The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-15
PAGE IA

lcSs l CdIlt VHS IOoii Juot CD iiS was getting out of the window. l caught only glimpse of him, but I knew him in- stantly. had presentiment that he was near and that is why 1 happened to be wear ing my revolver"
 "What was his object in breaking into the house?"
 "He wanted to be sure that I was the man he had to fear just as I wanted to be sure that he was the man I wanted to kill. An hour before had broken into his rooms at II Whitethorn Gardens, for the purpose of making sure about him. I saw his photo graph, there, and that is all I wanted"
 And it was you and not he who was in the house when Mrs. Penfield called out that the police were in the house?"
 "Yes, that was I. I didn't understand why she called out, but it served as warn ing to me that she expected him. And so when got back to my uncle's I got my re- volver out of the drawer The first heard of him being in England was when Inspector Murchison told us, although I was prepared in way after finding that Lumsden had been here. Murchison spoke of him as Brett, but I did not know him by that name. So to make sure 1 got Mrs. Penfield out of the house by hoax on the telephone and broke into the place in her absence. 1 did not know that it was you who came back with her"
 But his object in breaking into your room was probably to get some article of yours which would help to bring suspicion against you with regard to Lumsden's death. No doubt 1t was he who took the glasses which were subsequently found in the well. As you lost pair of glasses in the storm and arrived at the farm without them, Miss Maynard probably mentioned the fact to Brett. Did you tell her that you had lost your glasses that night?"
 q forget. Oh, yes, I did I mentioned it when we were looking at the cyptogram on the stars.''
 ''He was certainly an enterprising scoun- orel"
 Don't you wish to know why I wanted to lll him?" asked the young man after a jause
 ''I do, very much"
 'I feel that I must speak about it." he said And you are the only man to whom I can You heard Murchison tell us that Lumsden and Brett, as he called himself, had been tortured by the Germans, but that they gave away no information. That is their version; let me tell you the truth about them. Both of them belonged to my company in France. Lumsden had been un- der me for four or five months and had nothing against him. He was a fairly good soldier and I thought I could depend upon him. Powell-or Brett-had come over with a recent draft. One night when l was holding short advanced trench to the south of Armentieres I sent Lumsden and Brett out listening patrol. The trench we were holding was reached through sap; it was the first of four or five that were be- ing dug as jumping off places for an attack on the German trenches.
 'It was just about midnight that sent Lumsden and Britt out and they ought to have been back by a. m. It was the mid dle of summer and dawn commenced about 3 a. m. Either they had been captured or had lost their way and were waiting for dawn. When it was light enough to see the landscape, two figures appeared on the para pet of German trench in front about three hundred yards away. They were calling and gesticulating to us. At that distance it was impossible to make out what they were saying, but from their gestures we gathered that the Germans had deserted the trench and it was ours if we liked to go over and occupy it.
 "It came as such surprise that none of us stopped to think; but if we had stopped