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t f 4 fc I I CHAPTER XV—Continued “—21— “The disconnected buzzer wires fave me the answer this morning, M explained Vance. “Her scheme was both simple and bold. She knew that, if she followed Swift upstairs before the big race, she would have no difficulty in enticing him into the vault on some pretext or other— especially in view of the fact that he had shown a marked interest in her. Her intention was to shoot him in the vault, just as she did, and' then go into the study and shoot you. Swift’s body would then have been placed in the study, with the revolver in his hand. It would appear like murder and suicide. As for the possibility of the shot in the study being heard downstairs, I imagine she had tested that out beforehand under the very condi tions obtaining yesterday afternoon. “ " ' ‘ Ion that not be e noise broad- nd wm- pr orlg- weeded ft. She blanks instead i should -II technique at the crime had net revealed by the evidence she left la the vault ... No. The shot could not have been fired upstairs. The only place she could have fired it nod still have established her alibi, was out of the bedroom window.” He turned to Zalia Oraem. “Now do you see why you felt so definitely that the shot did not sound as if it came from the gardenT It was because, being in the den, you were the person nearest to the shot when it was fired and could more or less accurately gauge the direc tion from which it came. I’m sor- r. I could not explain that fact to you when you mentioned it, but Miss Beeton was in the room, and it was not then the time to reveal my knowledge to her.” There was another brief silence in the room. “But, Mr. Vance,” put in Doctor Siefert, frowning, “your theory of the case does not account for the attempt made on her own life.” Vance smiled faintly. “There was no attempt on her life, Doctor. When Miss Beeton left the study, a minute or so after Miss Graem, to take my message to you, she went instead into the vault, shut the door, making sure this time that the lock snapped, and gave herself a superficial blow on the back of the head. She had rea son to believe, of course, that it would be but a short time before we looked for her; and she waited till she heard the key in the lock before she broke the vial of bromin. It is possible that when she went out of the study she had begun to fear that I might have some idea of the truth, and she enacted this Ut ile melodrama to throw me off the track.” Siefert had leaned forward and was studying Vance closely. “As a theory, that may be logi cal,” he said with skeptical gravi ty. “But, after all, it is only a theory.” Vance shook his head slowly. “Oh. no, doctor. It’s more than a theory Mias Beeton herself—and in your presence—gave the whole thing away. Not only did she lie to ua, but she contradicted herself whan you and I were os the reel from the and forced into the vault, she did cot know that Mr. Hamtnle had been in the garden observing every one who came and went in the passageway. And she was alooa in the.corridor at the time of the sup posed attack. Mias Graam, to be sure, had Just passed her and gone downstairs; and the nurse counted on that fact to make her story sound plausible, hoping, of course, that it would produce the effect she was striving tor—that is, to make it appear that Mias Graem had at tacked her.” Vance smoked in sUence for a mo ment. “As for the radio-active sodium, doctor, Miss Beeton had been ad ministering it to Mrs. Garden, con tent with having her die slowly of its cumulativa effects. But Mrs. Garden’s threat to erase her son’s name from her will necessitated immediate action, and the resource ful girl decided on an overdose of the barbital Last night. She fore saw, of course, that this death could easily be construed as an accident or as another suicide. As it hap pened, however, things were even more propitious for her, for the events of last night merely cast further suspicion on Miss Graem. “From the first I realized how difficult, if not impossible, it would be to prove the case against Miss Beeton; and during the entire in vestigation 1 was seeking some means of trapping her. With that end in view, I mounted the parapet last night in her presence, hoping that it might suggest to her shrewd and cruel mind a possible means of removing me from her patft, if she became convinced that I had guessed too much. My plan to trap her was, after all, a simple one. I asked you all to come here this evening, not as suspects, but to fill the necess'ry roles in my drama.” Vance sighed deeply before con tinuing. ”1 arranged with Sergeant Heath to equip the poet at the far end of the garden with a strong steel wire such as is used in theaters for fly ing and levitation acta This wire was to be Just king enough to reach aa tor as the height of the balcony on this floor. And to It woa at tached the usual spring catch which by the | ury as a I pm a at V. ftav I « -r I I could I wt. for _ _ w _ _rr that it might be discovered and the whole technique of the plot be re vealed. Since she was the person apparently least under suspicion, she probably considered that plac ing it temporarily in the pocket of her own topcoat, would be sufficient ly safe. It was not an ideal hiding- place; but I have little doubt that she was frustrated In an attempt to hide it somewhere on the roof or on the terrace upstairs, until she could take it away at her con venience without being observed. She had no opportunity to hide the revolver upstairs after we had first gone to the roof and discovered Swift’s body. However, I think it was her intention to do just this when Miss Weatherby saw her on the stairs and resentfully called my attention to the fact.” “But why,” asked Professor Gar den, “didn’t she fire the revolver upstairs in the first place—it would certainly have made the shot sound more realistic—and then hide it in the garden before coming down?” “My dear sir! That would have been impossible, as you can readily see. How would she have got back downstairs? We were ascending the stairs s few seconds after we heard the shot, and would have met her coming down. She could, of course, have come down by the public stairs and ro-entered the t pertinent at the without to that epefla to ; sen <i>rknene I mM ton pew I to toe rwge an toe flruni at my H wee torn toetoee veto uetoato her eeetog nw 4 hev seen eftev ae I wee •frtoi ton wmM nto tton I was teking an I tonsns, tot at totofi eft knw I heto btnd i gee " uwpnrt aato mm ever ton parapet. hutort retased and leeeed berk tl wee a steeple nstotev j in lue chew wsto a toed wry tondn. nyatof neap toe hnftsnnp r “Yen are paftotoftp nghi. Mr. I hni arrani Vestre " i deer to be todetebed. end I ‘"tost,** Vestre centtonafl. ’even dtsmanato had Mtae Barton nto toads the auw walked m. and appear take of tying to us ae shvtnuafty. way. When Mtae there was ether proof that she stone that I had antaaaeea la her ac was concerned la that episode Mr. w«U as a photograph of M, Hsmmto here rone lust rely bore out I realised that the game wap iq my opuuoo. Whan she told us her I THE END Entire Panama Canal Plan Changed by Pottage Stamp Showing Crater’s Smoke Stamps have played many impor tant roles in the pageant of civi lization; one stamp nearly caused a war; another saved the life of an American explorer in the depths of the Liberian jungles; still s third was responsible for the discharge of a postmaster general. Even the decision to build a canal through Panama instead of Nicaragua may be attributed to a single postage [ stamp, asserts a writer in the New i York World-Telegram. I For years the shipping industry was hampered by the long route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Yankee clippers and British sloops raced around the “Horn” for the prestige in the tea trade from China. During the gold rush days in the West ships rushed to Central Amer ica and passengers and cargo were sent across the land by train or carriage and then on to San Fran cisco by another boat. The cutting of a canal through the Isthmus seemed inevitable, even though trop ical diseases and fever crippled sev eral attempts to link ocean to ocean. The rusty machinery of De eepe toy discarded In the swampe of After severe! months the plan of building across Nicaragua seemed to be the logical one, and prep arations were begun. The plans followed the lakes and rivers al ready in existence there, from At lantic to Pacific. Estimates were submitted for approval; plans had been drawn up, men were ready to go to Central America and begin work. The dramatic alteration in this project came in Washington when one of the consulting engineers of the commission received a package of charts from his survey crew in Nicaragua. The contents of the package was only routine matter, but the postage stamp affixed to it struck his attention. The picture of Momotombo was familiar enough to this engineer and he recognized the mountain imme diately. His interest was aroused, however, whan he saw that the en graver of that stamp showed smoke dnftbg from the crater of this peak, whkfh had been considered an ex tinct volcano. A survey party was seat to the the aw- Modem-to-the-Minute 1302 A S RIGHT as rain, and as cool ing, are these clever young modes for the woman who sews. Each is simple to make, pleasant to wear, and may possibly be the difference between a modern and a mediocre wardrobe for you I h 1 a summer. Sew-Your-O w n wants to help you look your best, to stamp you modern-to-the-min- ute, and therefore to anxious and proud to present today's tno. A Twe Placer far CWc. If ha tails you you’re Just s nice armful you are the right sue and type to wear the blouse V skirt shown above, toft. The waistcoat Idea Is vary much the thing in The skirt to 48. Size 38 requires 4% yards of 39 inch material. Pattern 1915 is for sizes 14 to 42. 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