Show I- I r TELEGRAM FICTION THE T MILL HOUSE MURDER lj 2 B By J. J 5 S. FLETCHER At first evidently Deborah had appeared to take her jilting with melancholy philosophy and had busied herself in helping Hannah look ook after the house and the chil- chil dren Iren After their installation by James in the Mill House however a change had come over her She appeared to realize that her suitor had lad finally thrown her over and she he started to brood in solitude She frequented the society of Prissy Mallison Then came the firing of the mill Deborah had confessed to this piece of and had threatened to o take James' James life if she ever heard that hat he was thinking of giving her hera a more human rival After the fire Hannah realized that hat she must either hand her sister over ver to the asylum authorities or keep her secreted for all time about abou the he house She chose the latter course ourse and as her sons were then of f an age to understand the meaning meaning mean mean- ing ng of an oath had made them swear wear not to tell that their relative relative rela- rela tive ive was concealed in the Mill Mil House She gave out that Deborah had taken aken a post as companion at Chorlton ton on in Lancashire and soon after engineered a telegram reporting her death eath in that place The family went into nto mourning and then to give color olor to the state of siege obtaining in n Hannahs Hannah's castle its owner had hac caused aused it gradually to be whispered through the village that her own brain rain had begun to give way on one that point that she refused to believe that hat her sister who had always taken aken the lead in social matters was dead ead and had sworn that there would not be open house again until its ts hostess returned But how however ever did she escape to murder James asked Beverley The night uncle was killed answered answered an- an Ramsden she got round Mally Brewster It was during one of f her sane intervals and she told toldo so o sad a tale to Mally about being quite recovered and in need of an evening stroll that Mally gave in the he poor old fool That clears up several points said aid Beverley I had become cerain certain tam ain tain that it was Hannah whom the theold theold old Id witch saw by the church on the nights of the two crimes Of course courset it t was Deborah in her sisters sister's white mackintosh the one so like Sugden's Sugden's Sugen's Sug- Sug dens den's So it wasn't Hannah who listened at t the conservatory door on the night of my introduction to James I said We were all 11 wrong as to the motive too Whereas we thought fear of Sugden's Sugden's Sugen's Sug- Sug dens den's safety had driven Hannah to murder it was the jealous realization realization tion ion of a poor old mad brain that her ler lover was finally unfaithful to her that prompted Deborah to kill I remember was showing showing show- show ing ng me photographs of Miss Houson Houston Houston Hous- Hous ton on and expatiating on her com eli eli- ness ess when i I heard those those sounds behind behind belind be- be hind lind the door Why did Mally run away that time ime asked Eddison As far as I could gather from mother this morning Mallys Mally's conscience conscience con- con science started to trouble her for keeping what she knew to herself She he thought James' James ghost came to toler her ler in the night and told her that if f she stayed on at the Mill House Deborah would frighten her into letting etting her loose again and there would be more murder done Then Mally was brought back here lere for obvious reasons and there was vas more murder said Beverley Who Vho killed Mally herself Deborah or r Hannah 1 Deborah answered Ramsden Td Id honestly thought it was an accident accident acci- acci dent ent but poor mother told me this morning and I believe her On that morning through Mally forgetting to o lock the bedroom door Aunt Debbie Debbie Debie Deb- Deb bie ie had escaped downstairs again and nd was actually at the front door with the stick in her hand when Mally saw and tried to stop he her After the blow had been struck m maunt my aunt was docile enough thinking mother believed that she had killed kille James' James betrothed After she had hae taken her back to her room ant and locked her in mother dragged poor poo Mally along to the bottom of th the stairs and smashed down the tra tray of crockery beside her And it mus must have happened that way It sounds plausible and anyway its it's the only explanation well we'll ever eve get replied Beverley A very re remarkable remarkable remarkable re- re woman your woman your mother Beverley Bevenley had much to do D Dr Ponsford must be summoned to view the bodies and arrangements fo for their removal had to be made Also Ate Sugden had to be transferred from the local police station to Shipton Ramsden said that he would accompany accompany accompany pany the superintendent to se see whether he could convey any cheer chee or comfort to his distraught brother brothe Eddison and I volunteered to sta staat stay at the Mill House during their absence absence absence ab ab- ab- ab sence and settled ourselves in th the living room A strange strange story sai said Eddison Well I expect the facts fact of this morning have upset your you theory of last night whatever i iwas it was On the contrary I answered my theory theory one one without detail asI as I freely admit has admit has been amply anc and tragically borne out this morning I had intended first thing to put a aphone aphone phone call through Chorlton in Lancashire Lancashire Lancashire Lan Lan- and I should have bee been very much surprised if the local authorities authorities authorities au au- au- au had not confirmed my supposition supposition supposition sup sup- position that no Deborah Marten Marten- royde ever lived or died there Why so asked Eddison wh who was evidently deeply interested Ill try to give you the stages stage of my complete befogging and subsequent subsequent subsequent sub sub- sequent enlightenment in their proper order First you must realize realize realize real real- ize that to a stranger like myself arriving here to be faced by a murder murder murder mur mur- der connected with two houses th the mystery of the state of siege in which one of those houses was kept kep was bound to seem a very real one whether connected with the murder murde or not To me a house with the entry entry entry en en- try denied to the outside world naturally naturally naturally nat nat- suggested a house of concealment concealment concealment conceal conceal- ment and since the whole house hous had been placed out of bounds th the concealment of some living thing almost certainly of some living person per per- son It must have been as much t to set my mind at rest on this point though I hardly realized the fact a athe at atthe atthe the time as to investigate the surroundings surroundings surroundings sur sur- of Hannah my prime suspect that I paid my surreptitious visit to the Mill House When I came to the entry in th the family Bible recording the death o of Deborah I took it merely as further proof of what I had heard of Hannah's Hannahs Hannahs Hannah's Hannahs Hannah's Han Han- nah's twin and the crossing out o of that entry fitted in with what you and others have told me me of Hannab's Hannans Han Han- nabs nans delusion But if I had ever I Of her before I looked at the Bible I guarantee that those entries would d have lit a flaming question n mark in my brain concerning her an unknown whose death was first affirmed and then denied and the home of the Marten- Marten shut to the outside world i would have come conic away with the intention of making exhaustive in in- in Yes yes I see that said Eddi Eddi- son But what was it that put yo you on n to the truth last night That rather horrible business of the Bible I replied Hannah apologizing to the book and fearing for her immortal soul because shed she'd maltreated it It suddenly flashed across me that the death entry and its Us deletion if it they had been been- made considerably later than any who saw them were intended to suppose were vere capable of another explanation tion ion and one more in keeping with Hannahs Hannah's superstitious attitude It was vas quite possible of course that she had entered the death on hear hear- ing of it but it seemed to me Unlikely unlikely unlikely un un- likely that she zhe would have defaced the volume later in order to corre correct what at times she took to be a mis mis- statement This would have mean meant her ordered and anti her disordered mind mim working together and a consistency between fact and delusion which is rare in cases of monomania It was wa much more likely that a woman wil with such limited cunning and such fail faith in the Bible as a support would have made it tell a lie for her the her th death entry set down I suppose just after James' James murder to fo fool any investigator as it fooled me into int the belief that the murderess had hac been dead for many years Then The days pass suspicion seems to b be begetting begetting getting no nearer the little room upstairs upstairs upstairs up up- stairs the book lie weighs mo more and more heavily and by way o of apology she erases it probably on ona only a few hours before I examined th the entries Mally had not been mu murdered murdered mur- mur dered then you must remember Excellent Camberwell exclaimed exclaimed ex ex- claimed Eddison But as employer employer employer em em- I cannot help being glad that tha you were prevented from bringing your case to a close while those tw two poor sisters were still alive No more glad than I am I answered answered answered an an- and from the bottom of m my heart I mean it Two da days s 's afterward the tragic ol old twins were buried in churchyard Poor Mrs John We W didn't understand her trouble was wa the tribute I heard paid by one o othe of the mill lassies it will serve a as epitaph I walked back to the Mill House Hous with Ramsden and questioned him himas as to his plans for the future H He told me that he intended to leave leav for Canada almost at once He ha hamill had mill owning friends there from whom he could buy a partnership There could be no more happiness for him in England Our path too took us along the wide stretching front fron of the mill Through the open windows windows windows win win- dows we heard the steady murmur of the machinery Death lay behind behin us in the churchyard by the river rive but mill mm was throbbing throbbing throbbing throb throb- bing with life and its spindles were still running THE END Copyright 1938 for The Telegram |