Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-03-23

Stolen, although believe the theft
was incidental to something else"
Mrs. Klopton came in at that mo-
ment, with an egg-neg in her hand.
She glanced at the clock, and, with
out addressing any one in particular,
she intimated that it was time for self
respecting folks to be at home in bed.
Mcknight, who could never resist a
fling at her back, spoke to me in a
stage whisper.
rs she talking still? or AGAIN." he
asked, just before the door closed.
There was a seconds indecision with
the knob, then, judging discretion the
better part Mrs. Klopton went away.
Nov, them" Mcknight said, set
ting himself in a chair beside the
bed, spit it out. Not the wreck
know all l want about that But the
theft. | can tell you beforehand that
it was a woman"
1 had crawled painfully out of bed,
and was in the act of pouring the egg
nog down the pipe Of the washstand.
I paused, with the glass in the air.
"a woman!" l repeated, startled.
what makes you think that?"
You don't know the first principles
Of a good detective yarn" he said
scornfully. "Of course, it was the
woman in the empty house next door.
You said it was brass pipes, you will
remember. Well-on with the dance;
let joy be unconf1ned."
Sol told the story; had told it so
many times that day that did it au-
tomatically. And l told about the girl
with the bronze hair, and my suspic-
ions. But 1 did not mention Alison
West Mcknight listened to the end
without interruption. When 1 had
finished he drew long breath.
"Well!'' he said That's something
of mess, isn't it? If you can only
prove your mild and chiIdlike dispo-
sition, they couldn't hold you for the
murder-which is a regular ten-twent-
thirt crime, anyhow. But the notes
that's different. They are not burned,
anyhow. Your man wasn't on the
train-therefore, he wasn't in the
wreck. If he didn't know what he was
taking, as you seem to think, he prob
ably reads the papers, and unless he
is fathead, he's awake by this time
to what he's got. He'll try to sell
them to Bronson, probably"
Cor to u.s." put in.
We said nothing for a few minutes.
Mcknight smoked a cigarette and
stared at a photograph of Candida
over the mantel. Candida is the best
pony for a heavy mount in seven
states.
81 didn't go to Richmond" he OBJ
my own thoughts SO closely that 1
started. Miss West is not home yet
from Seal Harbor."
Receiving no response, he lapsed
again into thoughtful silence. Mrs.
Klopton came in just as the clock
struck one, and made preparation for
the night by putting a large gaudy
comfortable into an arm chair in the
dressing room, with a smaller, stiff
backed chair for her feet. She was
wonderfully attired in dressing gown
that was reminiscent, in parts, of all
the ones she had given me for a half
dozen Christmases, and she had a pur-
pie veil wrapped around her head, to
hide heaven knows what deficiency.
She examined the empty egg-nog
glass, inquired what the evening paper
had said about the weather, and Their
stalked into the dressing room, and
preparmed, with much ostentatious
creaking, to sit up all night
We fell silent again, while Nc
knight traced a rough outline of the
berths on the white tablecover, and
puzzled it out slowly. 1t was some
thing like this: