Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-07-01

good bit at the washstand. and. from
the loose sheets of manuscript he left.
l believe actually tried to begin a play.
But mostly he wandered along the wa
ter front or stood on one or another
of the bridges. looking at the water
and thinking 1t is certain that he
tried TO keep in the part by smoking
cigarettes. but he hated them, and
usually ended by throwing the ciga-
rette away and lighting an old pipe he
carried.
On that Thursday evening he came
home and sat down to supper with
Mr.. Reynolds. He ate little and seemed
much excited. The talk ran on crime.
as it always did when he was around.
and Mr.. Holcombe quoted Spencer
great deaI-Herbert Spencer. Mr.. Rey-
nolds was impressed. not knowing
much beyond silks and the National
league. -
Spencer" Mr.. Holcombe would say
Spencer shows that every occur
renee is the inevitable result of what
has gone before and carries in its
train an equally inevitable series of
results. Try to interrupt this chain in
the smallest degree and what follows:
Chaos, my dear sir, chaos"
1--WE see that at the store" Mr.. Rey-
nolds would say. "Accustom a lot o.
women to a silk sale on Fridays and
then make it tooth brushes. That's
chaos. all right"
Well. Mr. Holcombe came in that
night about 10 O'Clock, and / told him
Ladley was back. He was almost
wild with excitement. wanted to have
the back parlor. so he could watch him
through the keyhole, and was terribly
upset WHEN I told him there was no
keyhole. that the door fastened with
a thumb bolt. On learning that the
room was 20 be papered the next morn
ing he grew calmer, however. and got
the paperhanger's address from me.
He went out just after that.
Friday, as 1 say, was very quiet
Mr.. Ladley moved to the back parior
to let the paperhanger in the front
room, smoked and fused with his pa
pers all day, and Mr.. Holcombe stayed
in his room, which was unusual. In
the afternoon Molly Mcguire put on
the striped fur coat and went out, go
ing slowly past the house so that /
would be sure to see her. Beyond
banging the window down, / gave her
no satisfaction.
At O'Clock Mr.. Holcombe came to
my kitchen, rubbing his hands togeth-
er. He had a pasteboard tube in his
hand about a foot long. with an ar
rangement of small mirrors in it. Hs
said it was modelled after the something
or other that Is used on a submarine.
and that he and the paperhanger had
fixed a place for 1t between his floor
and the ceiling of Mr.. Ladley's room, so
that the chandelier would hide 1t from
below He thought he could watch Mr.
Ladley through it, and as it turned out
he could.
IT want to find his weak moment"
he said excitedly. II want to know
what he does when the door is closed
and he can take of his mask. And
want to know if he sleeps with a light
IF he does,' 1 replied, II hope you'll
let me know, Mr. Holcombe. The gas
bills are horror to me as 1t is. /.
think he kept 1t on all last night.
turned of all the other lights and went
to the cellar The meter was going
around"
Finer he said. Every murderer
fears the dark. and our friend of the
parlor bedroom is a murderer, Mrs.
Pitman. Whether he hangs or not.
he's a murderer"
The mirror affair. which Mr.. Hoi-
combe called a periscope. was put in
that day and worked amazingly well.
i went with him to try it out. and
saw the paperhanger take
cigarette from Mr.. Ladley's case and
put it in his pocket Just after that.
Mr.. Ladley sauntered into the room
and looked at the new paper. / could
both see and hear him. 1t was rather
weird.