| Show I ONLY O GIRL AT OVERLOOK i By FRANKLIN ITLES Copyright All rights reserved CHAPTER II t i I I = I ijt fII c t Jt11 r I III ir IIt 11 I it 1 = = = f I I I 0 W I i1 r I P2frL I I W jj < t 1 4 I < 7 ifl I l fff7 Yffjij I I o J lJJj l i j I li I i I 1 But for an instanfkcpt them I prisoners I I I The full moon looted for Mary War riners little house that night as soon asa i I as-a clearance of the sky permitted and J then beamed down on her abode effulgently j j i efful-gently But it was 11 oclock before the I i gusty wind blew the thick clouds aside i and let the orb illuminate Overlook Back of the shed in which the telegrapher worked by day was a structure in which she slept at night It was built of slabs with big growing trees to form its irregular ir-regular corners and their lowest limbs contributed the rafters while stripped bark and evergreen boughs made the roof The foliage swayed above in the fitful wind and covered the cabin and the grass around it with commingling separating capering shadows of leaves as though a multitude of little black demons de-mons were trying to get to the slumberex within Their antics looked spiteful and angry at first but as the wind lessened to a breeze and as the moon seemed tc mollify them they became frolicsome without malice and at length when the merest zephyrs impelled their motions they sp T1 boled lazily good humorpdlv above and around the couch of ilary JEte It was midnight when a man shot into the open space around the cabin like a missile He ran first to the front of the structure where a tarpaulin curtained the shed for the night and gazed for a moment blankly at this indication that the bow was not one of business Tremendous Tre-mendous haste was denoted in his every step and gesture He plucked twice at the canvas as though to pull it down Then he okurried around to the single window of Clarys apartment whose only door opened into the shed and pounded with his knuckles on the ill fitted sash making it clatter loudly Si leiro wHMn followed this noise without F Ho Wake up1 he cried Dont fOil inr f minute Wake up 1 Tar > was no response and he skipped to a vl fro in his impatience He was an ordir rv shoveler and pounder with I n < liiij to distinguish him from the mass of inauul laborers at Overlook but unt lih > tii usual man with an errand at the tclcrjrtph station flourished a scrap of t P Trr I rant to telegraph he shouted ands j and-s l t8 window again Get up qnl k Its life and death II T Warriner was convinced that i I herder res were urgently and properly reqnin 1 She peeped warily out to in I E + tin man estimated him to be me ly a messenger and then opened I i o > fie sash which swung laterally on hinges Her delicate face bore the same Or of calm that characterized it dur I ir 7 luess I hours but the moon shone on it now the hair had got loose from I the bon of knot and and for la1age pin an i out r g rment she was carelessly en i wrcj 1 in a white fleecy blanket The j man lid not give her time to inquire 1 wh WTS wanted i Y mre the telegraph girl aint you i i he f r Lie Well heres something Ito I-to t jraph Its in a hurry hurry hurry Dont lose minute I I couldnt send it tonight Mary said You must I It isnt possible There i nobody at 1 the other end of the line to receive it I The wire is private belongs to the rail read companyisnt operated except in j the daytime Youll have to wait until I i tomorrow Tomorrow Til be a hundred years I eld or else dead the man almost wailed wail-ed in despair Wbatr I was only ten years old yesterday Tonight rm sixty Tomorrowll be too late Here here send it tonight miss Please send it tonight J I The mystified girl mechanically took the piece of paper which he thrust into her hands but her eyes did not drop be lots they discovered the insanity in his face and when they did rest on the paper they saw a scrawl of hieroglyphics I was plain that this midnight visitor was a maniac Against Overlooks civil and sane men Mary had entrenched herself confidently behind herapathy but within with-in the round of the clock she had been beset by agreeable sentiment by violent passion and now by irrational delusion I She screamed for help A watchman responded almost instantly instant-ly t her call He was a stalwart fellow fel-low employed t guard the companys tools and machinery against mischief at night and his patrol since Mary inhabited inhab-ited the cabin had brought him very frequently fre-quently past the place He chanced t have como almost there when he heard the outcry Upon seeing the cause of the girls fright he dropped all perturbation perturba-tion of his ow and treated the incident as a matter of course The lunatic wobbled wob-bled like a drunken man about t collapse col-lapse as he mumbled his request over and over again Here now Eph the watchman said with a much of cajolery a command 4you musnt bother the young lady Aint you ashamed to scare her this way Get right out of this The watchman took the other by the arm and as they started oftone insisting insist-ing one objecting the official looked back to say He wont hurt nobody Miss Warriner hes just a little cranky ihats all Mary watched them out of sight and while she was doing so Gerald Heath approached from the contrary direction He had heard the girls scream Why he was within earshot he might not have been able t explain satisfactorily for it was not his habit to take midnight walks even when the air was s l > right moonlit moon-lit and s temporarily fine but i cross questioned he would donotipss naveS maintained that he had sought only to escape from the darkness and closeness of his shanty quarters Besides where would he E likely wander in quest of good sight and breath as to the spot whence he could view the scenery which he in vain asked the railway company to exhibit to their passengers As he turned the corner of the cabin he saw Eph and the watchman departing and comprehended compre-hended the disturbance Eph has been frightening you Miss Warriner he said Mary screamed again but this time it was a low musical little outcry of modesty mod-esty She had not observed Geralds approach ap-proach She clutched the blanket closely around her white throat which had een almost as much exposed as by an ordinary ordi-nary cut of frock and drew under cover tre the gleaming wrists which had all day been bared to a greater extent by sleeves of handy working length Then she reached out one toper n and swung the sash around on its hinges so its inner covering of muslin made a screen between her and the visitor He did not apologize for his intrusion and she pouted a little on her safe side of the sash at his failure to do so I see it was Eph that alarmed you he said What did he do She told him and then asked Who is he and what ails him aul He is a common laborer with an uncommon un-common affliction was the reply One day HA excavation caved it and for an hoar he was buried Some timbers made a little space around his head but the rest of him was packed in earth He i had breathed the inclosed air two or three times over and was almost suffocated suffo-cated when we got him out He was insensible ITo ever came back to his j senses He believes he is living at the I rate of more than a year every hour That is why he was in such a hurry with his imaginary message i Poor fellow came from the obverse side of the sash I Yes poor fellow the narrator assented as-sented I understood his hallucination at once When a man is suddenly placed il mortal peril his past life dashes before him Half drowned men afterward tell of reviewing in a minute the events of years It is a curious mental phenomenon Well I 1 this poor chap had that familiar experience I i I experi-ence but with a singular sequence The impression that all his lifetime before the j accident happened in a brief time has re mained in h disordered mind He believes i be-lieves that his whole earthly existence is condensed that future years as well as his past ones are compressed into days and his days into minutes mihis s Nothing can disabuse him of this idea Everything is to him ephemeral Thats why I named i him Eph bhort for ephemeral you see He doesnt remember his real name and j on the roll he had only a number He has done his work wall enough until j within a few days but now his malady seems to have tumed to the worst Helms He-lms talked wildly of getting some physi i i cians to check the speed of time with him audit may have been that he wished to telegraph to this fancied expert It is singular Mary said and very sad sadThe The midnight incident seemed to have come to a conclusion I was a proper time for Gerald to say good night and go away He still stood ou the opposite side of the half open sash around thee the-e ge of which appeared a Final set of finger tips which pulled the screen a little closer showing that the girl was minded to shut herself in But a hand twice as big opposed hers gently yet strongly and in doing so it touched her upon which she let so and the window flew open Oh you mustnt see me5 Mary exclaimed claimed u Gerald got a vanishing glimpse of the white draped figure Goodnight You will be afraid i left alone Gerald protested you cant go to sleep nervous a you must bo I surely cant go to sleep talking was herrejoinder with the first touch Pst of coquetry she had indulged in at Overlook Over-look I wont talk then Ill only keep guard out here until daylight Eph may return But theres the watchman It is his duty It would be my delight That silenced the invisible inmate of the cabin The moon shone into the square opening but Mary was ensconsed somewhere in the darkness that Bordered the income of light Should I apologize Gerald at length began again I is like this Miss War lnerI used to know how to behave politely po-litely to a lady but for six years Ive lived in wildernesses railroad wideressesin camps from Canada to Mexico Weve had no ladies in the rough places no women wom-en except once in while some mannish washerwoman or cook Thats what makes you so rare so unexpected that is why it would be a delight to be a patrolman outside your quarters that is i why I dont wish to go away Oh oh I am interesting because I am the only specimen of my sex at Overlook Over-look That isnt a doubtful compliment it is no compliment at all Good night You misconstrue me altogether I mean I am sure you do not mean andnow the tone was pleadingly serious to remain re-main here at my window after I request yon to go away I am a you have said the only girl at Overlook Overlook If there were a thousand girls at Xot one of them I trust would prolong pro-long a dialogue with a org gentleman at night through the open window of her bedroom Half in respectful deference to Marys unassailable statement of the rule of propriety applicable to the situation and half in inconsiderate petulance at being dismissed Gerald let go of the fash with an impulse that almost closed it This time two miniature hands it tme came out under the swinging frame Would more than one hand have been naturally used Was it not an awkward method of shutting a window And Mary War miner was not a clumsy creature But rnrr cll there were the hands and Gerald grasped them They fluttered for freedom like birds held captive in broad palms by completely caging fingers Then he uncovered un-covered them but for an instant kept thfin prisoners by encircling the wrists long enough to impetuously kiss them Aoftlitr second and they were gone the window was closed and the offender was alone nlmHHe He walked slowly away accusing himself him-self of folly and ungentlemanliness and he felt better upon getting out of the clear searching moonshine into the dim obscuring shade of rocks and trees among which the path wound crookedly There rapid footsteps startled him as tbough he were a skulking evildoer and tlb A swift approach of a man along IM > in tersecting pathway maul nun r ei HKO taking to cowardly flight But he recognized recog-nized the monomaniac Eph who was in a breathless tremor Mr Heath could a man walk to Diuimersville before the telegraph station sta-tion there opens in the morning Eph asked with several catches of breath and a reeling movement of physical weakness S You go to bed Eph was the reply meant to be soothing and Ill see that your telegram goes from here the earliest thing in the morning That wont be more than six or seven hours from now Six or seven hours the poor fellow deploringly moaned Ill be a goodman good-man years older by that time Oh its awful to have your life go whizzing away like mine does and he clutched at Gerald with his fidgety hands with a vague idea of slowing himself by holding to a normal human being Then he darted away swaying from side to side with faintness and disappeared disap-peared in the foliage which lined the path he was following Gerald watched him out of sight and was about to resume his own different way when the voice of Tonio Havelli was heard with its Italian extra a to the short words and a heavy emphasis on the final syllable of the long ones Mistair Heath he said I sawa your affectionate parting wees Mees Warriuer Gerald had just then the mind of a culprit and he began to explain apologetically apol-ogetically I was cowardly in me to insul a defenseless grl She didnt invite in-vite it Tin ashamed of myself He hardly realized to whom he was speaking The two men were walking rapidly Ravelli taking two strides to one of the bigger Gerald in order to keep alongside You should be ashamed you a scoundrel As much of jealous fury and venomous malice as could be vocalized in six words was in Eavellis sudden outbreak Gerald was astounded He turned upon his companion com-panion caught him by both lapels of his coat and shook him so violently that his boot soles pounded the giourid Kavelli staggered back upon being loosed and threw one arm around a tree to steady himself I didnt mean to hurt you said Gerald Ger-ald but you shouldnt be reckless with your language Perhaps you dont know what scoundrel means in English i I saw youa kiss her hand Did you Well do you know what Id do lo you Ravelli if I saw you kiss her haudb as I without her consent con-sent Id wring your miserable neck Now what are you going t do to me hI ama going to l c you The blade of knife flashed in Ravellis right hand as he made a furious onslaught But the stronger and quicker man gripped both of his assailants wrists threw him violently to the giouad and tortured him with wrenches and doublings until lie had to the In the h1l drop weapon encounter en-counter the clothes of both men jvere torn and when Ran l regained his feet blood was dripping from his hand The blade had cut i You meant to kill me Gerald exclaimed S claimed I aida so was the sullen menacing menac-ing response And with my own knifo and Gerald Ger-ald picking up tho knife recognized it Youra own knife 20 one zat you carvea Marys hand with so lovingly Raveiii had retained il Fines the previous pre-vious afternoon when he had picked it up from Mary Warrineia e3k Its blade was now red with blood as Ger aId shut and pocketed it You cowardly murderer Murderer Nota yet But I meant to be Ravelli turned off bj the cross path and Gerald passed on CHAPTER HI tHe S jiIL t l tJ V i f q jl1 r t A IH I JJrJ I 7z J l tJ 1r ml IrrI 11 j 11iff = I J l I f t i I I r I V1i x r l t hf 4k 1 C fr r I t W Jf He roughly seized her hand The first man to go to work at Overlook Over-look in the morning was Jim Wilson because he had to rouse the fire under a boiler early enough to provide steam for a score of rock drills The night watchman watch-man awakened him at daybreak according accord-ing to custom and then gob into a bunk as the other got out of OH P Everything all right Jim asked I guess so the other replied But I haint seen your boiler sence afore midnight mid-night Eph a disturbin Mary Mite and so I hung round her cabin pretty much the last half of the night Jim went to his post at the boiler and at an unaccustomed pace from thepoint where he first saw and heard steam hiss ing upward from the safety valve On quitting the night previous he hal banked the fire as usual and this morning in he should have found it big shonl burning so slowly that an hour of raking replenishing replenish-ing and open draughts would no more than start the machinery at 7 oclock Going nearer he found that open dampers damp-ers and a fresh supply of coal had set the furnace raging What was that which protruded from the open door and so nearly filled the aperture that the draught was not im i i 1 i paired A glance gave the answer It was the legs and hal the body of a man whose head and shoulders were thoroughly charred as Jim was horrified to see when he pulled the remains out upon the ground Jim ran to tell the superintendent and within a few minutes a knot of excited men surrounded the body The gathering gather-ing grew in numbers rapidly By means of the clothing the dead and partially burned man was identified at once as Tonio Ravelli That he had been murdered mur-dered was an equally easy conclusion The murderer had apparently sought to cremate the corpse Whether he had found itphy icllimpohe or had been frightened away could only be conjectured conject-ured uredWho Who can have done i was the question ques-tion asked by Superintendent Brainerd the autocrat of Overlook There was a minute of silence with all staring intently at the body a though half it to somehow disclose tlio hal expecting t s m 10 I 1 truth The night watciunan was first to speak S Eph might have done ithe said Then he told of the monomaniacs visit to the telegraphic station and of the acute 5 stage which his malady had reached Nobody else present had seen him since the previous evening Superintendent Brainerd ordered a search of the lodgings lodg-ings Ten minutes were sufficient for around a-round of the different quarters Eph was in none of them Tbe sec ° mxo turned to the furnace and with them came Gerald Heath I met Eph yonder where the paths cross not a hundred yards from here a little past midnight Gerald said Ho was terribly excited That was after he had tried in vain t telegraph a crazy message Evidently his delusion that his whole life was condensed into a brief space had driven him to a frenzy He spoke of walking to Dimrnersville but I tried to quiet him and he disappeared Dimmcrsville was a town about ten miles distant in a direction opposite to that from which the railroad had worked work-ed its way through the mountains No wire connected it with Overlook and there was no public road for the nearest third of the way although a faint trail showed the course that a few persons had taken on foot or horseback Very likely Eph has gone toward Diminersville Brainerd argued and we must try to catch him Before the order could be specifically given a horse and rider arose over the edge of the level ground and came into the midst of the assemblage The man in the saddle had a professional aspect imparted chiefly by his smoothly shaven face In this era of mustaches a hairless visage is apt to be assigned to a clergyman clergy-man who shaves thus from a motive of propriety an actor who does it from necessity or somebody who aims at facial distinction without the features suitable to that purpose A countenance pU1o J or which ic can oiuy oe saw tnat it ace one nose one mouth and two eyes all placed in inexpressive nonentity and which is dominated utterly by hair on and around it may be less lost to individuality indi-viduality if entirely shaven Of Mich seemed the visage of the dark man who calmly rode into the excitement at Overlook Over-look Which way have you come Brain erd asked From Diuimersville was the reply Did you see anybody ou the way I started very early Folks were not out of their beds in the houses as long as there were any houses and that is only for five or six miles you know After that yes I did seo one man A cunou ly excited chap He looked tired out He asked the distance to Dimmers vie and whether the telegraph office would be open by the time he got there Then he shuttled on before Id half answered an-swered him swerel All that was known of the murder was told to the stranger by half a dozen glib tongues and it was explained to him that lie had encountered the maniacal fugitive S fugtve i I knew there was something wrong about him said the stranger It is1 i my business to be observant He dismounted and hitched his horse to a tree The dead body was shown to him He examined it very thoroughly All l the particulars were related to him over and over Then he drew Superintendent Superin-tendent Brainerd aside My puma is Terence OReagan he said and in his voice was faintly distinguishable dis-tinguishable the brogue of the land whence the OReagans came I am a government detective I have been sent to work up evidence in the case of some Italian counterfeiters We had a clew pointing t a subcon tracfor here the very man who lies there dead Our information in-formation was that he used some of the bogus bills in paying off his gang N wit w-it isnt going outside my mission to investigate in-vestigate Ids death if youdont Object1 I would be glad to have you take hold of it Braineid replied We cant bring the authorities here before noon at the earliest and in the meantime mean-time you can perhaps clear it all upTime up-Time eagerly curious men had crowded close to this brief dialogue and had heard the latter part of it OReagan i became instantly an important personage person-age upon whose smallest word or move I melt they hung expectantly and nobody I no-body showed a keener l interest than I Gerald Heath The detective first examined ex-amined the body The pockets of Ra vellis clothes contained a wallet with its money untouched besides a gold watch So robberj was not the object said OReagan to Brainerd ThE motive is the first thing to look for in a case of j murder Next he found blood on the waistcoat a great deal of it but dried by the fire that had burned the shoulders and head and in the baked cloth were three cuts under which ho exposed three stab I wounds Strokes of a knife had i j I seemed killed the victim before he Was j thrust partially into the furnace I A storm was coming to Overlook unperceived I un-perceived for the men were too much engrossed in what lay there on the ground ghastly and horrible to pay any I attention to the clouding sky Gloom was so fit for the scene too that nobody no-body gave a thought whence it came To Gerald Heath the going out of sun light and the settling down of dusky shadows seemed a mental experience of his own Ho stood bewildered tuins fixed vaguely conscious of peril and yet too numb to speak or stir Detective OReagan straightening up from overtime over-time body looked piercingly at Gerald and then glanced around at the rest Is there anybody here who saw Tonio Ravelli last night he asked I did Gerald replied Where and when At the same place where I met Eph and immediately afterward Ah now we are locating Eph and Ravelli together That looks like the lunatic being undoubtedly the stabber And we must catch him Brainerd interposed Ill send riders toward Dimmersville immediately No great hurry about that the detective de-tective remarked he is too crazy to have any clear motive or any idea of escape es-cape It will be easy enough to capture him himThen Then he turned to Gerald and questioned ques-tioned with the air of a crossexaminer Did the two men have any words together to-gether No was the ready answer I dont know that they even saw each other at that time Eph went away an instant before Ravelli came Did you talk with Ravel v < About < whatNot what-Not about Eph at all About what then Now the reply came reluctantly A I personal matter something that had oc S cured between usan incident at the telegraph station I The station where Eph awakened the girl operator Was it a quarrel about her That is no concern of yours lou are I i impertinent Well sir the question is pertinent as the lawyers say and the answer concerns con-cerns you whether it toe me or not You and Ravelli quarreled about the girl1The The young lady fihall not be dragged into this She wasnt responsible for what happened between Ravelli and me What did happen between you and Ravelli The two men stood dIose to and facing each other The eyes of the detective glared gloatingly at an upward angle into the pale but still firm face of tho taller Gerald and then dropped slowly until they became fixed on a red stain OH the sleeve of the others coat Did he possess the animal scent of a bloodhound What is that he sharply asked He seized the arm and smelt of the spotted fabric It is blood Let me see your knife Quite mechanically Gerald thrust one hand into his trousers pocket and brought out the knife which he had taken from Ravelli whose blood was on it yet The storm was overhead A first peal of thunder broke loudly It came at the instant when Geral Heath was aghast with the revelation of his awful jeopardy at the instant of his exposure as a murderer I impressed them and him with a shock of something supernatural The reverberation rumbled into silence which was broken by OReagan Therell be no need to catch Eph he said in a tone of professional glee This man is the murderer Again thunder rolled and rumbled angrily above Overlook and the party stood aghast in the presence of the man dead and the man condemned S Bring him to the telegraph station OReagan commanded Nobody disputed the detectives methods meth-ods nownot even Gerald and a prisoner prison-er as completely as though manacled although not touched by any one he went with the rest Mary Warriner had taken down the tarpaulin front of her shed when the men approached In the ordinary course of her early morning doings she would wait an hour to dispatch and receive the first telegrams of the day and then go to breakfast alone at the table where the engineers and overseers would by that time have hal their meal She was astonished as-tonished to see nearly the whole population popula-tion I of Overlook croud around IIPI quarter quar-ter while a few entered But she went quickly behind the desk and took her place on the stool The soberness of tho faces impressed her but nothing indicated indi-cated that Gerald was in custody and her quick thought was that some disaster dis-aster made it necessary to use the wire importantly I wish to send a message said OReagan stepping forward S The eyes of the girl rested on him in nuiringly and he palpfbly flinched but as obviously nerved himself to proceed and when he spoke again the Irish accent became more pronounced to hear although al-though not sufficiently to be shown in the printed words I will dictate it slowly so that you can transmit it as I seak Are you ready Marys fingers were on the key and her bright alert face was an answer to the query To Henry Deckerman president the detective slowly sail waiting for the clicks of the instrument to put his language lan-guage on the wire Tonio Ravelli a subcontractor here was murdered last night Marys hand slid away from time key after sending that and the always faint tnt in her cheeks faded out and her eyes flickered up in a scared way to the Btem faces in front of it The shock of tho news that a man had been slain and that he was a Jan who only the previous pre-vious day had proffered Ids l love to her was for a moment disabling But the habit of her employment controlled her and she awaited tho further dictation dicta-tion tionHis His body was found this morning in the furnace of tilts steam boiler ORea gan resumed deliberately where it had evidently been placed in a vain attempt at-tempt to destroy i i t A shudder went through Mary and she convulsively wrung her small hands together as though to limber them from a cramp But her fingers went back to the key The murderer has been discovered the detective slowly continued and the operator kept along with his utterance word by word He killed Ravelli for revenge It was a love affair Here the girl grew whiter still and the clicks became very slow but they did not case OReagans voice was cold and ruthless The motive of the murderer was revenue His name was Gerald Heath All but the name flashed off on the wire Mary Warriners power to stir the key stopped at that She did not taint t She did not make any outcry For a moment she looked as though the soul had gone out of her body leaving a corpse sitting there A grievous wail of gevcu wind came through the trees and a streak of lightning zigzagged down the blue clouded sky Go on said OReagan I will not was the determined response re-sponse Why not Because it is not so Gerald Heath never murdered Ravel Gerald had stood motionless and silent Now he gave way to an impulse as remarkable re-markable as his previous composure had been singular I there had been stagnation stag-nation in his mind it was now displaced by turbulence He grasped Marys hands in a fervid grip then dropped them and faced the others I did not Mil the Italian he said He attacked me with my knife which he had stolcwx fo the struggle his hand was cur out I took time weapon away from him He quitted me alive and unhurt un-hurt I never saw him again You dont believe it Mary does and that is More than all else The circumstances dont favor you the detective retorted they convict you You killed Ravelli because yon and he were both in love with this young ladyIsnt Isnt it the rejected suitor who kills the other one for spite This was in Mary Warriners voice weak but still steady Riivelli loved me I knew and I I drove him away Mr Heath loved me I believed and I had not repulsed him I I were the cau o of a murder between them it should be Ravelli who killed Gerald Iyou detested Ravelli OReagan aokol witha strange bitterness L S f Yes And you love Heath The answer was no more hesitant than before Yes Send the rest of my message and tho detective was boisterous Send the name Gerald Heath is the murderer I He roughly seized her hand and clapped clap-ped iton the key She drew it away leaving his there A blinding flash of lightning illuminated the place and i i what looked like a missile of fire flew I down the wire to the instrument where it exploded OReagan fell insensible I from the powerful electrical shock The rest did not and for altogether escape n minute all were dazed The first thing that they fully comprehended was that OReagan was getting unsteadily to his feet He was bewildered Staggering and reeling he began to talk i j Mary was first to perceive the import of his utterance He was merely going on with what ho hat been saying but the manner not the matter was astounding as-tounding I He spoke with an Italian accent and made Italian gestures I Youa send ze message he said Heath ees ze murderare Senda ze message I say j Tonio Ravelli had unwittingly re sumefl his Italian style of English 1 His plentitude of hair and whiskers was gone and in the f ic3 thereby uncovered uncov-ered nobody could have recognized him in Detective OReagan hut for his lapse into the foreign accent and he said so i much before discovering his blunder that his identification as indeed Ra velli was complete Who then was the dead man Why I he was Eph Nothing but the fear of being himself condemned as a murderer of the maniac I i as a part of the scheme of revenge against Gerald induced Ravel to explain He I had found Eph lying dead in the path after both had parted from Gerald The plot to exchange clothes with the corpse drag it to the furnace burn away all possibility of recognition and thus make it seem to be his murdered self was carried car-ried out with all the hot haste of a jealous j jeal-ous vengeance Ravelli was not an Italian I Ital-ian although very familiar with the Ian guage of Italy and able by a natural gift of mimicry to hide himself from pursuit I for a previous crime Overlook had been I until his for War a refuge unti passion aryYar riner led him to abandon his disguise Thereupon he had turned himself into I I rerence OReagan a detective whose malicious work wrought happiness for Gerald Heath and Mary Warriner I THE ED |
