New Britain herald., 1921-07-26

l roll and Sullivan knew it. To the latter's surprise, Carroll did not press l his point. l Why have you assumed an alias, MT. Heston?" 70
 My name is Conrad Heston." l Haven't you dropped George" from your name?"
 Again that light of startled fear l leaped into the eyes Of the cornered man. My name is Conrad Hestop."
 Where is your deed to Furness lodge?''
 You know as we'll as I do that I never bought it-that I had no right there.'
 How long did you know Mary Carmody-Mrs. Forrest ?"
 II never set eyes on her in my life."
 At least you will not deny know ing Miss Esther Devarney will you ?''
 A long pause: ''I guess there'd be no use in denying that.'' l And that you are engaged to her." '1 deny that" Have it your way. I cannot force you to answer my questions. But may be you might care to tell me where you and she were at o'clock on the afternoon of the ninth ?''
 T was not with her.
 ''At 6:3O or therea bouts ?" ..'.- | T don't care to say.'
 Well, I know that about that time she was with you at your abin near the bend of the Santee. I also know that shortly before that time, and just about the hours of dusk when the murder was committed, Esther De- varney was at Furness lodge' For one instant Heston stood rigid with horror. Then he leaped across the cell and sank powerful fingers deeply into Carro1l's shoulders: God God, man, you're not thinking that she killed Mrs. Forrest? You're not suspecting her of that?'
 T take my cue from you, Heston. That is one question I will not an- swer. But she admits that she was there.''
 'I-I-don't rack me, Carroll. I'm not going to tell you anything; not a thing"
 Not even why you tried to make a getaway
 'No."
 Carroll turned suddenly and ex- tended his hand, palm uppermost, toward Heston. In his palm gilt tered the diamond ring he had found at the lodge. When did you lose this?''
 Heston sallowed with difficulty. His answer came in a voice harsh and dry:
 "I-I-never lost it. have never seen it-before.''
 Carroll pocketed the ring calmly. Very good. However, your denial doesn't bother me-you see Miss De- varney says that you gave her that as an engagement ring and that she lost it at Furness lodge!''
 That night Jim Sullivan left on the limited for Newark
 , The following morning David Car roll closeted himself with Sheriff Pot ter, with whom he had a long and serious talk, as the result of which the north bound train leaving Karnak at 10 o'clock found Carroll aboard, bound for Columbia; Heston in the personal custody of the gray-eyed sheriff.
 Since the realization that Bonnet Hemingway, erstwhile rival with Stanford Forrest for the hand of Mary Carmody, has been in Colum- } bia on the day preceding the murder, Carroll had been unable to rid him. self of the idea Hemingway was con-
 
 !, and he was now taking advantage of Sullivan's absence on another trail to discover Hemingway's whereabouts on the day when Mary had been killed.
 He arrived at Colum bia at 1 o'clock He went first to the city's leading hostelry on the other end of Main street near the post office and there his quest ended so far as Columbia s hotels were concerned, for on the register, in handwriting unmistakably Hemingway's, he found the sigma |. ture.
 The day clerk remembered Hem insway distinctly; a slender man, too , we'll dressed, and travelling for a ma chinery concern in which he boasted an interest. From the clerk Carroll secured list of the machinery com } panies in the city which Hemingway would have been most likely to visit, and he made the rounds : Carroll returned to the hotel, every , movement of his man on the eighth |, accounted for, and consulted the rec ords. He learned that Hemingway had checked out at 3:3O on the morn ing of the ninth on the Florence train. Carroll left Columbia shortly before o'clock and arrived in Flor ence at in the afternoon. He found Hemingway's autograph on the regis ter of the Florence hotel under date of the ninth and the records showed |, that he had arrived before breakfast that morning. ) Much puzzled and almost convinced that his suspicious against Heming- way had been fathered by desire, Carroll dined in Florence and left } that bustling little metropolis on the $40 train.
 He arrived in Charleston at Il o'clock and was driven to the aus tere Charleston hotel on Meeting street. The records destroyed his last h ope-they and talk with the chief clerk.
 Bonnet Hemingway had registered at the Charleston hotel at about 4 n,claclc in the aftarnaon I,uastiero