CHAPTER XXXI. THE ARREST. Jack Percy had been lain to rest beside his father and mother and old Roger in the family cemetery at Beechwood. The rain, which fell so heavily in Oak City, extended as far as Washington, and the Percy party were shivering with cold and drenched to the skin when they returned to the hotel. Mrs. Percy’s house was rented for the summer, and Paul had secured rooms at the Arlington,—the best the house could give him, for he knew that the luxury of handsome surroundings would do much towards comforting Clarice. It was to have been their wedding day, and the sharp contrast was bitter and hard to bear. He had suggested that they be married quietly at once and go away by themselves, but Clarice would not listen. “I was not so kind to Jack while living that I can afford to insult his memory now,” she said. “Six months is as soon as I can possibly consider it.” In her heavy black she did not look much like the brilliant bride Paul had hoped to have that day, and his stay at the Arlington was anything but pleasant, and he was very glad when the day came to return home. Had he known what was before him, he would have shrunk from it in fear; but he did not know, and with every moment was drawing nearer to his fate. Some of those who saw Paul pass Miss Hansford’s cottage just before the shooting, and had heard what Elithe said, had told what they heard and saw, while the revolver, with “P. R.” upon it, had been found in Miss Hansford’s linen chest, and Oak City was in a ferment of excitement. At first, the public talked in whispers behind closed doors,—then aloud in the streets, where knots of people gathered to repeat and hear the last bit of gossip and conjecture. The suicide theory had been exploded as impossible, and the coroner and jury denounced as fools for their haste and decision; but, if Jack did not do the shooting, who did? Hundreds asked that question, and at first no one answered it, but repeated the story going the rounds so fast. Jack had knocked Paul Ralston down in the morning at the hotel. In the afternoon he had started, presumably, to see his sister. He had been traced to the Baptist Tabernacle and had taken a short cut through the woods. He was probably intoxicated and had fallen or lain down behind a clump of scrub oaks and been shot, the assassin firing low, as if he knew he was there. Paul Ralston had been very indignant at being knocked down and had used some threatening language. He had passed Miss Hansford’s cottage not long before the shot was fired and was known to have been in search of Jack. Miss Hansford and others had spoken with him. Elithe had seen him fire and throw the revolver away, and then hurry off in the direction of the woods. Jack had been found a few minutes later weltering in his blood. Seth Walker had found the revolver with “P. R.” upon it and handed it to Miss