Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-08
INVTgNyQyyVyUVV1gIgNV

| for a girl in her position to do-ant
| then learned that Sibella had won hi
affections. She either knew or Strongl,
! suspected that they were married; ant
| her normal hatred of her sister wa
augmented by vicious and erodin;
/ jealousy.
Now. Ada was the only member O.
| the family who, according to the terms
| of old Tobias will. was not compelled
10 live on the estate in event OF mar
rage and in this fact she saw s
chance to snatch all the things sh'
craved and at the same time TO TIC
herself of the persons against whom
her whole passionate nature cried ou
in deadly hatred She calculated to get
rid of the family, inherit the Greene
millions. and set her cap for Won Blon
There was vengeance, too. as a mott
waiting factor III all this, but I'm in
clined to think the amatory phase OF
the affair was the prim'ry actuatins
force in the series Of horrors she later
perpctrated 1t gave her strength and
courage: 1t lifted her into that ecstatic
realm where anything seemed possible
and where she was willing TO pay any
price for the desired end. And there
is one point / might recall parentheti-
cally--you remember that Barton, the
younger maid, told us how Ada some
times acted like devil and used vile
language That fact should have given
me a hint but who could have taken
Barton seriously at that stage OF the
game?
To trace the origin of her diabolical
scheme we must first consider the
locked library. Alone in the house.
bored, reSentful, tied down-it was in
evitable that this pervertedly romantic
child should play Pandora. She had
every opportunity of securing the key
and having duplicate made; and so
the library became her retreat. her
escape from the gruelling, monotonous
routine OF her existence. There she
ran across those books on criminology.
They appealed to her, not only as 4
vicious outlet for her Smouldering, re-
pressed hatred. but because they struck
q responsive chord in her tainted ma
ture. Eventually she came upon Gross
great manual and thus found the
entire technic Of crime laid out before
her, with diagrams and examples-not
handbook for examining magistrates.
but guide for potential murderer.
Slowly the idea of her CORY orgy took
shape. At first perhaps she only
imagined, as means of self-gratifica-
ton, the application of this technic of
murder to those she hated. But after
a time. no doubt. the conception became
real. She saw its practical possibilities:
and the terrible plot was formulated.
She created this horror, and then, with
her diseased imagination. she came to
believe in it. Her plausible stories to
us. her superb acting. her clever decep-
tions-au were part of this horrible
fantasy she had engendered. That book
of Grimm's 'Fairy-Tales should
have understood Y see, it wasn't his
trionism altogether on her part: it was
a kind of demoniac possession. She
lived her dream Many young girls are
like that under the stress of ambition
and hatred. Constance Kent completely
deceived the whole OF Scotland Yard
into believing In her innocence"
Keep to the present. Vance" inter-
posed Markham impatiently. You say
Ada took all her ideas from Gross. But
Gross handbook is written in German.
How did you know she spoke German
well enough"
THAT Sunday when I went to the
house with Van I inquired of Ada If
Sibella spoke German. I put my ques.
tons in such way that she could not
not she. too. knew German well: and
she used typical German locution-
'Sibella speaks very well German
showing that that language was almost
instructive with her incidentally, ]
wanted her to think that suspected
Sibella, so that she would not hasten
matters until / returned from New Or
leans. I knew that as long as Sibella
was in Atlantic City she was safe from
Ada"
But what I want to know" put In
Heath, lis how she killed Rex when she
was sitting In Mr. Markham's Office
Let us take things in order, sergeant, st
answered Vance Julia was killed first
because she was the manager of the es-
Enlistment. With her out of the way
Ada would have free hand. And, an
other thing, the death of Julia at the
start fitted best into the scheme she had
outlined: it gave her the most plausible
setting for staging the attempted MUIR
der on herself Ada had undoubtedly
heard some mention of Chester's re-
volver. and after she had secured 1t she
waited for the opportunity to strike the
first blow. The propitious circumstances
fell on the night of November 8; and at
1890. when the house was asleep, she