The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1916-03-24
CHAPTER xIV-Continued.

| ly as CaZalet turned 10 him before
! proceeding
Il went in and found Henry Craven
lying in his blood. That's gospel-it
was so found him--lying just where
he had fallen in a heap out OF the
leather chair at his desk. The top
| right-hand drawer OF his desk was
open. the key in IL and the rest OF the
bunch still swinging, A revolver lay
as 1t had dropped upon the desk-it
had upset the ink-and there were
cartridges lying loose in the open
drawer. and the revolver was loaded.
swept il back into the drawer, turned
the key and removed IL with the bunch.
But there was something else on the
desk-that silyer-mounted truncheon
and a mans cap was lying on the
floor. | picked them both up. My
first instinct | confess it. was to re-
move every sign OF manslaughter and
TO leave the scene 10 be reconstructed
into one of accident-seizure-a
thing but what 1t was,"
He paused as If waiting for ques
ton. None was asked. Toye's mouth
might have been sewn up, his eyes
were like hatpins driven into his head
The other two simply stared.
1T was a mad idea, but had gone
mad" continued CaZalet. Il hal hat
ed the victim alive and it couldn't
change me that he was dead or dying;
that didn't make him white man.
and neither did ii necessarily blacken
the poor devil who had probably suf
fered from him like the rest of us
and only struck him down in self
defense. The revolver on the desk
made that pretty plain. Ii was out
of the way, but now saw blood all
over the desk as well: IL was soaking
into the blotter, and it knocked the
bottom ont of my idea. What was to
be done? | had meddCd already how
could | give the alarm without giving
myself away TO that extent, and God
knows how much further? The most
awful moment OF the lot came as !
hesitated--the dinner-gong went off in
the hall outside the door ! remem
ber watching the thing on the floor
to see if it would move
Then lost my head absolutely. I
turned the key in the door. to give
myself a few seconds grace or start:
il reminded me of the keys in my
hands. One OF them was one of those
little round bramah keys. II seemed
familiar to me even after so many
years. | looked up. and there was my
fathers Michael Angelo closet, with
its little, round bramah keyhole |
opened il as the outer door was
knocked at and then tried But my
mad instinct of altering every pos
sible appearance, to mislead the po-
lice stuck to me TO the last And |
took the mans watch and chain into
the closet with me. as well as the
cap and truncheon that | had picked
up before.
Il don't know how long was above
ground, so to speak, but one of my
fathers objects had been to make his
retreat sound-tight, and | could scarce
! ly hear what was going on in the room.
That encouraged me; and two of you
don't need telling how | got out
through the foundations, because you
know all about the hole / made my
self as a boy in the floor under the
oilcloth. II took some finding with
single matches; but the fear of your
neck gives you eyes in your finger
ends, and gimlets, too, by Jove! The
worst part was getting out at the
other end, into the cellars; there were
heaps of empty bottles to nova one
by one, before there was room to open
the manhole door and TO squirm out
over the slab; and thought they rang
like a peal of bells, but | put them
all back again. and apparently
nobody overheard in the scullery.
"The big dog barked at me like
blazes-he did again the other day
/ but nobody seemed to hear him either.
| / got to my boat, tipped a fellow on
| the towing path TO take IL back and
pay for it-why haven't the police got
hold OF him land ran down to the
bridge over the weir. | stopped big
! car with a smart shaver smoking his
| pipe at the wheel I should have
nt nave COIut HdIu lOI
the reward that was put up; but pre-
/ tended I was late for dinner | had In
town, and I let him drop me at the
| Grand Hotel He cost me a fiver. but
had on a waistcoat lined with notes.
and. I'd more than five minutes In hand
at Charing Cross. II you want TO
know. Il was the time in hand that
gave me the whole idea OF doubling
back to Genoa; must have been half
way up TO town before | thought OF
IT."
He had told the whole thing as he
always could tell an actual expert
ence: that was one reason why II rang
so true TO one listener at every point.
! But the sick mans sunken eyes had
advanced from their sockets in cumu-
I lative smazement And Hilton Toye
laughed shortly when the end was
reached.
You figure some on our credulityi"
was his first comment
Il don't figure on anything from