Show oni ile arv t 26 11 as CHAPTER XI continued IS 10 where oh where had I 1 heard hint flint click bafo before re last night la in that ahmo a a me room could it have been that mechanism or of the shaft and the lever which I 1 confused with a hammer bummer and it ft trigger I 1 cati caught glit charles macs blue ivors eye he ha was wall glancing nt at me trl um chantly ph antly iiii he read my iny thought in I 1 glanced nt at julia and mile elie was looking at me imploringly us its if to beg me not to misjudge tier though that instrument must hove have been in tier lier hand before she emerged enier ged from tile shadows snatched tip ap to de belve tile the intruder who she lid did not know was her cousin yet I 1 hardly noticed elther cither of at them that strange click was beating 0 a my brain its source that small brass box had find been in darrows Darro wB I 1 hal had heard that click before not onte ont e but often I 1 I 1 had heard it at 1040 that fateful Alon flay previous when tile the shipping UP rang in and algo again ln ten minute later inter at 70 20 thursday 1 evening also nt at lo 10 click which I 1 now knew wits was not tile lie alme chovit similar though it tind had sounded all in one stunned minute these facts led across my mind then mr air almy spoke lie wits was working tile ho tint lilt screw on the top of the lox tip and don and at intervals liping the trigger lie ho tapped the screw this jsn Is it depth gauge re it regu lattes the depth which flibbe knives cut they can ninke a deep incision or a slight blight Bc ratch as ailred i sixteen n of t pern om ell eh and nil all grouped toge together it jer this Is a beautiful little anstrum instrument ell t julia shivered t paris elgh eighteen teen rond rend almy slowly deciphering sonic somi tiny letters along one lie edge bilge of tile the hux box which lie he turned to the light this instrument Is eyl evidently dently used for tying hancl aorl belongs to the anys of bloodletting your grent great grand gran d fathers fa therb wila was it 1 cesi its a spring lancet 11 now how lid did it pet get into harrows darrows so so that you should have love to go buck back paying no attention to the file delIn ledill nt tone alsa fuller what were r you doing dolar with this lancel innest in fri your desk it nover never wits was in my desk 1 1 I protested hut but you say you saw mr air bt at your desk thursday night and he says bays he went to darrows Darr owai tu to get ills pang itneyer it nevelt never wits was in tile the desk I 1 repeated firmly 4 1 but it was was under the desk when I 1 sal down there ire to fork vork early chilt hat evening I 1 palled my chair far in n ib b slit settle d e down if 11 was waa thel first ime in I 1 three I 1 iree days I 1 and been able to do so without t rear fear of interruption since monday I 1 had merely snatched a few minutes there its as I 1 was able con scantly slant ly rising to look up references or find int well as I 1 pulled roy MY chair in thit tant time I 1 distinctly heard this very click sly aly foot must have touched the lie hammer of the lancet it must have been under the desk set I 1 julia begun began to tremble violently her cousin said with triumph there I 1 youva given yourself away 1 I cant protect you any longer I 1 saw you in harrows darrows monday morn ing julla julia in tho lit history story alcove I 1 saw grandfather in the medical alcove in front of you I 1 was lu lia the narrow left litins nisle aisle under the hie gallery I 1 want to see what might happen if you two met inet in that bookshop so I 1 helped you again by clearing out what time were you there demanded julia ten I 1 left within five minutes of entering tile lie shop and went straight to my spanish tesson lesson remain ing there until twelve no douht doubt you know grandfather was last seen conscious at twenty minutes of eleven anil and I 1 call YOU yon up parly thursday io fo ask how you were yes raid and to ak questions that showed me you maybe I 1 had find grasped tile the fuel fact that you and grandfather holh both wanted that book I 1 had rend read him about tho th week before returned julla scornfully that was the first time you suggested tug mayhe maybe I 1 had been after it in farrows darrows that I 1 hurt had iti it was tit in that time chillies chades con tinned that you told me where the wasl I 1 went and got it for you ym asking not one stogie single question ive also offered yon assistance in return yon too try to get me in tind with the police to direct from fl vant do you menn T ro district distro ct the atten thin feirn file fact that you yon sent mp to yet get this deadly heallon from darrow front its biding place which chic it was known to yon you yon suggest that flint ive been trying to som something ihling that Is no property tit of yours it if miss puller sprang it with tier her foot it must halve been set to bivert suspicion it was sprung when I 1 found it for I 1 reset arnd sprang it to prove that tile 1015 click was explained I 1 but I 1 scarcely noticed tile tact fact charlest charles 1 choked julia are you accusing me of murdering our grand father oil oh oil oh I 1 for he wits was shrugging hla his shoulders should erz mockingly air molly almy intervened ne ine careful what you yon say both of yo you ul 1 1 I have tio thing to 10 say cried julia an passionately except that it la Is true my cay cousin went to get that mot spring lancet tice 1 t juff nal ns lie he says bays and that he asked a co us t delther Kel f tier ther did I 1 as asli u s by AGNES as WHO 0 by br the century co him film tiny questions after I 1 had picked it up broto beside my grandfather in tile lie ina hook alcove ast tt londay morning I 1 and you leaped to the conclusion i that id attacked him with it wonderful ideal scoffed charles roughly ro what possible motive could I 1 have had for wishing him out of the wayll way to pet get that book boob with the boots book plate before he did 1 nn answered hulln steadily sten dlly to get money quickly you alwoyn need it charles fh irles lie give you ol all you wanted abt your ir dp de for money to la wit anata tats sending you to buenos alres aires and listen I 1 know I 1 put those thore liberty bonds into inlo grandfathers desk yonder he asked rne to do go an on tuesday when I 1 came bark front from ifie lie hospital the licy T were rone gone you are the only person alio ho has a duplicate key to tant desk I 1 suspect suspected that you must hove anve come ini in I to ohp house unseen vile lie come came buck back I 1 murmured to mr aar albiny but not unseen tell you inkerl ln In terl and taken them and sure enough they were sold for you and I 1 said nothing but hints aside from boni the present point why edid did you RO go to lo darrows rin on monday it if not afeei a ft PI that hook book charles flushed with rage but seeing that tie he wits was still in a At stronger position flatin julia tie he at tier with defiance doOni ife she paid i no attention ni to in his anger in fac fact t slip bhe seeing she must speak op ar gently n she he did fir firmly Cli charles arles she sold it wn was for you that I 1 hid fild flint spring lancet for me mel I 1 yes I 1 kicked it under that desk us as I 1 run ran up tip the nisle for you I 1 t imp kept silence until you betray betrayed nd tile nt you think thin kas as I 1 fear you hopf hope now I 1 see your absence from owr utter ter has hiie made all my et effort useless foolish I 1 am in a defenseless fen feris seless pless gillon all I 1 con can say of my mg own movements there flint morning Is tint flint I 1 spent tile the whole time searching for notes what happened from twenty minutes of eleven until a quarter past in reference to I 1 have no idea nut but I 1 have told the truth my inno cence will be proved CHAPTER XII i Ws tt n need eed more 16 thain ln falth faith for limit flint sneered charles Cf farles I 1 had find had find enough of him all right said I 1 well have dave some works too one min tite please pl easel Vs my three companions even mr almy stared at pie me openmouthed open mouthed but I 1 did not care for fora I 1 was going to make the bluff of my life which was based however on some very direful thinking I 1 had been doing during the last half hour thero there was a bowl of flowers on the tabled table I 1 snatched them out of the howl bowl picked up the bookplate and laid it carefully on the surface of the water holding it there with one hand with the other I 1 extracted from roy my hair the sole wire hairpin I 1 always wear out of deference to two helpless male relatives who beg at the most extraordinary times for a tin one to clean a pipe with next moment I 1 plucked ali tile bookplate forth from the bowl told laid hold of its edge firmly with my left thumb and forefinger rasped the edge with chii th hairpin and then slid the wire loop into a tiny crevice which had appeared on the edge the damp inper parted further farther as the hairpin slipped along I 1 returned it to its milre grasped the edges of the groove I 1 had made and pulled gently slowly tile the bookplate peeled apart amid a silence unbroken even b breathing the picture remained in my left hneil in my right was waa a doe umeno it if was primed with some blanks titled in by hand I 1 glanced nt at it handed it to julia and regarded mr macivor with my sweetest smile rd never have thought ot dolny that if you sugg emed it all there I 1 observed affably annh ly but julia interrupted with a cry that flint enda d r all small talk 11 1 I pa nas as right I 1 I 1 knew it I 1 knew it I 1 we all rus rushed ked to surround und tier her in her stinking hand slightly blurred by the lie water yet still quite legible its edges trimmed to ot the ibe size of the bookplate bunk plate which had been so tightly and so affixed to it was a birth c and on no it was set forth that on may blay 2 VW in new york julia grosvenor Gros vonor find been born the daughter of miles florring ton deceased of flints crossing virginia nod and bin wife mary grosvenor well felir I 1 sold bald mr air almy ile he said it after a tong fong time during which nobody had spoken he spoke in a tone of congratulation and i ellef in which however thero hero was a faint undercurrent of apprehension I 1 dont know if anyone else noticed that thal for certainly julia was too excited aud and as for churles Cli urles macivor machor he passed passe d out of my mind for we the moment of course resumed mi alt almy ehni thing had to be somewhere but ill tell you frankly now flow I 1 had given up hope of finding it for every clew was exhausted julia was bof not listening to film however her eyes were still devouring the certificate ile he took her gently by the arm and made her sit down Ll listen sten pl please easel I 1 be ba said to her 1 I have something else to tell you some bome oell of it as an good news al ns fotr have just heard hut but first I 1 must ask you to ta forgive me aw for the suffering sull erIng you have undergone since your cousin came in a few minutes ngo ago I 1 had bad to let him film talk and talk some rome more and to better purpose in a moment mor I 1 what want Is tile the good news newa mr almyr almy interrupted julia feebly tie seemed to choose hta his words can I 1 when I 1 went to the telephone he answered 1 I learned something I 1 land not expected to hear so co soon I 1 will just tell you now to in h word that thal the person suspected of atti licking your grandfather has been arrested the evidence on which he la Is detained clears you enil entirely rely of suspicion details will he available later just remember now you yon ore are cleared arld and now lie added abruptly whitt what you want to know omo and are entitled to know Is the story of flint bookplate hook plate out nut with it for the farst time since she had seen the certificate julia cullu looked at tier ner coutin cou tin tn ile he wf vindictive and sulky in ills his detent but julla julia was such an 0 R I 1 va aft she went out on the balcony full of curiosity 1 Follow edHer 11 appealing figure in her solitude nod and suffering that he be actually spoke with a trace of shame sli aine forced to obey his bis orders it was mother who drew that bookplate hook plate julia my mother I 1 she was a gifted artist she must have been oh far beyond I 1 amt ami why have I 1 never known this why I 1 seen any af 0 her other work all my life grandfather destroyed jt it how did he dare flamed the girl ier then slie site quieted down well what does it matter after all she leti left this bookplate it was by that that she saved my birth for roe me I 1 why are you startled charles of course I 1 know that I 1 how flow simply because she was mycother roy my mother and no one else would have done it if for me you may tell me how she did idill diaries charles had indies been startled by tile the unerring divination dIvI nution and began nervously 1 I was here visiting grandfather a b couple of months after you were born julia I 1 was nine denra yea irs old old mulish enough to notice lots of things I 1 sensed there wits some kind of trouble about aunt enry bour mother I 1 S slip was very sick for one thing she ehe ever wini want out then grand father seldom spoke to her sometimes when hp fell well enough site she would draw a little I 1 liked to watch her one of a number of sketches 1 I saw her working on was that book boob plate of course I 1 know then what it was one day she asked we me to mall mail a letter for her ber it wes was addressed to a mr air edward case whom I 1 remembered having seen been at the house more than once during it previous visit I 1 made I 1 had liked him film ho he was frler friendly idly and had find shown me some little attentions attention such as an a small boy boi enjoys in fact he had made somo coma impression on me coe and as you know now I 1 recognized him last thursday night it certainly was a shock especially as he seemed to anve changed scarcely at oil and tile he most amazing thing was that in a minute he be appeared to recognize me charles had not known then of course what mr air ca case ae had told julia an hour or so ago that he had seen him film off and on in the neighborhood undoubtedly during the course of tile the years which had passed since his boyhood nor lid did lie he realize probably that his boldly formed features ills hla dark complexion were of tile the type which changes least during growth but he did suggest the im immediate cause of the recognition as he went on 1 I suppose the presence of the book in the desk which I 1 was apparently engaged in searching stimulated mr cases recollections violently well to continue tiie the night after I 1 had mailed roy my aunts letter I 1 woke up suddenly I 1 was weeping in ID tant little room right alongside here now the recell doll room the noise that woke me come came from tills room I 1 peeped in und saw roy my aunt opening that french window which had find creaked site she went out on oil the balcony full of urlo sity I 1 followed her Let leaning aning over the railing she spoke to some one down in the street give atto tt to royall I 1 recognized air fr cases voice in answer 1 I promise J I 1 saw tier her drop a fiall hook book over the rall rail then I 1 had lust just time to get back into info my room and shut tile the dejor before she come came buck into the house i six weeks later ehe che died after a fuw few days of course I 1 got used to tier her absence and took interest mainly in what happened around me from day to day I 1 noticed especially that grandfather kept searching apparently in vain coln through her papers for something he wanted very much then one day any ho he missed something of his own an old medical book that thai had he be longed to his father the doctor tie he accused me of having jaken or gr mis syi VI knew absolutely nothing about it and disclaimed all knowledge of it but he believe me ue he was very stern and frightened |