The Washington times., 1920-05-09

30 far as he had yet carried II.
When he had begged q cigarette
OF Uncle Ralph ae had not smoked
Il TO its end. He had allowed II TO
20 out between his lips. and when
Il had so gone out he did not throw
the end away. but. on the contrary,
placed Il with some care In an en-
velope and pocketed II.
When he got back to his room
at the hotel he drew out this piece
OF cigarette, together with the
stubs OF two others which he had
secured during his investigation OF
the Summer-house. He compared
them under a magnifying glass.
The stubs from the ,Summer-house
had been smoked tolerably lately.
AS he peered through his glass he
shook his head gravely.
"Very strange" he said to him.
self then. Every strange. Same
brand, same paper. same tobacco
and he recalled Uncle Ralph's re-
proachful wrath at the bare Idea.
which the sergeant himself had
suggested, OF his smoking In the
presence OF his wife's dead body.
None OF the other minute objects
which he had found on the floor OF
the Summer-house interested him
at all to the same extent because
therd was nothing to show when
they had been dropped there. They
might have lain for days and might
have been left by anybody. They
told him nothing.
He allowed himself little re-
taxation after he had finished his
examination and sat In corner OF
the quadrangle formed by the hotel
buildings where was able to see all
corners and goerJ and was himself.
with his suit OF the protective
coloring." his smallness and his I'm
mobility, hardly noticeable. He
made It rule OF his day to give
himself an hour or two, II 1t were
possible, Of detachment from any
case that he was engaged In ito
preserve his humanity" as he said.
He wrote q letter, using fountain
pen and q sheet of paper from
thin notebook, to his wife, telling
her where he. was and that he was
likely to, be kept there for the time
being. The next day would be
Sunday, which he always tried to
spend at home.
After his supper the sergeant sat
himself down to writing his notes,
arranging them in some sequence
and making comments upon them,
both for future reference and also
to obtain the clearest mental vision
possible of the aspects Of the case
as far as they had revealed them
selves. One Of its principal diff
culties, at this stage. was that the
aspects and the possibilities were
SO many. Accepting the detectives
view that the idea Of motive might
almost be excluded from the fac
tors leading to a solution Of the
mystery, because Of the extreme
difficulty of knowing motives
which people wish to keep secret,
suspicion seemed to fall very d.
rectly on him who was the first to
give information of the murder
on Livesay, the keeper.
OF course, it was he in the first
instance who suggested the sus-
picion against Heasden, by telling
the strange story Of meeting him
running from the Summer-house.
On the face, of it that was most
unlikely tale and really looked very
much like the invention of a clumsy
person trying to avert suspicion
from himself. Livesay, therefore,
had to take high place on the
list of suspects.
But then, If one adopted the
other view and accepted Livesay's
story for truth, the suspicion be-
came keen against Heasden, and
the sergeant could not rid himself
of the idea Of some disgraceful
dalliance between my foolish and
susceptible young aunt, with her
unfortunate education in India
hill station society, and this singu-
larly handsome rustic. Had he pre-
sumed too far? Had she, resisting
his presumption, raised his hot
gypsy blood to rage, and had he
struck in blind fury? 1t was all
possible.
Then there were mysteries quite
apart, mysteries to which neither
of those alternatives gave the clue.
Somewhere, by some one, by more
than one, Sergeant Crisp had a con
viction at this stage that some
thing, some fact or some facts OF
note were being withheld, but he
could not put his finger on them.
He was still feeling after them In
the dark, or, at best, In a twilight
which did not seem to be gaining
in illumination.
There was the mystery OF the
two footprints.
What was the meaning of that
one print, of the heavy sole over.
lying the slender, delicate one!
The slender print he had identified
as being similar with that which
my uncle's shoe, for evening wear,
would make.
But then there was another, be-
sides my uncle, who might wear a
shoe of that outline-Grainger.
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