Show tiar 5 T A M nj AMY 1115 BY rang i CY air em inedra ca CHAPTER 1 I 1 take a country house this Is the story of how a middle aged spinster lost her mind deserted her domestic gods in the city took a furnished house for the summer out of town and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our news newspapers and detective agencies appy hapy and prosperous for 20 years I 1 had been perfectly corn com tor for table for 20 years I 1 had had the window boxes filled in the spring the carpets lifted the awnings put up and the furniture turn furniture iture covered with brown linen for as many summers I 1 had said good by to my friends and after watching their perspiring hegira had settled down to a delicious quiet in town where the mall mail comes three times a day and the v flater ater supply does not depend on a tank on the roof and then the madness seized me when I 1 look back over the months I 1 spent in Sunny sunnyside side I 1 wonder that I 1 bur survived at all As it is I 1 show the wear and tear of my harrowing ex perien per lences ces I 1 have turned very gray liddy reminded me of it only yester day by saying that a little bluing in the rinse water ater would make my hair silvery instead of a yellow white I 1 hate td be reminded of unpleasant things and I 1 snapped her off no I 1 said sharply I 1 im in not going to use bluing at my time of life or starch either liddy s nerves are gone she says since that awful summer but she has enough left goodness knows and w when hen she begins to go around with a lump in her throat all I 1 have to do is to threaten to return to sunnyside Sunny side and she is frightened into a semblance of cheerfulness from which you may judge that the summer there was any thing but a success the newspaper accounts have been so S 0 garbled and incomplete one of th them em mentioned me but once and then only as the tenant at the time the thing happened that I 1 feel it my due to tell what I 1 know mr jamie son the detective said himself he could never have done without me although he gave me little eno enoich agh credit in print L shall haye to go back several years 13 to be exact to start my story at that time my brother died leaving me his two children halsey was 11 then and gertrude was seven when hoisey halsey had finished his elec course and gertrude her her board ing school both came home to the winter gertrude came out was nothing but a succession of sitting up late at n to bring her home from things taking her to the dressmakers between naps the next day ard dis cou raging ineligible youths with either more money than brains or more brains than money by spring I 1 was mas quite tractable so when halsey sug camping in the and gertrude wanted bar harbor we compromised on a good country house u with links near neat within motor dis kanep tance of town and telephone distance of the doctor that was ho v we went to NN V e went out to inspect the property and it seemed to deserve its nime its cheerful appearing gave no cation whatever of anything iny thing out of the ordinary only one thing seemed unusual to me the housekeep el ei who had been left in charge had moved from the house to the gardener gardeners s lodge a few days before As the lodge was nas far enough away from the house it seemed to me that either fire or thieves could com complete pIete their work of destruction undisturbed the proper ty was an extensive one the house on the top of a hill which sloped away aay in great stretches of green lawn and clipped hedges to the road and across the valley perhaps a couple of miles away was the greenwood club ho ise were infatuated fhe property was owned by atul P nil armstrong the president pies ident of the traders bank who at the time we took the house NN as in tl e west with his wife and daughter and a dr walker the armsttong Anns Arms tiong family ply asician halsey knew louise arm strong had been rather attentive atten the to tier her the winter before but as halsey vas always attentive to I 1 had not thought of tt it seriously al though she was nas a charming chir ming girl I 1 knew of mr air arms armstrong t rong only agh his connection with the bani baul where the children chil chialdi dien en s money was largely in vested and through an bigly stoby about the son arnold armstrong Arm Arms shong tiong who a as reported to have toiled his fa name for a considerable amount to some bank paper ho vever irever the story had had no inhere t for me I 1 cleared halsey and gertride a away ay to a house I 1 arty and n oved ot t to sunn side the first of may the first night passed quietly enough I 1 have always been grateful grate tul for that one nights peace petee it chons what the country might be under fi ft circum circumstances never neier after that n did I 1 put my I 1 ead on my pillow with any ass ranee rance how hom lod long it would be there or on oil my shoulders for lor thit matter on the following morning liddy and mrs kal ral ton my own houses hoube ap per er I 1 had bad a difference of oiin 0 on and mrs 3 L r ils its on ie t on the 11 trim trun just t af after ter rd ri 13 1 ie e tho the b r was I 1 as taken dwar v P M C an dar V K P 4 rom do R R T unexpectedly with a pain in his right side much worse when I 1 was within hearing distance and by afternoon he was started that night the cooks cook s sister had a baby the cook seeing indecision in my face made it twins on second thought and to be short by noon the next day the house hold staff was down to liddy and myself and this in a house with 22 rooms and five baths liddy wanted to go back to the city a at once but the said that thomas johnson the armstrongs colored butler was working as a waiter walter at the greenwood club and might come back I 1 have the usual scruples about coercing peoples ants away but few of us have any conscience regarding institutions or corporations witness the way we beat railroads and street car compan les when we can so I 1 called up the club and about eight clock chomas johnson came to see me poor thomas thomasl well tt it ended by my engaging thomas on the spot at outrageous wages and with permission to sleep in the gardeners lodge empty since the house was rented the old man he was white haired alred and a little stooped but with an immense idea of his personal dignity gave me his reasons hesitatingly I 1 aint ain t sayin nothing mis innes he said his hand on the door knob but there theres s been coinson coln s on here this las few months as ain it natchal tain t one thing an taint another its jest a door squeal in here an a winder up miss rachel she quavered why there s a dozen french win dows in the drawing room and the billiard I room wing and every one opens on a porch and mary anne said that last night there was a man standing by the stable when she locked the kitchen door mary anne was a fool I 1 said sternly it there had been a man there she would have had him in the kitchen and been feeding him what was left from dinner inside of an hour from force of habit now dont don t be ridiculous lock dp vp the house and go to bed I 1 am going to read but liddy set her lips tight and stood still I 1 in not going to bed she said I 1 am going to pack up and tomorrow to morrow I 1 am going to leave you 11 do nothing of the sor sort t I 1 snapped liddy and I 1 often desire to part company but never at the same time it if you are afraid I 1 will go with you but for goodness sake don t try to hide behind me the house was a typical summer residence on an extensive scale wherever possible on the first floor the architect had done away with wit h par using arches and columns in stead the effect w was as cool and ous but scarcely cozy As liddy and I 1 went from one window to another our voices echoed back at us buncom fort ably there was plenty of light the electric plant down in the village supplied us but there were long vis tas of polished floor and mirrors which reflected us from un unexpected expect ed 14 ae T VIA R 11 F W that completed our demoralization closing there but when doors an winders gets to cuttin up capers and there theres s nobody nigh era em its it s time thomas johnson sleeps somewhat some whar s else liddy who aho seemed to be never more than ten feet anav from me that night and was afraid of her shadow in that great barn of a place screamed scie earned amed a little and turned a yellow green but I 1 am not emsily alarmed it was vas entirely in lain nain I 1 le presented to tl TI amab u that we ni ei e alone and that he would have to stay in the house that night he ile was politely firm but he m would come over early the next morning and if I 1 gave him a key he would come in ame to get some bort sort of bieak bicak tast fast I 1 tood on the hige veranda and watched him sl along down doan the shadowy drive with mingled feelings irritation urit itri atlon tation at his co ard ce and thankfulness at get ting him im at ail all I 1 am not ashamed ahamed to sa that I 1 double locked the ta la I 1 door when I 1 went in ou can lock up the lest iest of the house arid and go to bed liddy I 1 said severely i ou give me he the creeps stand ng there k N woman oman of ours oun age ou ht to have better sense it usual ly braces braced liddy to mention her age she owns to 40 which is absurd her mother cooked for my grandfather giand father and liddy must be it least as old as i but that night she refused to brace you re not going to ask me to lock corners until I 1 felt some of liddy s foolishness communicate itself to me the house was very long a gle in general form with the main en trance in the center ot of the long side the brick paved entry opened into a short hall td the right of which sepa rated only by a row of pillars was a huge living room beyond that was the drawing room and in the end the billiard room off the billiard room in the extreme right wing was a den or c A with a small hall open in ing on the east veranda and from there went up a narrow circular stair case liddy and I 1 got as tar far as the card room and turned on all the lights I 1 tried the small entry door there aich opened on the veranda and ex shined the windows everything was secure and liddy a little leas less ner ous now had just pointed out to me the disgraceful dusty condition of the hardwood har dood floor when suddenly he 1 gats went nent out we waited a moment I 1 think liddy was stunned with fright or she would have screamed and then I 1 clutched her by the arm and po anted to one of the windows opening on the porch the sudden change threw the window into relief an oblong of grayish light and us a figure standing close peering in AS ks I 1 looked it darted across the ver anda and out of sight in th darkness CHAPTER 11 II A link cuff button liddy s knees seemed to give away under her without a sound she sank down leaving me staring at the win dow in petrified amazement liddy began to moan under her breath and in my excitement I 1 reached down and shook her stop it I 1 whispered its only a woman maybe a maid of the arm strongs get up and help me find the door she groaned again very well isaid I 1 said then III have to leave you here I 1 in going she moved at that and holding to my sleeve we felt our way with nu berous collisions to the billiard room and from there to the drawing room the lights came on then and with the long french windows I 1 had a creepy feeling that each one sheltered a peering face in fact in the light of what happened afterward I 1 am pretty certain we were under surveillance during the entire ghostly evening lv e hurried ovir tho the rest of the locking lockin guit up and got upstairs as quickly as we could I 1 left the lights all on and our footsteps echoed ta ca vernou sly liddy had a stiff neck the next morning from looking back over her shoulder and she refused to go 90 to 0 o bed A let me stay in your dressing room miss she begged if it you don dont t sit in the ball hall outside the door I 1 in not going to be murdered with my eyes shut it was 11 0 clock when I 1 finally pro pre pared tor for bed in spite of my assumption of indifference I 1 locked the door into the nail nall and finding the tran som did not cath I 1 put a chair cau call before the door it was not necessary to rouse liddy and climbing up put on the ledge of the tran som a sm small all dressing mirror so that any movement of the frame would send it crashing down then secure in my precautions I 1 went to bed I 1 did not go to sleep at once liddy disturbed me just as I 1 was growing drowsy by coming in and peering un der the bed she was afraid to speak howe however er because of her previous snubbing and went back stopping in the doorway to sigh dl dymally mally somewhere down stairs a clock with a chime sang away the hours eleven thirty forty five twelve and then the lights went out to stay the casanova electric company shuts up shop and goes home to bed at mid night when one has a party I 1 be lieve it is 1 customary to fee the corn com pany party which will drink hot coffee and keep awake a couple of hours longer but the lights viete we a gone tor for good that night liddy had gone to sleep as I 1 knew she would she was a very e person always awake and I 1 leady eady to talk when she wash t wanted an and d dozing off to sleep when she was I 1 called her once or twice the only I 1 re suit sult being an explosive snore that threatened her very wInd windi ipe lipe then I 1 got up and lighted a bedroom candle my bedroom and dressing room were above the big living room on the first floor on oil the second floor a long coN condilor lilor rn the bength of the house with rooms opening from both sides in the wings were small cor egr riders crossing the main one t h e plan was simplicity itself and just as I 1 got back into bed I 1 heard a sound from the east wing ving apparently that made me stop frozen with one bedroom slipper halt half off and listen it wag was a rattling metallic sound squad and it reverberated along the empty halls like the crash of doom it was for ill the world as it if something heavy per haps a piece of steel had rolled clat terin bering 0 and jangling down the hard wood stairs leading to the card room in the silence that followed liddy stirred and snored again I 1 was ex aspe rated first she kept me awake by silly alarms then when she was needed deeded she slept like joe jefferson or pip rip they are always the same to me at I 1 went in and aroused her and I 1 give her credit for being wide awake the minute I 1 spoke get up I 1 said it if you don it want to be murdered in our bed where how she yelled bously and jumped up there theres s somebody in the house I 1 said get up well have to go to the telephone not out in the hall halll she gasped oh miss rachel not out in the hall I 1 trying to hold mo me back but I 1 am a large woman and liddy Is small we got to the door somehow and liddy held a brass andiron ahl h it was all she could do to lift let a oe ole brain anybody with I 1 listened and hearing nothing opened the door a little and peered into the hall it was a black void full of terrible tion and my candle only emphasized the gloom liddy squealed and drew me back again and as the door slammed the mirror I 1 had put on the transom came down and hit her on the head that completed our de it was some time before I 1 could persuade her she had not been attacked from behind by a burglar and when hen she found the mirror smashed on the floor she wasn gasn t much better TU VL |