The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-03-11
Continued From Our Last Issue.

in the golden sunshine.
Within the decorously shade
drawn library of the Tudor house
six persons were gathered: Mrs.
Tudor herself, her niece Fay, Cap
tain Warren, Kenneth Clayton,
Sheriff Hulse and Sergeant John
Barry. The latter was seated at
the long magazine table in the CEN
ter of the room with sheaf of
notes spread out before him, and
it was toward him that all eyes
were directed. None appeared TO
notice the pasteboard boxes of va
rious sizes which thanked the notes
upon the table, and certain it was
that none save the sheriff and
Barry himself knew that outside
the door two husky constabes
waited with a big-framed bettle-
broWed woman for the signal to
add themselves to the gathering.
THE sheriff and l have asked
you to meet US all together" be-
gan Barry, pleasantly enough, in
order that we may tell you the re-
suit of our Investigations of yes
terday into the death of Miss Lau-
rel Tudor. 1t was murder, of
course, but her death was never
intended. You all know the meth
cd by which the crime was COM
mitted, but what think that none
of you know is that the carbon
monoxide was meant not for her
but for her cousin, and the fact
that the two young ladies changed
beds during the night was all that
saved Miss Fay Tudor from the fate
melted out to her, although 1t re-
bounded upon an innocent victim
| innocent in that she had aroused
no enmity in the breast of the muir
derer. When l said that none of
you knew this, l meant none eX-
cept one, for the guilty person is
in this room at the present mo-
ment!"
Fay sat clutching the arms of her
chair tightly, but she made no out
ward move and her eyes never left
| the face of the detective. Clayton
growled a sudden exclamation, but
Captain Warren sat immoVable, al
though a slight flush crept upon
his cheek. Mrs. Tudar started to
/ her feet with swift cry.
please sit down. Mrs Tudor,
Barry's tones were sympathetic but
firm 4 know how you must be
| feeling at this moment, but l shall
not keep you long in suspense.
Some time between three and
four o'clock in the morning the
murderer started to enter the room
where the two young ladies were
asleep, carrying in one hand the
receptacle containing the carbon
/ 10 in tho nthnr cleo
| trio torch. This person dared not
turn on the lights in the room for
| fear of waking one or the other OF
| its occupants, in spite OF the fact
/ that they had botn been heavily
drugged. On the threshold, by
miracle of fate, perhaps, the cleo
| trio torch went out!
The low light at the farther end
of the hall did not penetrate the
room, but the murderer had gone
| too far to retreat now, for already
| the fumes of the poison gas were
! escaping from the faulty, hastily
constructed container. Putting 1t
down upon the floor just outside
! the door-the container had once
| held oil, and the mark of it is still
visible on the rug upstalrS-the
murderer sped to the room former
| ly occupied by the young man
| whom all then believed to be dead,
and, obtaining his gas mask, re-
turned TO the room.
There this person went straight
to the bed ordinarily occupied by
Miss Laurel, touched the hair
which in the dark could not have
been detected from that Of Miss
Fay, for both are of the same tex
| ture-and fitted the mask carefully
| over the face.
| You can figure the rest out for
| yourselves murderer's ad-
vance to the other bed; the inser-
| ton of the tube between the lips
of the unconscious girl; the appIi-
cation of a bandage over her nos
trips so that, perforce, she must
| breathe in the deadly gas; the de-
parture from the room for a GER
tain, well-calculated period; the
return; removal of the mask from
one face and bandage from the 9TH
eer; and hurried exit with the con-
| tainer.
| But the murderer had made the
fatal mistake of trusting TO the
sense of touch alone. 1t was upon
the wrong face that the bandage
was placed and into the wrong lips
! that the tubing was inserted"
| stop! l can bear no more"
The ringing cry came from Mrs
Tudor's white lips, and she started
again from her chair.
| why not?" Barry asked coolly.
Does the recital of your own
crime bring it back too wildly be-
fore your mind? Woman, you are
the murderess OF your own daugh-
teer!"
A swift change had come over
| the countenance of Mrs. Tudor, a
/ hideous, malevolent change which
wiped from it the last semblance of
youth and prettiness. She sat rig
! id, her blue eyes fixed with sort
of mocking mirth upon those of
Barry.
There was no thought of muir
der in your mind when your niece
returned from Europe" Barry con-
tinued. You felt secure in your
coming happiness, but the mind Of
a woman in love is more keenly
intuitive than at normal times and
within a few days you realized
something which your niece did
not dream of-that the man you
loved and hoped to marry had turn
ed from you. 1t was not Fay Tu-
dor alone whom you hated then TO
the point of murder; it was the
common enemy of all women of
]