Show 1 iwae 51 lik ammy aa A V illustration BY vian my MMA Arcle SYNOPSIS miss innes spinster and guardian of gertrude and halsey established sum mer iner headquarters at de arnold Arring armstrong trong was found shot to death in the hall gertrude and her fiance flance jack bailee had conversed in the billiard room ua artly before ane murder detec tive jamieson Jam leson accused miss innes of hold ing back evidence cashier ba ley of paul armstrong s bank defunct was arrested for embezzlement paul armstrong 8 death was announced halsey s fiancee louise armstrong told halsey that wl lie she still loved him she was ras to marr an other it developed that dr walker was the man louise was found unconscious at the bottom of the circular staircase she said so ing had brushed by her in the dark on the stairway and she tainted fainted bailey is s suspected us pecked of arm strong s murder rho thomas m as the lodge keep er was found dead with a note in his pocket ket bearing the name lucien wal face lace A ladder found out of place deep ens enci the mystery the stables were turned burned and in tt the e dark miss innes shot an intruder halsey mysteriously digap feared his ills auto was found wrecked by a freight train it developed halsey had an argument in the library with a woman before his disappearance new cook d s appears it miss innes learned halsey was al at ve dr walker walkers a face becomes I 1 vid at ment on of the name of nina barring ton Evia evidence ence was secured from a tramp th that ataman a man supposedly halsey had been bound and gagged and tl rown into an empty box car CHAPTER continued mr winters and alex disposed of the tramp with mith a warning it was evi dent he had told us all he knew we had occasion within a day or two to be doubly thankful that we had given him his freedom IN when hen mr jamie son telephoned that night we had newa for him he told me what I 1 had not realized before that it would not be possible to find halsey at once even with this clew the cars by this time tim three days laight be scattered over the union but he said to keep on hoping that it was the best news we had had and in the meantime consumed with anxiety as we mere ere things were hap tf 9 pening at the house in rapid s slon sion we had one peaceful day then lid dy took sick in the night I 1 went in ky when I 1 heard her groaning and found her with mith a hot water bottle to her face and her right cheek check swollen un til till it was glassy i 1 Toothache 9 I 1 asked not too gent A s ly I 1 ou deserve it A woman of t your age who would rather go around with an exposed nerve in her head than have the tooth pulled it would be oi 01 er in a moment so would mould hanging liddy protested from behind the hot water bot tie tle I 1 was hunting around tor for cotton and laudanum you have a tooth just like it your self miss rachel she whimpered ered and I 1 in sure dr boyle s been trying to take it out for years there was no laudanum and liddy made a terrible fuss when I 1 proposed carbolic acid just because I 1 had put too much on the cotton once and burned her mouth I 1 im in sure it neer never did ler 1 er any permanent harm indeed the doctor vid said afterward that living on liquid diet had been a splendid rest fort dorher her stomach but she would have aone none of the acid and she kept me awake groaning so at last I 1 got up and went to gertrudes door to my surprise it was ras locked I 1 went around by the hall and into her bedroom that way the bed was turned down and her dressing gown and nightdress lay ready in the little room toom next but gertrude was not there she had not undressed I 1 don t know ahat v hat terrible thoughts f came to me in the minute I 1 stood f thare there through the door I 1 could hear LI biddy dy grumbling with a squeal now ana aa then when the pain stabbed f harder then automatically I 1 got the laudanum and went back to her it was fully a half hour before lid dys groans subsided at intervals I 1 f went ent to the door into the hall and looked out but I 1 saw and heard noth ing suspicious finally when liddy tit 1 had dropped into a doze I 1 even ven 1 aured as far as the head of the circular 4 staircase but there floated up to me cal enl the even breathing of winters the night detective sleeping just in side the entry and then far off I 1 beard heard the rapping noise that had lured I 1 louise down the staircase that other J i night two weeks before it masover was over my head and very faint three or four short muffled taps a pause and then again stealthily repeated the sound of mr winters breath ing was ras comforting with the thought that I 1 hat there was help within call so aie le thing kept me from waking raking him I 1 did not move for a moment ridiculous things liddy had said about a ghost I 1 am not at all superstitious except perhaps in the middle of the night with everything dark things like that iam came 1 back to me almost beside me was ws the clothes chute I 1 could feel it t obit it I 1 could see nothing As I 1 stood 1 sten ng intently I 1 heard a sound near me it was vague indefinite N ahr then n it ceased there was an uneasy movement and a grunt from the toot foot of the circular staircase and silence again I 1 stood perfectly still hardly daring to breathe 1 11 hen I 1 knew I 1 had been right some bac m was as stealthily passing the head of the staircase and coming toward me in the dark I 1 leaned against the wall tor for support my ray knees were giving ma i a tle steps were close now and I 1 thought of gertrude of course it was gertrude I 1 put out one hand band in front of me but I 1 touched noth rs rg nl M 01 oie e almost refused me 0 when I 1 came to it was dawn but bat I 1 managed to gasp out ger trude good lord a man mans s voice ex claimed just beside me and then I 1 collapsed I 1 felt myself going felt some one catch me a horrible nausea that was all I 1 remembered when I 1 came to it was dawn I 1 was lying on the bed in louise s room the cherub on the ceiling staring down at me and there was a blanket from my 0 bed thrown over me I 1 alt weak and dizzy but I 1 managed to get up and totter to the door at the toot foot of the circular staircase mr win lers was still asleep hardly able to stand I 1 crept back to my room the door into gertrude s room was no ion ger locked she was sleeping like a tired child and in my dressing room liddy hugged a cold hot water bottle and mumbled in her sleep there 9 some things you can t hold with mith hand handcuffs cuffs she was muttering thickly CHAPTER A scrap of paper for the arst time in 20 years I 1 kept my bed that day liddy was alarmed to the point of hysteria and sent for dr steuart stew art just after breakfast ger trude chent spent the morning with me reading something I 1 forget what I 1 was too busy with my thought to lis ten I 1 had said nothing to the two detectives detec thes it if mr jamieson had been there I 1 should have told him every thing but I 1 could not go to these strange men and tell them my niece hid been missing in the middle of the night that she had not gone to bed at all that while I 1 was searching for her through the house I 1 had met a stranger who rho when rhen I 1 fainted had car ned ried me into a room and left me there to get better or not as it might hap pen and there was something else the man I 1 had met in the darkness had been even more startled than I 1 and about his voice when rhen he muttered his muffled exclamation there was some thing vaguely familiar all that morn ing while gertrude read aloud and liddy watched fkr tor the doctor I 1 was puzzling over thai that voice without re suit dr walker came up some time just after luncheon and asked for me go down and see him I 1 instructed gertr ide tell him I 1 am out tor for mercy s sake don t say I 1 in sick find out what he wants and from this time on instruct the servants that he is not to be admitted I 1 loathe that man gertrude came back very soon her face rather flushed he ile came to ask us to get out she sa aa d picking up her book with a jerk he lie baab louise armstrong wants mants to 10 come here now tl ti at she is recover reemi er ing ana what did you say saya i said we were very sorry we could not lead leae e but we would be delighted to have louise come up here with us he looked daggers at me and he wanted to know if v tie 3 would becom mend eliza as a cook he has brought a patient a man out from town and is increasing his establishment that s the way he put it I 1 wish him joy of ellza eliza I 1 said tartly did he ask for halsey yes I 1 told him that we were on the track last night and that it was only a question of time he ile said he was glad although he didn t appear to be but he said not to be too san guine do you know what I 1 believe belleve 9 I 1 asked I 1 believe as firmly as I 1 be lieve anything that dr walker knows something about halsey and that he could put his hig finger on him if he wanted to A L there were several things that day that bewildered me ato abo t three 0 clock mr jamieson telephoned from the casanova station and warner rent down to meet him I 1 got up and dress dressed ed hastily and the detective was shown up to my sitting room no newsy I 1 asked as he entered he tried to look encouraging without success it won t be long now miss innes he said I 1 have come out here on a peculiar errand which I 1 will tell you about later first I 1 want to ask some questions did any one come out here yesterday to repair the telephone and examine the aves on 04 the roof 91 0 L o yes I 1 said promptly but it was not the telephone he said the wiring might have caused the fire at the stable I 1 went up with him myself but he only looked around mr jamieson Jam leson smiled good for you he applauded don t allow any one in the house that you don t trust and don t trust anybody all are not electricians who wear rubber gloves he refused to explain further but he got a slip of paper out of his pocket pocketbook book and opened it carefully I 1 listen he said you heard this before and scoffed in the I 1 of re cent developments I 1 want you to read it again you are a clever woman miss innes just as surely as I 1 sit here there is something in this hauae house that is wanted ranted very anxiously by a number of people the lines are clos ing up miss innes the paper m as the one he had to fo md ind among arnold armstrong s effects and I 1 recall it again by altering tl I 1 e plas plans for rooms may be pose poss ble the best way war in my opinion would rould be to the plan for in one of the rooms chim ney I 1 think I 1 understand I 1 said slowly some one is searching tor for the secret room and the invaders and the holes in the plaster have been in the progress ot of his or her investigations her I 1 asked miss innes the detective said getting up I 1 believe that somewhere in the walls of this house is hidden some of the money at least from the traders bank I 1 bel bet e e just as sure ly that 0 o ng walker brought home fro n california the knowledge of something of the sort and falling failing in I 1 is effort to reinstall mrs armstrqng Armstr and her da ahter here he or a con fed federate grate has tried to break into the house on two occasions I 1 think he succeed or three at least I 1 corrected and then I 1 told him about the night before I 1 have been thinking hard I 1 concluded and I 1 do not believe the man at the head of the circular stair case was dr walker I 1 don t think ho could have got in and the vo ce cc was waz not his mr jam eson got up and paced the floor his hands behind him there is something else that ales me he said stepping before me who and what Is the woman roman nina Carrington 9 it if it was she who came here as mattie mattle bliss i what did she tell halsey that sent him racing to dr W alker s and then to miss arm if we could find that woman we would have the whole thing mr jamieson Janiie son did you ever think that paul armstrong might not have died a nat iral death 9 that is the thing we are going to try to find out he replied and then gertrude came in announcing a man below to see mr jamieson Jam leson I 1 want you present at this inter view miss innes he said may riggs come up upa he has left dr walker and he has he wants to tell us riggs came into the room diffident ly bat mr jamieson put him at his him ease lie kept a careful e ee e on me however and slid into a chair by the door m when hen he was asked to sit down now riggs began mr jamieson k eidly I 1 ou are to say what you have to say before this lady you promised aoud keep it quiet mr jamieson riggs plainly did not riot trust me there nas mas nothing friendly in the glance he turned on me yes yes you will be protected but first of all did you bring what you promised 9 riggs produced a roll of papers from under his coat and handed them over mr air jamieson examined them with lively satisfaction and passed them to me tt TI e blue prints of sun he said what did I 1 tell youa now riggs we are ready I 1 d never have come to you mr jamieson Tami eson he began if it hadn haan t been for miss armstrong hen mr air in nes ties was spirited away like and ancl miss louise got sick because of it I 1 thought things had gone far enough I 1 id d done some things for the doctor before that t just bear looking into but I 1 turned a bit squeamish did you help with thata I 1 asked leaning forward no ma in I 1 dlan didn t even know of it until the next day when it came out in the casanova weekly ledger but I 1 know who did it all right I 1 id d better start at the beginning when dr inacker alker went away to california with the armstrong family there m was as talk in the town that when he came back he would be married to miss armstrong and we all expected it first thing I 1 knew I 1 got a letter from him in the west he seemed to be excited and he said miss arm strong had taken a sudden notion to go home and he sent me some money I 1 was to watch for her to see it if she went to Sunny sunnyside side and wherever she was not to lose sight of her until he got home I 1 traced her to the lodge and I 1 guess I 1 scared seared you on the drive one night miss innes and I 1 ejaculated riggs grinned sheepishly I 1 only wanted to make sure miss louise was there rosie started to run and I 1 tried to stop her and tell her sorie sonie sort of a story to account tor for my being there but she wouldn t wait and the broken china la fil the basket well broken china a death to rub her tires he said I 1 gadut hadn t any complaint against you people here and the dragon fly was a good car so s highwayman was ex plaines well I 1 telegraphed the doctor where miss louise was and I 1 kept an eye on her just a day or so before thea the came home with the body I 1 got another letter telling me to watch for a woman who had been pitted with sn allcox her name was car rington arington and the doctor made things pretty strong it if I 1 found any such woman loafing around I 1 was not to lose sight of her for a minute until the doctor got back well V ell I 1 would have had my hands full but the other woman didn dian t show up foi a good while and when she did tho th doctor was home riggs I 1 asked suddenly d d yo i get into this house a daj or two after I 1 took it at n gt gi ta I 1 did not miss innes I 1 have never been in the house before well the carrington woman roman show up un til the night mr air halsey disappeared she came to the office late and the doctor was out she waited around walking the floor and working hersell into a passion when the doctor didn dian t come back she was in an awful way she wanted me to hunt him and when he d t appear she called him names said he t fool her there was murder being done and she would him swing for it TO BE CONTINUED |