Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1909-07-15

Ii IL is mlno-aS L SAID, dOu see
how it can bel shall be very much
surprised. Though l certainly have a
revolver not unlike this, the only re-
volver | ever possessed"
"And this revolver you speak OF is
still in your possession" said the in
spector. when did you see it last?"
''Ah, I can scarcely say offhand."
In spite of his first apparent reluc-
lance, Mr.. Hume had taken the re-
volver and appeared to be examining
it carefully. Now I look at it more
closely it certainly does look rather
like mine; only how could mine pos
sibly have got to the bottom of the
river? 1 don't think l have seen my
revolver for quite six months, when |
put it away in a drawer"
"Are you not mistaken in thinking
it is six months, if, as you say, you
have only one revolver?' broke in the
rector, speaking for the first time.
1T is not more than three months
ago-it was, in fact, just before Philip
Hume's death-that you took part in
a shooting contest at the club IN
Fellsgarth, I believer"
A muscle in Bonholt Hume's fore
head was twitching; he did not look
at either of the two men, and his
mouth and lips seemed parched.
Eyes, yes, of course. II had for
gotten that. The 'Winans contest to
be sure! Yes, l used my revolver
then. But still I think it could not
have been this-:for who could have
stolen it and flung it into the rivcr?"
Il should have thought a gentle
man would have known definitely
whether it was his property or not
especially something so out OF the
common as this" said the inspector,
dryly. Perhaps you won't object. sir,
when you go back home, to ascertain
If your revolver is still in the drawer
where you placed it?'
"Oh, by all means" acquiesced Mr..
Hume eff you like, inspector, we'll
go there at once. Of course, l am as
anxious as you to throw any light I
can On the affair-anything that can
clear up this mystery of my dear
nephew's death and bring the scoun-
drel to Justice
Mr. Hume and the inspector drove
back to the hall in the latter's dog
cart. Stephen Ruthen walked away
in thought, haunted by the mental
picture of a man suddenly arrested
by a paralysis of terror.
Even without the vivid recollection
of a man he had caught prying into
drawer that had been locked, Stephen
would have been convinced that the
revolver was Bonholt Hume's-and
that Hume had known it from the
first, in spite of his denial. Why had
the man been so startled at the sight
of the thing? Would a man who had
nothing to fear, who had never seen
the revolver before, have displayed
such vehemence in denying the own
ership of it?
In that strange drama of tangled
mystery and horror-that drama
which was being played as it were on
a darkened stage-one figure, hither-
to moving dimly in the background
like g mere super in play, had in
his thoughts suddenly been thrust
into a prominent sinister role. Sus-
picions were striking deeper and
deeper roots in his mind; Hume's
very assertion that he had aided Jack
Lathom to escape, when On the previ-
Gus day the police had traced the
fugitiyes whereabouts, helped to
foster their growth. A guilty man
who believed that he had covered his
own traces might have enough con-
science left to wish to help an inno-
cent man who was his scapegoat.
If, as he said, he had given Lathom
warning of danger, certainly it was
he who had first set the bail of sus-
picion rolling. Long before the crime
was discovered, and subsequently on
the day when the dead man had been
brought home to the great house to
which his death had made Bonholt
Hume the heir-the heir who had
manifested so strange repugnance
to looking on the dead face of the
man he professed to have loved in
life almost like a son-this last of the
Humes had spoken in vehement i'm
piled accusation of Lathom
This afternoon Hume had given it as
his reason for warning the suspected
man that he had revised his first
judgment; and yet within few min
utes, under the influence of that
swiftly falling fear, he was again lev
cling the accusation against Lathom
to the police inspector. And another
point: Did his man servant, taciturn
Matthew Bland, know anything?
Why had Hume started at the refer
ence of Matthew Bland?
On an impulse scarcely to be de-
fined the rector turned his steps to-
ward the grim stone that stood senti-
mel by the Cross Ways, where an evil
life had come to an evil end.
How often Stephen Ruthen had re-
traversed that road in his thoughts,
waking and sleeping! 1t was bright
spring day; the hedgerows were
green, the trees almost in full leaf:
but this man never thought of the
place now except as he had seen it on
that wild, snowy night when this
monolith had flung it's deep shadow,
like a pointing finger, across the
white, wintry roadway at a figure ~
| ing there with the last darkness seal
ing its eyes-a figure in whose stiff
ened clutch was playing-card, blot
of crimson against the white paste
board and the winter snow-a mark
ed" ace of hearts, that was like the