The Washington times., 1920-05-30
Che Ny5te,,y 9ftAe SummersAous,

"Ouio tell uiu tucbo uct1iir as
never been applied. II is all In thf'
the attention"
Thanks" ] said with a lsUt
for making such a fine excuse 10.
what = must regard as my IN.
ity. But now. will you tell me. why
II is that you asked me these ques-
tions' Surely II was not only TO
prove TO me how stupid I wssy"
''It is not a question OF stupidity,
at all. Miss Carlton" he replied. as.
In duty bound. and then he was In.
tent a moment or two. going to the
window and looking out. as II com
muning with himself. When he
came back he answered me-he
had made up his mind.
"Yes, will tell you,r he said.
s"You have been candid with me
and I will be candid with you, as
you deserve that should be. And.
for another thing, ! want a helper
In this house. ! want all the help
l can get And Sir Ralph doesn't
seem able or willing to give 1t to
me. I can understand that II is all
too painful for him-he cannot bear
TO speak about 1t. or course, there
is the maid, the Frenchwoman,
Mademoiselle Celeste, but
He left me to finish his meaning
about Celeste, and It was not diff
cult. He meant that something
a. l.a aIy Of att A,.tf
wanting to make her information
OF high value. was In two minds
whether to send her away immedi-
ately. paying her a months WAGES
in advance. ] should have been
glad to be quit of her out of the
house. But 1t was Sergeant Crisp
himself. when ] consulted him on
the subject. who begged me to keep
her for a while. 1T Is quite poe-
sible that we may get the truth
from her far more often than she
intends to tell II to u.s." he said.
II want to have her where ! can
lay my hands on her."
II was easy to pretend that she
was of use in arranging poor Aunt
E<ulu anu bo oh- AhOi0
was enough to keep her more or
less busy for a week or so, and
kept her on.
But now," said to the sergeant,
"candor for candor-what are you
going to tell me?"
"You have told me-" he said,
what II was that gave rise In your
mind to a very terrible suspicion.
] am going to tell you now what 1t
was that gave rise in mine to pre-
cisely the same suspicion-though
the evidence was quite different.
will tell you that first, and aft"
that. If IL will interest you at
] will tell you what my theory is
to the real nearing of those r'e"t
of evidence which misled both vo
and me. And when ! have told yo'
that. then you will see the III al
ing of those questions which N1u
were not able to answer about the
coat and hat"
THAT air sounds thrillingly in
teresting.' ! said. and ] settled my
self with great eagcrness to hear
what he had to say.
The first thing that he had to
tell me-the first piece OF evidence
which had directed his suspicious
toward Uncle Ralph-was that i'm.
press of the shoe outside the Sum.
merJhouse window. And, as he told
1t me, that did indeed seem a wit.
ness of the most extraordinary d.
rectness and force And then, af.
ter that, he told me of the state
ments of Celeste and Of Heasdep
about actually seeing Uncle Ralph
coming away from the Summer.
house, and of Heasden going and
looking through the window after
ward, and all the rest of ii just as
related already.
But, of course" ! exclaimed,
when he had carried the story thus
far, "of course you had to believe
that 1t was Uncle Ralph. You must
have been certain that 1t was he,
especially as you had not been able
to find the doctor and hear his evil
dence. But even now-I don't see
Il don't understand-why was 1t
that uncle said that he did not go
out that evening? What object
could he have had in saying so?
That is what | can't understand"
Shall tell you why ! think it
was, Miss Carlton?" he asked.
81 very much wish you would"
was my reply.
"m my opinion" the little man
said firmly and decisively, "the rea-
son why your uncle said that he
did not go out that night before
he was summoned by the keeper is
this. solely and simply-that he did
not go out"
But" exclaimed, greatly taken
aback, but ! saw him-and you
yourself saw his footprint--you say
you measured it--and Celeste saw
him and Heasden saw him. What
can you mean-did not go out that
night?"
The sergeant gave little cackle
of his dry laughter.
We'll" he said, these are Just
the points-you have noted them
of very clearly-thats we have to