Show THE sim SE 40 BY A r w ca SYNOPSIS miss innes spinster and guardian guard taa aa gertrude and halsey e established s headquarters at bunn Ys ide amidst nu berous difficulties t the he servant servants deserted As miss innes locked up for the night he was ras startled by a dark figure on the veranda unseemly Aly noises d att abed her luring the night in the morning miss innes found a strange link cuff button in 1 hamper gertrude and hal halsey ey arrived with jack bailey the housel house was awak 1 ed by a revolver shot and arnold arm strong was found shot to death in the hall miss innes found halsey s revolver on the lawn he ile and jack bailey had dis appeared the link cuff button ou DU ly disappeared detective jamieson Jam leson arrived gertrude revealed she was en to jack bailey with mith whom she talked in the billiard room a few roo mo ments before the murder jamieson Jam leson ac aused miss innes of holding back evi donee dence he imprisoned an intruder in an empty room the prisoner escaped down a laundry chute gertrude was suspected A negro found the other half of what proved to be jack bailey a cuff button halsey reappears and says he and bailey left in response to a telegram gertrude said ahe had hwd given bailey an unloaded revolver fearing to give him a loaded weapon cashier bailey dailey of paul arm strong strongs s bank defunct was arrested tor for embezzlement halsey said armstrong wrecked his own bank and could clear bailey paul armstrong armstrongs s death was an bounced halsey a fiancee louise ar n strong was found at the lodge rhe lodge keeper said louise and arnold had a long talk the night of the murder lo 10 i 1 lee ise was prostrated louise told dalbey that wh while e she still loved him she vaa ag to marry another and that he would despise her when he learned the whole story it et developed that dr walker and louise were to be married A prowler was hea 11 1 in the house louise was found at the bott bottom 0 rn of the circular staircase louise said she I 1 ad heard a knock at the door a and n d answered it something brushed past he her r on the stairway and sa s1 1 e fainted CHAPTER continued you heard no other sound the coroner asked there was no ons one with mr armstrong when he en it was perfectly dark there were no voices and I 1 heard nothing there was just the opening of the door the shot and the sound of somebody fall ing then while you went through the drawing room and upstairs to alarm the household the criminal whoever it was could have escaped by the east door yes thank you that will do I 1 flatter myself that the coroner got little enough out of me I 1 saw mr jamieson smiling to himself and the coroner gave me up after a time I 1 admitted I 1 had found the body said I 1 had not known who it was until mr jarvis told me and ended by looking up at barbara fitzhugh and saying that in renting the house I 1 had not expected to be involved in any family scandal at which she turned purple the verdict was that arnold arm strong had haa met his death at the hands of a parson or persons unknown and we prepared to leave barbara fitz hugh flounced out without waiting to speak to me but mr harton came up as I 1 knew he would you have decided to give up the house I 1 hope miss innes he said mrs armstrong has wired me again I 1 am not going to give it up I 1 maintained until I 1 understand some things that are puzzling me the day that the murderer Is discovered I 1 will leave then judging by what I 1 have heard you will be back in the city very soon he said and I 1 knew that he suspected the discredited cashier of the traders bank mr jamieson Jam leson came up to me as I 1 was about to leave the coroners of flee fice how Is your patient 9 he asked with his odd little smile I 1 have no patient I 1 replied startled I 1 will rill put it in a different way then how Is miss armstrong 9 she she is doing very well I 1 stammered good cheerfully and our ghosto la Is it laid mr jamieson I 1 said suddenly I 1 wish you would come to sunnyside Sunny side and spend a few days there the ghost is not laid I 1 want you to spend one night at least watching the cir cular staircase the murder of arnold armstrong was a beginning not an end he looked serious perhaps I 1 can do it he eald said I 1 have been doing something else but well I 1 will come out to tonight night we m were ere very silent during the trip back to sunnyside Sunny side I 1 watched gertrude closely and somewhat sadly to me there was one glaring flaw in her story and it seemed to stand out for every one to see arnold arm strong had had no key and yet she said she had locked the east door he ile must have been admitted from within the house houge over and aver I 1 repeated it to myself that night as gently as I 1 could 11 told louise the story of her st step ep brothers brother s death she sat in her big pillow filled chair and heard me brough without interruption it was clear that she was shocked beyond words it if I 1 had hoped to learn any thing from her expression I 1 bad had failed she was as much in the dark as we were CHAPTER A hole in the wall my taking the detective out to sun ay lysine side raised an unexpected ted storm ot of protest from gertr ide and halsey I 1 was noi not prepared for it and I 1 scarcely k knew new how to account for it to me mr air jamieson Jam leson was tar far less formidable under my eyes where I 1 knew what he was doing than he was off in the city twisting circumstances and motives to suit himself and learning wat he wished to know about events at sun in some occult way I 1 was glad enough to have him there when excitements began to come thick and fast anew A new element was about to enter into affairs I 1 day or tuesday at the lat latest st would find dr walker back in his gapen and white house in the village end louise s attitude to him in the immediate future would siant ty fy halsey halseys s happiness or wretched ness as it might turn out then too the return of her mother would mean of course that she would have to leave us and I 1 had become greatly at cached to her from the day mr jamieson came to Sunny sunnyside side there was a subtle change in gertrude s manner to me it was elusive difficult to analyze but it was there she was no longer frank liddy heaved a sigh girl and woman she said I 1 ive ve been with you 25 years miss rachel through good temper and bad the idea ideal and what I 1 have taken from her in the way of sulks I 1 but I 1 guess I 1 can t stand it any longer my trunk a packed who packed it I 1 asked expecting from her tone to be told she had wakened to find it done by some ghostly hand I 1 did miss rachel you wont believe me when I 1 tell you this house Is haunted who was it fell down the clothes chute who was it scared miss louise almost into her grave I 1 in doing my best to find out I 1 said what in the world are you driving at ap she drew a long breath thereas there as a hole in the trun kroom wall dug out since last night it s big enough to put your head in and the plaster plasters s all over the place nonsense I 1 said pl ster Is al ways falling but liddy clenched that just ask alex she said when 0 0 r e e 0 V 0 there was something baffling in the girl girls a eyes with me although I 1 think her affect tion never wavered at the time I 1 laid the change to the fact that I 1 had for bidden all communication with john bailey and had refused to edge any engagement between the two gertrude spent much of 0 her time wandering through the grounds or taking long cross country walks halsey played golf at the country club day after day and after louise left as she did the following week mr jamieson Jam leson and I 1 were much to gether he played a fair game of crib bage but he cheated at solitaire the night the detective arrived saturday I 1 had a talk with him I 1 told him of the experiences louise armstrong had had the night before on the circular staircase and about the man who had so frightened roste on the drive I 1 saw that he thought the information was important and to my suggestion that we put an adal dional lock on the east wing door he opposed a strong negative I 1 think it probable he said that our visitor will be back again and the thing to do Is to leave things ex acely as they are to avoid rousing suspicion then I 1 can watch for at least a part of each night and ably mr innes will help us out I 1 would say as little to thomas as pos sible the old man knows more than he is willing to admit I 1 suggested that alex the gardener would probably be willing to help and mr jamieson Jam leson undertook to make the arrangement for one night how ever mr jamieson Jam leson preferred to watch alone apparently nothing occurred the detective sat in absolute dark ness on the lower step of the stairs dozing he said afterwards now and then nothing could pass him la in either direction and the door in the morning remained as securely fast ened as it had been the night before and yet one of the most inexplicable occurrences of the whole affair took place that very night liddy came to my room on sunday morning aith alth a face as long as the moal law she laid out my things as usual but I 1 missed her customary garrulousness I 1 was not regaled with the new cook cooks s extravagance as to eggs ana anu even forbore to mention that jamieson on wh ne arrival she had looked with client disfavor what s the matter liddy 9 1 I asked at last didn dian t you sleep last night no ma am she said stiffly did you have two cups of coffee at your dinner I 1 inquired no mam indignantly I 1 sat up and almost upset my hot water I 1 always take v b cup of hot wa ter with a pinch of salt before I 1 get up it tones the stomach liddy alien allen I 1 said stop combing that switch and tell me what is wrong wl h you aa he put the new cook cooks s trunk there last night the wall was as smooth as this this morning it s dug out and there s plaster on the cooks cook s trunk miss rachel you can get a dozen detectives and put one on every stair in the house and you 11 never catch any thing there theres s some things you cant can t handcuff liddy was right As soon as I 1 could I 1 went up u to the trun kroom which was directly over my bedroom the plan of the upper story of the house was like that of the second floor in the main one end however over the east wing had been left only ly finished the intention having been to convert it into a ballroom at some future time the maids rooms trunk room and various storerooms include ing a large airy linen room opened from a long corridor like that on the second floor and in the trun kroom as liddy had said was a fresh break in the plaster not ot only in the plaster but through the lathing the aperture extended I 1 reached into the opening and three feet away perhaps I 1 could touch the bricks of the partition wall for some reason the architect in building the house had left a space there that struck me even in the surprise of the discovery as an excellent place for a conflagration to gain headway lou lou are sure the hole was not here yesterday 7 I 1 asked liddy whose ex was a mixture of satisfaction and alarm in answer she pointed to the new cook cooks s trunk that necessary adjunct of the migratory domestic the top was covered with fine white plaster as was the floor but there were no large pieces of mortar lying around no bits of lathing when I 1 mentioned this to liddy she merely raised her eyebrows being quite confident that the gap was of unholy origin she did not concern herself with such trifles as a bit of mortar and lath no doubt they were even then heaped neatly on a gravestone in the casanova churchyard I 1 brought mr jamieson Jam leson up to eee see the hole in the wall directly after breakfast his ills expression was very odd when be he looked at it and the first thing he did was to try to discover what object if any such a hole could have he got a piece of candle and by enlarging the aperture a little was able to examine what lay beyond the result was nil the trun kroom al though heated by steam heat like the rest of the house boasted of a I 1 fire I 1 re place and mantel as well the open ing kad been made between the flue and the outer wall of the house there was revealed however on inspection only the brick of the chimney on one side and the outer wall of the house on the oth other er in depth the space ex tended only to the flooring the breach had been made about four feet from the floor and inside opre all the missing bits of plaster it aad ad been a methodical ghost it was very much of a dl di tap point ment I 1 had expected a secret room at the very least and I 1 therk even mr jamieson Jam leson had fancied be he might at las have a clew to the mystery there was evidently nothing more to be dis covered liddy reported that every thing was serene among the ser and that none of them had been die dis by the noise the maddening thing however was that the nightly visitor had bad evidently more than one way of gaining access to the tle house and we made arrangements to redouble our vigilance as to windows and doors that night halsey was inclined to pooh pooh the whole affair he ile said a break in the plaster might have ave occurred occurred months ago and gone unnoticed and that the dust had probably been stirred up the day before after all we had to let it got at that but we put in an uncomfortable sunday ger trude went to church and halsey took a long walk in the morning louise was able to sit up and she allowed halsey and liddy to assist hor down stairs late in the afternoon thelast the east v veranda randa was shady green idith with vines and palms cheerful with cushions and lounging chairs we put louise in a steamer chair and she sat there hassh pas shely ely enough her hands clasped in her lap we were very silent halsey sat on the rail with a pipe openly watching louise as she looked broodingly across the valley to the hills there was ras something baffling in the girl girls eyes and gradually halsey s boyish features lost their glow at seeing her about again and settled into grim lines he was like bis his father just then we sat until late afternoon halsey growing more and more moody short ly before six he got up and went inte the house and in a few minutes he came out and called me to the telephone it was anna whitcomb in town and she kept me for 20 minutes telling me the children had had the measles and how mme sweeny had botched her new gown 4 when I 1 finished liddy was behind me her mouth a thin line I 1 wish you would try to look cheer tul ful liddy I 1 groaned your fact would sour milk but liddy seldom replied to my gibes she folded hes he lips a little tighter he ile called her up she said orace barly he called her up and asked he her to keep you at the telephone so he could talk to miss louise A thank less child Is sharper than a serpent serpents tooth iNon I 1 said brusquely I 1 might have known enough to leave them it its B a long time since you anil and I 1 were in love liddy and we for get liddy sniffed no man ever made a fool of me she replied virtuously well something did I 1 retorted CHAPTER concerning thomas mr jamieson Jam leson I 1 said when wt w found ourselves alone after dinne dinner that night the inquest yesterday seemed to me the merest re capitula tion of things that were alread already known it developed nothing new beyond that story of dr stewarts stewart a and that was volunteered an art inquest Is only a necessary for mality miss innes he replied un less a crime Is committed in the open oper the inquest does nothing beyond get ting evidence from witnesses while events are still in their minds th police step in later you and I 1 both know how many important things never transpired for instance the dead man had no key and yet miss gertrude testified to a tumbling at the lock and then the opening of the door the piece of evidence you men tion dr stewarts stewart s story la is one ot of those things we have to take cautious |