Evening star., 1923-12-19
Continued from Yesterdays Starr

Mrs. Cayley's afraid to have those
.e.eeds Srad inVestigated, for some reason
might have been a few things in
good printed in his obituary"
1ee i! shouldn't be s'prised If they
serves, anyways. just who il was kill
cd him Lefty kinder limited they
wasn't exactly tickled to death with
the district attorneys feller, and then
she shut up quick. Mebbe thereIl
se another stranger round the place
pretty soon who won't flash no badge
nor act like he was leadin' a brass
band. But I don't see what he kin
90; the tracks'll be all covered up
by that time"
DO you mean you think Mrs. Cay
ley Is going to get a detective of her
own out from the city," demanded
Kinder looks that way, but O.
course 'tain't any business O. mine
Seems to me, though, that II l wanted
to start on a new tack and 1 thought
mebbe the feller that writ those let
do ders Sin mightna ;he - have have had nothin, to
ttie Mfn tak tnH With snns af6er all Id have
The cook
Seems to me I'd kinder let on
what an ornery cuss l thought that
district attorneys feller was and
that mebbe I'd use my inflooence-
providin' | had any, that is-to git
leave for her to go. seems she didn't
know nothin' about what happened
10 Mr.. Bernhard, if she'd tell me what
she heard goin on in the dinin' room
last night after Miss Sherwood had
stopped playin' the piano" Geoff
If communing with himself alone,
but his visitor listened eagerly.
Shouldn't wonder but I'd ask her
who the feller was that said he was
through; he'd been played for a
sucker because the lady hadn't no in
tentions o. marryin' him, and so now
he was goin' to queer Mr.. Benkard' s
game. Reckon she'd tell me that Mr..
Bernhard threatened to break him like
I've had the others, but that the feller
swore he'd git him first. and that a
few minutes after there come the
sound OF an ottermobile tearin' off
"Stoneham Lane. Mrs Cayley told
me that he had talk with her
brother in the dining room just be-
his spectacles and began polishing
them vigorously with d corner of the
red cotton cover on the table beside
which he sat; But Bernhard went
hack TO the library and talked to her
and then to Miss Sherwood alone for
q few minutes after Mrs. Cayley had
gone to her room, and old Henry saw
him later when he went the rounds
TO lock the house up for the night"
He didn't lock the terrace doors.
though, and somebody might've
forced the window and inside door
'sif burglar or leastways a stranger
had done il. Kinder thtink If this
case was any affair o mine-which
II ain't-Td like to know if Mr. Lane
driv straight back to the city and
what time he put his ottermobile up
at whatever garage he keeps it at,
and then I'd make sure he went home
and to bed instead O. mebbe hirin' a
strange ottermobile or borrowin' one
for a little ride out in the country
again. Geoff ran his fingers
through his shock Of sandy hair.
It's plumb Gurus how a feller kin
go along maxim money and livin'
high till he's old 'nough to know
better, and then git crazy bout some
yeller- headed little gal who might've
been. his daughter: and when she
won't marry him he'll git an idee
that she was leadin' him on because
shed been told to by somebody she
had to mind. If he'd thought the
party, that put her up to it was, his
friend and had praps got mixed up
in some dirty work with him besides,
bed likely git even. no matter what
1nebbe that the other party would
win out, / shouldn't be s'prised but
that he'd take a chance on crackin'
his skull. Where. feller tries to mix
courtin' and business he's bound to
lose on one or t'other, and If the
business happens to be a little mite
crooked there's liable to be a sight
o trouble"
visitor thoughtfully. Those big
ffnanciers in Wall street don't care
much who they ruin, Geoff, so long
as they get to the top, and from what
as loyal as they come, ! gathered that
Bernhard was about as ruthless
fighter as any of the lot. but I didn't
Never kin tell, Doc" Geoff pro-
duced his pipe and sack of tobacco.
20 course if Mis- Cayley does git a
detective down 1t won't be his busi-
ness to unearth anythin' that'll mebbe
reflect on her brother, but to cover it
up instead. and that's where he'd be
workin' with his hands tied. but If a
body was free to investigate where
he pleased he could look up some o
the desls Lane and Bernhard have
been in together just to git a gen
eral idee o their game. Lane amt
nobuddy's fool, for all he wants a gal
that don't want him, and If he was
Jast night he'll have it all fixed to
prove where he was every minute o
the time from when he first left here
till Mis- Cayley called him on the
all ready to swear to it: too, likely"
"An alibi. you mean" Or, Hood
nodded a. trif1e grimly. IF his alibi
can't be shaken. that's the end of it.
but I'll be hanged If don't think you
may have struck it. Geoff! I never
thought to talk to that cook; it beats
all how you just fall into luck!'
Reckon it's because I amt lookin'
for nothin," his host responded as he
suddenly put the tobacco sack back
in his pocket unopened and reached
for a large tin box on the shelf.
kinder think I'll try this new mix
ture: too bad L amt got any cigars
for you, Doc"
Mr.. Newbury gave me a. couple this
afternoon" The other took fat per-
fecto from his pocket as he spoke.
Those big city lawyers certainly
have the best there is.''
Lawyers?" Geoff looked UP
quickly. 1
He was Benkards attorney and
Mrs Cayley's. too, and he came out
that Lane left word to have him noti-
fed for Mrs. CayIey, before he him
self started out here. l had a long
talk with Newbury about Benkard's
affairs, and I can tell you, IL there
was anything crooked about them he
touched them with a ten-foot pole!
He's g. man of f1fty-five OF SO, should
say, with gray hair and little point
ed beard. Did you ever see him while
you were working around the placer"
GeoH shook his head, and the
doctor went on:
His voice is deep and solemn, just
like a preachers, and I'll bet he
makes them sit up and take notice in
a courtsoomi He wanted to know
when they could have the body, and
when I told him tomorrow morn
ing he said they would have the
funeral the next day. Saturday. so as
sible and avoid all the notoriety for
the family that they could. He seemed ]
pretty well shocked, but it was more =;
as though he felt it a personal scan