Evening star., 1912-09-22

meet"
A door was thrown open above. and Clan
cy realized that he must hurry. He was
greatly tempted to stuff Mrs. Delamar' s vol
luminous missive into his pocket; but for
bore. Such proceeding would not only be
wholly unwarrantable, drawback that
would not have weighed with him for an in
slant, but it might also prove a real blunder,
because Mrs. Delamars first sentient
thought must travel to her precious cor
respondence If the letter was missing, it
would need more than bewildered owl to
account for its disappearance.
So he skinned a few pages with lightning
speed. They told of the inquest, of her
iournevs, of the anxiety with which she was
consumed Fortunately" ran one phrase,
al had left Absecon for New York before my
husband went away in the cutter for the last
time" Another, 1--WE had wretched scene
on the Monday" A third. "For once l was
really afraid; but stuck to my guns And
the last, for the stairs were creaklng under a
heavy descending step, ooh, what relief it
is to wake and know that am free! Now
can act openly. Before, there was always
the dread of discovery and the impossibility
of taking decisive plunge
Clancy fitted out like a ghost, just as
Hopkins reached the hall. In fact, ne was
not sure the man had not seen him, until the
absence of any outcry showed that pursuit
was not to be feared in that quarter.
In the center of the lawn his foot touched
the dead body of the owl. He would have
liked to carry it away as a trophy, just to
convince Steingall; but again resisted his
first impulse, because its discovery next
morning would allay any suspicion of the
presence of other intruders.
"Where are you?' he whispered, halting
in front of the black wall of foliage, and a
hand was stretched forth to guide him.
They managed to reach the boatshed with
out arousing any other inhabitants of the
trees, and the policeman, who was skilled in
the management of boat, used the leverage
of an oar to push off into deep water; for the
craft was not quite afloat, owing to the fall
of the tide
"Well," said the man, when they had
dropped a good way down channel, "that
was quare go, Mr.. Clancy, wasn't it?'
II have seldom known a quarer,' agreed
Clancy.
"An' just because that blessed owl flew
at her, she said she wasn't fit to die" went
on the other in awed tones.
"People often say that when they really
mean that they are not tit to live, said
Clancy, and the policeman, glancing over
his shoulder to ascertain his direction, re-
marked that some folk were quare, they
were.
CLANCY'S first care on reaching the po-
liceman's home was to copy into his
notebook every syllable he could remember
of the contents of the two letters scanned
under such singular conditions. Then he
went to the comfortable bedroom kindly
placed at his disposal, and was sound asleep
in five minutes.
Next morning came a registered package
addressed in Steingall's handwriting. Within
was book, bound in vellum, and fitted with
a lock and key; note from the chief ac-
companied it. This ran:
My DEAR CLANCy.--Inside the cover of the
inclosed diary you will find two letters,-one
dated the first inst. from Kyrle to his friend
Leon Anthony. NJ. A. professor of Hebrew at
Harvard University; the other. of yesterdays
date. from Professor Anthony to the Com
missioner of Police. New York. have SKINNED
through the diary. and have jotted down on a
separate slip some of the pages in which occur
passages bearing on your present inquiry. If,
after weighing the facts carefully, you think fit
to turn over the whole affair to the New Jersey
authorities (who will. of course, arrest Mrs.
Delamar forthwith on the capital charge), you
have my sanction for adopting this course.
You may, however, have some reason for hold
ing your hand at the moment; so / leave you
full liberty of action. Naturally, the statements