Evening Star Newspaper, January 6, 1924, Page 44

16 ABOVE S “The Trigger of ever believed much in that Dunn_interrupted. “I saw the evidence of it myself, of course, but It looked to me as if some one might have done it to—to try to make out a case “Who'd a-had any reason for doin’ that 'cept mebbe the feller from the district attorney’s offl eoft’s eyes were mildly {nquiring, as he bent them upon his host. “He's the one vho got the warrant Issued for young Ashe. and he claims he came In through the terrace doors. “There were no footprint: Dunn moistened his lips. one whatever!" “And there wasn't none after thel zot ugh examinin' the the place 'round it | 1 quickly. i00d reason | : he used loose hoards from that p o' minc just outside on the ter- they didn't make no sound id down on sand . nor no tracks, neither. 1 Mr. rd had mebbe fell asleep over gar the murd'rer could me as the doe did without him, and a man sittin’ epin' usually lets hfs head droy wver on his chest. My tool box w: unlocked, with a lot o heavy stuff in —hammers and wrenches and sech and 'most_any o' 'em could a-been used to strike that blow if the feller had crept up behind the bench. At st, that's what I'm figurin’ on He got up out of his chair. aware that the other man was weighing the &pecious theory which he had himself derided to the medical examiner, and | he was relieved when unn nodded gravely as he also rose. “No doubt you are right. Please o my regards to Dr. Hood and 1 him T'll be glad to give him any | istance 1 can while I re’" You are goin’ to wmove asked ‘1 am thinking of going 3 time: a little. journey. ange and re replied Dunn as he lked with his guest to the door. T =hall not go immediately, thouxh T want to see how the case againsti *oung Ashe comes out. for there isn't | 4 doubt of his innoecence. Come in «nd sce me again, Geoffrey. before 1 zo ( CHAPTER XIX. After Ten Years. i wide, tree-shaded main street | of Beyerleysburg, Va. was basking srted In the still heat of the afternoon, as a lanky, lan-| awed Yankee came down the s of the old hotel. e paused for | sment on the sidewalk, glancing | what uncertainly in each direc- | For the first time in his life was far from Sunny Beach, had been plain Miller's Cove when he was born, and he had passed | - four bewildering davs since the night train had borne him south, after his visit to Willam Dunn. Hie had purchased a map in the station, and systematically marked out route for himself along the in line of the railroad upon which d elected to travel to Virginia £ the smaller cities and towns whose names even remotely resembled those suggested to him. But he was be- ginning to realize that he had em- tarked upon a venture of greater smagnitude than he had stopped to consider. Everywhere he met with an old-time courtesy, vastly different from the matter-of-fact indifference or suspicion which his inquiries would lave elicited n his native town, had ¢ come there a stranger. Yet there vas something baffiing about it, and more than once his blunt_questions had dicd on his tongue. No one in uny town he visited appeared to have heard of a ‘Shirley’ In their fm- mediate vicinity, but they were voluble with suggestions as to where they might be found elsewhere, and he_was siowly becoming discouraged. Neither the clerk in the hotel nor the Kkinky white-headed old waliter vho served him in the dining room known of any Shirleys in this community, either; but Geoff decided to explore farther before taking the late afternoon train on to Bainsford, the next stcp on his route. IHe untered on leisurely up the street, p in reflection. was funny how the towns in these here parts were all called after somebody, instead of like Fairhaven Point or some such fancy Take this place, Beverleys- it had an awkward kind but some fellow named namc By Robert Orr Chipperfield. Author of “The Second Bullet” “Unseen Hands," Copyright, 1023, by Rebert M. McBride & Co. | not in the ~done | it! I i es, { beneath the thin w | 50 what was | steps were loose and the USPICION Conscience,” Etc. servants. He approached her with! a feeling of rellef, albeit with his most deferential air. Folks were o doggone polite down in these parts that it didn't pay to take changes. “‘(Good afternoon, ma’'am,” he began, once more sweeping off 'the nicked straw hat. “I was told Miss Kather- ine Beverley lived here, and 1 got a message for her, Could you tell me if she’s to home H “I am Miss Beverley.” A clear, | gentle voice like soft falllng water' replied to him, and he saw all at once | that the woman wasn't elderly at all. Not a line marred the smooth white- ness of her skin, and her eyes were brightly blue beneath the incongruou: Aufl of misty .gray hair. He feit a suaden sensation of panie, and bowed agaln to cover his confu-| sion. He was feazed at the start, but | manner which he had irely th uld not be “Katherine!” Yet the old gentleman had certainly recognized | the name of “Shirley” and warned | him not to come to her with a mes- | sage concerning the family who bore | nticipated the right cuse me. Miss Beverley. I've up; traveled a long wavs to see a lady o your name, and the message I'm bringin’ to her mebbe she won't care to hear now. It ought to a-been delivered more'n ten year ago some one else, but he—he couldn't come.” “Ten and the ago!” she repeated, hears slipped out | years pruning no {of her hand and dangled from the ibbon about her walst. Beneath the steady gaze of her eyes Geoff weak- ened still more, but he floundered on with a respectful but dogged earnest- ma'am. I was told the lady I'm lookin’ for mightn't care to hear his name mentioned, but—but 1 gotta | find out if it speakin’ o e could lender ghoulders fte gown quiver s though a lash had been lald across | them. But she drew herself up slow. 1y, her small head with its ashen hair held high. “Won't you come Into the house liquid tones trembled little. “I think I am the lady you! have been looking for. Miss Beverley led the w: up the path, and h followed. marveling. Her face was soft and swect and hu- | man, not proud and disdainful as Willlam Dunn had sald. If she had ver been beautiful, her looks must have faded like an old picture, mel- lowing into delicate tone: She had remained Miss Katherine” all these years; was it because of voung Shir- ley? Had she cared for him, too If| the cloud between them | that Dunn had mentiol With {nv est Geoff c quick house. and then followed his hostess up the broad. shadow steps of the | porch. It was a mighty old place and needed paint worse than any h | had seen in a long time: the porch roof sagged, too, the boards of lintel was | worn down. Inside the big. square entrance hall Geoff saw further evi- dences of disrepair. But only when Miss Beverley led him into long, ; dim parlor and motioned to one of | the fragile-looking. spindle-legged chairs did he recall what William Dunn had sald about her family meet- ing with relatives. Actual poverty alone could account for those cur- tains. immaculately fresh, but mended | till the orignial pattern of the lace could scarcely be discerned. and for| the furniture get every-which-way to hide the unpatchable holes in the| threadbare medallion carpet. | 3iss Beverley touched a silver bel on a quaint 1ittld table beside her, | and then turned to him, smiling| faintly. “I knew a gentleman of the same as that you have just mentioned. but | he dred up north ten years ago. None of his family are left here now—but your message was to me, Mr. H “My name’s Geoffrey Peters, ma'am, but.1 don't matter. e come from | a friend o' Mr. Shirley's In New Yorlk; ! "bout the closest friend he had there, 1 reckon, and the only one he spoke to 'bout—'bout what he'd pla ned for the future. ot the gentleman in whose home | he died that New Year da Her voice was vibrant with pain. No, ma'am, he's dead, too; only last Wweek, 'twas. The friend I'm speakin’ o' is a Mr. William Dunn, who had rooms just acrost from Mr. Shirley the last year ‘o his life. he mentioned him if he wrote ou, but I s’'pose you wouldn't re- iect after all this time—— 1 remember every word he ever vrote to me” she replied simply. “He spoke often’of his nelghbor. Mr. Dunn. And you say the other is dead, that Mr. Benkard Beverles * 5 1is st have settled here with long ago, before concrete F and open plumbing were rd . He built up what maybe ked like a wlide-awake, hustling mmunity to him, and the folks that ame after figured that it was, too, d called it his “burg.” If amy of his problematical Beverley's family ill lived here they could tell him ulcker than at whether Lawrence Shirley or his folks had ever been rcard of around the neighborhood. On a_sudden impulse Geoft stopped 4 tall, distinguished looking old zentleman in a broad-brimmed straw and linen suit, who was passing with the courtly, grave nod which med to be accorded all strangers, n if they were just carpenters wck home. xcuse me, sir, but vuld tell me if there’ amily still livin® ved his hat and_smiled deferential yet confidently friendly lent a sort of charm | to_even his homely countenance. There is no family left. suh, ex- copt Miss Katherine. She lives alone in the mansion up yonder,” the old #entleman responded after a moment's 1se. Geoft was slightly disconcerted. He didn't know how to approach any strange. possibly _formidable old l4dies—Katherine! The name William Dunn had remembered! The same name as that of the girl young Shirley had hoped to marry! ~Geoff id a moment's lightning calculating, and then asked with an added note f respect in his tone: Ts this lady—voung, sir? 1 have} a message for a Miss Katherine Beverley, but she would only be round thirty to thirty-fiwe, tall and blonde. T -was give a description o' her because there was a mistake made in the name o' the town, and I been tryin” some little time to Tocate er.” The old gentleman paused longer mebbe n iss Katherine is within the age vou mention, suh, but her hair h not been blonde’ for several years. Do _you know—could you tell me, sir, if there. was another family amed ‘Shirley’ that lived here once eoff stammered. “I'd know then {f ‘twas the lady I'm lookin' for, because the message concerns them.” The old gentleman drew himselt up suddenly and glared. “Then [ should advise you, not to deliver it!" He bowed and strode off down the streef with an air of offended dignit But Geoff had learned what he want- ~d, and he sjarted for the great white house on the corner which his -in- formant had Indicated with a sort of desperate courage. He hadn't come all this ‘way for nothing, and no proud, disdainful southern beauty was going “to feaze him till he'd found out all he could about Law- rcnce Shirley, it she should by miracle happen to be ‘the Katherine that unfortunate young man had ared for. 2 The house with-its broad, high-pil- lared porch was set well back from the street in a tangled, old-fashioned sarden, ablaze with flowers. As Geoff opened’ the gate and walked up the path, he saw a slender, gray-haired +lderly woman in & plain white gown, standing by a blossoming hedge, with 4 pruning shears in lier hand.’. The old gentleman had said that Miss Katherine lived alone, so Geoff con- sluded. that-this must-be-one-of the suh, !the hall toward the rear. delegation -Hughaea, es, maam. Mr. Dunn and me, we got to talkin' ‘bout him and Mr. Shirley, and it come up what Mr. Shirley' had said 'bout you. Mr. Dunn thought you'd ought to know It and —and gomethin’ else, too, and I told him that bein’ as I was comin’ down this way I'd mebbe drop in and tell you if—if you felt like hearin’ it." Geoft hesitated. “First, I'll have to ask you @ question, though. You | know where and when Mr. Shirley died, ma'am, but did you hear tell how ‘twas, and why?" Bravely she faced the issue. “Yes, Mr. Peters. 1 heard, that he killed himself because he had stolen a great deal of money from people who trusted him, people he worked | for. 1 even had the New York city | papers sent for—I have them yet—and | 1 read every word, but I do not be-i lleve it! 1 have never belleved. it | for one instant of these ten years, I cannot! Some dreadful mistake has been made!" “A mistake, ma'am—"" Geoff eyed wonderingly, but at that moment a decrepit and manservant entered the room, bearing a tray. His brown face was as seamed as a withered apple and his woolly head almost ! white, but he bowed with vast dignity | as he met the tray on the little | table and poured two glasses of a! trosted fruit drink from a tall, slen- der pitcher. One of these he placed at Geoff's elbow, and retired. | Miss Beverley walted until the door had closed behind him and his shufing footsteps dled away down Then she turned again to her guest. “I knew Lawrence Shirley not only as a woman knows the man she loves and—and means to marry, but we were_boy and girl together, Mr. Peters. We grew up in the Intimate daily eompanionship of a small town like ours here, where only a few familles associate with each other. His character was an open book to me and I know that he could not have done this thing? Reckless, and daring, and high-spirited, he = was never a thief, a coward! If he killed himself he must have been. out of his mind from brooding over the un. just, mistaken acusation which was about to be made against him. I know that he was innocent!" (Continued in Tomorrow's Star.) —_— BRAZIL HONORS DR. READ. TU. S. Bureau of Mines Official Gets Medal and Diploma. Dr. Thomas T. Read, supervising 'mining engineer of the United States bureau of mines, has been awarded a gold medal and a commemorative diploma by the government of Brazil, Dr. Read was the representative of the Department of the Interior with the United States commissfon to the celebration of the 110th anniversary of the independence of Brazil at Rio| de Janeiro last year, and was also the special delegate of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers and the Federated Amer- ican Engineering Societies to the In- ternational engineering congress held Inconnhection with the celobration, which was attended by an American headed by - Secretary bowed once more | lerra su Cotta - Color Sport Coat of plaid-back cloth, with fitch-opossun: collar ), 21 Deep border, collar and cufis of. wiatka coney, on soft black Ormandalr A saving of $5.50 516,50 Coats now $l l $2 7 .50 Coat $ 3180 e ees 21 345 Coats now $ 30 A saving of $15 This reduction applies to every coat in our stocks, not even excepting the new high color coats which have but lately arrived and are predicted a great vogue for spring. ‘THE-~ SUNDAY "~ STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €., JANUARY 6, 1924—PA 530 One of the New rligh- Color Coats—delft biuc gray fur collar und 542 Rich combination of slack pile fabric and fur cloth, chinchlette collar 5] 2 5t l 5 Coats now 594 Saving $26 to $§1 . 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