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Show rTlHT 10) AHP 24 Novel from the Play jL JI Ji ILj JJCD JT 1 By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART w A and AVERY HOPWOOD "The Batl" cPyIght, 13iQ, by Mary Roberta Rlnehart and Avery Hopwood. - WKO Servlc. CHAPTER IX Continued 14 "Oh no! I can't stand it! I'll tell tou everything !" she cried, frenzledly. "He got to the foot of the staircase Richard Fleming, I mean," she was (acing the detective, now, "and he bad the blue-print you've been talking about I had told him Jack Bailey Tas here as the gardener and he said K i screamed he would tell that. I was desperate. I threatened him with fl,e revolver but he took It from me. Tl,en when I tore the blue-print from ym he was shot from the stairs " "Bv Bailey!" Interjected Eeresford angrily. I didn't even know he was In the house!" Bailey's answer was as Instant In-stant as it was hot Meanwhile the doctor had entered the room, hardly noticed, in the middle of Dale's confession, con-fession, and now stood watching the scene Intently from a post by the door. "What did you do with the blueprint?' blue-print?' The detective's voice beat at Dale like a whip. "I put It first in the neck of ray dress" she faltered. "Then, when I (ound you were watching me, I hid It, somewhere else." "Did you give it to Bailey?" Xo I hid It and then I told where It was to the doctor " Dale swayed on her feet. All turned surprisedly toward the doctor. Miss Cornelia rose from her chair. The doctor bore the battery of eyes unflinchingly. "That's rather inaccurate," he said, with a tight little smile. "Tou told me where you had placed it, but when I went to look for it, it was gone." "Are you quite sure of that?" queried Miss Cornelia acridly. The doctor's voice gained strength. "Absolutely," he said. He ignored the rest of the party, addressing himself directly to Anderson. "She said she had hidden it Inside one of the rolls that were on the tray on the table," he continued, in tones of easy explanation, approaching the table os he. did so, and tapping it with the bos; of sleeping-powders he tod brought for Miss Cornelia. 'iUV "Rlle was ln sucn disCress that 1 finally went to look for it It wasn't ' ft there." "Do you realize the significance of this paper?" Anderson boomed, at once. "Nothing, beyon'd the fact that Miss Ofiien was afraid it linked her with Ike crime." The doctor's voice was" very clear and firm. Anderson pondered an instant. Then "I'd like to have a few minutes filth the doctor alone," he said, somberly. som-berly. The group about him dissolved at once. Miss Cornelia, her arm around her niece's waist, led the latter gently ' Hie door. As the two lovers passed cmIi other a glance flushed between them a glance, pathetically brief, of Ning and love. Dale's finger-tips brushed Bailey's hand, gently, in passing, "Beresford," commanded the detec-llve, detec-llve, "take Bailey to the library and that he stays there." Eeresford tapped his pocket with significant gesture and motioned .v to the door. The,-i they, too, Wt the room. The door closed. The "tor and the detective were alone. T'ie detective spoke at once and wrprislngly. "Doctor, I'll have that blue-print!" said sternly, his eyes the color of steel. The doctor gave him a varv little fiance. 'Jiut I've just made the statement ' '; didn't find the blue-print," he rt'rmed flatly. heard you!" Anderson's voice as very dry Now thg situatIon between you and me, Doctor Wells." i's forefinger sought the doctor's tht- "It has nothing to do with iat poor fool of a cashier. He hasn't either those securities or the ")W from them, and you know it. "i this house, and you know that, Tonight, when you claimed to ' nmking a professional cull, you tfr! " this house and I think you Te on that staircase when Richard f'"ng was killed!" 'n Anderson, I'll swear . I was (' The doctor might be acting, arti ! 'le wns' " was incomparable The terror In his voice um too real to he feigned. '''t AiKierS0, was remorseless. . 'I tell you this," he continued. s an Gordcr very clevorlv got "nib-print of yours tonight. Does mean anything to you?" t)M's e-V("3 bored into the doctor the f 8 Poter-Pl'ayer, bluffing on a c!'Wa card. But the doctor did not 'Uloll. ; Ntliing," he said, firmly. "I have ', b(1en upstairs in this house in ! months." , e "went of truth in his voice V 4 ('"." so unmistakable that even ' fy tT011'8 s,lrewd urain was ruzzled '(nmt Cllt lle l1GI'sisleJ ,n llis nt" 1'J to wrlng a confession from this I1 sspect. (j 'efre Courtleigh Fleming died it, e te" you anything aboit a hid-rcmm hid-rcmm In this house?" he queried I cannily. "You haven't been trying to frighten these women out of here with anonymous letters so you could get in?" "No. Certainly not." But again the doctor's air had that odd mixture of truth and falsehood In it. The detective paused for an instant. "Let me see your key-ring!" he ordered. The doctor passed it over silently. The detective glanced at the keys then, suddenly, his revolver glittered in his other hand. The doctor watched him, anxiously. A puff of wind rattled the panes of the. French windows. The storm, quieted qui-eted for a while, was gathering its strength for a fresh unleashing of Its dogs of thunder. The detective stepped to the terrace door, opened it, and then quietly proceeded pro-ceeded to try the doctor's keys in the lock. Thus located he was out of visual range, and Weils took advantage advan-tage of it at once. He moved swiftly toward the fireplace, extracting the missing piece of blue-print from an inside pocket as he did so. The secret se-cret the blue-print guarded was already al-ready graven on his mind In indelible characters now he would destroy all evidence that it had ever been in his possession and bluff through the rest of the situation as best he might. He threw the paper toward the flames with a nervous gesture of relief. re-lief. But for once his cunning failed the throw was too hurried to be sure and the light scrap of paper wavered and settled to the floor just outside the fireplace. The doctor swore noiselessly and stooped to pick it up and make sure of its destruction. But he was not quick enough. Through the window the detective had seen the incident, and the next moment the doctor heard his voice bark behind him. He turned, and stared at the leveled muzzle of Anderson's revolver. "Hands up and stand back !" he commanded. As he did so Anderson picked up the paper, and a sardonic smile crossed his face as his eyes took in the significance of the print. He laid Ids revolver down on the table where he could snatch it up again at a moment's notice. "Behind a fireplace, eh?" he muttered. mut-tered. "What fireplace? In what room?" "I won't tell you !" The doctor's voice was sullen. He Inched, gingerly, cautiously, toward the other side ol the table. "All right I'll find it, you know." The detective's eyes turned swiftly back to the blue-print. For a moment, as he bent over the paper again, he was off guard. The doctor seized the moment with a savage promptitude and sprang. There followed a silent, furious struggle strug-gle between the two. Under normal circumstances, Anderson would have been the stronger and quicker, but the doctor fought with an added strength of despair and his initial leap had pinioned the detective's arms behind him. Now the detective shook one hand free and snatched at the revolverin re-volverin vain, for the doctor, with a groan of desperation, struck at his hand as its fingers were about to close on the smooth butt and the revolver skidded from the table to the floor. With a sudden terrible movement he pinioned both the detective's arms behind be-hind him again and reached for the telephone. Its heavy base descended on the back of the detective's head with stunning force and the next moment mo-ment the battle was ended and the doctor,, panting with exhaustion, held the limp form of an unconscious man in liis arms. He lowered the detective to the floor and bent swiftly over Anderson, listening lis-tening to liis heart. Good the man still breathed he had enough on his conscience without adding the murder mur-der of a detective to the bluck weight. Now he pocketed the revolver and the blue-print gagged Anderson rapidly with a knotted handkerchief and proceeded pro-ceeded to wrap his own mufller around the detective's head as an additional silencer. Anderson gave a faint sigh. The doctor thought rapidly. Soon or late the detective would return to consciousness with his hands free he could easily tear out the gag. He looked wildly about the room for a rope a curtain ah, he had It the detective's own handcuffs ! He snapped the cults on Anderson's wrists, then realized that, iu his hurry, he had bound the detective's hands in front of him instead of behind him. "Well it would do, for the moment he did not need much time to carry out his plans. He dragged the limp body, its head lolling, into the billiard room where be deposited it on the door in the corner farthest from the door. So far, so good now to lock the door of the billiard room. Fortunately, Fortunate-ly, the key was there, on the inside of the door. He quickly transferred it, looked the billiard room door from the outside and pocketed the key. Then he crossed cautiously into the alcove and started to pad up the alcove stairs, his face while and strained with excitement and hope. And it was theu that there happened hap-pened one of the most dramatic events of the night. It was preceded by a desperate hammering on the door of the terrace. It halted the doctor on his way upstairs, drew Beresford on a run into the living room, and even reached the bedrooms of the women up above. "My God! What't that?'.' Beresford Beres-ford panted. The doctor indicated the door. It was too late now. Already he could hear Miss Cornelia's voice above; It wa3 only a question of a short time until Anderson ln the billiard room revived and would try to make his plight known. And in the brief moment mo-ment of that resume of his position, the knocking came again. But feebler, as though the suppliant outside had exhausted his strength. As Beresford drew his revolver and moved to the door, Miss Cornelia came in, followed by Lizzie. "It's the Bat," Lizzie announced mournfully. "Good-by, Miss Neily. 1 h 1 Rouse Yourself, Man!" He Said. Good-by, everybody. I saw his hand, all covered with blood. He's had a. good night for sure !" But they ignored her. And Beresford Beres-ford flung open the door. Just what they had expected, what figure of horror or of fear they waited for, no one can say. But there was no horror and no fear ; only unutterable unutter-able amazement as an unknown man, in torn and muddied garments, with a streak of dried blood seaming his forehead like a scar, fell through the open doorway into Beresford's arms. "Good God !" muttered Beresford, dropping his revolver to catch the strange burden. For a moment the Unknown lay in his arms like a corpse. Then he straightened dizzily, staggered stag-gered into the room, took a few steps toward the table and fell prostrate upon his face, at the end of his strength. "Doctor !" gasped Miss Cornelia, dazedly and the doctor, whatever guilt lay on his conscience, responded at once to the call of his profession. He bent over the Unknown Man the physician opce more and made a brief examination. "He's fainted !" he said, rising. "Struck on the head, too." "But who is he?" faltered Miss Cornelia. Cor-nelia. "I never saw him before," said the doctor. It was obvious that he spoke the truth. "Does anyone recognize him?" All crowded about the Unknown, trying to read the riddle of his identity. iden-tity. Miss Cornelia rapidly revised her first impressions of the stranger. When he had first fallen through the doorway into Beresford's arms, she had not known what to think. Now, in the brighter light of the living room she saw that the still face, beneath its mask of dirt and dried blood, was strong and fairly youthful if the man were a criminal, he belonged, like the Bat, to the upper fringes of the world of crime. She noted mechanically that his hands and feet had been tied ends of frayed rope still dangled from his wrists and ankles. And that terrible injury on his head she shud dered and closed her eyes. "Does anyone recognize him?" repeated re-peated the doctor, but one by one the others shook their heads. Crook, casual tramp, or honest laborer unexpectedly unex-pectedly caught in the sinister toils of the Cedarcrest affair his identity seemed a mystery to one and all. The Unknown stirred feebly made an effort to sit up. Beresford and the doctor caught him under the arms and helped him to liis feet. He stood there swaying, a blank expression on his face. "A chair!" said the doctor, quickly. Ah " He helped the strange figure to sit down and bent over him again. "Vou're all right now, my friend." he said in his best tones of professional profes-sional cheeriness. "Dizzy a bit, aren't you?" The Unknown rubbed his wrists where liis bonds had cut them. He made an effort to speak. "Water!" he said in a low voice. The doctor gestured to Billy. "Get some water or whisky if there is any that'd be better." Beresford had been looking about for the detective, puzzled not to find him, as usual, in charge of affairs. Now, "Where's Anderson? This is a police rnattei-1" he said, making a movement as If to go in search of him. The doctor stopped him quickly. "He was here a minute ago he'll be back presently," he said, praying to whatever gods he served that Anderson, An-derson, bound and gagged in the billiard bil-liard room, had not yet returned to consciousness. Unobserved by all except Miss Cornelia, Cor-nelia, the mention of the detective's name had caused a strange reaction ln the Unknown. His eyes had opened he had started the haze in his mind had seemed to clear away for a moment. Then, for some reason, his shoulders had slumped again and the look of apathy come back to his face. But, stunned or not, it seemed possible that he was not quite as dazed as he appeared. The doctor gave the slumped shoulders shoul-ders a little shake. "Bouse yourself, ' man !" he said. "What has happened to you?" "I'm dazed !" said the Unknown, thickly and slowly. "I can't remember." remem-ber." He passed a hand weakly over his forehead. "What a night !" sighed Miss Cornelia, Cor-nelia, sinking into a chair. "Richard Fleming murdered in this house and now this !" The Unknown shot her a stealthy glance from beneath lowered eyelids. But when she looked at him, his face was blank again. "Why doesn't somebody ask his name?" queried Dale. The doctor took Dale's suggestion. "Whats' your name?" Silence from the Unknown and that blank stare of stupefaction. "Look at his papers." It was Miss Cornelia's voice. ' The doctor and Bailey searched the torn trousers pockets, the pockets of the muddled shirt, while the Unknown submitted passively, not seeming to care what happened to him. But search him as they would it was in vain. "Not a paper on him," said Jack Bailey, at last, straightening up. A crash of breaking glass from the head of the alcove stairs put a period to his sentence. All turned toward the stairs or all except the Unknown, who, for a moment, half rose in his chair, his eyes gleaming, his face alert, the mask of bewildered apathy gone from his face. As they watched, a rigid little figure fig-ure of horror backed slowly down the alcove stairs and into the room Billy, the Japanese, his oriental placidity pla-cidity disturbed at last, incomprehensible incomprehen-sible terror written in every line of his face. "Billy what it is?" . The diminutive butler made a pitiful piti-ful attempt at his usual grin. "It nothing," he gasped. The Unknown Un-known relapsed in his chair again the dazed stranger from nowhere. Beresford took the Japanese by the shoulders. "Now see here!' 'he said sharply. "You've seen something! What was it!" Billy trembled like a leaf. "Ghost I Ghost!" he muttered frantically, fran-tically, his face working. "He's concealing something. Look at him!" Miss Cornelia stared at her servant. "Brooks, close the door!" pointing at the terrace door in the alcove, al-cove, which still stood ajar after the entrance of the Unknown. Bailey moved to obey. But just as he reached the alcove the terrace door slammed shut InEis face. At the same moment every light in Cedar-crest Cedar-crest blinked and went out again. Bailey fumbled for the door-knob in the sudden darkness. "The door's locked!" he said, Incredulously. In-credulously. "The key's gone, too. Where's your revolver, Beresford?" "I dropped in it the alcove when I caught that man," called Beresford, cursing himself for his carelessness. The illuminated dial of Bailey's wrist watch flickered in the darkness dark-ness as he searched for the revolver a round, glowing spot of phosphor- 1 escence. Lizzie screamed. "The eye I The gleaming eye! I saw on the stairs!" she shrieked, pointing at it freuziedly. "Quick there's a caudle on the table light it somebody never mind the revolver I have one!" called Miss Cornelia. "Righto !" called Beresford, cheerily, in reply. He found the candle lit it The party blinked at each other for a moment, still unable quite to co-ordinate their thoughts. Bailey rattled the knob of the door into the hall. "This door's locked, too !" he said, with increasing puzzlement. A gasp went over the group. They were locked in the room, while some devilment devil-ment was going on in the rest of the house. That they knew. But what it might be, what form it might take, they had not the remotest idea. But it was not until 'Miss Cornelia took the candle and proceeded toward the hall door to examine it that the full horror of the situation burst upon them. Neatly fastened to the white panel of the door, chest high and hardly; more than just dead, was the body of a bat. Of what happened thereafter no one afterward remembered the details. To be shut in there, at the mercy of one who knew no mercy, was intolerable. It was left for Miss Cornelia to remember re-member her own revolver, lying unnoticed unno-ticed on the table since the crime earlier in the evening, and to suggest its use in shattering the lock. Just what they had expected when the door was finally opened they did not know. But the house was quiet and in order; no new horror faced them iu the hall; their caudle revealed re-vealed no bloody figure, their ears heard no unearthly sound. Slowly they began to search the house. Since no room was apparently immune from danger, the men made no protest when the women insisted on accompanying them. And as time went on and chamber after chamber was discovered empty and undisturbed, undis-turbed, gradually the courage of the party began to rise. Lizzie, still whimpering, whim-pering, stuck closely to Miss Cornelia's Cor-nelia's heels, but that spirited lady began to make small side excursions of her own. Of the men, only Bailey, Beresford and the doctor could really be said to search at all. Billy had remained below, be-low, impassive of face but rolling of eye; the Unknown, after an attempt to depart with them, had sunk back weakly into his chair again, and the detective, Anderson, was still unaccountably unac-countably missing. As time went on and the silence and peace remained unbroken, the conviction grew on them that the Bat had in this manner achieved liis object ob-ject and departed. Had done his work, signed it after his usual fash-Ion, fash-Ion, and gone. And thus were matters when Miss Cornelia, happening on the attic staircase stair-case with Lizzie at her heels, decided to look about her up there. And went up. (TO BE CONTINUE.) xxxxxxxxx-:-xxxx |