The Black Mask — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

0 ee ee " 6 on Sh ee wt fl . 48 His valet found him with the news- paper in his hand, mouthing and trem- bling—his nerves vibrating like a taut piano wire, For the face that stared back at Blais- dell from the front page was his own face, Yet Franklin Sears’ name was under it! Til LATER Sears confessed to the murder. He told the police that he and Rollins had been chums and college mates. Rollins had fallen madly in love with Sears’ beautiful sister and had per- suaded her to go away with him under’ promise of marriage. They had gone to South America, where Rollins had amassed a fortune, and had then visited the Orient. She begged Rollins to make her his wife but he refused and finally deserted her. A serious illness followed and she sent for her brother, who promised her that he would not rest until Her betrayer had been brought to book. She died, as- sured that he would avenge her. And he had kept his word, although he had to trail Rollins all over the world before he finally ran him down in Washington Square. Blaisdell followed the developments in the Sears case with absorbed atten- tion. _He read the newspapers fever- ishly and finally decided that he could stand the suspense no longer. He de- termined to go to the Tombs, confront his counterpart and tell him the story of the nightmare, Surely there was an explanation of it all. There must be an explanation. He had decided to visit Sears the next day, when the last queer thing happened in the tragic series of happenings. The Face that Stared Back at’ Blaisdell t On the morning of Blaisdell’s intend- ed visit, Dr. Hamilton read in his morn- | ing paper that Franklin Sears, the mur- derer of Stephen R. Rollins, had com= mitted suicide in the Tombs by hanging himself to one of the bars by his sus-— penders. The paper commented upon the some- — what unusual fact that the prisoner’s watch was found on his body and ~ that it had stopped at three o’clock. It was just a few minutes past three when the body was discovered—still warm. Dr. Hamilton had scarcely finished ee reading this account when his telephone | bell rang. The excited voice of Blais- dell’s valet asked him to come at once ‘ a to his master’s apartment, as something © terrible had happened. ~ He responded at once, and when he 4 was ushered into Blaisdell’s bedroom by © the white-faced valet, he saw at once | that he could.do nothing further for his friend, Blaisdell -was dead, and it was © very evident from the stiffness of his — body that he had been dead for many ~ hours. “Tt ain’t his bein’ dead that’s so ter- rible,” said the trembling valet. “It’s— it’s—well, look there!’ He pointed to the throat of the dead 4 man. There was the distinct mark of a rope upon it and this mark extended clear around his neck. % “He—he couldn’t have hung him- | self,” quavered the valet, “because I was the first person who saw him—and — there ain’t any rope!’ Some unaccountable impulse made — Dr. Hamilton pick up Blaisdell’s watch from the dresser. : It had stopped running, the hands re- cording the hour of three o’clock. te of Bites bitin t