Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-14

OF mind. il it were possible, for on this
point about the key and OF my aunt's
exit from the house, he thought that
she might give him useful assistance.
Il should be greatly obliged II you
could dnd me that key. How did you
find the conservatory door when you
went out? Was It locked OF un-
locked ?"
oh; locked. monsieur" she n
Then does not that look as If her
lAdyship, in letting herself out, had
locked. the door behind her and taken
the key with herr"
Tt would seem 30, monsieur"
And yet the key was not found
seem strapEe? How did her ladyship'
propose to some into the 2house
again ?"s ~ J. 49,
1t always was the s~ergeant's way,
when he wished to gain a person as
an assistant, to make a great show
of consulting him or her upon the
case, as though he valued the advice
very Highly. Doubtless 1t was a subtle
and valuable form of flattery, well
calculated to reach its end. But, fur.
Their than that, I know that he took
the view that it was always judicious
to listen to what might be more than
the babblings Of the mer amateur,
because you never know but what they
might contain an occasional sugges-
ton that was useful.
II am afraid" he had said to me,
that 1t is only In work. Of fiction
that you meet with the omniscient
detective Of crime, who never makes
4 mistake and uncoils the plot with
deadly, silent certainty in his own
brain, infallibly and without listening
to a word that anyone outside may
tell him about IT. They make good
heroes Of fiction, these fellows. but I
do not think they would make very
good detectives"
In the particular case Of Celeste
and in inviting her assistance in this
matter of the key he had also a fur
ther motive. An obvious solution Of
be hat Celeste had let her mistress
out of 1t, had locked it, and had been
meaning to re-admit her on return
ing.
He did not wish to raise Celeste's
suspicion of him by q direct sugges-
ton hat this might be the explana-
ton. He asked questions round and
about the point. but the woman gave
no sign, let drop no word, to convey
that she was in her mistresss conf
dence about this nocturnal promen-
wv. - oAo "SAS SAA~AA "AsA AA&AAA
! her guard, both of word and feature,
was so good that the sergeant could
not get past It.
Yet the theory was one which ex-
planned very nicely the moonlight ram
Bile of the French girl. also. for 1t
was most natural that when she
found her mistress not returning she
should go out to zee what was the
matter. To be sure. there was a quite
~yNNo{o~f oItovratfx,a motive fnY <h{o
ramble-Jim Heasden..
Sergeant Crisp, as may be seen, had
passed a to.erably strenuous day, and
into its many engagements he had not
found time Ito ut an interview with
the handsome rascal of the village.
Nevertheless by proxy, that ia to say,
by the eyes of one or other Of the SER
geant's satellites, in or out of uniform.
Heasden had been the subject OF an
Of it, he might have considered more
impaftinent than flattering.
Since the sergeant's first CONVEX
sationt with Lvesay, Heasden's every
movement had been kept under OBJ
servAtion and had been entered on q
report which had been handed to the
detective in a very unobtrusive way
as hc &strolled out from the White
Hart for q short "constitutional'' after
supper.
4 Among the items Of information re.
lating to Heasden contained in the re-
port was one to the effect that short
" after dusk he had been seen talk
ing earnestly and for q considerable
time with 'her iadyship's French
maid"
What had happened was that ce.
leste had gone into the village, prob.
4 ably on some errand invented for the
special purpose Of seeing Heasden
had succeeded in coming across him
and had been followed by him to the
unfreauentsd strip of country road
between the village and the turning
on toward 8cotney House. II wa
. light evening and Sergeant Crisp'l
reporter had not been able to mp.
proach them near, enough to overheal
the subject Of their talk, but It wal
long and apparently grave
i The s~ergeant's comment on this
jotted down ~ a marginal entry
against the brief summary Of 1t which
he had transcribed into his owr
book. ran-being translated out Of thu
secret hieroglyphic In which he made
| these entries which werN intended FOL