The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-02-01

80 chIIeu CRIME. nut tue knowledge
which came later OF how. the police
first learned Of trouble az the clubhouse
did not add TO this sense OF relief
whatever satisfaction It gave my curl
osity. A cry OF distress had come TO
them over the telephone. a wild cry In
a woman's choked and tremulous voice:
Help at the Whispering Pinesl Helpv'
That was all. or all they revealed to
me. In their endeavor to find out
whether or not l was present when
this call was made learned the ma
ture of their own suspicious. They be-
lieved that Adelaide m some moment
OF provision had managed to reach the
telephone and send out this message.
1t was In q condition OF mingled
dread and expectation that / opened
the paper which was brought me the
next morning. Arthur. the good-for-
nothing brother. had returned from
his wild carouse and had taken affairs
In charge with something like spirit
and a decent show OF repentance for
his own shortcomings and the mad
taste for liquor which had led him
away from home that night. Carmel
was still i'll and likely to be so for
many days to. come. Her case was
diagnosed as one OF brain fever and OF
most dangerous type. Doctors and
nurses were busy at her bedside. and
little hope was held out Of her being
able to tell soon. IL ever. what she
knew of her sisters departure from
the house on that fatal evening. That
her testimony on this point would be
invaluable was self evident, for proofs
were plenty Of her having haunted her
sisters rooms all the evening ip con-
dition of more or less delirium. She
was alone I'm the house, and this may
have added TO her anxieties. all of the
servants having gone to the police
mems ball. 1t was on their return in
the early morning hours that she had
been discovered lying i'll and injured
before her sisters fireplace.
One fact was mentioned which set
me thinking The keys of the club
house had been found lying on table
In the side hall OF the Cumberland
mansion-the keys which I have al
ready mentioned as missing from my
pocket-an alarming discovery which
might have acted as a clew to the sus-
picious feared II their presence there
had not been explained by the wait
ress who had cleared the table after
dinner. Coming upon these keys lying
OIL the floor beside one of the chairs,
she had carried them out into the hall
and laid them where they would be
more readily seen. she had not rec
ognized the keys. but had taken 1t for
rranted that they belonged to Mr..
I;anelagh. who had dined at the house
that night.
They were my keys. and have al
ready related how 1 came to drop them
Gu the floor. Had they but stayed
there! Adelaide. or was 1t Carmel.
right not have seen them and been
I'D by some strange IL not tragic pur-
ose. incomprehensible TO us now and
possibly never to find full explanation,
to enter the secret and forsaken spot
where later found them. the one
dead. the other fleeing In frenzy. but
not In such q thoughtless frenzy as to
forget these keys or TO fall TO lock the
clubhouse door behind her. That she
on her return home should have had
sufficient presence of mind to toss these
keys down in the same place from
which she or her sister had taken
them argued well for her clear head
edness up to that moment. The fever
must have come on later. W
The next paragraph detailed fact
startling enough to rouse my deepest
interest. Zadok Brown. the Cumber-
lands coachman. declared that Ar
thurs cutter and what he called the
gray mare had been out that night.
They were both in place when he re-
turned to the stable toward early
morning. but the signs were unmistak-
able that both had been out in the
snow since he left the stable at about
0. He had locked the stnble door
at that time. but the key always hung
In the kitchen where any one could
get IL. This was on account of Ar
thur. who. II he wanted to go out
late. sometimes harnessed horse
himself. Zadok judged that he had
done so this night. though how the
horse happened to be back and in her
stall and no Mr.. Arthur I'm the house
It would take wiser heads than his to
explain.
There was some comment made on
this because Arthur had denied using
his cutter that night. He declared in
stead that he had gone out on foot
and designated the coachman's tale
as all bosh.
As for myself. i felt inclined to be-
lieve that the mare had been out. that
one or both Of the women had har-
messed her and that Il was by these
means they Ind reached the whisper
Ing Pines. Adelaide was far from
strong and never addicted to walking
under the most favorable conditions.
l could understand now how Carmel
had succeeded in returning in safety
to her home. She had ridden both
ways-a theory which likewise explain
ed how she came to wear mans
derby and possibly n mans .overcoat.
With her skirts covered by bearskin
she would present n very fair egure of