Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1913-07-31
CHAPTER xII.-continued.

CHAPTER xII.-Continued.
Only the Dunn of today seemed to
have all his wits about him, while the
huge fellow who brushed so rudely by
me on that occasion had the peculiar
look of man struggling with horror
or some other grave agitation. This
was not surprising, of course, under
the circumstances. I had met more
than one man and woman In those
halls who had worn the same look !;
but none of them had put up a sign
on his door that he had left for New
York and would not be back till $50.
and then changed his mind SO sudden
Siy that he was back in the tenement
at three, sharing the curiosity and the
'terrors of its Mortified inmates.
.'But the discovery, while possibly
suggestive, was not of so pressing a
nature as to demand instant action;
and more immediate duties coming
up, / let the matter slip from my
mind, to be brought UP again the next
day, you may well believe, when all
the circumstances of the death at the
N(tCt AAOAt SaiDC w kA6hb anu lOahd
myself confronted by a problem very
nearly the counterpart of the one then
occupying me.
But did not see any real connec-
tion between the two cases, until, in
my hunt for Mr. Brotherson, I came
upon the following facts; that he was
not always the gentleman he ap-
peared; that the apartment In which
he was supposed to live was not his
own but friends named Conway;
and that he was only there by spells
When he was there, he dressed like a
prince and it was while so clothed he
ate his meals in the cafe of the Hotel
Clermont
"Of Brotherson himself l saw moth
Ing. He had come to Mr.. Conway &
apartment the night before-the night
of Miss Challoners death, you under
stand-but had remained only long
enough to change his clothes Where
he went afterwards is unknown to Mr.
Conway, nor can he tell us when to
look for his return. When he does
show up, my message will be given
him, etc, etc. l have no fault to find
with Mr.. Conway
you have heard how Brothersor
bore himself at the coroner's office;
what his explanations were and how
completely they fitted in with the pre-
conceived notions Of the inspector and
the district attorney. In consequence
Miss Challoner's death is looked upon
as a suicide. A weapon was in hel
hand-she impulsiyely used 1t, and an
other deplorable suicide was added tc
the melancholy list Had l put in my
oar at the conference held in the coro
ner's Office; had I recalled to Doctor
Heath the curious case of Mrs SPOTS
and then identified Brotherson as the
man whose window fronted hers from
che opposite tenement, diversion
might have been created and the out
come been different. But / feared the
experiment. I'm not sufficiently in
with the chief as yet, nor yet with
the inspector. They might not have
called me fool-you may; but that's
different--and they might have lis
tened, but it would doubtless have
been with an air could not have held
up against, with that fellows eyes
dxed mockingly on mine. For he ant
! are pitted for a struggle, and dc
not want to give him the advantage
OF even momentary triumph. He's
the most complete master of himsel
of any man / ever met, and 1t viii
take the united brain and resolution
of the whole force to bring him tc
book-if he ever Is brought to book
~hich | doubt. What do you thinl
about it?
THAT you have given me an anti
dote against old age" was the ringing
and unexpected reply, as the thought
ful, half-puzzled aspect of the old mar
yielded impulsively to a burst of his
early enthusiasm. IF we can get !
a0c1 grip on the thread you speak OF
and can work ourselves along by it
though 1t be by no more than inch
1T time, we shall yet make our way
through this labyrinth of undoubted
crime and earn for ourselves tri
uriph which Will make some of these
tai 80 .nexEsasrcsd yomas segovs