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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1933)
MURDER Bv An ARISTOCRAT Mignon a. Eberhart I did not know that Janice, too, had taken refuge in the friendly, fragrant shadows of the rose garden until I met her face to face when I rounded a curve in the silent, dark path. The moon was barely touching the trees, and the shadows were still dense, and I think we were both startled — indeed, rather frightened Just for an instant —until we recognized each other. Then she said. “Oh, it’s you. Miss Keate,” with a kind of sob in her throat. I have never known exactly how we began to talk or why she confided so freely in me. Perhaps she had to talk to someone. But I remember very well how we sat on the curved stone bench just in front of a rose tree that hung out and over our heads and made the soft dusk sweet with Its fragrance, how white her dress and face looked, and how her hair seemed to blend Imperceptibly with the shad ows, and how, presently, the moonlight began to stretch gently along the path before us and then gradually to touch the tips of her white slippers. I believe she began to speak of Dave, for I remem ber that she asked me a num ber of questions about ver onal and the effects of the drug when taken as a habit. I answered as far as I could. “His death, then, was peaceful,” she said at last. And when I told her yes, that he had died In his sleep, she seemed a little relieved. “He looked peaceful,” she said, as if to herself. “So peaceful that one might al most envy him.” And as I made some startled expostul atory comment, she said, “Oh, no, I didn’t mean that, of course. One never really means that. But It has been a dreadful, dreadful time, Miss Keate. I should never want to live these days over again. I wonder if ever in my life I shall be able to forget them. Forget any of it”—she paused and added in a low voice which held a note of horror which gave me sud denly a measure of the night mare her days and nights had been since Bayard’s death— “forget Bayard’s blood on my hand.” She lifted her hand as if to see whether, even In the shadows, the stain still was visible, and I reached out and took the slim white blur In my own clasp. Her fingers were cold and clung to mine as those of a child caught in some bad dream might cling. And all at once she was tell ing me what happened. “I moved Bayard. I moved him. He was in the study, you see, there on the small Sarouk rug by the desk. I didn’t know what to do. All I thought was that he must not be found there in Dave’s study. We all knew that Dave had tried once before to kill him; had actually shot at him and Bay ard’s shoulder was wounded. That's when you came. I knew, too, that I had no time; that Adela would be coming Into the house in Just a mo ment or two. I had glanced Into the library as I was about to pass the door; I saw the study door open and went to look to see if Dave was there, and there was Bayard. Dead, on the rug.” She took a long tremulous breath and almost visibly steadied herself. “It took only a second to be sure he was dead. And I thought, ‘He must not be found here in Dave’s study. The room that is Dave’s. He must not be found here.’ So I —I set the baskets down, and I bent over, and I had to drag him— drag him, hold him by the arms and drag him out of the study and Into the library. It was ter rlbly difficult. And I had to hurry. I got as far as that table, and I left him there on the floor, and I ran back and straightened the rugs that , had been pulled up and took the baskets and ran to the kitchen and left them there. I didn’t know what was on my i hand until I had reached my own room. I don’t remember why I took off my hat; habit, I suppose. But I looked at it and saw the stain. And Just ; then Emmeline, downstairs, i began to scream, and I knew I she had found Bayard. I hid the hat and washed my hand and ran down the front stairs. And there you all were In the I library.” She shuddered and stopped. “You’ll feel better now," I said. “It is a good thing to talk of it to someone. I sup pose Dave must have returned and got into the house some how and—shot Bayard.” “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know.” “Didn’t you say Bayard was downstairs when you left the house early in the after noon and that you spoke to him?" “Yes. He was downstairs. I had gone to the kitchen to get the baskets for the eggs and butter, and I thought I would take Mrs. Steadway some flowers. I stopped In the library to get some scissors I had accidentally left there that morning, and Bayard was there." “Did Dave keep the door to his study locked?” “Not as a rule. It was a set rule in the household, you see, that he was not to be dis turbed. There was no need to lock the door." “And you spoke to Bay ard?" “Yes. But only a word or two. Not,” said Janice, “a pleasant conversation. He said he would give us till night to decide what we would do about the letter. My let ter. I took the scissors and put them in my basket and left. I was nearly frantic, but there was nothing I could do. Bayard thought that in the end Allen would give him the money he wanted in order to protect me, and I suppose Al len would have done Just that, but I so hoped we could dis cover a way out of it without that.” “But if Dave Killed Bay ard, what about the dia monds?” “I don't know. I don’t un derstand about the diamonds. But I think that someone in the family put them in that Jar of bath salts merely be cause they would be thought to be quite safe there. It would have to be someone who knew I don’t use bath salts.” "You don’t think, then, that It was a deliberate attempt to make it look as though you had taken the diamonds?” I could feel her astonish ment. “Oh, no,” she said after a moment. “Why should any one do that? There would be no point in my taking the family diamonds. Many of them were to come to Dave’s wife anyway—were, In fact, already mine. Oh, no, it was n’t that. I think—perhaps I ought not to tell you this, ; Miss Keate, but I think that Adela or Evelyn somehow managed to get the diamonds out of the safe merely to give | an appearance of burglary. I | know,” she said sadly, “that we all feared Dave had killed Bayard and tried to shield ! him.” “What were the circum stances of Dave’s first attack upon Bayard? You told me you didn’t know why they 1 quarreled, but can’t you think of anything that might have caused trouble between I them?” ”1 didn’t know when I talked to you before. Miss Keate, but now I believe I know. I think Bayard was supplying Dave with veronal. The drug is hard to get in this state, you know. And there’s nothing Bayard would 1 have liked better than to ruin Dave—or Hilary, or both. He’s always hated them. I suppose he was Jealous of them. Or perhaps the whole thing dated back to something in their childhood. And Bayard was thoroughly had. rie was unbelievably bad.” “Why do you think Bayard was supplying Dave with ver onal?” “I’m not sure that he was. I only heard a few words of : their quarrel. But there’s nothing else they could have quarreled so dreadfully about. Dave hasn’t been well in a long time, and lately he’s been growing more and more unlike himself. Of course, Adela and I knew, though we never talked of it, that he was taking some drug. I I thought it was morphine, though I could never be sure. We did everything we could to distract and amuse him. We watched him so carefully. We tried everything. It’s been rather bad here for the last two years, Miss Keate.” She paused, staring thoughtfully into the shad ows for a moment before she continued sadly: “I don’t know whether Hil ary knew or not. It was noth ing we liked openly to dis cuss. I suspected Bayard, but not for any definite reasons; it was a sort of instinct. I dreaded his visits here. But when Florrie took veronal by mistake, and you said you had no veronal, and I knew that Bayard had hidden my letter in your bag, I felt sure that he had also hidden the veronal in your bag. He had had access to it, and he would know it was not safe to keep the drug openly about the room while he was ill. If he was furnishing veronal to Dave he would undoubtedly ask a large price for it. What more likely than that he asked more than Dave would pay? Or held back a supply of the drug? If poor Dave was like drug addicts usually are, he would be frantic for it. That’s my explanation for Dave’s frenzied quarrel with Bayard. I think Bayard goad ed Dave until Dave was be side himself. Poor Dave—he must have hated himself, and he must have hated Bayard for the hold he had. Do you think I am right?” “It sounds quite likely that Bayard supplied him with veronal,” I said. “And if Bay ard hid your letter in my bag, which is the only reasonable thing to suppose, he could easily have hidden the ver onal he had with him in the same place. He would think it a safe place in case any one searched his room. But, of course, if this has been go ing on for two years or more, they must have had some sys tematic system of supply. Just what happened the night Bayard was shot and Dr, Bouligny called me?” “I don’t know exactly. They were in Bayard’s room, Dave and Bayard. I couldn’t sleep that night, and I had heard Dave moving about in his room and the door into the hall closing as I supposed he left the room. In a short time I heard him come back, and pull open a drawer, and then leave again. He seemed hur ried, and I don’t know why I immediately thought he’d come back for his revolver. But that’s what I thought, and I hurried out of bed and after him. It had taken me a moment to get into a dress ing gown and slippers, and Dave was already in Bayard’s room when I reached the hall. Adela must have been aw’ake, too. for just as I passed her door it opened, and she came out, and before wo had time to speak we heard-” Again she steadied herself. “We heard a revolver shot. It was so loud—I can’t tell ! you how dreadful It was. We ran to Bayard's room, and Dave was standing there aim ing the revolver again, and Bayard was swearing terribly and had his hand over his shoulder, and it was bleeding all on his pajama coat. And Dave looked white and dazed, as if he didn’t know what he was doing. As if he were an other person. Adela ran and seized his arm and 1 managed to get the revolver away from I him and out of sight while Adela talked to him. When I came back Dave was begin ning to look less queer, and Adela took him to his room, and I looked at Bayard’s shoulder and put cold water on it, and by that time Em meline and Florrie were in ■ the hall, and Adela was back, and she told them what we i ! told everyone. That Bayard ! had had an accident. It was j foolish, of course, but we couldn’t say Dave shot him. Adela sent Florrie to tele phone to Dr. Dan, and he came right away and dressed the wound and said Bayard would recover. That he was not seriously wounded. What a relief that was!” I ‘.‘But didn’t Dave explain why he had tried to kill Bay- ; ! ard?” “No. No. He said nothing. That made it worse, some how frightened Adela and I were. We were desperately afraid Dave would attack Eayard again. We tried to hide our fear, act as if there was nothing. We tried to keep the two men apart. Adela in sisted on a nurse coming in the hope that she would— that your presence would in a measure protect Eayard. And thus protect Dave; it was Dave we cared for. Poor Dave.” She sighed, and after a mo ment said thoughtfully; “I was very young, you know, when I married. I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything about love. I didn’t know-” She paused, her face turned a little away from me as if the darkness were kind to her. The moonlight lay, by that time, white on the roses, and the fragrance was heavy I and sweet, and the shadow 1 , over the bench black and soft and cool. Janice said in a voice that was not steady: “You are very good to me, Miss Keate.” “I? Nonsense!” I said brus quely. And repeated, “Non- 1 sense!” She moved, took a long breath, and said gravely: “Is there anything else, Miss Keate? I want you to know the whole truth.” “Well, yes, there is,” I said promptly. “There are several things, in fact. It was you who tried to enter Bayard’s room from the hall that first night I was here, wasn’t it? You tried the doorknob, and while I was unlocking the door returned to your room and watched me in the mir ror?” “Yes,” she admitted at once. “I didn’t think Bayard would need night care, so I supposed you were in your own room. I hoped, of course, that I could get into the room and by some lucky chance dis cover my letter while Bay ard was asleep. I knew that Dr. Dan must have given him a bromide, and I thought there might be some small chance of my success. I was desperate, or I wouldn’t have tried.” “Who then was on the bal cony that night?” “What do you mean? Was someone on the balcony?” I did not explain. At a sud den memory I said: “Had the dog fftilowed you to Bayard’s door? I thought I heard a sort of panting sound. Like a dog on a hot day.” “Yes,** said Janice and added. “It was rather hor rible, wasn’t it? I felt so fur tive. Stealthy. Ashamed. It seemed to me even Pansy must know what I was doing 1 and why.” __ (TO BE CONTINUED' WOMAN ENJOYS JUNGLE RANCH Hew York — <UP> — A woman who (sv> up hn carter when her husHtuul'a work took him to the taler or of South America l» the hottest of the first 'dude ranch” ever established in the Juiurles This temtnlne planter. Mr* Rtr ird C Oill. prenldea over the Use .ends R*o Macro. a tuert I rani'li. built than* years ago on a | Jungle-encloeed site 5,000 feet { above sea level, half way between 1 Guayaquil, chief seaport and ; Quito, the capital of Kquador. Mrs. GUI. who returned to New York with her husband recently on the 8. 8 Sauls Clara of the Grace line, la enthusiastic about her Jungle home. • The Jungles, she said, are an Ideal place in which to live. Entertaining gueeta la an easy task, aa she sees It To begin with, there a never any fear of gueets becoming bored. During the there are exciting monkey and Jaguar hunts and there la volcano climbing. At night a tropical moon, haunting native mua e and the magic Jungles relieve the hasten of all wxry In addition to hrr duties as hostess. Mrs dill finds tune for her flowers and prts. In her gar den are fern trees 13 feet high bougamvtlea, ( carnations. exotic Jungle flower*, and 2* different *Wl« ties of orchids Mrs. OtlTs pets i are equally as varied — menkrya. I feUUshni*. dogs, parrots, macaws. i parakeets. a honey bear, and a mar. ! moaet. Pijjeon* Averaged 50 Mile* an Hour Auburn. N V. -<UP»-An am age of more than 50 nulea an hour was maintained by the fastest ol a score of racing p neons ks 9 flight from Youngstown, Ohio. * Auburn, a distance ot 350 The birds were liberated at 7am and the winner arn*M in I Auburn at 11.43 a. m. Divided on Way to Brew Coffee In the old days when coffee was expensive and hard to get, cooks kept their methods of brewing It a deep dark secret. Coffee brewers fell into two schools: The boiling point ad vocal es, and tbe below boil ing point advocates. The boiling point group was composed of those who drank coffee for the stimulation it imparts. This method includes the old-fashioned boiling formulas where the water is kept bubbling a few seconds or minutes after the ad dition of the coffee, after which it is set on the back of the stove to steep for fifteen minutes or so. This procedure gives a stronger flavor and extracts a larger amount of caffein. The below boiling point advocates were composed of those who drank coffee chiefly for its aroma and fla vor. Taste and smell are more close ly connected than the average per son suspects. You easily can prove it for yourself by holding your nose when you eat or drink. The only fla vors you can taste without the help of your nose are sour, sweet, bitter and salt. Every other flavor is not tasted, but smelled. Try holding your nose when you drink a cup of cof fee, nnd you will be surprised to find that you can taste nothing, unless, of course, you use sugar. Then you van laste the sweet, but not the cof fee flavor. Now release your nose and see how quickly you recognize the laste of coffee. The below boiling point method gives a liquid with more of the nat ural aroma and flavor of Hie roasted coffee bean. These cooks bring the water to a full boil, but take it off the fire a moment or two to stop Its bubbling before the coffee is added. The beverage is then kept hot until It has acquired the right flavor, hut it is not allowed to come to the boil. Coffee made by either method had to be cleared with a dash of cold water or the addition of egg shells. Today the best coffee cooks have turned their backs on old-fashioned methods because of the difficulty of extracting Just the proper amount of flavor from the elusive bean. Again they divide into schools: The perco lator advocates and the drip coffee HER DOUBLE CHIN IS VANISHING Shape Growing Normal "Why am I taking Kruschen Halts? I’.e teii'i" I was tettinic so brood urnna tho hip* I was aslinmed of myself. I’ve been taking Kruschen about S months and they rerfolnly are bringing my shape down to a normal condition and what is nice about them (to my way of thinking) is they haven’t taken flesh from my cheeks but to my surprise my double chin is vanishing for which unyone should be glad.” Mrs. t*. E. tillrdner, Worcester, Mass. (Jan. 3, 1933). To lose fat and at the same time gain jn physical attractiveness and feel spir ited and youthful take one half tea spoonful of Kruschen in a glass of hot water before breakfast every morning. A jar that lasts 4 weeks costs but a trifle at any drugstore in the world but he sure and get Kruschen Salts the SAFE way to reduce wide hips, promi nent front and double chin and again feel the joy of living—money back if dissatisfied after the first jar. advocates. The former make their cofree by a device that passes the water up a central tube to descend through the coffee, the main body of which never conies to a boll. The drip coffee lovers use the French method of pouring boiling water through finely ground coffee placed In a receptacle lined with filter pa per. Some people Insist that coffee mak ing is a lost art. Since it has become inexpensive and easy to get, people take coffee drinking for granted in stead of making it a rite. Whatever the truth may be. coffee has survived its critics, outlived its restrictions^ and holds an enviable record of ioug popularity.—Exchange. WHITER? YOU BET! 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