The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1910-06-02

so | deliberately belittled you. Well all
the better for the work that you know
best how to CO."
he hubbub to which CrOnkite refer
red had already ceased when the Judge
descended. The servants had vanished,
having set the floors in order. The guests
were gathering at breakfast. and if there
was any excitement III their talk it was
furtive and suppressed.
With her finger to her lips, old Anne
Intercepted the lawyer i'll the hall and
conducted him to her mistreSs's sitting
room. Again the judge was amazed as
he studied the appearance Of his hostess
The unchanged. the unchanging, had
changed over night. The placid mask
was cracked with the haggard lines OI
age. Was it not weight OF worry! Was
it not fear for self?
You have heard?" whispered Mrs
over her shoulder
L not only have heard but | have
started an investigation, with every sign
of success" he answered.
Let it be secret, then. AS soon as
the first fatal cOmmotiOn was over
took the blame on myself, said that ]
was nervous during the night and had
hidden the pearls under my pillow. They
may not believe; they must heed"
Your guests may be kept in the dark
for all of me- declared the judge; but
if l work it must be in the light
i am afraid-of Harry"
Your husbands nephew, loved and
trusted by him, fine young fellow too
You excite yourself unnecessarily"
You don't understand. We quar-.
reled. l drove him away. He warned
me that | would regret it if dared dis
REGARD MI Springstead's wishes"
warned you too, madam, that you
should carry out your husbands fire.
quently expressed desire, though he did
not bind you, that Harry Branch should
be your heir. Public opinion, | might
almost say common decency, would also
warn you. He is nearest of kin. though
ON the female side, and
:, AND let that creature reign as Ms
Sp !Ig in my stead? Never!'
what cIeatureY
Miss Image, my maid of all work.
MISS Image, if you please. He had the
effrontery to assert his love for her 70
me. Between them they stole the pearls
the Springstead pearls. Between them
they will kill me, because, oh, be-
% 81, II p pray you be calm, madam. Be
Because they believe that they can
make 1t appear that l, oh, God! l com
united both acts! For mercy's sake
Judge, L lmpiore you, if you must work
rather fly to the uttermost parts of fine
earth where l might be myself. Mrs.
Sprlngstead, again without fear. the fer.
ror that walketh-helpr'
Here the judge was forced to call old
Anne to care for her frantic mistress
was forced to go unenlightened from an
interview which raging brain fever pres
emily prohibited from renewal. to work
with the guests in the dark.
Meanwhile Abe Cronkite had descend
ed to the half way social station occu-
pied by the butler, the coachman and old
Anne, the maid. 1t connected the luxury
OF the dining room with the necessity
or the kitchen by a passage on which
abutted several cOsey apartments The
detective made himself comfortable with
newspaper and pipe in the one of these
into Which the rear stairs opened.
lie was, however, so little affected by
the lull of either that presently he darted
to the second step of the stairs and
picked out from the dust of tbe the Corner nG
an object whose soft light had caught his
sharp eyes. 1t was a pearl, one of the
Sprlngstead pearls, with a bit of gold
hllgree still clinging to it.
over his paper and pipe Cronkite
thought of the shadowy form he had seen
slipping down from the sitting room
when he had answered the judges call
to the library the evening before Might
not that have been the shadow of the
thief instead of an eavesdropper: might
it not have been the shadow of both?
The pearl had lain in a clean corner,
through layer of dust. This
might well indicate that the stairs had
been thoroughly swept the day before.
even as on account of the excitement
they might have been hurriedly swept
that morning. 1t must therefore have
been dropped at some unnoticed instant
between. Why not when this unknown
shadow had descended, angered over
what had been overheard, absorbed with
the revenge or reprisal that had been
taken either through the negligence of
Miss Image in not properly locking the
safe or through a furtive knowledge of
its combination?
The fligree fragment on the pearl
also held his attention 1t ended in a
jagged wire on one side and in ball on
the other, plainly showing that the pearl
itself had been at the bottom of one Of
the pendants of the girdle-a conspicuous
place, from which its absence must sure
ly be noted Would not search then be
made for it and would not the identity of
the searcher establish the identity of the
thief?
Cronkite cautiously worked his way
down into the cellar a capacious space
broken by stout pillars into compart
ments for the storage of provisions, and
other household needs and the collection
of debris. AT a shadowy sight and
slighter sound from the compartment
used for the latter purpose he noiselessly
CROPPED until from behind a side pillar
he could discern what was occurring
within.
A woman, an old woman, was bending
over one of the barrels of dust, furtively,
feverishly, sitting every particle of it
through her tremulous hands She had
reached the bottom, already she was
was groaning with disappointment. al
ready turning avidly to the other barrel.
Cronkite deity threw the filigree pearl
into the top of the other barrel, where
it nestled among the rubbish like dew
lrOp-and just in time. 1t was enclosed
n the first clutching handful 1t was
disclosed by the first frantic inspection.
With a mothers rapturous Groom the
drew the pearl girdle from her
BOSOM and fastened the missing gem i'll
is place.
An hour later Cronkite joined the
udge in his room.
"Where have you been, Abe, and what
lave you been doing?" demanded the
inpatient lawyer ''There is the deuce
md all in The house"
"And in that all must be included,
r, the pearl girdle," replied the detec-
i've.
"What do you mean by that? Have
'ou seen it? Do you know where it is?''
1T is back in the safe, sir, the least
likely place for search to be made for
to-
"Preposterous: Put back there by
vhom?"
"By Mrs. Springstead herself
Impossible. She had a hysterical at
ack in my presence little more than
IN hour ago. Her maid has assured me
hat the nhvSician nrnn nuncns, her down