The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-02-02

Without question he assured him. self that she knew nothing, or she would have gone the way of Nita and Sprague. Now as to Sprague. Despite my warnings Sprague attempted to carry on the blackmail scheme. Perhaps Miles put him off for a day or two but on Wednesday afternoon he made an appointment with Sprague. tell ing him that, if he would come to his home that evening, and manage to leave the bridge game while he money in drawer of the cabinet that stood in the trophy room be- tween the two windows. .. This drawer"
 "But-how-?" Sanderson frown- ed.
 "very simple. When SpragIe pulled open this drawer, which was just at the height of his stomach, he received a bullet in his heart. See these four little I holes? / A wise was screwed into the bottom of the drawer go | that it gripped the gun with its silencer at an upward angle. A piece of string was tied to the trigger and fastened somehow 10 the unders.de of the drawer, so that when Sprague pulled the drawer open the string was drawn tart and the trigger pulled. Practically the same mechanism by which he l tried to murder me. The kick of the gun jerked the drawer shut. | All Miles had to do when he was pretending to look for Sprague was tc turn off the trophy room light, | by button in the hall"
 Then he had the rest of the | night to remove the gum!
 "Yes. Sometime during the night, after Flora was asleep with a seda- tive, he removed the gun and the wise, but he could not remove the holes .he screws had made. His next concern was to make the mur- der jibe completely with Captain Strawn's theory of gunman who had trailed his quarry to the Miles home and show him through the window. The window was already open, but the screen must be raised, too, and Spragues fingerprints had to be on the nickel catches by | which the curtain screen is raised or lowered. Of course Sprague had not touched the screen"
 Do you mean to say he lugged the corpse to the window and lifted | it up so that he could press the stiff fingers upon the nickel catches?"
 "No," Dundee answered. That | was not necessary. He simply re- | moved the curtain screen and car- ried to to where Sprague's right hand lay, palm upward, on the floor, and pressed the thumb and fore finger against the nickel catches. But the fngerprints thus male were reversed as I discovered when examined the prints in Car raway's office today. Miles could not turn the stiff hand over with out bruising the dead flesh; conse- Quently the prime of the forefinger was on the catch where the thumb print would normally have been."
 "Well-" Sanderson drew a deep breath. "He was celverer man than any of us suspected. and it IS pity that Nita did not fear him as she feared Sprague's vengeance when she made her will"
 "Hello! What are you doing back here?" Dundee exclaimed in surprise when, upon returning to the living room, the three msn found Penny Grain.
 Dad wants a private word with you," Penny explained, her brown eyes glowing with happiness. He's on the front porch. And you ought to see Mother! She looks like a 20-year-old bride!"
 | When Dundee joined him on the 1 porch, Roger Grains handsome face flushed painfully, but there was happiness in his brown eyes, too.
 Serena Hart asked me to thank you for giving her Pennys mes sage to pass on to me. I'm sure you've guessed lot, but what you probably don't know is that Serena used the securities I had sent @ her for safe keeping, to play the market with. She wouldn't let me touch a penny of the money until she had turned it into enough to clear up all my debts in Hamilton Then" and he sighed slightly, "she sent me home. Not that I'm sorry. I'm going to try to make Margaret and Penny happy" I Through" Penny .called from the doorway, and her red lips were so adorably rounded over the word that Bonnie Dundee forget Tracey Miles and his ingenious schemes There WIS room for nothing in his mind but an ingenious scheme o1 him own plan to get her alone so that he could kiss that soft, pro. vocative mouth.
 (The End)