too clearly to what that agitation
and those blood-spots a She had
remained silent that she might not be-
s,nirch her fathers name, and also, per
haps, that she might protect the other
m 1 felt that 1 held in my hand
the key to the whole problem.
Point by point-but what a snarl it
was! That there would be a vigorous
search for the other m could
not doubt. but she had a long start and
had not started-she must have re-
manned in town, else how could that
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?
l felt hat Il was getting tangled I'M
in the snarl ~again-there seemed no
limit to it's intricacies; so. in very de-
spair, L put the matter down from me
rs completely as l could and went to
bed.
The mornings Record attested the
truth of Rankin's prophecy. 1 had
grown famous in a night: for Godfrey
had. in q measure, mad me responsible
for his theory, describing me with a
wealth of adjectives which I blush to
remember, and which. L have, even yet,
not quite forgiven him. 1 smiled as 1
read the first, lines:
"A Record representative had the
pleasure, yesterday evening. of dining
with Mr.. 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 his ex-
traordinary crime. Mr.. Lester agreed
with the Record in a theory which is
the only n that fits the facts of the.
case. and completely and satisfactorily
explains all its ramiications."
"Ae theory was then developed at
great length and the article concluded
with the statement that the Record
was assisting the police in a strenuous
endeavor to find the guilty woman.
Now that the police knew in which
quarter to spread their net, l had little
doubt that size would soon be found,
since h had tempted providence by
Ya m nirin ~, AVN