The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-01-07
CHAPTER VIII.
IN THE ROUND OF THE sTAIRCAS

IN LIE hOSND VI L HE 81 aIhtaSG
The next morning Mr. Gryce received
, small communication from Miss Butter
/, worth at or near the very time she re
, ceived one from him. Hers ran:
You were quite correct. So far as ap
} pears, ! was the only person to lean owe
Mr. Adams's study table after his unfor
tunate death. | have had to clip the end
of my boa"
His was equally laconic:
"My compliments, madam! Mr.. Ad
amss jaws have been forced apart. 4
small piece of paper was found clinchet
between his teeth. This paper has beer
recovered, and will be read at the inquest
Perhaps few favored persons may bt
granted the opportunity of reading it be
fore then, notably yourself"
OF the two letters the latter naturally
occasioned the greater excitement in the
recipient The compacency of Miss But.
terworth was superb and being the result
of something that could not be communi.
Gated to those about her, occasioned in
the household much speculation as to its
cause.
AT police headquarters more than one
man was kept busy listening to the idle
The results which had failed to follow the
first days publication of the crime came
rapidly in during the second There were
innumerable persons of all ages and condi-
tions who were ready to tell how they
| had seen this and that one issue from Mr.
| Adams's house on the afternoon of his
death, but when asked to give description
| of these persons, lost themselves in gen
eralties as tedious as they were unproft-
able. One garriilous old woman had OBJ
served lady of genteel appearance open
the door to an elderly gentleman in a
great-coat; and fashionably dressed
young woman came in all breathless to re-
late how young man with a very pale
young lady on his arm ran against her as
she was going by this house at the very
murdered. She could not be sure of know
say if the young lady was blonde or bru-
nette, only that she was awfully pale and
had a beautiful gray feather in her hat.
Others were ready with similar stories,
which confirmed, without adding to, the
facts already known, and night came on
without much progress having been made
toward the unravelling of this formidable
mystery.
On the next day Mr.. Adams's funeral
took place. No relatives or intimate
friends having come forward, his landlord |
attended to these rites and his banker |
acted the part of chief mourner. As his |
body was carried out of the house, a half
dozen detectives mingled with the crowd
blocking the thoroughfare in front, but
nothing came of their surveillance here or
speedily carried. The problem which had
been presented to the police had to be
worked out from such material as had al
ready come to hand; and, in forcible rec
ognition of this fact, Mr.. Gryce excused
himself one evening at headquarters and
proceeded quite alone and on foot to the
dark and apparently closed house in which
The tragedy had occurred.
He entered with key, and once inside,
proceeded to light up the whole house.
This done, he took look at the study, q
Jaw that the cross had been replaced on {
he wall, the bird-cage rehung on its hook l
lnder the ceiling, and everything put in its g
yonted order, with the exception of the
broken castings, which still yawned in v
tate of disrepair on either side of the f
doorway leading into the study. The steel
,late had been showed back into the place
prepared for it by Mr.. Adams, but tie fl
limpses still to be seen of its blue surface
through the hole made in the wall of the t
nte-chamber formed anything but an at
ractive feature in the scene, and Mr..
'ryce, with something of the instinct and
luch of the deftness of housewife, pro- b
eeded to pull up couple of rugs from the Il
arlor floor and string them over these b
penings. Then he consulted his watch, h
nd finding that it was within an hour of fl
inc o'clock, took up his stand behind the
lrtains of the parlor window. Soon, for g,
he person expected was as prompt as him. ST
If, he saw carriage stop and lady
light, and he fastened to the front door al