Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1907-12-28

| mere L dShtd, intensely interested Inu
deeply stirred.
Just that" he said. and shot me a
triumphant glance. Let US see If you
can catch IT, The clipping is in French
and though my French isn't Of the
highest order ] can get the sense Of il
pretty well. Ii is dated Suresnes. and
is evidently a letter from a provincial
correspondent to Paris newspaper.
who like most other provincial CORES
pondents is delightfully."- vague. How
ever, | gather from il that on
the night of September l6 1891
a beautiful young English girl
name not given-ran away from
the convent school of the Sacred
Heart a Suresnes and that the next
morning she was safely married TO a
! gallant Frenchman -rremaine of
! c0urse-by the cure Of the little village
OF Petits Colombes. The marriage was
! quite regular-though no doubt the
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 over the hypocriSes
of the cloister.' Evidently the CORES
! pondent is a rabid anti clerical"
But, still,' | objected, Il don't see
/ that that explains anything"
Let me help you. II was this clip
/ ping l happened to look at first the
night we found the body. | read two
/ or three lines aloud then SimmOnds
, Put IT back in the pocket. 1t must have
/ been those few lines which told Miss
3 Croydon the nature OF the clippings
and their Importance TO her. The date
/ line would have been enough to do
that Besides, II 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 Trema.ue? But
g I..a ~. H..
/ 10 or - years old i'm 1891"
Eleven corrected Godfrey and I
was struck by the radiant expression
/ of his face as he took a 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" | said helplessly.
Eldest daughter Edith, born in
/ France, August 20, 1874 Educated at
/ school there, but broke down from
/ oyerstudy and returned TO Beckenham.
/ Religion Catholic Now" ne demand
ed, do you understand who it was
/ married Tremaine at Petits Colombes
/ in 1897"
At last / saw it, and | could only sit
! and stare at him, marveling at my own
/ stupidity. This was the key-the key
/ to the whole enigma Miss Croydon
mad taken her sisters place, had tried
10 buy him OF, to get him out of her
sisters way. 1t was Tremaine who had
/ opened the door-it was Tremaine
. whom she had come to the Marathon
. TO meet But-and / started upright
since they We're Catholics, only his
/ death could release Mrs. Delroy Per-
hapS II was Thompson, after all. and
his death had released her But no:
and i'm an instant the whole terrible
position of the elder woman burst up-
or me- She was not Delroy's wife,
she was
So | 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 II confess, | don't
quite see the bearing of this next one
It's New York dispatch, perhaps to
q London paper, under date OF Feb
rUary rs. 1892, and chronicles the loss
o. the bark Centaur. with all on board,
off the coast OF Martinique. The Cen
taur was bound from Marseilles to
Fort de- France with a cargo of wines
and muSlns. Let uS leave it. for a
moment, and pass on 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 Frenchman.
was captured and would receive term
of years in prison. There are four
copies of this clipping, which no doubt
means that it is the one which Thomp-
son was some times i'm the habit of
sending to Tremaine, TO remind him OF
that Australian experience.
Now don't you see, we reconstruct
the whole story Tremaine, starting
q. ,.lF L.
from prison leaving his partner i'm the
lurch. treacherously, no doubt. since il
, awakened his violent angCr-thcre
isn't any hatred more vindiCtive than
|. that of one criminal for another who
has betrayed him. Tremaine finally
goes back to France and succeeds in
cntangling Edith Croydon, then only
about l6, In marriage. We know how
fascinating he is. and it's not won =
, derful that he should be able 10 mis-
lead an inexperienced girl. OF course
, what he wants is money, and so she
writes TO her father. He comes for heI
and takes her home-no doubt paying
Tremaine handsome sum to take
I himself off-in fact, mortgaging his
, home to do It.
! Miss Croydon gradually recovers
! but she is Tremaines wife. Yet in
1900 she marries Delroy She must
therefore have had good reason to be-
/
: Don't you see?" I cried. That's tn,
meaning of that item about the found
. ering OF the Centaur, with all on board
n Tremane was a passenger and She
> knew IT,"
Z Good" nodded Godfrey. That.
. undoubtedly 1t. Let me see" and ht
, turned back to the clipping: that wa!
in 1892. His name. perhaps appeared
y among the missing: she waited eigh
? years, and at last, believing his deatf
esta blished beyond doubt, married
c again.
: Now, let US see what Tremaine wa!
: doing In 1896 ne was in Australia
: planning a bank robbery. He meets
a Thompson, descended from his estat
: of captain 20 that of common sailor
;, Tremaine takes Thompson i'm on tn,
;, plan; and Thompson, to get even 70
a that treachery at Sing Sing, g.yes hin
away. Tremane, no doubt, got peni
= tentidry sentence. He probably brok
jail again for in 1899 he appears a
o Martinique supposedly from Soutl
n America. lie has considerable money
: which lie no doubt stole somewhere
, and perhaps ne chose ST. Pierre as
r safe place TO stay ia hiding until th
4 hue and cry after him was over. III
: would have some acquaintance wit
q the island, IL he landed there from tn
h wreck.
. Thompson learns where he is-pel
a haps even sees him at St Pierre-an
. puts bouquet to his revenge by driv
V ing him into fits of rage by reminding
j. him of that Australian treachery. Blu
d at last ne sends him a message, whic
: brings him to New York.
= Yes" | said. "and l have cudgelle
O my brain in vain trying 10 imagin
: what that message could have been
: Well remarked Godfrey. while W
S can't, OF course. give its actual text,
S don't think il very difficult to guess 1t
= general tenor We know what Ire
8 maine came here to do-he came I
= blackmail Mrs. Delroy. It's pretty safe
o then, to suppose that the message tol
Il him that enc was blackmailable-i
d other words that she had married
L rich man. No doubt, Tremaine's none
was running low, and he jumped at thi
!. chance of replenishing his purse
(. Thompson was working his way towar
!" ST. Pierre To join him. and actual