News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1920-12-22
opyrlsht by the Bobbs- Merrill Compan!

4 thought you said he brushed by
YOU in the dark" interrupted Toye.
ct was in the dark; so was he in an
other second; and no power on earth
would induce me to swear to him. Dc
YOU want to hear the rest, Scruton, OF
are you another unbeliever?"
Il want to hear every word-more
than ever!"
Toye cooked his head at both ques,
ton and answer, but inclined it quick
| ly as Cazalet turned to him before
| proceeding.
81 went in and found Henry Craven
| lying in his blood. That's gospel--it
was so I found him-lying just where
he had fallen in a heap out Of the
! leather chair at his desk, The top
| riqht-hand drawer of his desk was
! onen. the key in it and the rest of the
| bunch still swinging A revolver lay
it had dropped upon the desk-it
.. upset the ink-and there were
-.-~''~"9 lying loose in the open
drawer, and the revolver was loaded.
| swept it back into the drawer, turned
, the key and removed it with The bunch
but there was something else on the
| desl-that silvermounted truncheon
! and a mans cap was lying on the
floor. | picked them both up. Ny
first instinct, l cCafess it, was to re-
move every sign of manslaughter and
| to leave the scene to be reconstructed
into one Of accident-seizure-
thing but what it was!'
He paused as if waiting for a ques-
ton. None was asked. Toye's mouth
might have been sewn up, his eyes
were like hatpins driven into his head.
The other two simply stared.
1T was a mad idea, but had gone
mad" continued Cazalet Il had hat
ed the victim alive, and it couldn't
change me that he was dead or dying;
that didn't make him a white man,
and neither did it necessarily blacken
the poor devil who had probably sui
fered from him like the rest of us
and only struck him down in self
defense. The revolver on the desk
made that pretty plain. 1t was out
of the way, but now | saw blood all
over the desk as well; it was soaking
into the ,blotter, and it knocked the
bottom out of my idea. What, was to
be done? I had meddled already; how
could | give the alarm without giving
myself away to that extent, and God
knows how much further? The most
awful moment of the lot came as l
hesitated-the dinner-gong went off in
the hall outside the door! | remem-
Der watching the thing on the floor
to see if it would move.
Then ! lost my head-absolutely |
turned the key in the door, to give
myself a few seconds grace or start;
it reminded me of the keys in my
hands. One of them was one of those
little round bramah keys. 1t seemed
familiar to me even after so many
years. | looked up, and there was my
fathers Michael Angelo closet, with
its little, round bramah keyhole. |
opened it as the outer door was
knocked at and then tried But my
mad instinct of altering every pos
sible appearance, to mislead the po-
lice, stuck to me to the last And |
took the mans watch and chain into
the closet with me, as we'll as the
cap and truncheon that had picked
up before.
81 don't know how long was above
ground, so to speak, but one of my
fathers objects had been to make his
retreat soundtight, and | could scarce
ly hear what was going on in the room.
That encouraged me; and two of you
don't need telling how I got out
through the foundations, because you
know all about the hole l made my
self as a boy in the floor under the
oilcloth. 1t took some finding with
single matches; but the fear of your
neck gives you eyes in your finger
ends, and gimlets, too, by Jove! The
worst part was getting out at the
other end, into the cellars; there were
heaps of empty bottles to move, one
by one, before there was room to open
the manhole door and to squirm out
over the slab; and | thought they rang
like a peal of bells, but | put them
all back again, and apparently
nobody overheard in the scullery.
The big dog barked at me like
blazes-he did again the other day
but nobody seemed to hear him either
| got to my boat, tipped a fellow on
the towing path to take it back and
pay for it-why haven't the police got
hold of him?-and ran down to the
bridge over the weir. l stopped a big
car with a smart shaver smoking his
pipe at the wheel. | should have
thought he'd have come forward for
the reward that was put up; but pre-
tended l was late for dinner I had in
town, and | let him drop me at the
Grand Hotel He cost me a fiver but
had on a waistcOat lined with notes,
and I'd more than five minutes in hand
at Charing Cross. If YOU want to
know, it was the time in hand that
gave me the whole idea of doubling
hack to Genoa. 7 must have haau half