New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1915-06-09

gible that be had hidden for q few
hours in the secret closet the contents
Of the Russia leather bag. But, what
ever Wardrop might or might not be,
he gave me little chance to find out,
for he left the house before Hunter
did that afternoon, and it was later,
and under strange circumstances, that
met him again.
Hunter had not told me what was
on the paper he had picked out of the
basket in Miss James room, and I
knew he was as much puzzled as at
the scrap in the little cupboard with
eleven twenty-five on it. It occurred
to me that it might mean the twenty
second day of the eleventh month, per-
haps something that had happened on
some momentous, long buried 22d Of
November. But this was May, and
the finding Of two slips bearing the
same number was too unusual.
After Hunter left went back to the
closet under the upper stairs and with
some difficulty got the panel open
again. The space inside, perhaps eight
feet feet high at one end and four at
the other, was empty. There was a
row Of hooks, as if at some time cloth
ing had been hung there, and fat
shelf at one end, gray with dust.
/ struck another match and exam
ined the shelf. On it's surface were
numerous scratchings in the dust lay.
er, but at one end, marked out as if
drawn on blackboard, was a rec
tangular outline, apparently that Of a
smallish box and fresh.
My match burned my fingers and
dropped it. The last flash showed me,
on the floor Of the closet and wedged
between two boards, small white
globule. It did not need another
match to tell me it was pearl.
dug it out carefully and took it to
my room. In the daylight there I rec
ognized it as an unstrung pearl of fair
size and considerable value. There
could hardly be doubt that had
stumbled on one Of the stolen gems
If Wardrop took the pearls, l kept re-
pCoCAA6s WIN COOh XA1O0 OAAO1
I tried to forget the pearls and to
fathom the connection between Miss
Maitland's disappearance and the alb
sence of her brother-in-law. The scrap
of paper, eleven twenty-five, must con.
meet them. but how? A family scan
dial? Dismissed on the instant. There
could be nothing that would touch the
virginia. remoteness Of that little old
lady. Insanity? Well, Miss Jane
might have had a sudden alteration
and wandered away, but that would
leave Fleming out. and the paper
dragged him in. A common enemy?
smoked and considered for some
time over this. An especially malig-
nant foe might rob or even murder,
but it was almost ludicrous to think
Of his carrying away by force Miss
James ninety pounds of austere flesh.
The solution, had it not been for the
blood stains. might have been peace
full one, leaving out the pearls, alto
gether, but later developments show
ed that the pearls refused to be omit
SOus IL LILY AAAAAus uO"SVOAs az SAAaAI
time, the issue seemed double one.
I believed that some one, perhaps Har-
ry Wardrop, had stolen the pearls, hid
den them in the secret closet, and dis
posed Of them later. made note to
try to follow up the missing pearls.
Then chung to the theory that Miss
Maitland had been abducted and was
being held for ransom. But-and
stuck here-the abductor who would
steal an old woman and take her out
into the May night without any cover
ing-not even shoes-clad only in her
night clothes, would run an almost GER
tain risk Of losing his prize by pneu-
monia. For a second search had
shown not an article of wearing ap-
parel missing from the house.
Just before dinner I made second
round Of the grounds. About a hun
dred feet beyond the boundary hedge
/ found circular tracks, broad and
deep, where an automobile had backed
and turned. The lane was separated
by high hedges of Usage orange from
the properties on either side, and each
house in that neighborhood had a drive
Of its own, which entered from the,
main street, circled the house and went
out as it came.
There was no reason, or, so far as I
could see, no legitimate reason why a
car should have stopped there, yet it
stopped and for some time. Deeper
tracks in the sand at the side Of the
lane showed that.
felt that had made some prog
ress. had found where the pearls
had been hidden after the theft, and
this put Bella out of the question. And
I had founder thought had-the
way in which Miss Jane had been
taken away from Bellwood.
came back past the long rear wing
Of the house which contained, pre-
sumed, the kitchen and the other mys-
FERROUS regions which only women and