Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-10-14

Il
generous and convincing offers OF aid
had filed me with new hopes. l
trusted, too. that old Rufus keen eyes
| quickly would discover the secret pas
sageway now that had indicated TO
him where to look for 1t. ] was conf
IDENTITY expecting that the resulting de-
velopments quickly would free me
from even the suspicion Of being a
murderer. The minute. however, tina:
laid eyes on German ! knew tnat
something had gone wrong.
"What Is it," I cried. whats the
matter nOw2"
you're a wonderful liar. yOU are"
was his surly greeting. with yo1- pipe
dreams about secret passageways and
stolen pearls"
"What do you mean7" ! replied.
had not the least idea what he Wns
getting at.
"You almost had me believing you"
he said savagely. IF 1t wasn't that l
knew that Wick and that girl up there
were crooks l would wash my hands
of the whole affair"
| II don't understand" answered In
dignantly. EVERY statement | have
made to you has been the absolute
truth"
eyes, II has I" he sneered.
Ordinarily would have resented
| anyone talking to me In this manner,
but felt that under no circumstances
could afford to quarrel with German.
He was the only friend | had In the
whole city that I could rely on, ex-
cepting of course my great-uncle.
contented myself with merely reassert-
ing:
81 tell you 1t Is all true-every word
| of it."
'The old mans home-old Rufus"
he responded irreIevantly.
II know" replied. II saw him for
few minutes day before yesterday.
He promised to do everything In his
power to free me as speedily as pos
| sible. After talking with him | am
confident that he had nothing what
ever to do with any part of the plot.
Have you seen him|
"Yes," said German, significantly,
1--WE seen him. He looked me up yes
terday and we went over the case to-
gether. He suggested that we go up
to the Granddeck and look over the
apartment. and we did. The mipute
sc got In be went to the waIl safe ind
opened II up and"
German stopped short and looked
at me. 1t seemed to me that there
were doubt and distrust in his express
sion.
go on" / cried. what did you
fnd?"
"We found" he said, speaking SLOW
ly and putting special emphasis on his
third word, ''twO jewel boxes, there,
the one with the pearls and the otter
one"
"What," cried, sghast at thin In
credible bit of news, "twO jewel
cases I"
"Sure we did," he announced tri'
umphantly. "And the pearls were
there as safe as when the old man
went away. Now what have you got
to say TO mat!
What could sayf
l knew as positively as I knew that
I was alive that on that Saturday
when l had opened the wall snfe to
put away my money there had hen
but one of the jewel boxes theoA-
had taken 1t out and had examined its
contents again. With the aid Of n
lighted match I had explored ev"ry
corner of the steel-lined receptacle,
The box containing the pearls and the
rest of the valuables In the Castor
collection was gone. Now the pearls
were safely back there again. Hov
could that be explained The myster!
was too much for me.
There was not the slightest reason
for me to believe that German wal
lying to me now. l had found him Ia
all our dealings straightforward ant |
candid If he said he had seen great |
uncle Rufus fnd~ the pearls there u
must be so, but how could they have |
got there? Could 1t be possible, won
dered, that subconsciously. burdenec |
with the responsibility of the custody
OF such costly gssns I might have riser |
la my sleep and in sotnnoient state
removed the pearls to some other hio
ing place. No, | decided, that the
DRY was too preposterous and absurd
for even q moments consideration
II l had done that In my sleel
| must also have restored them to the
safe again In my sleep. II was far
more likely that the thief. becoming
alarmed over the publicity brought to
the Granddeck by the murder. had
been afraid to attempt TO dispose OF
gems so well-known as the CASTOR
pearls and had restored them In the
same mysterious way that he had nh
stracted them. I suggested this thcUry
to Garman.
(To BE coNTINUED)