Show V now AW 0 ay P erb WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE simon judd amateur detective and william dait an undertaker ire are visiting john drane eccentric man of wealth at thie drane place suddenly the household Is shocked to find that john drane ha has S been murdered the dead man mail is first seen by jos bosle thie the mald maid then by amy drane and simon judd the latter taints faints police officers call and incesti allons begin dr blessington la is called and after seeing tho the murdered john drane makes the astound revelation to amy drane that thai her uncle iracle Is not a man but a woman dr blessington discounts the theory of suicide saying that drone drane was definitely murdered dr blessington ts orb on the tact fact that all the servants in the household of dr drane ne are sick and that drane has never discharged a servant eer vant for ill health dick Br brennan ednan the detective arrives to investigate the case brennan questions the persons in the house asking amy if anyone had any treason reason to kill her uncle NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY no not a reason not the slightest reason amy declared 4 lec lared with ith absolute 1 I cant even imagine anyone should want to kill my undo uncle and as far as you kno know w there was no onie one in the house last night but your uncle mr air judd here mr air dart and th the e servants br brennan e anan asked her 1 I know he added that you cant say whether others may not have come ini in unknown t to 0 you amys eyes turned to bob carter yes I 1 was 1 ini n the house last night carter said about when carter brennan asked late carter said after eleven and beffie twelve mr BIT drane said he wanted to see me he sent norbert to tell me so yesterday afternoon ter noon just before we went for the drive you remember amy there was no ino hurry norbert said either last might flight or today would do 1 I tather rather kaew what he had on his mind I 1 iliad had asked him if I 1 could marry amy and he had put off answering me so last night I 1 happened to pass here and I 1 saw the lights in the library and I 1 came in ring or knock or anything 1 I went to the library door at that side of tha th house and knocked on om the door and mr dart let me in bob said mr dart was with him no one else I 1 said goon evening to mr air dart dant and mr air dratie drane said we could go acres the hall lo 10 the dining room for a few mi lute and we did theres one thin thins I 1 ought to ito tell you aou I 1 guess just jus as we were going out mr air dart sail gail now xer rember irenr imber what I 1 told you john I 1 dont approve it was something like that he mry may have said tm im against it or 1 I wont have it I 1 was rather excited cv cited you see what mr air drane was aggi gling n to say such a lot to me naturally agreed brennan well about all caster said wf we went into the timing dining room oom and mr drane talked to me for a while it was mostly abut about my prospects ts and what I 1 wai wa planning to ido do with my life and whether I 1 would be willing to corn com to alp house to live after we were married amy and I 1 he ha said we w had bad best travel for a year or stay i i ise ife where a year after that lie he wanted us there here I 1 told him that was what amy wanted it was he anly reason she hesitated about marrying she did not want to leave him so he said it would be all ilg filsht im so glad bob amy cried tm rm so BO glad to think hi h was willing 1 11 and then what brennan anaa asked seeing that citer was ites stating well it was r quebr carter said blushing 1 I thought A t was rather queer then but it nes nt at seam so BO queer now when we know what hat we ido now he inked it if the could kiss me ile he did Breir brennan nan exclaimed not quite so brashly as all that carter said he H laughed and he laughed and said that it if we were french he supposed we would kiss each other on om both checke sh cieli I 1 said I 1 had been kissed when I 1 was given my cross then you wont mind it I 1 do kiss you he said andi and he for to him kow how I 1 felt I 1 thought poor old fellow I 1 knew nobody around here her cared much for him ind he was getting pretty prett y old that sort of feeling and now inow when I 1 now enow he was a woman its bound aouadi to come out now and again said brennan tersely A woman can stand only so go much without affection the very worst ive known came to it once in a while and then jhc thc nj what did you do we talked a few minutes about when the wedding might be and I 1 said I 1 would have to leave that to amy then he said carter hesitated a moment iino ment but but brennan s said ald nothing he spoke about money carte cart went on he said he had made ha will in amys favor avor and that hl hi was leaving leavin g lier her everything ho be hail had then he said she was a good bod girl he said very nice things about hoe hi and said he meant to give her outright a hundred thousand doll dollars arzi the day she was married if I 1 dio not object I 1 noth nothing Lug of 0 iby own you know he said that he thought living in his bis house ani having to be mistress ot of it amy A nr should not be c compelled to ask hun for money he meant for the ex expenses uie the things I 1 could not pay for I 1 see anything any hl ne wrong in that I 1 see that it had anything to do with my alsing amy amy knows alfs not anybody B m amney ney I 1 care for so when we shook hantla hands and I 1 caw away Tb through rough the libra albra y agair brennan asked no mr air drane let me out by b this door so you see mr dart again no I 1 went down the there and walked home you any idea hat il ii was mr dart wanted mtr MB drane not to do not really 1 catter said it may be that they had been talking over amy and me and mr air dart didat care tor for me enough to have me marry amy mr drane and dart were old wha what t they call cronies cr onlea almost or it may have been giving amy so much money in a lump jump that dart objected to I 1 dont know but your was as that mr dart referred to the talk you ware about to have with mr drane brennan asked what I 1 thought carter admitted 1 I any doubt of it I 1 thought to myself what Is it of his anyway I 1 dont like him much someway and mow miss drane drennan brennan asked without a pause have you ever seen anything that made you think even in the slightest degree that your uncle was a woman no amy said without hesitation and immediately changed her answer to yes never while he was alive she said it never mever entered my head not in the very slightest but now I 1 can see things hie he was so kind to me might not an uncle be kind brennan asked yes but not in that way affectionate is what I 1 should say probably I 1 dont know you see I 1 E think thank how a aman would be but I 1 can see now cow mr brennan that he was more like more like a mother in the way he in the way be kissed and smoothed my hair more like a woman more like a mother have you any reason tor for thinking he was your mother brennam Bren naj asked and amy stared at him with wide ees uncle john my mother another she gasped and put her fingers to her lips as it if in tear fear oh he be my mother he you knew your mother dien nan asked you see bee miss drane I 1 doat know any of 0 the facts I 1 have to ask tor for them did you know your mother bob carter frowned with annoyance that amy should be an annoyed noyd lie he looked at her and turned to Dren drennah Hr enna nao 1 I can answer that he said amy told me all that let her tell me said brennan but his tone was kindly 1 I never knew my mother amy said brennan leaned forward in his chair im not digging into this thia flom curiosity he said 1 I have plenty to do without wasting tinie time that way my job is to find who murdered this woman who posed as john drane there may never have been a john drane you bet your boots there was declared simon judd john drane and me was chums I 1 tell you when we was boys back there in riverbank regular boys and no imla take and dont you forget it mister you can prove that by me any time you want to there was a john drame then said brennan you knew him and I 1 knew him a blame long time black my cats simon judd exclaimed wily why look here bero john drane was born along about when I 1 was along towards and we chummed together thick as thieves thieve for a long time yes until 83 that was when he went out he was thirty then all that time we hung together ether me andi john thirty years we ve was born together ast aa you brou might tay feay sure there was wan a john dranel 1 I was going to ask you a few questions la later ter brennan suggested 1 excuse me for buttin in simon judd said with hearty good nature aa ture go right ahead and ill shut up till you want me 1 I was saying aless mias deane Bre brennan anan said that chati ata an only trying to gather some details of ot the life of john dra drane ne as he was known here and matters that might have some bearing on this murder 1 I know nothing you understand and I 1 have to ask questions you say you did not know your another that means sho she died while you were too young to know her yes amy said youre about how old im seventeen do you know when your uncle to call him that came to westcote yes I 1 remember healing that it was in 1892 ire he bought this house then he said not long ions ago lie he had owned it guirty two years and you were not mot borri born here oh no said anly amy 1 I was waa br brn bom n irk in california you see im uncle johns brothers sons child what did you say asked brennan bre turning to simon judd im mot saying a word judd said ald excuse me I 1 forgot myself but you said something bienn insisted what did you say all I 1 said simon judd said was which brother well which brother was it brennan asked amy showing the first impatience he had shown it was daniel amy said daniel kemt to C ania and married man led mary oryan oakyan there and nd they had one son thomas drane who was my father he Ife married mary alary gartner but lust just after I 1 was brn barn they were drowned in a flood some river overflowed and they were both drowned drow nod grandfather Girand tather was dead the then too and grandmother had bad died before that so I 1 was put in an orphanage and that was where uncle john found ime 11 he went to california when was that 1 I want a year old amy said it must have been in 1908 uncle boim said bald he had bad always corresponded with father and when the letters stopped he was worried ire he well that year and he thought california might do him nod good it was in the winter and he went west for the two reasons ire he wanted the warmth and he wanted to find father if he was alive he found only me and he brought you east no not tight away ile he found acome ahome a home for me there lovely people who were always so good goad to nie me thy raised me uncle john used to send them money for my expenses and he wrote me letters you have some of the letters in the same hand chand that thle this uncle john writes or did write yes exactly the same a big round hand amy said so then when I 1 was old enough I 1 was sent to a school near pasadena I 1 stayed there until I 1 finished last year then uncle john dobri had me come east he wanted wa to livi wali him tie the aalde she told me all that bob carter said yes it was not a secret amy said bald she waited for brennan to ask his next question can you tell me anything that would throw any light on this murder he asked 1 I dont think so amy an elered 1 I may think of something but its all so BO horrible still you dont know anything wit on of the way about this william dart continued next week |