Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-02-21
with Inspector Mason, to tell you

WASAA AN0HSSsSA U aa7s
Mrs. Schuyler sank into a seat.
Still with that air OF determination
to be calm, she gripped the chair
arms and said. IT heard you tell Miss
Schuyler that Randolph has been
killed. I ask you, may 1t not be some
one else? Why should he be at q
house where people, called him by q
name not his own"
She had heard, then, all I had DC
the older, ladies.s For Mrs. Schuyler
was o old. She must be. I though
at once, years younger than her
band. Perhaps a second wife. l was
glad she had heard, for it saved re-
peating the awful narrative.
Schuyler" I said, Except by the,
clares he knows him we'll.
I vas glad to give her This tiny
loophole of possibility of mistaken
identity, and she eagerly grasped
at it.
"You must make sure" she said,
looking at Inspector Mason.
I'm afraid there's no room for
doubt, ma'am, but I'm about to send
the man, the valet, over to see him.
Do you wish any one else to go
from the house?"
Mrs. Schuyler s%huddered. Don't
ask me to co." she said, ~piteously.
For I can't think it is really> Mr..
Schuyler-and If it should De-"
ION, no, ma'am, you needn't go:
None of the family. I should say"
Mason looked at the elder ladies.
mo, no." cried Miss Sarah, W
couldn't think Of it.! But let Jepson
go. He is a most reliable man."
Eyes" said Mrs. Schuyler, send
Cooper and Jepson both. Oh, go
quickly cannot bear this suspense!"
She turned to me, as the two men
who had been lowering in the door
way, came in to take Mason's orders.
II thank you, Mr.. Calhoun. It was
truly kind of youito come. Tibbetts,
get me a wrap, please"
This was Mrs. %Schuyler's own maid,
who went on the errand at once. More
servants had gathered; n orr two
footmen, a silly French parlor-maid
or waitress, and from downstairs, I
heard the hushed voices Of others.
Tibbetts returned, and laid a fieecy
white shawl about her mistress
! shoulders. Mrs. Schuyler wore a
house dress of dull blue. Her hair
Of an ash-blonde hue, was coiled on
top of her head; n to my surprise,
when I noticed it, she wore a string
of large pearls round her throat, and
on her hands were two rings, each set
with an enormous pearl.
1 must have been awkward enough
to glance at the pearls, for Mrs.
Schuyler remarked, II dressed so
hastily, 1 kept on my pearls. I wear
them at night sometimes, to preserve
their luster."
Then she apparently forgot them,
for without self-consciousness she
turned to the detective and began
asking questions. Nervously She in.
quired concerning minutest details,
and ! surmised that side by side with
her grief at the tragedy was a very
human and feminine dismay at the
thought Of her husband, stabbed to
death in another wonlan's house!
"Who is Miss Van Allen?" she
asked over INC over again, unsatisfied
with the scant information Lowney
] could give.
land she lives near here? Just
down the side street? Who is she ?"
II don't think she is anyone you
ever heard Of" I said to her. "She is
a pleasant young woman, and so far
! as I know, all that is correct and
proper"
Then why would she have Ran
dolph Schuyler visiting her?" flashed
the retort. SIS that correct and
proper"
1T may be So" I said, for I felt a
sort of loyalty to Vicky Van. you
see, h was not acquainted with Mr..
Schuyler until this evening""
why did he go there, them"
Steele brought him - Norman
Steele"
II don't know any Mr.. Steele"
I began to think & that Randolph
Schuyler had possessed many ac-
quaintances of whom his wife knew
nothing. and L concluded to see
Bradbury before I revealed any more
of Schuyler's affairs.
And then, Lowney began adroitly
to put questions instead Of answering
them.
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