| Show LAP avary VL 1 BY hupf we ev AY ceaf SYNOPSIS miss innes spinster and guardian of gertrude and halscy halsy shed summer headquarters at sunn side amidst nu berous d the servants deserted As miss innes locked up for the night she was startled by a dark f figure on the veranda she passed a terrible night which was filled with unseemly no ses in th the morning miss innes found a strange trance link cuff button in a clothes hamper amper gertrude and halsey arrived with jack bailey the house was awak ened by a revolver shot A strange man was fou found nd shot to death in the hall it proved to be the body of arnold arm strong w whose hose banker father owned tl e country house miss innes found hal sey s revolver on the lawn he and jack bailey I 1 ad disappeared the ink 1 cuff button mysteriously d sapp eared de jamieson Jam leson and the coroner arrived gertrude revealed that she was engaged to jack bailey with whom she had talked i in the billiard room a few mo ments b before e nto re t the he murder jamieson Jam leson told miss innes that she was hiding evidence fr from hm h m he ile imprisoned an intruder in arom an e empty apty pty room the prisoner escaped down a laundry chute it developed I 1 at the intruder was probably a EL woman ger trude was suspected tor for the intruder left a print of a bare bar e foot gertrude re turned home w th her right ankle sprained A negro found the other halt half of what proved to be jack bailey baileys s cuff bu button t ton 1 halsey a sey suddenly reappeared he sa sad d he and bailey had left because they had received a telegram gertrude said that she had given bahlev an un loaded revolver tearing fearing to div give e him hal ial tey s loaded weapon CHAPTER IX continued they stared at each other across the b g library table with young eyes all at once hard suspicious and then gertrude held out both hands to him appealingly we must not she said brokenly just now with so much at stake it is shameful I 1 know you are as ig 19 borant as I 1 am make me believe it halsey halsey soothed her as best he could and the breach seemed healed but long after I 1 went to bed he sat down stairs in the living room alone and I 1 knew he was going over the case as he had learned it some things were clear to him that were dark to me he ile knew and gertrude too why jack bailey and he had bad gone away that night as they did he knew where they the had been for the last 48 hours and why V hy jack bailey had not returned with him it seemed to me that with out fuller confidence from both the children they are always children to me I 1 should never be able to learn anything As I 1 was finally getting ready for bed halsey came upstairs and knocked at my door when I 1 had got into a negligee lgee I 1 used to say wrapper be fore gertrude grtrude came back from school 1 I let him in he stood in the door way a moment and then he went into agonies of silent mirth I 1 sat down on the side of the bed and waited in severe silence tor for him to stop but he seemed to grow worse when he had recovered he took me by y the elbow and pulled me in front fron t of the mirror how to be beautiful he quoted advice to maids and matrons by beatrice fairfax and then I 1 saw myself I 1 had neglected to remove my vv wrinkle eradicators and ands I 1 presume my appearance was odd I 1 believe that it is a woman s duty to care for her looks but it is much like telling a necessary falsehood one must not be found out by the time I 1 got them off halsey was serious again and I 1 listene lis I 1 to his story aunt ray he began extinguish ing his c garette on the back of my ivory hair hairbrush brush I 1 would give a lot to tell you the whole thing B it I 1 cant can t for a day or so anyhow but one thing I 1 might have told you a long time a ago it you had kno it you would not have suspected me for i t moment of of having anything to do with the attack on arnold armstrong goodness knows what I 1 might do to a fellow like that it if there was enough provocation and I 1 had a gun in my hand jundef ordinary circumstances but 1 care a great deal about louise armstrong aunt ray I 1 hope to mar ry her some day Is it likely I 1 would kill her brother 9 but tl inhofe e chofe thing is absurd I 1 argued and bes des gertrude s sworn tat ement that you left before arnold armstrong came would woula clear yo i at once halsey ralsey got up and began to pace the room and the a r of cheerfulness dropped like a mak she can t swear it he said finally gertrudes lett rudes story was true as far as it went but she didn dian t tell everything arnold armstrong came I 1 ere at 2 30 came dame into the billiard room and left in five rive minutes 11 he came to bring to so neth ng halsey I 1 cried you must tell me the whole truth every time I 1 see a w way ay for abu to escape you block it yoi with th s vail vall of mystery what nhat aid ald he bring A telegram for bailey dailey he said ald it t came by special messenger from town and wis most important bailey had started for I 1 erp ere and the messen ger I 1 ad gone back to the city the d gave it lo 10 arno d who had been drinking all ua aai and couldn coulden t sleep and was gong go ng for a stroll in the direction of Sunny sunnyside side and he brought if lies les I 1 can tell you as soon as certain things are made c it is only a matter of days no v gloomily and gertrudes gertrude s story of a tele phoned poor he half whispered toor lo 10 al 1 little gr g A nt ray 61 nak S LOW av I 1 rug they stared at each other across the big library table there ther ewas was no such message no doubt your detective already knows that and discredits all gertrude told him I 1 and when she went back it was to get the telegram 9 probably halsey said slowly when ou on get to thinking about it aunt ray it looks bad for all three of us doesn doean t ita and yet I 1 will take my oath none of us even inadvertent ly killed that poor devil I 1 looked at the closed door into gerturdes gerturde s dressing room and low ered my voice the same horrible thought keeps recurring to me I 1 whispered hal sey gertrude probably had your re volver she must have examined it anyhow that night after you and jack had gone what it that ruffian came back and she and she I 1 finish halsey stood looking at me nith with shut lips she might have heard him turn fum bling at the door he had no key the police say and thinking it was you or jack she admitted him NV when hen chesaw she saw her mistake she ran up the stairs a step or two and ti it ruing like an animal at bay she fired halsey had his hand over my lips before I 1 finished and in that position we stared each at the other our stricken glances crossing the i my revolver thrown into the tulip bed he muttered to himself thrown perhaps from an upper window you say it was buried deep her prostration ever since her aunt pay you dont don t think it was gertrude who fell down the clothes chute f I 1 could only nod my head in a hope less affirmative CHAPTER X the traders bank fhe morning after halsey s return was tuesday arnold armstrong had been found dead at the foot of the cir cular staircase at three 0 clock on sunday morning the t meral fineral services were to be held on tuesday and the interment of the body was to be de berred I 1 the armstrongs arrived from california iso no one I 1 think was very sorry that arnold armstrong was dead but the manner of his death aroused some sympathy and an enor amount of curiosity mrs ogden ritz fitzhugh hugh a n took charge of the arrangements and everything I 1 be 1 eve was as qu et as possible nos sible I 1 gave tl TI omas johnson and mrs watson bermiss on to go into town to pay their last respects to the dead man but for som reason they did not care to go 90 halsey spent part of the day with mr air jamieson but he said nothing of 0 afat happened he looked grave an and anxious and he had a long conversa tion with gertrude late in the after noon tuesday evening found us quiet with the quiet that precedes an ex gertrude and halsey were both gloomy and distraught and as liddy I 1 ad already discovered that tha some of the china was broken it tt is impossible to have any secrets from an old servant I 1 was not in a pleas ant h imor myself warner brought up the afternoon mail and the even ing capers at seven I 1 was curious to know wl at the papers said of the murder had turned away at least a dozen reporters report eis but I 1 read over the head I 1 ne that ran halfway half way across the top of the gazette twice before I 1 co comprehended it halsey halo y had opened the cl Clion ion cle and was staring at it fixedly rhe bradeis bank clones clobes its doors was what I 1 read and then I 1 put down the paper and looked across th table did you know of this I 1 asked halsey I 1 expected it dut not so soon he replied and youa to gertrude jack told u something ger trude said faintly oh halsey what can he do nowa jack I 1 said scornfully your jack jacks s flight Is easy enough to explain now and you helped him both of you to get away you get that from your mother it isn t an innes trait do you know that every dollar you have both of you is in that bank gertrude tried to speak but halsey stopped her that eslit isn t all gertrude he said quietly jack is under arrest under arrest gertrude screamed and tore the paper out of his hand she glanced at the heading then she crumpled the newspaper into a ball and flung it to the floor while hal sey looking stricken and white was trying to smooth it out and read it gertrude had dropped her head on the table and was sobbing stormily I 1 have the clipping somewhere but j now I 1 can remember only the es senti als on the afternoon before monday while the traders bank was in the rush of closing hour between two and three mr air jacob president C R E vi oll aa 61 sent two telegrams rele grams of the pearl brewing company came into the bank to lift a loan As se carity for the loan he bad deposited some international steamship company 5 s in total value mr went to the loan clerk and after certain for had been gone through the loan clerk went to the vault mr who was a large and genial german waited for a time whistling under his breath the loan than clerk did not come back after an interval mr saw the loan clerk emerge from the vault and go to the assistant cashier the two went hurriedly to the vault A lapse of another ten minutes and the assistant cashier came out and ap pro mr he ile was noticeably tice ably white and trembling mr rr autman was told that through an overs the bonds had been mis placed and was asked to return the following morning when everything ever thing would be made all right mr however was a shrewd business man and he did not like the appearance of things he ile left the bank apparently satisfied and within 30 minutes he had called up three different members of the trad ers board of directors at 3 30 there was a hastily convened board meeting with some stormy scenes and late in the afternoon a national bank exam Y A A iner was la in possession of 0 the books the bank had not opened for business tuesday at 12 30 0 clock the saturday be fore as soon as the business of the day was closed mr john bailey th the cashier of the defunct bank had taken bis his hat and departed during the aft ernson he had called up mr aronson a member of the board and said he was III and might not be at the bank tor for a day or two As bailey was high ly thought of mr aronson merely ex pressed a regret from that time un til monday night when mr bailey had surrendered to the police little was known know n of bis his movements some time after one on saturday he had en the western union office at cherry and white streets and had sent two telegrams he was at the green wood country club on saturday night and appeared unlike himself it was reported that he would be released under enormous bond some time that day tuesday the article closed by saying that while the officers of the bank refused to talk until the examiner had finished his work it was known that securities aggregating a million and a quarter were missing then there was a dia tribe on the possibility of such an occurrence on the folly of a one man bank and of a board of directors that met only to lunch together and to listen to a brief report from the cash ler and on the poor policy of a gov that arranges a three or four day examination twice a year the mystery it insinuated had not been cleared by the arrest of the cashier before defore now minor officials had been used to coak the misdeeds of men higher up inseparable as the words speculation and peculation have grown to be john bailey was not known to be in the stock market his ills only words after his surrender had been send tor for mr armstrong at once the telegraph message which had finally reached the president of the traders bank in an interior town in california had been responded to by a telegram from dr walker the young physician who was traveling with the armstrong family saying A that paul armstrong was very ill III and unable to travel that was how things stood that tuesday evening the traders bank had suspended payment and john bailey dailey was under arrest charged with wrecking it paul armstrong lay very ill in california and his only son had been murdered two days before I 1 sat dazed and bewildered the children a money was gone that was bad enough though I 1 had plenty if they would let me share but gertrude s grief was beyond any power of mine to comfort the man she had chosen stood accused of a colossal embezzle ment and even worse for in the in stant that I 1 sat there I 1 seemed to see the coils closing around john bailey as the murderer of arnold armstrong gertrude lifted her head at last and stared across the table at halsey why did he do ra she walled you stop him halsey 7 it was suicidal to go back halsey was looking steadily through the windows of the breakfast breakfast room but it was evident he saw nothing it was the only thing to do trude he said at last aunt ray when I 1 found jack at the greenwood club last saturday night he was frantic I 1 can not talk until jack tells me I 1 may but he Is absolutely innocent of all this believe me I 1 thought trude and I 1 thought we were helping him but it was the wrong way he ile came back isn t that the act of an innocent mana then why did he leave at all I 1 asked unconvinced what innocent man would run away from here at three clock in the morning t it t look rather as though he thought it t impossible to escaped gertrude lose angrily you are not even just justl she flamed you don t know anything about it t and you con damn him I 1 know that hat we have all lost a great deal of money I 1 said I 1 shall believe mr bailey innocent the mo 0 ment he is shown to be you profess to know the truth but you cannot tell met me what am I 1 to thinka halsey leaned over and patted my liand hand you must take us on faith he said jack bailey dailey hamilt a penny that doesn doean t belong to him the guilty man will be known in a day or so I 1 shall believe that when it is proved I 1 said grimly in the mean time I 1 take no one on faith the in aneses never do gertrude who had been standing aloof at a window turned suddenly but when the bonds are offered tor for sale halsey won t the thief be de at once halset halsey turned with a superior mile it wouldn t be done that way he said they would be taken out of the vault by some one who had access to it and used as collateral for a loan in n another bank it would be possible to realize 80 per cent of their face alue value TO dr CONTINUED |
