Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-04
Copyright, 1919, b!
CHAPTER XII.
"You Paw for the Dinner"

| w uy AVA tAAS A~sAAA~A'
81 am afraid l startled you" Trent
heard the voice of Mr.. Cupples say,
He forced himself out of his stupe-
faction like a diver striking upward
for the surface, and with a rigid
| movement raised his glass. But hall
of the wine splashed upon the cloth,
and he put it carefully down again
untasted. He drew deep breath,
which was exhaled in laugh wholly
without merriment. Go on" he
| said.
ut was not murder" began Mr..
Cupples, slowly measuring off in
ches with fork on the edge of the
| table. II will tell you the whole
story. On that Sunday night l was
| taking my before-bedtime constitu-
tional, having set out from the hotel
about quarter past ten. ! went
along the field-path that runs be-
hind White Gables, cutting off the
great curve of the road, and came
out on the road nearly opposite that
gate that is just by the eighth hole
on the golf-course. Then | turned
in there, meaning to walk along the
turf to the edge of the cliff, and go
back that way. | had only gone a
few steps when | heard the car COM
ing, and then ! heard it stop near
the gate. | saw Henderson at once.
Do you remember my telling you |
had seen him once alive after our
quarrel in front of the hotel? Well,
this was the time. You asked HE if
! had, and l did not care to tell a
falsehood."
A slight groan came from Trent
He drank a little wine, and said
stonily: GO on, please"
1T was, as you know" pursued
Mr.. Cupples, "a moonlight night;
but was in shadow under the trees
by the stone wall, and anyhow they
could not suppose there was any one
near them. l heard all that passed
just as Marlowe has narrated it to
US, and l saw the car go off towards
Bishopsbridge. l did not see Man
dersons face as it went, because his
back was to me, but he shook his
left hand at the car with extraor-
binary violence, greatly to- my
amazement. Then l waited fof him
to go back to White Gables, as | did
not want to meet him again. But he
did not go. He opened the gate
through which I had just passed.
and he stood there on the turf of the
green, quite still. His head was
bent, his arms hung at his sides, and
he looked somehow rigid.
For a few minutes he remained in
this tense attitude, then all of sud
den his right arm moved swiftly,
and his hand was at the pocket Of
his overcoat. l saw his face in the
moonlight, the teeth barred and the
eyes glittering, and all at once |
knew that the man was mad. Al
most as quickly as that flashed
across my mind, something else
flashed in the moonlight. He held
the pistol before him, pointing at his
breast.
Now / may say here | shall al
ways be doubtful whether Mander-
son intended to kill himself then.
Mar1owc naturally thinks so, know
ing nothing of my intervention. But
| think it quite likely he only meant
to wound himself. and to charge
Marlowe with attempted murder and
robbery.
AT that moment, however, | as
sumed it was suicide. Before | knew
what l was doing | had leapt out of
the shadows and seized his arm. He
shook me off with furious snarl-
ing noise. giving me terrific blow
in the chest, and presented the re-
volver at my head. But | seized his
wrists before he could fire, and
chung with all my strength-you re-
member how bruised and scratched
they were. | knew | was fighting
for my own life now, for murder
was in his eyes. We struggled like
two beasts, without an articulate
word, holding his pistol-hand down
and keeping a grip on the other. |
never dreamed that l had the
strength for such an encounter.