The Forrest City times., 1912-11-01
CHAPTER W.
Katharine Speaks.

Katharine Speaks.
 If l had been alone I would have gone directly to the Parrish home. was anxious about Louise. l had not seen her since the night before, though l had telephoned her early in the morning. greatly regretted hadng to leave her so much by herself in such distressful circumstances. l thought 1t wiser now to prepare her beforehand for the inspectors com ing. 1 wanted him to see the Parrish home. l felt that if he met Louise and realized the luxury and comfort fin which the family lived he would better appreciate the mystery and my determination to solve it.
 l suggested luncheon at Martins and Davis assented. As soon as we had obtained table l excused my self and hastened to the telephone. Louise told me that the condition of both her father and Katharine was practically unchanged. l briefly sum- marized my mornings work and asked af I might bring the. inspector after Luncheon.
 By all means" said Louise, bring him right over. want to meet him and there may be some things I can tell him which will aid him."
 When returned to the cafe on the Broadway side. where I had left the Inspector, I found him abstractedly rolling little pellets of bread and plac- ing them in various positions on the cloth. So absorbed was he in his oc- equation that he hardly seemed to note my return. His flying fingers would hastily mold three or four pellets in ias many seconds. Placing them in . row. he would eye them intently Occasionally he would swoop down on some unoffending pellet and sweep it to the floor. Two or three times l tried to interrupt him to learn what he wished to eet, but each time he waved me impatiently away. Finally, not desiring to delay too long over luncheon, l gave the waiter the order without consulting him. Mechanically he ate what was put before him, all the while keeping up his game with bread balls.
 Knowing him as well as I did, after studying closely his eccentric move ments, l felt sure that the array of pellets was closely allied with the mental process by which he was seek ing to solve the Parrish mystery. The larger pellets, decided, must be the various theories about the yellow let ter or letters and their origin. The smaller pellets were the different per sons connected with the case. One by one he pushed the larger pellets from the table until a single pellet remained. The smaller ones he kept arranging and rearranging until at last he seemed satisfied. The single sur viving large pellet stood directly on crease in the cloth. On one side equally distant from the crease. but close to each other, he had placed two of the smaller pellets The rest were in three groups on the other side of the line. For perhaps five minutes he carefully studied their position without shifting them and then with quick motion of his hand swept them all to the floor.
 ] There was some purpose distinctly criminal connected with the yellow letters," he said as if for the first time aware of my presence, and be- coming as loquacious as he had before been silent When We have run this mystery to earth We will find that there are two of the criminals-only two guilty"
 Guilty of what?" I asked in amaze ment.
 q haven't the slightest idea as yet" he replied with such apparent frank ness that I suspected he was not tell ing me all his thought. Evil ideas are of three kinds-the solitary, the pair, the group. Crimes are merely the physical expression of evil ideas and bear the same classification. The solitary evil idea manifests itself in . variety of crimes. In this class be- long defaleations. poisonings, crimes against women and generally the as- sassinaion of private individuals. These are the hardest crimes to dis cover and punish. The evil idea is not communicated. This sort of criminal seldom has eonfidants. Often, in fact almost always. he masks his villainy behind the cloak Of respectability. Most of these offenses are due to ma. mia, to blood-lust, to a desire for re- venge for real or imaginary wrongs.
 Evil ideas of the pair are generally Attributable to rncney-lust. In such