The evening world. Newspaper, December 4, 1915, Page 11

l Bt THE WHITE ALLE The Mystery of a Man Who Vanished and of a Fortune That Didn't The Evening “I have to mo away now, “I have done all th accomplished here at presen “But you have been here barely three hours, Mr. Stone,” “Much may be done in a short time if that time be not wasted, I must go now, but I will return Monday morning, and I expect then to give the you the result of my inquiries into CHAPTER XVII. The White Alley. NCB again at White Birches Mr. Stone went systomati- cally to work. He asked for @ footmun to lead him to such portions of the ease as he wished to visit. But it ‘was all done oo quietly and unosten- tatiously that most of the household to their own interests and 3 tie genius. liowed close in the of ming Stone, while hovered in the background, awaiting some development it understand. fat once to the roofs and it at the trap doors and the way Wheeler im, thereby causing lesser detective to | i f : : Hi a 22 RE if f : } ed the scuttle that the small dark attic in the old Wheeler remarked, “There's looking in there, Mr. Stone. ttle loft has no outlet into the Its omy oor bas been nailed Bede ' 3 tad already half disappeared the scuttle. He went on and remained in the attic for and, after returning re-entered the bouse by through which they had mt ra i! f 5 the servants. asked to speak with Jane Peters, whose bedroome he bad especially. the night your mas- peared?” be asked abrupuy the two servants. i tor ot and Fleming Stone seemed deeply interested in the information. bs ad you often hear rats in the “Now and again, air; but that night they was worse than usuul. " le a very old part of the house, air, and we can't seem to get alio- wether rid of them.” “That will do.” Mr. Wheeler noticed the gleam in Fleming Stone's eye, and felt sure that bowever inexplicable it might be, the rate in the wali had to do with the mystery of White Birches! Next, Fleming Sione went straght to the cellar, with the footman lead- ing the way, and the faithful Wheel- er and the eager Dorothy following. Stone carefully examined whe old oven and the various small rooms in that part of the cellar, An old work- bench stood against & white-wasied brick wall, This he pulled away, disclosing an opening into a space behind the chimney, Though thick ‘with dust an. dirt and cobwebs, Mr Btone peered into it, and, stooping, picked up a pocket-knife, which he i without @ glance, With a poked around in the uccu- mulated rubbish, and gavo a su den exclamation as he picked up a winall white marble. He guzed at it @ moment witb intense concentration, and then, turning, be offered it to Dorothy, “There's the clue,” he sald exult- ently. What fa it?” tnquired the girl, as @he took the marble wonderingly it is a white alley.” fe tt for?” “It was made for boys to play with; L prenget use {8 to clear your lover from e unjust charge hanging him, His ie @ narrow chance, Burne ‘will yet make it. You'd better preserve that white alley, for the time will come when you will realize fta_ importance.” ‘Though she fought against the con- viotion, Dorothy couldn't help an im- pression that Fleming Stone was @rasy. But James Wheeler stood as one enthralled. Here was detective work such as he bad dreamed of but never accomplished! To pick up a eommon marbie, a boy's marble, of the ¢) called an alley, and by It aid discover the man who killed Jus- tin Arnoid—this was wonderful work tndeed! Not spectacular—Fleming Btone could not be that—but an ex- Bibition of the deduction made by Lae from logical observation and nce. jow did it get there?” inquired Dorothy, for lack of a more tntelll- Bent question to ask, “It has probably been there for twenty years,” replied Stone cure- Jessly, and with this unilluminating speech he turned and went upstairs, Mr, Stone scomed to look upon Mise ) Ro attention to the wanderings 4 this case.” “Will you not stay to luncheon?’ | Miss Ab! for he did spoke Vag 3 not believe Mr. Stone had accomp- wa “No thank you. back to New York in the motor, [ shall be glad to Though they did not know ft, the very fact that Fleming Btone’s man- ner was a shade leas affable than usual was really a tribute to the fact that he waa deeply engrossed in the ae. Only to Dorothy did he amile, when he bade her goodby, and said kind- ly, "Keep up a good heart, little girl It'will all come out right for you and your lover, but the disclosure of the truth will’ be a sad event for all.” “Well, for a story-book detective, | he’s the right sort,” said Campbell Crosby, with a mupercitious laugh; “but they don’t amount to much when it comes to solving a real mystery.” “I think he will solve it,” anid Dor- othy; “and he's coming back Monday tell us.” “Where ts he going tn the mean- time, Dorothy?” said Crosby. “You seem to be tn his confidence more than the rest of us.” “I don’t know, Campben; out T don’t think it has anything to do with this case. He's an awfully busy man, and IT think he has put us off until Monday so he can attend to some- thing else.” “1 don't think #0,” Wheeler. “I think h pretty much interested In this case, and 1 think that, wherever he's going, {t la on Ddusiness connected with it.” lunteered Mr “1 don’t,” nald Miss Abby, disdain. | fully, “I think he's gone off aome- where to a week-end party, and doubt If we ever see him again!” But Miss Wadsworth was wrong, for on Monday morning Fleming Btone reappeared. He was courteous end irming, but exceedingly grave. il Dold and the vaste wo the library, but ne advised that the servants be excluded. "Il bave discovered,” Mr. Stone “to my own satisfaction, ASANAA! of Justin Arnold. But I will tell you the reasons I have for my opinion, and rr may conclude for yourselves if, am righ! 1 “As you know, « seemingly inex- | Plicable problem confronted us. It appeared that man who killed Justin Arnold could not have gained entrance to White Birches that night. This was on the assumption that no entrances were known except the ordinary ones, “A search was made to find such an entrance, but it wns stopped too s00n. was 1. Another direction In which ing him whom the crime will ben- efit; degree, but again the search stopped too soon, Let us reconstruct the ait- uation, “Mr, Arnold ts left alone tn hie Itbra- ry, late at night. His secretary left him at 1 o'clock, and Miss Duncan a half hour later. By, let us say, half- past one or soon thereafter, the entire houshold was asleep, save Mr, Arnold, ‘We may assume this since he appar- ently did not go to his bedroom at all, “Let us then picture an intruder, who enters the house, goes directly to Mr. Arnold tn the library and, after we know not what sort of an inter- view, stabs him, prevents incriminat- Ing evidence of his deed by the use of & pillow hastily snatched from a near- by couch, and then carries the dead body of bis friend to the cellar. “Why do you say nd, Mi: Stone?" asked Mr, Whee! who ha been listening intently. “Had it been other than a friend, Mr. Arnold would have raised an but- ery. I said an intruder, but I did not say amarauder It must have been « man whose unexpected appearance may have surprised but did not alarin Mr. Arnold.” “And bow did this Intruder effect this entrance?” fuquired Campbell volcing the question in mind. “By means of of which | spok “There ts no sliding panel or secret stairway in this hou declared Crosby, tn tones of certatnty, “Not @ secret passage of the sort bullt in old castles,” said Fleming Stone quietly, “but, none the leas, @ secret mode of entrance, unused for years and almost undiscoverable. Sup- pose I tell you bow I found ft. tt was thropgh the process of elininu- tion, Your really thorough search @ secret entrance for such a means of entrance, I found, | * omitted only one thing; and that was an exploration of the attic over| } the old ell, 1 believe you looked down through the scuttle, but did not aol nD. “Clearly, {t was the only place ioft to search, so I searched it. I found footprints in the dust on the old floor, ! which, of no especial u: for idenu-| fication, proved that some one had| been there recently, As you said, there is no outlet from that attic into the house, the door being nailed up | But as 1 stood there, loohing about by the light of my pocket electric, I noticed, besides the dry gurret smell, the characteristic ww odor of the cellar, IT found it came up back of} the chimney. | “Investigation proved that the chim.| ney, probably as a precaution against fire, had been bullt more thin u foot away from the external wall of tha house. This space or shaft, I con cluded, must descend unimpeded to the cellar, to account for that damp- ness and odor, As @ Lest, | dropped my pocket knife in it and heard .t strike down below. I then turned to the roof, and tru the direction of the shaft down through each story On reaching the cellar, 1 found, as 1} had expected, that this vacant ‘space! hind the brick ebim extended directly from cellar to attic “I found, moreover, large nails driven #iezag into the old wooden joists, by means of which ap agile Wadsworth as the head of the some- | what disintegrated household, and he) at once sought her presence, | and thought he only, if you will send me fo at once.” | | things built, | | could climb up if be desired. The unusual noises I take to be due f pizked up my pocket knife—which had proved the directness of the shaft an I found a white alley som cellar. I bad now found how the in- this too was also done to @ truder could get in and out of the bouse—if knew of this shaft. Which knowledge, by the way, would imply thet he was one of the boys who used to play in this cellar, “By inquiring of the servants, I learned that they heard, or thought they heard, unusually loud noises that night, made by the rats in the walla. First Ald to Christmas Shoppers. N passing through a toy shop the other day, a woman remarked: “Just seo the crowds in here, and many a shopper of them is throw- ing away money. My children bave put toye and games on their Christ mas lets, but they are not going wet any, I consider it w foolish ox- venditure,” My heart went out in sympathy to shose dear little children who are gu- ing to be #0 disappointed on Christ- mas morning, Christmas is pre- eminently the children's day, Just as a taste for guod booke may be fustered in children, so a Uking for instrucuve games aud profitable tuys may be established, The shops are replete with such toys and games. ‘Yake, for instance, one of the several constructive toya that are now being demonstrated in neary every toy de- partment, Give your boy such @ toy and it will not only amuse bim, but It will develop bis consiructive ability and make iil alert in observation— qualities most essential to a manly boy. These toys come ip sew, | bey consist of strong metal parts—ateel for girders, wheels for convey~ &c., together with a book of is and instructions, Prices ran| from $1 to $25. At $> and upward motor is Included in the outtt, mak- ng it poasibie to “run” somy of the Elghty-eight models can be constructed witn @ $1 set and addi- tional parts can be gradually secured as the boy's talent develops, For the girls there are plaiting out- fita at $1.25 and @ most complete bas. ket weaving set containing cane, beads, rivbon, patterns and Instruc- tions can be had at $3. One of the kindergarten embroidery outfita woulk make a practical toy for a girl, F the little tots there are sand sets for 60 cents. These consist of an tncling track, a funnel, a cart and a box of tand, which may develop a talent for modelling and the toy will thus form On instructive entertainment fur many an hour. In games there | the "“Buropean War,” to be played with svldiers, guns, aeroplanes, alrships, submarines and it even includes the Iron Cross and other decorations, It gives an excel lent opportunity to become famillar- ized with the European war centres, the battlefields and the important events of the present conflict. These xumes are $1, The target game ts one that can he enjoyed by the entire ly and In these days of prepared- it might not come under te head of “foolish expenditures.” A very nice’one can be had at $1.50, poking about in the rubbish, This seemed Such an entrance existe, and to me to prove my theory that at time, years ago, boys used to bo; to look is the old principle of seek- hide here during their play in the old the d Invented them, Knockers claimed r to the entrance and it of the truder, through chimney, by means of the long n protruding from the jolste—in the same fashion as when be was a @ shaft behind (he actly y. There was intense silence in the room, No one looked at any one else, each seomingly unwilling piclon. to breathe the first suggestion of sus- But James Wheeler, absorbed in the technical work of the detective, said breathlessly, “But how did the in- truder get up to the roof of the house, to enter at this scuttle? And, before that, how did he get over the wall Goprrgat, 1010, by te rem Publishug Co, (The New York broung Word) No. 5—Shoes. T O those of our fellow citizens just your, we rise to remark: Cheer up! What they're wearing now is nothing compared to the old) Went on. ‘There was a Queen | Vere mado with the long poiiiod time footgear, once who made @ law forbidding her) measured two feet from tip to Up. subjects to wear cute little bite of Their toes were © bright culored uk in (asic shoe tips, | knees by little gold Aud the puglabuent wasn't death; just a fine! The history of footwear starts from | formers were tremendously stirred up wero (or bare feet), works up to huge,| over the styles and roasted them to & twenty-four inches | frazzie, One writer had a vision of k |'Httle devils using the long spiked toos w | as chartots. pointed affairs, long from heel to toc, and then bi to present styles. The saad prominent in all “classical revival Was the first thing in the way of a/of Henry Vill, the pointed tips #ud- | pe uould a man walk between them or nthe ou shoe. The Oriental people wore then thousands of years ago and still do to-day. The old Greeks, of course, used them, but also built @ nigh boot for bunting. The Romans went in for & heavy, hob-nailed kind for soldiere, which is our old frieud, the buskin, still supposedly worn by heavy trag- edians a4 they rage and bellow around the stage. They also had ao: more classy footwear, red shoes for the members of the 400 when they @reased Up in their togas, and black shoes for Senators, the crazy shapes came Into fashion Sporty dressers, during the reign of William TL, went In for tremendously long pointed toes. Fulk Kechin, they he did it only to conceal the shape his own fect, which wera twisted of plumb by terrible bunions. He was How Men’s Clothes Began } who got excited and who | siuer. made funny or even unkind | hunger. remarks about the Mardl namo, Gras style of shoes that) broke out Like @ rash over the country | and twinte | more variety, among thelr aboes being , It was during mediaeval times that | orld Daily Magazine, Saturday, December 4, 1915 branches of the tree, he throws down | 4 Dlece of rope-ladder or knotted rope inside the wall at the top, hooking tt over the sharp points of broken glase and mortar, He then caimly places a | board on these otherwise impasnable pointe—-I know this because I have since examined the board—and climba | down his rope-ladder of knotted rope inside the wall, | “Thia contrivance he laavea on the wall, as there ie no four of ite deteo- tion in the darkness, He gose to the house and unroile a much longer rope-ladder of the same sort. To this is attached his ball of fish-line and sinker, With @ good aim be throws the sinker over the low eli of the house. Going around the house and picking up the sinker, he proceeda to pull the Hine over the rid, fastens his line to a veranda “Do you know be did this?” Campbell Croaby quietly. “t know he did this,” returned Fleming Stone, as quietly, “because I found the mark in the turf where the weight struck it; I found a very little fresh dirt near the veranda post; and I also found an end of the left in the carving of the pillar, where it had hastily been cut off short. On the other side of the house I found many scratches on the painted clapboards, where the tn- truder had climbed bia ladder, up the side of the house, “To resume, after climbing his Ind- der to the roof, he goes in throug the scuttle, down through the sbaft, and up the ceilar-stairs, to Justia | Arnold's library, After accomplish. ing his premeditated and fendish purp he disposes of the body of bis friend, climbs the shaft, and re- traces his steps to the wall and over it. As his ingenious rope-tadders, or whatever he may have used, hav | not been found, we may conclude he carried them away with him; but the board that assisted bim over the wall, he waa thoughtless enough to toss into some high grass Bearby, aad that baa been found.” “You looked for it?” exclaimed Mr. Wheeler, with staring eyes. “L instructed a gardener to look for it, he found it, Now, granting ail | this, 1t only remained to find out who | this intruder was, and where he came from, A few odd hints here and there ; bed @iven me a auepicion and I set to work on it, The Anding of the prestolite key proved the real key to the puzade, This key,” and [iem! yne took it from his pocket, * found on the ground near the wall and near that part of the wall where i discovered (he intruger had entered. | wherefore, I felt eure our man hy come in an automobile, and having this key In bis pocket he had lost it while climbing the wall. ‘That climb was not an easy one at best, and a amall key could very well have slipped out of bis pocket, “Let me seo the key,” sald Emory Gale, and It was banded to him. looked at it a moment and anded it back without a word. ‘An 1 told you,” resumed Stone, “my suspicions had been aroused in a certain quarter, and implicated a 4 into the grounds?” with him, y of paraphernalta, « man in @ motor car, But where coul “Remember, Mr, Wheeler, that if silht ro r, made of fine, strong he leave bis car while entering this my theory is the right one, this in- Ashline. ball of fishlin place by means of the wa' a truder, when a boy, playing with weight, very likely a fishiine sinker, no public garage very near, #0 ‘S marbles, must have been familiar with “Outside the wall, but near It, there sumed he left bie car at a Lage " every Inch of the house and grounds, ts whose spreadiig branches New York Road. At any rate, she Moreover, if he made his entrance and exit by that shaft of which | have told you, It presupposes a man—for fly that boy must now unusual ingenuity, agility, athletic strength and daring. I cannot tell you all the details of his entrance from the outer world, but I can give you enough of them to support my clalma lo: to plausibility, To begin, the intruder arrived outside the wall, let us si not long after 1 o'clock. Ha brought dl ep the road lo fame when te usual thing happened, near-inventor broke in and stole the real inventor's | mn He was a povb of @ nh about the cuurt, overt by But he showed up one day with t O sutficenuly frank with ¢ nd was considered haruiiess | money matters, girl a young man should tell her can id have been trimmed away by people aw cautious as the Arnold fam- But T understand that their ex- be a man—of cossive precaution is largely tradition, and so thw tree has been allowed to grow Vantage for one who wishes to now the movements of the watchman, Ma- until ft offera a fine point of ny. Our intruder, let us gay, climbed this tree and awaited such a time as the watchman should be at his most stant point. ‘Then, stil from the Betty Vincent's Advice to Lovers E of the reasons why so many marriages turn out unhappily la because during the engage- ent period the young persons are not other about Before he marries a toes of hig shors stuffed with wool} idly juat how much money he earns. d into the shape of a ra:n's | ie ghould also tell her if he has any te, ‘At last oven riding boots | Property. If he has to help support A big change came about the time denly shifting to extremely wide toes. They became #o broad that the foot- prints of @ dude were of the shape of a sho’ The next change was in the nature of @ discovery by the shoe- makes that there was no reason why shoes shouldn't be shaped something | lke a foot. ny members of his family he should Th the fourteenth century shoss| tol) ber so. He should, so far as pos- pom tp to UP Table, make her understand juet the uinw, Of course {sort of life they too will have to live even all this sort of thing brought out a} during tie first yeara of marrage, If perfect shout of protest. The re |ene marries him with this knowledge, ‘thelr chances of happiness together are much increased, | The Escort’s Position. oM rey G.” writes: “What le the pro- ‘ay to escort two young ladiea— je next the streot?"* latter position is the correct The one. “J, J” writes: “I have been pay- f& attention to a girl whom I love much, but sho alsy goes out with Loula XTV, @ short man who/other young men, How can I win wanted to look tall, Invented the high | ter lover heel hoe, and put it over on the| Sy making her ike you better than whole of Europe, He was the same ete iikes your rivals—that ls, by be- man who introduced coffee Into |ink a® nico to her as possible and France. Then the Jackboot was ahan- [hy @oned in favor of the Hoearian, which had a cute little tassel in front, and finally there came the great day | when long trousern were Invented. | y« This sounded the death knell of the boot as an everyday article of dress fourht a gime put bh with shoos and lost, [or it's| the dickens of a Joh to pull your jar spelens |b h Man- Eater,” jungle life entitled Burroughs, |] novel in The Evening World. | “THE MAN WITHOUT A SOUL” In many respects this is an even better story than “TARZAN.” “THE MAN WITHOUT A SOUL" will be next week's comp iwing how much you care for her, M. E." writes: “I bave been en- aged to a young man for the past ar, Recently we had an argument jwhich lasted several days. Now we © seeing each other as before, but does not seem to show the same ug toward mo as formerly, 1 win back hin love?” pante’ legs down over a boot. Walt, ine showing yourself — _ as aliectionate as Usual, And don't |have any mre quarrels, It you cap belp it, > romance of m i to | ne Don't rob yourself of a treat by missing it. Ki we bride " writes; LW Under what ctr thor of “TARZAN OF THE APES,” cy hae written another startlingly original ung man's fraternity pin?" “The She muy do so If she Is engaged to ny "M.D, writes: sister to the has been ch of honor. the best whom (he groom has chosen, Is engaged. Should he refuse be best man because his Sauces is nt to be maid of honor? Certainty not. The bride chooses own attendants and tho bride- his, There is no reason 1y B's Hancee should be seluected to ive ae Maid of honey re worked along thia line. search the clty garages, but further assuming that the man muat needs croms the ferry to New Jersey on his return trip, I reasoned that he would not miag his key until on the Jersey aide, or at least on the ferryboat. For it is not allowed to show those biind- ing, brilliant ights in the Hmits of the city, but immediately on striling the country roads they are neces- sary.” “The Jorsey roads, you sald? and Fred Crane leaned forward in bie oagerneas. “Yes, the man started tor New Jer- but his destination was beyond at I crossed the ferry my- if, assuming that as soon as the missing key was needed the owner would stop at some garage and buy or borrow ona Nor was T mistaken 7* the third place TP inouiret learned that a motorist did stop at about four o'clock Tuesday morning and ask fo. the une of @ key to turn on his Hghts, saying he had lost his own,” "You got a description of this man” asked Dotective Wheeler. Certainly. An unmistakable de- ser'otion. THe stayed bat a moment and then went on; but bis own do- scription and that of Mis car can be verified by the garage keeper at any time. IT have nothing more to add, s I think tt unnecessary to say the name .f the one who benefits most In + mercenary way by this erlmo— the one who has been familiar with this whole place from boyhood, and the one who Is athietia, of strong, wiry tuild, and possessed of the cool carry out such an enterprise,” CHAPTER XVII, Confession. HOUGH Campbell Crosby's T face was white and eet, it “How dare you!” he ex- claimed, as he fairty giared at Fleming Stone, “It ts impossible to imnore the fact that your dast- ardly accusations are directed toward for the fact that they are #0 ridiculousty absurd as to need no de- nial! I am disinclined even to take up the subject with you. But I wilh tell you, what every one else present cave in any way ie an utter impos- sibility! The night it occured I was |in Philadelphia, I left White Birches |at noon the day before my cousin | disappeared, and 1 returned tm the | peared." “And you can give an account of yourself, Mr, Crosby, during that tn- terval of absence?” Fleming Stone's eyes had lost all their softness now. looked at Campbell Crosby, and they littered ominously as Crosby replied: “Every moment of tt! My partner, Mr, Gale, ts present and he will vouch for the truth of my state- daring and ingenuity required to was with rage, not fear, me! And I would deny them, but knows, that my connection with this levening of the day after he disap- They gleamed with stern Justice ashe mens Though the audacity of your The Man Without a Soul By Edgar Rice Burroughs then of “TARZAN OF THE APRA”) Accusation makes me wisn to treat it with the ailent contempt tt de- serves!” Emory Gale looked bewildered, "1 cannot understand it at all, Mr, Stone,” he said. "Mr Crosby waa in my company almost continuoualy from the time we left White Birohes until we returned here togethe: “Almost continuously, Mr. Gale” repeated Fleming Stone gravely. bat the hours that Mr. Crosby was not tn your company? hy, let me see, Only during the Bight, I think, We reached ia eipbin about six, dined separately, and were to meet later, but Crosby concluded to go to @ concert, so I didn't see him again ontil he came to the office next morning at the Daun! time.” “Then re eaw him, let as say, at six o'clock Monday night, and next at Mine o'clock Tuesday morning?” “Approximately that.” “And between those hours, Mr. Gele, Mr. Crosby returned to White Birches, accomplished what he came for, and Went back again to Philadelphia, in time to reach the office as usual’ “You He!" exclaimed Campbell Crosby, springing from his seat, “No, I speak the truth, Mr. Crosby, and T must ask you to discuss the matter more quietly.” “Bot, Mr. Stone,” went on Emory Gale, looking puszied, “there must be a mistake somewhere, for Cam tele Phoned me two or three times Mon- day evening: the last time just aa T was retiring, at about 11.30 o'clock. It would be a phywical Impossibility for him to make the trip from Phila- delphia to New York visit White Rirches and get back again to Philea- delpMa between eleven - thirty at night and seven in the morning, for he telephoned me at seven o'clock in the morning regarding a bit of special business.” that’s what tt would a Physical impossibility!" agreed Mr. Wheeler, counting the hours on bis fingers, “Mr. Crosby did not accomplieh a hysical impossibility,” said Fleming tone, “Where was he when he tele- phoned at eleven-thirty o'clock, Mr. Gate? “At hia hotel.” “How do you know he was there?” “He sald ao.” “Ah, he was not quite truthful. As @ matter of fact, he telephoned you at eleven o'clock on Monday night from Newark, N. J. know, for | have verified the long-distance call.” Perhaps not so much because of what Fleming Stone said, aa because ad Of the calm certainty with whieh he said it, Campbell Crosby “You have beaten me,” he sald to Mr. Stone. “I did concoct and carry out a plan exactly as you have des- poet it. ogg i am too clever not to realize when am cornered. MM; dear frienda”—and Crosby winced round the room—"Mr, Lgemgt eee rg Ly ve Up. te right. F could a we story @ few missing d ails concern that midnight trip, in a high ran- about. I could tell you of the noy- ing delays in getting long distance teley hone connections and waiting for Infrequent subway trains, “But Mr. Stor main truths of provocatio: ceived from Justin Aronid that 1 came here intending to kill hon wand not ive up to me who had promised to marry though she did not love him. that he had about decided him- self that he would allow her to break the engagement, as she had shortly before told him @he to but, since my request, he changed his mind and should hold her to her rine That enraged me, i [ told bim just what I thought of m. “Also he told me what he thought of me, and they were not, either of them, beautiful thoaghts. I had in my coat @ sprig of scarlet sage which Dorothy had placed there pg MY went away at noon, it wae faded, but I cherished It. Justin knew where I got It and took it from me, That was the | straw 1 fought him for it. but id it thrht in hts hand, where it wose-at lis--found tn a blind fury | grabbed up the dagger, intend- Ing merely to threaten him, but he taunted me too far—and the thing happened, I don't attempt to justify my deed, but neither do L regret i. Justin Arnold was not @ good man and oould never woman happy. ! Suddenly Crosby's bravado broke down. With a pathetic gesture of utter despair, he looked atraight at Dorothy and said: “Bul, Dorothy, 1 did It all tor you, Perhaps you other men cannot ua- derstand what it means to love a girl enough to commit a crime for her, Perhaps your finer natures would not fee] that crime could result from in- tense and passionate love, But in my case it did. Ever since Dorothy became engaged to Justin Aroald' I've wanted to kill Justin Arnold. I've lived for tt, and toward it He had everything, and I nothing, He had fortune, home, leisure, and added to thowe he had the promise of the «irl I love, 1 tried not to do this thing; I had long talks with Justin, begxing hiea to give up Dorothy, who never loved him. Had he spoken kindly to me, or even frankly, man to man, it might have been different, But he taunted me with my poverty, with laziness, and with general un- desirableness. He even dared me to go ahead and win Dorothy trom him if 1 could, saying he koew I could not, because I had no money, With his death, hie money would all be mine, also hig home, and also—as I firmly believ girl that we beth wan “The consequences you know. The further consequences you will now learn, IT have made a will—for I up. pose that at the presont moment the estate of the late Justin Arnold ts legally mine. At my death it will re- vert to Dorothy Duncan. You prob- ably think that my death tn the near future le probab! t is true, but the future Is nearer than you think, While making this confession to you I have, perhaps unnoticed, taken « deadly poison which will Inevitably accomplish ite end in a short time, I have made my confession, but I ask no forgivenéss—I ask no pity or sym- pathy. But, Dorothy, remomber I did it all for you. you, I have falled,” With @ last despairing took of love and longing at Dorothy, Crosby folded his arms on the table before him, and dropped his head upon them, (TH END. | apetempeainniats i