Show y I I I JK hERE HERK TODAY TODA TT TIA Is nOvelist eel nocturnal ie e walks walka up Viking square where t he sees i a elderly Y LiKHsh parlor I maid ih dl standing o OI on the st steps o of a house When t IC e maId sees him she one he lumps Jumps down clown downe C ee 8 and with l piteous e appeal p in inn e r eye ye c crlos Oh Oh Mr r Charlie r you youve you've COnle n 9 at at tola last Th The novelist II allows y or to be led Into to nfl tile the house tou In Which he 1 finds costly furnishings furnishing An elderly man In evening dress f Come omes me toward him and end greets him bins as aa 1 Charlie n K gets get ts the Impression that the man and the maid know lie he lieis i is 1 informs O not s t their hint him f t that man his The aunt nt elderly Is very man ii ill illand n nf f and Is waIting for him Th The novelist c el tens tells l the maid soil and hl the m man t that li liis lie is ii not the man man the they think he Is i. but buttlers C to pia hi his hili part In whatever drama arama they have for or him LEGATEES LEGATEE'S SHOES Continued from yesterday esterday Of Of course you can I went on in a reasonable voice Cant Can t you see that I am rather an adventurer tuner If I weren't should I have taken the risk of entering alone clone and unarmed In a strange house When your maid called me Charlie Charlie Charlie Char Char- lie shouldn't I have told her she shed she'd d mado made a mistake and gone on on I Come tell me what this Is about and Ill I'll help you If I can can Then after a hesitation a twinkle twinkle twin twin- kle kie came Into the old mans man's eyes All right I will wUl Though it would have been bett better r if you'd said nothing It would have been more adventurous If Id I'd said eaid nothing I replied I 1 should have known less than thane Im I'm going to know now and d the adventure e f would 0 have been I less i worth while Now Mr Smith shall we say nay tell me me what you want me to do do After a pause he began first embarrassed then fluent Look here I hope you wont won't think this very unconventional but it simply simply simply sim sim- ply couldn't be helped The situation situation situation situa situa- tion is this My sister who is supposed to be your jour aunt is ly lyIng lying lying ly- ly ing upstairs very very ill indeed She is older than I am over sevI seventy seventy sev sev- enty and has been In delicate I health for some time Unfortunately Unfortunately this afternoon as she was I coming downstairs she slipped and she has broken two ribs The Tile I doctor h. h has liin been twice and evil will hi be I I I coming again a little i later ter on I think But he says that at her that age its it's practically hopeless she Bhe cant can't live Yes I said I see But why do you Well he seemed a little embarrassed its it's like lilee this She's very weak because she's lost a lot lotof lotof lotof of blood you ou see I forgot to tell you jou that In falling she also got gota a deep cut across the forehead just over the eyes eyes Now you jou ou see now you jou ou see lle went on excitedly what makes it possible Makes what possible I asked in a puzzled one Of course I hadn't told you Im I'm sorry but my brains brain's rather muddled What Is tho the matter is that sh sho is asking for my boy Charlie CharIle Hes He's always al been her fa favorite fa- fa You Tou see she never married so hes he's been like a son to herAnd her And she wants awfully badly to say goodby to him before she dies Oh I understand So that's why Yes Yes of course I do tie hope j you'll excuse this but I told Pomfret to stop any young man sho she met a ayoung ayoung ayoung young man whoso voice would be well welt the kind of voice shed she'd expect to hear He stopped pantIng panting panting pant- pant Ing his excitement making him speechless All right I said What you want me to do Is to see her and I impersonate Mr Charlie I Im I'm m will will- to make her happy poor old I lady But b by the way wa shell she'll know mi me I No No of course she sho wont won't DIdn Didn't t I tell you swing to that cut in the forehead bet hei eyes are bandaged Now At that moment there was a ring I at the bell The Tho elderly man swore under his breath went to I the door and opened it There a large largo man whose black i bag and frock coat exposed him as the doctor t I Oh Doctor said the man in a hesitating ton tone I didn't expect you ou so early again I II I heard vague whispered re remarks re- re marks I gathered that though the chances were small the doc doc- tOr had thought well to return early At last my host came back to me me and said I I do hope you'll youn forg forgive ve me But j you ou won wont won't t be long doctor will you you No But look here here he went on addressing addressing addressing ad ad- dressing me again I wonder if you you'd d mind waiting ten minutes not loot more perhaps only five in inthe the ln ng room room Just a a. moment doctor please I found myself in the dining room seated at a table on which were decanters of brandy and whisky while white the footsteps of or the two men echoed up the stairs stairs- Well I thought now youve you've done it it When I looked about methe me the effect of luxury was carried out on a larger scale by pictures OlD ons of which without the slightest slight slight- est doubt was a Rembrandt I wondered what act actually ally I had been brought In for I did not believe my host That he should bring me meIn mein mein in to comfort an old lady at her last hour that he should pick any stranger from the street in this pious attempt would be believable only if he ho loved his sister beyond description But there had been no words of or love no signs of agony He was not sitting with her when I arrived He lIe was quite willing to leave leave her It wasn't that It was something else something something something some some- thing darker It was at that moment that I 1 became conscious of a sound in d- d dX X d- d dX X th the d distance ta A regular la s sound As AsIf AsIf I. I If somebody were driving in a nailI nail I listened acutely I could not hear hea hearIt It again Next door perhaps Absurd Absurd Absurd Ab Ab- Ab- Ab I surd People didn't drive In nails naUs at three o'clock In the morning There it was again faint but persIstent persistent per per- I tiptoed to the doorway and listened It came persistently a muffled regular sound Suddenly Sudden Sudden- ly I had the Instinct rather than the certainty that the person who was making the tIle sound could have made a louder sound that the person person person per per- son was afraid was throwing out outa a signal Tho The conviction rushed Into my mind that somewhere i somebody was locked up and was faintly tapping at the door having heard me come fearfully seeking release e. e I listened I ed I could ld not r locate th the sound at t first Ir T Then I I II I realized that It came from the back of the tile hall Still on tiptoe J. J I went out into the tile hall han and opened a door at the end This TIlls led only into a a. little washing place But the sound came again It was behind me now Or course the room behind tho the dining room I tried the handle the loon was locked And as I touched ed the tile handle the tho tapping tap tap- ping pine within became louder grew more rapid more febrile The key kev was Inthe in inthe inthe the lock Evidently everybody in m the tho house was In the plot to keep the person within I turned the key be before before before be- be fore me mt lit u UT on by strong lights stood a a. woman aged about 40 0 her mouth quivering her face stained with tears She was as so o breathless with excite e excite I men mem that at first she Ohe could not speak Her appearance surprised meI me I saw now that sho lio was more than 40 but she had a R. strange tragic beauty and ani was clad In an an evening frock of which I could recognize tIle the fashion and the price About her lIeI neck too were several rows or pearls There existed a cruel contrast be between between between be- be tween the luxury of her appearance and the expression of her lien features She was faded and wrinkled and her cheeks were wet with tears but I could see by the straightness and delicacy of the nose the shape of ot the lips and th tho length of the eyelashes that this woman had once been beautiful beautiful beau beau- Perhaps a long life of suffering suffering suffer suffer- In ing had ruined her loveliness Oh Oh she he murmured thank you for letting me out I was minded to ask her why they had lock locked d her herIn herIn herin I In but knew lenew that she would tell me ale more easily if I kept silence I II I heard everything she went on In a i rapid murmur I I heard them bring you In i Yes of course course I went vent on on adding add aCId Ing provocatively I Im m Charlie She had actually Jumped back and spread her hands before her as asi asif i if fearing a a. blow Dont Don Dont t she aho I whispered Please dO jou your re the same sarno as they that in the plot No of course not I replie I 1 shouldn't have let yo you out outfit had been 1 Im I'm m only a strang brought In to see an old lady u stairs who's dying just JUt to give h pleasure for a moment The fear had gone out of or her herShe She half smiled Oh surely yc dont don't believe that she said sald Then what am I to beli She looked me up and down a as estimating me as if It trying to p gme f p fat pat at my loyalty Then wun a st sf of the shoulders as If she were de and must confide Jn stranger she said il fl Id better tell you everything j can cant can't t do any harm and can help hep The rho lady lady- you youre you're re going gOin se see is m my mother h j I He J told me that t she hadn't ma Ima marled ma ned ried and Lies all lies Are j you ou surprised Welt Well not exactly GoJo boi The man alan youve you've seen the ww man went on Is Is not my mother brother at all au lIes lIe's her third COUf cou and he hes he's s bad bad Theres There's Only o man roan worse and that's that s l son Oh it makes me weep to thi how mv my r mother t had always 1 lov by Yh Charlie T In a tearful l tone she ai Charlie Charlles s a criminal I dont don't how It is He lie wasn't poor HeSh every chance but hes he's like i that He was expelled fro school oo sent nt down o from collego li m for stealing stealing- Hes He's been in after And what's what s more a abes abe's hes he's m my cousin She was quite close to me so metso I took her hand and held it fost su sympathy It must be pal ful rul for her to tell a stranger such story even of a distant relative on I said better tell t r everything I 1 will Do you jou OU know why th want him tonight It isn't Justl just please mother They'd kill her her they dared It If they weren't frig ened of ot the doctor No Nol Mothe always been e fond o of Charlie fa ca when l sh made d her r will she IlI ft something for himself She mak mali him call her auntie But last few years ears she has hated me Continued in Our Next Is Issue ue i |