, 1910-12-15
CHAPTER XXI,


CHAPTER XXI.
Fourteen Elm Street.
II was Monday evening when we
found the body of poor Thomas. Mon
day night had been uneventful; things
were quiet at the house and the Pc
culiar circumstances of the old mans
death had been carefully kept from
the servants. Rosie took charge of
the dining room and pantry, in the alb
sence of a butler, and, except for the
warning of the Casanova doctor, every
thing breathed of peace.
Affairs at the Traders bank were
progressing slowly. The failure had
hit small stockholders very hard, the
minister OF the little Methodist chapel
in Casanova among them. He had
received as a legacy from an uncle q
few shares Of stock In the Traders
bank, and nov his Joy was turned to
bitterness; he had to sacrifice every
thing he had in the world, and his
feeling against Pau Armstrong, dead.
as he was, must have been bitter In
the extreme. He was asked to Of
ficiate at the simple services when the
dead bankers body was inferred in
Casanova c~hurchyard, but the good
man ~providentially look cold, and q
substitute was called in.
A few days. after the services he
called to see me, a kind-fsced little
man, in a very bad frook-coat and
Numbered tie. / think he was uncer.
tain as to my connection with the
Armstrong family, and dubious whsth.
er 1 considered Mr.. Armstrong; taxi
ing away a matter for coincidence or
congratulation. He was not long in
doubt.
1 liked the little man. He had Known
Thomas well, and had promised to Of
African Zion church. He told me more
of himself than he knew, and before
he left l astonished him-and myself,
l admit-by promising q new carpet
for his church. He was much affected,
and I gathered that he had ysarnsd
over his ragged chapel as Q mother
over a half-clothed child.
You are laying up treasures, Miss
Innes." he said brokenly, where
neither moth nor rust corrupt, nor
thieves break through and steal"
/ sent him home in the oar, with q
bunch Of dollhouse roses for his wife,
and he was quite overwhelmed. As
for me, l had a generous glow that
was cheap at the price of a church
carpet. ! received less Qualification
and less gratitude-when / presented
the new silver communion set to st.
Barnabas.
l had a great many things to think
about In those days. I made q list OF
questions and possible answers, but
I seemed only to be working around
In a circle. l always ended where I
began. The list was something like
this:
Who had entered the house the night
before the murder7
Thomas claimed II was Mr.. Dailsy,
whom he had seen on the f~oot-path, and
who owned the pearl cuff-link.
Why did Arnold Armstrong come bach
after he had left the house the night he
was killed?
Nc answer. Was 1T on the mission
Louise had mentioned
Who admitted him?
Gertrude said she had locked the east
entry. There was no key on the dead
man or In the door. lie must nave been
admitted from within.
Who had been locked in the clothes
chute7
Some one unfamiliar with the house,
evidently. Only two people missing from
the household, Rosie and Gertrude. Rosie
had been at the lodge. Therefore-but
was Il Gertrude? Might It not ave hssa
the mysterious intruder ugains
Who had sccosted Rosie on the drfvsf
Asain-perhaps the nightly visitor. u
seemed more likely some one who sus-
pected a secret at the lodge. Was Leu
ise under surveillance?
WHO had passed Louise on the circular
staircase7 -
Could II have been Thomasf The key
10 the east entry made this a POSSIBLE
ity. But why was he there. II II were
indeed he?
Who had mad the hole in the trunk
room wall?
II was not vandalism. 1t had been done
quietly, and with deliberate purpose. ii
/ had only known how to read the pur.-
pose of that gaping aperture !
might have saved In anxiety and mental
straini
why had Louise left her people and
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