Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-05-06
By Mary Roberts-Rjnehart

, she wanted?"
II kept them with me that night
and the next morning hid them IN the
secret closet. That was when drop
ped my fountain pen!"
"And the pearls?" Margery asked
suddenly. when did you get them
Harry"
To my surprise his face did not
change. He appeared to be thinking
1.-TWO days before I left" he said
"We we're using every method to g t
money, and your father said to sacri'
fee them, if necessary"
my fathernm'
He wheeled on us both.
Did you think stole them?"
demanded. And confess that was
ashamed to say had thought precise
ly that.
"Your father gave me nine unmount.
ed pearls to SELL" he reiterated. II
got about a thousand dollars for them
eleven hundred and something,
| believe
a., Margery looked at me. think she
was fairly stunned. To learn that her
father had married again, that he had
been the keystone in an arch of vii
lainy that with him gone, was now
about to fall, and to associate him with
SO small and mean thing as the theft
Of handful of pearls-she was tair-
ly stunned.
Then" said, to bring Wardrop
back to his story, you found you had
been robbed of the money, and you
went to tell Mr.. Fleming. You had
some words. didn't you?"
HE thought what you all thought"
Wardrop said bitterly. HE accused
me of stealing the money. felt
worse than thief. He was desperate,
and took his revolver from him.
Margery had put her hands over her
eyes. 1t was terrible strain for her,
but when | suggested that she wait
for the rest of the story she refused
vehemently.
81 came back here to Bellwood, and
the first thing learned was about
Miss Jane. When I saw the blood
print on the stair rail- thought she
was murdered, and I had more than
could stand. l took the letters out
Of the secret closet, before | could
show it to you and Hunter, and later
l put them in the leather bag l gave
you, and locked 1t. You have 1t,
haven't you, Knox?'
nodded.
"As for that night at the club, told
the truth then, but not all the truth.
suppose am coward, but was
tafraid to. If you knew Schwartz, you
would understand"
With the memory of his huge figure
and the heavy, under-shot face that ]
had seen the night before, l could
understand very we'll, knowing War
drop.
II went to that room at the White
Cat that night, because was afraid
not to go. Fleming might kill himself
or some one else. went up the stairs
slowly, and heard no shot. At the
door hesitated, then opened 1t quiet
ly The door into the built-in stair
case was just closing. 1t must have
taken me only an instant to realize
what had happened. Fleming was
swaying forward as I caught him.
jumped to the staircase and looked
down, but | was too late. The door
below had closed. knew in another
minute who had been there, and es-
capped. 1t was raining, you remember,
and Schwartz had forgotten to take
his umbrella with his name on the
handel"
Schwartz
"Now do you understand why
was being followed?" he demanded.
81 have been under surveillance every
minute since that night. There's prob
ably some one hanging around the
To Av,xy T FRO n
saw how it looked for me, and If had
brought Schwartz into it. would have
been knitted in forty.eight hours.
hardly remember what did. | know
I ran fora doctor, and l took the UNI
brel]a with me and left it in the yes
thule of the first house l saw with
doctors sign. I rang the bell like
crazy man, and then Hunter came
along and said to go back; Doctor
Gray was at the club.
That is all know. I'm not proud
of it, Margery, but it might have been
worse, and it's the truth. 1t clears
up something, but not all. 1t doesn't
tell where Aunt Jane is, or who has
the hundred thousand. But it does
show who killed your father. And If
you know what is good for you, Knox,
you will let it go at that. You can't
fight the police ard the courts single
handed. Look how the whole thing was
dropped, and the most cold-blooded
kind of murder turned into suicide.
Suicide without weapon Bah!
II am not so sure about Schwartz,
I said thoughtfully. Eve haven't yet
learned about eleven twenty-five c.
CHAPTER XIV.
Miss Jane Maitland had been miss.
ing for ten days. In that time not
one word had come from her. The re-
porter from the Eagle had located her
in a dozen places, and was growing
thin and haggard following little old
ladies along the street-and being sent
about his business tartly when he
tried to make inquiries.
Some things puzzled me more than
ever in the light Of Wardrop's story.
For the third time 1 asked myself why
Miss Letitia denied the loss of the
pearls. There was nothing in what
we had learned, either, to tell why
Miss Jane had gone away-to ascribe
motive.
How she had gone, in view OF Ward
rop's story of the cab, was clear. She