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I The 2 I BousI Bous iA 0 I 3 william T Jy THE LITTLE PEOPLE Spalding Synopsis Nelson receives receives receives re re- an an to dinner from his uncle great Rufus Gaston On the way he meets Barbara Bradford Brad Brad- Bradford ford and renders her a service She lives In the same apartment building buildIng building build build- ing as ac the Gaston Gastons They go o there thereto to together ther Gaston and his wife are aro to Maine for tor a trip and ask Nelson to live In their apartments He accepts The Gaston Gastoni tell him himot of ot mysterious noises about the apartment apartment whispers a rs and noises that have scared them Going to the apartment a few days later Nelson again agrain meets Barbara his accidental acquaintance Nelson meets the building superintendent Wick and Instinctively dislikes him In a wall safe he finds a necklace of ot magnificent pearls pearl Next day Nelson finds the pearls have disappeared from the wall safe sate Ills first idea of ot Informing the police is not acted upon upon because because be be- cause of peculiar circumstances He lie has been discharged from his position without adequate explanation tion or reason and feels himself Involved in something of a a. mys mys- tery He lIe decides to conduct an Investigation in investigation investigation In- In himself That night Barbara signals from the window of ot her apartment which is opposite his and they arrange a meeting for next day In the morning ho he finds a 0 note In his room asking him why he had not informed the police of at the loss of ot the jewels Barbara tells Nelson her sister Cl Claire lre had some years years' jears' jears before made madea a run-away run marriage with an adventurer adventurer adventurer ad ad- from whom she was soon BOon parted and the marriage had been annulled Claire is engaged to be married and someone knowIng knowIng know know- Ing of at her escapade has stolen documents concerning the affair from the Bradford apartment andis and andIs andis is attempting to blackmail the Brad fords Nelson and Barbara exchange confidences about the whispers mysterious notes and other other- queer doings which are much alike In both apartments CHAPTER V V Continued I wondered which had been his bed bed- room It was hardly likely that he had occupied the room In which I slept As I debated the matter I heard someone moving about my room and went to Investigate It was Mrs Burke making up my bed She would know lenow which room my gr uncle great had been accustomed to occupy I As I entered the bedroom for the purpose of cross q questioning cross her my first Impression ImpressIon and and tellus tell teIl tellus us that the first Is 18 most likely to be bethe bethe bethe the correct one was one was of at a simpleminded simple mind ed kindly old Irish woman of ot the utmost utmost utmost ut ut- most honesty I I was certain Just by looking at her that there wasn't a crooked hair In her head even If It she had had the Intelligence nce necessary for crIni crimes s a beyond the ordinary Its Ite Mr Nelson Im I'm seeing at last she exclaimed with satisfaction I tal Iwas Iwas was wondering when I 1 would be layIng layIng lay lay- Ing eyes on ye Yes said I 1 I 1 am Mr Nelson Mr Gastons Gaston's great nephew Sure Surie and Id I'd have ye any any- where If Its It's s as like Uke ye are areas are as two peas barring the old gentleman's white hairs Her statement rather startled me for tor while I never had regarded myself as an Adonis on the other hand I 1 never had supposed I 1 looked anything like old nut Rufus s. s Was this my ray uncles uncle's bedroom when he was here I 1 asked trying tomake to tomake tomake make my Inquiry seem casual It was and It wasn't Mrs Burke replied He gets queer notions the aUld gentleman does In the last few weeks hes he's slept in every room in the h ouse bouse ouse What made him do that I Its s 's not for tor me to be saying De De- Devoutly Devoutly Devoutly she crossed herself herselt Some r J IR tb r s I Il l i r I 1 rl Sometimes I Do Be Thinking the tho House Is Haunted times I do ho thinking drinking the house Is haunted The Th old man was all aB the Urn mumbling about about- about about- Rue Cne- hesitated and looked furtively about About I Suggested ted Instead Instead Instead In In- stead of re replying g to my question she shot another one at nt me Anti AM h hn v Q hg boon haon ye re n hearing then them nor f t I 1 laughed trying to put a note Ot of u I merriment Into my tones I r d dont don't nt believe in things like that The old woman oman nodded her ber head bend sagely It aint believing In them things that makes you OU hear them Either you hear them or you OU dont don't The old mn man heard them How do you know 7 I hear him asking nb about ut It He heard them many times How about the others others the the servants ser ants ants did did they hear them too They may have that Is always hearing things anyhow Its It's what the white folk tolk hear that counts How about the other apartments inthe Inthe In Inthe the house bouse Do the people In them hear whispers Never u that Ive I've heard tell of ot but ut how should I know This is the only place In the house bouse that I work Did Mrs Gaston ever speak to you ou about it She did and she did not She never never never nev nev- er In so many words asked me If I 1 heard them All she says to me was Nora If It ever eyer you see sole sEte or hear anything strange or unusual here youre you're to let me know at at once once And I says Mrs Gaston I 1 will And have you ever seen or heard beard anything The old woman busied herself herselt with making up the bed for a mom moment nt before before before be be- fore she answered me Im not saying Ive I've seen anything she began but theres there's things I could be telling if It I was minded to open m my lips If you know anything I said you must tell me Mr Gaston put me hereto here hereto to find out what was wrong Theres no doubt theres there's eres ere's wrong here What makes you ou say that What hays haye you seen What do you know i Its neither what Ive I've seen nor what I 1 know She nodded Its what Ive I've been hearing bearing myself For Tor heavens heaven's sake woman I cried losing patience what is it yo youve you've ve heard Ive heard beard them walking she announced announced announced an an- with an air of at triumph Youve heard who walking The little people of at course Who o else would It be doing it Oh bosh I 1 I exclaimed I was as well enough acquainted with the superstitions superstitions of ot the Irish to understand who she meant meat by the little people Its It's the habit ot of the old crones crones' crones from the Emerald Isle to attribute anything they cannot understand to fairies You may laugh she retorted Indignantly indignantly Indig indig- but I heard them I tell yew ye Where did you hear them these footsteps Coming right out of ot the wall wan here hereIn In this room and in the kitchen beyond be be- yond It was probably somebody dy In another another an an- other apartment you heard It was not The floors do be deadened deadened dead dead- ened lIk like and nd its it's nothing at all ail you youcan youcan youcan can hear ear It was vas somebody walking soft soft like like Uke right there in the w wall ll at me mee back Well Ven I ann announced If tilt there is anything like Wi-e that going on I am going goIng goIng go- go Ing to to stay here until I hear it I want to make sure sure no one can come into the apartment apartment but myself so I 1 Iam Iam am going to ask you iou to give me your key Ill I'll be home here all an the mornIng mornIng morn- morn Ing lag so I can let you let you In when you you ring Its me key youre you're wanting Is It She produced It from a pocket of ot other her gown and handed it over first unknotting It itt from tram a corner of ot her kerchief where she had tied It for tor safe safo keeping A And d In indeed eed It if It its it's youre you're not trusting with a Mrs Gaston letting me have It for tor these ten years rem back Its It's your YOUl own own bed you can he be making Ill I'll not be coming near the place again In fine indignation she flounced out of ot the place To tell the truth I 1 was not sorry that she l had ad announced her decision not to return While my Impression Im Im- of ot her was that she was a u simple minded old woman of ot uttermost honesty I was Just as well wen satisfied that no one but myself should have entry to the apartment until I had finished my Investigations Investigations' an and l had Imd ad made further progress progress In solving the mysteries that were so rapidly devel devel- de I- I Left once more to myself 1 I sat down at my grent great uncles s desk and prate made out a list of at questions that must be answered 1 Where w was s Rufus Gaston Had the old ala gentleman really gone away or was he m to hiding In the building 2 Who had removed the Gaston pearls from tram the wall safet safe It must be someone who knew the tion 3 Who had written the note I found on the floor of ot my bedroom How Howand and nod when had It been placed on the floor there 4 4 Who were pre the per persons ons who were trying to the family next door 6 5 How had the anonymous notes delivered on the noor of at Barbara been the Evidently room room Bradford's same as In my mT case coe was the writer anything In the pest past Was there g. g Bradford and my of Mr relations my would cause that uncle great the theford Bradford Brad Brad- agaInst Uncle great uncle great to plot ford family sounds Bounds s 7 Ho were the by Bar Bar- uncle great heard both th by mY myself to be beI barn Bradford and by I accounted for tor mysterious footsteps foot foot- S. S HoW were the Burke to he e explained ex- ex Mrs hear heard by steps merely the imaginings Im- Im Were they old woman 1 of a superstitious Bradford between Mr The re relations puzzled me Missa Miss Rufus Gaston and nd a Bradford's s recollection ot of her fa fathers ther's certainly IY great great remark about my Indicated that he held beld no DO hIgh opInion act actions on uncles great him My g of at throughout throughout had been His suddenly sending for me and 1 Insist Insisting ng coming here to live his insistence Insist insist- on my In my hIs wife's jewels ence on leavIng ence entrusting me with tine the care care and on combination ot of the safe all now took a sinIster aspect It certainly was on peculiar that ate had gone oft without address where he could leaving me any be reached own unexpected unexpected unexpected was my ray Then too there unwarranted discharge at and ancI business I was wa positive my Place e of ot with my myha tit fn some way It wa was connected this pla place e to live JIve nn Had 1 ha hai having come com come to It g himself brought my uncle great-uncle about for tor the purpose of at discrediting me Was It the work of ot the blackmailers black black- mailers to get square with me for havIng having having hav hav- Ing ing accidentally y butted In on the them with Miss Iss had arranged m meeting they Bradford The scar faced man Who was he heI I was certain that he was In fn some way Involved ID It might have been he who Certainly Certainly Certainly had caused me to lose my job the mal malevolent glance he had hac that nIght given m me In the restaurant showed that he would have wrought me harm halm if It he could The next time I I laid eyes on him 1 I was determined to trail him with bulldog tenacity until until un un- til I ascertained his Identity and where he lived I felt sure that the trail of t the mystery would lead to his door I decided not to leave the apartment all nIl day I had laid In a n. plentiful supply supply supply sup sup- ply of food tood the day before so there was vas no necessity for my going out There here was plenty of work for me to do I must try to devise some way of ot examining the safe sate door and the Jewel box that remained for evidence of ot fingerprints and I must Inspect the thi building both from within and without to see If It I could learn earn how the notes were delivered From one of ot the toilet tables I obtaIned ob ob- tamed some fine powder and opening the wall safe sate again I took out th the thc Jewel box and carefully dusted It over with the powder I 1 hoped that thep the tin p powder would reveal markings o of hands on the box but either I was too Inexperienced d or my method was wrong for I succeeded In obtaining no sort of result beyond finding ou out what my own fingerprints looked like on a sheet heet of ot paper prepared with some made home-made lampblack After an hour or two of experimentation I gave It up p as a bad Job and turned to the study of at m methods t od by which the notes might have been been delivered The Gaston apartment was on the sixth floor or of at the building building- which w was s surrounded by ordinary three am and story four dwelling houses It mus must have been someone In the bun building ding dingIt If It not In the apartment Itself It would would be quite possible for tor someone someone someone- on the floor above to have projected ted the notes note through my window and that of ot MIss MIs Bradford by attaching them to the end of at a IL long stick I made up my mind to ascertain who occupied the apartments above The mystery of the whispers did did no not seem eem to be of t such easy solution sol While I had been inclined at first t tr to r regard gard my own experience as a 8 dream the coincidence of ot and Miss Bradford and ant my uncle great-uncle having had the same Illusion con convinced me that It was some claptrap devised by the plotters for preying on the fears of at their intended victims Eagerly I waited for tor the coming of at evening and from half past halt past seven on I sat by my window waiting for tor Barbaras Barbara's Barbaras Barbara's Bar Bar- baras bara's signal It was nearl nearly n nine I ne oc o'clock I oc k before etore I heard the three taps that had so startled m me e the evening e before Quickly I thrust my head hE-ad 0 out GUI t nf of the VIA window an d u uw v. v ui u was nu rewarded n w urucu ruea by Dj seeing hers appear at the same mo mo- ment meat We must not talk long she warned me Someone might see us us Have you learned anything new Yes I whispered In ln my uncles uncle's diary found I several entries about the whispers How How strange n she exclaimed Where is Mr Gaston I tal I dont don't know funny Its Its It's more than that It is decidedly decided decided- ly odd that he left jio o word where h he e could be reached I dont don't blame m rn she almost sobbed ed I r wish we could all get et awa away off orr somewhere awn away y from it all Dont worry Pry Pry- I vel ou ot out will we fir find help discover the plotters Te Tell 1 me from tram what part of ot your room lid Id the sounds come Always from the same samo place up in the corner n near ar the fire telling ceiling I tel thought so I answered where they Came from In my v ro room That shows It Is iDt some mechanical trick they are arC In using the hope of ot tenon terrifYing terrifying ter- ter us D Do y yoU U know S wl who to lives es on the floor above I haven't the slightest Idea DoI Do you ou suspect them I suspect St everybody until t thIs his mrs mys- mys ter tery Is solved I reI replied lI d almost sn say Not so loud they may h car you Have you ou learned anything else i MNo UNo nothing 1 a S Burke Mr Mrs s. s e old n a I r loam 1 k knew new no nothing ng althou although h tr g b a. a 8 that she had Ott inti often otten en b r r d when hen there was no i tooh t Gc merit meat Of Ot course It one J I In t th he l Is s P p 1 h her herI nS I Im m not so sure BUre sure M Il jf B whispered Ive he her heard n r Th They y seemed to come corne th wall wall right t but Why I exclaimed I jn in Just how smart arnaze she de Often Otten too when I 1 get S bed morning I ha have hae e a n strange lip oD I II f there must have been C I 80 som J room while I |