The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1919-05-01

tune, but I couldn't have cleaned from
it the conclusions I had already come
to. Now. Hardy, are you con-
vinced?"
II am, Mr.. Stone. And I am also
puzzled. From all this knowledge, we
start fresh, as it were, and We
Wait a minute, Hardy. Let's go
slowly. Now, here are two ways to
look at this thing. I told you about the
clairvoyante first, because that first
came to my mind as the inevitable ex-
PLANTATION. But, suppose, instead of q
professional cl%airvoyante or beauty
doctor, some friend Or" Stone
set his teeth, but went on steadily,
"or someone in the household, plan
ned all this scheme, and pretended to
get a powder. that would accomplish
this transformation, gave 1t to the un-
suspecting lady to take by herself, and
in reality this powder was the aeon
ite."
Hardy jumped. Then Miss Stu
art he began.
"Ah," and Stones face was white
and his voice like cutting steel, why
! Miss Stuart? Why not Miss Frayne,
who listened at the door? Why not
Estelle, who knew all her mistress Sc
crets? Why not Haviland, who Is
openly enjoying his present RESPONSE
BILE position as man Of affairs? Why
not Count Charlier, whose crafty cun-
ming shows on his face? OF course,
also, why not Miss Stuart, but why
necessarily Miss Stuart?"
"Well she has run away, you
know"
$50 she has, because Of unjust and
unfounded suspicious! When clues
point directly to her, l shall admit
them, but when they may equally we'll
point to half a dozen others, I shall
patiently investigate them and learn
the truth. Now, l ask of you, Hardy,
as man to man, not to favor Miss Stu
art unduly, but to give her a fair show,
and remember her lonely position and
her timid nature"
Hardy looked furtively at Fleming
Stone, whose eyes we're downcast and
fastened on some papers he was hold
i1g. sss~ass.-
Count on me, MI. Stone. am at
your orders. I subscribe to your theo-
ries, and I will do exactly what you tell
me, and no more or less"
Good, Hardy, and thank you Now,
look at these papers. They are the
ones that contained the fatal powder.
See, this paraffin n was inside; then
one of tin foil, then one of rather
heavy writing paper
THAT doesn't look altogether like a
clairvoyante's work"
why not! 1t does to me. They are
mighty careful to do up their goods in
an elaborate name to impress their
customers. But, mind you, l don't for
a moment suspect this clairvoyante
individual Of intended murder. Either
the aconite was added to the parcel
from the clairvoyante, or the whole at
fair was concocted by the murderer
and under p%retense Of its having come
from the ~clairvoyante."
HIN" Hardy was clearly beyond
his depth.
$50" went on Stone, 1--WE must de-
WAdL VIC Cdn S1CCS PopC1o.
What do you e peculiar about
them?"
"Just plain little old nothing" Har-
dy declared after a good scrutiny. Il
see. as you remarked, three papers,
folded similarly, and Of nearly the
same size. What do you see?"
mot much more" confessed Stone,
---f-- ~ &ho. o~or
''And yet, there must be- something to
notice. Here's one point: These pa
pers, il tempered with, I mean If any
thing was added to their contents,
were manipulated very carefully. You
know how difficult It is to unfold and
refold a powder paper without making
1T look messy. These, l would be will
ing to assert, have never been re-
folded, or, as / say, IL they were, it
was done very carefully"
''That isn't much OF a clue" and
Hardy smiled.
'Itsmay be" returned Stone. EFT at
least indicates q possible elimination
Of the clairvoyante and an Indication
Of the murderer preparing the powder
alone. At any rate, Hardy, I've told
you all this, In order TO ask your help.
| Will you go and see what you can
round up in the way of the clairvoy.
ante of our, dreams? Go to an you
can find in New York city. That is,
| the prominent ones Get a line on
beauty doctors, and generally lock- UP
this sort OF thing. And keep 1t all un.
der your hat"
"All right, MT. ssone," and Hardy
was off at, n
Fleming Stone pu4 away the papers
and sat for more than an hour In q
brown study. It must be admitted
that a photograph Of Pauline Stuart
which stood on a nearby table, held
his eyes much OF the time. And his