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Show 1 s --By BEN AMES WILLIAMS to, -J The young man had returned unseen, un-seen, and he said in the tone of one conveying an order that must be obeyed: "My mother wants a word with you gentlemen. Please follow me." Without the slightest hesitation. Tope moved briskly after Rab. Heale almost reluctantly followed him, but Asa stayed behind. When Tope and Inspector Heale followed Rab into the house where lamps were burning to replace the now useless electric lights, there was stir and movement behind the closed doors of the dining-room In which Denman Hurder still lay unconscious un-conscious and near death; and the parlor doors likewise were closed. But Mrs. Bowdon and Mrs. Taine waited for them in the sitting-room; which like rats the little flames still played. And all about, in a thin circle, cir-cle, curious folk were standing by. Clint pulled up beside the road, and Inspector Heale saw their arrival and came across to meet them. "That you, Tope?" he asked. "Young Jervies with you? Where's the girl?" He was peering into the car. Inspector Tope said: "Mrs. Tope put her to bed. . She was tired out. Clint here can tell you all there is to tell." Heale nodded. "You spotted the fire, didn't you, Jervies?" he asked. So Clint told his story, briefly, the Inspector listening without interruption in-terruption till the young man was done. Then Inspector Heale began to question him; and Tope left them together and walked over toward the fire. There wpre iwn n thn Tope watched Rab intently. bet the young man exclaimed. Kill? For heaven's sake, why should anyone-" He stared from one to another. "Why should anyone any-one do that?" he demanded. "Same reason someone killed Mrs. Leaford," said Heale implacably; implaca-bly; and Rab cried: "Aunt Kitty? Why, she took an overdose" But Heale said grimly: "Oh, she was killed, all right." There was something like a harsh triumphant relish in his words. "Murdered, Taine! And so were these old folks tonight. A- Mrs. Hurder, anyway. Mr. Hurder may get well." "For heaven's sake," Rab protested, pro-tested, "if you thought that about Aunt Kitty, why haven't you done something before now? Why haven't you said so before? Vou might have pEBj0nti"Ued J , . Tked: "Why didn't 3 Hurder wake uP. I fi "suggested: "Smoke got vbe " J;id' "They slept pretty "1 ally. And Aunt Evie me warm milk when i to bed." Her voice for i a dry. as though it ;aV Sbe repeated: "They '.'Led at Miss Moss; and , 53 .wkwardly: "About o .Mn Hurder. How-what ;' 'sink'" , fere unconscious," Clint o 4 "The firemen got a pul-v pul-v Doctor Cabler was there. I j ait to hear. I brought June prevented this tonight!" Inspector Heale confessed: "I figured fig-ured there'd be a better chance of finding out" "Blast it!" Rab cried. "You've fiddled around with your figuring; and now You're as bad as" But Asa interposed reasonably: "Steady, Rab. I guess Inspector Heale used his best judgment. After all, he couldn't be sure Kitty was poisoned. Maybe her heart cracked, let go." He added: "And this tonight may have been an accident You can't scores of people here, roused by the alarm or wakened by the glare of the flames against the rainy sky, and come to watch the conflagration conflagra-tion to its end. Tope moved among them quietly, listening to the fragmentary frag-mentary conversations here and there. Then he saw Asa Taine, In the shadows by the old barn, talking to someone Lissa Thayer. Her countenance was in darkness, since Asa stood between her and the and Mrs. Bowdon was in a chair that faced the door by which they entered. Tope had an impression of mass, of a white mass that would not easily be moved. Her hair was white; so was her cheek; so was the shapeless dressing gown she wore. She sat in a ponderous immobility which had nevertheless a suggestion sugges-tion of power held in restraint; and her eyes were alive and hard and cold. Mrs. Taine, on the other hand, met them at the door. This was a spare, thin woman; her thin hair ihss aid: "I'm glad you L Miss Leaford, I'm go-tit go-tit you to bed in our spare fdint, you will stay here to-j-rotested: "Oh, I don't want Ibed." tips reflected: "Funny tht department took so long to I- He asked Clint: "Mrs. Irany of them surprised to f'Jiere? Surprised to see June dressed?" Ldded, with a smile at June. ' I of fact, we had quite a L admitted. "June and I I and Mrs. Hurder out of the then Mrs. Taine got there, lid if they were dead, and I Low. So she knelt down to Jem and then Asa came land she told us to carry :o the Bowdon house. We I about that time the firemen Ee, and I went outside again Ik June with me." 1'iers were listening intent-I intent-I Miss Moss watched the girl led her. "But Mrs. Taine Lt after us," he explained, lad on a new dress that Asa la her, and Mrs. Taine didn't leaf that She wanted to know la wasn't in bed and asleep, fclwas, and about this dress le bad burned her hand, and I that upset her, but she was Japleasant, and I got good tJj the told June to go into I don house and take off that Ind o to bed, and I got up ear. I told her June was I home with me." I lifted her head; and Clint lr close. "Mrs. Taine trfought pzy," he said. "But June lp foL herself." lid her 1 never would live bin," the girl cried, "in a I passion of grief and woe. can't go back. Everl It was l always, there." I Moss came quickly to her IJiow that's enough for to-I to-I the decided. "I'm going to l to bed, child. Come." I no," June protested. "I II don't want to be alone." inspector said soberly: "The ief figures the fire was set. Ploded in the cellar." Miss aided; and Tope exploded in wath: "I told Heale, days it when a man starts killing, ' to on." uehed his hand, comforting id he asked: "What do you esitated. "If RaD Taine was Wwe, and Asa and Mrs. a"d Mrs. Bowdon were to-ton to-ton only Mr. Taine was tell." Inspector Heale asked Asa: "Where were you, tonight?" Asa looked at him slowly, then grinned. "You cross-examined me once before, Inspector," he remarked, re-marked, In a dry amusement. "Tonight? "To-night? I was asleep on the couch in the dining-room next door." He nodded nod-ded toward the Bowdon house. "Asleep, eh?" "Till Mother woke me, yes." "Where was she?" "With Grandma Bowdon." "Dressed, were you?" "Shoes off, and coat," Asa answered. an-swered. Rab interrupted: "Asa, you said they questioned you before? Vou knew what they thought about Aunt Kitty?" "They told me, yes," Asa explained. ex-plained. Rab cried: "Then why didn't you tell us?" But Tope, In the background, suggested sug-gested mildly: "I hear you were in Providence tonight, Mr. Taine." Rab stared at him almost truculently. trucu-lently. "What of it?" he demanded demand-ed and turned away. "Do you mind my questions, Asa?," Tope asked. "No," Asa assured him. "Anything "Any-thing you like." "Mrs. Leaford leave a will?" "No." "Mr. Bowdon? Mr. Hurder?" "Yes, of course." "What were the terms?" Asa looked at him thoughtfully; and he glanced at Inspector Heale. He said: "I'll tell you anything I can, but I can't help you on that. My father drew the wills. You'll have to ask him." "Where is he?" Inspector Heale demanded. "Where was he tonight?" to-night?" Asa smiled faintly. "He went to sleep in a kitchen chair after supper," sup-per," he explained. "Mother found him still asleep there when she went to telephone Rab." "Asleep through all this hullabaloo?" hullaba-loo?" "He's stone deaf, you know." Tope asked gently: "Taine, if one of the connections didn't do this, who did? Anyone live around here who might? Jim Glovere, or the Thayers?" He saw Asa taut and stiff, like a fencer on guard; but before he could reply, Rab spoke at Tope's elbow. was Diactt; ner cneeit was saiiow; her lips were thin. She spoke in a soft sibilance, in keen syllables that suggested the slicing stroke of razor-blades. "I sent for you gentlemen," she told them simply. "My son tells me you are circulating the suggestion sugges-tion that Mrs. Leaford's death, and the tragedy tonight, were not accident acci-dent but design. I will not permit such nonsense. If such rumors become be-come current, I shall know whom to blame, and I will hold you both responsible. Let the talk end here and now. I bid you good day." Inspector Tope waited for Inspector Inspec-tor Heale to speak. Rab exclaimed, ex-claimed, in a restrained anger: "You heard her, gentlemen. That is all." And when Heale still was silent, Mrs. Bowdon said, without moving her lips: "Outrageous. Impudent audacity. Clowns." "One thing more," Mrs. Taine remembered. re-membered. "Mr. Clinton Jervies took June Leaford away with him, against my express wish. She must be back here in the morning. We take care of our own, we Kene-saws; Kene-saws; we ask no favors anywhere. See to it that this is done, or I shall know what steps to take." Heale remained mute; but Tope suggested gently: "How old is Miss Leaford, ma'am?" Mrs. Taine looked at him. Most people were somewhat melted by Tope's mild kindliness, but she was not. "She is of age, yes," she said calmly. "But that is immaterial She is an inexperienced child, quite incompetent to decide things for herself. Kitty Leaford was no fit mother for her, but I have done my duty by June, and will continue to. But Inspector Heale found his tongue at last, forgetting his awe of these two women in remembrance remem-brance of his duty and his rights. "Now, wait a minute," he insisted. "You folks on the Hill have gone your own gait in a lot of things; but this looks like murder to me, and it's my duty to check up on it. Some questions I want to ask you. I know you're feeling pretty bad right now, so if you want to wait till morning" Mrs. Bowdon said heavily: "There is nothing I can tell you. My husband hus-band lies dead in the house. I wish tc be alone." (TO BE COXTIM'ED) "This was a spare, thin woman." fire, so Tope could not see her expression; ex-pression; but he saw Asa bend nearer near-er her, his arms encircling her in a swift embrace, his face close to hers. Then someone called Tope's name, and the old man saw Lissa slip away into the darkness as Heale and Clint came to his side. At the same time Asa recognized Clint, and he approached them. "Hullo, Jervies," he said, in a friendly tone. "What have you done with June?" Heale and Tope were a little to one side. "I took her home," Clint explained. ex-plained. "I thought she ought to get away from here." Asa nodded approvingly. "It's been hard on her here, even before tonight," he assented. "But if you don't bring her back, you'll have a hornets' nest around your head. They won't let her get away." He grinned encouragingly. "Stick to her, Jervies. Hang on to her. Don't let them scare you." "I'm keeping June," Clint tola him stoutly. He spoke to Tope, uneasily. un-easily. "I'm pretty tired," he said. "I'll go home, if you don't mind. Be with them there." Tope nodded; and Asa turned and saw the Inspector. "Hullo!" he ex: claimed in surprise. "Inspector Tope, eh?" He looked past Tope at Heale, a swift conjecture in his eyes. found Taine asleep in a P ie kitchen of his house." 'I asked Heale. But Glo- missing." Joted at him curiously. he repeated. "But Miss a'd they saw Mr. Taine "the light!" "id they saw the light go corrected. "Mrs. Taine "flits went out in the Bow-''oo. Bow-''oo. But anyway, Taine !P u,e chair when they Or pretended to be." k? f,onsiTod. "I should she reflected, "why 1 ent out?" WW me once that the three .1 0n 011e meter," Tope wed from the Hurder 08 e might have shorted s' or melted them." J7.did the current go Jy!ne h0e before the rted.h insisted. "And "J the fire? And why did J And why was the vZt m """Werin'g ihAjdhow did Mrs. Taine nder. "I don't know fie Protested. "Wish I edendf' ,Tiling fainlly- "ru Miss Leaford," she , whUe you find out the CHAPTER XI tl? arr'ved at Kene-id Kene-id i? Jur in morn-usi morn-usi , se 'J collapsed oi timbers throi-gh Clint departed, and a nreman joined them. Water dripped from the rim of his white helmet, and his rubber coat was glistening. He said to Inspector Heale: "We can't do a thing for hours yet Too hot." Asa demanded: "Do what? What do you mean?" Inspector Heale hesitated. "This is Chief Mason, Tope," he explained; ex-plained; and then to Asa: "Why, Mr. Taine, we think this fire was set." "Set?" Asa was rigid. Tope, waiching him. thought the man used an effort to control his voice. "Why?" 'To kill Mr. and Mrs. Hurder, said Inspector Heale harshly. For a long moment there was silence. si-lence. Chief Mason moved away, back to the fire. Asa stood thoughtful thought-ful with bowed head. Then his eyes shifted, and he looked past Inspector Inspec-tor Heale, and called in a low tone: "Rab!" Inspector Tope swung around in time to see Rab Taine coming toward to-ward them from the direction of the old barn. "Hullo," he said in a level monotone. mono-tone. "What's the matter, .Asa?" And Asa told his brother: "This is Inspector Heale. He thinks the fire was set. to kill Grandma and Grandpa HurdT." |