The evening world. Newspaper, May 13, 1916, Page 9

1 RMR RAN ARAMA IRIN AM EDING CHAPTERS, lawyer, passed. the Weth. ror over the boqy. of hee ore Heruia sara’ Atta. Wetherall ay falling dow am seiven thro the yi ore itu Bertha he ns heat When ale ‘ts #uapected yatery is ont hy sie Care Nevo i alacon tdi Merion. a CHAPTER XIll. (Continued,) The Stairs Again. 18 arms went around her. “We will always be to- gether, whatever happens, And I think, as you do, that things are coming out right. 1 was led here for a special purpose, 1 believe.” “You were brought here to make me very happy,” she whispered. The deep-toned hall clock struck the half-hour, and then the three- quarters, Bertha whispered: “John, don't you hear something?” Bertha's hand closed suddenly on his, and looking up he saw what she saw-—a dark shadow creeping softly down the stairs, It hesitated for a moment as if listening and Bertha drew in a quick breath, he figure above, satisfied at last, moved slowly and silently down, and as the dim light fell on its face they were able to recognize Wetherall. had on his overcoat and ha! lo hand-ba he pa: Ping at each step to lsten, Gordon made ready for the spring that would stop him as he reached the bottom, But it was never necessary. Ag Mr, Wetherall reached the curve of the stairs he stopped, gave a dread- ful, inarticulate cry, and_ pitched diong down to the floor below! For an instant Gordon was too eg to S more than stare; then @ Was roused by iene, ¥ a loud scream from “He is dead; it has killed him too!” #be cried, and ran, uttering scream after scream, toward the door, Gordon sprang for the switch and turned on the lights, then hurried over to the huddled-up body, A glance told him the truth; the , and on his twisted the same look of horror n once before on that very spot—on the face of Mrs, Wetherall! CHAPTER XIv. The Secret. OLLINS, left alone, took out one of his big, black cigars, Ut it, and settled himself for his vigil, He was not an imaginative man and his nerves were under excellent con- trol, yet after an hour ho began to wish for some company. At last he heard a whisper behind him The detective whirled around and looked into the cavernous eyes of Jim Merton, now open and regarding him ‘with a calm question in their depths, He approached quickly and bent over the prostrate figu “Walt a moment; take this," ‘he said and held a spoonful of brandy to the man’s lips. Under its stimulus Merton gathered himself together for & fresh effort, “Who are you?" he muttered, “A friend,” answered Kollins, “We found you in the mill and brought you here, Can't you tell me how you came to be there?" “ he meant I should dle there rapped rat!” said Merton with ceness. looked at him doubtfully Merton for an instant, but something in Rol lins's reasoning and clear, steady eyo convinced him, “Old Wetherall did it, and it isn't that I'm alive now, He , the old devil, and per- sui me to drive up here with him and then [| don't remember any more except waking in that hole. wus too weak to climb out or break down the door, and finally I fell into 4 stupor Ho shuddered, “And why did he want to kill you?” persisted Rollins quietly. “Because I knew too much, and V' kill him myself when T get out of this, But it's none of your affair, he added, relapsing into suspicion, “You're a bull or I've never seen one, and I'm not telling my secrets to one of them.” “Not even to save an innocent l Rolling, still quietly. “If Wetherall, at least spare his fault doped kill her—what? Whom do you mean?” gasped Merton, “Misa Bertha.” Merton ‘ed sti at him uncompre- hendingly. “She was always good to me. T wouldn't hurt ‘her for Hiow can I injure her? the worl’ b doesn't he 18 aceused of the murder, But we know all of the facts, and the way you killed Mrs. Wetherall, Jim Merton, You may not live to bear your punishment, ‘Tell the truth and clear an innocent girl." Still Merton stared with a jaw that hung as If stricken with paralysis. “Are you mad or am 1?" he ex- rs, Wetherall 18 care for him any more alaimed at length. deud—killed how? ins told hi he story. ch at the “Heavens!” he muttered feebly, “What I feared was true, Am [to be ent cause of her death?” ent! You knew why did known the use he of iy not, and if 11 would have m. | killed her?” cried “Not he, eithe “And what of the hatpin?” he ejaculated That was not What caused her Heaven's name, what ind VN tell your minute ried Rolin your name at the bottom of and If will take down on tt tery Story with a olly New Twist. ANNETTE L. HELM ae in shorthand what you are going to bf me. This will save an innocent girl.” Merton did not hesitate, He ecrawied his name freely and lay back exhausted. But the strength of the drug and his own conscience forced him on again, “I met Wetherall some timo before Icamo here. He had a pleasant way, and knew how to get an influence over people without seeming to do so, He helped me to find a position with a relative of Mrs. Wetherall's, a me- chanical expert—that was my line of work, Then I met Martha Jenkin: who was working as cashier in the restaurant where I She was pretty in a common way, and because i @ young fool then I married er. “We were never happy together, and she spent what money I made like water, That was partly the reason why I took some money that belonged to my employer to tide over the rr hoping to be able to return it, couldn't before I was found out, “Mr, Wetherall interceded for me, and I was allowed to go free on con- dition that I should leave the country, Mrs, Wetherall took my wife in her employ, and I drifted about in vari- ous countries, doing one thing and an- other, and steadily going from bad to worse—" He stopped with a shudder, Rollins, who had been taking down his words on the signed paper, caught up the brandy, but the other shook his head, “t must be quick; my time is short. You're right, I can’t last much longer, T came back again a year or more ago, fie and met Wetherall by chance in the city, He said he had a job for me, and brought me up here under my real . name, which no one around here knew. ‘Thompson’ was an assumed name, the one under which I'd married Mar- tha, He brought me here while bis wife and niece were away, “I didn't care what I did, so long as he supplied me with enough coke and white stuff—I'd got the habit in the dens I frequented—but I swear if I'd known the use he intended to make of what I did for him I wouldn't have raised a hand, “But I didn’t like the idea of it, and when he shipped me off again, nop- ing, 1 suppose, that 1 would die of drugs or drink and not trouble alm any more, I managed to drift back here again with the vague intention of warning them. And so when I ran into Martha that evening I threatened to warn Mrs, Wetherall of the kind of man he was, for 1 had @ strong feeling he meant no good. But Mar- tha gave me some whiskey, and I strolled off into the woods and fore fot It. When I met Mr, Gordon Wednes- y morning 1 was coming back to seo old Wetherall, but 1 spent the money he gave me on some drink and missed the old devil. At last whon 1 saw Wetherall Thursday morning I told him what 1 thought, “He always could make black seem white and my head Isn't what it used to be. I took his word that all was right and he drugged me, weak fool that I was, and brought me up here to die, But I'll cheat bim yet, Have you got it all down?" He raised himself and pointed wildly at the notebook, “Yes, yes!" soothed Rollins, ‘Tell me what it wag you did for Mr. Weth- nd why and how he killed his id mot kill his wife inten- explain yourself, man!” There is no reason why he should have killed her. All his clever schem- ing and villainy Is clear to me now, She met the fate intended for an- ether!" “And that other’—— “Was Bertha Wetherall.” ood heavens!” eried Rollins, his eyes shining, ‘I see now what has puzzled me, but the hatpin—— For Merton, tell me how it Merton lifted a trap door, Followed by Rollins he descended to the cellar. Still with the same fixed purpose, Merton went over to a corner where a large iron lever led from some coils of wire. Merton put his hand on it, “He has hidden it cleverly,” he mut- tered; “but I know where to look. I put this in for him two summers and he must have made the connection himself.” “The connection with what?" gasped Rollins. . “With the stairs, There is a cur- rent under the steps strong enough when it is turned on to Kill instantly. ‘That was what struck down Mrs, Woetherell as she came downstairs, and no hand except the fiendish one that turned on the electricity. See, this it how it works.” With the same unnatural strength and quickness, and before Rollins could stop him, he selzed the handle and jerked it forward, “Ah!” he cried, with a dreadful e triumph as the sparks flashed, “It works! It works! I shall not go alone! For an instant he remained staring ahead, and at the sight of his face and fixed lis Rollins also stood horritied; then with a choking cry he crumpled to the floor. Another moment the detective stood paralyzed; then he remombered. If the man was right, a deadly current was now pouring through the charged steps of the purple stairs, and—there were others in the house at this very moment! Ho flung himself on the switch and tried to pull it back; but whether the mechanism Was rusty, or his haste had foiled his own purpose, he could not move It For what seemed an eternity he tugged and wrenched, the sweat ris- ing under the horror of what might be taking place at this moment, unttl at last it gratingly went back into place, » Rolling did not stop to see if Merton still lived or not, Ho seized tho lan- tern, scrambled up the steps and fairly flung himself down tho hill to ward the house. CHAPTER Too Late! IBEYING the same instinct that she had before, Bertha had flung open the door and screaming, outside ted and ove Sia 40- ¢ nd there Quinn found ber as he came running in, in The Evening World Daily Magazine, LGEUEVE IN PREPAREDNESS JERE IS NOEXCUSE FOR.NOT BEING PREPARED ETC ONLY Two HOURS FORE THE STARTS JOHN RETTER Ger READY response to her cries, Gordon con- fronted him. “The house has taken its toll again,” said Gordon quietly, lifting her in his arms. 9 turned and went in with his burden. Quinn followed and stopped in surprise at sight of the body at the stairs foot. He went over quickly to it. Wetherall lay crumpled queerly. die was in his stocking feet, and his shoes lay near him where they bad fallen from his hand. “Why, it's Mr. Wetherall! earth’ — w Quinn went over and picked up the How on ag. “And he didn’t mean to go empty- handed,” he observed dryly. “It's full of notes and stock certificates. It looks to me as if, however he came by his death, it wasn’t altogether un- deserved. I'll keep this and over it more carefully, Better let the body He there until we can get the Coroner, Shall I help you carry the young lady upstairs?” Rollins burst into the house. He pointed unsteadily to the body on the floor, “Mr, Wetherall “Thank Heave: Rollins fairly fell into a chair and mopped his steam- ing face, “Rollins, what do you mean?” asked Gordon sharply. “That if ever fate used @ man's evil schemes against him, it has done so now. That man was killed by the trap he set for others,” and he told what he knew. So absorbed was Gordon that It was not until he turned away with an uncontrollable exclamation that he saw Bertha's eyes fixed upon him, and realized with a start that he had entirely forgotten her, He hurried to her side. “John, what is it?” she asked faint- y. “I've had such a terrible dream, Oh!"—as her eyes caught the stiff figure which Rollins and Quinn were trying to raise and which Gordon had vainly hoped was hidden from her by his shielding body—"'it isn't a dream, after all! Poor Uncle God- frey!" Gordon soothed her as best he could and carried her up to Olga's room. “You aren't leaving me, John?" whispered Bertha as be bent over her for a last kiss, “Only for a little while, sweet- heart, I must go down and help them, Olga will stay With you, and you must be brave, as you always are, and help me to do what is wisest With a kiss ho left her, and went down to where the others were atill discussing the evening's strange hap- penings, “What of Merton?" suddenly, about him! after him.” “He is beyond the need of that,” answered Rollins quietly. “I went ack at once as soon as I found you ll right here, He {s dead—ha T didn't use fn staying » back to see what T Gee, what a night St asked Gordon “By Jove, I'd forgotten all Some one ought to look think there was any could de has been re, CHAPTER XVI. Loose Threads. IRDON slept the profound sleep exhaustion, and when he woke it was to a A-awe realization that Bertha’s tro were how over, ‘There still reuswined much to be done, * day, and ree (ease Lead YOURLELE AND 7 Wan MARCH INTHE PREPARE DN PARADE however, and he was anxious to see Rollins and have some pussling points cleared up. Bortha was attll sleeping, eo the : faithful Olga told him as ehe served his breakfast. “Don't wake her,” cautioned Gor- don. “And Olga, you must look after the house now, I ehall have to leave you in charge.’ “I stay here,” Olga answered se- renely, Gordon went out feeling sure that one person at least was to be relied on. He epied old Jerry pottering wp the path and went down to meet him, “Well, Jerry, the mystery is solved at last, thanks to that smart boy of yours, He is the real hero of the oc- casion, and I'm going to take him to the city and start him to making hie fortune on Wall Street.” “He'a @ amart little shaver,” agreed old Jerry, trying to keep from burst- ing with pride .. As Gordon still Ungered in talk with the old man, the door opened and Quinn came out. Gordon rather ex- pected, in view of the complete down- fall of his plans, that he would show something either of anger or humilie- tion, but his manner as he greeted the young man was pleased and con- fident, He might easily instead have been the successful detective receiv. ing congratulations on his skill, “Really, this has turned out won- dorfully well for all concerned,” he rumbled, “I ain glad to be able to leave this morning feeling that Mr. Wetherall has received the just pun-. ishment for his attempted crime, the young lady is entirely cleared, and even our friend Merton has escaped any further trouble. And am | to congratulate you, Mr. Gordon, on the reward of your efforts?" Gordon remembered his promise to himself, to punch Quinn’s head when it was all over. Here was both the opportunity and the tncentive, for the man's words, though outwardly bland, were capable of much annoy- ance taken !n conjunction with what he had done. But, somehow, Gordon did not feel like resenting them this golden morn- ing. Quinn's claws were cut; what matter if he roared? “Yea, everything 18 gurming out splendidly,” he agreed with equal Dlandness, “lverybody has got his Even our Just deserts, as you say. friend Tony the Bull may eettle his score yet.” And satisfied with this parting thrust, which left the little man gasp- ing like a speared fish, he turned wa n strolled laughing into the house, the hall he ran into Rollins. “Hello!” exclaimed the latter, been looking for you." “And I for you, Where have you been?” “Interviewing Martha Jenkins.” “The dickens! Where did you find her?” “My man caught her at Spring Val- ley and brought her over to the hotel, Ho called me up early this morning, and [ went right over while you wers sleeping “Ww didn't you let me know?" “What was the use of your keeping a dog and then barking for it?" re- rurned the detective, “That's what I'm here for, Say, that woman has got nerve! It wasn't until I told her that Merton had confessed every- thing, and Wetherall was dead, that she broke down and told all she knew What did she say?" asked Gor don eager Boiled down, it amounted to this: We know that Merton, or T! CAN'T FIND MY PANTS). | LosT had been above her socially, and that after he stole the money (to satisfy her insatiable greed, so he told me), there she had @ good opportunity to get into the old lady's confidence, and the former used her to epy on her niece, “In this way she learned how things were going, and began to suspect Wetherall of some design on Miss Bertha, According to Martha, Mra, Wetherall seema to have been inno- cent of any share in ahe was weak and dominated by her husband, but really had some affection and fecling of duty toward the girl. I believe it was @ suspicion of some intended wrong to her that made the old lady come down the stairs warn her, and #o unwittingly meet her own death, At all events she did save the girl's life, for five minutes later Miss Bertha would herself have mounted the deadly charged etairs—— “But to return to Martha. Sus- pecting some plot, though ovidently not the kind it really was, she did not go to town with the other servants, but came back later, intending to spy on Wetherall and turn it to her own advantage afterward. She saw her husband by accident as he wae going into the house (you were right there in your supposition); followed him and demanded hia business, Merton said he was penniless and desperate, “Martha, knowing his weakness, and also his stubborn temper when aroused, and afraid that he would mess things, got him some crackers and a@ bottle of whiskey from the din- ing room, hoping to make him drunk and eo get him out of the way. She also induced him to talk, hoping to find out more a@bout Wetherall's plans, “In the course of their conversation she mentioned that the servants had all left on account of the strange Ughts seen on the stairs. Merton, recognizing that they were electrical and must have been caused by som connection with the plant he had put in for Wetheran two years aj sus pected that some scheme was afoot against Bertha, and announced his in- tention of seeing Mrs, Wetherall and getting her to stop it. “At this point they were startled by some noise made by the listening Jerry, and slipped off, each hiding in a different place; Merton outside in the shrubbery, and Martha in her room, “There she wes taken with @ no bleed, and as whe 1s subject to severe hemorrhages if they are not stopped, she slipped out again, unseen, id hurried to her aunt's, She arrived so faint and weak that Mrs, Snow put her to bed at once, “Next morning she heard of Mra, Wotherall's murder, She immediately feared that her husband had done It, as she knew the state he was in that night, She managed to get back to the house unnoticed, and met Wether- all, Under hig clever questioning she betrayed her f of Merton's having committed the crime, “He worked on her fears by hint- ing that she might be accused of com- pleity (she had admitted coming back and meeting ber husband), He persuaded = hi to. trust him, and promised to keep the facts secret if she would stay and watch over things for him, ‘It was she whose face you saw looking up that evening in the cupola; she spied on Miss Bertha constantly, and her testimony at the inquest was prompted by Wetherall, She became fright at our inquires and ran .way yesterday, encouraged to do so by Wetherall, who told her we had track of the tramp, She has eworn DON'T ARGUE | AGREE WITH ‘You, JOHN PLENTY OF TINE Saturday? May 13) 1916 Tf you were lost in the Canadian woods and a gloriously beautiful girl should happen along— Well, that is the tuation LURA OF THE NORTHLAND confronting the hero of By ROBERT E. PINKERTON NEXT WEEK'S COMPLETE NOVEL IN THE EVENING WORLD This is a story of the Big Outdoors —just the sort to read in springtime. There is plenty of adventure and mystery in it and a goodly portion of somewhat unusual love interest. he continued, “which I found only by carefully tracing down the wires, All he had to do was to turn on the cur- rent from there after he had appar- ently left, He could easily do thia through the cellar door, unseen by Hertha in the front, and with no ser- vants in the back to notice him, Then he went on to the station, established his alibi, and, making @ detour to the shack, turned off the current on his to all this beforo @ notary, and I have her statement here.” “Good work. But eome of our pet theories are getting pretty well smashed up. How about it, Rollins? “I've never yet been so wedded to one theory that I couldn't leave it for another,” returned the detective im- pertu! iy a bit of a freo- lover there, That's the fascination of the game, and I'm a good enough sport to take my chances. I will con- fess that I thought I had the case pretty well framed up, but the trouble was I didn't use my imagination enough. 1 etuck to plain facts—or what should have been plain facts. “IY people will chuck @ page out of the ‘Arabian Nights’ into the midst of these times, it ts likely to upset the best calculations, When you are up against ghosts and live wire i you've got to atep lively. But I'm not getting under cover of any excuses I was fooled like the rest of ‘om, al- though I did think, and I do now, that the tramp was the key to the mystery, “And say, I'm not @ circumstance to the doctor! When he found out that he'd been fooled on that hatpin, and what jay medical opinions he’ been fathering, he was just as sor a man who's had all the wrong t! pulled out by the dentist—and that the sorest thing I know!” “IT should think #0,” laughed Gor- don, “But see here, Rollins, there are a few things yet we haven't cleared up. I don’t see just how the current under the stairs ts connected with that shack up in the woods, How did Wetherall turn it off and on, and how could ho keep others from finding it out?” “Weil, I'm not much of an eleo- triclan, but I've been looking it over this morning, and as far as IT can dope it out it’s fixed this way: “You remember how many unneces- sary lights there are in the hall, dot- ted around in every possible place? Well, Wetherall had them put in in order to be able to use the extra cur- rent without its being noticed, This current goes through underground wires from the house to the cellar of the shack. There it ts connected with @ eet of calls, increasing the voltage about two thousand, I should judge, and lessening the amperage to about ten. It then runs to a band-switch worked by the iron lever which turns on the current; runs back to the house again by the sume underground tunnels, and enters through the drain- pipe and one of the purple windows down under the stairs, “I haven't been able to make a thorough examination, but [ can tm- agine that it goes through holes cov- ered by the foot-treads, Stepping from one stair to another makes tho deadly connection, Only two steps are charged, these right under the just Deneath the purple “But what about ehoes—I've al- ways understood that leather was a pretty fair insulator,” said Gordon, “How was he going to be sure his victim would” “Don't you remember how he tipped the waterIng-pot over her shoes that night? be ‘The wet shoes would have n an excellent conductor for tho tricity,” And Mrs, Wetherall had on thin cloth slippers,” broke in Gordon ex- cttedly; “and as for Wetherall him- self!" —— own caution proved his undo Tho detective's tone was grim might ax well have been hare 1 in his stocking-feet when re'a an extra mwiteb hidden tn @ secret compartment ta the cellar,” ing “The way home. “You remember he said he left about 12.30 and was back at 1 o'clock, and it took only twenty minutes to walk from tho station? That gives ten extra minutes, just the time it takes to get there from here, Tho mechanism was so well hidden under the cellar that no one would be apt it the man who put it and he, Wetherall to find It exe: there for him; trusted, was alr yas a clever succeeded up. ‘What a devil the man must have been to concoct such @ plan! Do you think his sole motive was to get pos- on of the money?" ‘Must have been, but it was almost a little too elaborately done, If he had had to deal with Gas a stupid country coroner ke McDonald he would never have got away with the rt, Dead ies don’t bleed, He probably cut himself slightly and moistened the pin and the surroundings of the wound with the blood so as to give the impression of reality, And an Internal hemor- rhage hardly bleeds at all, so that helped him out. But the doctor should have performed an autopsy to be certain.” “And there surely must have been some burn somwhere from the eleo- tricity,” objected Gordon, “The doctor admitted to me that he had noticed a litle burn on the nole of her foot, but Wetherall told him she had atepped on a hot cinder the day before, and McDonald so filled up with tho idea of the pin that he didn’t follow the other out. Of course he saw the body long after the first effect of the shock had passed, but if he'd been anything but an opinionated old goat he would have seen more things. “T thought myself that i looked queer when you told me the body waa both warm and rigid so short a time after, but I trusted to McDonald's knowing his business. No more hick doctors for mine! “Now, I've prepared @ statement of what we know about the case ao far from Merton's and Martha's con- fessions, and by filling in a few gaps with our own deductions, I think tt explains everything. Just run over it, will you, and see what you think.” CHAPTER XVII. The Last Problem Solved. OLLINS'S statement, which he read aloud, was as follows: “Mr. Wetherall wan evi- dently unscrupulous, and had always removed ob- stacles form his path. His broth- er's death was probably caused (though we have no direct testi- mony to the fact beyond Miss Wotherall's suspicions) by the shock of seeing Mra. Wetherall atanding at the foot of the stairs dressed like a ghost, “We know that Mra, Wetherall, in her dream overheard by her niece, expressed remorse at her share in it, whether active or Passive. But this plan had un- doubtedly been sugg d by God. frey Wetherall in 01 that he might gain control of Miss Bertha. “His plot against her seems to have been long matured, for in tho seven years following her father's death he tried by indi- rect means, such as isolation, suggestion, and preying on her superstitious fears, to drive her insane, or at least into @ state of melancholia in order to have her adjudged irresponsible, and so get control of her property, which he needed, being even then involved in some scheme which would fail without proper financing, “The stairs and the legend of the ghost gave him his Idea, Two years before he had got Jim Mer- ton In his power, and had had him instal a powerful eleotrical voltage mechanism in the disused shack, which could also be turned on as has bi described, from inside the house, He made the connection with the stairs him- self, but Merton suspected some- thing of it, and taxed him with it one day. “After that Wetherall's one idea Was to get rid of Merton——the only witness against him, He supplied Merton with drugs and drink, gave him money, and shipped him off, thinking that he would shortly drink himself to death, “There came a time when his need of money became absolutely pressing. Hoe took @ large sum his niece's property, and afraid that when It was out on Miss Bertha’s coming of age, just a month off, Mrs. Wetherall would insist upon his replacing it, determined to force the issue, make away with Miss Bertha, and so gain entire control of the estate, (He and his wife were her only near kin) “ly order to have a good reason for ridding the house of the ser vants, he made lights (probably » electrical quoer noises ap m the stairs, and om away gram sent to hi Liss Wether + ave bis ing powder in order ut of the way, through ance) contriv= H 1 tho door of locked, no way for Miss Bertha to reach her room except up the to the station; lost the train posely, talked with the at master #0 a8 to establish an e@beo~ lute alibi, and ret visiting the shack, to find jecarri: niece. “Ret izing the danger of die~ covery, he carried, the. body ‘Up staire himself, waited unt Gordon and Miss Bertha were ia their rooms, and taking a which he found in his wife's room and recognized as belonging to her niece, made a alight cut in bis or pO rag ageacte Ag ia 0 un; therail's heart. His knowledge medicine helped him there. the detective “Do you remember my telling you that either @ woman ¢F & clever doctor pushed that pia i? bad a gucas, wae it? “Knowing that a dead body wil red lore | he Lv | =. Sie again and repea' until he felt reasonably certain it would deceive the doctor end #o divert suspicion. He had in- tended to offer the story of Miss Bertha’s having stepped on @ cine der as explanation of any burn, and used the scheme for Mrs, Wetherall, “It was he who had tried Mn Gordon's door early in the morn- ing, hoping to be able to elip in and find out something about him by examining his papers. He suspected Mr. Gordon of being interested in Miss Bertha, and al- though he reaMaed that the young man’s testimony could not shake his alibi, was afraid that he would discover more. “At firat he had tried to drive him off, then grew cordial and urged him to stay, as he thought could watch him better that Ye ‘When he looked down the sec- ond evening and saw Mr. Gordon making investigations on the stair, the ides came to him ms Ang loose the molding over Bit . Gordon's sudden exit gave him time to loosen a big piece, then when the young man came back and went up the staira again, @ push, ag he crouched un- observed behind it, served to dis- lodge it, Only Mr. Gorges omen foreseen stoop saved him. onwWhen Mr. Gordon told bim of the tramp he realised that he was in danger of betrayal. drag- ged the drunken man into the shed that night when be went (I found evidence of this), and focked him in; prot d the next morning e “Exerting his in@uence Merton or Thompson), i tei v of “He ly nh 6 o! prom} Martha at the inquest. “He had not gone omen Se. ” reasoned that it would loo! i clous, and he could watch the turs: of events better on the spot. He the latter turned on the and he met his merited end.” “That certainly is clear and gea- vincing enough,” said Gordon, “and you've worked it out cleverly. What & record of crime! But I can’t however, that you have exaggerat it in the least, A man who could think of injuring a helpless girl would do anything. We are only lucky to be quit of him so easily, But one thing still puzzles me"-— “What ts it?” asked a sweet voloe beside him, He turned and saw Bertha standing in the doorway. As he looked at her, fresh and lovely in her young beauty, and thought of the wicked scheme of which she had nearly been tho victim, something rose up in his throat and choked further utterance. “John, what is the matter?” ehe asked in alarm, “Have you had any news dearest; only I thought—of what might have happenea here, Come out in the garden—where we can forget this dreadful old house and all ita mysteries!" Rollins had discreetly disappeared at the first moment of her coming. She let Gordon lead her out to the garden, splashed with sunshine of golden glow 1 they sat down on the y we y. “But, Jonna, what were you saying as T came owt? “A very knotty point,” he af. swered, bending over her lips. “Lwas wondering how on earth you ever got to care for me, and when?” "Do She really want to know? evaded have you teasingly we be es after 18 on Tues And thea t \tened kiss fel (the Kad. z