The Washington times., 1913-04-08
CHAPTER K.
The First Confession.

TF the circumstances had not been
so grim / should have laughed
Il aloud. Richards was the most
utterly bewildcred man ] ever
| saw. and the gasp with which he re-
"eived Jeffrey's congratulations was
funny enough to draw a smile from
anybody. But the hysterical woman
on the floor and her husbands anger
over what We had done to her, the
perfectly genuine devotion that exist
ed between the two, sobered us a little.
we cannot ask her any questions
now, said Gwendolyn decidedly. Let s
go into the billiard-room and give her
time to get herself together"
The idea was so exactly contrary to
police tradition that Richards started
10 protest.
Now is just the time he said We
can get anything out of her now"
jeffrey grinncd ''All right" he said
go ahead and question her yourself -
But Richards didn't know what to ask
her. He hadn't caught up with the Sit
uation at all. He gave a rather dis
gusted grunt and turned away.
DO as you like, of course" he said.
SHOW the police how much more yoI
know than anybody else. Go out and
leave them alone TO make a getaway
through that window there
IHsven.t You got tan. an officer here =.
can get quiet before We question her.
Yes" said Richards: we can leave
her and her husband together to frame
DIP a perfectly good explanation Of
everything"
That's the idea" said Jeffrey.
''rhat'n do first rate
Richards gave il up. "All right he
said Come along
He called in a policeman. instructed
him simply TO watch the pair and Sc"
that they didn't get away, and the rest
of US adjourned to the billiard room. as
Gwendolyn had suggested.
Il want to know said Richards,
when the door was closed behind MS,
what 1t was all about? What made
the woman scream? ] caught the man
as he made a rush from the cabinet,
but ] didn't see what happened at all.
And who was the Irene Fournler they
wero talking about?''
the name of the girl who was found
frozen in the ice. 1t looks as If you
had the right hunch. It's perfectly evil
dent that they know about her"
And what did you do?" asked Rich
ards. What made the medium scream
like that
I'VE had a naturalization" said !.
who produced il. l don't know. But
we saw the face of the girl who was
frozen In the icc-the face we saw in the
portrait up at Jeffrey's studio the other
day. The rest of us saw IL before the
medium did. When she turned around
and locked. she made a queer noise In
her throat and screamed and tainted
You know the rest. But how the trick
was worked-if il was a trick--I am as
much in the dark as you"
Jack turned to his wife. 1T was a
trick, wasn't IL, Gwendolyn" he asked.
She hooded and gave a little shiver.
II hate TO remember that woman's
scream" she said. 81 don't believe i'd
have planned II II j had realized it
would affect her like that"
Tell us about it, said How did
YOU come to think of it?''
why" said GwcndoIyn. i've always
heard that most spiritualsts believe, in
a way, in their own magic. or course,
they know that what they do is just a
trick. but they believe in the back of
their minds. all the time. that there Is
something really behind it. When [
talked TO her the other day I saw that
she was like that. We talked together
for a long time, and it was perfectly
clear that, down I'm the bottom of her
mind. she thought there was something
I'm IT.
SO ! thoght that II We were to pro-