The Ocala evening star., 1911-06-19

! have no wish to attract attention to
myself or to be identified with the po-
lice until the necessity is forced upon
me-"
Then we won't go in together" de-
cided Hexford. Find your own place;
yoHe> won't have any difficulty. A
crowd<isn't expected Miss Cumber-
lands condition forbids it
Sweetwater nodded and slid in at
the side dsor He found himself at
once in a marrow hall from the end
of which opened a large room. y few
people were t0\ be seen in this latter
place, and his first instinct vas TO
join them; but, finding that few min
utes yet remained before the hour set
for the services. he. decided to i'm
prove them by a rapid glance about
this hall, which. for certain reasons
hardly as yet formulated in his own
mind, had a peculiar interest for him.
+ The most important object within
view, according to his present judg-
ment, was the staircase which con-
nected it with the floor above, but II
you had asked his reason for this con-
clusion he would not have told you.
as Ranelagh might have done. that 1t
was because it was the most direct and
convenient approach 10 Carmel Cum
berlandS room. His notice led him
next to a rack upon which hung sew
eral coats and a gentlemans hat.
He inspected the former and noted
that one was finished with a high col
lar, but he passed the latter by-it was
not 4 derby. The table stood next
the rask. and on it's top lay nothing
more Interesting than a clothesbrush
and one or two other insignificant OBJ
jects; but with his memory for de-
tails, he had recalled the keys which
one of the maids had picked sdp some
where about this house andflaid on a
nall table If this We're the hall and
this the table. then was every inch Of
the latter's simple eloth covered top Of
the greatest importapceSin his eyes.
He had no furthefA time for even
these cursory investigations. Hexford's
step could be heard on the veranda.
and Sweetwater was anxious to locate
himself before the officer came in. En-
tering the room before him, he crossed
/ to the small group clustered in its
farther doorway There were several
empty chairs in sight, but he passed
around them all to a dark and incon-
/ spicuous corner from which without
effort he copld take in every room on
that floor from the large parlor in
which theScasket stood to the remotest
region oftthe servants hall.
The clergyman had not yet descend
ed, and Sweetwater had time to OBJ
serve the row of little girls sitting in
FRONT of the bearers, each with a small
cluster of white flowers in her hand
t Miss Cumberland's Sunday school
class, he cOnjectured. and conjectured
rightly. He also perceived that some
of these children loved her. His eyes
dwelt lingeringly on these before pass.
| ing to that heaped up mound of flow
ers under which lay a murdered body
and a bruised heart. He could not see
the face. but the spectacle was sufh-
ciently awe compelling without that
Would it have seemed yet more so had
he known at whose request the huge
bunch of lilies had been placed over
that silent heart?
uc SlSlcE SICK, lue
BILE, there was little more to hold his
attention in this quarter. SO he let il
roam across the heads of the people
about him to the distant hall commu
nicating with the kitchen.
Il Several persons were approaching
from this direction. among them Ia
dOk-the servants of the house, nc
) doubt, for they came in all together
and sat down side by side in the
chairs Sweetwater had so carefully
; passed by. There We're five persons
In all-two men and three women
Only two interested him-Zadok. witt
whom be had already made a super
fetal acquaintance and had had one
bout, and a smart, bright eyed gir
with Il resolute mouth softened by al
insistaQt dimple who struck him a:
possessing excellent sense and some
natural eieverness. A girl to know
end a girl talk to was his insf fan
taneous judgment.
During the \services Sweetwatel
found himself Matching, with anx
ious curiosity. the\attitude And alb
sorbed expression of>a good looking
young man whom he way far from
suspecting to be the secret[epresenta
tive of the present SUSPECT, Nhom no
body could forget. yet Whom nobody
wished to remember At this halfswec
hour
Had this attitude{and this absorb
ton been directed Toward the caske
over which the Fclergymans word:
rose and fell WITH ever increasing i'm
pressiveness he might have noted th'
man but would scarcely have beer
held by him. But this interest. sin
cere and streng as it undoubtedly was
centered nof so much in the services
careful as Jfe was TO maintain a Ge
corous atptude toward the same. bu
in the faint murmurs which now ant
then came down from above. wher,
unconseiousness reignco and III,
stricken brother watched over the de
lirious SiSte' with a concentration
and abandonment 10 fear which mad
him obliviCus OF all other duties ant
almost as unconscious OF the rite
then being held below over one VIII,
had been as a mother 10 him as tn
sick girl herself. with her ce0SeleS
and Unfortunate lila. Lila" III
detective, watching this preoccupie'
stranger. shared in some measure hi
. secret emotions and thus was pre-
pared for the unexpected occurrenc
of a few minutes later.
The final words had been said an,
the friends present invited to loo
! tbair laSr IN tho 90 I'm faca which =