The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-09-11

what use l might make Of II. At that
time, please to remember, not the ghost
OF an idea entered my head that you
had stolen the diamond"
There I broke of in the reading Of
the letter for the second time.
l had read those portions Of the mis-
cradle woman's confession which re-
lated to myself with unaffected sur.
prise and, l can honestly add. with
sincere distress. / had regretted, truly
regretted, the aspersion which i had
thoughtlessly cast on her memory be-
fore / had seen a line of her letter. But
when l had advanced as far as the
passage which is quoted above l own I
felt my mind growing bitterer and bit
terer against Rosanna Spearman as
went on. Read the rest for yourself"
l said. handing the letter to Better.
edge across the table. "If there Is
anything In 1t that I must look at you
can tell me as you 60 on"
81 understand you, Mr.. Franklin" be
answered. Its natural, sir, in you.
And God help us ALL" he added In a
lower tone, 'it's no less natural In
her."
l proceed to copy the continuation OF
the letter from the original in my own
possession.
Having determined to keep the night
gown and to see what use my love or
my revenge, I hardly know which,
could turn 1t to in the future, the next
thing to discover was how to keep 1t
without the risk Of being found out,
There was only n way-to make
another nightgown exactly like it be-
fore Saturday came and brought the
laundry woman and her inventory to
the house.
THE first thing to do after locking up
your nightgown in my drawer was to
go back to your bedroom, not so much
to put 1t to rights as to find out wheth-
er you had smeared off any of the
paint stain from your n%ightgown on
the bed, or on any piece Of furniture in
the room.
II examined every thing narrowly.
There were the stains, just visible, on
the inside Of the dressing gown. l
easily got rid of these by scraping
away the stuff Of the flannel. This
done, the only proof left against you
was the proof locked up in my drawer.
when l got back to the servants
hall the bell was going for our dinner.
Afternoon already. and the materials
for making the new nightgown were
still to be got! There was but one
chance of getting them. / slammed
Ill at dinner, and so secured the whole
Of the interval from then till tea time
to my W use.
what l was about while the house
hold believed me to be lying down in
my W room and how l spent the
night after shamming Ill again at tea
time and having been sent up to bed,
there is no need to tell you.
ION the Friday morning. hours before
Sergeant Cuff entered the house, there
was the new nightgown-to make up
your number in place Of the nightgown
that l had got-made, wrung out, dried,
ironed, marked and folded as the laun-
dry woman folded all the others, safe
In your drawer. There was no fear,
Of the newness of the nightgown be-
traying me. All your underelothing
had been renewed when you came to
our house-I suppose ON your return
home from foreign parts.
1.-The next thing was the arrival OF
Sergeant Cuff and the next great sur
prise was the announcement Of what
he thought about the smear on the
door.
Il had believed you to be guilty, as l
have owned, more because l wanted
you to be guilty than for any other
reason. And now the sergeant had
come around by a totally different way
to the same conclusion as NINE"
At that place Betteredge looked up
from the letter.
Not a glimmer Of light so far. Mr..
Franklin" said the old man, taking off
his heavy tortoise shell s~pectacles and
pushing Rosanna Spearman's confess
sion a little away from him. Have
you come to any conclusion, sir, In
your own mind while l have been read
Finish the letter first. Betteredge.
There may be something to enlighten
us at the end of 1t. l shall have a
word or two to say to you after that"
VERY good. sir. I'll just rest my
eyes, and then I'll go on again. In the
meantime. Mr.. franklin don't want
to hurry you-but would you mind tell