Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-03-01
CHAPTER xvII1-(continued

he should do so. it would be only under
great ~provocation and in the heat of
niger certainly no IN cold blood with
u moose; and, finally. if the motion of
inc curtain Miss Vaughan noticed was
made by the murderer, it couldn't pos
SlDlN nave been Swain. because he was
with us ut that You will see
mat there is Il mass of evidence against
ann, and practically the whol defense
is that such Il crime would be impos-
slble to n of his temperament. You
know yourself how flimsy such a de-
Tense is.
Against the Ilindus. on the other
hand. practically the only basis of sus-
plclon is that such Il crime might be
temperamentally possible to them.
Ihey may have been on the ground.
and the method of the murder savors
strongly of Thuggee-though don't for
get that Swain admitted he could have
tied that knot. Besides, if it was the
Thug who followed them, he wouldn't
have made any noise, and most GER
tainly he couldn't have left the prints
OF a fingers on the body. But,
If Swain is right in his assertion that
ne saw the snake in the arbor, it is
probable that the thug wasn't far away.
Against an unknown it may be
urged that neither Swain nor the Hin
nus could have committed the crime;
but don see how an unknown could
either. unless he happened to he one
of the three or four people in the world
with finger tips like SWANS. nj that
is too far fetched to be b~elievable.
But this l am sure of, Lester" and
Godfrey leaned forward again-"the
murder was committed either by Swain
or by someone anxious to implicate
Swain. We agree that it wasn't Swain.
Very Well, then: the person who COM
mitted the murder made a noise in
fnIlnuyinQ Miss No,arrlA~- ~ol L@. So
Their SO that she should think it was
Swain who was following them; he
picked up the bloodstained handker-
chief that Swain had dropped, per-
haps when he fled from the arbor, and
placed it beside the body; and in some
way uncomfortable to me he pressed the
prints of SWANS fingers on the dead
mans robe. Now. to do that, he must
have known that Swain vas injured
the bloodstained handkerchief would
tell him that: but he must also have
known h a it was his right hand that
was injured. There was no blood on
SWANS left hand"
Godfrey paused. | was following his
reasoning with such absorbed atten-
ton that l could feel my brain crinkle
with the effort.
Now, ~listen,'' said Godfrey, and /
could have smiled at the uselessness
of IN admonition-as if l were not
already listening with all my faculties.
There is only n way in which the
murderer could hav known that it was
SWANS right hand, and that was by
overhearln2 the conversation in the
arbor. But If he overheard that much,
he overheard it all, and he knew there
fore what it was Swain proposed to do.
He knew that Vaughan's sanity was
to be questioned; he knew that he
would probably be placed in a sana-
forum; he knew that Miss Vaughan
would probably marry Swain. Pre-
Stunning that it was Silva, he knew
that. unless something was done to
stop it, a very few days would place
both Vaughan and his daughter beyond
his reach
That is true" 1 admitted; but
Vaughan was beyond his reach a good
deal more certainly dead than he would
nave been in a Sanatorium. Besides,
it isn't at all certain that he would
have been sent to a sanatorium."
That's an objection. surely" Cod
frey agreed: but l must find out if
dead"
l stared al him.
You don't mean :"
II don't know what l mean, Lester.
l can feel a sort of dim meaning at
the back Of my mind, but l can't get
1t out into h light"
Besides" l went on. If the yogi
did it., how did he get back into the
house before we got there?"
He peeped in at the door. saw the
coast was clear and went back through
the library. Remember. Miss Vaughan
was unconscious. That doesn't both
er me: And another thing. Lester. How
did Miss Vaughan's father come to
burst in on her and Swain like that:
How did he know they were in tho
arbor? 1t was dark and he couldn't
have seen either of Them"
II might have. been walking about
the grounds and overheard them"
II don't believe 1t. I believe some-
body told him they were there. And
only person could have told him
that Is Silva. No-there's only one
point l can't get past-thaths thef ing-
er prints"
And then l remembered.
- 1d fo d Il ! cf fsif there's vaS yo one t thing
Swain remark that Vaughan was q
collector of finger prints?"
Yes"
YES"
well. when 1 told Miss Vaughan
about the prints on her fathers robe.
h ran to a bookcase and got out g
book. It had vaughan's collection In
it. all bound together. But the page
on which SWANS were had been torn
out"
Godfrey sat for a moment, staring
ut me spellbound. Then he began pac-
ing up and down the study. like a til
ger In it's cage; up and down, III and
down.
I'm bound to add" I went on final
ly. that Human suggested q very
pladusible reason for their disappear
ance."
What was jt?''
"He said they were probably de-
stroyed by Vaughan himself, because
Of his dislike Of Swain. He said that
would Be Characteristic OF vaughan's