The Coolidge examiner., 1935-05-10
CHAPTER xII-con,inued

the pages The passage relates. as
recall. 20 the duke % Cumhrr
zads visit 90 Rye. when he made
ar inspection ~ the defenses of
the ue.ghhorhood and was enter
talnc3 by Mr. Lamh. who was s,ili
mayor Al. here Il Isl
hope ] dout bore you These par
tlcuiars have been klndly Eiven me
by almost tlfe only living represent.
atlyr ~ the Lamb Grehell families
which have otherwise died out ln
Hyc. ln regard 20 the Grvheil muir.
der. ms informant gave me some
particulars. unknown 90 th2 local
cbrualrlers. 10 part az lesss. that
are physl0lnglcally interesting. Mr.
Srche'l bad been supp!nx with bis
brother in.law Lamb. and having
some business In the town. Dor
rowei his scarlet oveTcoat on ~.
turning late through the church
yard. be felt some one push heay-
tiy ns he thought against him. and
merely rcmarklug Get away. ynu
drunken hound. PASSED on to Ianh
louse. quite uuconcerued lie duly
reported the incident. but as the
family were EoinE 20 bed. said be
felt 80 tired that. Instead - goIns
home. hc would have sleep Ca
the armchair by the IRE. ln the
morning bee was found dead. wIth
a stab Ia the back. which has
caused Internal bleeding.
Markham stood up and walked
Rack and forth across the room.
Good Cd " Ills words were
s~arceiy audible "sn that's the OK.
plantation, No wonder we couldn't
understand the things that hap
r"uc1 there that night Unhelicv.
ahfc~'
Vance had sunk back into his
chair. -giavet lie took a deep IN.
erlration. Ike a man Who had svsL
denly found a friendly settlement
in the midst of n hostile Jungle.
Really. Markham" he said with
q slight upward glance. taking ont
hls cigarette case. EN- never for.
give you for ihls-never II was
sou who guessed the solution. And
knew Il all the time. but / couldn't
correlate my knowledge"
Markham came 20 a sudden halt.
what DO yon mean by SAYING
that ] guessed the solutionT'
"Dldnt you say" asked Vance
mildly. that the only way one could
explain the circumstances was by
the assumption that dead man
walked upsiairsf No. Marx.
ham. am sure I shall never for
give You"
Markham sat down and muitered
= disgusied oath. lie smoked
while In silence.
The internal hemorrha-e ex-
plains many things" he admitted
dnany. 'But silll don't under
stand Brlsbane's death. and the
bolted door"
And yet. d ye see" returned
Vance, IT all nts In perfectly. now
that We have the key"
lie lny back In his chair and
stretched his legs. He took sew
eral puffs on his cigarette and half
closed his eyes.
i think. Markham. I can re.
construct the amazin' and contra
dict'ry occurrences that took place
ia the Coe domicile last Wednesday
night | doubt II wrede actu-
ally planned 10 murder Archer Coe
that night. The idea had no doubt
been in his mind for a long time.
for be bad obviously taken the pre-
caution OF securing a duplicate key
Go tie spring lock on the rear door.
Bn, ! have Il feelIn' that he wished
only 10 argue various matters out
with Archer last Wednesday night be-
fore actually resorting TO murder. II $
obvious that he called on Archer
that night and tried TO convince him
that he would be the perfect mate
for Hilda Lake. Archer disagreed
and disagreed yiolently. That was
no doubt the argument that Lang
overheard I imagine that the de-
bate reached the point where blows
we're struck. The poker was quite
handy. don't y know. and wrede.
with his tremendous sense OF per
sonal inferiorlty. would naturally
ceach for sou,e outside agent to
help him over the top. He snatched
the poker and struck Archer over
the head.
Archer fell forward against the
table. upsetting It and fracturlnc
his rib. wrede was In a ouand'rv
But again his sense OF inferloritv
invaded him. He looked round the
room quickly. saw the dagger in
the cabinet. took Il out and. as
Archer lay on the floor, drove II
into his back The deed was
done. he had vindlcated himself
In s physical way. and had removed
all obstacles from his path. He be.
lieSed he was alone In the house
VITA Archer but still there -~--,
ae question OF q suxDerf Into his