Show CULM AMY R 0 T 5 BY tari TW ri ev SYNOPSIS miss innes spinster and guardian ot of gertrude and halsey dished summer headquarters at sunn s de amidst nu berous d the servants deserted As M ss so innes lo 10 locked ked up tor for the night she was ras 6 startled by a dark figure on the veranda unseen U aseen ly no ses d stubbed her feuring uri ng th the n in the morn ng at ss innes inne to fo nd a strange I 1 cuff button I 1 11 I 1 EL 1 hamper gertrude and halsey arrived arr ved nith ith jack bailey the house was awak ened by a revolver shot and arnold arm strong wa was s found slot sl ot to beati in the hall M ss innes found halsey s revolver on the lawn he and jack bailey I 1 ad d s appeared the I 1 cuff button ouse disappeared detect ve jam eson arrived gertrude revealed she was en faed to jack bailey with whom she talked in the billiard room a few mo ments before the murder jamieson ac cued at ss as innes of I 1 old ng back evi dence he imar imprisoned an intruder in an empty room rhe che pr escaped down a laundry chute gertrude was suspected A negro found the other halt half of what pro ed to be jac t c ba ley s cuff button halsey reappears and says he and ba ley left in response to a telegram gertru gertrude do bald said sl e had bad given ba ley an unloaded revolver fearing to give him a loaded weapon cashier bai ey of paul arm strong trong a bank defunct was arrested tor for embezzlement halsey said armstron wrecked his own bank and could clear bailey paul armstrong armstrongs s deahl was an bounced halsey s flan fian ee louse lou se arm strong was found at the lodge the said lou e and arnold I 1 id a long talk the night of the murder I 1 ou ie ile was pro prostrated grated loulie loule told old halsey that wl ie abe ahe st 11 loved h in s e vas to marry another and that he would mould desp se her when he learned the whole story it developed that dr walker and louis were to be marr ed A prowler was heard in the house louise was mas found at the bo torn tom of the circular staircase CHAPTER XV continued I 1 was not sleeping well she be gan partly I 1 think because I 1 had bad slept during the afternoon liddy brought me some hot milk at ten 0 clock and I 1 slept until 12 then I 1 wakened ftak ened and I 1 got to thinking about things and worrying so I 1 could not lot go to sleep I 1 was wondering why I 1 had not heard from arnold since the since I 1 saw him that night at the lodge I 1 was afraid he was ill be cause rause he was to have done something for me and he had not come back it must have been three when I 1 heard some one rapping 1 I sat up and listened to be quite sure and the rapping kept up I 1 was cau tiou and I 1 was about to call all liddy then suddenly I 1 thought I 1 knew what it was the east entrance and cincu lar staircase were always used by arnold when he was out late and sometimes when he forgot his key he would rap and I 1 would go down and let him in I 1 thought he had come back lack to see me I 1 didn dian t think abo about at the time for his hours were always erratic but I 1 was wa afraid I 1 was too weak to get down the stairs the knocking kept up and just as I 1 was about to call liddy she ran through the room and out into the ha I 1 I 1 got up then feeling weak and dizzy and put on my dressing gown if it m was as arnold I 1 knew I 1 must see him it was very dark everywhere but of course I 1 knew my way I 1 felt along tor for the stair rail and went down a quickly as I 1 could the knocking had stopped and I 1 was afraid I 1 was too late I 1 got to the foot of the stair case and over to the door on to the east cast veranda I 1 had never thought of anything but that it was arnold until I 1 reached the door it was unlocked and opened about an inch everything was black it was perfectly dark 0 t side I 1 felt very queer and shaky then I 1 thought pe heaps haps arnold bad had used his key he did strange thing sometimes and I 1 turned around just I 1 as its I 1 reached the foot of the staircase I 1 thought I 1 heard some one coming my nerves wre going anyhow there in the dark and I 1 could scarcely stand I 1 got up as far as the third or fourth step then I 1 felt that some one was coming toward me on the staircase the next instant a hand met mine on the stair rail someone brushed past me and I 1 screamed then I 1 must have fainted that was louise s story there could be no doaby of its truth and the th ng that made it inexpressibly adf il it to me was that the poor girl had crept down to anav er the summons of a brother who would neer need her kindly offices again twice now m eiith ith out apparent cause some one had en the house by means of the east cast eti entrance en tiance ance had apparent gone bis his way may unbind unhindered red through the house and gone out again as he had entered had this unknown visitor been there a third time the night arno rno d arm strong was murdered 7 9 or a to fo irth the time mr jamieson Jam leson bad had locked some one in the clothes chute sleep was impossible I 1 for any of us we dispersed finally to bathe and dress leaving louise I 1 atle the worse for her experience but I 1 determined that before the day v as oi 01 er sue must know the true state of 0 affairs another I 1 made and I 1 put it into execution abely after breakfast I 1 had one of the unused bedrooms in the east wing back along the small corridor pre pared cor for occupancy and from that time on alex the gardener slept there one man in that barn of a house was an absurdity with things happening appen ng all a the t e time t me and I 1 must say that alex was as unobjectionable as any one could possibly have been the n at morning also halsey dud aud I 1 made an exhaustive examination of the cli cular staircase the small entry at its toot foot and the opening from it there was no evidence of anything unusual the night before and z J it 1 10 k fro LITA M mn Hr tJ my home Is in englewood the doo do tor besan began had wo we not ourselves heard the rap ping ding noises I 1 should have felt that louise s imagination had run away with her the outer door was mas closed and locked and the staircase curved above us for all the world like any other staircase halsey who had never taken seri serf bously my account of the night liddy and I 1 were there alone was mas grave enough now he examined the panel ing of the wainscoting above and be low the stairs evidently looking for a secret door and suddenly there flashed into my mind the recollection of a of paper that mr jamieson Jam leson had found among arnold armstrongs ef facts As nearly as possible I 1 re heated its contents to him while hal hat sey took them down in a notebook note book I 1 wish you had told me this be fore he said as he put the memo radum carefully away we found nothing at all in the house and I 1 ex pecked little from any examination 01 01 the porch and grounds but as m we e opened the outer door something fell into the entry with a clatter it was a cue from the billiard room halsey plot ed it up with an excia matlon mation that s careless eno agh he said some of the servants have been amusing amusin themselves them elves I 1 was far from cou convinced vinced not one of the servants would go into that wing at night unless driven by care cire necessity and a billiard cue ao ab a weapon of either opense or defense it was an absurdity unless one ac cepter liddy s hypothesis of a ghost and eten then as halsey pointed out a billiard playing ghost would be a aery modern evolution of an ancient institute on that afternoon we me gertrude hal sey and I 1 attended the coroners in quest in tova dr stewart had been summoned also it transpiring that in that early sunday morning when gertrude and I 1 had gone to our rooms he had been called to view the body we went the tour four of us in the ma chine preferring tha execrable roads to the matinee train with half of cas anova staring at us and on the way we decided to say nothing of louise and her interview with her step brother ther the night he died the girl was in e ei auh as it was CHAPTER A hint of scandal in giving ta tta gist of what happened at the inquest I 1 have only one P cuse to reca I 1 to the reader the events of the n glit of arno d arm strong s murder many things had occurred which were mere not blought bi ought out at the inquest and some were told there that were new to me al at together it v as a gloomy affair and bud the six men in the corner who con the coroner coroners s jury were evi eti dently the merest puppets in the hands of that all powerful gentlemen the coroner gertrude and I 1 sat back w th tb our veils down there were a num ber her of people I 1 knew barbara fitz nugh augh in extravagant mourning he always went into b ack on the sl est provocation because it was bacow ing and ind mr jarvis the man who had come over oer from the greenwood club the night of the murder mr haiton was there too looking im patient as the inquest dragged but alive to every particle of evidence from om a corner mr ir jamieson was watching the proceedings intently dr stewart was called first his ills evidence was told briefly and amount ed to this on the sunday morning previous lois at a quarter before five he had been called to the telephone the message was from a mr jarvis who mho asked him to come at once to sunny side as there had been an accident there and mr arnold armstrong had been shot he ile dressed hastily gath ered up some instruments and drove to Sunny sunnyside side he ile was met by mr jarvis who took him at once to the east cast wing there just as he had fallen was the body of arnold armstrong there m as no need of the instruments the man was dead in answer to the coroners quest question lon no the body had not been moved save to turn it over it lay at the foot of the circular staircase yes he believed death had been in the body was still some what warm and rigor mortis hadnot had not set in it occurred late in cases of sudden death no he believed the probability of suicide might be ellin the wounds could have been self inflicted but with difficulty and there had been no weapon found the doctor doctors s examination was over but he hesitated and cleared his throat mr air coroner he said at the risk of taking up valuable time I 1 would like to speak of an incident that may or may not throw some light on this matter the audience was alert at once kindly proceed doctor the coro core ner said my home fa in englewood two kilps from casaaova caa Casa iova the doctor be gan in the absence of dr walk r a number of casanova people have been consulting me A month ago five weeks meeks to be exact a woman whom I 1 had never seen came to my she m was as in deep mourning and kept her veil down and she brought for examination a child a boy of six the little fellow was ill it looked like typhoid and the tha mother was frantic she wanted a permit to admit the youngster to the children s hospital in town here where I 1 am a member of the staff and I 1 gave her one the incident would have escaped me but for a curious thing two days before mr air armstrong was shot I 1 vas mas sent for to go to the country club some oie had ben struck with a golf ball that had wild it wis wig late when I 1 left I 1 was on foot an I 1 about a mile from the club on the clayburg road I 1 met two to people they were desput ing violently and I 1 had no difficulty in recognizing mr armstrong the worn wom an beyond doubt was the one who bad had consulted me about the ch chi d at this hint of scandal mrs ogden fitchugh sat up very straight jamie aon was looking sl ghaly skeptical and the coroner made a note the children s hospital you say doctor he asked yes but the child who was mas en as lucien wallace was taken m by by his mother two wee aarn I 1 have tried to trace them and failed all at once I 1 remembered the telegram sent to louise by some one signed IF L nv presumably dr walker could the veiled woman be the nina carrington of the messaged message 9 but it was only idle speculation I 1 had no way may of finding out and the inquest was proceeding the report of the coroner coroners s ghyst cian clan came next the post mortem ex animation showed that the bullet bad entered the chest in the fourth left space and had taken an oblique chirse coi arse downward and back ward piercing both the heart and lings I 1 ings the left lung was collapsed and the exit point of the ball had been found in the muscles of the back to the left of the spinal column it was improbable that such a wound had been self inflicted and its oblique downward course po anted to the fact that the shot had been fired from above in other words as the mur dered man had been found dead at the foot of a staircase it was able that the shot had been fired by mim some one higher up on the stairs there were no marks of powder the bullet a 38 caliber had been found in the dead man mans a clothing and waa was chewn to the jury mr jarvis was called next but his hi testimony amounted to little lie ile had been summoned sum by telephone t to 0 sun had come over at once with the steward and mr winthrop at present out of town they bad had been admitted by the hot housekeeper hoise se keeper and had found the body lying at the foot of the staircase he ile had made a search for a weapon but there was none around the outer entry door in the east wing had been unfastened and was open about an inch I 1 had been growing more and more nervous when the coroner called air lir john bailey the room was filled m with ith suppressed excitement mr jamieson Jam leson went forward and spoke a few words to the coroner who nodded then halsey was called mr innes the coroner said will wil aou ou tell under what circumstances you saw mr arnold armstrong tho the 0 night he died I 1 saw him first at the country club halsey said quietly he ile was rather pale but very composed I 1 stopped there with my automobile tor for casolene ga solene mr armstrong had been playing cards when I 1 saw him there he was coming out of the wardroom oar droom talking to mr john bailey the nature of the discussion was it amica amicable bleZ 7 halse halsey hesitated they were having a dispute he said I 1 asked mr bailey dailey to leave the club with me and come to Sunny sunnyside side over sunday isn t it a fact mr innes that you took mr bailey away from the clubhouse because you were afraid there would be bilows the situation was unpleasant i halsey said evasively 11 at that time had you any suspicion that the traders bank bad had been beet 7 9 no what occurred next mr bailey and I 1 talked tn in the bill hard room until 2 30 and mr arnold armsttong Arms tiong came there while you were talking yes he came about half past he ile rapped at the east door and I 1 ad bitted him the silence in fn the room was in n tense mr jamieson Jam Jami leson esons s eyes never left halsey s face will you tell us the nature of his errand he ile brought a telegram that bad come to the club for mr bailey he ile was perfectly at that time not earr ter er was not his apparent friendliness a change from his former attitude yes I 1 did not understand it how long ong did he stay about five minutes then he left by the east entrance blat occurred then we talked for a few minutes discussing a plan mr bailey had in mind then I 1 went to the stables stable where I 1 kept my car and got it out leaving mr bailey alone in tho the billiard my sister was there mrs ogden fitzhugh had the cour age to turn and eye gertrude through her lor borgnon grion and then I 1 took the car along the lower road not to disturb the hou hosho ho d mr bailey came down across the lawn through the adge and got into the car ar on the road then you know nothing of mr armstrongs movements after he left he the housea nothing I 1 read of his death mon lay day evening for the first time mr bailey did not see him on his ray ay across the lawn I 1 not he had seen him he aou d have spoken of it thank you that Is all miss ger trude innes gertrude a |