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Show SYNOPSIS. Lawrence Blakeley, lawyer, goes to Pittsburg with the forged notes in the Bronson case to get the; deposition of John Gilmore, millionaire, A lady requests re-quests Blakeley to buy her a Pullman ticket. He gives her lower 11 and retains re-tains lower 10. He finds a drunken man In lower 10 and retires in lower 6. He awakens in lower V and finds his clothes and bag missing. The man In lower 10 is found murdered. Circumstantial Cir-cumstantial evidence points to both Blakeley and the man who stole his clothes. The train is wrecked and Blakeley Blake-ley is rescued from a burning car by a girl in blue. His arm is broken. The girl proves to be Alison West, his partner's sweetheart. Blakeley returns home and finds he is under surveillance. Moving pictures of the train taken Just before the wreck reveal to Blakeley a man leaping leap-ing from the train with his stolen grip. Investigation proves that the man's name is Sullivan. Mrs, Conway, the woman for whom Blakeley bought a Pullman ticket, tries to make a bargain with him for the forged notes, not knowing that they are missing. Blakeley and an amateur detective de-tective investigate the home of Sullivan's sister. From a Bervant Blakeley learns that Alison West had been there on a visit and Sullivan had been attentive to her. Sullivan Is the husband of a daughter daugh-ter of the murdered man. Blakelev's house is ransacked by the police. He learns that the affair between Alison and his partner Is off. Alison tells Blakelev about the attention paid her by Sullivan CHAPTER XXVIII. Continued. "Married!" she said finally, in a small voice. "Why, I don't think it is possible, is it? I -I was on my way to Baltimore to marry him myself, when the wreck came." "But you said you don't care for him!" I protested, my heavy masculine mascu-line mind unable to jump the .gaps in her story. And then, without the slightest warning, I realized that she was crying. She shook off my hand and fumbled for her handkerchief, and failing to find it, she accepted the one I thrust into her wet fingers. Then, little by little, she told me from the handkerchief, a sordid story of a motor trip in the mountains without with-out Mrs. Curtis, of a lost road and a broken car, and a rainy night when they she and Sullivan, tramped eternally eter-nally and did not get home. And of TUrs. Curtis, when they got home at dawn, suddenly grown conventional and deeply shocked. Of her own proud, half-disdainful consent to make possible the hackneyed compromising com-promising situation by marrying the rascal, and then of his disappearance from the train. It was so terrible to her, such a Heaven-sent relief to me, in spite of my rage against Sullivan, that I laughed aloud. At which she looked at me over the handkerchief. "I know it's funny," she said, with a catch in her breath. "When I think that I nearly married a murderer and didn't I cry for sheer joy." Then she buried her face and cried again. "Please don't," I protested unsteadily. unstead-ily. "I won't be responsible if you keep on crying like that. I may forget for-get that I have a capital charge hanging hang-ing over my head, and that I may be arrested at any moment." That brought her out of the handkerchief hand-kerchief at once. "I meant to be so helpful," she said, "and I've thought of nothing but myself! There were some things I meant to tell you. If Jennie was what you say, then I understand un-derstand why she came to me just before be-fore I left. She had been packing my things and she must have seen what condition I was in, for she came over to me when I was getting my wraps on, to leave, and said, 'Don't do it, Miss West, I beg you won't do it; you'll be sorry ever after.' And just then Mrs. Curtis came in and Jennie slipped out." "That was all? "No. As we went through the station sta-tion the telegraph operator gave Har Mr. Sullivan, a message. He read it on the platform, and it excited him terribly. He took his sister aside and they talked together. He was white with either fear or anger I don't know which. Then, when we boarded the train, a woman in black, with beautiful hair, who was standing on the car platform, touched him on the arm and then drew back. He looked at her and glanced away again, but she reeled as if lie had struck her." "Then what?" The situation was growing clearer. "Mrs. Curtis and I had the drawing-room. drawing-room. I had a dreadful night, just sleeping a little now and then. I saw his c'garctt? case in your hand. I had given it to him. You wore his clothes. The murder was discovered and you were accused of it! What could I do? And then, afterward, when 1 saw him asleep at the farmhouse. farm-house. I I was panic-stricken. I locked him in and ran. 1 didn't kaow why he did it. but he had killed a man." t'ome one was calling Alison through a megaphone, from the veranda, veran-da, it sounded like tfam. "All-ee," he called. "All-ee! I'm going to have some anchovies on toast! All-ee!" Neither of us heard. "I wonder," I reflected, "if you would be willing to repeat a part of that story just from the telegram on to a couple of detectives, say on Monday. If you would tell that, and how the end of your necklace got into the sealskin bag " "My necklace!" she repeated. "But it Isn't mine. I picked it up in the car." "All-ee!" Sam again. "I see you down there. I'm making a julep!" |