The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1912-08-09

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AI ell in the hall. which slid to
" one side when he pushed a
bolt under the carpet. The
h,ackness Of the closet was horrible IN
~. suggestion to me. stepped back
N.,,o Hunter struck a match and look
ed in.
The closet was empty.
apatter not 20 in" Wardrop said.
.r+ hasn't been used for years and it's
= ,1sck with dust. found it myself
nd showed it to Miss Jane. l don't
horere Miss Letitia knows it Is here
ut hasn't been used for years" re-
aocted Hunter Il suppose it has been
some time since you were in here. Mr.
WARDROBE"
several years." Wardrop replied
carelessly 81 used to keep cOntraband
bere in my college days. cigarettes and
that sort of thing. l haven't been in
It since then"
Hunter took his foot off small OBJ
iect that lay on the floor.
Here is the fountain pen you lost
this morning. Mr.. Wardrop." he said
quietly.
When Hunter had finally gone at 6
o'clock, summoned to town on urgent
j business, we were very nearly where
re had been before he came. He
could only give us theories. and after
all. what we wanted was fact-and
Miss Jane.
Why had Wardrop lied about so
small a matter as his fountain pen?
The closet was empty What object
could he have had in saying he had
not been in it for years? l found that
my belief in his sincerity of the night
before was going.
It would have been easy enough for
him to rob himself. and. if he had an
eye for the theatrical. to work out
just some such plot. 1t was even pos
Ible that he had hidden for few
hours in the secret closet the contents
Of the Russia leather bag. But. what
ever Wardrop might or might not be.
be gave me little chance to find out.
for he left the house before Hunter
did that afternoon. and it was later.
and under strange circumstances. that
met him again.
Hunter had not told me what was
! on the paper he had picked out of the
! basket in Miss James room. and l
knew he was as much puzzled as l at
the scrap In the little cupboard with
eleven twenty-five on it. 1t occurred
to me that It might mean the twenty
second day of the eleventh month. per-
haps something that had happened on
some momentous. long buried 22d of
November. But this was May. and
the finding of two slips bearing the
same number was too unusual.
After Hunter left went back to the
closet under the upper stairs and with
some difficulty got the panel open
again. The space inside. perhaps eight
feet feet high at one end and four at
the other. was empty. There was a
row OF hooks. as If at some time cloth
Ing had been hung there. and a fat
Shelf at one end. gray with dust.
struck another match and exam
med the shelf. On it's surface were
y numerous scratchings in the dust lay
er, but at one end. marked out as II
drawn on blackboard. was rec
angular outline. apparently that Of
smallish box and fresh.
My match burned my fingers and l
cropped it. The last flash showed me.
On the floor of the closet and wedged
between two boards. small white
globule. 1t did not need another
match to tell me it was pearl.
dug it out carefully and took 1t to
my room. In the daylight there l rec
ognized it as an unstrung pearl OF fair
size and considerable value. There
could hardly be a doubt that l had
stumbled on one of the stolen gems.
Wardrop took the pearls. kept re-
peatlng. who took Miss Jane?
tried to forget the pearls and to
Iathom the connection between Miss
Maitland's disappearance and the alb
sence OF her brother-in-law. The scrap
VI paper. eleven twenty-five. must con-
: nect them. but how? A family scan
ual! Dismissed on the instant. There
could be nothing that would touch the
virginal remoteness of that little old
sadv Insanity? Well, Miss Jane
miSht have had a sudden alteration
ana wandered away. but that would
ieaVe Fleming out. and the paper
dragged him in. A common enemy!
l smoked and considered for some
ume over this. An especially mal1g-
nant foe might rob or even murder.
put 1t was almost ludicrous to think
his carrying away by force Miss
vane ninety pounds of austere flesh.
.ne solution. had it not been for the
oood stains. might have been a peace
.ui one. leaving out the pearls. alto
s.'ner. but later Developments show
mat the pearls refused to be omit
w 10 my mind. however. at that
ie. the issue seemed double one.
oele7ed that some one. perhaps Har-
- "ardrop. had stolen the pearls. hid