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wi J**$ Whose name she was constantly repeat ing. They bad a doctor for her, and the twhole bouse was up before ever the word came of what had happened here." I thanked him with a look. I had no opportunity for more. Half a dozen officers were standing about the front door, and in anotber moment 1 was bustled into the conveyance provided and was being driven away from the death haunted spot As the day advanced and I began to realize that I, Elwood Ranelagh, easy going man of the world, but with tradi tions of respectable living on both sides of my_ house and a list of friends of whom any man might be proud, was In a place of detention on the awful charge of murder I found that my keenest tor ment arose from the fact that I was shut off from the instant knowledge of What was going on in the house where all my thoughts, my fears and—shall I say it?—latent hopes were centered. To know Carmel ill and not to know how ill to feel the threatening arm of the law hovering constantly over her bead and neither to know the instant of its fall nor be given the least op portunity to divert it! My examination before the magis trate held one element of comfort ^"Nothing in its whole tenor went to show that as yet she was in the least suspected of any participation in my So called crime. But the knowledge Which came later of how the police first learned of trouble at the clubhouse did not add to this sense of relief, Whatever satisfaction it gave my curi osity. A cry of distress had come to them over the telephone, a wild cry in a woman's choked and tremulous voice: "Help at the Whispering Pines! Help!" That was all, or all they revealed to me. In their endeavor to find out whether or not I was present when this call was made I learned the na ture of their own suspicions. They be lieved that Adelaide in some moment Bf prevision had managed to reach the telephone and send out this message. *t was in a condition of mingled dread and expectation that I opened the paper which was brought me the next morning. Arthur, the good-for nothing brother, had returned from his wild carouse and had taken affairs In charge with something like spirit and a decent show of repentance for his own shortcomings and the mad taste for liquor which had led him away from home that night. Carmel was still ill and likely to be so for many days to come. Her case was diagnosed as one of brain fever and of a most dangerous type. Doctors and nurses were busy at her bedside, and little hope was held out of her being able to tell soon, if ever, what she knew of her sister's departure from the bouse on that fatal evening. That her testimony on this point would be Invaluable was serf evident, for proofs iwere plenty of her having haunted her sister's rooms all the evening in a con- Tl The House. 1 ofth*M Whispering •r'MU •iTtMriB'CMHM Route tooirnmnto.] !!4 *wnat would relieve my doubts? 'An Hexford draw near pie again on our iwny to tbr bead of the staircase I summoned up courage to ask: S' "Have you hearQanythlng from the kill? Has the news of this tragedy been communicated to Miss Cumber^ land's family, and, if so, bow are they bearing this affliction His lip curled, and for a minute be besftated then something in my as pect or the straightforward look I gare him softened him, and be ansjrer* ed frankly, if coldly: "Word has gone there, of course, but only the servants are affected by it so far. Miss Cumberland, the younger, is very ill, and the boy—I don't know his name—has not shown up since last evening. He's very dissipated, they say, and may be in any one of the joints In the lower part of the town." I stopped in dismay, clutching wildly at the railing of the Stairs we were descending. 1 had hardly heard the latter words. All my mind was on What be had said first "Miss Carmel Cumberland ill," I stammered, "too ill to Be told?" 1 was sufficiently master of myself to put it this way. "Yes," he rejoined kindly as he urg ed me down the very stairs I had seen her descend in such a state of mind a few hours before, AWAY FROM THE DEATH HAUNTED SPOT. "A servant who bad been out late heard the fall of some heavy body land's rooms and, rushing in, found Miss Carmel, as she called her, ly ing on the floor near the fire. Her face had struck the bars of the grate in fall ing, and she was badly burned. But that was not all. She was deliri ous with brought on, they think, by anxiety .about her sister. dJtton of more or less delirium. She devotion merited consideration from was aione in ine noose, ana taw may have added to her anxieties, all of tbe -servants baring gone to the police men's ball. It was on their return In tbe early morning hours that aba had been discovered lying in a Injured before bar stater's fireplace.* On* fact was mentioned wbleb net thinking. Tbe keys of tbe club jMrnje bad been found lying on a tarn* la tbe aide ball of the Cumberland manaton—tne keys which I bava al raftdy mentioned aa. mlssmg from my packet-— alarming? dmfOTery which might have acted as a clew to the aus picious I feared if their presence there bad not been explained by tbe wait ress who had cleared tbe table after dinner. Coming upon these keys lying on the floor beside' one of the chairs, she bad carried them out Into the ball and laid them where tbay would be mow readily seen. She bad not rec ognised' die keys, but bid taken it for granted that they belonged to Mr. Baaelagh, who had dined at the house that night. Tbay were my keys, and I have al ready related how I came to drop them on the floor. Had they but stayed there! Adelaide, or waa it Carmel, might not nave seen them and been led by some strange If not tragic pur* pose, Incomprehensible to us now and possibly never to find full explanation, to enter tbe secret and forsaken spot where I later found them, the one dead, the other fleeing In frensy, but not In such a thoughtless frensy as to forget these keys or to fall to lock the clubhouse door behind her. That she on her return borne should have had sufficient presence of mind to toss these keys down in the same place from which she or her sister had taken them argued well for her clear head edness up to that moment The fever must have come on later. Tbe next paragraph detailed a fact startling enough to rouse my deepest interest Zadok Brown, tbe Cumber lands' coachman, declared that Ar thur's cutter and what he called the gray mare bad been out that night They were both in place when he re turned to tbe stable toward early morning, but tbe signs were unmistak able tbat both had been out In the snow since he left tbe stable at about 0. He had locked the stable door £Ji?iJHt£iZL 0at t^e, but the key always hung lng Miss Cumber-»* 1 ftny CQuld get it. This was on account of Ar thur, who, if be wanted to go out late, sometimes harnessed a horse himself. Zadok judged that be bad done so this night, though how the horse happened to be back and in her stall and no Mr. Arthur in the house It would take wiser heads than his to explain. There was some comment made on this because Arthur bad denied using bis cutter that night He declared in stead that he bad gone out on foot and designated tbe coachman's tale r,3 all bosh. As for myself, I felt inclined to be lieve tbat-tbe mare had bewr out, that one or both of the women had har nessed her and that it was by these means they had reached the Whisper ing Pines. Adelaide was far from strong and never addicted to walking under the most favorable conditions. I could understand now how Carmel bad succeeded in returning in safety to ber home. She bad ridden both ways—a theory which likewise explain ed how she came to wear a man's derby and possibly a man's overcoat. With her skirts covered by a bearskin she would present a very fair figure of a man to any one who chanced to pass her. These were my deductions drawn from my own knowledge. Would oth ers who had not my knowledge be In anywise influenced to draw the same? Tet. if they let this point slip, where should 1 be? Human nature is human all tbe way through, and I could not help having moments when I asked myself if this young girl were worth the sacrifice I contemplated making for her. She was lovely to look at, amiable and of womanly promise save at those rare and poignant moments when passion would seize her in a gust" which drove everything before it. That she had had provocation I did not doubt. Adelaide, for all her virtues, Was not an easy person to deal with. Upright and perfectly sincere herself, she had no sympathy with or com miseration for any lack of principle or any display of selfishness in others. She was a little cold, a little reserved, a little lacking in spontaneity, though always correct and always generous in her gifts and often in her acts. CHAPTER V. I "I AM AN INNOCENT MAN." STRUGGLED with my dilemma for hours. I had relatives and I had friends, some of whom had come to see me and gone away deeply grieved at my reticence. I was swayed, too, by another con sideration. I had deeply loved my mother. She was dead, but I had her Donor to think of. Should it be said she had a murderer for her son? In the height of my. inner conflict I had almost- cried aloud tbe fierce denial which would arise at this thought. But ere the word could leave my lips such a vision rose before me of a bewildering young face with won derful eyes and a smile too innocent for guile and too loving for hypocrisy tbat I forgot my late antagonistic feel- "I WILL TAKE TOUB CASB." ings, forgot the claims of my dear, dead mother and even those of my own future. Such passion and such i»#«ir wi *rrH**J«t*aTW«A^W'f»»*Wl»r'-v\(rtJ* V*li,*.'r\H'»'',r*f«'3'V VH nA.y cue man Who sua called I would not sngbt the claims of my dead mother, bat I would give this young glr| a chance for her life. Lot others ferret out the fact tbat aba bad visited the clobbooao with her sister I would not proclaim It It was enough for ma to proclaim my innocence. I waa in this frame of mind when Charles Clifton called and was allowed to see me. I had sent for him la one of:my discouraged moods. Ho waa my friend, but be was also my legal advis er, and it waa as such I bad summon ed him, and It was as aucb bo bad now come. Cordial as our relatione bad been, I noted no Instinctive outstretch ing of his band and no did not reach out mine. I waa tap tot to apeak. "I am an Innocent man so far as the attack. made upon. Mies Cumberland goes. I bad no hand In ber murder, if murder it is found out to be. bpiy story which you have read in the,pjipera and which I felt forced to give ont, possi bly to my own shame and that of an other whoin I would fain have saved, la an absolutely true one. I did not arrive at tbe Whispering Pines until after Miss Cumberland waa dead. To this I am ready to swear, and It Is upon this fact you must rely In any defense you mayvhereafter be called upon to make in my regard." But I saw that I had made no im pression on bis convictions. He re garded me aa a guilty man and, what was more to tbe point no doubt as one for whom no plea could be made or any rational defense undertaken. "You don't believe me,". I went on, still without any great bitterness. "1 am not surprised at it after wbat tbe man Clarke has said of seeing me with my hands on her throat. But, Charles, to you I will confess that I did this out of a wild desire to see if those marks were really the marks of stran gling fingers. Tou shall believe me— you must," I insisted as I perceived his hard gaze remain unsoftened. "1 don't ask it of the rest of the world. But you, if you are to act as my coun sel, must take this denial from me as gospel truth. She was dead before I touched her. Had tbe police spy whose testimony is likely to hang me climbed tbe tree a moment sooner tban he did be would have seen tbat Are you ready to take my case?" Clifton Is a fair fellow, and I knew if be once accepted the fact I thus urged upon bim be would work for me with all the skill and ability my desperate situation demanded. I was conscious of a great leap of heart as the set expression of bis features re laxed and he responded almost warm ly: "I will take your case, Ranelagh. God help me to make it good against all odds." I was conscious of few hopes, but some of tbe oppression under which I labored lifted at those words. I had assured one man of my Innocence! He was ready to speak before I was. "Then you had not been long on the scene of crime when the police arriv ed?" "I bad been in tbe room but a few minutes. I do not know bow long I was searching the house." "The police say that fully twenty minutes elapsed between tbe time they received Miss Cumberland's appeal for help and their arrival at the clubhouse. If you were there that long"— "I cannot say. Moments are hours at such a crisis. I"— My emotions were too much for me, and I confusedly stopped. He was surveying me with the old distrust. In a moment I saw why. "You are not open with me," he protested. "Why should moments be hours to you previous to the instant when you stripped those pillows from the couch?" This was a poser. I had laid my self open to suspicion by one thought less admission, and, what was worse, it was but the beginning in all prob ability of many other possible mis takes. 1 had never taken the trouble to measure my words, and, the whole truth being impossible, I necessarily must make a slip now and then. He had better be warned of this. I did not wish him to undertake my cause blindfolded. He must understand its difficulties while believing in my inno cence. Then if he chose to draw back Well and good. I should have to face the situation alone. "Charles," said I as soon as I could perfectly control my speech, "you are quite just in your remark. I am not and cannot be perfectly open with you. I shall tell you no lies, but be yond that I cannot promise. I am caught In a net not altogether of my own weaving. So far I will be frank with you. A common question may trip me up. Others find me free and ready with my defense. You have chanced upon one of the former. I was in a turmoil of mind from the moment of my entrance into that fa tal house, but I can give no reason for it" "You say you cannot be open with me. Tbat means you have certain memories connected with that night which you cannot divulge." "Right, Charles, but not memories of guilt—of active guilt, I mean. I am perfectly innocent so far as Ade laide's death is concerned. You may proceed on that basis without fear— lhat Is, if you continue to take an in terest in my case." "I have accepted the case, and I shall continue to interest myself in it" be assured me, with a dogged rather than genial persistence. "But I should like to know wbat I am to work upon if it cannot be shown that her call for help came before you en tered the building." "That would be the best defense possible, of course," I replied, "but neither from your standpoint nor mine Is it a feasible one. I have no proof of my assertion. All I know and can swear to about tbe length of time I was in tbat building prior to the ar rival of tbe nolice Is that it could not\ BO." i»iwiiiBiiini'iii"ii'n#t)mi|i'iiiniiiiriii «BV juwe-Deen very long, since she waa not only dead and burled under those accumulated cushions, but in a room •omo little distance from tbe tele- Tbat win do for mo," said he, "but scarcely for those who are prejudiced against you. everything points so indisputably to your guilt Tbe note which you say you wrote to Carmel to |ijotyou at the station looks vary much more like one to Miss Cumber land to meet you at tbe dubaouse." It waa thus I first learned which part of this letter bad been burned off It waa the top portion, leaving the rest to reed: a Ceme, come, mjr darlln*. my life! She wfll forgive when all la done. Hesitation wUl only uado us. Tonight at VtM. I Shall never marry any but you. Jt was also evident that 1-bad fall* «d to add those, expressions of affec tion linked to Carmel's name which bad been in. my mind and awakened my keenest apprehension. "Otherwise," pursued Clifton, "what could have taken her there? These Unas aald 'Come!' and she went, for reasons which may be clear to you. who were acquainted with her weak aa well as strong points. Went how? No one knows. By chance or by In tention on her part or yours, every servant was out of the house by 9 o'clock, and ber brother too. Only the sister remained, tbe sister whom you profess to have urged to leave the town with you that very evening, and she can tell us nothing—may die with out ever being able to do so. Some shock to her feelings—you may know its character and you may not—drove her from a state of apparent health into, the wildest delirium in a few hours. It was not your letter—if your story is true about that letter—or she would have shown its effect immedi ately upon receiving it—tbat is, in the early evening. And she did not Hel en, one of the maids, declares that she saw her some time after you left the house and that she wore anything but a troubled look that, in fact, her coun tenance was beaming and beautiful." Carmel, beaming and beautiful at an hour I had supposed her suffering and full of struggle! I could not reconcile it with the letter she bad written me. Tbe lawyer proceeded with his pres entation of my case as it looked to unprejudiced eyes. "Miss Cumberland comes to tbe club house so do you. You have not tbe keys and so go searching about the building till you find an unlocked win dow, by which you both enter. There are those who say you purposely left this window unfastened when you went about the bouse tbe day before that you dropped the keys In her house where they would be sure to be found and drove down to tbe station and stood about there for a good half hour in order to divert suspicion from your self afterward and create an alibi in case it should be wanted. I do not believe any of this myself, but there are* those who do. Your passion for Carmel, while not generally known, has not passed unsuspected by your or her intimates, and this In itself is enough to give color to these suspi cions even if you had not gone so far as to admit Its power over you and the extremes to which you were will ing to go to secure the wife you wish ed. So much for the situation as it appears to outsiders. Of the circum stantial evidence which links you per sonally to this crime we have already spoken. It is very strong and appar ently unassailable." "Charles," I asked, "how do they account for the cordial that was drunk —the two emptied glasses and the flask which were found In the adjacent closet?" "It's one of tbe affair's conceded In congruities. Miss Cumberland was a well known temperance woman. Had the flask and glasses not come from her house you would get no one to be lieve that she had had anything to do with them. Have you any hint to give on this point? It would be a wel come addition to our case." "Coroner Perry speaks of a third and unused glass which was found with the flask," I ventured tentatively. "He seemed to consider it an important item." "It is a curious circumstance. I will make a note of it. You have no sug gestions to offer on the subject?" "None." "Tbe clew is a small one," he smiled. "So is the one offered by the array of bottles found on the kitchen table, yet the latter may lead directly to the truth. Adelaide never dug those out of the cellar where they were locked up, and I'm sure I did not Yet I suppose I'm given credit for doing "Naturally. The key to the wine vault was the only key which was lacking from tbe bunch left at Miss Cumberland's. That it was used to open the wine vault door is evident from the fact tbat it was found in the lock." "You may add this coincidence to the other," I conceded. "I swear that I had nothing to do with that key." Neither could I believe that it had been used or even carried there by Adelaide or Carmel, though I knew that the full ring of keys had been in their hands and that they had entered the building by means of one of them. So assured was I of their innocence In this regard that the idea which after wnrd assumed such proportions in all our minds bad at this moment its first dawning in mine as well as its first outward expression. "Some other man than myself was thirsty that night." I firmly declared. "We are getting on, Charles." Evidently be did not consider the pace a very fast one but, being a cheerful fellow by nature, be simply expressed bis dissatisfaction by an imperceptible shrug. "Do you know exactly wbat the clubhouse's wine vault contained?" he asked. "An inventory waa given me by {be •toward tbe morning we dosed, it must be In my rooms." "Your rooms have been examined. Ton expected tbat. didn't yon? Prob ably this Inventory baa boas round. I don't ouppoee It will help any." "I will aea you tomorrow—any time tomorrow," I aald. "Meanttmo I will give yon a commission which you are at liberty to perform yourself or to In trust to some capable detective. Too letter, of which a portion remains, was written to Carmel. and she aent mo a reply, which was handed me on the sta tion platform by a man who waa a perfect stranger to me. I novo hardly any memory of bow the man looked, but It should be sn easy task to And him, and if you cannot do tbat tbe smallest scrap of the note be gave me and which unfortunately I tore up and scattered to the winds would prove my veracity in this one particular and eo make it easier for them to believe the rest" His eye lightened. 1 presume the prospect of making any practical at tempt in my behalf was welcome. "One thing more," I now added. "My ring was missing from Miss Cum berland's band when I took away those pillows. I have reason to think—or it a *l for me to think—that she planned to return It to me by some messenger or In some letter. Do you know If such messenger or such letter has been received at my apartments? Have you beard anything about this ring? It was a notable one and not to be confounded with any other. Any one who knew us or who had ever re marked it on her band would be able to identify it." "I have heard the ring mentioned," he replied. "I have even heard that THEBE WAS A SLIGHT FBZSStTBX, the police are Interested in finding it, but I have not beard that they have been successful. You encourage me much by assuring me tbat it was miss ing from her band when you first saw her. That ring may prove our most valuable clew." "Yes, but you must also remember that she may have taken it off before she started for tbe clubhouse." "That is very true." "You do not know whether they have looked for it at her home?" "I do not I will take good care of your Interests from now on. Be hope ful and show a brave front to the dis trict attorney when he comes to Inter view you. I hear that he is expected home tomorrow. If you are innocent you can face him and his whole office with calm assurance." "You are free," said I, "I am not Miss Cumberland will be buried before I leave these four walls. I hate to think of her going to her grave with out one token from the man to whom she has been only too good. Charles, a few flowers, white, no wreath, just a few which can be placed on her breast or in her hand. You need not say whom tbey are from. It would seem a mockery to any one but ber. Lilies, Charles. I shall feel happier to know that they are there. Will you do this for me?" "I will." "Tbat Is all." Instinctively be held out his hand. I dropped mine in it, there was a slight pressure, some few more murmured words, and ho was gone. I slept that night CHAPTER VI. I A CHANCE! I TAKE IT. SLEPT, though a question of no small importance was agitating my mind, demanding instant con sideration and a definite answer before I again saw Clifton. This was my plan. I would acknowledge to having seen a horse and cutter leave the clubhouse by the upper gateway simultaneously with my entrance through the lower one. I would even describe the appearance of tbe per son driving this cutter. No one by the greatest stretch of imagination would be apt to associate this description with Carmel. but it might set the au thorities thinking, and if by any good chance a cutter containing a person wearing a derby hat and a coat with an extra high collar should have been seen on this portion of tbe road, or if, as I earnestly hoped, the snow had left any signs of anotber horse having been tethered in the clump of trees opposite the one where I had con cealed my own, enough of tbe truth might be furnished to divide public opinion and start fresh inquiry. That a woman's form had sought concealment under these masculine bnhtilments would not could not. sr strike anybody's mind. Mocanuj in tarn crimel suggested a woman*! enco, much less a woman's active «y. 'tr\'f ir. The suspicion which bad naturally fallen on myself aa the one and oajy, person Implicated would In ahtttJmj paaa straight to anotber man and. If be could not bo found, return to mo or be lost In a maao of speculation. I was ready with my confession when Mr. Clifton next came. I bad even forestalled it la a abort Interview forced upon me by the assistant dis trict attorney and Chief Hudson. Tbat It seemed to have made a more favor* able impression upon the latter tban I bad expected gave mo additional cour age when 1 came to discuss this new line of defense with the young lawyer.' "I nave beard of no new dlecoi bo'aald. "if anotber cutter yours passed through the clut grounds at tbe time you ment left tracks which all the fury oi storm would noj^bave entirely obliter ated In the fifteen minutes elapsing between tbat time and the arrival of tbe police." "But a witness can certainly bo found who encountered that cutter, and its occupants somewhere on the long stretch of open road between, the Whispering Pines and tbe resi dence district." I said. "Possibly. It would help. You bavo not asked for news from tbe Hill." "Carmel!" I cried. "She Is worse dead!" "No. She's not worse and sbe's not dead. But tbe doctors say It will be weeks before they can allow a ques tion of any importance to be put to her. You can see wbat that will do for us. Her testimony is too impor tant to tbe case to be ignored. A de lay will follow, which may or may not be favorable to you. I am inclined to think now that it will redound to your interests. You are ready to swear to the sleigh you speak of—that you saw It leave tbe clubhouse grounds and turn north?" "Quite ready, but you must not ask me to describe or in any way to Iden tify its occupants. I saw nothing but the hat and coat I have told you about. It was just before tbe moon went under a cloud or I could not have seen tbat much." I suppose my voice fell, for bis glance became suddenly penetrating and his voice slightly sarcastic as be remarked: 'Those clouds obscured more tban tbe moon, I fancy. I only wish tbat they bad not risen between you and me. This is tbe blindest case tbat has ever been put in my bands." "Tell me." I broke in, "of Carmel's condition, of tbe sort of nurse who cares for ber and how Arthur con ducts himself under this double af fliction." "I was there last night. Miss Clif ford was in the house and received me. She told me that Arthur's state of mind was pitiful. He was never a very affectionate brother, you know, but now they cannot get him away from Carmel's door. He sits or stands all day Just outside the threshold and casts jealous and beseeching looks at those who are allowed to enter." "Doesn't he grieve for Adelaide?* I always thought that of the two she had the greater influence over him." "Yes, but they cannot get him to en ter the place where she lies. His duty is to the living, he says. At least bis anxiety Is there. He starts at every cry Carmel utters of 'Lila-Lila!' Noth ing more!" "Does he—Arthur—mention me at all?" "Arthur feels very hard toward yoni ind Insists upon your guilt." "Does the doctor—Dr. Carpenter. I presume—venture to say how long Car mel's present delirium will hold?" "He cannot, not knowing its real cause. Carmel fell ill before tbe news of her sister's death arrived at the house, you remember. Some frightful scene must have occurred between the two previous to Adelaide's departure for the Whispering Tines. What that scene was can only be told by Carmel, and for her account we must wait Happily you have an alibi which will serve you in this instance. You were at the station during tbe time we are speaking of." "Has that been proved?" I "Yes several men saw you there." "And the gentleman who. brought me tbe—her letter?" It was more tban difficult for me to speak Carmel's. name. "He has not come forward?" Thirty Years Together, Thirty years of association-tbink of it. How tbe merit of good thing stands' out in that time—or the worthlessness of a bad one. So there's no guesswork in this evidence of Thos. 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