The Coolidge examiner., 1936-11-20

| tOrcycleS followed.
With one of his swift leaps, Pat
rick was out of the car and across
the piazza. stay here until l whis-
tle!" he called over his shoulder
to the four policemen. Lucky you
were at home, JOe," he comment
| ed
Sarah and l accompanied them
to the farthest end of the piazza.
There we women faltered.
Mary" Patrick begged, "if you
can bear to stand it, | wish you
come with US
For the first time saw that Pat
rick's Irish gray eyes were filled
with tears. l began to sob help
lessly. Yes, I'll come" l agreed.
"You come too, Sarah!" Joe or
dered briefly.
We had scarcely stopped for this
brief dialogue. All the time we
were hurrying forward over the
short path. Presently we we're at
the entrance of the Spinney. AS l
have said, only this one gravel
path, joining the grassy path which
leads from the side door of my
glassed-in piazza, passes through it.
That path curves out of it, runs
part way up the Head to the Little
House and then, up the Head be-
yond it, curves backward and ends
at my back door.
The Spinney is a tangle. l let
things grow there as they will And
they will turn to jungle.
Entering the Spinney on that
transcendent day was to come
abruptly from sunshine singing hot
to shade, velvety cool. Cool, 1 say
that GOODNESS rapidly became the
frigidity of horror. For our cav
alcade proceeding swiftly-Doctor
Geary first. then Patrick, then
myself, then Sarah-I caught sight
presently, over the mems shoul-
ders, of a splotch of white, hui
manly shaped, on the gravel path.
Suddenly the atmosphere of the
Spinner blackened and whirled.
l stopped.
You go ahead" ordered faint
ly. ''Tll follow in minute" But
what happened was that. after Sar-
ah passed me, I recovered myself
instantly; followed at once and
passed her. In a second or two
we all stopped.
Hes dead all right" Joe pro-
nounced grimly. Hes been dead
since-rigor mortis has set in"
Yes, he's dead, the poor fell
low!" Patrick echoed. Sarah and
1 stationed ourselves one on either
side of Patrick.
Ace looked strangely beautiful
and strangely dignifed in death
as though his body had been care
fully laid out, as indeed ultimate
ly we learned that it had. His
tunic lay straight and close about
his figure His helmet lay at his
side. His tiny black velvet mask
lay beside it. Suddenly l seemed
to see for the first time the slit in
that tunic, a slit surrounded by
rust-colored stain over the heart.
Stabbed" Patrick dropped
tersely. He too knelt.
Yes" Joe assented. There it
isl"
1t was the weapon that had killed
Ace. II was his own sword; the
short sword of the Roman officer
which had stuck upright on the
left of his belt. The blade was I'M
stained, smooth and shining.
A second wave of faintness came
over me. AS l went into it, heard
Patrick say. mot suicide! And
somebody that he trusted killed
him. Whoever it was, ne wiped the
blade clean" AS l came out of
it, l saw Patrick's stern eyes eX
amining the ground about Aces
body.
"Finger-prints!" Joe Geary sug-
gested sternly.
Patrick drew something shining
from his pocket and put it to mis-
lips. On the blast of his whistle,
the four policemen appeared at the
entrance of the Spinney. It's a
murder all right" he informed
them briefly. Mike. you call the
coroner! Then get Doctor Blaikie' S
house and tell them there what
has happened. Then get the sta
ton and tell them to put man at
the crossroads. Nobody but the
people who live here or deliver
here are to come over to the Head
until l say so. The rest of you
spread about and guard this wood.
Nobody is to set foot here unless |
o. X. it."
l lay awake almost all night long,
thinking of Ace Blaikie con-
sidering poignantly certain half
forgotten scenes which seemed, of
their own volition, to drift from
out of the past into my mind .
recalling with careful deliberation
succession of pictures of our
long, vivid friendship all these
the very warp and woof of my
childhood and girlhood.
(TO BE CONTINUED