The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1911-10-11

The House of the
Whispering
Pines

I'm mis- arms Just as sne TeIi 10 rue
ground before the swaying multitude.
But he was not the only one to kneei
there. with q sound Of love and mis-
cry impossible to describe Zadok had
lea ned from the box and bad groveled
at those dear feet. kissing the insensi-
BILE hands and praying for those shut
eyes to open. Even after Arthur had
lifted her into the sleigh the man re-
mained crouchlng where she had rail-
en-, with his eyes roaming back and
forth In a sightless stare from her to
myself. muttering and grooming and
totally unheedful of Arthur's COM
mapds to mount the box and drive
home. Finally some one else stepped
from the crowd and mercifully took
the relns. / caught one more glimpse
, of her face with Arthur's bent tender
" over 1t; then the sleigh slipped away.
An officer shook Zadok by the arm.
and he got up and began to move aside.
Then had mind to face my own fate,
ard, looking up, ! met Sweetwaterc
eye. -----.,
1t was quietly apologize. -'" .-
IL only wished to congratulate you"
said be, ION the conclusion of case
in which | know you are highly in
terested." Lifting his hat, be nodded
arably and was gone before | could
recover from my stupor.
1t was for Clinton to show his in
dgnation. was past all feeling.
| Farce as an afterpiece never appealed
| to me.
| Would | have considered it farce If
| could have heard the words which
| this detective was at that moment
whispering into the district attorneys
ears:
do you want to know who throttled
Adelaide Cumberland? 1t was not her
brother; it was not her lover; it was
her old and trusted coachman."
Give me your reasons. They must
be excellent ones. Sweetwater. or you
would not risk making a second mis-
take in case of this magnitude and
publicity"
mr. Fox. they are excellent. But
you shall judge of them. From the
moment Miss Carmel Cumberland over.
threw the very foundations of our case
by her remarkable testimony felt that
my work was only half done. 1t was a
strain on credulity to believe Arthur
| guilty of a crime so prefaced, and the
alternative which Mr.. Moffat believed
in. which you were beginning to believe
in and perhaps are allowing yourself
TO believe in even now, never appealed
al allude to the very natural suspi
cion that the act beheld by your mar
Clarke was q criminal act and that
Ranelagh Is the man really RESPONSE
Bile for Miss Cumberand's death. Some
instinct held me back from this con
clusion as well as the incontrovertiblt
fact that he could have had no hant
in carrying that piece of broken bottle
into the Cumberland stable or of drop
ping his engagement ring in the sug
gestive place where it was found
Where. then, should | look for the un
known, the unsupported third party
Among the ten other persons who drop
ped something into that casket.
"Most of these were children. but
made the acquaintance of every one
! spent most of my Sunday that way
then, finding no clouded eye amoni
them, | began a study of the Cumber
land servants. naturally starting viii
Zadok. For two hours | sat at hi
stable fire, talking and turning hin
inside out. as only we detectives know
how. | found him actually oveI
whelmed with grief-not the grief o
q sane man, but of one In whom tn
very springs of life are poisoned b
some dreadful remorse.
} "He did not know he revealed TIL!
, He expressed himself as full of hop
that his young master would be az
quilted the next day. But could sc
that this prospect could never still "a
worm working at his heart and resol'
: ed TO understand why. / left him o.
| tenslbly alone. but in reality shadowe
. him. The consequence was that
, the evening dusk he led me TO II
! cemetery, where ne NOOh up us N"'N
], at Miss Cumberland's grave. as II
g were a Mecca and he a passiona'
e devotee. | could hear his groans {
/. he hung to the fence and spoke soft
,. 10 the dead, and. though | was tt
far away to catch a single word.
!. felt confident that | had at last stru'
|, the right track and should soon s.
d my way more clearly than at al
Y time since this battling case opened.
n But before | allowed my fancy
@ run away with me ! put in an eveniI
S of inquiry. II this man had an abs
lutte alibi what was the use OF wal
/. ing effort upon him? But could n
d find that he had. Mr.. Fox. He we
d with the rest Of the servants TO {
Ie ball. which. you know. was held
10 Tibbitts hall. on Ford street. and
3. was seen there later. dancing a
a making merry in a way not usual