The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1912-11-21

certain table behind me, leaned over
and asked him the reason, being sure
that tie people whose faces l saw
reflected in the mirror directly before
US had something to do with the
great matter then engrossing us.
His answer conveyed the somewhat
exciting information that the four
persons seated in my rear were the
same four who had been reading at
the round able in the mezzanine at
the time of Miss Challoner's death.
Instantly they absorbed all my at
tention, though dared not give them
q direct look, and continued to OBJ
serve them only in the glass.
"Is it one family?" l asked.
yes, and a very respectable one.
Transients, of course, but very well
known in Denver. The lady is not
the mother of the boys. but their
aunt. The boys belong to the gen.
tleman, who is widower"
Their word ought to be good.''
George nodded.
THE boys look wide-awake enough
Il the father does not. AS for the
aunt, she is sweetness itself. Do
they still insist that Miss Challoner
was the only person in the room
with them at this timer"
They did last night. l don't know
how they will meet this statement OF
i the Doctors"
"George?"
He leaned nearer.
Have you ever thought that she
might have been a suicide? That she
stabbed herself?"
mo, for in that case q weapon
would have been found"
And are you sure that none was?"
Positive. Such a fact could not
have been kept quiet. If a weapon
had been picked up there would be
no mystery, and no necessity fol-
further police investigation"
| And the detectives are still here?"
Il just saw one"
"George?"
Again his head came nearer.
Have they searched the lobby?
believe she had weapon
Laura"
| 1 huOW IL SOuuUS lOOllSu, Liz
alternative is so improbable. A fam
lily like that cannot be leagued to-
gether in conspiracy to hide the
truth concerning a matter so serious
To be sure, they may all be short
sighted, or SO little given to observa,
ticn that they didn't see what passed
before their eyes. The boys look wide
| lro h,,f yhn fnl1
p, would sooner believe that"
l stopped short so suddenly thai
George looked startled. My attention
had been caught by something new
I saw in the mirror upon which my
attention was fixed. A man was look
| ing in from the corridor behind, al
the four persons we were just dis
GUESSING. He was watching them in
tently, and thought l knew his
| face.
What kind Of a looking person
was the man who took you outside
| last night?" I inquired of George
with my eyes still on this furtive
watcher.
"A fellow to make you laugh.
perfect character, Laura; hideousl,
homely but agreeable enough. l tool
quite a fancy to him. Why?"
81 am looking at him now
VERY likely. He's deep in this af
/ fair. Just an everyday detective, blu
ambitious, ] suppose, and quite alive
to the importance of being thor
ough."
"He is watching those people. No
he isn't. How quickly he disap
peared!"
YES, he's mercurial in all his.
movements. Laura, we must get out
of this. There happens to be some
thing else in the world for me to dc
than to sit around and follow up muir
der clues"
But we began to doubt If others
agreed with him, when on passing
out we were stopped in the lobby b,
this same detective, who had some
thing to say to George, and drew him
| quickly aside.
What does he want?" l asked, a,
soon as George had returned to m.
side.
HE wants me to stand ready &c
obey any summons the police ma.
send me-"
Then they still suspect Brother
SOM"
They must
AS we stepped out of the hotel
| George gave my arm quiet pinch
which served to direct my attention
to an elderly gentleman who was JUS
alighting from a taxicab at the kerb
He moved heavily and with some ap
pcarance of pain, but from the GROVE
collected on the sidewalk, many o.!
whom nudged each other as he pass
ed, he was evidently person OF
some importance, and as he disap
peared within the hotel entrance,
asked George who this kind-faced
bright-eyed old gentleman could be.
He appeared to know, for he tol6
me at once that he was Detective
Gryce; man who had grown old in
solving just such battling problems
0s these.
That night bided Georges coming
uotionna nn,,1A NOT Anv,.