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Show 3:'SrM;V ' S)y ANNA KMMAPJNE GBEENH ' ""V ;-l 'Ac J Author of "tiie lgavdnwobtii case" C f -n"5 A 2U;; V&tf&f?i'4M4 V'- A 'YlIC FILICRCC aAUTTliCUOUSC Of TlIEWfflSI'ERING WNES" VOA yy:y::i JO ILLUSTRATIONS JOY ) VrPiy ISW I CfffARLES.W. P0S5ER f yC, V I SYNOPSIS. Gooi'fio Amli-vson iiml wife soo n lv-niarkahlo lv-niarkahlo looking limn I'oni'' out of tin Oloiinont hotel, look nioninl furl Ively, wash bis hninls In thi' .snow ullil pass on. Commotion ullini'ts thi'ln to tin- t'lorinont. whiTO It Is founil Unit tin" hoautltul Miss Killth Chnlloiit-r hits fnllon iloiul. Ainhr-on Ainhr-on ilo.sii-ibo.s t lie nuin ho saw wash his .hands In tho snow. Tin- hotel nuinni;oi' (Volaros lllm to ho Orlando Urotherson. I'hysii'iuns Hint that. Miss (."hallonor was tahhoil niul not Hliot. wliloh seems to .clear lrotherson of suspicion. CHAPTER IV. Continued. , -What kind of a looking person Tns the man who took you outside last night?" I inquired of George, with my eyes still on this furtive watcher. "A fellow to make you laugh. A perfect character, ljuira; hideously homely but agreeable enough. 1 toot quite a fancy to him. "Why?" "I am looking at him now." '"Very likely, lie's deep in this affair. af-fair. Just an everyday detective, but ambitious,' I suppose, and quite alive to the importance of being thorough." thor-ough." "He is watching those people. No, he isn't. How quickly he disap point, at. least. You know tho victim? vic-tim? Her name, 1 mean, ami the character she bore?" "Yes; so much was told mo on my way down." "A line girl unspoiled by riches and seeming independence. Happy, too, to all appearance, or wo should bo more ready to consider the possibility possibil-ity of suicide." "Suicide by stabbing calls for a weapon. Yet none has been found, 1 hear." "None." "Yet she was killed that way?" "Undoubtedly, and by a long and very narrow blade, larger than a needle but not so large us tho ordinary or-dinary stiletto." "Stabbed while by herself, or what you may call by herself? She had no companion near her?" "None, if we can believe tho four members of the Parrisli family who were seated nt the other end of tho room." "And you do believe them?" "Would a whole family lie and needlessly?" "I suppose she lias been carefully quest ioneil ?" "Very, 1 should say." "And she speaks of no weapon?" "No. Neither she nor any olio else: at that moment suspected murder or even a violent, death. All thought it a natural one sudden, but the result, re-sult, of some secret disease." "lint the blood? Surely there must have been some show of blood?" "No one noticed any. Not till the doctor came her doctor, who was happily In his ollice in this very building. Ho saw the drops, and uttered ut-tered the, first suggestion of murder." "How long after was this? Is there any one who has ventured to make an estimate of tho nunihe:- of minutes min-utes which elapsed from the time she fell, to the moment when the doctor first raised the cry of murder?" "Yes. Mr. Slater, the assistant manager, who was In tho lobby, at the time, says that ten minutes at least must have elapsed." "Ten minutes and no blood! The weapon must still have been there. Some weapon with a short and Inconspicuous In-conspicuous handlo. I think they eye showed that she understood the importance, of the admission. - "I know," she saitl, "what you are going go-ing to ask me now. Did I rVel uny-llilng uny-llilng there but. tho flowers and the tulle? No, Mr. Gryee, I did not. There was no poniard in the wound." Mr. Cryeo felt around, found a chair and sank Into It. "You are a truthful woman," said he. "Anil,' ho added more slowly, "composed enough in character I should judge not to have made any mistake on this very vital point." "1 think so, Mr. Gryce. I was In a slate of excitement, of course; but the woman was a stranger to me, and my feelings were not unduly agitated." agi-tated." "Sweetwater, wo can let my suggestion sug-gestion go in regard to those ten minutes min-utes I spoke of. Tho time is narrowed nar-rowed down to one, and in that one, Miss Clarke was the only person to touch her." "Tho only one," echoed the lady, catching perhaps tho slight rising sound of query in his voice. "I will trouble you no further." So lie remarked. "A blush Is not much to go upon. I'm afraid we shall have to resort to the shadow business and that Is your work, not mine." Hut here the door opened and a hoy brought In a line which bad been left at the desk. It related to the very matter then engaging them, and ran thus: "I see that Information is desired as to whether any person was seen to stoop to the lobby floor last night at or shortly after the critical moment of Miss Challoner's fall in the half story above. I can give such information. infor-mation. I was In the lobby at the time, and in the height of the confusion following fol-lowing this alarming incident, I remember re-member seeing a lady one of the new arrivals (there were several corning corn-ing in at. the time) stoop quickly down and pick up something from the floor. I thought nothing of it at the time, and so paid little attention to her appearance. I can only recall the suddenness with which she stooped and the color of the cloak she wore. It was red, and the whole garment gar-ment was voluminous. If you wish further fur-ther particulars though in truth, I musingly, half deprecatlngly, remarked re-marked : "The person who stooped wora long red cloak. Probably you preceded pre-ceded your daughter, Mrs. Watklns." The lady thus brought to the point made a quick gesture towards the girl who suddenly stood still, and, with a rising color In her cheeks, answered, with some show of resolution on her own part: "You say your name is Gryce and that you have a right to address ma thus pointedly on a subject which you evidently regard as serious. That la not exact enough for me. Who are you, sir? What is your business?" "I think you have guessed it. I am a detective from headquarters. Perhaps Per-haps this young lady can tell ma what you cannot." "Caroline" Then the mother broke down. "Show the gentleman what you picked up from the lobby floor last night." The girl laughed again, loudly and with evident bravado, before she threw the cloak back and showed what she had evidently been holding in her hand from the first, a sharp- peared!" "Yes, he's mercurial In all his movements. Laura, we must get out of this. There happens to be something some-thing else in the world for me to do than to sit around and follow up murder mur-der clues." But we began to doubt if others agreed with him, when on passing out we were stopped in the lobby by this same detective, who had something some-thing to say to George, and drew him quickly aside. "What does he want?" I asked, as soon as George had returned to my side. "He wants me to stand ready to obey any summons the police may eenc me." "Then they still suspect Brother-eon?" Brother-eon?" "They must." As we stepped out of the hotel Ceorge gave mT arm a quiet pinch which served to direct my attention to. an elderlv gentleman who was just "She fell just a few feet from the desk where she had been writing. No word, no cry, just a collapse and sudden fall. She never looked up or spoke again. What do you make of it, Gryce?" "It's a tough one, and I'm not ready to venture an opinion yet. I should like to see the desk you speak of, and the spot where she fell." A young fellow who had been hovering hover-ing in the background at once stepped forward. He was the plain-faced detective de-tective who bad spoken to George. "Will you take my arm, sir?" Mr. Gryce's whole face brightened. This Sweetwater, as they called him, was, I have since understood, one of his proteges and more or less of a favorite. "Have you had a chance at this thing?" he asked. "Yes, sir; they were good enough to allow it." "Very well, then, you're in a posi- said there wero llowers over anu around tho placo where it struck?" "Y'es, great big scarlet ones." "Ten minutes! I must see every one who approached jer during those ten minutes. Every one, Sweetwater, and I must myself talk with Miss Clarke." "You will believo overy word she says." "No doubt. All the more reason why T must see her. Sweetwater, someone drew that weapon out. The question is who? Wo must leave no stone unturned to find that out." "Where will you sec Miss Clarke?" "Wherever she pleases only I can't walk far." "I think I know the place. Y'ou shall have the use of this elevator. It has not been running since last night or it would be full of curious people all the time, hustling to get a glimpse of this place. But they'll put a man on for you." "Very good; manage It as you will. - , have no more to give, you can find me In room 350. "HENRY A. M'ELItOY." "Humph! This should simplify our ..task," was Mr. Gryce's comment, as he handed the note over to Sweetwater. Sweetwa-ter. "You can easily find out if the lady, now on the point of departure, can be identified with the one described de-scribed by Mr. McElroy. If she can, I am ready to meet her anywhere." And so it happened that just as Mrs. Watkins was watching the wheeling out of her trunks, there appeared in the doorway before her, an elderly gentleman, whose expression, always benevolent, save at moments when benevolence would be quite out of keeping with the situation, had for some reason, so marked an effect upon up-on her, that she colored under his eye, and, indeed, showed such embarrassment, embarrass-ment, that all doubt of the propriety of his intrusion, vanished from the old man's mind, and with the ease of one only too well accustomed to such poinueu, goiu-nanaiea paper-cuiier. "It was lying there and I picked It up. I don't see any harm in that." "You probably meant none. You couldn't have known the part it had just played in this tragic drama," said the old detective, looking carefully careful-ly at the cutter which he had taken In his hand. "You have' washed this?" he asked. " "No. Why should I wash it? It was clean enough. I was just going down to give it in at the desk." And she turned aside to the window and began to hum, as though done with the whole matter. The old detective rubbed his chin, glanced again at the paper-cutter, then at the girl in the window, and lastly at the mother, who had lifted her head again and. was facing him bravely. "It is very important," he observed to the latter, "that your daughter should be correct in her statement as to the condition of this article when sue picKeu n up. Are you sure sue did not wash it?" "I don't think she did. But I'm sura she will tell you the truth about that. Caroline, this is a police matter. Any mistake about it may involve us in a world of trouble and keep you from getting back home in time for your coming-out party. Did you did you wash this cutter when you got upstairs, up-stairs, or or " she added, with a propitiatory glance at Mr. Gryce "wipe it off at any time between then and now? Be sure." "Mother, how can I tell what I did?" flashed out the girl, wheeling round on her heel till she faced them booth. "Such a lot of talk about a paltry thing which couldn't have cost tea . dollars." And she wheeled back. "It isn't the value." Mr. Gryca could be very patient. "It's the fact that we believe it to have been answerable an-swerable for Miss Challoner's death that is, if there was any blood on it when you picked it up." "Blood!" The girl was facing them again, astonishment struggling with disgust on her plain but mobile features. fea-tures. "Blood! is that what you mean? Take it away," she cried. "Blood!" tlihting from a taxicab at the kerb. He moved heavily and with some ap-t ap-t pearance of pain, but from the crowd collected on the sidewalk, many of whom nudged each other as he pass--ed, he was evidently a person of tome importance, and as he disappeared disap-peared within the hotel entrance, I Esked George who this kind-faced, fcright-eyed old gentleman could be. He appeared to know, for he told rae at once that he was Detective Gryce; a man who had grown old in Eolving just such baffling problems as these. That night I bided George's coming with an impatience I could not control.' con-trol.' He was late, of course, but when he did appear, I almost forgot cur usual greeting in my hurry to ask him if he had seen the evening papers. pa-pers. "No," he grumbled, as he hung up his overcoat. "Been pushed about all day. No time for anything." "Then let me tell you" But he would have dinner first. However, a little later we had a comfortable chat. Mr. Gryce had made v a discovery, and the papers were full of it. The, opinion had become quite general gen-eral with those hest acauainted with tion to pioneer me. You ve seen it all and won't be in a hurry." "No; I'm at the end of my rope. I haven't an idea, sjr." "Well, well, that's honest at all events." Then, as he slowly rose with the other's .careful assistance, "There's no crime without its clue. The thing is to recognize that clue when seen. But I'm in no position to make promises." The mezzanine was guarded from all visitors save such as had official sanction. Consequently, the two remained re-mained quite uninterrupted while they moved about the place in quiet consultation. The locale was what Gryce wanted, and he got it. Whether Wheth-er he got anything else it would be impossible to say from his manner as he finally sank into a chair by one of the openings, and looked down on the lobby below. It was full of people coming and going on all sorts of business, bus-iness, and presently he drew back, and, leaning on Sweetwater's arm, asked him a few questions. "Who were the first to rush in here after the Parrishers gave the, alarm?" '"One or two of the musicians from the end of the hall. They had just finished their program and were pre- in wan nere uu j ou re reauy. in not trouble her much. But there is one point she must make clear to me." Sweetwater did not presume to ask what point, but he hoped" to be fully enlightened when the time came. And he was. Mr. Gryce had undertaken under-taken to educate him for this work and never missed the opportunity of giving him a lesson. The three met in a private sitting-room on an upper floor, the detectives entering first and the lady coming in soon after. Miss Clarke was not a woman to rouse an unfavorable opinion in any man's mind. Of slight, almost frail build, she had that peculiar animation anima-tion which goes with a speaking eye and a widely sympathetic nature. Without any substantial claims to beauty, her expression was so womanly wom-anly and so sweet that she was invariably in-variably called lovely. Mr. Gryce was engaged at the moment mo-ment in shifting his cane from the right hand to the left, but his manner man-ner was never more encouraging or his smile more benevolent. "Pardon me," he apologized, with one of his old-fashioned bows. "I'm sorry to trouble you after all the distress dis-tress you must have been under this "You Are a Truthful Woman," He Said. said the old detective, thoughtfully. "Sweetwater, help me out of this." "But one possibility remains," he confided to Sweetwater, as they stood waiting at the elevator door. "Miss Challoner died from a stab. What follows? She struck'the blow herself, and the strength of purpose which led her to do this, gave her the additional addi-tional force to pull the weapon out and fling it from her. It did not fall upon the floor around her; therefore, it flew through one of those openings open-ings into the lobby, and there it either will be, or has been found." CHAPTER V. The Red Cloak. "What results? Speak up, Sweetwater." Sweet-water." "None. Every man, woman and boy connected with the hotel has been questioned, but not one of them picked pick-ed up anything from the floor of the lobby, or knows of any one whodid." A bulletin was put up. Some hours later, Sweetwater reentered re-entered the room, and, approaching Mr flrvr.e with a Kmile hlurted out: scenes, he kindly remarked: "Am I speaking to Mrs. Watkins of Nashville?" "You are," she faltered, with another anoth-er rapid change of color. "I I am just leaving. I hope you will excuse me. I " "I wish I could," he smiled, hobbling in and confronting her quietly in her own room. "But circumstances make it quite imperative that I should have a few words with you on a topic which need not be disagreeable to you, and probably will not be. My name is Gryce. A beautiful and charming young woman died here last night. May I ask if you knew her?" "1? I never saw the young lady. Why do you ask? I do not recognize your right. I I " Mr. Gryce made one of his low bows and propping himself against the table he stood before, remarked civilly: "I had rather not force my rights. I thought perhaps you could tell me something which would aid me in my effort to elicit the real facts of the case. You were crossing the lobby at the time " "Yes." She raised her head. "So were a dozen others " "ATnHnm" rhp in tprrn nt inn w-n . gft - the details of this affair, that the mystery was one of those abnormal ones for which no solution would ever be found, when the aged detective showed himself in the' building and vat' taken to the room, where an inspector in-spector of police awaited him. "This is very good of you," the inspector in-spector began, glancing down at the iged detective's bundled up legs, and gently pushing a chair towards him. The elderly man thus addressed glanced down at his legs, now propped up on a stool which someone had brought him, and smiled, with the pathos of the old who sees the interests inter-ests of a lifetime slipping gradually away. "I am not what I was. I can no longer get down on my hands and knees to pick up threads from the nap of a rug, or' spy out a spot of blood tn the crimson woof of a carpet." "Y'ou shall have Sweetwater here to do the active work for you. What we want of you is the directing mind wish especially to ask you in regard to the dreadful occurrence in which you played so kind a part. You were the first to reach the prostrate woman, wom-an, I believe." "Y'es. The boys jumped up and ran towards her, but they were frightened fright-ened by her lo'oks and left it for me to put my hands under and try to life her up." "Did you manage it?" "I succeeded in getting her head into my lap, nothing more." "And sat so?" "For some little time." "You knew she was dead, then?" "I felt her to be so." "How felt?", "I was sure I never questioned it." "You have seen women in a faint?" "Yes, many times." "What made the difference? Why should you believe Miss Challoner dead simply because she lay still and apparently lifeless?' "I cannot tell you Possiblv. death "The bulletin is a great go. I've watched every one who stopped to read it. Many showed interest and many emotion; she seems to have a troop of friends. But embarrassment! embarrass-ment! only one showed that." "Embarrassment? Humph! a man?" "No, a woman; a lady, sir; one of the transients." "A woman! Where is she? Still in the lobby?" "No, sir. She took the elevator while 1 was talking with the clerk." "Y'ou mistook her expression." "I don't thing so. I had noticed her when she first came into the lobby. She was talking to her daughter who was with her, and looked natural and happy. But no sooner had she seen and read that bulletin, than the blood shot up into her face and her manner became furtive and hasty. Almost before be-fore I could point her out, she had seized her daughter by the arm and hurried her towards the elevator. Her room Is on the seventh floor, number made in his kindliest tones, but in a way which nevertheless suggested authority. au-thority. "Something was picked up from the floor at that moment. Am 1 not correct? Didn't you see a certain person I will mention no names stoop and pick up something from the lobby floor?" "No." The word came out with startling violence. But her lips quivered, quiv-ered, and her cheeks were white, too white now for simple indignation. "Then I have made a big mistake," apologized the ever-courteous detective. detect-ive. "Will you pardon me? It would have settled a very serious question i it could be found that the object thus picked up was the weapon which killed Miss Challoner. That is my excuse ex-cuse for the trouble I have given you." The door burst open, and a young-girl young-girl bounded into the room, with the merry cry: "All ready, mother. I'm glad we are going to the Clarendon. I hate hotels ho-tels where people die almost before -fciM : "Blood!" She Reiterated With Horror, Flinging Herself Into Her Mother's Arms. she repeated in horror, flinging herself her-self into her mother's arms. Mr. Gryce thought he understood the situation. Here was a little kleptomaniac klep-tomaniac whose weakness the mother was struggling to hide. (TO BE CONTINUED.) the infallible instinct. It's a case In a thousand, Gryce. It will make you young again." The old man's eyes shot fire and unconsciously one foot slipped to the floor. Then he bethought himself and painfully lifted it baek again. "What are the points? What's the difficulty?" he asked. "A womw! has been shot " "No, not shot, stabbed. We thought ehe had been shot, for that was intelligible intel-ligible and involved tto impossibilities. impossibil-ities. ' Rut Drs. Heath and Webster, .under tfie eye of the Challoners' own physician, have made an examination of the wound and they declare that .no bullet is to be found In the bodv. fcs .tl-.t; wound extends no further thf.n I' .- heart, this W.ftles one great He Was Evidently a Person of Some Importance. paring to leave the gallery. Naturally Natural-ly they reached her first." "And who followed them? Who came next on the scene?" "Some people from the lobby. They heard the disturbance and rushed up pell-mell. But not one of these touched touch-ed her. Later her father came." "Who did touch her? Anybody, before the father came in?" "Yes; Miss Clarke, the middle-aged middle-aged lady witli the Parrishes. She had run towaids Miss Challoner as soon as she heard her fall, and was sitting there with the dead girl's head in her lap when the musicians showed hemselves." tells its own story. only know how I felt." "Perhaps there w..i3 another reason? rea-son? Perhaps, that, consciously or unconsciously, you laid your palm upon her heart?" Miss Clarke started, and her sweet face Bhowed a moment's perplexity. "Did I?" she queried, musingly. Then with a sudden iccess of feeling, "I may have done so, indeed, I believe be-lieve I did. My arms were around her; it would not have been an unnatural un-natural action." "No; a very natural one, I should say. Cannot you tell me positively whether you did this or not?" "Yes, I did. I had forgotten it, but I remember now." And the glance she cast him while not meeting his 712, and her name is Watkins. Mrs. Horace Watkins of Nashville." "Call the desk. Say that I'm to be told if Mrs. Watkins of Nashville rings up during the next ten minutes. min-utes. We'll give her that long to take some action." Sweetwater did as he 'was bid, then went back to his place In the lobby. But he returned almost Instantly. "Mrs. Watkins has just telephoned down that she Is going to to leave, sir." "To leave?" The old man struggled to his feet. "No. 712, do you say? Seven stories," he sighed. But as he turned with a hobble, he stopped. "There are difficulties dif-ficulties In tho way of this Interview," your eyes." The cloak which enveloped the girl was red, and full enough to be called voluminous. "Who is this?" demanded the girl, her indignant glances flashing from one to the other. "I don't know," faltered the mother in very evident distress. "He says he has a right to ask us questions and he has been asking questions about about " "Not about me," laughed the girl, with a toss of her head. "He can have nothing to say about me." -ind she began to move about the rom in an aimless, half-insolent way. Mr. Gryce stared hard at the few remaining re-maining belongings of the two women, lying in a heap on the table, and half |