Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1939-10-18
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volve her in the ransacking of Won,

volve her in the ransacking of YOUR
room to pick up this string of
beads and drop it there"
Butt cried Josie, in a voice de-
cldedly shriller than her usual deep
mellow tone, who would do a
thing like that ?" Her face changed,
she clasped her hands tightly to-
gether, her voice dropped to a
whisper. only the murderer would
do such a thing"
Il agree. And for that reason we
will keep the beads a secret until
we nave more information. Shall
we not %
BY all means" Josie lifted her
mead proudly. Il do not like Coral
EastOn. | do not believe she is the
woman my brother thinks she is:
put | would not do anything to in
volVe her in a crime Of which she
is innocent"
Lancy'5 stern face relaxed. you
nave decided as I thought you
would, Miss Pcake We will now re-
call your brother remember
not one word to him about the
beads"
He stepped to the door and called
Neal, who came promptly from the
lounge. He looked inquiringly from
che to the other. His face was stern
and his eyes Swallowed with pain
10 me, he looked even more wor-
RED anu anxious than before.
Sit down, Dr. Peake," was
Lancy's greeting, land explain just
Why you accused Miss Newcomb
OF killing your mother"
Neal was plainly eager to tell the
story: to lay the burden Of his sus-
picions upon the detective. Sub
stantially, his story was the same
as that Josie told me that after
noon. But when he finished with the
remodeling Of Hill House and the
building Of the spite fence, he
paused and looked searchingly at
Lancy.
The rest of what I have to say
is only a combination Of remarks
mother" Che sighed as he uttered
the Word) made at different times
and my own guesses, which, of
course, may be wrong, though I do
not think so. Yet it is something
which you must hear to understand
why feel as I do."
60 ahead" Lancy encouraged.
Sometimes our guesses come
mighty close to the truth"
For years we have ignored the
spite fence" Neal continued. II
know mother regretted her sisters
attitude, but there was nothing she
could do about it and, as she felt
herself absolutely in the right, she
tried, with more or less success,
to put the whole affair out Of her
mind. She had hidden as much Of
the fence as possible with the rose
arbor and shrubbery and, unless
someone passed remark about it,
which was seldom, we forgot it was
there. At least, I know I did,
though underneath it still ranked"
Lancy smiled Understandings.
Sort Of a continuous irritant
which you'd had SO long it became
a commonplace"
That's it exactly, sir. Well, as 1
said, I rarely gave the thing a
thought any more until this spring.
I had a leave Of absence the first
week in May and came home. When
I arrived L was Mortified at the
alarming change in mothers ap-
pearance. You have seen her, so
you know she was huge in body,
but until this year her flesh was
healthy, solid. with no haggard
lines or bad color
II found she had changed entire
". I don't know whether she had
actually lost weight or not; mother
never would consent to be weighed
or have a physical examination, but
her clothes seemed to fit her as
before, so I presume her size was
the same. But in place Of healthy
color and solid appearance. her