Newspapers / The Warren Record (Warrenton, … / Feb. 21, 1930, edition 1 / Page 6
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CHAPTER XVII The End I suppose it takes more than a minute for one's wits, particularly if they happen to be thick wits, to drain entirely away. Before mine had completely left me, I had attempted to telephone to Sam, down in the outfit's quarters, and had failed to get a reply to my call. I had told Mrs. Ricker and Zinnia, trying with all my ? mrr faar t\n run out Ullgillf l/U lliUC U1J 1VIU| w and find Sam, or Miss MacDonald, or Hubert Hand, or John?I had forgotten that John was upstairs in his room?and to bring one or all of them to the house as quickly as possible. To this day I don't know why they went, running. It was the slam of the screen door behind them, I think, bringing with it as it did the realization of my aloneness and the memory of Miss MacDonald's warning, that turned me clear over to terror. I shall not describe what I did, nor what I thought, during the time that I was alone there, downstairs, before help arrived. The humorously inclined might think such a description amusing. To me there is nothing amusing in the spectacle of an old woman being gripped and wrung by fright. I longed to run from the house; but I felt that I must stay there to explain the situation to the others when they came, if they ever did come, and to do my poor best, since I had made the fatel mistake, to prevent catastrophe. By clock time, it was only thirty-six silent mint un/j fA tttqif hofnrii Miss UtCd tlXai/ A liHU w n?*v mv?v*</ MacDonald came, alone and unhurried, up the front steps and into the living room. Still holding Sam's thirty-thirty rifle in my hand?I had known that I could never use it to shoot at any living thing, but I had hoped that it might make me look dangerous? I turned to meet her. "Don't point that thing at me," she commanded. "Put it down. What are you doing with it? What is the trouble here?" Before I could answer her, Sam, Mrs. Ricker and Zinnia came clattering through the kitchen. Mrs. Ricker was wringing her hands and saying over and over, in a voice all broken and multilated with horror, "I have gone insane, I have gone insane. I have gone insane." Sam said, "Gabrielle Canneziano just now waved at us from her window." Miss MacDonald turned and ran like a wild thing up the stairs. Just as she disappeared from our sight the sound of a pistol's shot cracked through the place. I followed the others. I ran up the steps. I stumbled down the hall, behind them, and into Gabrielle Canneziano's room. I saw Gabrielle Canneziano, her cheeks painted, her hps reddened, long earrings dangling from her ears, lying on the couch. Over her breast was a widening spot of color, staining the fringes of the soft white silk dressing gown that she was wearing. On the floor was a smoking revolver. John came. He said, "She told me what she was going to do. I allowed her to do it. I did not want Nevada to have to execute a woman." EPILOGUE Sam says, bitterly, that the only thing I need to explain is the one thing that can ever be explained: how one girl, by changing her clothes and by washing her face, could turn a houseful of supposedly sensible people into a packet of blithering, bat-blind fools for a generous period of time. I can explain that, I think: but I am going to leave it until later, and go clear back to the second of July, the day that Gabrielle received the code letter. In her talk with John (John says m Mm I To Frugal Warrei Remember, in case of ( (what you have saved pany what you meant Claude M. "Your Pilot To Macoi Special Agent Pilo fjf. pbbpbhbbhm* Warrenton, North Car Wiim it was in no sense a confession, tha it was nothing but a taunt for us alJ a final, regretless, high fling of de fiance) there in his room, durini the twenty minutes or so that sin talked to him, before she shot her self, some things, which might stil not be clear to us, were made plain Also, many of Miss MacDonald'; previously formed opinions were di "J-J * iri~ rectly or inairecuy vermeu. ?vuo MacDonald had said, you remem ber, that the murder had beei wickedly premeditated. "When I read that letter," Ga brielle said to John, "and found my self penniless and planless on a Ne vada ranch, I at once made up m; mind to kill Danielle, the little fool and take her place." How she persuaded Danny to ac cept the idea cf the masquerade and to change clothes with her, 01 the fourth of July, we do not positively know. That is the "hole" tha Miss MacDonald mentioned in he: puzzle. To my mind, there is littli doubt that she gained her way ver: easily, by using her own unhappinsss and disappointment as tool: with which to remove Danny': scruples and prod her pity. I an sure, remembering Danny's troublec manner at the time, that she consented unwillingly, that she thoroughly disliked the idea, and tha she was afraid of its consequences When the two girls went upstair: together, on the afternoon of th< fourth of July, they must have gon< to effect the transformation. Perhaps, then, for a brief minute oi two, the thing did seem amusing tc Danny; for I know that I heard th< girls laughing together, as I hav< mentioned, when I was on my errand upstairs. We do not know, when the disguise had been completed, by wha' pretext Gabrielle lured Danny int< the attic. Their trunks were in th< attic. There could be a dozen simplf rpasnns 11/hv Darinv mlo-hf. n.ftTVQPTH to go up there with her. Coming downstairs again Gabrielle caughi her by the throat and stranglec her, instantly, by means of th< deadly jiu-jitsu hold, which she hac learned from her "Strangler. It i; a hold that requires little strengththough Gabrielle's trained finger; were strong enough?but mucl scientific skill. She took the earrings fron Danny's ears?or, perhaps, Dannj had net yet put them on?went t< her own room, arranged her makeup, got; into the wrap, which completely covered Danny's clothes tha' she was wearing, pulled the ha: down over her eyes to conceal th< change in hairdressing, and walkec through the living room, for us all tc see her, at four o'clock. When Chad went to the porcl with her (this John found out b] insistent questioning) she told hiir that Danny had left the house earlier, by the back way. That shi and Danny had arranged a joke or the rest of us, to enliven the dul afternoon, and asked him to hel) with it by calling, in Danny's voici to her, when he came back into thi house. Chad did it. That was why since he was standing down by th< front doors, the voice supposed ti come from the upper hall had i strained and an unnatural sounc Gabrielle had reckoned that Chac in spite of her request, would be tcx Ignite For Cuts and Wounds Prevent infection! Treat every cut, wound or scratch with this powerful non-poisonous antiseptic. Zonite actually kills germs. Helps to heal, too. Q & ' 1 I People Of J 1 County leath, the bank pays you and the insurance com- I to save. Haithcock Better Protection" i, N. C. t Life Insurance Co. ^ A olina *J* t stupid to discover the facts. Proba1, bly she thought that, at any rate, - she would be able to impose silence I upon him. It was one of her many e mistakes. We think that he must - have known for the remainder of i that aiternoon tnat uaDriene was l masquerading as Danny. His happy s mood was caused by the fact that - Gabrielle had given him a confis dence and had allowed him to per form a small service for her. When i he saw what had happened, and when he realized that the girl whom . he had worshipped was a murderer, . he killed himself. Strange, that in . spite of everything, he still loved her y enough to leave the confessional note to shield her. The men think that he left the note to shield the . rest of us, rather than to shield her. i# I do not believe it. 1 She had planned to go straight around the house and re-enter it t through the back door. Martha's r being by the rabbit hutch was somei thing she had not counted on. It 7 was necessary to distract Martha's - attention, and to get her to come 3 at once into the house. She gave her 3 the monkey bracelet. As she did so, l probably because of the act of kind* 1 ness, Martha made one of her fre quent mistakes and called Gabrielle "Danny." Gabrielle told John (cont cerning Martha, John also question. ed her insistently) that she then s showed Martha the poison in the ; charm, and told her that it was a ; love potion that would make Chad love her, "like a lady," if she would r swallow it, and never tell anyone > anything about it. i Martha out of the way, Gaby 5 must have run quickly around to ? 1- ?-*> xi i a xi me Dacit 01 me House aiiu up me back stairway. To toss the hat and wrap on the body, replace the eart rings, scatter the pipe ashes over > the beaded bag (I declare to goodJ ness, I can more easily think of her ! lying there in her white silk dresst ing gown, than I can think of her > brushing those pipe ashes up, from) t somewhere, in order to save them j I for that purpose), and drop the tati ting shuttle there, required not more : 1 than one or two minutes of time.! 3 Another two or three minutes to - wash her face thoroughly and to 3 douse on some of Danny's perfume, i and she was coming downstairs again, with the headache that nei cessitated the drawing of the cur7 tains?to make her safety a bit > safer, just at first. She told John that those few min" utes when she had to walk through k the room, make the trip around the 1 house, and get upstairs again, were J the only moments of fright that she * had had, from the first to the last. } Danny, she said, she knew that she had nothing to fear. I think, however, that there were 7 . BfP > F ' r? rPHERB are lix glasses and Tt X pitcher all of the same ezaHulsite design. The glass Is Hown iliu, very thin, very clear, of J the fashionable pink color. The whole set is unusually graceful in shape. All you have to do to get this lovely | water set is to aik your f rocer for "Octagon" every time you buy laundry soap, soap powder, scouring cleanser, toilet soap for the wash basin, floating soap for the bath, and chips 7*; for your washer. Then save the cou- y pons yoft get. Y011 need 100 coupons to get this premium, at leut 10 of 1 ' which muit be from Octagon Soap I Powder. Present Coupons to agent belo THE HOME FURNITURE Caah or Credit "Everything for t HE WARREN RECOI other times when she was afraid. I am certain that real fear was there in her room, that day, when the l engagement ring dropped from her j finger. Though I believe that her I fear, then, was caused wholly from superstition, and not from any dread that the slight difference between her hands and Danny's hands might be noticed. I am sure that her fear for John, on the fourth of July, was real enough. She knew that each minute he was away, longer than the time i necessary for the trip, was a minute lost from the perfect alibi she had so mistakenly tried to arrange for him by sending him away irom the ranch. She had not known that Danny's fingers had closed on the stair's tread. When John came in the back way she was afraid that it would be remembered later?as it was?and that some one would suspect?as Hubert Hand did suspect ?that John had carried the body in at that time. She had counted on her note to Danny, and on the fact that, as Danny, she was downstairs within ten or twelve minutes after the time we had seen Gaby walking down the path and had heard Danny's voice calling after her, to prove her own innocence. They, and the gentleness of Danny's disposition, did this to perfection. Her original plan had been to pre "e that Sam was the murderer. Wi h Sam out of the way, and with John in possession of his fortune, she had thought, I suppose, that she would have no trouble in persuading John to leave the Desert Moon. But she was afraid of the idea. Knowing John's devotion to Sam, she could not reckon, with any sureness, how disgrace and sorrow might affect John. It was too big a risk to take, unreservedly. So, though she picked the quarrel with Sam, strewed the pipe ashes on the bag, put the key in the fireplace, wrote on the photograph, she left loopholes in the shapes of the many other false clews. It is only my own notion that, if she had not thought the definite accusation of Sam, of which she made during the session on the fifth of July, was necessary to protect John, she would have backed out, by that time, and not have made it. It is again only my notion that the request, which she put in her note to Danny, to have Danny take Best Purgative for the congestion, reduces complications, hastens recovery, ( get this premium, you must have at least ^ ^ 0* Coupons >ctagon t| ?8oa? vJSQAP J M Powder JjjJ /r vmzr yu can WT\ toigZyjf |s| oducti ihoxvn ^V J below. *|L ciEMSK iBBr?^?nr^8 w on or before July 31, 1930 & SUPPLY COMPANY the Home" Warrentou, N. C *D her body to San Francisco for ere-1 gr mation, was made because she cs thought that it would be desirable tr for her to be able to leave the n, ranch at once?perhaps for several f3 weeks. Mrs. Ricker's expressed suspicion probably made her realize the wisdom of returning as rapidly re wi as possible to the Desert Moon. (To be Concluded) f? to Small Incomes Are Predicted For 1930 gi ih Smaller incomes even than in pr 1929 are in store for the fanners fa of North Carolina in 1930, Dr. G. ^ W. Forster, head of the department of agricultural economics at q. North Carolina State College, cau- ^ tions in an article on the farm out-1 look for 1930, appearing in North' h( Carolina Farm Business, a publica- m( tion of the State College Extension Service. Big carryovers from last year in cotton, tobacco and peanuts make vj acreage reduction in tobacco and '] peanuts and no further increase in | cotlon acreage necessary this season, says Dr. Forster. Indications point to fair conditions for early Irish potatoes but [for a very heavy yield and small prices for potatoes in general. Only for the production of hogs anci strawberries do the conditions seem more than normally favorable. "If the acreage changes suggestbv this outlook report are adopt ed," declared Dr. Forster, "a cur-1 teilment in the acreage of cotton, tobacco, potatoes and peanuts will result. On land thus released, additional hay, pasture and feed666 TaWet8 Relieves a Headache or Neuralgia in 30 minutes, checks a Cold the first day, and checks Malaria in three days. 6 6 6 also in Liquid On Fifth Avenue/ CMany of the fairest owe their beauty to * t^aturiS' waij to btauhj Far sale by M. R. BURROUGHS Warrenton, N. O. ^jj % A FAMOIJ - Bui m at a NAME A . A FINERY means t) value ha. TIE New Seines Pontiac Big Six is called "a finer car with a famous name." i m - a m ims means tnat tbe intrinsic value for which Pontiac has has always been famous reaches new heights in the New Series Six. It means that new-type rubber engine supports make Pontiac's big, 60-horsepower engine smoother than ever. It means that a new steering mechanism, acting on roller bearings, gives Pontiac still greater ease of control. Its big, improved, internal, nonsqueak four-wheel brakes are now safer and more dependable than ever. There is smart new styling in its bodies by Fisher. It has a new sloping windshield that lessens headlight glare. And improved Lovejoy Hydraulic Shock Absorbers, at no extra cost, give big car riding ease. motor s Warrenton, N. C. I jra,,~, K.ethtt^ '0^ FEBRUARY^ ====ir^^_?idrtod Chatham County h^/I ains maL utilized by bogs, poul- order 10,000 pounds ot wj m then be u that will more geed f0r planting this spnJJ y and dair demand in the {armers saved their own early 3UPin the nearby locality. {ttll and will sow these rm home aid the ^ ^ | " ? ?.POf?tter balanced diet ? S be^avtdlable tor the *? r ^ mily; and second, more satisiac- rjn ?* ry prices would probably be re- " A- SHEAi ived. OPTOMERTRi^rj "The 1930 outlook may appear a Office over Bank oomy one, but to North Caro- Warrenton n ^ ilans who sre working for greater ' ' " asperity and better times'for our ~ 1?? rm population, it may be advangeous." ; j 'U L Dr. Forsi er praises Governor i > James D. Randolpl ardner's "live At Home" pro- J | Motion Picture PbJtop . am and ac vocates a "farm plan" j ; Pre# iat will furnish more of the house- i ; News Reel end Cqduw )ld and unlmal feed require- | ; Telephone iji^ ntS" ; _ *Mwn PW?*H.c Renew your subscription. Protection rPK.'\ /4oxr Vwtt sJavr Tirrwlr r\~F a Ii'-Pa JL IX'J uaj KJJ U?J VTVJku WA u Aixc wmg given to building a business, may be swept away in hours time by a fire, Good will is the only thing that can't burn, but your good will will not profit you very much if you are not in a position to carry on. That's where insurance comes in. Be Prepared CITIZENS INSURANCE II BONDING II ft. T. WATSON, President PAUL B. BELL, Unniftr Warren ton, N. 0. FIRE ? LIFE LIABILITY BONN "Consult; your T insurance Agent as you would your Doctor? Lawyer." hat (Pontiac s been increased... If you are in ' he market for a low-priced iu that combines fine ]>erfarmance and attractive ityle with assurance of enduring satisfaction?do not fail 1o see the New Series Pontiac Big Six?a finer car with a famous name I Prices, $74J end up, f. 0. i. Pontiac, Kick., t kit delivery charges. Shock chunkon sum lard ojuipemt. Bumpers and spring coven 11 slight aire coil. General Motors Time Psyment Han available at minimum rate. CootUt the delivered price at well as the list (J. <>. b.) price when comparing automobile voiiet . . , Oakland-Pontiac delivered prices include only authorised charges far freight nnd delivery and the charge for any addition at accessorial or financing desired. THE NEW SERIES I PONTIAC BIG SIX *745--s?8, | ALES COMPANY j Henderson, 9i "I i
The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.)
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Feb. 21, 1930, edition 1
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