The newspaper., 1909-11-12
! stirred nv tea angrily.


jovial young men. mans sense of
humor seems to be in inverse proper
tion to the gravity of his profession -
"A mans sense of humor is a bar
barous and cruel thing, Miss Innes."
he admitted. 1T is to the feminine
as the hug of a bear is to the scratch
of-well, anything with claws. Is that
you, Thomas? Come in"
Thomas Johnson stood in the door
way. He looked alarmed and appre
hensive, and suddenly l remembered
the sealskin dressing bag in the
lodge. Thomas came just inside the
door and stood with his head droop-
ing, his eyes, under their shaggy gray
brows. fixed on Mr.. Jameson
Thomas" said the detective, not
unkindly, Il sent for you to tell us
what you told Sam Bohannon at the
club, the day before Mr. Arnold was
found here, dead Let me see. You
came here Friday night to see Miss
Innes. didn't you? And came to work
here Saturday morning."
For some unexplained reason
Thomas looked relieved.
"Yas. sah," he said. You see it
were like this: When Mistah Arm
strong and the family went away. Mis-
Watson an me, we was lef' in charge
till the place was rented. Mis- Wat
son, she've bin here a good while. an
she warn skeery. So she slep' in the
house. I'd bin havin' tokens-I toll
Mis- Innes some of 'em-an l slep'
in the lodge. Then one day Mis- Wat
son, she came to me an she seZ, seZ
she: Thomas. you'll hev to sleep up
in the big house. I'm too nervous
to do 1t any more But / jes' reckon
to myself that ef it's too skeery fer
her. it's too skeery fer me. We had
II, then, sho' nuff. and 1t ended up
with Mis- Watson stayin' in the lodge
nights an me lookin' fer work at de
club
Did Mrs. Watson say that any
thing had happened to alarm herr"
No. sab. She was jes' materially
skeered. Well, that was all. far's 1
know, until the night come over to
see Mis- Innes. | come across the
valley, along the path from the club
house. and / goes home that way.
Down in the creek bottom almost
run into a man. He wuz standin' with
his back TO me. an he was workin'
with one of these yere electric light
things that fit in yer pocket. He was
havin' trouble-one minute it'd fash
out, an the mex it'd be gone. | he'd
a view of is white dress shirt an tie
as passed. didn't see his face. But
know it warn't Mr.. Arnold. 1t was
I 81 ~ a
that. Mr. Arnold was playin' cards
when / got to the club house. same's
he'd been doin' all day"
And the next morning you came
back along the path" pursued Mr..
Jameson relentlessly.
The mex mornin' come back
along the path an down where dun
see the man night befoh. picked up
this here The old man held out a
tiny object and Mr.. Jameson took it
I Then he held IL on his extended palm
for me to see. II was the other half
of the pearl cur-link,
But Mr.. Jameson was not quite
through questioning him.
And so you showed It TO Sam. at
the club. and asked him II he knew
Nho SUN a anu
Sam said-what?
Wal. Sam. he lowed he'd seen
such a pair of cuff-buttons in shirt
belongin' to Mr. Bailey-Mr. Jack
Bailey. sab"
''In keep this link, Thomas. for a
WHILE" the detective said That's
all | wanted to know. Goodnight"
As Thomas shufIied out, Mr.. jamie
son watched me sharply.
You see. Miss Innes," he said. MIR.
Bailey insists on mixing himself with
this thing. II Mr.. Bailey came here
that Friday night expecting to meet
Arnold Armstrong. and missed him
II. as l say. he had done this. might
he not. seeing him enter the following
night. have struck him down. as he
had intended before?"
But the motive?" l gasped.
There could be motive proved.
think. Arnold Armstrong and John
Bailey have been enemies since the
latter. a cashier of the Traders bank.
brought Arnold almost into the
clutches of the law. Also. you for
get that both men have been paying
attention TO Miss Gertrude. Bailey's
fight looks bad, too
And you think Halsey helped him
TO escape?"
ssIrpdouhtaIIy Wby u-hat could