Show tf I 1 EC TAIR s toe t X v ILLY A 77 BY aw M 06 av v add mma ca t SYNOPSIS miss innes spinster and guardian of gertrude and baisey established summer headquarters at de A amidst last nu difficulties the servants I 1 deserted d t d As miss innes locked up tor for the night bhe she was startled by a dark figure on the veranda she passed a terr b ble le night which was filled with unseemly y noses no ses in the morning miss innes found a strange link cuff button in a clothes hamper gertrude and halsey arrived with jack bailey the house was awak ened by a revolver shot A strange man was wa f found shot to death in tl e I 1 all it pro proved ved to be the body of arnold ar am n S strong trong whose banker father owned the country house miss innes found hal se sey y a revolver on the lawn he and jack bailey had disappeared the ink 1 cuff button mysteriously disappeared de jamieson Jam leson and the coroner arrived gertrude revealed that she was engaged to jack bailey with whom she had talked in the billiard room a few mo ments before the murder CHAPTER V continued the quarrel I 1 believe he per aisted was about mr armstrong s conduct to you miss gertrude he had been paying you unwelcome at tensions tent ions lons and I 1 had never seen the man I 1 when she nodded a yes I 1 saw the tremendous possibilities involved if this detective could prove that gei gel trude feared and disliked the mur dered man and that mr armstrong had been annoying and possibly pur suing her with hateful attentions all that added to gertrude s confession of her presence in the billiard room at the time of the crime looked strange to say the least the kroml nence of the family assured a strena ous effort to find the murderer and if we had nothing worse to look forward to we were sure of a distasteful pub lacity mr jamieson shut his note bool boot with a snap and thanked us I 1 have an idea he lie said aaa of nothing at all that at any rat ghost is laid here whatever the pings have been and the colored coloreds says they began when the family west three months ago they are ly to stop now which shows how much he about it the ghost was not with the murder of arnold arm he or it only seemed to take on vigor mr jamieson Jam leson left then and gertrude had gone upstairs as s at once I 1 sat and thought over I 1 nad just heard her engage once so engrossing a matter now beside the significance 0 story if halsey and jack baile left before the crime how cam sey s revolver in the tulip bed 9 was the mysterious cause of the den flight what had gertrud gertrude in the billiard what wr w significance of the cufflink and was it CHAPTER VI in the east corridor when the detective left he en absolute secrecy on everybody i household the greenwood promised the same thing and as are no sunday afternoon paper papers murder was not publicly wnM kno monday the coroner himself n 0 III elk the armstrong family lawyer and early in the afternoon he came out I 1 had not seen mr jamieson morning but I 1 knew he had been la in terro gating the servants gertrude was locked in her room with a head ache and I 1 had luncheon alone mr harton the lawyer was a little thin man and he looked as it if he did not relish his business that day this Is very unfortunate miss in nes he said after we had shaken hands most unfortunate and mys teri denous us with the father and mother in the west I 1 find everything devolves on me and as you can understand it Is an unpleasant duty no doubt I 1 said absently mr harton I 1 am going to ask you some questions and I 1 hope you will answer them thein I 1 feel that 1 am entitled to some knowledge because I 1 and my family are just now in a most ous position I 1 don t know whether he under stood me or not he took off his glasses and wiped them I 1 shall be very happy he said with old fashioned courtesy thank you mr harton did mr arnold armstrong know that sunny side had been I 1 think yes he did in fact I 1 my self told him about it and he knew who the tenants were yes he had not been living with the andly family for some years I 1 believe 7 no unfortunates there had been rouble trouble between arnold and his ta fa her ther for two years he had lived in town then it would be unlikely that he here last night to get possession it of anything belonging to him I 1 should think it hardly possible ie admitted to be perfectly frank miss lanes innes I 1 can not think of any eason reason whatever for his coming here is as he did he had been staying at he the cl ib house across the valley for he la t M vit lek ek jarvis tells me but hat that only explains how he came here io no nav tt lg is a most unfortunate r i 1 iq 1 hea hen I 1 d 1 14 I 1 A Z X the quarrel I 1 believe T felt that this little man it he ng to and body Y it rd ta oth d A collar d up f ar ugly s we t the wyer and e in the 4 me been a by mrs with now ong ame with ice rand your lease here in their tavor lavor alln we would better wait and see if they wish to come I 1 said it seems unlikely and my town house is being remodeled at that he let t the he mat ter drop but it came up unpleasantly enough later at six 0 clock the body was taken away avay and at seven thirty after an early dinner mr air harton went ger trade trude had not come down and there was no news of halsey mr jamie son had taken a lodging in the vil lage and I 1 had not seen him since mid afternoon it was about nine 0 clock I 1 think when the bell rang and he was ushered into the living room sit down I 1 said grimly have you found a clew that will incriminate me mr Jamieson 9 he had the grace grac to look able no he said it if you had killed mr armstrong you would have left no clews you would have had too much intelligence ater after that we got along better he ile was fishing in his pocket and after a minute he brought out two scraps of paper I 1 have been to the club house he said and among mr air arm strong strongs s effects I 1 found these one Is curious the other Is puzzling the first was a sheet of club note paper on which was written over and over the name halsey D innes it was halsey s flowing signature to a dot but it lacked halsey s ease the ones toward the bottom of the sheet were much better than the top ones mr jamieson smi ed at my face his old tricks he said that one Is merely curious this one as I 1 said before Is puzzling the second scrap folded and re folded into a compass so tiny that the writing had been partly obliterated was part of a letter the lower halt half of a sheet not typed but written in a cramped hand by altering the plans for rooms may mav be poss ble the best way in my opi opt ion would be to the plan for ir one of the rooms chim him ney that was all wella I 1 said looking up there is nothing in that is there A man ought to be able to change the plan of his house without becoming an ob hect ot of suspicion there Is little in the paper itself 1 he admitted but why should arnold armstrong carry that around unless it meant 9 7 he never built a house you may be sure of that it if it Is this house it may mean anything from a secret room to an extra bathroom I 1 said scornfully haven t you a thumb print I 1 have he said with a smile and the print of a foot in a tulip bed and a number of other things the odd est part Is miss innes that the thumb mark Is probably yours and the footprint certainly his audacity was the only thing that saved me his amused smile put me on my mettle and I 1 ripped out a perfectly good scallop before I 1 an why did I 1 step into the tulip bed I 1 asked with interest you picked up something he said good humo which you are going to tell me about later am I 1 indeed I 1 was politely cu rious with this remarkable insight of yours I 1 wish you would tell me where I 1 shall find my four thousand dollar motorcar I 1 was just coming to that he said you will find it about 30 miles away at andrews station in a black smith shop where it Is being re paired I 1 laid down my knitting then and looked at him and halsey I 1 managed to say we are going to exchange anfor mation he said I 1 am going to tell you that when you tell me what you picked up in the tulip bed we looked steadily at each other it was not an unfriendly stare we were only measuring weapons then he smiled a little and got up with your permission he said I 1 am going to examine the card room and the staircase again you might think over my offer in the meantime he went on through the drawing room and I 1 listened to his footsteps growing gradually fainter I 1 dropped my pretence at knitting and leaning back I 1 thought over the last 48 hours here was I 1 hachel rachel innes spinster a granddaughter of old john innes of revolutionary days a D A R a co lonial dame mixed up with ith a vulgar and revolting crime and even at tempting to hoodwink the law gainly I 1 had left the straight and nar row way I 1 was roused by healing heating mr air jamie son coming rapidly back through the drawing room he ile stopped at the door miss innes he said quickly will you come with me and light the east corridor 7 I 1 have faste fastened ned somebody in the small room at the head ot of the card room stairs I 1 jumped up at once you mean the murderer 7 9 I 1 gasped possibly he said quietly as we hurried together up the stairs some one was lurking on the staircase when hen I 1 went back I 1 spoke instead of an answer whoever it was turned and ran up I 1 followed it was dark but as I 1 turned the corner at the top a figure darted through this door and closed it the bolt was on my side and I 1 pushed it forward it is a closet I 1 think we were in the upper hall now it you will show me the electric switch miss innes you would better wait in your own room trembling as I 1 was nas I 1 was deter mined to see that door opened I 1 hardly knew what I 1 feared but so many terrible and inexplicable things had happened that suspense waa was worse than certainty I 1 am perfectly cool I 1 said and I 1 am going to remain here the lights flashed up along that end of the corridor throwing the doors into relief at the intersection of the small hallway with the larger the cir cular staircase wound its way up aa as it if it had been an afterthought of the architect and just around the cor ner in the small corridor was the door mr jamieson Jam leson bad had indicated I 1 was still unfamiliar with the house and I 1 did not remember the door my heart was thumping wildly in my ears but I 1 nodded to him to go ahead I 1 was perhaps eight or ten feet away and then he threw the bolt back a come out he said quietly there was no response come out he repeated then I 1 think he had a re volver but I 1 am not sure he stepped aside and threw the door open from where I 1 stood I 1 could not see beyond the door but I 1 saw mr jamie son s face change and heard him mut ter something then he bolted down the stairs three at a time when my knees had stopped shaking I 1 moved forward slowly nerious nervously ly until I 1 had a partial view of what was beyond the door it seemed at first to be a clos et empty then I 1 went close and ex it to stop with a shudder IN here the floor should have been was black void and darkness from which came the indescribable damp smell of the cellars mr jamieson Jam leson bad had locked somebody in the clothes chute As I 1 leaned over I 1 fancied I 1 beard heard a groan or was it the wind CHAPTER VII A sprained ankle I 1 was panic stricken As I 1 ran along the corridor I 1 was confident that th mysterious intruder and probable mur derer had been found and that he lay dead or dying at the foot of the chute I 1 got down the staircase some how and through the kitchen to the basement stairs mr jamieson Jam leson had been before me and the door stood open liddy was standing in the mid die dle of the kitchen holding a frying pan part by the handle as a weapon don t go down there she yelled when she saw me moving toward the ba basement ement don t you do it misa miss rachel that Jami esons down there now there s only trouble comes ol 01 bunting hunting ghosts they lead you into bottomless pits and things like that oh miss rachel don dont t as I 1 tried to get past her she was interrupted by mr air jamieson s reappearance lie ile ran up the stairs two at a time and his face waa was flushed and furious the whole place Is locked he said angrily where a the laundry key kept it its s kept in the door liddy snapped that whole end of the eel lar is kept locked so nobody can get at the clothes and then the key keys s left in the door so that unless a thiel thief bolted down stairs three at a time was as blind as as some detectives be he could walk right in liddy I 1 said sharply come down with us and turn on all the lights she offered her resignation as us ual on the spot but I 1 took her by the arm and she came along finally she switched on all the lights and pointed to a door just ahead the door she said sulkily the keys key s in it but the key was not in it mr jamieson Jam leson shook it but it was a heavy door well locked and then he stooped and began punching around the key hole with the end of a lead pencil when be he stood up wis face was eaul tant it s locked on the inside he said 1 in kh a low tone there la is somebody in there lord have mercy gasped liddy and turned to run TO BE |