Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-03-15

to produce b htGp co!OIin1
marked her from Mrs. schuyler.
Thought this over. duly. YES, !Iey
thew had b same slight figure. U IT
had never occurred to me to compare
their physical effects. was pat
near-dghed and I had ..asg ~
enough real personal interest," ~
Vicky to learn to love her '-1e3t"'ee
as I had .Ruth's.
"You ssee," Fleming Stone was say.
ing, though I scarce listened, you IL
the only person that I have oeen Az AZ
to md who knows both MISS van Ia a.
len ana Mrs. Schuyler. NO one Nth
has testified who knows them oo'"'
So much depends on you"
"Youll get nothing from me-.
fairly shouted. They're not tne sa ,.n,'
woman at all. You're all wrong YOU
and your lying boy there!.
"Your vehemence stulttfes Your at
own words" said Stone, quietIy' ~
proves your own realization OF tne
truth and your anger n Jury
know YOUR regard for Mrs. SCHUYLER;
ID know YOU have always been a frieno
of Miss Van Allen. 1t is not strange
that one oma attracts you. since
the other did. But you've got TO rae
this thing, so be q, man and look d
it souareiy. I'll help you all can, put
I !. assure you there's nothing to Dc
gained by denial of the self-evlden'
truth" .. - he
calm. 1.-The whole thing is impossible!
How could Mrs. Randolph Schuyler
a well. known society lady. live g dou-
BILE live and enact Miss Van Alien. a
gay butterfly girl? How could n get
from one house to the other Anop-
served?, Why wouldn't her servants
know Of it. sven If her family didn.t?
How could she hoodwink her nus
band, her sisters-in-law. and her
friends? why didn't people see her
leaving one house and entering the
other? Why wasn't she missed from
one house when she was in the oth-
"All answerable questions" said
Stone. You know Miss Van Allen
went away frequently on long trips:
and was in and out Of her home all
the time. Here today n gon 70
morrow, as every one testif1es VINO
knew her"
This was true enough. Vicky was
never at home more than a few days
at a time and then absent for a week
or so, Where? In the Fifth Avenue
house as Ruth Schuyler? Incredible!
Preposterous! But as I began to be-
lieve at last, true.
How" I repeated; "how could she
manager"
"Walls have tongues" said Stone.
these walls and this house tell me all
the story. That is. they tell me this
wonderful woman did accomplish this
seemingly impossible thing. They tell
me how she accomplished 1t. But they
do not tell me why"
'There's no question about the
why" 1 returned. "If Ruth Schuyler
did live two lives it's easily under
stood why. Because that brute of a
mar allowed her no gayety. no pleas
ure. no fun of any sort compatible
with her youth and tastes. He let her
do nothing. have nothing, save in the
old. humdrum ways that appealed to
his notion of propriety. But he HIM
self was no Puritan! He ran his own
gait, and. unknown to his wife and
sisters, he was a oue and a rounder!
Whatever Ruth Schuyler may have
Even in killing him?"
she didn't kill him! Look here,
Mr.. Stone, even if all you've said is
true. you haven't convicted her of
murder yet. And you shan't! I'll pro-
tect that woman from the breath Of
scandal or Sunderland that's what
it is when you accuse her of killing
that man! She neve did lit"
That remains to be seen," and
Fleming Stones deep gray Eyes show
ed a sad apprehension. But nothing
car be done tonight. Can there, Ter
ence?"
NO. Mr.. Stone, not tonight No. by
no means. not tonight! 1t wouldn't
do" The boys earnestness seemed to
ne out Of all proportion to his simple
statement, but I could stand no more
and I went home. to spend the night
in a dazed wonder, a furious disbe-
lief. and finally an enforced convic-
ton that Vicky Van and Ruth Schuy-
Ter were n and the same. .