Show the eft e mani man in lower tea T ekit by mary roberts Rinehart author tp if the cirilar Cirki ilar staircase illustrations by M J KETTNER copyright by bobbs merrall co 12 SYNOPSIS lawrence blakeley lawyer goes goca to pittsburg with the forged notes in tile the cronson bronson case to get the deposition of john gilmore millionaire in tile the latter lat s home he la Is attracted by a picture ot of a r young ou ng girl whom the tha millionaire explains Is h his granddaughter A lady requests reque ati blakeley e y t to 0 buy her a pullman n ticket ile he gives lier 1 i er lower eleven and retains t ains lower ten ile he finds a drunken man in lower ten and retires in lower nine ile he awa kerls hens in lower seven and finds his clothes and bag missing the man in lower ten is found murdered circumstantial evidence points to both blakeley and the unknown man who had exchanged clothes with him blakeley becomes interested in a girl in blue the train Is wrecked blakeley Is rescued from the burning car by the girl in blue ills arm Is broken they go to the carter place for breakfast the girl proves to be allson alison west ils his p partners art ners sweetheart her peculiar actions ato n 9 mystify the lawyer she drops her agold gold bag and blakeley puts it in his pocket oc et blakeley returns home ile he finds that at ie he Is under under surveillance moving bloking pictures of the he train taken just before thi the wreck reveal to blakeley a man leaping from the train with his stolen grip CHAPTER XVI the shadow of a girl certain things about the dinner at the dallas house will always be obscure to me dallas was something in the fish commission and I 1 kemem her ber his reeling off fish eggs in billions while we ate our caviar he had bad some particular stunt he had been urging the gove government rement to for or years something about forbidding the establishment of mills and factories on riverbanks it seems they kill the fish either the smoke or the noise or something they pour into the water mrs dallas was there I 1 think of course I 1 suppose she must have been and there was a woman in yellow I 1 took her in to dinner and I 1 remember she loosened my clams for me so I 1 could get them but the only real person at the table was a girl across in white a sublimated young woman who was as brilliant as I 1 was stupid who never by any chance looked directly at me and who appeared and disappeared across the candles and orchids in a sort of halo of radiance when the dinner had bad progressed from salmon to roast and the conversation had done the same thing from fish jo to scandal the yellow gown turned to me we have been awfully good we mr 13 blakeley lakeley she asked although I 1 am crazy to hear I 1 have not said wreck once im sure you must feel like the survivor of waterloo or something of the sort it if you want me to tell you about the wreck wieck I 1 said glancing across the table im sorry to be disappointing but I 1 dont remember anything you are fortunate to be able to forget it it was the first word miss west had spoken directly to me and it went to my head there are some things I 1 have not forgotten I 1 said over the candles 1 I recall coming to myself some time after and that a girl a beautiful girl ein ah I 1 said the lady in yellow leaning forward breathlessly miss west was staring at me coldly but once started I 1 had to stumble on that a girl was trying to rouse me and that she told me I 1 had been on fire twice already A shudder went around the table but surely that the end of the story mrs airs dallas put in why the most tantalizing thing I 1 ever heard im afraid that s all I 1 said she her way and I 1 went mine it if she recalls me at all she probably thinks of roe me as a weak kneed individual who faints like a woman when everything 1 Is over what did I 1 tell you mrs dallas asserted triumphantly he fainted did you hear bear when everything was over he begun to tell it I 1 would have given a lot by that time it if I 1 had not mentioned the girl dut but mcknight took it up there and carried it on blakeley Is a regular geyser he said d he never spouts until he reaches the boiling point and by that same token although he said much about the lady of the wreck I 1 think he la Is crazy about her in fact I 1 am sure of it he thinks he has locked his secret in the caves ot of his soul but I 1 call you to witness that he be has it nailed to his bis face look at himl hiell I 1 squirmed miserably and tried to avoid the startled eyes of the girl across the table I 1 wanted to choke mcknight and murder the rest of the party it fair I 1 said as coolly as aa I 1 could 1 I have my fingers crossed you y cu aro are five against ono one and to think that there was a mur tier er on that very train broko broke la in the lady ln in yellow it was a perfect crescendo of horrors it and what became of the murdered man mr air Bla Blah Sceley eloy k INI cKnIght had the sense to jump in to the conversation and save sao my reply they say good Pitta burgers go to atlantic city when they die he said so we are reasonably certain the gentleman did not go to the sea shore the meat meal was over at last and once in the drawing room it was clear we hung heavy on the hostess hands it Is so hard to got get people tor for bridge in september she walled waited there la is absolutely nobody tn in town six la is a dreadful number its a good poker number her husband suggested the matter settled itself however I 1 was hopeless save as an a dummy miss west said it was too hot tor for cards and went out on a balcony that overlooked the mall with obvious relief mrs dallas had the card table brought and I 1 was face to face with the minute I 1 had dreaded and hoped tor for for a week now it had come it was more dlf dit ficula than I 1 had anticipated I 1 do not know it there was a moon but there WR was s the urban substitute for it atthe the arc adelight light it threw the shadow of the balcony railing in long black bars against her white gown and as it swung sometimes the face ace was in the light I 1 drew a chair close so that I 1 could watch her do you know I 1 said when sho she made no effort at speech that you are a much more formidable person tonight to night in that gown tianyou than you were the last time I 1 saw you the light swung on her face she was smiling faintly the hat with the gren ribbons ribbon sl she said 1 I must take it back I 1 had almost forgotten 1 I have not forgotten anything I 1 pulled myself up short this was hardly loyalty to richey his voice came through the window just then and perhaps I 1 was wrong but I 1 thought she raised her head to listen look at this hand he was saying regular Ble Ue eular gular pt pianola stanola anola you could play it with your feet feel iles hes a dear he be allson alison said unexpectedly no matter how depressed aud and downhearted I 1 am 1 I always cheer up when I 1 see richey hes more than that I 1 returned I 1 warmly ile he Is the tel fel low I 1 know if he so much abat that way he would have a career before him he wanted to put on the doors of our offices blakeley and mcknight P B H which Is poor but honest from my comparative poverty to the wealth of the girl beside me was a single mental leap from that wealth to the grandfather who was responsible for it was another 1 I wonder it if you know that I 1 had bad been to pittsburg to see your grandfather when I 1 met you I 1 said you she was surprised yes yeb and you remember tha th alli gator bag that I 1 told you was waa exchanged for the one you cut off my arm she nodded expectantly well in that valise were the forged andy bropson bronson notes and mr Gil mores deposition that they were forged she was on her feet in an instant in that bag she cried oh why A 4 1 I have not forgotten anything you tell me that before oh ob its so ridiculous so so hopeless why I 1 could she stopped suddenly and sat down again 1 I do not know that I 1 am sorry r y after all she said after a pause mr dronson bronson was a friend of my fathers 1 I I 1 suppose it was a bad thing for you losing the papers well it was not a good thing I 1 conceded while wo we are on the subject of losing things do you remember do you know that I 1 still have your gold purse she did not reply at once the shadow of a column was over her face but I 1 guessed that sho she was waa staring at me you have itt she almost whis 1 I picked it up in the street car I 1 11 I 1 eald with a cheerfulness I 1 did not feel it looks like a vry vary opulent little purse I 1 why she speak about the I 1 necklace for ast a careless acl ward d to make me itne again you she repeated horror strick en and then I 1 produced tho the purse and held it out on my palm 1 I should havo have sent it to you before I 1 suppose but its as you know I 1 havo have been laid up since tho the wreck we both saw mcknight at the same moment ile he had pulled the curtains aside and was standing looking out at us the tableau of give and take was waa unmistakable tho the gold purse her outstretched hand band my own attitude it was over in a second then he bo came out and lounged on the balcony railing mad at me in there he be haid airily 1180 go 1 I came out I 1 suppose the reason they call it bridge to la be cause so many people get cross over it tho the beat broke up the card group soon after and they all came out for the night breeze I 1 had no more words alone with allson alison I 1 went back to the incubator tor for tho the night wo we said eaid almost nothing on the way home there wasa constraint between us ua for tho the first time that I 1 could remember it was too early for bed and so we smoked in the living room and tried to talk of trivial things after a time even those tailed failed and wo we sat silent it was mcknight who finally broached the subject and so sho she at seal harbor at all no do you know where she was waa lot lol lle somewhere near cresson and that purse her purse puree with the broken necklace in it yes it was waa you understand dont you rich that having baying given her my word I 1 tell you 1 I 1 understand a lot of things he be sa said d without bitterness we sat for some time and smoked then richey got up and stretched him himself im olf oft to bed old man he be said need any help with that game arm of yours i no thanks I 1 returned I 1 heard him go into his room and lock the door it was a bad hour for me the first shadow between us and the shadow ot of a girl at that CHAPTER at the farm house again mcknight Is always a sympathizer with the early worm it was late when he appeared perhaps like myself ho bad not slept well but B ut be was apparently cheerful enough and he made a better breakfast than I 1 did it was one before we jot got to baltimore after a half hours wait we took a local for M the iho station near which the cinematograph picture had bad been taken we passed the scene of the wreck mcknight with curiosity I 1 with a sickening sense of horror back in the fields was the little farm house bouse where allson alison west and I 1 had intended getting coffee and winding away from the track maple trees shading it on each side was the lane where wo me had stopped to rest and where I 1 had it seemed presumption beyond belief now where I 1 had tried to comfort her by Y patting her hand we got out at M a small place with two or three houses and a general tore store the station was a one roomed affair with a railed off place at the end where a scale a telegraph instrument and a chair constituted the entire furnishing tho the station agent was a young man with a shrewd face he stopped hammering a piece of wood over a hole in tho floor to ask where we wanted to go were not going said mcknight McKnIg bt were coming have a cigar the agent took it with an inquiring glance first at it and then at us we want to ask you a few questions began mcknight perching himself on the railing and kicking the chair forward for me or rather this gentleman does walt wait a minute said the agent glancing through the window there Is a hen in that crate choking herself tu to death ile he was back in a minute and took up his bis position near a sawdust lined box that thai did duty as a cuspidor now fire away he said in the first place I 1 began do you remember the day the washington flier filer was wrecked below balow here do W I 1 he said did jonah remember the whale were you on the platform here when the first section passed 1 I was do you recall seeing a man hanging to the platform of the last car there was no one hanging banging there when she passed here he said with conviction 1 I watched her out of did you iou see sea anything that morning of a man about my size carrying ra small grip and wearing dark clothed clo and a derby hat I 1 asked eagerly mcknight was trying to look unconcerned but I 1 was frankly anxious it was clear that the man had jumped somewhere in n the ibo mile of track just juat beyond well weir yes yea I 1 did the agent dearett cleared hla his throat when tho tha smash cams the operator at SIX aix sent word along the wire both ways I 1 got it here and I 1 was pretty near crazy though I 1 k knew r j e w 1 it t w a any n y fa fault I 1 t of f i mine n 1 I 1 i e ani ld nu in e 1 ll 11 I w wa i i s standing i g 0 on t the h t track r a ck looking down for I 1 leave the office 0 when n young fellow with light hair limped up to mo and asked mo me what that smoke was over there loft ot of the washing ton flier filer I 1 said eald land and I 1 guess theres souls going up in that smoke do you mean the first section he ha said gotting getting kind ot of greenish yel low lov what I 1 mean I 1 said split to kindling wood because rafferty on the second section want to ho be late lie ile put his hand out in front of 0 him film and the satchel fell with a bang my godf he said and dropped right on the track in a heap 1 I got him into the station and ho he came around but he bo kept on groaning something ng awful hed sprained his ankle and when he got a little better I 1 drove him over in carters milk wag on to the carter place and I 1 reckon he stayed there a spell all Is it I 1 asked all or no theres something else about noon that day one of the darter carter twins came down with a note from him asking me to send a long distance message to some ono one in washington to whom I 1 asked eagerly 11 1 I reckon ive forgot the name but the message was that this follow sullivan was his name was at M and if the man had bad escaped from the tha w wreck reek would he come to see him he have hare sent that mos mea sago to me I 1 said to mcknight rath VL do you recall seeing a man hang ing to the platform of the last lasi caran car er crestfallen hed have every object in keeping out of my way there might be reasons me mc knight observed judicially he ha might not have found tard papers papera then ta BE CONTINUED |