The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1916-04-27

/ wy.
Inspector McGes Vas nov playing
With . Aexible papsr-knifs. his down
cast eyss fixed upon It - he twisted II
back and forth.
"HoW?" he asked In . voice from
which the bluster had gone.
Rosalie established herself comfort.
ably In her chair.
We'll. it's . funny thing for US ia
do-you an me-tell the truth. Not
! quite the truth. either: the truth fixed
up little. which b the best kind OF q
lie that 10. Give out what happened
but say your own smsrtnees cleared
up the case. not mine. Get Dr.. Cleary
to certify that he found apople1y at
. more careful autopsy. made after
the Coroner's inquest. but that he sup
pressed the report At the request Of
the police. You can force him to do
that to save his skn: his work 10 get
tin careless enough sos one more
slip would make his political hackers
drop him. Say the theory that . man
died Of apoplexy Just when . knife
was held at his breast ready for him
to fall on II, was 20 strange an un.
usual that you couldn't believe 1t in
the beginnin'. 80 you held Lawrence
Wade until you made sure. Say you
suspected Miss Estrilla-Miss Perez
from the drst. an learnin' that she
was superstitious. had her worked by
. police stool-pigeon who played at
bein' . professional medium. Say
your men listened to the seaAces. an
broke in at the end an pulled the
whole story out Of her. An II that
amt awful near the truth. I never
made up . lie that was"
Il fail to go how that excuses Us
for letting Estrilla-Peres-eo." said
Inspector Nc0ee, with Q stir Of sar.
casm.
That point" said Rosalis. rs the
best thing I've thought out-ths very
best. Up to the confession-that's our
story-you hadn't the least idea but
Miss Estrilla done Il all hefseif. We'd
never thought about their chansin'
clothea. An when you got the con-
fessioh. you sent out to arrest him.
but he was gons-probahly tipped OF
somehow. How. search me! haven't
thought out . good lie there. Maybe
youll have to invent that yourself.
Otherwise it'll Just b one Of the mys-
teries Of the New York Police De-
partment. Reprimand you! Why.
they'll give you . medal"
McGes still looked down at the
paper-knife.
THAT amt ALL" he said; you
fooled me. that's what you did. You
made fool out Of me-"
At this Rosalie fired. A light came
into her eyes that rolled ten years
from her age-the light Of anger. A
color came into her cheeks that took
OF another ten-the pink of contempt.
Make q fool of you. Martin MCGEE!
only made q fool Of one person.
That's me, Rosalie lie Grange. Who
took all the risks in this Job? You!
Not . bit OF it! Me. Rosalie. And
what's more, Martin"-she paused and
gulped; and something came into her
face that reduced her to q glrl-"who
did do it for! Me. Rosalie! l
guess not. What was there in It for
me? When this thing broke, was
independent and living my own life
an = clean. 'self-respecting life. Do
you think I wanted to do It? Well,
you can bet not. I started this Job
mainly cause didn't want to see the
fine young fellow Wade 90 to the chair
an because didn't want to see that
beautiful young thing broken for life
l mean Constance Hanska
But after got into 1t, l realized
that / was workin' more for somebody
else than was for them. And that
somebody else was you, Martin Nc.
Gee. I'd 4 given It up long ago II !
hadn't kept my mind on you. An I'D
become fond of that sick Estrilla WON.
an and Of that little brother OF hers
But went right on. Do you suppose
l like to do what did to them? Well
you never made bigger mistake.
aint what l used to be. When
brought back her father and mother
to trick that poor Miss Estrilla. 1 just
gagged. But after found that she
wasn't guilty, nor HMM a manner
of speaking-l had to hand them a
square deal Just like the rest. I'd
done everything could think of. Mar
tin McGee-but couldn't kill a man
| liked and sympathized with, Just tc
help yoar career. An 60 l done the
next best thing. l fixed 1t so nobody
would be involved in 1t but me.
could have told you, an persuaded you
maybe. that the right thing was tc
let Perez get away. But you'd have
been my accomplice. You couldn'
have gone on the stand an sworr
clean-as you can now-that you had
nothin' to do with it. kept yor
out Of 1t. I'm sure to take my medi
cine. l never whimpered yet, an
won't now. An that, Martin MCGEE
is why fooled you'll"
Never had words poured SO fas
from the lips Of Rosalie LIE Grange
And as they poured, many expires
sions chased across Inspector Nc
| Gnn'a cIoo u-chn p~1;oo foa.