XXIV
AN OLD CATASTROPHE IS RECALLED
his idea as advanced by Hope was fantastical to a degree; yet it made its impression upon me and was still in my mind when I opened the evening paper for the latest news concerning the Gillespie murder. The first paragraph I encountered proved that I had not warned her an hour too soon of Leighton Gillespie's position.
"Fresh disclosures in the Gillespie Poisoning Case. Leighton Gillespie, long regarded as the most respectable and hitherto best-esteemed son of the murdered man, discovered to have been for years the owner, and at times the occupant, of a little house in one of the Oranges, where, unknown to the world at large——"
Here followed some open allusions to Mille-fleurs.
Other statements were added to this, among them a résumé of the facts advanced to me the evening before by Rosenthal. At the end were these lines:
"The District Attorney has the whole matter in charge, and the public is promised some decided action to-morrow."