Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-06-26


hand, small, finely formed, womanly, yet
almost maidenly, thrust through and
parted the curtains, Cronkite dropped
out OF sight, but not out of seeing, into
the thicker darkness behind the bed.
A woman. meager of figure, prim of
dress, elderly of face through its setting
OF white hair. slipped into the room. 1t
was Mrs. Blifl, the housekeeper.
1t seemed TO the detective that restless.
preoccupied with care, she must have
been proving about the house, have no.
tlced the absence of the duplicate key to
the library side door and have let her
self IN with its mate to find out whether
anything was wrong. But whatever the
anxieties which could have induced so
extraordinary a step they just as APP
parently vanished, even as her careworn
look changed into wonderment as her
nostrlls cought the potent scent of white
| jasmine. Like on petrified by the magic
| OF amazement poised Mrs. Blifl, the stat
use OF woTaan-the statue of young
woman, despite The setting of her hair.
"Geneyieve, GeneyieYeDupont," mOaned
the sleeping man, forgive, forgive.
did come back to Vevay directly my ia
| Their died to acknowledge you, TO ac-
knowledge our child: but you were gone.
| did search, but they told me you both
, We're dead. Is it any wonder l believed,
is it any wonder | forgot, the future
L
dear presence-the old garden, the flow
ers come back Forgive. Genevieve. for
givep'
1t was the voice of magician, restor-
ing Mrs. Blifil to intolerable life. An
emotion stronger than amazement,
| stronger than apprehension, as strong
| as remorse, consumed her.
| Her eyes rolled, she clutched her
| throat, as if under torture; and then,
| and then, that same slight click of lock-
| perhaps now the turning of a knob of
an unlocked door, sounded respite. She
darted into a further cornor, behind the
| wardrobe, as the curtains parted.
A woman. half clad, disheyelled,
young in years, but old in grief, escaped
/ from those who should care for her,
| distraught, yet driven by intuition far
| keener than reason, slipped into the room.
| 1t was Estelle Devries.
| For a moment she shifted the air like
a hound.
"Aha," she muttered, "she is here, she
| is here. White jasmine in the room of
the DeTOnshire inn, from which my
darling fed, escaping the peril he prom
lsed to tell me about when we were mar
rled; white jasmine in the room up
stairs. where he was shot to death-oh,
my poor hearth white jasmine herep'
Like a hound on full trail she darted
to the. further corner and dragged Mrs.
| Blifil from her hiding.
Weakened by the confused sounds, Mr..
Landiss leaped from the bed, wrapped
his dressing gown hastily about him and
turned on the light.
".
"Estelle," he cried, you here? Who
is TINS woman and what does this
mean?'
she murdered Lionel-oh, the
wretch. / know she didr' gasped Mrs.
Devries. Look at her, father. Why else
ana such as she come here in disguise to
act as our housekeeper?'
And, indeed. the white hair which by
its setting had aged the housekeeper's
face. had been displaced in the
struggle. A mass of light and fluffy
hair crowned it now, making it Young,
pitiably young.
Mr.. Land1ss drew his daughter ten
derry to the sofa, where she lay spent
and shuddering. He turned toward the
other woman, half raised on the floor,
in somewhat of the Magdalen's posture,
and studied her face with a curiosity
which changed slowly into concern and
alarm.
why did you come into my home
falsely to assume false part?' he fall
tered. Il never saw you before, but
yet your face, it haunts me-
Father. father" panied Estelle, 'she
tried to kill him at the Devonshire inn
was
the scent of white jasmine in the room
there. there was the scent of white jas
mine in our room upstairs"
White iasminew groaned Mr. Lam
diss. Il am submerged in white Jas
mine as if in blood"
Il was in the room upstairs directly
after the tragedy occurred" admitted the
woman on the floor sullenly. Didn't my
duty call me there? had used white jas
mine in making myself fine for the we'd
ding for the first since my stay here
Why not? 1t was my mothers favorite
perfume. l was born, / was reared
among fields of white jasmine at Vevay."
AT Neyay! Your mothers favorite
perfume? What was your mothers
name"
moments ago-Genevieve Dupont"
MY God, my God! You Genevieve's
child, our childT'
You prayed her forgiveness for base
desertion. Do you think that her child.
your child, whose earliest memory is of
tears, sorrow, suffering, starvation, vast
ing death, would not resent like treat
ment; do you think that the very spirit
of her mother would not urge her to re-
venge"
Hush entreated Mr. Landiss. mot
word, not a word; the very walls may
have ears. This must not be. Estelle. by
the 1--WE L We diNdyS SHOWN you, let Ine
dead bury the dead. Forget your wild
charges"
Never, father! She murdered my low
err my husband, on the very day of our
bliss--oh. inhumanw
HE was mine, he was mine"
screamed the woman on the floor, before
you ever saw him.
Abe Cronkite stepped quietly from be-
hind the bed and raised the woman from
the floor.
Go into the library and yyait for me.
he said. II will take yoU where You will
be safe, where you will be properly cared
for"
Without word, without a glance
toward either one, she obeyed
You know me, Mr., Landiss" the de-
tective went on. you know the Judge
my master. viii arrange the matter salts
factorily for you. Lord, sir. there's a
skeleton in every house if You did but
know it. The only thing to do is to keep
its presence unknown. This deplorable
accident won't be more than a nine DAYS
wonder; and then i've and forget-that's
the understanding white jasmine. of
course, sirl''
He hurried into the library: he es-