Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-05-09
cHApTER. xxy.-continued.

to the White Cat, and for week
Ellen Butler hunted him vainly she
had decided to kill him, and on the
night Margery Fleming had found the
paper on the pillow, she had been IN
the house. She was not the only In
truder in the house that night. Some
one-persumably Fleming himself
had been there before her. She found
a ladies' desk open and small draw
er empty. Evidently Fleming, unable
to draw check while IN h1dlng, nao
needed ready money. AS to the Jew
els that had been disturbed IN Marg-
ery's boudoir, could only surm1se the
impulse that, after prompting him 10
take them, had failed at the sight OF
his dead wife's jewels. Surprised by
the girls appearance, she had crept 10
the upper floor and concealed herself
in an empty bedroom. 1t had been
almost dawn before she got out. NO
doubt lis was the room belonging TO
the butler. Carter, which Margery hao
reported as locked that night.
She took key from the door OF a
side entrance and locked the door be-
hind her when she left. Within
couple of nights she had learned that
Wardrop was coming home from
Plattsburg, and she met him at Bell
wood. We already knew the nature
of that meeting. She drove back to
town, half maddened by her failure TO
secure the letters that would nave
cleared her husbands memory, but the
wiser by one thing: Wardrop had IN
advertently told her where Fleming
was hiding.
The next night she went to the
White Cat and tried to get IN. she
knew from her husband of the secret
staircase, for many political meet
ing of the deepest significance had
been possible by it's use. But the door
was locked, and she had no key.
Above her the warehouse raised It's
empty height, and it was not long be-
fore she decided to see what she could
learn from it's upper windows. she
went in at the gate and felt her way,
through the rain, to the windows.
At that moment the gate opened sud-
denly and a man muttered something
in the darkness. The shock was terri
BILE.
had no idea, that night, of what
my innocent stumbling into the ware
house yard had meant to half-crazed
woman just beyond my range OF vision.
After a little she got her courage
again, and she pried up an unlocked
window.
The rest of her progress must have
been much as ours had been, rev
nights later She found window that
commanded the club, and with three
possibilities that she would lose, ana
would see the wrong room, she won
the fourth. The room lay directly be-
fore her, distinct in every outline, with
Fleming seated at the table, facing
her and sorting some papers.
She rested her revolver on the sill
and took absolutely deliberate aim.
Her hands were cold. and she even
rubbed them together, to make them
steady. Then she fired, and crash
of thunder at the very instant covered
the sound.
Fleming sat for moment before he
swayed forward. On that instant she
realized that there was some one else
in the room-a man who took an un.
certain step or two forward into view,
threw up his hands and disappeared
as silently as he had come. 1t was
Schwartz. Then she saw the door into
the hall open, saw Wardrop come slow
ly in and close it, watched his sicken.
ing realization Of what had occurred;
then q sudden panic seized her. Arms
seemed to stretch out from the dark
ness behind her, to draw her into It..
She tried to get away, to run, even to
scream-then she tainted. 1t was gray
dawn when she recovered her senses
and got back to the hotel room she
had taken under an assumed name.
BY night she was ,quieter. She
read the news of Fleming's death in
the papers, and she gloated over It,
But there was more to be done; she
was only beginning. She meant to
ruin Schwartz to kill his credit, to
fell him with the club Of public dis
favor. Wardrop had told her that her
husbands letters were with other
papers at the Monmouth avenue house,
where he could not get them.
Fleming's body was taken home
that day, Saturday, but she had gone
too far to stop. She wanted the pap
ers before Lightfoot could get at them
and destroy the discriminating ones.
That nigh. she got into the Fleming
house, using the key she had taken.
She ransacked the library, finding, not
the letters that Wardrop had said were
there, but others, equally or more In
eliminating. Cancelled notes, private
accounts, that would have ruined
Schwartz for ever.
1t was then that / saw the light and
went downstairs. My unlucky STUN
bic gave her warning enough to turn
out the light. For the rest, the chase
through the back hall, the dining-room.
and the pantry, had eliminated in her
escape up the back stairs, while had
fallen down the dumb-waiter shaft.
She had run into Bella on the upper
floor, Bella, who had almost tainted,
and who knew her and kept her until
morning, petting her and soothing her,
and finally getting her into troubled
sleep.
That day she realized that she was
being followed. When Edith's invita-
ton came she accepted 1t at once, for
the sake of losing herself and her pap
ers, until she was ready to use them.
It had disconnected her to find Marg-
cry there, but she managed to get
along. For several. days everything
had gone well: she was getting strong