The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-10-03

sion, called her into my mother
| room-that room land accused her of
the murder!"
Mr.. Elphinstone treated us to one of
his groans. But Corkerdale, uncon-
sciously, edged his chair nearer to
Sheila.
Nov this is where the really in
teresting part comes in, miss!" he
said. You charged Lerl What might
she reply, now?"
'She denied 1t, of course-indig-
nantly," answered Sheila. "She was
for flouncing out of the room, to COM
plain to Mr.. Elphinstone. Then she
changed her mind, and said she'd go
to her own room. pack her things, and
leave the hotel. soon settled her,
thought"
"Aye?-and how, miss?" asked Cor
kerdale, still more interested.
~ told her that If she attempted
to leave that room until I'd finished
with her, I'd ring the bell, send for
the police, and give her in charge !"
said Sheila. "And l should have done
Something would have stopped me-.
That Gained her down-she knew me
| Then l talked to her. pieced things
together finally. l told her that her
cairngOrm brooch had been found on
| the scene of the MURDER
| ''HOw did she take that?" inter-
| rupted MaythOrne.
| "She turned very pale" replied
| Sheila. "But almost instantly she
| retorted that my mother had an ex-
| actly similar brooch-why wasn't she
suspected? l replied that my mother
never wore the other brooch-evident-
ly she, Alison. did. Then | went on
to rub it into her, frightening her all
| could. My mother, on her part,
begged her to tell of anything she
knew. Finally, on my telling her that
unless l got some explanation, l should
| give her in charge there and then, she
admitted that she knew-something !"
"Ah!" said Maythorne. Some
thing!"
Something" repeated Sheila. "And
having admitted that, she made a
strange offer-though I'm bound to
say that it didn't seem so very strange
at the time. She pointed out that she
was alone there in London, that she
was, in a degree, at my mercy. Then
she reminded us that she had brother
| here in London, q man who left Mar
rasdale years ago, and who had. she
said, business in the Harrow road"
"Aye, to be sure!' muttered Cor
kerdale. "The Harrow road"
"And she made us an Offer" con-
| tinued Sheila. "She said that if we
would go with her, there and then, to
| her brothers house, and allow her to
| consult with him first, she'd tell
us the absolute truth about all that
| she actually knew. We were fools
, enough to go-and we set off at once,
without telling anybody. We ex-
pected, of course, to be back in a
very short time"
"What happened, miss?" inquired
Corkerdale.
1--WE left the hotel and got taxi
cab round the corner of the next
street." continued Sheila allison
| Murdoch told the 1river where to 60.
l know where the Harrow road opens
in Edgware road at Paddington Green !;
we went long, long way beyond that.
At last we got out"
"a minute, Miss" Interrupted Man.
ners. when you got out, did you
happen to notice if you were being
| followed? BY another taxicab, now?'
81 did see taXicab pull up on the
| other side of the street lower down, F."
replied Sheila. 81 noticed that while
my mother was paying our man."
Manners shifted, and whispered to
his colleague-an audible whisper.
THAT 'ud be-himl" ne said. Tracked
'em! Beg pardon, miss for interrupt
ing you"
1--WE walked up the road little
way" continued Sheila. 'Then we
turned irto side street, and into a
still smaller street that ran off that
a dark, gloomy street. Outside one of
the houses, Alison Murdoch asked us
to wait a few minutes while she went
in. We did. She was away perhaps
fetched us in. 1t was dark, gloomy
house-as gloomy as the street out
side. She took us into what seemed
to be a back bedroom, on the ground
floor, where there was a dim light
from a gas bracket, and asked us to
wait a few minutes longer. Then she
went out-and that was the last we
saw of her."
Corkerdale, still twiddling his
thumbs, took his eyes off Sheila for
the first time He cast them up to the
ceiling, and stared at whatever he
saw there, thoughtfully. Manners,
however, let out one word, sharply:
Trapped"
"Of course we were trapped" as
serted Sheila. "We deserved to bel
anyhow, | did. We hadn't been in
that room five minutes before we
knew t. We heard the door locked
from outside, and what seemed to be a
bar put across it, too. | Immediately
flew to the window and tore the blind
and the curtains away. Then | saw
that there were heavy shutters across
the window-On the outside-and
found the sashes of the window itself
were nailed down. We were trapped,
indeed! Horrible!"
"What happened?" asked Maythorne
SOFTLY I'm brief"
'In brief-yes," said Sheila. ''I'm
not going into details of that horror
for anything-nOw, at any rate.
beat On the door, but there was no
reply-everything was quiet enough
After an hour, panel that I'd noticed
in one of the walls-the sort of thing
hatch, you know, that communicates
between a kitchen and dining room
was suddenly slipped open, AMI hand
and arm thrust in big basket and