Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1921-08-25

| ing seemed missing, or greatly dis
turbed. explored to the bottom, and
| then sprang to my feet in startled
amazement-the dagger 1 had con-
| cealed there was gonel
Good God! what could be the mean
ing of this? She had worn that orna-
ment in her hat openly, purposely, to
/ fool me into believing her innocent.
| There could be no other explanation.
| She had confessed being at the hotel,
seeking to locate me, and the number
of my room. What would prevent her
coming up here unobserved, then,
while was out, and gaining entrance?
And who else would have any reason
to thus search through my things, and
abstract this important evidence of
crime!
| Yet how did she know / had it?
| How did she even suspect | was the
first to discover the dead body, and
bear away with me the tell-tale weap-
on with which Alva had been muir
| dered? | had no means of knowing
hOw-only she alone had special rea-
son to regain possession of that knife.
| And she had even dared later to fiaunt
it in my very face, to show it to me
in her possession, just as though it
had never passed out of her hands
Here was revealed a depth of duplici-
| ty, criminal audacity, not to be ex-
pressed in words; this soft spoken
girl, this woman to whom l knew l
ho oiy ctn
now in all her hideOusness-a muir
| deresS, thief, a scheming criminal,
| coolly concealing the trail of her crime,
and using her very charms of face
and manner to conceal from me her
true nature.
Perhaps she would see me again
perhapsl The lie was yet warm upon
her lips. She had gone away laugh
ing at the simpleton who had believed
her, the dupe who had so easily been
deceived by her smiles. The chances
were she had disappeared already,
vanished left the city, assured that
no evidence now remained behind to
ever connect her with this TERRIBLE af-
fair. She cared nothing for mel
had been mere tool, plant in her
hand-I remained merely in her mem
DRY as something to laugh about an
other victim, a blind, cropping fool, with
whom she had played to her hearts
desire.
sat with my head in my hands
staring at the mutilated bag, racked
with anger and misery. / had been
easy, mark of derision and ridicule
mere screen for her to hide behind,
while her accomplice, if she had one,
escaped with the spoils. Then the re-
action came; the thought that per-
| haps had not read the story wholly
Alright the faint hope that 1t might
not prove exactly as I had pictured in
| my first wild burst of passion. 1t was
| too infamous, too unthinkable. Why,
if she was guilty, should she have re-
| NAMED in New York? Why should
| she have sought me out or listened
| so intently to the quarrel of those two
men at Perond's? What could she pos
sibly gain by thus oyerhearing the tale
of their failure, if she already knew
who was the murderer Of Alva, and
| what had become of the spoils?
l could ask these questions. but not
| one was answerable. They merely
Knocked me with their emptiness.
Then, shrill and insistent, the tele-
| phone rang.
My heart was beating like trip
| hammer as / took down the receiver
Who could be calling me at this hour?
Who except she alone in this city knew
my name and hotel?
"Hullo."
mans voice spoke huskily. This
you, DalyT
yes" hastily, instantly aware of
who was on the other end Of the wire,
| yet feeling it best to dissemble until
| learned the purpose.
"Who is speakingY
1.-THE fellow you biffed with bottle
tonight. No, / amt got no hard feel
| ings. Besides, | got something else to
| think about than cracked dome. Say,
| got some dope on how that job was
did, an maybe could tell you some
! thing else of interest. / got to talk
| with you privately-that's what. It's
| a matter for the girl as well as yer
self. I'm playing square as long as
| you do the right thing, but / know
who the dame is, an am liable to
squeal if get raw deal; that's put
ting it straight, Harry"
"You know who she is, you say?"
"Sure | do. Old Pierre, over at
Perond's, told me. He never forgets
face, or name, that old duffer.
He knew you the minute you blew in,
and he knew her, too; she'd been there
before Summing"
"Who is she, then?"
"That's all right know; but !
amt fool enough to blow II over FL
wire. If you'll come over he~a
have a talk TN Si'' foo '''
your ear 49,"
"Where are your
Eat Costigans."