The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1919-04-24
embroidered robe and some Jewels.

SAAS eAA
She was not then sitting at the dress
ing table. Nor had she then, presume
bly,, taken the poison. Tor the doctors
insisted that she had swallowed the
poison very e the hour Of l, but
after 1t rather than before, and had
placed the hour Of her death at 2. So,
Stone reasoned, Miss Darlington must
have taken that aconite at pretty neal
ly the very time Anita heard her talk
ing. It seemed to Stone Incredible that
there could have been a person present
to whom Miss Darlington could have
addressed those remarks, and who
could have given or allowed her to
take the deadly draught.
The idea that Pauline could have
ing Stones catalog Of possibilities.
Moreover, the fact of the one voice
strongly impressed him. Another
voice, however low, must have at some
point of the conversation risen to an
audible sound to a listener with nor
NAL hearing. Also. Anita had asserted
that the speeches Of Miss Darlington
did sound as if addressed to different
persons. 1t was not likely there were
two or more intruders or visitors there
at once, and slowly but surely Elem
ing Stone decided, once for all, that
Miss Darlington was alone in that
room at that time. This meant, not
exactly soliloquy, the mode Of address
contradicted that, but it meant to him,
at least, that she was addressing some
inanimate object or objects as if they
we're sentient.
His task was to discover those OBJ
jects. His first thought was, as he
sat In the easy chair before the mir
ror, that the lady had spoken to her
own reflection. But the speeches, of
which he had a memorandum, preclud-
ed this hypothesis. She would not say
to herself, "You are SO fond of pearls"
or "You have a beautiful face"
Abandoning that supposition, Stone
methodically searched for something
that might have been addressed.
Clearly-that is, If he were on the
right track-the words Henri, you
are the mark I aim att" could have
been spoken to the counts glove,
which she held in her hand. In the
same vein, assuming that the glove,
to her, represented the count himself,
might have been said the speech
about the $4,000, and the remark that
he loved pearls.
Accepting these possibilities as
facts, Stone went on to discover more
His method was to repeat to himself
her very words and serve to see or
sense something to which they might
have been addressed.
"You have the most beautiful face 1
ever saw" he quoted softly and then,
scanning the room, went on: II only
wish mine were as beautiful"
His eyes lighted on the picture Of
Cleopatra, which hung above the mir
or Of the dressing table.
That's it," he cried, with instant
conviction. "She looked at that beau
tiful face and then in the mirror, at
her plain features, and she i%nvolunta-
'rily cried out for the beauty denied
her! Poor woman. to live all her
lonely, hungry life, surfeited with
wealth yet unable to buy the fairness
she craved!"
Not doubling for an instant the
truth of his conclusion, Stone checked
off that speech and passed on to the
next on his list. If he could account
for them all, he would be sure Lucy
Darlington met her death alone, and
therefore by her own hand. OF course,
she did not knowingly poison herself,
but II persuaded that the prepared
draught was some innocent remedy
oh, we'll, that was aside the point for
the moment.
But, quoting the phrase, Tomorrow
1 shall be forever free from this curse
Of a plain face-tomorrow these Jewels
may all be yours'-even his ingenuity
could suggest NJ meaning but a fore
knowledge Of approaching death.
What else could free her from her
hated lack of beauty? What but death,
could transfer her fortune of jewels to
another? OF purse 1t might be that
marriage with her would give the jew
els to Count Charlier, but the two
speeches were consecutive, and the
implication was all toward the fate
that was eyen then almost upon her.
The remark about $40, 900 was unim-
portant, as she had recently willed
that sum to five different people, and
the reference to a change in her will
that should cut out Pauline might have
been merely a burst Of temper. St
IIaAtIu - - Eysxky.
tance to it then. He felt that he had
Learned enough to assume positively
that Miss Darlington was not talking
to a human being when Anita Frayne
heard her voice. Then, he conjectured,
as the maid was free Of all suspicion
on the poisoning matter. and as the