The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1943-02-01

II
an acquaintance, IL not friend,
even b e ore the time when l
would make my appearance on
Long Island.
It was an acquaintanceship Of
golden worth to me.
Perh apps il would be well,
here, to explain somewhat more
clearly the way in which | pro-
posed TO carry out my purpose
and at the same time run no
risk of detection, or the bleak
humility of capture.
Henry Prentiss would become
a fully active partner in all the
life of Gull Point: an amusing,
and indeed an interesting addi-
ton to the idle life of the COM
munity; well-to-do, not burden
ed with too much of brains, gen.
erous, warm of nature, as obvi-
Gus as a thousand of his kind in
like communities all over the
world, and no more mysterious
than a shower of rain.
Becoming fixture within the
scene, he would become, so to
speak, his own accomplice. For,
after gaining an intimate knowl-
edge of the pattern of life in Gull
Point and at Stone House, he
would be able to choose the
moment and call the cue for the
entrance of that second charac
ter, the executioner.
You will observe, I am sure,
the manifold advantages of the
double impersonation. The eX-
istence of Henry Prentiss, his
patent innocence and harmless
ness, would become firmly es-
tablished. When the execution
occurred, nobody on earth would
ever think twice about good old
Hank.
But, being on the inside, as it
were, Henry Prentiss could
choose the moment of the climax
at will. He could bring on the
eXecutioner in whatever shape
the latter was, ultimately, to APP
pear. at precisely the right mo-
ment.
The executioner would van
ish when his work was done, but
Henry Prentiss, good old Hank,
would still occupy his own ia
miliar niche in the society of
the neighborhood. Furthermore,
he would be able to follow the
course of the chase for the exc
cutioner, to know precisely how
that chase went, to learn in
stantly of any mistakes that
might have been made.
For more than year lived
at Gull Point without thinking
seriously at all of the execu-
toners character, when, finally,
the time would come for him to
reach the scene.
Needless to say, / was quick
ly invited to Stone House. had
so immersed myself in the char
acter of Henry Prentiss that !
could sit with Norman Tinker or
with my sister, called Cynthia
MerriWether, and never suffer
the least qualm, either of con-
science or of fear.
/ chatted many time with
Norman Tinker, knowing well
that his life was in my hands,
and that l should dispose of it
when the fitting moment came.
l did not gloat. ! felt neither
unholy JOY nor foolish anxiety.
l was at work upon a job.
1t was not until Cynthia had
told her Goth tale of Bill Stew
art that his name, his existence,
swan into my mind as the be-
ginning Of my second character,
the eXecutioner.
OF course, the essential thing
in the arrival and departure of
this character was that he must
appear with an immediate en-
tree TO Stone House: that his
time upon the scene must be as
brief as might possibly be man
aged, and that no suspicion
whatever must fall upon him un-
til he had finished his work
and disappeared forever
l saw, at last, Bill Stewart,
opening the door of Stone House
that retribution might enter in.
The fundamentals of the Sec
ond character had, of course,
been integral with the creation
of the first one, Henry Prentiss.
For the impersonation must rely
upon contrasts, and upon the i'm
mense power of suggestion call
ed up by contrast.
The new character must not
be grossly disguised or arrest
ing figure. Heavy boards, and
Scared checks, and wigs and
built-up heels - limp or a
STOPPING shoulder - these de-
vices would not serve. They
would only invite more attent-