Marion Marlowe's Cleverness, or, Exposing a Bold Fraud — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

24 ing Marion’s story of how she found the hid- den document. Of course every word was in secret for ob- vious reasons. Mrs. Gregg must be kept in ignorance until the web was woven securely about her, and once as Marion was speaking, she suddenly changed the subject, so certain was she that the woman had entered and was — listening at the keyhole. Nannie Finley had told her story under a sacred oath, and when Marion’s was added to it the web was pretty nearly completed. It was late in the evening before the arrest then Marion led the way to the woman's apartment. - was mdde; She had only seen her once during the en- tire evening; then she seemed perfectly calm, but hollow-eyed and ashen. “She’s took an unaccountable: interest in that nephew, it seems to me,” said one ot the detectives, softly, as they passed through the hall. ‘When this is all put together it will make a pretty story.” Marion stopped just long enough to ask just one question about the will. It was merely if they were sure that the document was a forgery. “Sure,” said the man who had spoken be- fore. a lawyer to draw it up, promising, of course, to pay him handsomely; then he forged the old it back to within a month of his coming to this country, man’s signature and dated so that no one could accuse him of undue in- Oh, he was fairly Why, he even had fence in the matter. clever, I can assure you! letters in his pocket purporting to have come from his uncle and inviting him to this ’ country !’ “And Varion, in a whisper. were they forgeries, too?” asked said the man again. “The whole This young ras- “Sure,” lot of ’em was forgeries. eal murdered his uncle without a doubt, and _ said the detective, grimly. “The young man employed a scamp of. MY QUEEN. then put the suspicion on Mr. Everett, in the hope that he would be convicted and, per- haps, covered.” | ‘How would that save him, when the will was discovered?’ asked Marion again, that cautious whisper. in “Can’t hang two men for the same crime,” “Oh, the scheme was a good one! but too bold to be clever, and where he made his mistake was in trust- ing the bogus will to the care of that old | woman. But it don’t. matter now, we've got ‘em both. You'd have laughed if you'd seen how we scared that rascally lawyer !” The detective chuckled, but Marion waited no longer. She hurried to Mrs. Gregg’s door, for she was satisfied now that the woman was an’ accomplice. She hesitated a moment before tapping on the door. There was no sound from within, yet she was sure Mrs. Gregg must be there. One of the officers reached over her shoul- der and rapped lightly ; then all listened for a second, but there was still no sound. . —— - —— executed, before the will was dis-_ — = - * oi —_— eh OU “Gone, I'll bet!” said one of the officers, sharply. He stepped forward and. put his sturdy shoulder against the door; it gave way at once and revealed a ghastly spectacle. Before a small plaster image of the Virgin the guilty woman knelt. Her head had fallen forward in an unnatural position and her face was bluish in the gas light—her body stiff and rigid. “Dead,” whispered one of the detectives, as he drew back in dismay. “There’s a dagger in her heart—she has killed herself,” said the other. Marion darted past them to the little im- provised altar, | “See, she has left a message,” she cried, as she snatched up a bit of paper from the table. She held it up to the light and the men loth stared at it. comirebooks — - ‘ ——— a a oo ts : ‘ ——— * pone dle: 0