Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-04-09

she wanted to see me only for what legal
help I might give her, I was glad even
Of this.
And yet her manner was far from i'm
personal Indeed, she showed slight
embarrassment in my presence, which, il
1 had dared. I should have been glad to
| think meant a growing interest in our
friendship.
"You have heard all?" I asked. know
ing from her manner that she had.
YES" she replied: ''Mr. Hall was here
for dinner, and then-then he went away
to"
ITO prison. I finished, quietly. Flor
ence. l cannot think he is the murderer
Of your uncle.
If she noticed this. my first use Of her
Christian name, she offered no remon-
STRANGE, and I went on:
ITO be sure, they have proved that he
had motive. means. opportunity and all
that, but it is only indefinite evidence.
II he would but tell where he was on
himself. why will he not tell?''
II don't know" she said, looking
thoughtful. But I cannot think he was
here. either When he said goodbye to
me tonight he did not seem at all appre-
wrongfuly and that he would soon be set
free again. You know his way Of taking
everything casually
Yes. do. And now that you are
your uncle's heiress, ] suppose he no
longer wishes to break the engagement
between you and him."
/ said this bitterly. for I loathed the
nature that could thus turn about in &C
cordance with the wheel Of fortune.
To my surprise she. too, spoke bitterly.
Yes" she said: The insists now that
we are engaged and that he never really
| wanted to break it. He has shown me
positively that it is my money that at
| tracts him, and if it were not that don't
he is in trouble
She paused and my heart beat rapidly.
Could it be that at last she saw Gregory
Hall as he really was. and that his mer-
cenary spirit had killed her love for him?
| At least she had intimated this. and. fore
ing myself to be content with that for
| the present, l said
would you. then. if you could. get
him out Of this trouble?"
GLADLY. 1 do not think he killed Uncle
Joseph, but I'm sure 1 do not know who
did. Do your
| II haven't the least idea" 1 answered
| honestly, for there. in Florence Lloyd s
presence, gazing into the depths OF heI
clear eyes, my last faint suspicion Of her
Wrongdoing faded away. And 1t is this
total lack Of suspicion that makes the
case so simple and therefore so difiicult.
A more complicated case offers some
noints on which to build a theory. I do
not blame Mr.. Goodrich for suspecting
Mr.. Hall, for there seems to be no one
else to suspect"
| Just then Mr.. Lemuel Porter dropped
| in for an evening call. OF course we
talked over the events Of the day. and
Mr. Porter was almost vehement in his
| denunciation of the sudden move OF the
| district attorney.
'It's absurd" he said. utterly absurd
| Gregory Hall never did the thing I've
known Hall for years and he isn't that
sort of a man. I believe Philip Craw-
| ford's story, Of course. but the murderer.
who came into the Office after F1orence's
visit to her uncle and before Philip ar
| rived, was some stranger from out OF
town-some man whom none Of us know;
| who had some grievance against Joseph,
| and who deliberately came and went dur
| ing that midnight hour"
To be continued tomorrow