Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-03-16
CHAPTER XI (Continued.)


had an engagement to meet a party
at the Covent Garden ball; but l did
not feel in the least like keeping it..
The murder had cleared away any wish
for dance. l went up to the library,
sat down in an easy chair, and tried
to work out the murder - whether the
lady or the man had shot the black
mailer. 1t was hard to decide. Also
could not think who either of them
could be; thought it was very likely
that they were both tenants of mine.
did not think it likely that Alice
could throw any light on the matter;
she had seen less of them than / had.
The man who could throw light on II
was Sir Theobald Walsh. He would
know the sender of the letters that
bad been in the envelopes.
At twelve o'clock had some supper
and after it / smoked and read novel
I kept stopping my reading again and
again to puzzle over the crime. l read
till half past three; then went back
to the garden and found Pardoe and
the inspector just about to begin their
examination Of the lawn.
At the very entrance Pardoe made a
discovery. Hanging from the project
ing bough of a shrub was black lace
scarf. It was surely the scarf the girl
in evening dress had been wearing
when first 1 saw her in the garden:
and it had been caught from her head
by the branch as she ran out OF the
lawn. 1t was an expensive scarf, but
not very uncommon.
On the lawn itself they found MOTH
ing fresh; but Pardbe questioned me
carefully about the exact position IN
which the murdered man had been ~
ing before turned the body over. Then
he examined the little hole in the turf
which the barrel of the revolver had
made. Then they searched the left
hand shrubbery, from which the man
in evening dress had bolted. In that
they found nothing; not so much as
single footprint. for the soil was hard.
They went on to search the shrubber-
les at the back Of the lawn that is to
say, the central clump. the hub of the
wheel, and then the shrubbery on the
right Of the lawn. In that they found
one of those leather wrist bags in
which women carry their handker-
chiefs, powder puffs and purses. 1t was
old and worn and shabby. 1t might
have been thrown away by nurse
maid. It smelt strongly Of some coarse
violet scent but in the dry weather
We had been having. it might have lain
there for day or two and still kept
the scent.
There was nothing more to be done:
and | went off to bed. breakfasted
early, and went round to Scruton' s
house directly after it. l wanted to
talk the matter over with Alice ana
prepare her for Pardoe's visit, winch
might brighten her if she were not pre-
pared for it. l found that she had, very
naturally, had bad night and was
looking pale. She was rather renewed
to hear that the murdered man was
not a person on whom one need waste
much. sympathy. She could throw no
light on the identity either OF the man
in evening dress or OF the woman, LOT
she had seen the man no more clearly
than ] had; and the woman she mad
not seen at all, save for that glimpse.
Parloe came, and the three OF us ols-
cussed the matter together.
was surprised to find no mention OF
the matter in the evening papers;
plainly the police were keeping their
own counsel. Pardoe paid me visit IL
the afternoon to coach me in my evil
6ence at the inquest; and learned
from, him that Sir Theobald Walsh had
declared himself quite unable to 1den-
tify the three envelopes. That enabled
me to assure him that there was no
chance whatever Of his getting any In
formation from that quarter; having
once said a thing. Walsh would stick
to it till all was blue; he is as stubborn
as an OK. For my part did not blame
MIN in the slightest for refusing to give
the woman away. In any case he could
not have done that: and since 1t was
a matter of this Soho foreigner, prob
ably a blackmailer in fact, Walsh
must know that he was blackmailer)
It made his course all the palmer.
The inquest brought no new facts to
light, if anything made It palmer that
the crime was really complicated al
fair 1t made it quite clear that the re-
yolver had most likely been fired from
The right hand shrubbery: and the cor
oner brought out the fact that it was
very unlikely that it had been fired by
the girl In evening dress, since she
had screamed after the shot had been
fired and not before 1t. 1t certainly
looked as if the report had frightened
and surprised her
The coroner had great struggle
with Walsh. trying to get information
from him about the envelopes. Walsh
stuck to his guns; he said that he did
not identify the envelopes: that all
three of them were different; and that
in the last month he had had hundreds
of typewriter envelopes from trades
men. charitable institutions, his solici.
tors and so on.
There were not many people at the
inquest. But among them noticed the
piebald duke: and I saw that he was
taking great interest in the evidence.
I was good deal surprised to see him
there: for I had not known that he
was one Of those people who are keen
en- crimes and trials. Indeed. he had
never struck me as being at all morbid.
But was good deal more surprised
by the fact that there was no news.
paper storm had expected that there
would be columns and columns about
the business in the evening papers.
could find no report of the inquest in
any single one of them. nor in the