Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-09-16

Perhaps it's time to own up that while
l never did have a shred of suspicion re-
garding Mr.. Calden. l can't say that
quite as strongly regarding Horace. Still,
almost from my first interview with him
! that vanished, and I saw that his whole
| trouble was that he suspected his father,
and was laying out the ground. as he
| thought to step into his place If that
suspicion was verified
81 shall never forgive myself those sus-
picions,' said Horace, penitently.
"Oh. yes. you WILL" Beckwith assured
him. why. do you know that but for
my legal training 1 might have fallen into
the same error myself? There's really
only one thing unforgivable, and that is
to engage counsel and not give him
your confidence. That strikes at the very
| foundation of society"
| Perhaps we were all a little foolish
about the business said Mr.. Calden.
| land I'm free to admit that I ought to
have known Horace better than to have
had moments suspicion of him; but 1t
cially with Trafford here. hanging over
us like memorable fate, ready to strike
| the first chance he saw. Perhaps, on the
whole, we did as well as most folk would
under the same circumstances"
But when did you get on the track of
| Clayton?' asked Horace. He never
quite seemed surprise to you. Mr.. Traf-
ford"
No. There were too many points that
none of the rest of you quite measured
up to. OF course. 1t took time to
straighten you all out. Thus, for several
days l thought it was Horace who tele-
| phoned. but when I came to fit 1t in with
! other things that I had got into their
places it threw the whole thing out Of
killer. But. of course. there never was a
moment when that note and the appoint
ment for Tuesday weren't before my
eyes. The very fact that I could get
nothing regarding the visit whether 1t
| had been made or not, whether 1t was at
the house or the usual place, was sus-
picious. as showing the extraordinary
pains taken to conceal it, If visit there
the drink to David was also significant
In spite of all my, precautions against
precOnceived theories I could never per-
suade myself that the incident which
ticular night was a mere coincidence"
But who was it gave him the drink.
after alp
| Clayton. Of course Those papers,
which. if we had them before, would
years been threatening Altenburg and
| living on the money he extorted from
him. would have been a tremendous
weapon in Clayton's hands. He was after
them. and after the money as well. Of
course He made his plans Tuesday
night and he spent Wednesday in per-
fecting them. We shall never know. but
! I'm clear he didn't intend to kill Alien
burg In fact, if he could get the papers
| and the money Altenburg was worth more
| to him alive than dead. That money was
only a fraction of what Altenburg could
command. and If Clayton was in posses
sion of the papers and could get away
AS it is. Altenburg's accounts show that
he had given Clayton nearly a hundred
thousand dollars in the preceding ten
years. By the way. it's interesting how
thodical habits why. his papers were
almost a transcript of the Venezuela's
transactions. and the greater part of them
| had no earthly value. excepting to en-
danger him; Yet, evidently. he couldn't
| bring himself to destroy them"
And he didn't even know that an in
dictment was barred and that he could
have defed Clayton for years" said
| Beckwith. with clearly marked disgust
"Oh, lawyers are not the only ones who
bank on the want of legal training in the
general public suggested Trafford
| However. criminal Indictment was not
the only thing that man in Altenburg' 8
position had to fear. and certainly he'd
have been in a bad way If Clayton had
got hold Of those papers. Aside from the
drink to David. the only possible indica-
ton Of stranger that I could get was
the evidence that some one had slept In
the sattic, and that might have been Mr..
| Calden."
And you weren't certain about that
until the day you left for Canada" Ju-
| dith reminded him.
Certain? Well We'll let it rest on that
| word. It's a pretty large one
But were you?" Judith urged.
well, it was the first time that I had
asked the direct question. l felt like CIV
ing you a little indication Of what was
coming, just as when took you to see
where found the pistol"
There" broke in Beckwith. about
You declared it had ceased to have sig
| nificance. Don't you remember my show
| ing you how significant it was? 1 simply
| demonstrated, yes, that's the word DEM
| onstrated. that it showed the vault to
| have been robbed after the murder was
| committed"
II remember now" Trafford admitted.
| land 1 don't mind adding that the vault
and the pistol were what first gave me
| an inkling that the murdered man wasn't
| Altenburg. OF course. I'd never seen him.
and 1 hadn't a reason to question the
| Identification by every one who had
known him. The utter disappearance Of
bother me. and when the second day
discovered the existence Of the vault,
where I had supposed the fireplace and
ovens to be. assumed I'd find the miss
ing articles. You can understand my
perplexity when the vault was uncovered
and the money and papers still failed us.
There was no reasonable conclusion then
| save that robbery was the purpose of the
| murder. There were footprints in the
| dust, but they told very little, excepting
that it was a man who had been there
last which was equivalent to determining
that the robber was man. But I could
find no man who knew of the vault.
tested Horace and was convinced Of his
| ignorance. at the same time that 1 found
| him the owner of a duplicate pistol to
| the one found in the vault It was an
| easy matter to find where the pistols had
been bought, for he had bought two, and
| / also found out that he had only one at
I that time.
MY next step was that I found the
| footprints those of larger man than
either of the Caldens. so that had Hor-
| aces pistol In the hands of the man who
| had robbed the vault. and that man
| larger one than Horace or his father. The
vault, moreover, had not been entered by
| force. but in the regular way, the work
| done in an orderly manner. and the vault
closed when it was done. A man who
did not know the vault. even II he had
| the keys. must have bungled the job
| somewheres. and could not have pro-
ceeded. with the time at his command.
SO deliberately as to leave matters as
| they were. In brief. the stamp of famil!-
| arity was everywhere. 1t was here that
| the fact of Horace and Judith having ar
| rived at the farm close on to o'clock
came in to help to measure the actual