Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-10-14
"ANYBODY BUT ANNEr
By CAROLYN WELLS
Author Of ga HAN OF EVIDENCE" .THE GOLD BAG" THE CLUE" 1E MAXWELL Ys- :.
yCAROLYN WELLS
wyck.s benefit. or for some other rea
NCE," THE GOLD BAG" THE CLVEy" .
TERY," Etc

-. III H.tH' LE
Wyck's benefit, or for some other rea-
SOM"
II can't think of any other reason;
l think she found the letter, and
brought it to me from Il sense of
duty. Then l think she felt sorry
that she had given such awful evil
dence. against Mrs. Van Wyck and
wanted to retract it,"
Markham" l said, abruptly, that
letter was written in this ROOM, on
David Van Wyck's own typewriter"
Did he write it himself?" Mark
ham seemed absolutely unable to
n my ~staten.ent, which must have
accounted for his absurd remark.
"Of course he didn't write it him
self" I said impatiently: "but some-
bodyewrote it. on this very typewriter.
Here, I'll prove it to you."
1 showed Markham how T had dis
covered the fact. and proved ITO him
beyond any doubt, that whoever
done on that machine. There were a
dozen little peculiarities that made it
impossible to be otherwise.
Whats the answer" said Mark
ham, looking absolutely blank.
Il don't know. If the letter Is in
good faith, it means an accomplish in
the crime. But If the letter is a fake,
which l think it is. it is written by
somebody who wants to throw sus-
picion on Mrs. Van Wyck. As you see,
the address on the envelope is not
done on this machine. That en-
velope. whatever, it's contents MAJ
have been, was mailed and delivered
from the village post Office last Fri
day. Now, MI. Detective, solve the
problem" y s%s ,t=st =
ITO begin WITH" said. Markham,
thoughtfully. ".ifh 1t was done in this
room it must have been done by some
member of the family ) -
cor soma, servant or some guest" I
supplemented him. ~
mo guestAwould do it. No serv-
ant would have opportunity to do it.:
and beside, the diction and construc-
ton of the note is not that OF an un-
educated person."
well. 60 over all the members Of
the household. OF course it was
neither David Van Wyck or his wife.
Equally Of course, it was neither of
his children.
why not?"
Good heavens, man. because that's
impossible! Do you suppose either
Morland or Barbara connived with
Anne Van Wyck to kill her husband?
Absurd!' r.
But If the letter is merely a
blind?'N t 4s..
well, even. SO. Neither of those
two young people would do this thing
to incriminate their stepmother. Nor
land is more than half in love with
her; and I refuse to suspect Barbara.
Go through with the house guests.
Archer and myself would move Heav-
en- and earth to shield Mrs. Van
Wyck, rather than to bring trouble to
her. Mrs. Stelton and Miss Fordyce
are simply out of the question. How
about the two Carstairs?"
j("That woman was certainly. not in
league with Mrs. Van Wyck for any
purpose; but I've already told you
that I'm quite ready to suspect he1
SON." ",
W THE valet?", ..-a IL
YES. If he were in league will
Mrs. Van Wyck,Lnow keep your
temper-if they were accomplices il
this matter. would that not fulfil
every condition of this letter? HI
wrote it to her, we'll say, having &C
cess to this room at certain times
Then, unable to give it to her him
self, he mails it in the morning, ii
most ordinary fashion, and she gets
in the afternoon"
nearly throttied the a I'D
you mean then, that after this advice
} Mrs. Van Wyck murdered her hus
t., band, being assured of the aid an,
protection Of hia valet 90
2, ''That's what 1 mean"-and M,
? Markham gave me a quiet but mean
: ,ingful glance, that ouelled my ange
as no protestations could have done
I had to stop and think. 1 ha
5 known Anne, only a few days-really
how~coula Iftell of what she Nigh
, be capable?, And I, could v for
t get her assertion that she was capabl
Of crime! But to be leagued with
I. seryant-a9afnst her husband-it wa
unthinkable!1 At last I burst out:
IT won't believe II. won't liste
to it. And you've left out one men,
{ Der OF this household! What abou
t hat precious secretary? He has ac
cess to this room at all times. w
, know almost nothing about hin
why may it not be he who connive
with his e%n4oloyer's wife?"
! TN the first place." said Mark
/. ham, "he il. devoted to Miss Barbara