New Britain herald., 1927-11-10

Vance exposes the confession as a lie 10 shield Miss St. Clair. Vance t,lls Markham 10 come to hIs apart ment the following day and he will tell him who killed Benson. NOW BEGIN THE STORY CHAPTER l. "It's surprisin', v know, the CT roneous ideas people have about melons. There are only two species the muskmelon and the watermel- on. All breakfast melOns-lite can taloups, citrons, nutmegs, Cassabas, and Hone eydeWs-are varieties of the muskmelon. But people have the notion. d' ye see, that cantaloup is a generic term. philadelphians call all melons cantaloups; where. as this type of musim elon was first cultivated in Cantalupo, Italy, - "Vcry interesting," said Mark ham, with only partly disguised i'm patience. Did you intend by your remark last night"
 And after the melon. Currie has prepared q special dish for you. It's my own gustat'ry chefd oeuvre-- with Curric's collaboration. of course I've spent months on its conccption-composing and organ izing it. so to speak. l haven't named it yet,-perhaps you can suggest fitting appellation.
 ITO achieve this dish. one first chops up a hard-boiled egg and mixes it with grated Port du Salut cheese, adding a soupcon of tarra- gon. This paste is then enclosed in a filct of white rerch-like a French pan cake. II is tied with silk, rolled in q specially prepared almond batter, and cooked in sweet hutter.--That, of course. is the harest outline of its manufacture. with all the truly exquisite details omittcd."
 "It sounds appetizing," Mark hams tone was devoid Of enthusi- asm. But I didn't come here for a cooking lesson."
 "Y' know. you underestimate the ! importance of your ventral pleas | hIfS, pui SIt'L dIl''. I-hiilS S I'' inc one intallible guide 10 Il peo- ple's intellectual advancement, as , we'll as the inev' table gauge of the individuals temp rament. The s2v- age cooked and ate like q savage. In the carly days of the human race. mankind was cursed with one vast epidemic of indigestion There's where his devils and demons and ideas Of hell came from: they were the nightmares of his dyspepsia
 "Then. as man began 10 master , the technique of cooking. he hecame ! civilized: and when he achieved ] the highest pinnaclcs of the culin'ry | art. he also achieved the highest pinnacles of cultural and inteilec- tual glory. When the art of the gourmet retrogrcsSed. so did man. The tastcleSs. Standardize1 cookery of America is typical of our de- cadence. \ perfectly blended soup. Markham. is more cnnohlin' than Beet hoven's C-minor Symphony.
 Markham listened stohdly 70 Eanrn's chatter during breakfast. He made several attempts 70 bring 1lp the subject Of the crin", but Vance glihly ignored each essay. II was not until Currio had cleared aWay the dishes that h" referred to the object of Markham's visit.
 "Did you bring th" alibi re- por,S?" was his first question.
 Markham nodded.
 And it took me two hours 70 ! find Heath after you'd gone last night"
 Sad" breathed Vance. He went to the desk. and took g closely written double sheet oi ' foolscap from one of the compart- ments.
 | 'T wish you'd glanc" this over, 1 and give me your learned opinion, he said handing the paper to Mark ham. T prepared it last night l after the concert"
 later took possession Of the document, and filed it with my other notes and papers pertaining 10 the Benson case. The following is a verbatim CODY:
 UYPOTHESIS Mrs. Anna Platz shot and killed Alvin Benson on the night Of June 18th.
 PLACE
 She lived in the house, and ad- mitted being there at the time the shot was fired.
 OPPORTUNITY
 She was alone in the house with Benson.
 All the windows were either barred or locked on the inside. The