The Washington times., 1912-11-14

I one belleves-that I forced Ann into
that marriage. Stun and nonsense.
merely pointed out to her that she could
not do better than take him.. She had
| death would have been left totally un-
provided for. Il have only my dover.
| as you know"
But how could you have allowed a
g,si aarr,, whose s,i mind was affected to
"Frddlesticks! You don't believe that
nonsense; do you? Newspaper twaddle.
that Is all that amounts to.
Il beg pardon, Arthur himself gave
| out that her condition was such that
sne was unable to see anyone
impossible. He wrote to me quite
frequently and never limited at such a
Nevertheless, I assure you that is
Then ,d1. he is a greater blacksuard than
But did you not know that he kept
her practically a prisoner here?"
Certainly not"
And she never complained to you OF
his treatment OF herr
once got hysterical letter from
her begging me to let her come back to
me-, but as she acknowledged that her
husband did not ill-treat her. and as
the only reason she gave for wishing to
leave him was that he was personally
distasteful to her, ! wrote back as she
had made her bed she must lie on it,
And even after that appeal you never
made an attempt to see Anita and find
out for yourself how Arthur was treat
II am not accustomed to being cross
questioned, Lord Wilmcrsley. am ac-
countable to no one but my God for
what l have done or failed to do. I
never liked Anita. She takes after
her father, whom my daughter mar
ricd without my consent. When she
was left an orphan ] took charge OF
her and did my duty by her. But
never pretended that I was not glad
when she married, and, as she did so
OF her own free WILL ! cannot see that
mine"
cyril could hardly restrain his In
dignation. This proud. hard. selfish old
woman had evidently never ceased to
visit her resentment of her daughters 8
marriage on the child OF that marriage
He could easily picture the loveless
and miserable existence poor Anita
must have led. Was 1t surprising that
she should have taken the first chance
that was offered her OF escaping from
her, grandmother's thraldom? She had
what sort OF man Arthur Wilmersley
really was and too innocent to know
what she was pledglng herself to.
have come here today" continued
Lazy upton, because ! considered Il
seemly that my granddaughter's only
relative should put in an appearance at
the funeral, and also because wanted
you to tell me exactly what grounds the
ponce nave for suspeCtlng Anita"
Cyril related as succinctly as possible
everything which had so far come to
light. He. however. carefully omitted
to mention his meetings with the girl
on me train; AS the latter could not
be Anita Wllmersley. he felt that he
was not called upon to inform Lady
tpton o. this, episode:
Well" exclaimed Lady Upton when
he had finished. "All | can say is that
Anita is quite incapable of firing a pls-
tOl at anyone. even, II II were thrust in
to her hand.
You may not believe me. but that is
because you don't know her. l do. She
Arthur had frightened her out of her
wits she would never have screwed UP
courage to leave him. and II would be
Just like her to crawl away in the night
instead Of watkins out OF the front
door like a sensible person.
ban! l have no patience with such
spineless creature! You men, how
ever. consider II an engaging feminine
attribute for woman to have neither
character nor sense!
Lady Upton snorted contemptuously
and glared at Cyril as II she held him
personally responsible for the bad taste
of his sex. As he made no answer to
her TRADE. atter moment she con-
TT seems to be highly improbab BILE
that Anita has been murdered So |
want you to engage a decent private de-
tective who will work only for us. We
must find her before the police do so. |
take II for granted that you will help
me in this matter. ana that you are
anX nXious-althOugh. naturally, not as
NnXious as ] am-to prevent your
cousins widow from being arrested :"
"A woman who has been treated by
her husband as Arthur seems to have
treated Anita is entitled to every con-
sideration that her husbands family
can OFFER her." replied Cyril. II am
already employing n detective. and II
he finds Anita l viii communicate with
you at once
Good: Now. remember that my
granddaughter Is perfectly sane How
ever. l think It advisable to keep this
fact secret for the present Circum-
stantial evidence Is so strongly against
her that we may have to resort to the
plea OF insanity to save her neck. That
girl has been a thorn in my flesh since
the day she was born: but she shall not
be hanged. II can help it," said Lady
Upton, shutting her mouth with an au-
dible click.
4 Continuation of This Story VIII