Show mr A 1111 drori fl CULAP n AD sj TA M C A AM BY warr ply me f balme Wal me T f SYNOPSIS elgg innes spinster and u or of gertrude and 11 halsey alsey estaba summer h headquarters head at Sunry side the e servant fl eBert ert gertrude and arrive with jack paney bailey the kouse was awakened by IL a revolver allot anil and arnold armstron Armst mims roos waa a found shot to death in the halt alna innes found halsema Hal HU seya revolver on the lawn lie ile and jack bailey had disappeared peare ld gertrude revealed that the w wa x engaged to jack balley bailey with whom she tallied talked in the billiard room shortly before the murder detective jamieson Jom leaon accused was miss innes ot of holding back evidence arl dence lie ile im rl an intruder in an empty room the he prisoner escaped gertrude was waa bull BU pecked because of an injured toot foot hal bey reappears reap peara and says bay he and nalley bailey w were re called away avray by a telegram cashier bailey of paul Armstron irs bank defunct was arrested for embezzlement vaul raul armstrongs death wan waa announced Ila Halfe leya yr nancee louise louisa armstrong Anin told halsey that while abe tie still loved him arhe abe was waa to marry another it developed that ur dr walker was wa tho the man loulan was found at the bottom of tho the circular staircase recovering Recover lne consciousness she ahe said bald something had brushed by her on the stairway and she aha fainted bailey Is ater a BUB pecked of armstrongs Armstron BB murder after seeing a ghost thomas Tl ioma the lodge keep er was waa found dead with a aldip in hla him pocket bearing the name of lucien lAi clen wallace ace 1 dr walker asked miss innes to vacate in favor of mrs armstrong she refused A note from bailer to gertrude arranging meeting at was found CHAPTER continued Gros le he said bald and I 1 saw mr Jami esons eyebrows go up 1 german he commented well young man you dont seera to knob know much about yourself Jf ive tried it all the week M mrs ra tate broke in the boys knows a word or two ot of german but he k know ow where he lived or anything about himself mr jamieson Jam leson wrote something on a card and gave it to her mrs tate he said bald 1 I want you to do something here la Is some money tor for the telephone call the instant the boys mother appears b here ere call up that number and ask tor for the person whose name Is there you can run across to the drug store stor a on an errand and do it quietly just say bay the lady has come the lady has haa come repeated mrs tate very well air and I 1 hope it will be soon the milk bill elona alone Is almost double what it was ilow how much Is the childs board I 1 asked three dollars a week including hla his washing very well I 1 said bald now mrs mra tate I 1 am going to pay last weeks board and a week in advance it if the mother cornea comes she la Is to know nothing of this visit absolu absolutely not a word and in return for your silence lence el you may use this money for something tor for your own children ifer her tired faded face lighted u up p and I 1 saw her glance at the little tales small feet shoes I 1 divined the feet of the genteel poor being almost as expensive as their stomachs As wo we went back mr air jamieson Jam leson made ad ay only iy one remark I 1 think he be was laboring under the weight ot of a great disappointment Is kings a childrens outfitting outwitting out fitting place he be asked not especially it la Is a general department part ment store lie ile was silent after that but he went to the telephone as soo soon a as we got home and called up king co in the city after a time he be got the general manager and they talked tor for some time when mr jamieson Jam leson hu hung n g up the receiver he be turned to me the plot thickens lie le said with his ready smile there are four women named wallace at kings none of them married and none over 20 1 I think I 1 shall go up to the city tonight to night I 1 want to go to the childrens hospital dut but before I 1 go miss innes I 1 wish you would be more frank with me than you have been yet I 1 want you to show me the revolver you picked up in the tulip bed so he be had known all along it was a revolver mr jamieson roleson Ja I 1 admitted cornered ered at last but I 1 cannot show it to you it to Is not in my possession CHAPTER A ladder out of place at dinner mr jamieson Jam leson suggested sending ending a man in an out in his place for a of days but II alsey was certain there would be nothing more and felt that lie he and alex could manage the situation the detective went back to town early in tho evening anil and by nine Il halsey alsey who had been playing golf as a man does anything to take his mind away from trouble was sleeping soundly on the big leather davenport in the living room I 1 sat and knitted pretending not to notice when gertrude got up and wandered out into the starlight As soon as I 1 was satisfied that she had gone however bo wever I 1 went out cautiously I 1 had no intention of eaves eavesdropping dropping but I 1 wanted to be certain thit that it was jack bailey slie she was avas meeting too many things had occurred in which gertrude was or appeared to be involved to allow anything to be left in question I 1 went slowly across the lawn skir ed the hedge to a break not far from the lodge and found myself on the open road perhaps boet loet liet to the left the path led across the valley to thu the country club and only a lalle if tie way off was the toot fant bridge over car anova creek but just as aa I 1 was about to ta turn down the path I 1 heard steps coming toward me and I 1 shrank into the bushes it was gertrude going back q quickly u bickly toward the house I 1 was waa surprised I 1 waited until she had had time to get almost to the house before I 1 started and then I 1 stepped back again into the shadows sha dowa the reason why gertrude had not kept her tryst was evident leaning on the parapet of the bridge in the moonlight and smoking a pipe was alex the gardener I 1 could have throttled liddy for or her carelessness in reading the torn note where he be could hear and I 1 could cheerfully have choked alex to death for or his bla au audacity but there thera was no help for it I 1 turned and followed gertrude slowly back to the house the frequent invasions Inva slona of 0 the house had effectually prevented any relaxation after dusk we had bad redoubled our vigilance as to bolts and window locks but as mr jamieson Jam leson had suggested we allowed the door at the east entry to remain as before locked by the yale lock only to provide only one possible entrance tor for the invader and to keep a constant guard in the dark at the foot of the circular stair case seemed to be the only method in the absence of the detective alex and halsey arranged to change of ob halsey to be on duty from ten to two and alex from rom two until six fach each man was armed and as an additional dit ional precaution the one off duty slept in a room near the head of the circular staircase and kept his door open to be ready for emergency these arrangements were carefully kept hept from the servants who were only commencing to sleep at night and who retired one and all with barred doors and lamps that burned full until morning the house was quiet alaan wednesday night it was almost a week since louise douise had encountered some one on the stairs and it was four days since the discovery of the hole in the trunk room wall arnold armstrong and lis his father rested side by side in the casanova churchyard and at the zion african church on the hill a now new mound marked the last resting place ot of poor thomas louise boulse was with her mother in town and beyond a polite note of thanks to me we had heard nothing from lier her dr walker had taken up bis practice again and we saw him now and then flying along the road always at top speed the murder of arnold armstrong was still I 1 and I 1 remained firm la the position I 1 had taken to stay at sunnyside Sunny alde side until tho the thing was at least partly cleared and yet for all its quiet it was on wednesday night that perhaps the boldest attempt was made to enter the house on thursday afternoon the la undress sent word she would like to speak to me and I 1 saw her in my private sitting room a small room beyond the dressing room mary anno anne was embarrassed she had rolled down her sleeves and tried 1 w white bite apron around her waist and sho she stood making olds folds in it with fingers that were red and shiny from her soapsuds soap boap suds euda well mary I 1 said encouragingly the matter dont dare to tell me the soap is nut no maam miss bliss innes she had bad a nervous habit of 0 looking first at my one eye and then at the other her own optics shifting ceaselessly right eye left eye right eye until I 1 found myself doing the same thing no maam I 1 was askin did you want the ladder left up the clothes chute the what I 1 screeched and was sorry borry the next minute seeing her suspicions were verified alary anne had gono gone white and stood with her eyes shifting more wildly than ever theres a ladder up the clothes chute miss innes she said its up that tight I 1 cant move it and I 1 like to ask for help until I 1 spoke to you it was useless to dissemble mary anne anna knew n now ow as w well ell as I 1 did that at the ladder had no business to be there I 1 did the best I 1 could however I 1 put her on the defensive at once then you lock the laundry last might 1 I locked it tight and put the key in the kitchen on an its ita nail very well then you forgot argot a window mary anne hesitated desm Yes ro she said at last 1 I thought I 1 locked blocked them till all but there was one open this morning I 1 went out of the tha room and down the hall followed by mary anne the door into the clothes chute was securely bolted and when I 1 opened it I 1 saw the evidence ot of the womans comans story A pruning ladder had been brought from where it had bad lain against the stable and now stood upright in the clothes sha shaft ft its end resting against the wall between the first and second floors I 1 turned to mary this Is due to your careless carelessness neBa isaid I 1 said it we had bad all been murdered in our beds beda it would have been your fault she shivered now not a word of this through the house and send alex to me tho the effect on alex was to make him apoplectic with rage and with it all I 1 fancied there was an element ot of batts balls faction As I 1 look back so many things are plain to rue me that I 1 wonder I 1 could not see at tho the time it Is in all known now and yet the whole thing was so BO remarkable that perhaps my stupidity was excusable alex leaned down the chute and examined the ladder carefully it la is caught he said with a grim smile the fools to have left a warning like thail the only trouble Is miss innes they wont be apt to come back for a while 1 I regard that in the light of a calamity I 1 replied until late that evening and alex worked at the chute they forced down the ladder at last and put a new bolt on the door As tor for myself I 1 sat and wondered if I 1 bad a deadly enemy intent on my destruction I 1 WM was growing more and more nervous liddy had bad given up all pretense at bravery and slept regularly in my dressing room on the couch with a prayer book anil and a game knife from the kitchen under her pillow thus thua preparing for both the natural and the supernatural that was waa tho the way things stood that thursday night when I 1 myself took a hand in n tho the struggle CHAPTER while the stables stable burned about nine that night liddy came into the living room and reported that one of the housemaid housemaids house maids declared she had seen two men slip flip around the corner ot of the stable oertrude gertrude had bad been sitting staring la ia front of her jumping nt at every sound now she turned on liddy pettishly 1 I 1 declare liddy she said you are a bundle ot of nerves what if ellza eliza lid did see bee some men around the stable it may have been warner and alex warner is ie in the kitchen miss liddy said with dignity and if you had come through what I 1 have you would be a bundle of nerves too miss rachel id bo be thankful it if give me my months montha wages tomorrow to morrow ill bo be going to my sisters bisters very well I 1 said to her evident L c Q CIA 1 mary anne had gone 1 I will make out the check warn warnar c r can take you down to the noon train liddye face was really funny have a nice time at your sisters I 1 went on five children she it liddy said bald suddenly bursting into tears send me away after all these years and your now new shawl only halt half done and nobody knowin know in how bow to fix the water for or your bath its time I 1 learned to prepare my own bath I 1 was knitting complacently hut but gertrude got up and put her arms around liddye shaking shoulders Y you ou aro are two big babies she said 8 soothingly oo thingly neither one of 0 you could let get along for an hour without witti out the other so stop quarreling and be good liddy go right up and lay out aunts night things she to Is going to bed early after liddy had gone I 1 began to think about the men at the stable and I 1 grew more and more anito anxious us hal sey bey was aimlessly knocking the billiard balls around in the billiard room and I 1 called to him II Il alsey I 1 said when he sauntered in Is there a policeman in casa novat nova constable ho he said laconically veteran of the war one arm in to conciliate the 0 A R element why because I 1 am uneasy ton tonight ight and I 1 told him what liddy had bad said Is there any one you can think ot of who could be relied on to watch the outside of the house tonight we might get sam bohannon from the c club I 1 ab he said thoughtfully it would nt bo be a bad scheme lies iles a smart darky and with his mouth shut and his shirt front covered you see him a yard off in the dark conferred with alex and the result in an hour was sam ills instructions were simple there had been numerous attempts to break into the house it was the intention not to drive intruders away but to capture them it sam saw anything suspicious outside be was to tap at the east entry where alex and halsey were to alternate in keeping watch through the night As before halsey watched the east entry from ten until two ile he had an eye to comfort and he kept vigil in a heavy oak chair very largo large and deep we went upstairs rather early and through the open door gertrude and I 1 kept up a running fire of conversation liddy was brushing my hair and oer ger trudo trude was doing her owr own a long free sweep of her strong round arms did you know mrs armstrong and bulso are in the village she s ie called no I 1 replied startled how did you hear bear it 1 I 1 met the oldest stewart girl today the doctors daughter and she told roe me they had not gone back to town after the funeral they went di erectly to that little yellow house next to dr walkers and are apparently be settled tiled there they took tho the house furnished for the summer why its a bandbox I 1 said 11 1 can cant t imagine panny fanny armstrong in such 8 uc h a place its true nevertheless jula alla stewart says mrs armstrong has aged terribly and looks as it if sho she la is hardly able to walk I 1 lay and thought over some of these things until midnight the electric lights went out then fading slowly until there was only a red hot loop to be seen in the bulbs and then even that died away and we were embarked on the darkness of another night TO 1111 CONTINUED CONTIN 13 |