Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1919-04-24

deduction from hints not facts, from
ideas, not visible clues. To work,
then! To the work that must bring
success!
Leaving the window seat, Stone
walked round the room, and finally
drew up in front OF the mirror the
easy chair in which Miss Darlington
had sat when she received the blow
given by Bates. Whether she had sat
here while taking the poison. no one
knew. If Stones theory was right. she
had not.
BY referring to the photographs
taken of Miss Darlington after her
death. Stone was able to reconstruct
the scene correctly.
He placed the easy chair just as it
had been when she sat in 1t. He as
sumed the position she showed in the
photographs, and gazed at himself in
the mirror, as she must necessarily
have done.
Slowly he went owe that conversa-
tion reported by Anita Frayne. Never
for a moment had he doubted the
truth CT that report. He was sure
Miss Darlington had really said all
the things Anita repeated, and the
clear and indubitable explanation OF
those remarks would mean, he was
sure, the solution of the mystery.
BY way OF interviewing his silent
witnesses. he endeavoYd to recon
struct. in thought. Miss Carrington's
movements that night. Pauline and
Anita had left her. all three of them
angry. at a little after IL. Later. Es-
telle had left her-that was about a
quarter to I. Then she had on her
embroidered robe and some jewels.
She was not then sitting at the dress
Ing table. Nor had she then. presuma-
bly,. taken the poison. For the doctors
insisted that she had swallowed the
poison very near the hour of 1, but
after it rather than before, and had
placed the hour of her death at 2. So,
Stone reasoned. Miss Darlington must
maze taken that aconite at pretty near
ly 1he very time Anita heard her talk
ing. 1t 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
been this person was not among Ilem-
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 q listener with nor
NAL hearing. Also, Anita had asserted
that the speeches Of Miss Darlington
did sound as il addressed to different
persons. 1t was not likely there we're
two or more intruders or visitors there
at once. and slowly but surely Flem-
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 il they
were 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. preciud-
ed this hypothesis. She would not a
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. IL hu were on the
right trac4-the words Henri, you
are the mark l 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 az
facts, Stone went on to discover more.
His method vas 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 l
ever saw" he quoted softly and then.
scanning the room, went on: Il 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 locked at that beau
tiful face and then in the mirror, at
her plain features. and she %invoiunta-