Show 4 v 0 4 th a M 0 ar ey W ri ous 4 by CLIFFORD S RAYMOND 4 4 4 illustrated grated by IRWIN MYERS 4 by george 11 doran CO X an 4 CHAPTER IX continued 11 by this time I 1 had my senses fully recovered I 1 ran to the nearest window and was just in time to see two figures one in white the other indistinct at the far edge of the lawn running they ran into the woods and while I 1 stood at sit the window trying with painful consciousness of stupidity and ineptitude to decide upon a course of action I 1 heard an automobile en sine gine start in the lane beyond the woods out of a stupor in which I 1 watched the two to strange figures go troia from the moonlight on the lawn into the dark of the oak grove grone I 1 was mas aroused pos sibly stilly by the sound of the engine of the autor automobile nobile with a course of action suggested it came of fears long entertained now inow present with a threat of imminent conre consequence quence I 1 ran for the stairs flashing the light up the stairs and to jed 8 room ills HI door was open As I 1 hare said this wing ing u was as not wired for electricity I 1 turned my light about the room saw that the fear which had caused me to patrol the house was realized and then hunted for the lamp which I 1 found and lighted jed a room was in the disorder in which a hardworking housebreaker intent on finding jewels he knew the room contained might have left it it seemed almost ripped to piece on a table was a small pearl inlaid ebony box the lid was mas open the box m was as empty A As I 1 stood in the midst of the dl disarray of the lie room w m ith the empty box the most significant thing in it the marvelous unreality of hartley house A smiling dread seemed to hae visible token the empty bor I 1 thought thou glit had con tallied the manuscript which recorded air sidney a bechet the flash of white which I 1 had seen in the hall indicated the method by which it had disna feared the two figures crossing the lawn laun in the moonlight were mere further indication there was the sound of the nufo automobile mobile engine I 1 had a sore spot on my head the manuscript I 1 knew or bellev believed cd had been in the box which stood with mith significant emp tindes in the midst of the disordered room of jed who mho had been it my sural surmises zes were mere correct mr sid nea ne s secret upon which I 1 knew the he happiness of the family depended was mas in the hands of men designing to make male use of it jed being a major domo about the place had in his room a telephone con necking with mith the various arlous servants quarters I 1 used it to arouse the crauf beur it took me alv nil minutes of ringing his bell to awaken him when he lie re spondee I 1 told him that the house had been robbed by a man and a woman dressed in white mho had escaped under my sight through the oak grove and had used an automobile waiting for them on the road beyond the grov gro e I 1 told him to awaken one of the gar beners take tale weapons and go as quick ly as possible south by the best road roads when tills this had been done I 1 called sirs sidney s maid and told lier her to awaken mrs sidney and tell her it if oh if we can we she cried possible lale without alarming her that I 1 wished to speak to her on an urgent matter ina ina few the dinald came rame back and said tha that sirs mrs sidney could see me we I 1 found her in the pitting room of 0 her suite it Is nothing serious sirs mrs sidney 1 I said nothing that we me need now regard as herlous ter lous and it does not con cern mr kidneys health there has been an intruder in the houe more alore over the purpose was mas to break into jede room and jed beds s room has ha been broken into I 1 got a glimpse of tile person who did it a woman oman I 1 saw a man mau and a woman oman run into the oak grove and I 1 heard an automobile engine start on the road I 1 have sent a chauffeur and find a gardener in chase but they are traveling trav eUrg against so great a start that I 1 have bare no hope what I 1 flar ib lb that iuey have hae sir air kidneys Sid 0 diary do you know where here jed kept it no doctor said mrs sidney jf if there had been any chance of finding it we me should have taken it away from him film in his absence we have searched bis his room frequently these people are after the manu script and they are satisfied that they hae tt it I 1 said 1 I am sure of that there was a small pearl inlaid box open and empty in the middle of the floor we never found such a box boxy said mrs sidney then it might have been there it might it tt it m wag as they have it and we must get it back oh it if we me can we me must I 1 she cried holding her hands so tightly clasped that the delicate bones made a crackling noise I 1 tried to be encouraging and consoling and as a practical measure gave her a bromide CHAPTER X hartley house had a general office where the business of the estate was handled it was uns to one side ot of the main entrance I 1 had promised to be an extraordinary person la in meeting extraordinary circumstances but all I 1 did was to go to the office and lighting fighting the lights sit I 1 was in the extreme dejection of a weakling when the door opened and isobel came come in IN what lint are you doing up I 1 I 1 asked ask the same thing of you AN lint are you and the whole household doing am awake ake and moving I 1 I 1 told lier her that housebreakers had bad been at work and had es coped it if a 3 ou have been disturbed I 1 sug probably your father has also you had better go to his room and tell him film that the se rants hae haie been flus aby q burglar scare and then you had better go to your mothers room and stay with her until things quiet dow dom n that seemed sound enough advice but when isobel had gone I 1 was mas left mon wondering dering again what to do next it was mas out of the question to notify the authorities the thieves had stolen something ft which from what I 1 knew of it I 1 preferred to have in their hands rather than in the possession of the police our detective agency I 1 could trust but I 1 did not want to communicate with mith anyone but mcgulick Mc Gulie Gulic the superintendent and there was no need of tele phoning him until later in the morning the case as I 1 thought it oer came to this the spaniard and the attorney ne by the aid of a confederate a n woman oman had obtained possession of the diary containing the secret of hartley house they would soon be heard from they would mould not disappear ve lne did not pot have haie to pursue them they would mould pursue us there was the possibility of dealing with them by force extra legally any thing we me did for our protection had to be done extra legally I 1 thought me ale gulie guile could and would attend to that and I 1 intended to instruct him blin to con sider murder the only process not to be thought of I 1 tried to reconcile my ideas of mr air sidney s character with the facts of the tile fam ilys terrible dilemma what could a man of so just and honorable kindly and charming a nature as re pealed in his ills old age have lime done even in ill a hot and passionate youth which he lie could not face now ahat bat crime could he have committed which not only constituted a danger to his cecur ity it but remained a source of tion to him k I or two hours I 1 sat by the telephone expecting momentarily to hear bear from the chauffeur who had gone in pursuit of the thieve it was about four in the morning there was mas a pole suggestion of light in the windows when mrs aldrich the housekeeper cluie to the tile office she was nas an imperturbable tur bable lady of disciplinary habit and ordinarily unruffled dignity but now she was disturbed doctor she sold said agnes A gnei the new mold maid cannot be found she Is not in hir room her bed lias has not been touched touch td MORI of her belongings and her suitcase are gone I 1 came to iou ou milli this liro probable babl unimportant do mettle incident thinking that well mell the oc occurrence currence of the night might hae lime some connection with mith tills this girl I 1 think agnes probably was in lulled in the matter 11 I 1 said sold ile e hai have e always so dreaded to take a new nev sen sern ant nt said mrs audriel 6 but agnes came recommended for the month by a very faithful girl who mho wanted a months leave has anything an thing of great aue slue been taken nothing of any intrinsic alue whatever mrs aldrich I 1 imagine the robbers alarmed before they found any je jewels els or plate that s a consolation in any ei e ent sold the housekeeper but we never hall be able to take in a new servant again with any ease of mind the chauffeur telephoned as mrs aldrich went away the chase in the night had been useless as might be expected and I 1 told him to return home mrs aldrich brought me a light breakfast and one of the gardeners came to say that the dogs had been found in jn the woods moods they had been fed drugged meat and were sick and even enen now barely able to stand I 1 was nas preparing to go to mr sid room hen ben the telephone rang again it was a call from the village of harwich Ilor forty miles east a place of some repute or III repute for the number and character of its drinking places and roadhouses the man calling me said he was the constable of the township of Ilor and asked if he were mere talking to a person of responsibility I 1 assured him he was N as then he told me that an automobile accident i i had occurred two miles out of II Ilor orIch and that the only marks suggested hartley bouse house as a place to make inquiries he ile asked it if I 1 could come to horwich I 1 endeavored to question him over the telephone but he said there was little information he could give a a V V C 4 1 0 tr T r 7 i had mad my bottle of beer man and a woman in a car man past middle age a woman in white ahe man was mas dead the woman badly injured I 1 III be over as soon as possible I 1 said I 1 please keep the effects all together there was no doubt in my mind that the qua quavering qu averine erinc little rascal of a lawyer with his precise way and timid but controlling unscrupulousness had come to the end of his road and at the very tery moment when he had sue cess in his hand there was fio to reason to doubt that the woman was mas the maid agnes whom I 1 had surprised at midnight stealing down the stairs from beks jed s room w m fib mr sidney a diary but if we were mere rid of the timorous grasping little attorney we me were mere in worse morse difficulties avith the attorney and his ills spanish client we me at least knew the manner of dealing it was disconcerting I 1 might almost be tor for given lie the exaggeration of saying ft it was nos horrifying to consider that the tile diary was being lial handled idled by a con stable a sheriff or a coroner or even by any idler or resort keeper in the village of horwich Ilor if the automobile accident had dis posed of one ingenious enemy only to make a half balf dozen equally lous one ones or to apprise 1 I was tempted to think this was worse one incorruptible rup tible officer of the condition of hartley house in either event we were the lie worse for the change in circumstance cum stance one of the stablemen knew how to drive a cai car and I 1 asked him to bring out the autt automobile mobile which I 1 used when I 1 went to town the chauffeur when he returned would have been up most of ohp th night I 1 did not want to impose on him I 1 might be gone most of the day in a half hour we were mere away toward homzell Ilor I 1 never had been over tile road which ran by old farms with stone fences and was uns little traveled except by the people who lived along it originally the place had a respect able tavern it was uns called the white owl it was still respectable but oddly enough it was me the success of the chite alte owl which had attracted the other places I 1 inquired for the constable and was told that I 1 should likely find him at the milte millie owl ovi he being a frequenter of that place and now nov having a case which needed a great deal of drinking and talking over I 1 went ent to the tile chite bilte owl and on en bering the barroom which really had nn an attract attractive he rather than a disreputable appearance siw A group of men about a short broad squire dered fellow who was talking to the interest of halt a dozen or more fel lows my entrance made no diversion and judging from what I 1 had been told that the squat talkative fellow was the constable and that he was telling the story I 1 wanted to know I 1 decided to remain unidentified have time a bottle of beer from the bartender who came half halfheartedly heartedly from the con sta et ables blies narration and thua thus as en an emes dropper get what I 1 same ame to get in direct conversation I 1 had my bottle of beer and the bartender w ent back back to the group dominated by the squat talkative fellow he ile was not the comic type of constable lie ile showed intelligence and decision but evidently he mas w as fond ot a story when he had it to tell he was saying I 1 I 1 was up late because there was a bad set at the half day and bill dalley dailey thought he might have trouble with them before he got them on their way may about one they had a quarrel without anything but talk divided into two tuo sets and went away in two cars toward the city bill and I 1 split a bottle of beer and bill said he bed d be going himself it was nearly one thirty then and I 1 thought I 1 d wait up for dumber number eleven at two tuo clock and see it anyone got off bill gave me the keys and told me to shut the place up I 1 had another bottle of beer and was playing solitaire on the number aleven stopped I 1 went to the front door of the bar and looked over toward the station A man had got off and he was headed toward the half day don which was the only place showing a light I 1 waited in the doorway and when be he came up I 1 saw he was a foreigner he bad gold rings in his ears he made as if he wanted to come in lie ile didn dian t speak enough english tor for me to make out what he was saying I 1 let him in and he be went up to the bar put down a quarter and pointed toward the whisky I 1 gave him the bottle and he pointed to me and smiled so I 1 said I 1 mind if I 1 did and we had a drink together I 1 thought I 1 d like to know what this fellow wanted in town so I 1 dida t suggest it was closing time then I 1 was surprised to hear a car coming along the other fellow seemed to be expecting it it we both went to the door the car stopped at the door and a man helped a woman man out lie ile was a little old shriveled fellow she ans w as young and pretty the old fellow said something to my foreigner and he be threw his arms in the air wriggled all over laughed and fell on the old fellow and kissed him the old boy struggled and kicked but the foreigner just picked him right up and kissed him on both cheeks that old boy was N as mad when N hen he got loose this Is unthinkable he said it Is beyond expression you human pig I 1 dog of a man slobbering slob bering beast V then he lie stopped speaking english and said a lot of things the foreigner understood der stood but it didn dian t make him in mad ad ills eyes just sparkled he lie put a dollar on the bar and pointed to the whisky again bring our drinks over here said the old boy pointing to one of the tables in a far corner of the room they sat down and the two men talked the girl didn dian t seem to have the language the foreigner was excited the old boy kept wiping ills eyeglasses he ile wasn gasn t showing as much nervousness as the foreigner but he was pleased over something 1 I I kept behind the bar as near their table as I 1 could and pretended to play solitaire and wait for their orders watching matching them as much as possible and trying to make out what they were mere talking about pretty soon they wanted another round of drinks when I 1 ser served sered ed them the old boy |