The Tupelo journal., 1910-06-24
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|H MD a.
did come he was admitted by some
one in the house. Who knows-it maj
have been-Liddy!"
/ stirred my tea angrily.
II have always heard" I said dry
ly, that undertakers' assistants are
jovial young men. A mans sense OF
humor seems to be in inverse proper
ton t o the gravity of his profession"
"A mans sense of humor is a bar
barous and a cruel thing, Miss Innes."
he admitted. 1T is to the feminine
as the hug of a bear is to the scratch
of-well, anything with claws. Is that
you, Thomas? Come in"
Thomas Johnson stood in the door
way. He looked alarmed and appre-
hensive, and suddenly / remembered
the sealskin dressing bag in the
lodge. Thomas came just inside the
door and stood with his head droop-
ing, his eyes, under their shaggy gray
| brows, fixed on Mr.. Jameson.
Thomas" said the detective, not
unkindly, II sent for you to tell us
what you told Sam Bohannon at the
club, the day before Mr.. Arnold was
found here, dead. Let me see. You
came here Friday night to see Miss
Innes, didn't you? And came to work
here Saturday morning."
For some unexplained reason
| Thomas looked relieved.
"Yas, sah,'' he said. "You e 1t
were like this: When Mistah Arm
| strong and the family went away, Mis-
| Watson an me, we was lef' in charge
| till the place was rented. Mis- Wat
! son, she've bin here a good while, an
| she warn skeery. So she slep' in the
house. I'd bin havin' tokens-I toll
| Mis- Innes some of 'em-an' l slep'
in the lodge. Then n day Mis- Wat
son, she came to me an she SEE, SEE
she: Thomas, you'll hev to sleep up
in the big house. I'm too nervous
to do it any. more But l jes' reckon
to myself that eff It's too skeery fer
her, it's too skeery fer me. We had
it, then, sho' huff, and it ended up
with Mis- Watson stayin' in the lodge
nights an me lookin' fer work at de
club"
did Mrs. Watson say that any
thing had happened to alarm herr"
mo, sab. She was jes' materially
skeered. Well, hat vas all, fairs /
know, until the night / come owe to
see Mis- lines. l come across the
valley. along the path from the club
house, and | goes home that way.
| Down in the creek bottom l almost
run into a man. He wuz standin' with
his back to me, an he was workin'
with one of these yere electric light
things that fit in yer pocket. He was
havin' trouble-one minute it'd flash
out. an the mex it'd be gone. l he'd
a view of is white dress shirt an tie,
as | passed. l didn't see his face. But
know it warn't Mr.. Arnold. 1t was
a taller mar than Mr.. Arnold. Besides
that. Mr.. Arnold a playin' cards
when 1 got to the club house, same's
he'd been doin' all day"
"And the next morning you came
! back along the PATH" pursued Mr..
Jameson relentlessly.
1.-The mex mornin' l come back
along the path an down where | dun
see the man night befoh, l picked up
this here" The old man held out a
tiny object and Mr.. Jameson took 1t.
Then he held 1t on his extended palm
for me to see. 1t was the other half
of the pearl cuff-link!
But Mr.. Jameson was not quite
through questioning him.
"And so you showed it to Sam, at
| the club, and asked him If he knew
any one who owned such a link, and
Sam said-what?"
oval, Sam, he lowed he'd seen
such a pair of cuff-buttons in a shirt
belongin' to Mr.. Bailey-Mr. Jack
Bailey, sah."
"Ill keep this link, Thomas, for a
WHILE" the detective said. That's
all | wanted to know. Goodnight"
AS Thomas shufied out, Mr.. jamie
son watched me sharply.
"You see, Miss Innes," he said, Mr..
Bailey insists on mixing himself with
this thing. If Mr.. Bailey came here
that Friday night expecting to meet
Arnold Armstrong. and missed him
if, as I say, he had done this, might
he not, seeing him enter the following
night, have struck him down, as he
had intended before?"
"But the motive?" I gasped.
There could be motive proved, l
think. Arnold Armstrong and John
Bailey have been enemies since the
latter, a cashier of the Traders bank,
brought Arnold almost into the
| clutches of the law. Also. 0 for
get that both men have been paying
attention to Miss Gertrude. Bailey's
| fight looks bad, too"
And you think Halsey helped him
to escape?"
cTo BE coNTINUED)