Evening star., 1909-09-01
Xxx.
What She Saw and Did at the
Altenburp House.


time had come when he must give her
actual help and not the mere pretense of
il. or show himself wanting in all that
was his ideal of manhood. Half the dan
ger thus far as he saw the situation
now, arose from the lack of plain speak
ing. and he resolved to have done with
that. even at the cost of wounding her
again
Yes" he said. but the most far
fetched conclusion from that is that he
came here and murdered your uncle
She t1inched at the sound from another 6
lips of that which She herself had been
thinking and brooding over. and on the
instant denial sprauS TO her lips. Then
She seemed TO feel that help for her must
come from this man, if at all and braced
herself to the cruel ordeal which was be-
fore her
You declare YOU convinced il was
not father" She spoke under clearly de
fined restraint forcing herself to speak
words that We're a torture. Who else
than he or Horace had any motive?" She
liad said it at last and ii stood out in all
lis hideouS nakedneSS.
II don't know. You don't know. For
~! YOU know perhaps I did the deed
There are two hours of my time from Is
to that very evening. that II would be
almost Impossible for me TO find witnesses
70 account for. How do you know that
didn't come l;ere and do this job and then
60 home. ready to answer when called?
There people in Lanceboro who be-
lieve il at any rate.
But what motive could there he, what
possible motive?''
~ dozen. For one. it's said your uncle
kept lots of money I'm the house. I'm
hard UP. in debt. Spending all make and
sometimes n little more. \ few thou
sands would put me my feet. You
haven't heard that any moneys have been
found in the house since that night, have
you?
Don't, DON'T she exclaimed. 1T is
terrible enough without that
Your uncle was a grinder and a skin
flint. He'd have a drop of blood out of
q stone II the stone owed him 1t. Sup
pose some one whom he had ground down
to the point of ruin was resolved not to
go unrevenged?
DO YOU know of any such person."
she asked, almost 9 terror of hope sound
ing in her words.
NO. But there must be such. except,
possibly. the final desperation of murder.
Or here's David. He and your uncle were
always quarreling. in fact, quarreled that
very evening because David wanted a TT
tie of the money due him. Did anybody
see your uncle alive after David left him
and started for the village?
''Oh. David hasn't the spirit" she be-
gan, whereupon he Interrupted her:
1T doesn't need the spirit of a mouse.
After your uncle has abused the man he
gives him a dollar with curse and turns
toward his desk. David has had a drink
and is ugly. He sees the ruler, seizes it
and strikes harder probably than he
meant to. All the same, intent or not,
the thing Is done
oh please don't,' she pleaded Don't
hint at such an injustice TO poor David"
TN not even limiting that such thing
occurred said Grimbleshaw. I'm sim
ply showing you that by the same line of
argument as that with which you have
been frightening yourself this thing might
be brought home to any number of peo-
pie
But" she answered. ''the motive that
any of these could have had would be
trivial. most trivial. beside the terrible
wrongs that my father and brother had
suffered at the hands of John Alten-
burg.
THE size of an injury or motive"
replied the other. must have relation to
the size of the man. Besides. I'm far
from certain that both Your father and
brother aren't injured, rather than helped.
by your uncie'S death, In which case the
motive would be the other way. I'm
convinced that your uncle would have
been most important witness. under
competent cross-examination, in establish
ing your fathers innocence had his old
case finally been brought to trial. as YOU
have said he wanted it. More than that.
I'm sure your father. of all people. real
ized this. That being the case. do you
believe that any sense of injury suffered
could be sufficient to induce him to kill
his own witness, let alone the question of
his being capable of doing it?'
And that leads back again to poor
Horace" she said. with a shudder.
Nothing of the kind he exclaimed
himself convinced in his search for argu-
ments to relieve her apprehensions
While they always hunt for a motive to
bolster up a suspicion of crime. ii isn't
sound TO suspect crime from the mere ex-
istence OF a possible motive. Besides, as
said before, this quarrel you make SO
much OF. was of years standing, and
nothing new had come up to add TO 1t.
can't see thing Horace had to gain by
your uncle's death. and l can see that it
might be distinct loss at this time
He was we'll aware he was putting to
one side the matter Of the money the
family would secure as heirs to John
Altenburg'S estate: but this had clearly
never occurred to her, and he was not
making suggestions. however palpable
they might be 10 him, and as he knew
they would be to others. He paused un-
III he saw from her face that his words
mad served to a degree to tighten her
fears, and then he added what he had. in
.elcacy refrained from saying before.
but which he felt that he must now try
for if he to do his best TO comfort.
You know, l don't know yet just what
YOU came here for that night, just
what Horace did when YOU got here"
Judith looked at him in surprise. For
lie first time she seemed to realize that
sne had told him nothing. that thus far il
lad helped him 10 what he was able to
offer her of aid and comfort.
We came here 20 get father" she said.
who had been concealed in mother 5
room since he got 10 Lanceboro. to take
him to the camp at the lake. In addition
10 that ] think Horace had determined
10 try and extort from John Altenburg
some admission Of fathers innocence of
the defacation with which he is charged.
Ills plan was to bring father into the
room and confront John Altenburg with
him. He half believed that under the
stress OF surprise and CONSERVATION. John
AltenbuTg would be thrown off his guard
and would betray himself. l never be-
iieved il possible
He thought Altenburgs testimony
necessary to your fathers acquittai?'
asked Grimbeshaw
Father has always declared that he
must have the testimony Of John Alien
burg or OF another man. whose name is
CLAYTON, | believe. who was employed by
the syndicate. He did not think this
would be gained by direct testimony. bu,
by what he called cross-examination.
think The only other hope we had, and
af course. that came from father, too
was that among John Altenburg's papers
We should find something that would help
think father based this on character
istic of Mr.. Altenburgs g. never TO destroy
any memorandum or paper. but to keeI
them ALL as il they were money.
Horace did not depend much on this
chance?" asked Grimbleshaw.
NO" said Judith, but how did you
know?
.sIIa rortlJ ro1,a T ypuid from gen