The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-03
cHAPrER xx.

body was returned to the courEoorn. F17--7- CHAPTER xxx.
 The Faee Tn the Coffin. asY HOLD on q bit" interrupted
 Lawyer Bain- T remember
 there was fuss about the
 corpse not being publicly shown for Identification. Some of us Insisted. The sheriff gave in. The coffin lid wasn't quarter on when Breed gave a yell and clapped it on Again, and they took the body back to his house and shut themselves. in with 1t for half an hour before they took 1t. to the hall again rather opfned that some one had changed bodies
 That's what made you so cussed curious, was if. AdamP parked the shertfG
 There was no exchange Of bodies. said Kent 'rBut there was change tn the body itself 2
 what kind of changer" asked Sedgwfck.
 Has it ever occurred to you to think that after deaf9 the hair grows fast 7s I've heard it said" said Lawyer Bain, .'tnat it grows faster than in life"
 And that it grows not only on the head. but on the face as weIlT
 ssThe facel A woman's face7' ex- claimed sedgwick.
 s'No-a man's."
 ssvhat man 2"
 ssThe man in the cofinT
 aHare you lost your mind, Chet2 971e body in the coffin WAS that Of the. woman who met me at the entrance to the Nook
 ANo. It was the body of the man who. dressed in v7ognan,s clothing, met you at the Nook and knocked you down with a stone flung overland as not one woman in thousand could have thrown it. That in itseIf, ought to have suggested the secret to me long before discovered 10 ]"
 aBut how did you discover itT' in- cr1ired Sedgwick in bewildermenk
 sBy the cut on Che cheek. You see the sherifs had failed to foresee that teIltale beard They had the body taken to the house and did the best they could. That cut on the cheek was a razor cut. Having realized that much, I had to deal thenceforth with the mystery of a dead man masquerad- ing as a woman and being abetted in the deception by the officers of the lavv's
 sAstraea a mang' broke in Preston Jax. his chin in a spasm- No wonder she-he put up such light Who was he9''
 my son. wllfrid Blair.~ said Alex ander Blair
 @You see, Mrs. Blair." said Kent very gently, s.it isn't so bad as you feared There was no other woman In the case, no disgrace, no shame Xou feel nothing but pity for an unhappy, wrecked mipd. for which death was the happiest refuge"
 s'But the mans voicet" exclaimed Jax. -erhe voice of the man on the clinr'
 s.Wflfr4d Bisir's.n said Kent sIn the final moment he came to himself. At last he resumed his voice. Up to then he had been in voice, manner, thought purpose unconsGousIy playing part .
 1AstraeaE' said Sedgwick and Jax in breath.
 "Yes. It was one of those strange ] and complete assumptions of person ality which puzzle the aHenists. Will I frid Blair's diseased mind had fasten- ed upon the strange history of his an cestress and brooded on It until he be came convinced that her spirit was re incarnated in himself Undoubtedly his striking likeness to the portrait Of l Camilla Grosxenor powerfully aided ] the obsession 2
 eve thought it melancho1ia,'' said j Alexander Blair "As you say, he had been very secret1ve, very silent too We kept Gansett Jim with him as sort of bodyguard"
 sI must understand this all. said Marjorie. @YViIfrid's body iS where2s' N sIn Annalaka churchyard"
 sThen who-what is buried 1n his grave at Hedgerow house?s
 Nothing said IAlexander BIiar-
 ssA mock funeral!'
 stNy dear.' said the man-he seemed to have grown suddenly old under the unspoken arraignmen ent-.I could not tell yo@ what I thought the truth I thought then that Wilfrtd had encoun- tered MT. Sedgwick and that-that there had been fight, in which he was killed. Rather than face the scan dal of a murder trial, a scandal in which the family name would have been dragged through the mire of the public prints again, chose the part of deceit"
 But you made me believe that MT Sedgwick killed Wilfrid? she accused
 'sI believed it myself he retorted
 But what basis had you for sus- pecting me of the crime?" cried Sedg- wick, turning to Marjorie Blair. She flushed to her temples. ~I-I- thought she murmured, that he might have known of our geuuaint ance and have nisconsuued. that he might have gone to find you and at tackled you and that you killed him In self defense, I mean"
 .sThank you for that last at least, said Sedgwick rather bitterly: then as he saw her vince. Forgive mep he added In low tone. .eBut to be suspected by you. even though yoJ were mfsled''- He stopped, catching Rents frowning glance.
 "Who discovvred that the burial wa, a false one 2 she asked after a r,a11se