Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 138: what you’re looking at

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

’ hry EAC ‘“ Now,” continued the criminal investi- gator, imperturbably, “‘ the removal of the knife from the death chamber was a clever _ bit of clap trappery, obviously designed for two purposes; one, to regain possession of - the knife, and the other, to mystify us and make the hocus-pocus ef the whole thing all the more obtuse. “Vet the taking of the knife is not dif- ficult to explain. Gnly a picture was hung over the door where the panel was broken. An ingenious rascal could put a hand through, and by a-cleverly contrived con- traption coax the knife from the room. “This could no doubt be most simply accomplished by using a stick with a mag- netized steel end. If powerful enough, it could easily attract and hold the steel blade of the dagger.” She paused a moment. “The knife was within such reaching distance of the hole in the door. “But its theft in this admissible way meant some- thing far more to me than the strange and seemingly morbid desire to possess the _ death weapon.” — We all strained forward eagerly. “J mean,” asserted Nancy, “that the thief had a very significant knowledge of the exact placement of the dagger in the death chamber. He could not possibly see it from his kneeling position before the door, even though his groping arm and the long stick could fumble about uniil it attracted the object he knew to be there. — “Now, no one except the coroner and Mr. Stebbins as well as Miss Deming and I knew where the dagger was placed after it was drawn from the dead woman’s neck. I returned it to its customary silver salyer with a purpose. ‘‘T knew that if it were later mysteriously stolen from the room, that the theft must be made by a person who had previous know]- edge of its usual resting place in the un- frequented Room Number 13. “Since we are the only living persons who should have this knowledge, it follows that the one whe stole the lethal dagger is also the one who killed Felicia Loring.” Our eyes all turned toward the quiet = figure in the chair. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY - WEEKLY, = And rie man who committed that out- vageous, brutal deed sits before you.” CHAPTER XX. THE CLEW OF THE SCRATCHED BLADE. N the ominous stillness about us my thoughts circled around blindly. If this ~ Taan were the slayer of the mistress of Voodoo Manor, for what reason had he dis- posed of the knife to the man with the patch, after he had entered the house and bound Nancy and me in- order to repossess it? Then he was again so anxious to get it back that he came to the sale and tried to ‘bid it in for the considerable sum of $1,500! And whe was this man with the patch who had sold the knife to Solomon Isaacs? Was the pawnbroker lying? Had he created from his own cautious mind the story of the man with the patch fo shield the real seller of the dagger, the man before us? Where did Blanche Pembroke enter the tightening mesh? For, when the dagger, which Miss Lering had shown only to Nancy and me, was described, she had fainted away, ‘Obviously this indicated that the instrument of death was not unknown to her. Really, the more Nancy explained, the more befuddled I became. — The prisoner still doggedly refused to | talk. so Nancy went on: “ You were aided and abetted in your nefarious assassination scheme by other untoward, yet wholly in- dependent, events, which were shaping themselves simultaneously with your own fell plot. ‘The unsavory character of the hapless Room Number 13 gave an excellent superstitious element to the whole occur-- rence. Miss Loring’s pitiful cynicism against all superstitions furthered this weird and uncanny atmosphere. , “Then, unbeknown to you, another in- terleper about Voodoo Manor had been per- - fecting his machinations, helped by an in- side confederate, the shameless niece of the dead woman. They schemed, not for Miss Loring’ s life, but for her earthly — sions. “ The light haired, light fingered woman, — the pretense of nocturnal headaches, 8A Ol com eiiGa SCO