Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-11

hands on them first. You. or your maid. rath-
err. showed US where to look for them"
Lena again.
I was so dumfounded by this last assertion
I did not attempt to reply. Fortunately, he
misinterpreted MY silence and the STONY glare"
with which it accompanied.
II began to think that what you withhold
so resolutely has more than common value, Miss
Butterworth. If this Is so, 1 must not be the
only one to listen to your explanations Is not
that carriage l hear stopping? l am ex-
pecting Inspector 2. If that is he you have AVE
been wise to delay your communications till
he came
A carriage stopping. and 1t was the In
spector who alighted from it. began to feel
my Importance in a way that was truly graft
flying, and cast my eyes up at the portrait of
my father with a secret longing that its orig
inal stood by to witness the veriication of his
prophecy.
But I was not so distracted by these thoughts
as not to make one attempt to get something
from Mr. Gryce before the Inspector Joined us.
why do you speak to me Of my maid In one
breath and of girl in gray in another? Did
you think Lena"
Hush" he enjoined, 1--WE WILL have ample OPP
portunities to discuss this subject later"
will we?" thought l. I'VE will discuss
nothing till know moro positively what you
are aiming at"
But showed nothing of this determination
in my face. On the contrary, l became all
affability the Inspector entered, and 1 did
the honors of the house in way hope my
father would have approved Of had he been
alive and present.
who was speaking-"I have been told that you
rake great interest in the Van Burnam muir
der. and that you have even gone so far as to
collect some facts in connection with 1t which
you have not as yet given to the police"
you have heard correctly" I returned. T
have taken deep interest in this tragedy, and
have come into possession of some facts in ref
erence to 1t which as yet have impaired to no
living SOUL"
Then you do not beliece in Mr. Van Bur-
MANS guilt? Not even in his completely sup
poser" ventured the Inspector.
II do not know anything about his compile
uy; but do not believe the stroke given to his
wife came from his hand"
Shall we humor Miss Butterworth?" asked
the Inspector.
I'VE will treat her coadjutor, which, by the
way she says she is not and by the trust we
place in her secure that discretionary use of
our confidence which she shows with much
spirit in regard to her own"
Begin then" said L
II WILL" said he, "but first allow me to ac-
knowledge that you the person who first
put the track of Franklin Van Burnam."
I had exhausted my wonder, SO I accepted
this statement with more display OF surprise
than grim smile
when you failed to identify Howard Van
Burnam az the man who accompanied his wife
into the adjacent house, l realized that 1 must
look elsewhere for the murderer Of Louise Van
Burnam You see, 1 had more confidence in
the excellence of your memory than you had
yourself, so much, indeed, that gave you more
than one chance to exercise it, having, by GER
tain little methods sometimes employ, induced
time Of his several visits. so that his bearing
might vary. and you have every opportunity
to recognize him for the man you had
that fatal night"
"Then it was he you brought here each timer"
broke in
at he"
"well!" calculated.
1.-The Superintendent and some others whom
I need not mention believed implicitly in his
guilt; conjugal murder is so common and the
causes which lead to it so frequently puerile.
Therefore, had to work alone But this did
not cause me any concern Your doubts
phasized mine, and when you confded to
that you had seen figure similar to the
we were trying to identify enter the adjoining
house on the evening of the funeral, made i'm
mediate inquiries and discovered that the gen.
teman who had entered the house right after
the four persons described by you was Frank
lin Van Burnam. This gave me definite clue
and this is why say that 1t was you who gave
me my first start in this matter"
"Humph!" thought to myself. as with sud-
den shock I remembered that one of the words
which had fallen from Miss divers lips during
her delirium had been this very name of Frank
lin.
was to watch you. You had reasons Of your
own for suspecting this man, SO by watching
you hoped to surprise them"
Good" | cried unable to entirely conceal
the establishment and grim amusement into
which his continued misconception Of the trend
Of my suspicious threw me-
But you led us chase, madam; must
acknowledge that you led Us a chase Your
being amateur led me to anticipate your
using an amateurs methods, but you showed
SKILL madam, and the man I sent to keep watch
over Mrs. Boppert against your looked for visit
there was foiled by the very simple strategy
you used in meeting her at a neighboring
shop"
"Good!" I again cried. in my relief that the
discovery made at that meeting had not been
shared by him.
I'VE had sounded Mrs Boppert ourselves, but
she had seemed very hopeless job, and do
not yet see how you got any water out of
stone-if you did
"No?" retorted ambiguously enjoying the
Inspectors manifest delight in this scene as
much as did my secret thoughts and the
prospect of the surprise was holding in store
for them.
But your interference with the clock and
the discovery you made that 1t bad been going
at the time the shelves fell were not unknown
to us, and we have made of 1t, good use as
you will hereafter see."
80! those girls could not keep secret after
ALL" muttered and waited with some anxiety
to hear him mention the in-cushion; but he
did not, greatly to my relief.
Don't blame the girlsi" he put In (his ears
evidently are sharp mine); 'the inquiries
having proceeded from Franklin 1t was only
natural for me to suspect that he trying
to mislead us by some hocus-p ocus story. So
visited the girls. That had difficulty in get
ting to the root of the matter is to their credit
Miss Butterworth, seeing that you had made
them promise secrecy"
you are right" I nodded and forgaye them