Bisbee daily review., 1922-01-22

eyed the young man before them very grayely. At length the more experi- enced official spoke:
 ''Mr. Ladd, you have not told us all the truthl What happened between those two on the stairs which made you rush up to Mrs. Vane, only to be repulsed Were you repulsed? Were you not with her, in her studio, when the deadly shot was. fired?"
 At the unexpected accusation the young man shrank back, then sprang from his chair.
 This is what you in your police slang call 'frame-up,' isn't it? You've got to hang the-the murder on some one, 1 suppose, and so I am to be the goat?"
 By no means" Barry also had risen. You must realize the strong circumstantial case against you, but I do not think you are guilty"
 Barry continued quietly:
 Do you know why? Because ever since this interrogation was started. in spite of the damSging admissions you made against Yourself, you have deliberately equivocated and evaded. and I think l know the reason.' Bar rvs tone softened and deepened. fI believe you did care for Mrs. Vane. honorably and sincerely, and it is for that very fact that 1 ask you to tell us the truth now"
 For an instant the young man hes itated. and then sinking once more into his chair he buried his face in his hands.
 At last Gordon Ladd raised his head, and upon his white, set face there was written implacable resolve.
 You win, Sergeant Barry would die myself before I would will ingly rake up anything against the memory of the woman I loved. even though she had played mercilessly with me, only to turn me down ire vocably in the end, but there's some mystery about this whole thing that l don't understand. and it may in a way have some bearing upon the enan- ner of her death. No breath of scan dal has ever touched her. Neverrhe- less, she must have had some source of income, for. her studio was luxuri- ous-almost palatial compared to this and her war work and fits of idle ness which she indulged in later were alike unremunerative."
 His voice broke and Sergeant Bar ry waited a moment before asking:
 Why did Mrs. Vane return to America last autumn2"
 Gordon Ladd shrugged.
 A whim of hers, we all thought: We would not have been surprised had she announced her departure for China. There was nothing-nothIng definite between us two. you know. I was simply one of many who were permitted to adore her at a distance. The rest forgot but l didn't; fol- lowed her to New York, and when found that success had crowned her bizarre talents and yet she was living in this-thiS hovel. I was amazed be yond words, h the artistic colony in Paris false conventions are unknown. and when discovered that this studio here was vacant took it just so that I might be near her, eYen though she still laughed at my wooing. Then then I began to notice this man Gris- wold."
 His voice had hardened perceptiDly on the last words and Barry re-. marked:
 If the report we get on him taIlies with his own account of himself. he is highly respectable member of society"
 "Oh, l know all about him, All anybody knows. I mean. I've looked him up." Ladd cried defiahtly.
 What l want to know is this: { Why is he living hidden away in a cheap, makeshift studio building like this, man with all his money? Why was she. brilliant artistic success. content even for day in such sur roundings after the luxury which had always been hers? Why did here putedly confirmed woman-hater- call upon her. and why did she even permit or tolerate his acquaintance. she who was accustomed abroad to the society of notable men?"
 Why did you not ask her?" Il did, but she always put me off: told me he was an American tyne that she had almost forgotten and that he i amused her. A week ago I couldn't stand it any longer; I proposed to her for the last time, and when she | laughed at me as usual must have lost my head and gone bit too far. for she told me seriously at last that she would never be my wife,
 Gordon Ladd paused. his clenched hands tightening until the knuckles showed white.
 II kept away from her after that until tonight. when I came in as I told you and saw her bidding him good night on the landing above ' There's no love lost between them. I coJld swear to thati She was jeer- ing tt nim. and if ever hatred looked out of a mans eyes, it looked out of his, and yet somehow the sight drove me wildl"
 (Contipued in Our Next Issue)