The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-01-10

works. She would run out, and right
in again, to curl on the davenport
and try to sleep. Finally, though,
she stayed outside. for a long time.
"When the wind rose, | looked first
for Martha. called her several
times before she answered. Finally
she came around the house from the
direction of the rabbit hutch, again.
Surely, you must have noticed, as
did, that she had seemed strangely
excited during all the late afternoon
and early evening. At the time,
thought it was because she had been
given the monkey charm. and be-
cause she was to have the fireworks.
But, when we were alone, she
talked very foolishly--even for her.
She began with II again, when she
had answered 10y call She kept in
ssting that soon we were all going
to be surprised about something;
something very nice, that had TO do
with Chad-but she would never.
never tell what ii was. AS rule,
should not have paid any attention
TO such talk But, for some reason,
her excitement. and her insiStence
about a surprise, disturbed me. j
spent some minutes auizzing her.
even tried t. bribe her. | could get
nothing from her tut further talk
about the nice surprise.
''Then the storm came and | ran
upstairs to begin closing the house.
| thought I'd begin with the attic,
and come down through the house.
l tried the attic door, 1t was locked,
and the key was missing was
alarmed. Possibly, because we were
all disturbed concerning Gaby's alb
sence; and possibly, because inside
doors are so seldom locked here. |
hanging in the broom closet ran
down and got it.
81 opened the door. l saw the
body. | touched it-and knew, even
before saw the tatting shuttle there,
and the beaded bag. covered with
Sans pipe ashes. snatched the
shuttle and hid it N my dress. AT
that instant, through the open win
dow at the end of the hall, ! heard
your voices, as you ran up the road
from the garage to escape the rain.
| shut the door, locked it, and ran
downstairs. Do you know. when |
met you, / had that key in my hand?"
MARY came up TO me to help me
close the French windows. II did not
think. ! had a wild desire to rid
myself of that key. | was determined
to protect Martha, at any cost. Mary's
pocket was hanging like an open
bag, right below me. dropped the
key into it. 1t was frightful mis-
take If ] had kept it, and thrown
it away, every one in the house
would have been exonerated. 1t was.
as you know, the one link that con-
nected this household with the crime
That is, after Mary had cleaned
away the pipe ashes. The little fleck
or two of them. which Danny saw.
might have fallen there days be-
fore"
MARY" Sam questioned, "were my
pipe ashes on the bag? Did you stop
to clean them off, before you gave
the alarm?"
"Yes they were, Sam. Yes. did"
"Then," Sam said, whoever put
the body there, put the pipe ashes
there to throw suspicion on me; and
whoever it was, knew my habits,
too. He must have put the tatting
shuttle there, as WE'LL for good meas
ure Does anyone of you think that
Martha would have had the wits to
save ashes ont of my pipe and put
them on the bag"
"Chadv John almost sang It, In
his eagerness. "He was wise enough,
and fool enough. His one idea was
to protect Martha. He helped her
get the body up there, between seven
and eight o'clock, end he put the
ashes there to shield her. said
fool enough. But, come to think of
it, he knew what he was doing. He
was protecting her with the one per-
son in the house who could not have
done it; with the one person that
he turned around and shielded dad
with his death and his written con-
fession. From start to finish, it
works out. plain as day. GOSH Say
lit is terrible. Gosh-horrible
Think of it But, thank God. 1t is
cleared up, anyway"
"'Cleared up. anyway is right"
Sam said, and looked around at all of
US, pityingly, like he'd look at a litter
of sickly puppies.
"All satisfied, them" he ques.
toned. "All satisfied that Martha
killed her. and that Chad carried the
body upstairs and hid it for her. and
left the false clews-inc.uding the
tatting shuttle, for reasons unknown
-and came down, merl. and happy
enough, until he took sudden no.
ton to write false confession and
walk out and shoot himself through
the head?"
Dad" there was pleading iii Johns
voice, "you don't mean to say that
you can't see the thing? That you
aren't satisfied with this absolutely
logical explanation?"
"Yes," Sam answered, with his most
dangerous drawl, "that's what l mean
to say. 1t takes more, or seems to,
to satisfy me than 1t takes to satisfy
some folks. Satisfied? Not by q
On sighti"
John lost his temper. "For the love
of Pete, why aren't you? What
would satisfy you? Say? What are
you trying to do? Do you like the
case against me so we'll that you
can't give it up? What's the use of
bucking straight factsr"