Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-05-14

THAT. certainly" But !h0usii
Haviland's words were a denni'e
promise, his tone and manner seemed
hesitant, apd a trif1e vague. !.
"Am 1 to have the privilege OF
working with you, Mr.. Stone?" inquir-
ed Hardy, his heart beating
ously lest he receive a negative an
swer. s
III you care to. And, If you are
willing to work in my way l am
somewhat impatient of interference or
questioning. But, If. you. want to as
sist in investigatings under my abso-
Lutte orders, 1 shall be. glad to nave
you do So"
Nothing was further from Hardys
mind than to interfere or to show any
undue curiosity concerning the work
or, methods Of the great Detective.
He was more than content to watch
silently, to. errands,. and to make
himself useful in any way desired by
his superior. He said this, and Stone
nodded induIgently.t
II shall begin with this matter Of
the arrest of Count NCharlier," said
Stone, as he looked owe his note
book. Either that man is the guilty
party or he is not. If not, he must be
released. If SO, it must be proven.
What do you know Of his history Mr..
Very little, Mr.. stone. In the first
place. doubt his right to the title
he assumes"
you do? And why?" o..
Haviland looked a little embar-
raised. ""I'm not sure l know why
Yes? And how do real Counts
act, I mean in ways that differ from
this mans habits"
You're. having fun with me, Mr..
Stone" and Gray blushed like 9
school boy. "But 1 mean it.. It's this
way. I'm not a Count, but If 1 want
ed to pretend I was, I'd act just as
Count Charlier does. There!"
Good! That's definite, at least.
Now make it a little more so by de-
scribing some' of these actions"
wrinkled, well, to begin with, his
manners are too slick and polished"
IA traditional trait of F%renchmen.'
Eyes, if real. But his seem arti:
ticially, purposely-oh, fakely polish
ed! Have you seen him, Mr.. Stone? %
mo. not yeti
when you do, you'll see what I
mean. He has shifty eyes, and he
ruhs his hands together, inc if he's
standing, he half bows with every
sentence he utters, and he smirks in
stead of smiling, and his whole atti-
tude is a ffty-tifty of apology and
bumptiousness."
Bravo You've given a graphic
picture of him at all events. Ill re-
serve further consideration of his per-
sonality until I have seen him"
You believe implicitly all that
story of Bates. do you, Mr.. Stone?''
and Haviland looked obviously at the
Detective.
Eyes, I do. at present. If anything
turns up to disprove any part of. 1t I
may have to revise my ideas. But
just now, it seems te~me. that Bates
told the simple truth. To be sure, he
only told it because he feared an ac-
to confess to the lesser crime would
go far to help him deny the greater
"You may be right. But might
there not be collision between Friend
Count and Bates ~ 50 y
"Collusion?" :
f''Just thaG'ssAhd Gray shook his
head doggedly. faSs1 I'VE vague ides
that .FrenchyE is mixedsup insthiss thing
somehow. Now, he couldn't possibly
ave administered the poison, him
self, personally, nor could be have
II v pSlo Olldlly, Duk
couldn't he have hired the man Bates
to do it for him?'
"On the face of things, Mr./Havi-
land, does that look plausible? Is the
Count. as you describe him., a man
who would engage a burglar of the
Bates type to commit a brutal crime
Again. If Bates were merely the
Counts tool, would he not, when
caught; pass the blame on to his en-
ployer?"
He sure4 would! You are right,
Mr.. stone, those two never hooked up
together! It's out Of, the question
But as Estelle and Bates are in ca
boots, why didn't she give Miss Car.
rington the poison, herself?
well, she did fix the bromide, hop.
ing to make her mistress sleep sound
~. But the lady never took it. Now,
If the maid had given or expected I'd
'all?"
But. look here" broke in Hardy,
"mightn't it be that Estelle did do the
poisoning and arranged the bromide
as a blind to put us off the track, ex,
about that poison" said Stone
thoughtfully, I'VE must go at thai
systematically. We must find out
where it was bought and, by whom
People can't go round buying deadly
poison without a record being made
of the sale. We must inauire OF
druggists, until we find out these
There's no druggist about here
who would sell aconitine," said Har.
dy. lit doubtless was bought in New
York" -
That. Of course. adds to the DIFF.
ficulty of tracing the sale, but it mus
be done. Mr. Hardy. 1 viii ask Vol
to DO all you can to find out about
You want. to. look up French
a~pothecary," advised Haviland, ..Tha,
Count is at the bottom of this. az surf
as %shoetin', and he's full Tcleyel
enough to hide his tracks might,
/ closely. Why. that man is a fortune,
hunter and an adventurer,. and. h,
wanted that.ten thousand dollars. and
he poisoned Miss Lucy to get it
That's what he did! And he was 81
deck that night, afssr. the iewels
that's where he was! 1t was he in tina,
room talking, 1t wa he who left III,
glove thereof course, he didn't know
now you've got him unde,
lock and key, ], hope you'll keep hin
tTff S}Sts F n 3g9sIE1 .T--r--.-