Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-08-16
The Tigers Trail
By EDISON MARSHALL

whose love s~ubjugated all other
things. Her kindness to me, the
gentleness with which she looked and
smiled, might have been simply the
expression of a sweet girlishness
such as most men, some time in their
lives, are fortunate enough to know.
And again it might have been con-
trivance, design, the purpose of
web of the mystery. Perhaps UNI
consciously | was playing a part in
the drama of the old house, and her
relation with me were in some my
s~terious way involved.
Yet. | couldn't bring myself to
question her motives. 1t was simply
impossible for me to accuse her Of
actual craft.
But in the test her true feelings
had stood forth. She had shown
where she really stood. The fact
that | was to leave the house in dis
grace meant nothing to her. Her love
had spread its wings above all such
things as this. | had not mattered
a grain of dust on the windowsill. Of
course | hadn't forgotten her hest
fancy. Perhaps there had been re-
Observation-Disclosures the truth had
come out in the end.
And it had come out again in the
little scene beside the marsh, when |
had been ready to leave the estate
with the coroner 1t was not to be
forgotten that her lips had told the
detective of my disrepute with the
Haywards, bringing down upon me a
certain measure of suspicion.
| remembered how she and Villas
Hayward had always been together.
And it only cost a laugh to remem-
Der that | had attributed this fact
to the mysterious forces that were
at play in the old mansion, rather
than to her own wish. Her love for
him was evidently the most passion
ate, intense kind, hardly to be expect
ed in the slender, appealing girl. She
showed this fact in her willingness to
sacrifice for him.
But why had she been ready to
kill him that night in the den? The
look in her eye as she leaned across
the table could not be mistaken,
Yet many times before, in the long
years of the world, women have
killed the men they loved. Condi-
lions have arisen in which love it
self was the power that pressed back
the finger against the pistol trigger
1t was not for any man to say. The
question went deep into the mys.
terry of a woman's heart. She hao
tried to kill him, and yet she loved
him. He brought sorrow to hel
eyes, and yet it made no difference
II was seemingly a love not to be
measured. And | wished that | coulc
go beyond the dull, strange reaches
of the swamps, and never return tt
Southley Downs again.
after ALL" | heard Inspector
Freeman saying, al don't see why
| should worry about these things
Such things as the tracks that the
niggers tell about in the road-ant
that chap who ran away from US OF
the hill-and all the rest of this
funny business. I've got my man
and that's the only thing that mat
ters."
| don't know how much he hat
said that / had not heard. M.
thoughts had been too busy.
$50 you're sure of it, are you?"
"It's a clear case. Blood-stainet
shirt-ancient enmity-above al
things, the fact that he's the on,
man, except of course Hayward
W son, that hasn't an alibi. HI
went outdoors with him. Nothing t.
it at all, Long"
We climbed the steps of the grea
house, and parted in the hall. TIL
detective took the clod that held tn
imprint up to his room to deposi
with the shirt. He was to meet M
in the library Immediately after.
! waited a long time for him t
come. And when at last / hear
him on the stair, he walked as slowl,
as pall-bearer with a bier. Ever,
step was distinst and slow, instea'
of the usual tap-tap of his quick mo
tions.
T. Then | saw him in the ~candleligh
at the door of the library. And new
er have / seen such bewildermen
upon the face of a human being.
"This is the damnedest house
ever saw!" he cried.
He stalked into the room with eye
wide and staring from sheer anna
: cement. He sat down in a grea
chair, and rocked himself back an
forth, his eyes on the floor. An
now and then he swore gently, daz
eddy. | have seen the same lool
lin my professional experience, /
the faces of men just picked up aliv
after startling automobile accidents
"You look a trifle upset, inspect
oru said "What's the matte
now"
He turned slowly, still numbe
and dazed. 81 say the damnedest
No case / was ever in had quite tn
devilish, upsetting, aggravating fes
lures that this one has. When
started to put away that clod ths
held the footprint, | opened tn
drawer where ! had put the staine
shirt"
Eyes"
Somebody had unlocked the draw
(, err with a screw-driver."
"And the shirt was gomez"
"Gone nothing! Some one ha
just torn a solid square foot out {
the front part of the shirt-tail. An
it dazed me so that ! dropped til
clod."
The moon that night cast eer
squares of light on the floors. TT
orchestra of the marshes started L
again-the call of birds, the noise