The Wilmington morning star., 1940-06-22
CHAPTER ~FORTY-SEVEN
His eyes bu1ged. "You!"
Jr;11oI him


His ewes bulged. "You!"
Eyes, I killed him."
lie shrank away from me as
though his own life were in peril
LET me explain" I pleaded.
..But-but it can't be true! You
said YOU were upstairs. Everyone
agreed you were upstairs. Every
bit of evidence against you has
broken down. My God, man!
You're innocent. You're crazy"
II have never told a lie about
this case" l assured him, but
left out some facts and let the po'
lice jump to conclusions. One OF
their wrong conclusions was that
because Alfred was standing in the
garden with his face toward the
stars he must have been alive. He
wasn't, He was dead before I went
upstairs"
Markham drew a revolver from
his pocket. 60 on" he said coldly.
Don't expect any mercy from me.
He was my brother, you know
"When he and I went into the
garden that night he kept asking
me why 1 didn't leave him alone.
l was with him because l was
alarmed by his strange moodiness.
l thought he might be thinking OF
suicide in the river. I didn't tell
him that, 1 merely stayed with
him. We walked into the rose
arbor. He argued, his voice rising.
1 leaned against the railing, talk
ing quietly, trying to get him to
tell me his troubles.
You can see the railing from
here. It's a sort of fence around
what once was a croquet court. It's
about as high as a mans waist
and the top railing is broad
and fiat. There was a sharp trowel
lying on the railing. AS 1 talked l
fingered it absent-mindedly."
THAT was the death instru-
ment?"
Eyes, that was the trowel that
killed him. But you're getting
ahead" I swallowed hard and con-
tinued. alfred seemed to be lis
tening to reason. At last he
laughed and said, All right, all
right. Forget it. Let's go back in
side. I'll take a rose to my partner
as an excuse for my absence. Lend
me your knife to cut it, will your
II opened up my pocket knife
and handed it to him.
wicked looking blade he said.
His eyes narrowed. His face be-
came hard and terrible. Now!
Leave me alone!'
The knife was at my throat. In
stinctively I swung my hand up to
drive him back from me. I did not
intend to strike him as hard as l
did, but to push him away from
me. I forgot that the trowel was
in my hand.
He sagged. My hand seemed to
be stuck to him. In horror I let go,
and he dropped like a sack out of
which everything-all the life-had
been drained at once"
George Markham was white,
speeches.. He lowered the gun he
was holding.
HE fell to the ground" I went
on. II knew it looked like I had
murdered him. No one would be-
lieve your brother had attacked
me. I could hardly believe it my
self.
II had to get out of the garden
before anyone discovered Alfred
was dead. I had to make him ap-
pear as though he we're alive when
I left.
After throwing. the trowel in the
river I propped the body up against
the railing. The legs of the stool,
which I set upside down on top OF
the railing, held the body under
the arms and gave it the impress
sion of standing there, especially if
the person who saw it was no
closer than the clubhouse door. But
the head sagged forward, so l
propped it up with the broken GRO
quet mallet, under the chin, so that
Alfred seemed to be looking at the
stars, with his face in the shadow
and turned partly away from the
clubhouse.
1T was horrible business. I was
numb with terror, or I could never
have done it.
IAN electric wire crossed the
court close overhead. I pulled down
The south end of it and tied it to
the stool. Then I went into the
clubhouse, pretending to talk back
Bella - QIIRT E