The Washington herald., 1915-09-19
The Latest Adventures of the Wonderful Ceek

1T was the beauty of the rings them
selves that appealed to me-that and
the wonder of the circumstances.
First, why woman of such evident
taste, breeding, position as Mrs. Clos
sop should choose to load her fingers
with diamond rings in the daytime,
and, second, why she should choose
this particular day to do so of all 9TH
ers."
Possibly she neglected to take
them off when she went to bed last
night and in the excitement of the
things which have happened since
has thought no more about them. But
here's the room at last. Still on
duty, see, Hammond" This to the
plainclothes officer before the door OF
the death chamber.
Then the improvised door opened,
closed again and Cleek and the 'su.
perintendent stood in the presence OF
,, "it"-the silent immutable "it" which
yesterday had been living woman.
Cleek went over and looked at the
quiet hgure-particularly at the
wounds on the arms, close to the
shoulder of both of them, and imme-
diately below the larger muscle
then turned and looked round the
room.
Here. you see, old chap, not pos
sibility of anybody getting in or out
save by the door which we ourselves
have just entered" said - Narkom,
opening one door, which led into a
dressing-room, another leading to a
o~I r,~L1,, a~~@,-taI
room, and third which gave access
to porcelain bath set in a marble
hoored, marble walled apartment
lighted and aired by window of
painted glass.
"If l remember correctly, Mr. Mar
kom," Cleek said, Il believe you told
me that her grace retired to this
room at 1880 o'clock, and that
something like twelve or fifteen min
utes later the young duke came up for
the purpose of speaking to her. That
would make it somewhere in the
close neighborhood of II:45 when the
maid left her mistress. And it was
o'clock in the morning, was it not,
when the murder was discovered,
Mum-m-m! Singular, most singular
amazingly SOL"
What"
THE condition of these two can
dies. Look at them,' taking one out
of the silver solder and extending it
for Narkom's examination. "One
would suppose that candles which
had been burning for three hours and
quarter would be fairly we'll con-
surled, Mr.. Narkom. and-look at
these They are hardly an inch
shorter than the regulation length, so
that they cannot have burned for
more than a quarter of an hour at
most Now. granting that the duch
ess herself burned them for ten min
utes in undressing, that would leave
them to have been burning for just
FIVE minutes when the cook. Goodwin,
says she discovered the light shining
under the door and through the key
hole"
by George, you're right! Good
heavens. Cleek. we mustn't let that
woman get away"
She won't-if she's guilty. III tell
you that for certain If you can man.
age to find out what preparations, If
any. have as yet been made for the
duchess funeral"
"But, man alive, what can that
have to do with ite'
perhaps a great deal-perhaps
nothing at all Just slip downstairs,
will you. and without giving the sub
ject away or mentioning anything
about the candles do a little quiet
pumping of the young duke
1t was full twenty minutes before
e,oor;,tarIart harl
WELL" said Cleek, as he came IN,
there is a mausoleum being built. is
there mott"
"Yes. The murdered woman has
been having it built for the past FIVE
or six months for the express purpose
of having herself and her late hus--
band entombed there apart from all
other Netherlands and with all the
pomp of dead royalty. The structure
will not be completed for quite an
other half year. In the meantime. as
this tragical affair has disorganized
allarrangements and the BODY cannot
be inferred in the mausoleum until ITS
completion, and it would be difficult
TO get an order to disinter it il 1t
were once under ground. the captain
and Mrs. Glossop have consented to
have it placed for a time in the new
and. as vet. unused vault which the
captain had erected last month IN
Brompton Cemetery"
Let's go down and have another
cup of tea. | want to have word
or two with the young duke.
my dear fellow, Good heavens
do you think :,
NO: I've got past thinking,
know one thing, however; for I've
been poking about while !, you we're
awav. The cooks room is just over
this one. but-the cook didn't do IT
She wouldn't be likely to do 1t with
the blade of safety razor II she
couldv'
The little gathering in the draw
ing-room had not undergone much IN
the way of a change since they lett
it. Cleek and the superintendent saw
when they returned, although the tea
things had been removed.
"My dear fellow, OF course neither
Amy nor | believes" the captain was
saving to the young duke as Cleek
and Narkom made their reappear-
ance. But the thing is. can you
make others as disbel;evins when
your unhappy condition is so we'll
known and her grace's maid swears
that the door was not locked, and