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The Mystery
OF --^-
Carney-Croft
By
JOSEPH BROWN COOKE
(Copyright, 1907, by Siory-l'ros* Corporation.;
CHAPTER XX.
Innocence Established
Miss Carney was not at breakfast,
nor did she show herself during the
day, and my inquiries concerning her
elicited the information that she was
constantly with Miss Weston, whose
condition bad become truly alarm
ing.
I wrote to John Carney, as his sis
ter had asked me to do, telling him
all th£rt 1 knew of Miss Weston's con
dition and of her strange connection
with the mystery of Carney-Croft
which, for the first time, I recited to
him in full. Moreover, on the bare
chance that he might, through his
previous intimacy with Miss Weston,
be in possession of knowledge that
would give me a clew if not actually
explain the present Inexplicable oc
currences, I asked him to cable me
immediately any facts that might help
to clear up the situation and put
me on the right track in my war
against the Bruce woman and her
allies.
I did this, hardly thinking that he
could be of any material assistance to
mo in my investigations, but, rather
than leave any stone unturned, I re
lated In detail the events of the last
few months, not omitting my experi
ence of the morning in the little hill
side graveyard, and I closed by urging
him most earnestly to return home
by the first steamer.
This letter I posted at once, so
that It would catch the next mail boat
for England, and, to make sure that
it would reach him promptly, I cabled
to his bankers that an important let
ter was on its way and asked them to
recall him at once to London if he
was at any distant point.
When these matters were attended
to I again set to work to organize a
plan of campaign against the liruce
gang, and, as a preliminary step, 1
went into the village and made all
the inquiries that 1 judiciously oould
concerning her and her character.
To ray surprise I found that she
was respected and held in the high
est esteem by tho townspeople, and
prominent in all the good work of
the parish. Some of the people even
said that she gave so much of her
meager income to charity that she
often suffered herself for the ordi
nary comforts of life.
As t. Jenks, 1 could only learn
that he was an honest, trustworthy
fellow, that he was ardently devoted
to the Widow Bruce, but, with it all,
1 could not find a soul to say a word
against the character of either; unless
Jenks' keenness in striking a bar
gain, and the businesslike way in
which he brought home the intoxi
cated frequenters of Hoskins' hotel
when they had the money for their
fare, and left them to get home as
best they could when they had not,
could be laid up against him as a
crime.
His own occasional potations seem
ed to be entirely overlooked by the
townspeople in general, or else whol
ly unknown to them, and, taking
everything into consideration, Jenks
ueemcd to be regarded by the com
munity as a pretty fair sort of a citi
zen.
With these facts In my mind I tried
to reconcile the doings of tho early
morning, as well as the other hap
penings of which I was cognizant,
with the reputations borne by Jenks
and the liruce woman, and I freely
confess that I soon became complete
ly bewildered.
It must bo admitted that I had no
positive assurance that the little
graves up on the hill contained the
bodies of infants, except that their
general appearance suggested as
much, and the fragments of bone
that I had seen served as a mute wit
ness of sonic ghastly crime.
MacArdel, too, had identified the
rjor of the rags beyond all question of
doubt, at least as far as he was con
cerned, but it still must be remem
bered that I had not opened tho par
cel and that' I had no way of know
ing that it contained anything more
than rags, as did the one that we
had examined so carefully in the sum
mer.
The more I thought of it the less I
was able to make out of it, and, final
ly, as 1 had determined to take a
walk, and was leaving the house for
this purpose, my astonishment was in
creased by meeting the widow face
to face in the hallway as I descended
the stairs.
She was dressed neatly in freshly
laundered calico, with an immaculate
apron of generous propostions, and, in
her hand, she held a tray with a cup
and some plates on it. We gazed at
t>ach other for an instant and then
I said, in as unconcerned a tone
as I could innstor up for tho occa
sion:
"fJood afternoon, Mrs. Bruce. Do
you remember me? 1 am Mr. Ware,
you know."
"Oh, yes, sir," she replied, bowing
pleasantly as shr> spoke, "I remember
you very well ind-Jid. sir."
1 smiled at this in spite of myself
and estopped her as she would have
passed me and gone up the stairs.
"What are you doing here, Mrs.
llruce?" I asked. "1 had no idea of
meeting you in this way."
"Why you know, sir, I was a nurse
in the old country, sir," she returned,
in the same sweetly modulated voice
j that 1 had noticed before, "and when
the young lady took so bad, sir, they
j aont for me to take care of her until
i the 'ospital nurses came from town."
"Who sent for you?" I continued
curiously, again impeding her prog
ress up the stairs.
"Miss Carney, of course," she re
joined. "She asked the rector and he
recommended me most 'iglily, sir. YSu
know I do most of the nursing in crit
ical case# 'ereabouts, when I can find
the time for it, sir."
She caught her breath at. this last
clause, as if she would have wished it
unsaid, and blushed violently as 1 re
marked: "You are very busy most of
the time, I presume?"
"Yes ,»ir, I am, sir," she retortori,
defiantly, "and my business is my
own, sir, and it ill becomes outsiders
to meddle with it!"
With these remarkable* words she
swept past me and proceeded to Miss
Weston's room with all the impor
tance of an idealized Sairy Gamp from
whom the objectionable qualities had
been eliminated.
As I watched her ascend the stairs
with a little self-reliant poise to her
head and a manner of absolute non
chalance, I came to the sudden and
positive conclusion that the woman
had not a bad trait in her makeup,
and that the only way to deal with
her was to approach her frankly and
in all honesty of purpose. I was con
vinced, too, that Miss Weston had
played no small part in persuading
Miss Carney to send for her as a
"Wal!" Jenks Was Saying Doggedly.
nurse, and I wondered how and
through what sort of argument she
had been induced to admit to her
house a woman whom she had every
reason to suspect of bearing her no
great amount of good will.
From the housekeeper, who chanc
ed to pass through the hall, I learned
that the nurses from town were ex
pected on the evening train, and that
Mrs. Bruce would go home as soon
as they arrived, and I determined to
see her and talk with her that very
night at her cottage.
Shortly after dinner, which, like all
the other meals of the day, had been
conspicuous by Miss Carney's ab
sence, I again started out in the di
rection of the widow's house, and ar
rived just in time to find her and
Jenks in heated arguments at the
gate.
I slackened my pace as I saw them
standing in the light of the doorway
and, feeling that the circumstances
warranted me in playing the part of
eavesdropper, I stepped stealthily lor
ward in the shadow of the shrubbery
until I was within hearing distance.
"Wal!" Jenks was saying doggedly,
"til' hull thing's baout teh come aout
'fore long an' ye might's well tell me
naow an' liev done wit it!"
"I'll tell you when the time comes,
Sam," she said, soothingly, and then
she added something in a tone so
low that I could not hear.
"Course I'll trust ye, Matilda," said
Jenks earnestly and in evident re
sponse to her last remark. "Hain't I
alius trusted ye frum th' start; an'
got them pesky bundles fur ye, an'
buried 'em, too, 'thaout never askin'
no questions? But I tell ye, Matilda,
th' hull thing's comin' aout 'fore long,
an', what's more, that lawyer cuss
wuz up on tli' hill this mornin' right
after we left, an' dug up th' last one
| we planted."
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 1937.
"What!" she gasped, seizing him by
the arm, "did he open the parcel an
see what was ill it or—or take it
away with him, Ham?"
"No," said the man,"he didn't do
nuthin' to it, 'ccpt scratch th' dirt off
th' top, an' when he got a whiff of it
I guess it wuz all he wanted, fur when
1 seon him lie was a-comin' daown th'
hill liki! th' old Nick wuz after him. I
surmised what he'd been up to, an'
so 1 went back an' covered it up
again."
"Thank God for that," she mur
mured, "and you did not touch it
or open it yourself, did you, Sam?"
"No," he replied. "I jest left it lay,
like you've alius told me to do, an'
covered it up again 'thaout askin' no
questions, one way nor lother. But
I tell ye, Matilda, it's all goin' teh
be known 'fore long, an' I do wish
ye'd tell me naow, 'fore it's too
late."
"Yes!" I exclaimed, stepping sud
denly before them, "and I wish you'd
tell me, too, Mrs. Bruce."
They sprang back in amazement,
and for an instant I thought that
Jenks was going to strike at me, but
I continued earnestly:
"1 have come here as your friend
to-night to ask and beg of you an ex
planation of this mystery that is up
setting the whole place. I know, Mrs.
Bruce, that you can put everything to
rights if you will, and 1 am prepared
to do almost anything that you want
me to if you will only made a clean
breast of the whole business. 1 don't
believe there's been any very great
wrong on your part, Mrs. Bruce, al
though I must admit that I did think
so at one time, and I want to say now
that I am sincerely sorry for the man
ner in which Dr. MacArdel and I
treated you both last summer."
They said notihng, and after paus
ing for a moment, I continued:
"As I say, I come here as a friend
to ask you to explain once
and for all, or at least go away and
leave us in peace."
"Oh, I can't go away, sir!" ex
claimed Mrs. Bruce. "I can't do that,
sir, whatever you ask, and I can't
tell you anything, either, for the pres
ent, sir."
"Oh, nonsense!" I cried impatient
ly. "You can tell me just as well as
not, and I give you my" word that
you can trust me in every way if you
will only take the right view of this
thing and side with me in helping to
rid Carney-Croft of all further an
noyance,"
"No," she returned, weeping silent
ly. "I can't tell you anything now, sir,
although I say it with no disrespect.
As you are a friend of Miss Carney
and the other lady, don't ask it of
me, I beg."
"The other lady?" I sxclaimed in
amazement, and with some sudden
suspicion in my tone. "Do you mean
to say that you don't remember her
name when you know her well enough
to have written her so many letters
that she is perfectly familiar with
your hand, and you have even had
her here in your house?"
"Written her letters?" cried Mrs.
Bruce in a bewildered tone. "Why,
sir, 1 —"
Here she was interrupted by Jenks,
who suddenly broke out into guffaws
of uncontrollable mirth.
Mrs. Bruce eyed him in a puzzled
way for a moment, as if she thought
he had lost his mind and then, com
ing to my side, she drew my head
toward her and whispered in my
ear:
"In Clod's name, sir, trust me as you
would yourself and ask no questions
about the letters or anything else.
Do this, for pity's sake, and for the
sake of the sweet young lady you
love."
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
I *
U J u
TRELLIS FOR GARDEN CROPS.
Is Easily Constructed and Provides
Ample Support for Plants.
After using bean polos, slat frames,
and wooden trellises of one kind or
another for years; until the supply of 1
pol* s was exhausted and prices for .
wooden frames became prohibitive, 1
began using a combined wire and
string trellis, such as is shown by the
drawing, says a writer In Farming.
This arrangement serves equally as
well for either beans tomatoes, peas,
cucumbers (under glass), or other
climbing plants, being especially do
sirable for sweet peas, nasturtiums,
fancy gourds, etc. It is desirable, too,
because all of the material used in
its construction, with the exception
of the string, may be used year after
year.
Those who have never trellised up
their tomatoes, either for home use or
for a select market supply, do not
realize what a very considerable gain
in yield and quality is secured by this
method. I do not hesitate to say
that under ordinary conditions I have
been able to more than double the
yield, and in some cases triple the
marketable product, over the bush
method, to say nothing of the in
crease in quality, which invariably se
cures for the grower the top of the
market, it being possible to secure an
earlier and more even ripening and
greater uniformity in the size of
the fruit; all of which are desirable
factors in gardening for profit. In
tying up, many of the bloomless lat
erals may be cut out, giving the main
vine more strength and allowing the
sun readier access to the fruit to hast
en ripening. Trellised fruit is always
bright and clean, and almost exempt
from blight and rot. In planting to
matoes for trellising the plants are
set at less than half the distance usual
when grown in the ordinary way.
This trellis may be made to cover
almost any length of row; the longer
the"run" the stronger the end posts
and the "dead-man" or guy post will
need to be. The end posts should be
solid and about nine feet long, so they
may be set two and a half or three
TW®
/ tJ
Combined Wire and String Trellis.
feet in the ground, or even deeper,
depending on length of row, with at
least six feet above ground—this
height applies especially to the tall
growing lima and string beans. It is
best to sharpen and drive the post
but if set in hole tamp firmly, and
plant a dead-man eight or ten feet
from post in line of row. This may
be a large stone or chunk of wood,
buried deep enough to hold the
strain. The dead-man and top post
are connected by two doubled strands
of heavy wire, that may be twisted
with a stick in the centter totake up
any slack remaining after wires are
stretched and remedy any sag from
strain after vines grow heavy.
Stretch the bottom wires first, ten
to 14 inches from the groi*ud, and se
curely fasten. Next stretch the top
wire five and a half to six feet from
ground, taking extra care to have it
as taut as it can be made. Drive
stakes or strips one by two inches
firmly in the ground along the line
of wire every twenty to thirty feet
and staple both top and bottom wires
to them. These serve to support the
weight of crop and hold the trellis
against winds.
Just before the vines are ready for
the first tying put on the string, or
trellis proper. I prefer some soft
string, such as wool twine, which af
fords the tendril of the plant a firm
. hold beside being cheap. The distance
that these strings are spaced apart at
top and bottom will depend on the
crop to be trellised; ten to twelve
inches for beans, when plated in
drills and 18 to 20 inches for toma
toes, for which a he.tvier twine should
be used. In passing over the wire
tiie twine must be knotted to make it
cling to one place, else the first gust
of wind will blow it into bunches and
so make it worthless. The knot that
I use is simple, after one gets the
"bang" of the twist. Pass the twine
up over the wire, carry the ball over
the opposite side and down, then up
and over both the wire and the string
' Just laid over, then down and through
the loop left large enough for the pur
pose and draw taut, when ylu will
have a simple crossed knot on top,
not under the wire, thai, will depend
for its security on the tautness of the
string. The same sort of knot is
made at bottom, except that the move
ment is reversed. Since I have had
considerable trouble caused by the
slipping of the string as a result of
careless workmen. I suggest that
enough pains bo taken with this part
of the work to insure the permanency
of the twine when once placed. If you
will try one of these easily made trel
lises you will find that the satisfac
tion and ease with which you are able
to gather the crop will more than pay
for tln> trouble and slight expense in
putting it up.
HEADS OF APPLE TREEB.
Locality Har. Much to Do with Style
of Growth.
Whether the heads of apple trees
should be compact or sparsely formed
depends to some extent on the local
ity in which the trees are grown.
There are lands of sunshine and
th'To are laiida of cloudy skies. In
the states where much cloudy weather
exists during the growing season it is
necessary for the trees to catch as
much sunshine as possible, for the
lipening of the fruit and especially for
its coloring. In some of the states it
is advisable to prune severely and
thin out Hie brunches to make it pos
sible for the sun to get at the fruit.
That condition is true of parts of New
England and parts of the Pacific
states toward the northwest. Even
in the eastern part of the United
States it pays to keep the heads of
apple trees fairly well thinned out.
As we go west toward the Rocky
mountains the conditions change in
favor of the dense and compact heads.
The sun shines eternally during the
day time in several of the states west
of the Missouri. The heat injures
the fruit where it pours upon it unob
structed, and the sunlight is so abund
ant that it colors up the fruit with
little or no trimming of the limbs.
The question of high and low heads
is generally settled in favor of low
heads, especially in the western
states where the wind blows with
great force. The low heads protect
the fruit from being switched off and
where the trees are close together the
wind that blows upon an orchard is
deflected upward by the thick, low
heads, while if the heads are high it
passes under the trees and through
them to a great extent. This greatly
increases the danger of the trees be
ing broken by the wind.
There was a time when the whole
sentiment was in favor of high headed
trees, says Farmers' Review. The
farmers wanted enough room under
the trees so they could plow about
them and drive about them easily
with the farm team and with the farm
implements. For several generations,
therefore, the farmers planted their
trees so they could use the ground for
gardening. Those that remember the
old New England orchards remember
the tall-trunked trees, some of them
so long that a good sized ladder was
required to reach the first limbs.
There was no danger of the horses
hitting their heads when they plowed
about them.
But few of those orchards are seen
now. They passed away with the com
ing of a more intensive agriculture.
Science pronounced them too expen
sive in the way of time required for
harvesting their fruit. The Higli-Top
Sweeting that bore apples at a long
distance from the ground 110 longer
lias to be climbed and shaken to get
the fruit. It is no more, but in its
place stands a tree with head close tc
the ground and with a trunk so short
that there is not room enough be
tween it and the ground to do any
climbing.
The modern mathematician has fig
ured out that the low-headed tree
costs far less to care for and gives as
good general results, though its fruit
may not be so highly colored. It Is
easy to trim, for the trimmer can
reach about all the limbs from the
ground. It is easy to spray, and less
spraying material is j>rown away
than in the case of th» taller tree. It
costs little to gather its fruit, and the
fruit is less bruised when gathered.
GOOD VEGETABLE BOX.
The Sieve Bottom Aids in Getting Rid
of Dirt From Roots.
Make an opening in the bottom of a
grocery box, writes a subscriber to
Farm Journal, and cover it with the
stout wire screening used for cellar
windows, having about a half-inch
mesh. Nail on two handles made
llfti
S;S:3!s:H
jIJJNr
Box With Screen Bottom.
from old hoops, that will swing down
out of the way at the ends. Use this
box when gathering vegetables from
theh garden and wash these by Im
mersing in a tub of water or by pour
ing water over them.
Care in Feeding.
if the hogs are in a dry pen, start
in by feeding them a little green
clover at once. As soon as the corn
is hip high, give them a little of it to
eat. It may not add a single ounce of
flesh to their carcase:;, but it will
accustom them to eating it so they
can be fed a great deal of green corn
wheu it becomes large enough. The
ons great mistake in feeding green
corn is that the change from dry feed
to it is made too quickly. By start
| ing in gradually now with corn and
green clover, this rapid change can Do
avoided.
Spray.
Do not forget to attend religiously
to the spraying. The air and soil are
filled with all kinds of injects and
fruit disease genus and the only way
the. grower can combat these diseases
I Is by the use of the spray pump.
Us Pe-ru-na Useful
for Catarrh?
Should a licfc of the ingredients of Pe
runa ba submitted to any medical ex
port, of -whatever school or nationality,
lio would bs obliged to admit without
reserve that each one of them was of un
doubted value iu cbroric catarrhal dis
eases, and had stood the test of many
years' experience in the treatment of
such diseases. THERE CAS BE EO
DISPUTE ABOUT THIS WHAT
EVER. Peruna is composed of the most
efficacious aud universally used herbal
remedies for catarrh. Every ingredient
of Peruna has a reputation of its own
in the cure cf eome phase of catarrh.
Peruna brings to thohome the COM
BINED KNOWLEDGE OF SEVERAL
SCHOOLS OF MEDICINE in the treat
ment of catarrhal diseases; brings to
the home the scientific skill and knowl
edge o 112 the modern pharmacist; and last
but not least, brings to the home the vast
and varied experience of Dr. Hartman,
in the useof catarrh remedies, and in the
treatment of catarrhal diseases.
The fact is, chronic catarrh is a dis
ease which is very prevalent. Many
thousand people know they have
chronic catarrh. They have visited
doctors over and over again, and been
told that their case is one of chronic
catarrh. It may be of the nose, throat,
lungs, stomach or some other internal
organ. There is no doubt as to the na
ture of the disease. The only trouble
is the remedy. This doctor has tried to
cure them. That doctor has tried to
prescribe for them.
BUT THEY ALL FAILED TO
BBINC* ANY RELIEF.
Dr. Hartman's idea i 3 that a catarrh
remedy can be made on a large scale,
as he is making it; that it can be made
honestly, of the purest drugs and of
the strictest uniformity. His idea is
that this remedy can be supplied direct
ly to the people, and no moro be charged
for it than is necessary for the
handling of it.
No other household remedy so uni
versally advertised carries upon the
label the principal active constituents,
showing that Peruna invites the full
Inspection of tho critics.
I —————
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