Henderson daily dispatch., 1938-03-01
CHAPTER 40

NOW STRICKLAND'S plan
did not sound to Fellowes as crazy
as it may sound to you," Lord
Simon pointed out. I'm the first
place. Mrs, <Thurston could be re-
lied on to go to bed at IL. In the
second place, she was obviously a
woman who could be easily scared.
And in the third place, by escap-
ing out of the window, Strickland
would give a pretty fair imita-
ton of a bloke from outside. He
would have to make sure Of her
silence, of course, till he was well
away, and he would have to make
certain that she did not follow
him across to her window, and
see him pop into his own. But
neither of those would be very
difficult.
"Fellowes, in any case, was not
hard to convince, because his own
part in the affair wasn't very
difficult or discriminating. All he
had to do was to have the rope
in when Strickland was safely in
his window, and afterwards col
lect his share of the loot. That
was not a hell of a job for a man
who had already been to Jail for
HOUSEKEEPING.
$50 the whole thing was ar
ranged thus. During dinner Eel
loves was to get the rope from
the gymnasium, hang it out Of the.
window Of his own bedroom,
which, as you know, is over
Strickland's room. go down into
Mrs. Thurston's room, and by
means of hooked stick or some
thing haul the end Of the rope
over to her window. He could
fix it there by the simple ex-
pedient of pulling the end into the
room, and hauling the window
down on top of it. Even if any
one went into the room after him,
and before Mrs. Thurston came to
bed, those long curtains would
hide it.
when the rope was fixed, Eel
loves was to take out the electric
light bulb, so that when Strick-
land came the room would be IN
half-darkness. And after that he
had nothing to do until IL, when
he was to go up to his bedroom
and haul in the rope.
Meanwhile Strickland, so far
as Fellowes knew, was to go to
bed early get into Mrs. Thurs
tons room in his rough disguise,
wait for her to come to bed, clap
hand over her mouth quickly
to prevent her screaming, gag her,
force her to open the safe, pocket
the jewelry, tie Mary Thurston
to something out Of sight Of the
window, climb out onto the rope,
let the rope swing him to his own
window as it would kindly do in
obeying the law Of gravity, nip
in, conceal the tomfoolery, and be
ready to come out Of his room
and join the hue and cry.
"Fellowes thought it splendid
idea. He saw only one snag in It
That was his friend Miles. He
knew it was Miles day off. and
that he, who would certainly be
outside and not inside the house,
would, as an experienced cat
burglar, be at once suspected. But
this he could easily avoid by see
ing Miles that afternoon, ana tell.
ing aim to see that he had a cas'
iron alibi in the evening. So Eel
loves was quite happy.
And Strickland's own real. ano
rather more private plan, was
now perfect, too. No paltry ols.
guises for him. A disguise m1gn'
brighten her into giving a prema'
ture scream. He could be wait
ing in Mrs. Thurston's room II
his own charmin' and natura
guise, and when she came up az
would neatly slit her throat ane
swing home in safety. He woule
then step out of his room with
perfect alibi almost before any
one could reach her door. AFTER
wards, he would have to explain
It to Fellowes as necessary. Ans
Fellowes would be too deeply IN
volved to peach. Fascinatln Tel
low-Strickland."
Night fell, as they say con
tlnued Lord Simon in the ar