Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-08-14


telegram Mr.. Harton had opened. She
seemed to understand, but an unhap-
pier face have never seen. She look
ed like criminal whose reprieve Is
over and the day Of execution ap-
CHAPTER XIV.
The next day, Friday, Gertrude
broke the news OF her stepfather's
death to Louise. She cid it as gently !
as she could, telling her first that he
was very i'll, and finally that he was
dead. Louise received the news in the
most unexpected manner, and when
Gertrude came out to tell me how she
had stood it, think she was almost
shocked.
tShe just lay and stared at me,
Aunt Ray" she said. do you know
/ believe she is glad, glad! And she
is too honest to pretend anything else.
What sort Of man was Mr.. Paul Arm
strong, anyhow
HE was bully as we'll as rascal,
Gertrude" / said. But I am con-
WINGED of one thing; Louise will send
for Halsey now, and they Will make
it all up"
For Louise had steadily refused to
see Halsey all that day, and the boy
was frantic.
We had a quiet hour. Halsey and |,
that evening, and | told him several
things; about the telegram to Louise,
about the rurnors of an approaching
marriage between the girl and Doctor
Walker, and, last of all, my own inter
view with her the day before.
He sat back in a big chair. with his
face in the shadow, and my heart
fairly ached for him. He was SO big
and so boyish! When I had finish he
drew long breath.
Whatever Louise does" he said
nothing will convince me, Aunt Ray,
that she doesn't care for me. And up
to two months ago, when she and her
mother went west, was the happ1est
fellow on earth. Then something
made difference: she wrote me that
her people were opposed to the mar
riage; that her feeling for me was
what it had always been, but that
something had happened which had
changed her ideas as to the future.
| was not to write until she wrote me,
( and whatever occurred, was to think
| the best | could Of her. 1t sounded
like a puzzle. When I saw her yes
terday, it was the same thing, only,
perhaps, worse
..Halsey," l asked, have you any
| idea Of the nature Of the interview
| between Louise Armstrong and Arnold
| the night he was murdered?"
at was stormy. Thomas says once
or twice he almost broke into the
room, he was so alarmed for Louise. .
Another thing, Halsey," I said,
"have you ever heard Louise mention
! woman named Darlington, Nina
Carrington?"
Never" he said positively.
For try as we would, our thoughts
always came back to that fatal Sat
urday night, and the murder. Every
conversational path led to it, and we
all felt that Jameson was Tightening
the threads Of evidence around John
Bailey The detectives absence was
hardly reassuring: he must have had
something to work on in town, or he
would have returned.
The papers reported that the cashier
| VI luC ouSio Lain az 80
in his apartments at the Knicker-
bocke--a condition not surprising
considering everything The guilt OF
the defunct president was no longer
in doubt; the missing bonds had been
advertised and some of them dis
covered. In every instance they had
been used as collateral for large loans
and the belief was current that MOI
less than Gmillion and half dollars
had been realized. Every one con
nected with the bank had been placed
under arrest, and released on heav.
bond.
| Was he alone in his guilt, or was thu
cashier his accomplice? Where wa
the money? The estate of the deat
man was comparatively small-a cit,
house on a fashionable street, Sunny
; side, large estate largely mortgaged
an insurance of fifty thousand dollars
and some personal property-this wa
. all. The rest lost in speculation prof.
ably-the papers said. There was on
thing which looked uncomfortabl
for Jack Bailey: he and Paul Arm
strong together had promoted raj
7 road company in New Mexico, and
: was rumored that together they ha
5 sunk large sums of money there. TIL
r business alliance between the tw
l men added to the belief that Bale
2 knew something of the looting. HI
unexplained absence from the bank Q
e Monday lent color to the suspicio
q against him. The strange thing seer
J ed to be his surrendering himself c
:, the point of departure. To me,
o seemed the shrewd calculation of
n clever rascal | was not actively a
S tagonistic to Gertrude's lover, but
l. meant to be convinced, one way or II
y other. l took no one on faith.
l. That night the Sunnyside ghost b
= gan to walk again. Liddy had bee
sleeping in Louise's dressing-room
n couch, and the approach of du:
It was signal for her to barricade Il
y entire suite. Situated as it was, +
yond the circular staircase, nothil
It but an extremity of excitement Won
II have made her pass it after dark.
y confess myself that the place see1
ed to me to have sinister appes
a ance, but we kept that wing W.
. lighted, and until the lights went o