Show C L Y z 5 BY ey arf AV F SYNOPSIS miss innes times spinster and gu guardian ol 01 gertrude and halsey estabi shed summer headquarters at stinnis de the servants desert certrude and halsey arrive with jack bailey T e house was awakened by a revolver shot and arnold armstrong was found shot to death in the hall miss innes found halsey halse y s revolver on the la HG he e and jack bailey I 1 ad digap feared gertrude revealed that she was engaged to jack bailey with whom s e talked in the billard room shortly before the murder detective jam eson accused miss innes of hold ng back evidence he imprisoned ah intruder in an empty room the prisoner escaped gertrude was sus sug pecked because of an injured foot hal sey reappears and says he and bt ley were cal ed away by a tele telegram ram cast casl ier bailey of 0 paul armstrong armstron s bank de funch was s arrested for embezzlement pa I 1 A armstrong s death was announced halsey s fiancee louise armstrong told halsey that while she still loved him sl e was to marry another it developed that dr walker was vas the man louise was mas f found und at the bottom 0 of f tl e circular stair cose case recovering consciousness she said domet ing had brushed by her on the stairway and she fainted ba ley is sus pecked of armstrong s murder after see ng a gl ost thomas the lodge keep er was found dead with a sl p in his pocket 0 c ket bearing the name of lucen wal pa face e dr walker asked miss innes to vacate in favor ol 01 mrs airs armstrong S e refused A note from bailey to gertrude arranging a meeting at bigi t was found A ladder out of place deepens the mys tery the stables were burned during the excite me t a man stole into the house A sear search h failed to reveal him M qs s innes khot an an intruder A man imp 1 mp ng was seen on the road halsey mysteriously disappeared louise scenting danger be tore fore his absente was noted CHAPTER Cont continued linued he s as dear to me as he Is to you ahe she said sadly I 1 tried to warn him nonsense I 1 said as briskly as I 1 could we are making a lot of trou brou ble out of something perhaps very small halsey was probably late he Is always late any moment we may bear hear the car coming up the road but it did not come after a half hour of suspense louise went out quietly and did not come back I 1 hardly knew she was gone until I 1 heard the station hack moving oft off at 11 clock the telephone rang it was mr jamieson I 1 have found the dragon fly miss innes he said it has collided with a freight car on the siding above the station no mr innes was not there but we e shall probably find him send warner for the car but they did not find him at four 0 clock the next morning we were still waiting for news while alex watched the house and sam the grounds at daylight I 1 dropped into exhausted sleep halsey had not come back and there was no word from the detective CHAPTER halsey s disappearance mr jamieson came back about eight clock the next morning he j was covered with mud and his hat was gone altogether we a sad 00 looking oo 1 1 na trio that gathered around a breakfast that no one could eat cat over a c cup u p of black coffee the detective told us what he had learned of hal sey s movements the night before up to a eel certain tain point the car had made it easy enough to follow him and I 1 gathered that mr burns the other de had followed a similar car for miles at dawn only to find it was a touring car on an endurance run he left here about ten minutes aft er eight mr janneson Ja said he ile went alone at 8 20 he stopped at dr walker s I 1 went to the doctor s about midnight but he had been called 0 t on a case and had not come back at four 0 clod cioci from the doctors it seems mr innes walked across the lawn to the cottage mrs armstrong and her da ahter have taken mrs armstrong had retired and he said perhaps a dozen words to miss aliss louise she nill will not say what they were but the gil evidently sus pacts what hat has occurred that is she suspects foul play but she doesn doean t know of what nature then api adiar ar antly he started d erectly for the sta tion along somewhere here in the dark stretch between carol street and the depot he evidently swerved suddenly perhaps some one in the road and went full into the side of a fre we found it there last night he might have been thrown nn under the train by the force of the shock I 1 said tremulously gertrude shuddered we examined every inch of track there was no sign but surely he can t be gone I 1 cried aren t there traces in the mud anything 9 there is no mud only dust there has been no rain and the footpath there is of cinders miss innes I 1 am inc ined to think that he has met with bad treatment in the light of what has gone before I 1 do not think he has been murdered I 1 shrank from the word burns is back in the coun try on a clew we got from the night clerk at the drug store there will be two more men here by noon and the city office is on the lookout the creeke gertrude asked the creek is shallo v now if it were swollen with ram rain it would be different there is eardly any water in it now miss innes he said turning to me I 1 must ask you some q estilong had mr halsey any pos sible reason for going away like this t warnings 9 none oce whatever he ile wei t away anay once before he X 0 I 1 miss armstrong Is very III and unable to see any one persisted and you were as sure then he did not leave the dragon fly my jammed into the side of a freight car before no but he left it for repairs in a blacksmith shop a long distance froni from here do you know if he had ana an enemies 7 any one who might wish him out of the waya not that I 1 know of unless no I 1 cannot think of any was he in the habit of carrying money he never carried it far no he never had more than enough for cur rent expenses NIT mr jamieson got up then and be gan to pace the room it was an un wonted concession to the occasion then I 1 think we get at it by elim the chances are against fl it if he was hurt we find no trace of him it looks almost like an abduction this young dr walker have you any idea why mr innes should have gone there last nighta I 1 cannot understand it gertrude said thoughtfully I 1 don t think he knew dr walker at all and their re lations could hardly have been cordial under the circumstances jamieson pricked up his ears and little by little he drew from us the unfortunate story of halsey s love at af fair and the fact that louise was go ing to marry dr walker mr jamieson listened attentively there are some interesting de devel el oli aliments ments here he said thoughtfully tho ight tully the woman who claims to be the mother of lucien wallace has not come back bour our nephew has alpar antly been spirited away there is an organized attempt being made to en ell ter this house ain in fact it has been entered witness the incident with the cook yesterday and I 1 have a new p ece of information he ile looked carefully away from gertrude mr john bailey is not at his knicker bocker apartments and I 1 don t know where he is its a hash that s what N hat it is it its s a chinese puzzle they wont fit together unless unless mr air baile and your nephew have again and once again gertrude surprised me they are not together she said hotly I 1 know where mr bailey is and my brother Is not with him 11 1 s gertrude he said if you and A M ss louise would only tell me every thing you know and surmise about his this business I 1 should be able to do a great many things I 1 believe I 1 could und find your brother and I 1 might be able to v ell to do some other th but gertrude s glance did not falter nothing So thing that I 1 bro v could help rou you to find halsey she said st inborn I 1 know absolutely as little of his lis appearance as 3 ou do and I 1 can 1 say this I 1 do not trust dr walker I 1 think he hated halsey md and he would get nd rid of him it if he 01 id perhaps you are right in ili fact I 1 some such theory myself gut but dr all er went out late last night to a er ous case in S ville and Is there burns traced him there ve we have made guarded inquiry at the greenwood nood club and through the vil age there is absolutely nothing to 0 o on but th s on the emb amb above the railroad at the point where e found the machine is a small louse an old woman and a daughter Is very lame live there they ay that they distinctly heard the hod shoel when the dragon fly hit the ar and they went to the bottom ol 01 heir their garden and looked over the automobile uto mobile was there they could see he I 1 gats and they thought some one iad had been injured it was wag very dark dar k P tea but they could make out two figures standing together the women were curious and leaving the fence they went back and by a roundabout path down to the road when they got there the car was still standing the headlight broken and the bonnet crushed but there was no one to be seen the detective went away immell abely and to gertrude and me was left the woman s part to watch and wait by luncheon nothing had been found and I 1 was frantic I 1 went up stairs to halsema room finally from sheer inability to sit across from ger trude any longer and meet her telfor filled eyes liddy was in my dressing room sus viciously red eyed and trying to put a right sleeve in a left arm hole of f new waist for me I 1 was too much shaken to scold what name did that woman in the kitchen givel she demanded vicious ly ripping out the offending sleeve bliss mattle bliss I 1 replied bliss M B well that s not what N hat she has on her suitcase it is marked N F C the new cook and her initials trou brou bled me not all I 1 put ol 01 my bonnet and sent lor for what the casanova liv eryman called a stylish turnout having once made up my mind to a course of action I 1 am not one to turn bick hick warner arner drove me he was pla aly disgusted and he steered the livery hors as he would the dragon fly feeling uneasily with his left foot for the clutch and working his right elbow at an imaginary horn every time a dog got in the way warner had something on hia big mind and after we gehad had it timed arned into the road he voiced it miss innes he said I 1 over heard a part of a conversation yester day that I 1 didn dian t understand it wasn gasn t my business to understand it for to that matter but I 1 ve been thinking n king sit all day that I 1 d better tell you yesterday afternoon while you and miss ger trude mer elout 1 out driving I 1 had got the car in some sort of shape again after the fire and I 1 went nent to the library to call mr nir innes to see it I 1 went into the ahing room where miss aliss liddy said he was and half way across the library I 1 heard him talking to some one he ile seemed to be walking up and do in n and he v was as in a rage I 1 can tell you what did he saya say the first thing I 1 heard was ex cuse me al ss innes but it s whit what he said the damned rascal he said see him in well in hell was what he said in hell first then somebody else up it was a woman she said I 1 warned them but they tho I 1 would be afraid A woman did you wait to see who it was wasa I 1 gasn wasn t spying miss innes war ne aid with dignity but the next thing caught my attention she said I 1 anew 1 new there was something wrong from the start A man isn t well one day and dead the next without some reason I 1 thought she was speaking of thomas and you don t know who it was I 1 exclaimed warner you had the key to this whole occurrence in your hands and did not see it however there was nothing to be done I 1 resolved to make inquiry when v hen I 1 got home and in the mean time my present errand absorbed me this was nothing less than to see louise armstrong and to attempt to biag from her what she knew or sus pecked of halseys disappearance but here as in every direction I 1 turned I 1 was baffled A neat maid answered the bell but fa ailt of fill she stood squarely in the doorway and it was impossible to preserve one s dignity and pass her miss armstrong Is very III and unable to see any one she said I 1 did not believe her and mrs armstrong Is she also she Is with miss louise and can not be disturbed tell her it Is miss innes and that it is a matter of the greatest importance it would be of no use miss innes my orders are positive at that moment a heavy step sound ed on the stairs past the maids maid s white strapped s shoulder boulder I 1 could see a familiar thatch ot of gray hair and in a moment I 1 was face to face with dr stewart lie ile was very verk grave and his customary geniality was tinged with restraint t you are the very woman I 1 want to see he said promptly send away your trap and let me drive you home what Is this about your nephew he ile has disappeared doctor not A only that but there Is every evidence that he has been either abducted or I 1 could not finish the doctor helped me into bis his capacious buggy in ili silence until we had got a little distance he did not speak then he turned ur ed and looked at me now tell me all about it he said he ile heard me through without speak ing and you think louise knows some thing he said when I 1 bad had finished I 1 don t in fact I 1 am sure of it the best evidence ot of it Is this she asked me if he had been heard from or it if anything had been learned she won t allow walker in the room and she made me promise to see you and tell you this don t give up the search for him find him and find him soon he ile is living well I 1 said sald it she knows that I 1 she knows more she Is a very cruel and ungrateful girl she is a very sick girl he said gravely neither you nor I 1 can judge her until we know everything both she and her mother are ghosts ot of their former selves under all this these two sudden deaths this bank robbery the invasions at sunnyside Sunny side and halseys disappearance there Is some mystery that mark my words word will come out some day ani when it does we shall find louise arm strong a victim then we drove slowly home I 1 had the doctor put me down at the gate and I 1 walked to the house past the lodge where V e had found louise and later poor thomas on the drive vi where here I 1 had seen a man watch atch ag mg the lodge and where later rosie had bad been 4 frightened past the east entrance 14 where so short a time before the most obstinate effort had been made to en ter the house and where that night two weeks ago taddy and I 1 had seen the strange woman not far from the west wing lay the blackened ruins of the stables I 1 felt like a ruin myself as I 1 paused on the broad veranda be fore I 1 entered the house two private detectives had arrived in my absence and it was a relief to turn over to them the responsibility gertrude of the house and grounds mr jamieson they said had arranged for more to assist in the search tor for the missing man and at that time the country was being scoured in all directions the household staff was again depleted that afternoon liddy was wait ing to tell me that the new cook had gone bag and baggage without wait ing to be paid no one had admitted the visitor whom warner had heard in the library unless possibly the missing cook again I 1 was working in a circle TO BG BE CONTINUED |