The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1914-10-22

as I Testified. TDon-t be afraid to
trust me with all you know"
81 am not afraid" l returned stout
ly enough. mot in the sense you mean
at least, yet it is never easy to be the
bearer of evil news"
us it evil?n
misfortune. certainly. The man re-
ported the death of your husband"
'"His death. You are sure? Tell me
now what he said; how it happened"
1.-The report was specific and would
seem to be true He says that Philip
Henley while intoxicated was struck
and killed by an automobile. The date
given was after you left him. His
body was found by the police, but his
pockets had been rifled. and there
were no marks of Identification on his
clothes. He was buried unknown, but
the informant claimed to have visited
the morgue, viewed the body and
states positively the dead man was
Philip"
"And-and you think-tell me what
you believe, Gordon Craig"
"There is but one conclusion to my
mind. l have no doubt as to the en-
tire truth of the story. The silence
and disappearance Of your husband is
evidence that he Is either dead or In
some other way helpless"
"I-I-really l have thought this all
the time. But about those others?"
wall and Neale. you mean? 1t
seems to me they fit in exactly with
the story. Everything had been re-
moved from Philips pockets and all
ordinary means of identification de-
stroyed. There must have been pur-
pose in this. and 1t must have been
done by second party, as there Is no
suggestion Of suicide. My theory is
this-the body was either found by
others before the police arrived or else
the automobile party which killed him
paused long enough to ascertain the
extent of his injuries. In either case
his pockets were searched and all con-
tents removed. Do you comprehend
what that would mean?"
IL think so. but tell me yourself"
"He certainly had papers with him
dealing with his Inheritance. To
shrewd, criminal mind they would be
suggestive. He also undoubtedly had
keys to his apartments. Then there
would be nothing more needed except
man capable Of passing himself Off
as Philip Henley"
"And Vail was not a lawyer" she
asked breathlessly. NOR Neale one Of
the executors?'
"In my judgment the fellows merely
took those names to impose upon me.
to help bolster up their story and make
it appear probable. They were simply
two crooks. willing to take a chance
for a pot of money. l happened to
be the one selected to pull their chest
nuts out of the fire."
l saw her head sink into the support
Of her hands and knew she was Sob
bling silently.
"You think my conclusions must be
correctT l could not refrain from
asking,
Eyes, even without seeing the letter;
but and she glanced up quickly, 1.-THE
ring-Philip's ring-we found"
81 forgot to mention that. Its pres
ence here alone is convincing. 1t was
sent to Charles Henley by his agent,
who claimed to have removed 1t from
the finger of the dead man."
.'Then every doubt is removed; the
one killed was my hus-husband."
There was long, painful silence.
during which I stared out into the
dark. mechanically guiding the boat,
although every thought conferred on
her motionless figure. What should l
say? How was l to approach her
now? Those were long minutes l sat
there, speeches.. gazing straight
ahead, my brain inert, my hand hard