The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-15
By I. w. HANSHEW

hci IdSc uptuTHcQ. dEE6yeQ Stlll IN her
elaborate dinner dress and fairly smoth-
cred with jewels-a grim and yet a taw-
dry figure in the garish morning light
the pale. short. surface scratch upon her
barred shoulder so inconspicuous a thing
a s to be all but invisible against the
dead flesh. Yet although that would
seem to be the one most important thing
to be looked into, it was observable that.
as he went forward and bent over the
body. Cheeks whole attention was claim
ed by the jewels she wore and that he
examined them with the most minute
attention. and that when he finally gave
over doing this and looked round at Mr.
Narkom his eyes were curiously bright
and the old significant one-sided smile
was hooking up the corner Of his mouth.
Mr.. Narkom." he said. with a note
Of satisfaction in his voice. for all It's
apparent complexity this is going to he
one Of the shortest and simplest cases I
have ever handled Observe that desk
by the window. the dispatch box upon 1t.
the open check book and the two silver
candlesticks and observe. too. that al
though they are bedroom candlesticks
and had doubtless been placed on that
desk for the purpose of aiding the lady
in writing. there are no candles in them
whatsoever
There's a blob Of wax in each. how
ever. old chap" said the superintendent.
going over and examining them: so.
no doubt. they burned themselves out.
Remember. 1t was a quarter to two when
the deed was done
"Exactly-they burned themselves out.
and were quite out. Of course. when Mr..
Seton-Hartopp and the servants broke
down the door,
Well. what Of that
What Of Oh. come. come. my friend.
Flos up your wits a bit and ask your
self what was the lady doing sitting up
with all her clothes on and all her
jewels on at that hour
You yourself have answered that. She
was writing. of course
With the candles out?"
Good lud, I never thought Of that"
Gently. gently. my friend. don't get
yourself excited. Look and see II there
are any letters on the desk
Only one and that just begun" an
nounced the superintendent few mo-
ments later-during which time cleek
had dropped into his old terrier-like
trick and was running round the room,
examining the wall paper and smiling
at the carpet '.All that it says Is Ny
dear sir. shall be greatly obliged IL you
will send your messenger for the things
as the terms named are entirely salts
factory. SO II convenient And there
it stops and there's long trail Of ink
over the page. 1t must have been at
that moment she was attacked
mo doubt. And il she had only time
to write one single letter and never lived
long enough to complete that. it is very
likely that she was killed soon after she
entered the room"
Good lud, Then in that event Seton
Hartopps story about the death cry and
the place being locked on the inside
when he got here
Gently, gently, Don't bang away at
the first bird that rises. There are the
servants to testify to the truth Of that
statement. my friend. And-even If there
were not. here's the condition Of the door
to confirm it. 1t was locked on the in
side More, It was also bolted. Look
how the bolt has torn away the wood
work Of the door post when the door IT.
self was hurled inward. No one got into
this room after that dead woman entered
it. She was here alone when she died.
and If the messenger of death Is what
believe" Here his voice snapped of
suddenly; he screwed round on his heel
and with one of his quick. catlike bounds
went to the desk and tore of an end
from the blotter lying upon it. I'll soon
decide that" he Joined on abruptly:
then. moistenine the bit of plotting paper
with his tongue he walked with 1t to the
worans body and pressed it down over
the scratch on her shoulder.
'Cleek. dear chap, In the name Of
heaven"
NO: in the name of hell-if it's that
thing" he bit in with a vicious snap OF
the jaws. s'And what else could it be to
kill so quickly and by a mere surface
scratch? And it would shrivel foliage
like fire. by Jip! What an ass l was not
to have remembered that"
Remembered what. old chap"
Nothing. nothing-don't bother mo
until I'm sure. Get down stairs. both of
You. and keep a close guard on your
tongues regarding this. You. Mr.. Mar
konl, tell Lennard TO have the limousine
ready-1 shall need it for instant use and
shall want it for a couple of hours at the
least. And YOU. Naylor. give him the ad-
dress of the nearest doctor or analytical
chemist and tell him to drive there like
mad as soon as I hop into the vehicle.
Now then. get out. please. and from the
moment I leave the house. don't stir a
step from the terrace until return
1t was long after lunch time when
he came back and was shown at his
request into the morning room-to-
gether with Mr.. Sarkom and Inspec-
tor Naylor-where Mr.. and Mrs. Sc
Hartopp sat reading the accounts
or the tragedy as set forth by the
newspapers which had come down
from town.
Il must apologize to you all for my
long absence" said Cleek as the door
closed and the butler disappeared
Il have had a very. very busy morning.
my dear. assure you: but il Is not with
out its reward. since have been enabled
to establish Lord Uppingham's entire
innocence of any connection whatsoever
with this cunningly-eXecuted crime and
to tell you at once that the late Mar
chioness' death was due to the action of
curare."
'Curare. Mr.. Cleek. What in the
world is curare?"
"A helrs potion used by the saw
ages of South America and of Bor-
ticle on Borneo and the use of the
sumpitan in the illustrated London
News some two or three weeks ago.
and you can look il up there-unless
you were fool enough to overdo the
thing by tearing out that article and
no. you don't. my fine fellow, There's
police constable at every door and
window and you and your vixen are
penned in as tight as rats in a trap.
Games up. my friend Come out of
it-you're nabbed,"
Rats, Trap! Nabbedw repeated he.
growing very pale and laughing I'M
steadily Edith, be calm. I beg. This
is only some silly blunder which
my dear Mr.. Cleek, what am to I'M
derstand you to mean? That you &C.
cuse me-us,-of this murder"