The Little River news., 1920-04-14

1 same mysterious way that he had ab stracted them. I suggested this theory 1 to Garmnn.
 IN thing doing" he sneered. Any 1 crook iaring enough to steal those pear :. once he had got his hands on | heln, never would return them Pearls are too easily disposed of You've got to dig up better expla- ,alion than that"
 What did Mir Castor think? What lid he say when lie found them thcret"
 He had nothing to say. He was so tickled at finding them again that
 he hustled with them right away to the safe deposit vaults and did not rest until he had them safely locked up. He took both jewel cases with
 him and made me'go along with him
 to protect them"
 Didn't you look at all for the secret
 pasSag ageWay I told you about?"
 "Still dreaming about that. are
 yoG?" scotied German. 'No, we didn't.
 On the Way up to the Granddeck the old mau spoke about it and I told
 him that iA my opinion there WAS
 nothing to it. After he recovered the
 pearls he was too excited 10 think about anything else It seemed to
 break him all up. and took him back to his hotel and left him there. He
 said he had some writing to do, and
 hat he would meet me at my office al noon today"
 How do you account for the re- turn ot the pearlS?' I cried desperate ly. "Nhat's your theory about them?" "I haven't any" he replied. Its up t0 you to explain it. Maybe by the time 1 come to see you tomorrow you'll have thought up new yarn to spin"
 Please, please" I called after him as he turned away, "do look tomor- row and see if that secret passage is not where I said it was"
 He walked away without answering. Back once more in my cell, l stretched myself despondently on my little iron cot, and closing my eyes. tried to concentrate my thoughts on an at |. tempt to solve this new mystery, which I could plainly see had all but destroyed Germans faith in my hon. estN. l must Solve it if l was to e.
 tain him in aiding me to get free, vet the whole thing seemed incXpicable. could hardly blame him for doubting me. The great value of the pearls had been motive enough for their theft, but what possible motive could there have been for the thief return ing them?
 With a shock it came to me too, that the restoration of the pearls practically upset the whole theory of my defense If l could have eStab- lished the fact of this tl,eft. a jury might be persuaded to believe luy tale of anonymous notes, mysterious whis- perS, and secret paSSa.eway by
 which the thief had gained access to
 the apartment, but without the motive
 of theft, my story, unsupported by
 witnesses and uncorroborated by oth-
 CT evidence, surely would be incred-
 ibIe of belief.
 I had just one hope left. Old Rufus
 must find that secret passageway and
 see whither 1t led. Thai with our
 knowledge of the identity of the tele-
 phone girl and the possibility of prov
 ing Germans belief that Wick was
 an ex-convict, seemed likely to be my
 only salvation. Old Rufus must find
 that paS>ageway. He must. He must!
 For hours I lay there racking my
 brains over the unsoivable problems.
 My luncheon was brought in, but l
 waved it away untouched. Wearily
 I wondered whether the recovery of
 the pearls had destroyed my aged rel
 ative's faith in me, as it seemed to
 have destroyed Germans. could
 hardly blame him if he doubted me
 after finding that my story of the dis
 appearance of the pearls was appar-
 ently untrue. In my brief experience
 as prisoner l had learned all too
 well the bitter fact that once a man
 is diScredited henceforth no one
 trusts him. If Rufus Gaston failed
 me at this iunctur' I did not see how
 | could possibly extricate myself un-
 scathed from the web that unseeen
 hands had so skillfully and mali
 ciously woven around me The only
 ray of comfort that l could find any
 where in the whole situation was in
 my firm belief that though old Rufus and German and the whole world doubted me. Barbara Rradford--my Barbara l ventured to call her in my innermost heart--wOuld continue to believe in me. She would be sure no matter how much appearances went
 against me, that l was telling the truth. Barbara and l knew Even if she had not known that I could nM possibly have fired the shot that killed Miss Lutan. I was certain that she | still would have trusted me. Thinking about Barbara recalled , that it was the day of her sisters we'd l ding l had one of the prison attend ants get me the evening papers to see what they had to say about it, for
 was fearful lest some breath of scandal at the last moment involving the Rrahforac rnioht hripu ,hnn+ .,