Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-31
be used against the beautiful girl wht
had herself given untrue testimony.
CHAPTER XIII.
Miss Lloyd's Confidence.

weight had fallen on my heart. Florence
Lloyd had gone down to her uncle's office
late that night. and yet at the inquest she
had testified that she had not done So
And even to me, when talking quietly
and alone, she had repeated her false
assertion. This much I knew, but why
she had done it did not know. Not until
I was forced to do so would / believe
that even her falsehood in the matter
meant that she herself was guilty. There
must be some other reason for her men
dacity.
Well, would fird out this reason. and
if it were not a creditable one to her, l
would still endeavor to do all l could for
her / lorged to see her, and try IT, per-
haps. kind and gentle urging might not
elicit the truth. But she had left me with
such an air of naughty disdain l hest
tated to send for her again just now.
And as it was nearly dinner time I re-
solved to go back to my hotel
On the Wa: I came to the conclusion
that il would do no harm to have talk
with Parmalee. / had not much conf
dence in his detective ability, but he
knew the people better than l did and
might be able to give me information of
some sort.
After I reached the .Sedgwick Arms I
telephoned Parmalee to come over and
dine with me, and he readily consented.
During dinner l told him all that l hal
learned from Elsa and Louis. OF course
had no right to keep this knowledge to
myself, and, too, l wanted Parmalee' $
opinion on the situation as it stood at
present
at doesn't really surprise me- he said.
for / thought all along Miss Lloyd was
not telling the truth I'm not yet ready
to say that / think she killed her uncle,
although l must say it seems extremely
probable. But if she didn't commit the
deed she knows perfectly we'll who did -
Meaning HALF?
mo, / don't mean Hall. In fact, 1
don't mean any one in particular. think
Miss Lloyd was the instigator of the
mission, but she may have had an as
sisting agent for the actual deed
''Oh, how you talk. 1t quite gives me
the shivers even to think Of a beautiful
young woman being capable of such
thoughts or deeds.''
cause you are prejudiced in favor of Miss
Lloyd. Women are capable of crime as
well as men, and sometimes they're even
more clever in the preparation of it,.
And you must admit if ever a woman
were capable of crime, Miss Lloyd is of
that type
Il have to agree to that, Parmalee,"
admitted; ''she certainly shows great
strength OF cnafaceer.
she shows more than that: she has in
domitab!e will, unfiinching courage and
lots of pluck. If, for any reason, she
made up her mind to kill a man, shed
lind way to do it,
This talk made me crnge all over but
l couldn't deny it, for so far as l knew
Florence Lloyd, Parmalee's words were
quite true
''All right I said, 'T'll grant her capa-
bility, but that doesn't prove thing. I
lon hatt hat Srtrls &C.,
to prove her innocence.
But look at the evidence, man. She
denied her presence in the room, yet we
now know she was there. She denied the
ownership of the gold bag, yet probably
she was also untruthful in that matter.
She is a woman of a complex nature, and
though / admire her in many ways,
shouldn't care to have much to do with
her.
Let us leave out the personal note,
Parmalee. l said, for 1 was angry at his
attitude toward Florence.
"All right. Don't you think for a mo-
ment that l don't see where you stand
with regard to the naughty beauty, but
that's neither here nor there
Indeed it isn't l returned; land what
ever may be my personal feeling toward
Miss Lloyd, 1 can assure you it in no
way influences my work on this case
II believe you, old man; and SO I'm
sure you will agree with me that We must
follow up the inquiry as to Miss Lloyd S
presence in the Office that night. She
must be made to talk. and perhaps it
would be best to tell Goodrich all about
1t and let him push the matter"
"Oh, no. l cried, involuntarily "Don't
set him on the track Of the poor girl.
That is, Parmalee. let me talk to her
again, first. Now that l know she was
down there that night think i can ques-
persuade her to own the truth. And,
Parmalee, perhaps she was down there
because Hall was there
Hall! He was in New York
so he says, but why should he speak
the truth any more than Miss Lloyd?'
You mean they may both be impli-
cated?"
Yes, or he may have used her as g.
tool
Not Florence Lloyd. She's nobody :;
tool
ANY woman might be a tool at the
command o. the man she loves. But"
went on, with an air Of conviction which
was not entirely genuine. Miss Lloyd
doesn't love Mr.. Hail.
Il don't know about that" returned
Parmalee: you can't tell about a woman
like Florence Lloyd. If she doesn't love
him, she's at least putting up bluff Of
doing So"
II believe it is bluff though I'm sure
don't know why she should do that
ION the other hand, why shouldn't she i?
For some reason she's dead set on marry
ing him, ready to give up her fortune to
do SO. if necessary. He must have some
sort of a pretty strong hold on her.
Il admit all that and yet / can't be-
lieve she loves him. He's such a COM
monplace man.
Commonplace doesn't quite describe
him. And yet Gregory Hall, with all the
money in the world, could never make
himself distinguished or worth while in
any way"
mo; and what would Miss Florence
Lloyd see in man like that to make her
so determined to marry him?
II don't think she is determined, except
that Hall has some sort of hold over her
escape"
My heart rejoiced at the idea that
Florence was not in love with Hall, but
/ did not allow myself to dwell on that
point, for l was determined to go on
with the work, irrespective Of my feelings
toward her.
You see," Parmalee went on, you sus-
pect Hall only because you're prejudiced
against him."
Good gracious!" l exclaimed: that s
an awful thing to say, Parmalee. The
idea of detective suspecting a man
merely because he doesn't admire his
personality! And besides, 1t isn't true
If l suspect Hall it's because l think he
had strong motive, a possible oppor-
tunity, and, more than all, because he re-
fuses to tell where he was Tuesday
night"
But that's just the point Burroughs.
A man who'll commit murder would fix
up his alibi first Of ALL He would know
that his refusal to tell his wherea bouts