Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-21
CHAPTER XXXII1-Continued,

Far under bench, and next to side
wall where Gaspard found the charm.
the dust which covered everything in
the place showed recent disturbance, and
footprints that were neither mine nor
Gaspard's were visible in both directions
on the floor. What is more. they were
the prints OF square-toed shoes.
l mathematical myself for a block
head, a blunderer, an idiot. as I realized
how easily I had been beaten at my own
game OF cunning: and / blushed to think
how amateurish my handling of the case
must appear to that subtle old sinner
| himself, who SO many times had boldly
waved the red flag in my face. only to
slip away from me when 1 reached out
to grasp him.
week later. with eyes that saw the
| case clearly for the first time. l thanked
an all-wise Providence that Philander
Summerf1eld did escape me that morning,
stupid though 1t made me out to be: for
| to have taken him then would have been
| to bring to disaster what had come to be
the real purpose of my investigation-the
vindication Of the name of Harrison Mil
brath.
Mr.. Mcclure I did not further trouble
The memory of his tortured face rose
before me with every thought of him
seem unwarrantable in view of the little
| that l had gained for my case. / did not
see him again for several days. for ex-
| haustion followed his evening of excite
| ment. and for two days Dolly refused to
permit even Milbrath to speak with him.
| When, however, We met again he APP
peared to have accepted the amends had
tried to make to him in the shape of
fruit and flowers, in the spirit in which
they were sent, and greeted me with his
usual cordially and friendiness But no
word of what had been said at our last
| meeting was mentioned, or was reference
made to the death of Jim Arms. Only
| the new lines of pain in the kind old face
| remained as evidence of the mental strug-
gle through which he had passed. or was
| passing: but from that hour l felt that
| Chauncey Mcclure believed me to know
all that l surmised, and later / found
of facts the existence of which at that
| time l was far from suspecting. Yet he
held his peace.
| The day following the Arms tragedy,
after talk with Milbrath. who was un-
willing to connect himself with Hors-
| ford's case, 1 laid before the coroner and
| the chief of police in Beverly the results
| OF my investigations in the matter; and
twenty-four hours later Horsford was
back at Overlook upon Milbrath's bond.
given through me, pending the public ex-
animation which the coroner had set for
the following Wednesday.
| While 1 had been detailed and explicit
| in relating to the officers my line of de-
| auctions that resulted in my conviction
! that Arms death was due to an accident
and not to murder. and had told them all
that had learned from the Arms women
about La Cour as La Cour. l refrained
from any reference to the fact that 1 had
come in contact with the man. and the
name of Philander Summarized was not
mentioned.
Nevertheless 1 determined to force Sum-
| merfield's hand by this very trump card
my unspoken belief-and the day that
found a letter on its way to Boston in
which 1 informed Mr.. Summerfield that
a man answering his description was
| wanted in Winton for the death, or as a
| witness to the accidental death, of far
mer named Arms. and that he was in
great danger of being taken and held for
the crime unless he came forward and
gave an account Of his whereabouts on
| the 9TH of September
These things accomplished there seemed
little need for our presence in Winton.
and great desire to get away seized me.
The way that l had taken hold of the
Arms mystery appeared professional to
the people of the two villages, and the
original suspicion that ] was investigat-
ing the Somhers mystery became a con-
victiOn.
Moreover. Milbrath. whose beard had
for time disguised him, had been recog-
| nized. and the cordially or the GOODNESS
with which he was received by his old
acquaintance had SO telling an effect on
his spirits that I suggested a return to
R5ston.
"Gaspard can forward by special deliv-
cry any mail that comes. so there will
be little delay in getting the answer if
We hear from the Virginia advertisement
or from Summerfield,'' l said. More
| over, we shall be on the spot when the
men on the case have something to re-
port"
Some one Of them is bound to report
some time. 1 suppose Milbrath an
| swered. but it seems deuced long time
since they went to work, and there we
been no results from them yet If the
men at the Park Square station are up
to their duty the old fellow must have
got into town by another route-if he is
there"
well. the police throughout the coun-
try are on the lookout for him now. wher-
ever he is. and he may find it difficult to
evade them for long unless he changes
his guise, which he may do. of course
I'm OF the opinion that in any case he
will return to Boston sooner or later
we get him. BY the way, l wonder
whether we'd better have the outgoing
transatlantic steamers watched?"
Milbrath laughed.
1--WE shall have the whole private de-
tective force of Boston at our beck and
call il we continue to draw on it," he
said But anything to win. Have every
dock in the country sentineled if you
think best.
'I'll consider that! But we will go to
Boston in the morning. Going to Red
Gables now?'
We had risen from the supper table and
McClureward was Milbrath's usual out
look at that hour.
Milbrath nodded and smiled.
THE old story of the spider and the
fly. Will you come with me?'
mot now. thanks. 1 think I'll have
another look at some of the things in the
little room. Perhaps I'll step over in
time to walk back with you. In any case,
give my best to the old gentleman and
the little wife,