Evening Star Newspaper, December 20, 1923, Page 46

BOVE S USPICION By Robert Orr Chipperfield, Author of “The Second Bullet,” “Unsesn Hands,” “The Trigger of Conscience,” Etc. Copyright, 1923, by Bobert M. McBride & Os. (Continued from Yesterday's Star.) Lane and Benkard! Why on Nlrth. didn’t you come amd tell me at once?" “Because 't wasw't non o' my busi- ness,” Geoff replied slowly. “Wait till I light the lantern outside so's you can see your way ‘long the path to the road, Doc.” He preceded his visitor out on the little porch, and as the rayvs of the lantern streamed forth the doctor held out his hand. “Well, vou've helped an awful lot, Geoff, and I'm mighty obliged to you! —See you tomorrow. Good night. Geoff remained on the porch until he heard the rattle of the anclent car out on the main road. Then he extin- zuished the lantern, and re-entering the kitchen he closed the door care- fully behind him. Taking from his pocket the tobacco sack he had all but opened in his visitc v ence, he drew from it the scrap of soft, re- silient, black fabric and gazed at It reflectively for a long space. length the injured dog In the stirred, a Geoff looked over “Lady,” he remarked, “I wonder if I done right: if T helped. . CHAPTER WII From Out the Sand. At 8 o'clock the next morning while Geoft_was mixing concrete and whis- tling his monotonously unchanging re- frain, a black motor car of unmis- takable lines drove siowly in at the gate and up fo the front door. From where he stood beside the Cayleys' un- finished garage he could get a straight- away view of. the main drive, and his histling ceased while involuntarily 1is hand went up to the cap upon his head. For the last time Joseph Benk- ird was returning to the home of his sister Then the mason shook his head stub- bornly to himself, replaced the cap and. turning his back. went deliber- ately on with his work. Tt was up to the famlly, not him, o show respect for their dead He heard ghe car drive away, empty, at a more brisk pace, and & faw min- utes thereaffer came the sound of a second motor, the familiar clatter of Hank's station jitney. Geoff turned once more and stood staring while it Dasced the cormer of the house front, turned, halted, and, {n another moment, reappeared, gathering speed as it lurched wildly toward the gates. He caught just a glimpse of a command- ing figure, with gray hair showing be- neath an immacwlate straw hat, and with a_small, pointed gray beard. From Doc Hood'a description, that could be none other than Mr. Newbury, The family lawyer; and he was evil dently in some haste (o get to town. Geoft had bent to his task when a genfal voice hailed him, and e looked up to find himself con- fronted by a red-haired, freckle-faced voung man. who stood with his hat on the back of his head and his hands in his pockets, regarding him with an infectiously #ood-natured smile. “Hello, Buddie! You the whole works around here?” he asked. “Looks like it, don't it?" The an- swering friendliness in Geoft's tone offset the bluntness of the reply, but in ! his mild, brown eyes narrowed slightly. Fresh young city feller in cheap ~ store clothes, nosing around where he had no business to be and asking fool questions to scrape ac- quaintance! There could be only one explanation of his presence, and he was probably the forerunner of a whole crew. Geoff went on mixing concrete. “Sure does!” The young man bal- lanced himseif nonchalantly on the edge of the wheelbarrow. “Been here | since the job started?” “Off and on.” “Were you here yesterday morning when Mr.” Benkard's body was found? ‘There must have been a lot of excite-; ment around the place!” The young ‘man's tone grew wheedling. “Tell us about it, 1ike a good fellow “Ain’t nothin’ to tell. I dldn't see no excitement. Folks kept comin’ and goin’ but {t wasn't none o' my busi- and that's ‘bout all I got time Geoff spoke with good-humored but the other was impervious you get a look at the body before it was moved? What was the first you knew of the murder?—See here, Il make it worth your while—" “Young man"” Geoff straightened and eyed him blandly, “the only thing that's worth my while right now is to gIt this concrete into the molds before she sets, and I've got to have that wheelbarrer to do it. Reckon you bet- ter be goin' on 'bout your business, too, whatever 'tis, or Zeke Foster, the police lieutenant ' that's comin’ down the drive, might mistake you for one o' these here city reporter fellers, and he's death on ‘em.” “Right-o! Thanks for the tip.” The freckled youth slid off the barrow, grinning cheerfully even in defeat. “You think it over and If you'd like to talk to me when you knock off for dinner T'll be down by that tourists’ soft-drink stand on the main road.” The red head disappeared among the trees in the direction of the hedge. Zeke Foster had gone around the other side of the house and Geoff re- sumed his piping whistle when again @ voice greeted him, this time In low, rich, feminine tones. “iood morning, Geoffrey.” He turn- ed quickly, removing his cap, for Mrs. Cayley’s guest, Vera Sherwood, stood before him. She was clad in a soft Rray gown and her face was colorless as marble, but the mass of red-brown hair glowed like molten copper in the sur “Good mornin’, ma'am.” Geoff gave her one of his rare smiles. “T hope I ain’t disturbin’ folks up at the house by workin' 'round out here, but when T start & job T Ilke to git through with t. “I think most of us d She smiled faintly in reply. “I haven’t heard any |one complain, although. of course, you have done no work inside? “I puttered ‘round a mite yestiddy fixin' up things here and there while the folks was all busy havin' confer- ences, 'cause 1 reckoned the court ought to look as good's it could in case there was a big funeral Mis' Cayley told me not to g0 on with the terrace vet, so I started out here in the afternoon.” HE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1923. inquiringly, as if anxious for com- mendation 'of his thoughtfulness, but she shook her head. “There won't be any funeral cere- mony here, I understand. Mr. B ard’s body Is to be removed very quietly.” She paused. “The notorlety ~—Mrs. Cayley has been much annoyed already by = reporters and curious strangers.” “One o' them there reporter fellers come snoopin’ out here just remarked Geoff. “Didn't git nothin’ out o' me, though, ma'am; ‘tain’t my business.” “I know Mrs. Cayley will appreciate your not talking to any of them. The local police lieutenant has been in- structed to keep them off the place. Oh!™ Miss S8herwood caught herself up with a little catch in her breath and stood staring as though she could scarcely belleve her eyes. Geoff fol- lowed the direction of her gaze and saw & tall, athletic figure striding to- ward them across the lawn. He ap- peared to be a man in the early thir- ties, and, although he was a stranger, there seemed something famil the smooth-shaven, clean-cut features and ecager, boyish blue eyes which brought &’ vague impression to the stonemason’s mind. It deepened to a certainty as the newcomer neared them, and he smiled to himself once more, then turned and moved off out of sight. “Adrian!" Miss Sherwood exclaim- ed. in a low, agitated tone. “I—I thought you were in Canada!” “T reached home last night. Georg- ette told me of—of what had taken place out here and T found her all packed up and waiting. This morn- ing we came out and opened up the old' manor house at the Corners. You've never seen it, but Harper and I were born and grew up thers, you know, until we went to oollege. Georgette thought there might be for- malities connected with this horrible affair which would make it necessary for any one who had been In the house when it happened to remain in the nelghborhood for a few days, at least, and she won't hear of your stay- ing on here another hour.” ~His voice was firm, but there was an unmistak- ably revealing note of tenderness in it which told its own story. ‘Tve come to take you home.” “Now? Oh, Adrian, T couldn’t! As the only outaider, the only guest at the time, it is inevitabls that I shall come in for a certain share of ques- tioning and notoriety, and I cannot drag your sister-in-law into it. as kind as she has been to me.” Real distress made the young woman's rich tones quiver. “I must think of Mrs. Cayley, too; she has only her daugh- ter, a mere girl, and I could not leave her alone In this terrible hour after accepting her invitation to visit her here!" “T don't ses why you did!” the man she had called Adrian exclaimed, im- pulsively. “You're not an intimate friend of hers. My dear, I'm not criti- cizing your actfons or your choice of assoclates, but it maddens me to think of your being connected, however re- motely, with the hideous mess and scandai this case is bound to be be- fore it Is settled!™ “That is all the more reason why I ‘would not think of golng to Georgette now. but T fail to see why you should draw such a concluston, Adrian. A-— & frightful tragedy has taken place, certainly. but why you think a hid- eous scandal must ensue—=2?" She her companion was too vehemently in earnest to heed. “Hecause I know the man's reputa- tion! 1 know what was whipered about him on the street, what is be- ing shouted now from the housetops' Ve you seen the papers this morn- His bovine eyes wers fixed on her!ing? ‘Do you know that one des- The Highest Class Talking Machine In The World spoke in warningly cold accents, but | picable yellow sheet had the audacity to hint that you—that a possible en- gagement might ‘Adrian!” Indignation and a sort of shooked horror rang in her tones, but before she could speak again the cheerful reiteration of a whistied re- frain sounded from the rear and Geoff marched around the corner of the ga- rage. He hesitated in awkward em- barrassment and his eyes traveled from the couple standing before him to his concrete-mixing paraphernalia, as if he wers uncertaln what to do. Miss Sherwood's -pale face flushed vividly and she moved as though to retreat, but her companion stood, staring at the mason. “Haven't I seen you before”' he asked. “I medn, aren't you a native hereabout? T used to live near a good many years ago.” Geoff chuckled. “Reckon you've seen me. all right, Mr. Middleton,” he replied. I was speakin’ o' your old home only last night, at least o' the folks you rented it to a couple o' year back. When you and your brother was kids we all used to go swimmin' down behind the big rock: ““And once when I was taken with a cramp vou fished me out and saved my lifel" Adrian Middleton advanced with outstretched hand. “You're Geof- frey Peters! Good Lord, after all these years! I'm mighty glad to seec you again.” “Same here, Mr. Middleton.” Geoff wiped his plaster-smeared hand on his overalls and clasped the one extended to him. “T heard tell that your brother had died four or five year DISABLED VETERANS GET MORE PAY IN NEW BILL|GROUND FOR NAVAL BASES Senator Shields Introduces Measure to Provide Larger Compensa- Jtion to Defendants. al De- Amendments to the war risk act|in @ bill submitted by the Navy which would materially change the |Partment to the House naval affairs basls of compensation : veterans were proposed yesterday in a . 3 ®|tracts are to be taken over by the resolution by Senator Shields, demo- | racts are to ‘be tak comt. Alimedi | : " S o hav d’the neces- After fixing a minimum of $50 per |and Seattle having offere: | month for disabilities of 10 per cent, |S4r¥ land without cost. the resolution provides that $10 per be paid for each R e 3 I e "5 | there 15 to bs in addition to the facil- $20 for a wife and two or more chil- Incrased payments for more | Y serlous disabilities also would be al- lowed under the proposal of the Ten- disabled | committee. crat, Tennessee. month additional BILL LETS U. S. ACCEPT Authority for the federal govern- ment to accept a tract of land at Alameda, Callf, for naval base, and a site at Sand Point, V)Vl-!)la for a na alr statlon is propose The measure provides that both to establishment of the proposed Ala- ard. Representative MacLafferty, repub- district in the House, has received a deed for the 5,340 acres of land but T recollect him His widow came down this morning to open the old house for the Miss Sherwood and she live New York, you know. Just think, Vera, we playe other when we were kids' to her and she smiled together in with each | Joseph Mathy's (Continued in Tomorrow's Star.) there that would be used for the base. ; he wi 4 1f it is authorized, he will transfer 280; he Was & mite older than YU OT | the deed to the government. —_— LEAVE LARGE ESTATES. $250,000 and Frank W. Bolgiano’s $235,016. Joseph Mathy, who died recently, left an estate valued at $250,000, ac- The provision of the bill relating meda base stipulates that the plant ities at the nearby Mare Island navy former marriage are to divide estate. personal property valued at $2 Merry Christmas to the Children “Around the World” A Geography Painting Book lican, who represents the Alameda | FREE 1 ,j Ober’s Steamship and Tourist Agency | No. 1 Woodward Bldg. 5 Street Floor, H St. Side |\ Get a copy for the little one cording to the petition of his widowa|according to (he Mra. Julia G, Mathy, for the probate [ widow, Bessic b B of his will. 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