The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1927-03-04

tHG whole cHdln Oh stal
stances. Rawson was neither BAT
fled nor COMPOUNDED, having al
ready arrived at a solution: Shine
had PLAYED a trick. done II on pur-
pose to see if il might not accom-
plish just what 1t mad accom-
plished. He was loud in his praise
OF the photographer. 1t was q
clever rlse that had brought things
to a climax when they might have
gone on bungling for days. Raw
son was willing TO admit his mis-
takes-he'd been I'LL of the boy,
and now it appeared that Bassett
and Miss Tracy were right. Joe
Tracy had evidently lit out secretly
on some business Of his own.
He dismissed the company with
n curt command and as they made
their hurried exits, jocularly con
graduated Shine as the man who
had pulled a successful hoax. But
the photographer looked rather
s~hamefaced and denied the charge.
He'd meant 70 take a picture, no
funny business or fooling about it
but-he rubbed his hand over his
tousled hair and grinned sheepish-
ly. He was sleepy, that's what had
been the matter, just plain doped
with sleep. so he didn't know what
he was doing.
"Well. how do you account for
the %picture?'' said Rawson. Are
you one of those people who can
folio e.i,;t nhnfaorQnhStS
There was only n way of ac-
counting for 1t. He hadn't opened
the shutter and the picture was one
Of those he had taken of Miss
Saunders the day of his arrival.
~-"Of course" he said, staring per
plexedly at the carpet. I'D swear
/ opened the shutter and Id swear
| closed it after | got my wits
back. But there you are--you
can't take a picture of a dead
woman and l had a lot of her on
that film. That's how it came
about, being walked up sudden by
Mr.. Williams and trying to pretend
I was on the job, and being natu-
rally ratified by all that's trans
pired here. Oh, you ear under
stand it."
You'd taken her like that-com-
ing through the doorway"
He'd taken two or three like that
he couldn't be sure how many,
But he did remember posing her at
both the front and ear en-
frances of the living room, trying
to get effects of a dark background
with her figure dimly suggested
and the light on her face. 1t was
evidently one of those pictures,
must have been the last one he'd
done. but he couldn't trust his mem
DRY Oh any small points. He'd been
more shocked Than he had any
idea of, but he knew it now.
He described his amazement at
having seen it in the negative. He
said he couldn't believe his eyes
and hadn't mentioned 1t, as he
thought he was seeing things
what with the murder and all the
excitement. And he couldn't study
1t or compare ii with those on the
rest of the film because it was
gone. After they'd taken Stokes
away and he'd got the women
quieted down he'd turned to the
shetland there it was, blank as
it is now, and the negative melted.
AS for the explosion of the powder.
that was easy to explain, and he
told of his precautions in unlatch-
ing the door. Any light air could
have swung 1t open and as he was
sinking to sleep he had felt a breeze
blowing in from the entrance. Raw
son verified this /; a wind had arisen
that had kept him on the Qui vive
in the kitchen. moving the curtains
and making the doors creak.
So that was that Nobody's
brains. nobody's deductiye powers,
or perspicacity or psychological in
sight had brought them TO the goal.
The bungling of a sleepy man had
done the trick.
They were talking it over when
the sound of FYora's voice stopped
them. She was standing in the
doorway. very white and calm.
Stokes was asking for them. Yes,
she nodded in answer 10 Rawson's
look, he was quite himself. The
doctor had wanted him to wait till
he was stronger, but he had in
He says he must speak now
while his mind is clear. He seems
to know it won't last. and he can't
rest till he's told everything"
They found him bolstered up in
bed. a haggard spectacle; his eyes,
sunk in darkened hollows. seemed
10 hold all the life left in his body.
They hung on the entering men,
then swerved to his wife and he
made a motion for her to sit beside
him.
I'm glad you've come he whis-
pered. "Glad it's over. If I'm go
ing on now it can't be to anything
than this last t~hirty-siX
hours"
The desire to free his mind pos
him. Rest, he said rest
was all he wanted, and it was not
for him Till he had unloaded the
in~tolerable burden he had carried
since Sybil Saunders death.
He had never intended to kill her
that was the n point of ex-
culpation he insisted on. His love
had made him mad, carried him be-
yond the inhibiting forces of
honor, feeling, reason That il
was hopeless seemed to increase its
obsessing power, and she had never
for one moment led him to think 1t
anything but hopeless. I'm
waverIngly. IRON the first, her attl-
had been dislike. aversion. a