The Four Pools Mystery by Jean Webster Page A

I looked at it now my hope seemed to vanish and that same sickening suspicion rushed over me again. The men eyed each other silently, and I did not have to ask what they were thinking of. We turned without comments and started on our journey back to the village. The body was carried to the hotel to await the coroner's permission to take it home to Four-Pools. There was nothing more for me to do, and with a heavy heart I mounted again to return to the plantation.
    Scarcely had I left the stable yard when I heard hoofs pounding along behind me in the darkness, and Jim Mattison galloped up with two of his men.
    "If you are going to Four-Pools we will ride with you," he said, falling into pace beside me while the officers dropped behind. "I might as well tell you," he added, "that it looks black for Radnor. I'm sorry, but it's my duty to keep him under arrest until some pretty strong counter-evidence turns up."
    "Where's Cat-Eye Mose?" I cried. "Why don't you arrest him?"
    The sheriff made a gesture of disdain.
    "That's nonsense. Everyone in the county knows Cat-Eye Mose. He wouldn't hurt a fly. If he was present at the time of the crime it was to help his master, and the man who killed Colonel Gaylord killed him too. I've known him all my life and I can swear he's innocent."
    "You've known Radnor all your life," I returned bitterly.
    "Yes," he said, "I have--and Jefferson Gaylord, too."
    I rode on in silence and I do not think I ever hated anyone as, for the moment, I hated the man beside me. I knew that he was thinking of Polly Mathers, and I imagined that I could detect an undertone of triumph in his voice.
    "It's well known," he went on, half to himself and half to me, "that Radnor sometimes had high words with his father; and to-day, they tell me at the hotel, he came back alone without waiting for the others, and while his horse was being saddled he drank off two glasses of brandy as if they had been water. All the men on the veranda marked how white his face was, and how he cursed the stable boy for being slow. It was evident that something had happened in the cave, and what with finding his match box at the scene of the crime--circumstantial evidence is pretty strong against him."
    I was too miserable to think of any answer; and, the fellow finally having the decency to keep quiet, we galloped the rest of the way in silence.
    Though it must have been long after midnight when we reached the house, lights were still burning in the downstairs rooms. We rode up to the portico with considerable clamor and dismounted. One of the men held the horses while Mattison and the other followed me into the house. Rad himself, hearing the noise of our arrival, came to the door to meet us. He was quite composed again and spoke in his usual manner.
    "Hello, Arnold! Did you find him, and is the party over?"
    He stopped uncertainly as he caught sight of the others. They stepped into the hall and stood watching him a moment without saying anything. I tried to tell him but the words seemed to stick in my throat.
    "A--a terrible thing has happened, Rad," I stammered out.
    "What's the matter?" he asked, a sudden look of anxiety springing to his face.
    "I am sorry, Rad," Mattison replied, "but it is my duty to arrest you."
    "To arrest me, for what?" he asked with a half laugh.
    "For the murder of your father."
    Radnor put out his hand against the wall to steady himself, and his lips showed white in the lamp light. At the sight of his face I could have sworn that he was not acting, and that the news came with as much of a shock to him as it had to me.
    "My father murdered!" he gasped. "What do you mean?"
    "His dead body was found in the cave, and circumstantial evidence points to you."
    He seemed too dazed to grasp the words and Mattison said it twice before he comprehended.
    "Do you mean he's dead?" Rad repeated. "And I quarrelled with him last night and wouldn't make it up--and now it's too late."
    "I must warn you," the sheriff returned, "that