Show ti ir arc LM 5 TA I 1 L B K njg tj v inN CHAnT BY R of bmw f CHAPTER I 1 I 1 take a country house home this la 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 0 town and found herself involved in ona of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous for 20 years I 1 had been bean perfectly comfortable 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 covered with brown linen for as aa many summers I 1 had bad said goodby good by to my friends and after wat watching ehIng their perspiring hegira had settled down to a delicious quiet in town where the mall mail comes three times a day and the water 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 alde I 1 wonder that I 1 survived at all As it is I 1 show the wear and tear of my harrowing experiences perien ces I 1 have turned very gray liddy reminded mo me of it only yesterday by saying that a little bluing in the rinse water would make my hair silvery instead of a yellow white I 1 hate to be reminded of unpleasant things and I 1 snapped her off no I 1 said sharply im not going to use bluing at my time of life or starch either addys nerves aro are gone she abe says since that awful summer but she has en enough ough left goo goodness dresa knows I 1 and when she begins to go around with a lump in her throat all I 1 have to do Is to threaten to return to Sunny sunnyside side and she Is frightened into a som semblance blance of cheerfulness from which you may judge that the summer there was waa anything but a success suc cesa tile newspaper accounts have been go BO garbled and Jn completo one of them mentioned me but ci once nee 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 air jamieson the detective said himself he be could n never ver have dono done without me although he gave me lue little enough credit in print I 1 shall have to go back several years 13 to be exact to start my story at that time my brother died leaving me hla hie two children was 11 then ar aril JI gertrude was waa seven when calgey bad finished hla his electrical course and gertrude tier her boarding achong both came homo home to stay the winter gertrude came out was nothing put at a succession or of sitting ap la late to at night to bring her home from things taking her to the dressmakers between naps the tha next day and discouraging cou raging ineligible youths youtha with either more money moncy than brains or more brains than money fly by spring I 1 was waa quite tractable so when suggested camping in the adirondacks and gertrude wanted bar harbor we compromised compromise don on a good country house with links near within motor distance of town and telephone distance of the doctor that was liow how we went to we went out to inspect the tha property and it seemed boomed to deserve its name its cheerful appearance gave no indication whatever of anything out of tile the ordinary only one thing seemed unusual to me the housekeeper who had been left in charge had moved fro from it the house to tho the gardeners lodge rew a few days daya before As the lodge was far enough away from the house it seemed to me that either lire fire or thieves could complete their work of destruction undisturbed the property was an extensive one the house on the top of a hill which sloped away in great stretches of green lawn and clipped hedges to the road and across tho the valley perhaps n couple of miles away was tho the greenwood club house gertrude and were infatuated the property was owned by paul armstrong the president of the traders bank who at the time lime we took tho the house was in tile the west witt with I 1 his wife and daughter and a dr walker the armstrong family pity phy siclyn know louise armstrong had been rather attentive to her hee the winter before but as wita wan always attentive to somebody I 1 had not thought of it seriously although she was waa a chr charming girl I 1 knew of mr air ArmB armstrong trong only brough ough ill his connection with the bank where tho tho childrens money was largely invested and through an ugly story about the tha son eon arnold armstrong who WM was reported to have forged tits hla fathers name for a considerable amount t to some bank paper Ilo however wever the story had had no interest for me I 1 cleared halsey and gertrude away to a house party and moved out to Sunny sunnyside side the first of 0 may the first night assed quietly enough I 1 have always been grateful for that one nights pence it shows allow B what tho the country might be under fu arable circumstances never after that list night did I 1 put my head on my pillow with any assurance how long it would be thero there or on my shoulders lor that matter on tho the following tu morning orning liddy and mra alston Il It my own it had a difference of opinion n and ad tire mrs It alston left on the 11 train just after i achon I urke the butler was taken D FC F C 3 st D R F unexpectedly with a pain in his right side ide much worse when I 1 was within hearing distance and by afternoon he was started that night the cooks sister had a baby the cook seeing indecision la in my face made it twins on second thou thought glit and to be short by noon the next day the household staff was down to liddy and myself and this in a house with 22 rooms and five baths 1 liddy wanted to go mackto hack ito the city at once but the said that thomas johnson Johna orn the Armst armstrongs colored butler was waa working as a waiter at the greenwood club and might come back I 1 have the usual scruples about coercing peoples servants away but few of us have any conscience regarding institutions or corporations witness the way we beat railroads and street car companies when we can so I 1 called up the club and about eight thomas johnson came to see aee mo me poor thomast thomasl well it ended by my engaging thomas on the spot at outrageous wa wages and with permission to sleep in the gardeners lodge empty since the house was rented the old man ho he was white haired and a little a stooped but with an immense idea of his personal dignity gave me his reasons hesitatingly 1 I aint sayin nothing wis mis innes he be said ills his hand on the doorknob door knob but theres been goans on here this las few months as aa aint natchal taint one thing an taint another its jest a door squeal ln here an a winder closing there but when doors an winders gets geta to cuttin up capers and theres nobody nigh en em its ita time thomas johnson sleeps else liddy who seemed to be never wore more than ten feet away from me that night and was aft all of her shadow in that great barn of a place screamed a little and turned a yellow green hut flat I 1 am not easily alarmed it was entirely tit in vain I 1 represented represent pd to thomas that we were alone and that he would have to stay rn the house that night ile he was politely firm but ho be would come over early tile the next morning ind and it I 1 gave him a key he would como come in time to get some sort of breakfast I 1 stood on an the hugo huge veranda and watched him shuttle along down the shadowy alta drive with mingled feelings irritation at ills hla cowardice and thankfulness ass at getting him at all ail I 1 am not ashamed to say that I 1 double locked the hall door when I 1 went in you can lock up tile tho rest of the house and go to bed liddy I 1 said severely you give me the creeps standing there A woman of your age ought to havo have better ben delno 3 it usually braces liddy to mention her a age ge she bho owns owna to ID 40 which Is absurd iler her mother cooked tor for my grandfather find and liddy must bo be at least as old as S f out but that night she refused to braco brace youre not going to ask roe me to lock up miss rachell rachel she quavered why theres a dozen french win darwa in the drawing room and the billiard room wing and every one ona opens on a porch and mary anne said that last night there waa wa a ma man a a tending standing by the stable when she he locked the kitchen door mary alary anne was a fool I 1 said sternly it if there had been a man there she would have had him in the kitchen and been feeding hii him n what was left from dinner inside of an hour from force of habit now dont be ridiculous lock up ap the house and go to bed I 1 am going to read but liddy set her lips tight and stood still im not going to bed she a said a id 1 I am going to pack up and tom tomorrow to m morrow orrow I 1 am going to leave do nothing of the so sort rt I 1 snapped liddy and I 1 often des desire ire to part company but never at the same time it you are afraid d 1 I 1 w will I 1 g go 0 with you but for goodness goodies W is sako a k 0 d dont 0 n t try to hide behind me r tho the house was a typical s ummer summer residence on an extensive ic scale ale wherever possible on the first at floor the architect had done away with partitions tit ions using arches and columns instead the eff effect act was cool and spacious but scarcely cozy As aa liddy and I 1 went from one window to another our voices echoed back at us uncomfortably fort ably there was plenty of light the electric plant down jai ini tho the village supplied us but there were long vistas of polished floor and mirrors which reflected us its from unexpected 11 02 6 that completed our demoralization corners until I 1 felt some of f liddye foolishness communicate itself to me the house was very long a rectangle in general form with the main entrance in the center of the long side the brick paved entry opened into a short shor khall hall to the right of which separated only by a row rov of pillars pl llara was a huge living room beyond that wa waff the drawing room and in the end the billiard room loom off the billiard room in tho the extreme right wing was a den or with a small hall opening on the east veranda and from there went up a narrow circular staircase liddy and I 1 got as far as the and turned on all the lights I 1 tried the small entry door dool there which opened on the veranda and examined the windows everything was secure and liddy laddy a little leas nervous vo 18 now had just pointed out to me tho the disgraceful dusty condition of the hard hardwood wood floor when suddenly the lights went out we waited a moment I 1 think liddy laddy was stunned with fright or she would have screamed and then I 1 clutched her hei by the arm and pointed to one of the windows opening on the porch the sudden change bange threw the window into an oblong of grayish light and showed allowed us a figure standing close peering in As I 1 looked it darted across the veranda and out of eight la in taw tl darkness CHAPTER II 11 A link cuff button liddye knees seemed to give away under her without a sound she sank down leaving me staring at the window 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 woma 11 maybe a maid vi ol the arm strongs at get up and help belp me flud find the door she groaned again very well I 1 said then ill have to leave you here im going she moved at that and holding to in my y 81 sleeve e ve we felt our way with nu nn berous collisions to the billiard room a and nd from there to the drawing room the lights came on then and with the long french windows uns buttered I 1 had a creepy feeling that each ont on sheltered a peering face in fact it in the light of what happened afterward ard I 1 am pretty certain we were under s surveillance u during the entire ghostly e evening we hurried over the rest ol of the locking up and got upstairs as ag quickly as we could I 1 left the lights lighte all on and our footsteps echoed ca vernou sly liddy had a stiff neck the next morning from looking back over her shoulder and she refused to go to bed let me stay in your dressing room miss rachel she begged it if you dont ill sit in tile the hall outside the door im not going to lc be murdered with my eyes shut it was 11 when I 1 finally pro pared for bed in spite of my assume tion of indifference I 1 locked the door into the hall and finding the tran som did not catch I 1 put a chair cau can bously before the door it was not necessary to rouse liddy and climb ing up put on the ledge of the tran som a small dressing mirror so sa that tiny any movement of the frame would send it crashing down then secure in il my precautions I 1 went to bed I 1 did not go to sleep at once once liddy disturbed me just as I 1 was growing drowsy by coming in and peering under the bed she was afraid to speak however because of her previous snubbing and went back stopping in the doorway to sigh dismally somewhere downstairs down stairs a look 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 midnight when ono one has haa a party I 1 believe I 1 it t Is customary to tee fee the company which will drink ho hot t coffee and keep awake a couple of hours bours longer hut but the lights were gone gona tor for good that night liddy had gone to sleep as I 1 knew she would she was a very unreliable person always awake and ready to talk when she wanted and dozing off to sleep when she was I 1 called her once or twice the only result being an explosive snore that threatened her very windpipe then I 1 got up and lighted a bedroom candle my aly bedroom and dressing room were above the big living room loom on the first floor on the second floor a long corridor rn the length of tile the house with rooms opening from both sides in the wings were small corridors crossing the main one the plan was simplicity itself and just as I 1 got back into bed I 1 heard a sound front the easa wing apparently that made me stop frozen with one bedroom slipper half off and listen it was a rattling metallic sound boand und and it 11 reverberated along the empty halls like the crash of doom it was for all the world as it if something heavy perhaps a piece of steel had rolled clattering and jangling down the hardwood stairs leading to the tha card room in the silence that followed liddy stirred and snored again I 1 was ex Q aspe rated first she kept me awake by silly alarms then when she was needed she slept like joe jefferson or rip hip they are always the same to me I 1 went tit in and aroused her and I 1 give her credit for being wide awake the minute I 1 spoke get up I 1 said if you dont want to be murdered in your bed where ilow how she yelled vociferously and jumped up rhems somebody in the house I 1 said get clet up well have to go to the telephone not out in the halll she gasped oh aless rachel not out in the hall halil trying to hold bold me back hut but I 1 am a large woman and liddy is small we got to the door somehow and liddy laddy held it a brass andiron which it was waa all sho she could do to lift let amae brain anybody with I 1 listened and hearing healing nothing opened the door a little and peered into tha hall it was a black void old full of terrible suggestion and my candle only emphasized the gloom liddy squealed and drew mo me back again anil and as the door slammed the mirror I 1 had put on oil the transom camo came down and hit her on the head that our demoralization it was some time before I 1 could persuade her she had not been attacked from behind by a bar burglar glar and when she found the mirror smashed on the floor she much better TU TO BE CONTINUED |