Evening star., 1912-11-03

or by the act of some other person or per-
sons there is not sufficient evidence to de-
termiue
This was what is known as an "open" ver-
dict. In other words, it relieved the court
from frequent and perhaps useless adjourn
ments; while it left the authorities free to
pursue their Investigations, and take any
subsequent steps they might deem necessary
by proceedings before magistrate.
THOUGH Mrs. Delamar might we'll lay
to heart the philosophy underlying the
proverb, "Never halloo till you are out of
the woods" she had some reason to be sat
ished with the turn of events. Notwith-
standing the disastrous blow struck at her
fellow plot er's matrimonial scheme where
Doris Waverton was concerned, she person
ally had almost escaped from a very serious
dilemma 1t was quite obvious that had she
deviated by hairs breadth from the facts
known to the police there was in waiting a
whole host of evidence to disprove her state
ments. In that case, not only. would the in
qtliry have been adjourned, but there was
no small probability that instead of driving
off to apartments in comfortable hotel she
might now be an inmate OF a cell in the po-
lice station house.
1t was curiously disquieting thought,
and any woman might be pardoned If she
dwelt on it to the exclusion of all else. But
Mrs. Deamar swept it aside with the first
breath of fresh air after she had signed her
deposition, had fixed an hour for Traherne
to CALL and was free to get away from the
vitiated atmosphere of the court. In very
truth, her soul was wrapped up in discov-
cry that was almost stupefying. The Claude
Waverton who gave testimony at the in
quest was not the Claude Waverton she had
wheedled from allegiance to his wife and
child! 1t was not a mere matter OF differ
ences IN voice, gestures, face, and manner
that perplexed Mrs. Delamar. She had en-
countered a man whose character differed
from that of the Claude Waverton she knew
as dawn differs from dusk; and Mrs. Della
mar was shrewd judge of character.
She was quite certain that she could never
have drawn this later Claude Waverton into
her tolls, and for that very reason she would
never have tried to achieve the impossible
task. 1t was inconceivable that rap on the
head could convert profigate into a man
of fine instincts, a roue into a quiet-man-
nered gentleman, branless sot into an in
dividuality of such strength that it domi-
mated men like the District Attorney, the
Coroner, and those preternaturally alert and
sharp-eyed detectives.
Granted even that these marvelS might be
accomplished, they did not account for the
undoubted fact that Claude Waverton, the
gambler and drunkard, spoke Spanish SO
badly that he was barely able to stammer
through an order to peon or transaction
in store; whereas his double was thor
oughly proficient in the language. More
over, he himself was aware of this distinction
between the linguistic attainments of the one
man and the other, and instantly she asked
with growing anazement why he had dared
to emphasize it in public.
Who was he, then? How had he attained
such close knowledge of Waverton's history
and associates as to step coolly into his
shoes? Was he the man supposed to have
been killed on the Boynton Roado Was it
possible that she could have been mistaken
in his identity? She saw now that this as
tonishing thing was possible. He had been
carried to her house limp and pallid form,
his face disfgured and his hair matted with
CONCEALED blood. Strange doctors and
nurses had taken charge of him, and when
she was first admitted to the room his head
was swathed in bandages and his hair had
been cropped closely to permit of the scalp
wounds being dressed efficiently. More
over, how like he was to the real Claude
Wavertoni
MRS. DELAMAR'S next thought was
A'A worthy of a woman who had con-