Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-11-11

Hilton Cubitt. Don't tell me that she
is in this? Don't tell me that she helped
to set a trap for me?"
| Mrs. Hilton Cubitt was seriously in
jured, and is at deaths dor"
The man gave hoarse cry of grief,
which rang through the house.
You're crazyp he cried, fiercely. at
was he that was hurt, not he. Who
would have hurt little Elsie? l may
have threatened her-God forgive me
but l would not have touched n hair
of her pretty head. Take it back
you'll Say that she is not hurtH
He sank with deep groan on to the
settee, and buried his face in his man.
acled hands. For five minutes he was
silent. Then he raised his face once
more, and spoke with the cold compo
sure of despair.
81 have nothing to hide from you,
gentlemen" said he. 'If l shot the
man he had his shot at me, and there's
no murder in that. But if you think
/ could have hurt that woman, tn en-
you don't know either me or her. l
tell you, there was never man in this
world loved a woman more than
loved her. ] had a right to her. She
|
was this Englishman that he should
come between us? / tell you that !
had the first right to her, and that /
was only claiming my own.
"She broke away from your influence
W hen she found the man that you are"
said Holmes, sternly. "She fed from
America to avoid you, and she married
an honorable gentleman in England.
You logged her and followed her and
made her life misery to her, in order
to induce her to abandon the husband
whom she loved and respected in order
to fly with you, whom she feared and
hated. You have ended by bringing
, about the death of noble man and
driving his wife to suicide. That is
, your record in this business. Mr.. Abe
Slaney, and you will answer for it to
the law"
IF Elsie dies, / care nothing what
becomes of me-" said the American.
He opened one of his hands, and looked
, Mt note crumpled up i'll his palm.
= See here, mister" he cried, with a
/, CLEAN of suspicion in his eyes, your re
not trying to scare me over this, are
D YOU? II the lady is hurt as bad as you
' say, who was it that wrote this note?''
r He tossed it forward on to the table.
V Il wrote it, TO bring you here"
,. you wrote it? There was no one
5 on earth outside the j. int who knew
!. the secret of the dancing men. How
/ came YOU to write it?'
, What one man can invent another
{ can discover" said Holmes. There
{ is n cab coming TO convey you to
s Norwich. Mr.. Slaney. But, meanwhile,
1 YOU have time to make some small
5 PREPARATION for the injury YOU have
/ wrought Are you aware that Mrs.
n Hitch Cubitt has herself lain under
{ grave suspicion of the murder OF hel
4 husband, and that it was only my pres
G cnce here, and the knowledge which
{ happened to possess. which has saved
V her from accusation? The least that
d YOU owe her is TO make 1t clear to the
n whole world that she was in no way
i directly or indirectly, responsible FOL
4 his tragic end"
l. Il ask nothing better" said the
: American. Il guess the very best cast
V ! can make for myself is the absolute
d naked truth"
IT 1T is my duty to warn you that II
l. will be used against you," cried the
Inspector, with the magnificent fair
II play of the British criminal law.
e Slaney shrugged his shoulders.
Il IN chance that" said he. First o
e all, want YOU gentlemen to under
e stand that l have known this lad,
t since she was a child. There wer'
= seven of us in gang in Chicago, an'
h Elsie's father was the boss of the JOINT
t. He was clever man, was old Patrick
$ II was he who invented that writing
" which would pass as q childs scraw
Il unless YOU Just happened to have tn
:. key to it. Well, Elsie learned some o
n our ways, but she couldn't stand tn
rs business, and she had a bit of homes
W money Of her own, so she gave us a
a. the slip and got away to London. Sh
d had been engaged to me, and she woul
in have married me, | believe, If ! ha
taken over another profession, but sh
Re would have nothing to do with any
thing on the cross. 1t was only afte
her marriage 10 this Englishman tina
| was able to find out where she wa:
! wrote to her, but got no answe
:, After that | came over, and, as letter
ur were no use, ! put my messages wher
e she could read them.
IN well, | have been here a mont
he a room down below, and could get
. wiser. ] tried all ] could TO coax Els
an away. ! knew that she read the me
eo sages, for once she wrote an answ,
nj under one of them. Then my tempC
o. got the better of me, and ! began
er threaten her. She sent me lett
~ then, imploring me to go away, an
80 saying that 1t would break her hea
q. if any scandal should come upon h'
us husband. She said that she woul
IS. come down when her husband W;
asleep at three in the morning, al
up speak with me through the end VIII
ed dow, if l would go away afterwar'
ne and leave her in peace. She can
= down and brought money with he
trying to bride me to 90. This mac
L me mad, and i caught her arm al
tried TO pull her through the windo'
j ~ that moment in rushed the husbaI
l with his revolver In his hand. Els
n had sunk down upon the floor, and '
u were face to face. ] was heeled ais
| and / held up my gun TO scare him {
almost at the same instant, and dow
4 he dropped. / made away across d
garden, and as ! went / heard Il
window shut behind me. That's God
truth, gentlemen, every word of it: ar
| b I'd no more about it until that Ia
4 came riding up with a note whic
made me walk in here, like jay, an
give myself into your hands"
A cab had driven up while the
- American had been talking. Two un
formed policemen sat inside. Inspecto
Martin rose and touched his prisone
on the shoulder.