Show VIE U A 0 E 0 r A by MARY ROBERTS RINEHART 15 1913 by the bobbs merall company PROLOGUE was jennie brice murdered if she were murdered saho ho was guilly of the foul fout deed if she were not done away with by an assassin what became of her whence did she disappear these and a few other interesting questions are raised at once in this very clever tale of mystery written by a woman who is not only an adept at writing fiction of this character but the possessor of a style that chains the interest by its clearness and directness and wins by its rich hum humor or CHAPTER 1 G C have just had another flood 0 bid enough but only a foot oi 01 two of water on the first yesterday lest erday we got the mud shoe led out of the cellar and found peter the spaniel that mr lad ley left when he be went away ine the flood and the tact fact that it was mr air ladley s dog whose body was found aalf billed in the basement fielt closet brought back to me the strange 0 events of the other flood five years a ao 0 when the water leached more than half wiy way to the second story I 1 and brought with it to some mystery and sudden death and to me the worst 4 cise case of shingles I 1 have ever seen name Is I 1 itman ln in this narra tire it Is not really pitman but that 4 docs dols well eno CDO agh I 1 belong to an old family I 1 was born on I 1 enn elan avenue when thit that was the best pirt part of town aid I 1 lived until I 1 was fifteen nely deiy close au to what Is now the I 1 club it was a dwelling then I 1 have forgotten who lived there at that time I 1 was a girl in 77 during the rail loid load riots and I 1 recall our driving in the family carriage over to one of the allegheny hills bills and seeing the yards burning and a great noise of shooting from across the river it was as the next year that I 1 ran away from school to mairy mr air pitman and I 3 have bare not known my family since me were never reconciled although I 1 came back to birgh after twenty 1 eais eal of wandering mr I 1 itman was dead the old elev called me and I 1 came caine I 1 had bad a hundred dollars or so and I 1 took a house in lower allegheny ft here where because they are partly anun darld every spring the rents are cheap and I 1 kept boarders my house was always orderly and clean and although tie tl e had a bad name a lood many theatrical people stopped with me five minutes across the bridge and find they in the theater distinct heny at that time I 1 be I 1 eve mas as still an independent city U 13 it since then it has allied itself with I 1 pittsburgh itts burgh it Is now the north side of the city I 1 was inas glad to get back I 1 worked I 1 aid but I 1 made my rent and my ill ing and a little over now and then on summer evenings I 1 wei wel t to one of tie faiks and sitting on a bench mate watched Tied tiie filler e n di around r and looked at my sisters bouse house closed for the summer it Is a lery iery large hous her butler once had d his wife bo aiding with me a very nice little noman oman it is curious to recall that at that time five years ago I 1 had never seen 11 y niece lida clairey IIa ivey and then to tl ink that only the day beffie yester d I 1 I 1 she caine in her automobile as far as its she daiel and then sat there way war JD 1 to me we while the police patrol ti rought ii across ross in a skiff a basket baskot of I 1 me bad sent me 1 I wonder what she would have thought had she known that the elder cider ay woman in a calico wrapper with an old overcoat over it and a pair of rubber boots was her full aunt I 1 ahe he flood and the sight of I 1 lidi ida both brouil t buk bih the case of lenule brice for ean then I 1 ilda ida and ani mr air howell were interested in each other thib thih is abill the flo d of 1907 was earlier lo 10 a much it had been a long hard winter with I 1 e geiges in all the upper viller then in eaily march there came a thaw the gorges broke up and began to come down filling the with crushing giff iding ice lee there are livers at the allegheny lilleg beny and the monongahela uniti 9 tl if ele at the point t form the ohio and all fill three aw were ere coi coerced ered with broken ice I 1 gs ind all sorts of debris jiom flom the upper valleys A warning arn ling was sent olt it flom the leather eather bureau and I 1 got my lay carpets ready to lift that morning tint that wis was on the ath of march a guiday sut day mr nir badley and his wife jennie brice had L i i tl tie e pit lor bedroom and the room behind it mis ilis I 1 ladley adley or miss brice as she preferred ened to be known had a small alit 1 lit at a local theater that kept a it per in anent company her husband was in that business too but he had noth lug ing to do it was the wife v who ho I 1 laid aid the bills and a lot of quarreling they did about it I 1 knocked at the door at 10 0 clock and mr ladley opened it he ile was a 11 short man rather stout and g getting tl bald and he always had a cigarette even yet the cirlor carpet smells of them 11 hat bat do you wint want he hainly holcli g the door open about an fin inch the waters coming up very fast mr air I 1 dley I 1 said its up to the swinging shelf belf in the cellar now I 1 d like to take up the carpet and mote moie the piano come back in an hour or so he snapped and tried to close the door but I 1 bad got my toe in the crack have to hae hale the piano moved mr ladley I 1 slid said loud lou d better put off what jou are doing 1 I thought he wis was probably writing he ele spent most of the day writing cz us I 1 what do you want he asked sharply using the wasla washstand stand as a desk and li it kept me busy with oxalic acid ink spots out of the and the tow towels els he was waa writing a play ind talked a lot about the Shu berts having promised to star him III a it when it was 11 II he said and turning spoke to somebody in the room we can call go into the back room I 1 headd h in say and he closed the door when he opened 1 it again the room was empty I 1 called in terry the irish man who does odd jobs for me now ind then and we both got to work at the tacks in the carpet terry working by the window and I 1 by the door into the back parlor which the I 1 usa us it fe dam abat was ho how I 1 happened haip ened to hear what I 1 afterward after wara told the police S some ome one a mm in but not mr lad ley was talking mrs ladley broke in I 1 won t d it she sal sall 1 fl tl itly why sheild sho lid I 1 belp help him lie ile doean doesn t help me he ile loafs here all diy daiy ing and sleeping and sits up all till night drIn drinking ling and keeping me awake the voice went on again as if in re ply to this and I 1 beard heard a rattle of glasses as if they were pooling pouting drinks they always had whisky even ewhen when they were behind with their board that s all very well mrs ladley said I 1 co ild lid always hear bear her she having a theatrical sort of voice one ode that carries but what about the prying she devil that runs the house i hush for god od s sake broke in ili mr ladley and after that they spoke in whispers even with my par alfi against lust the panel I 1 could coula not catch a wold woid the men came just then to move the piano and by the time we had taken it and the furniture upstairs the water was over the kitchen floor and creep ing forward into the bill hall I 1 had bad seen the river come up so fast bv noon the yard was full of floating flo biting lee ant 1 at 3 that afternoon the police skiff was on the front streets and I 1 was wading around in rubber boots taking the pictures off the walls I 1 was too busy to see who the lad leys visitor was and be he bad had gone when 1 I remembered him again the I 1 adleys ilo took the he second story fiant which was inas empty and mr ReT reynolds Dolds who was in the silk department in a store across the river had the room just behind I 1 put up a coal stove store in a back room next the bathroom and managed to I 1 i cook the d there I 1 was washing up the dishes vohen ft hen mr reynold Rey reynolds noly came caine in As it was sunday be was in his slippers slip and bad had the colored sup I 1 lement of a morning paper in bis his band I 1 I 1 hats the matter with the lad leys he ile asked I 1 can cant t read for their quarreling quor BOOZ boom probably I 1 said IN when hen you i e lived in the flood district as long as I 1 have mr reynolds you 11 know that the rising of the liver is a signal for or every man in the vicinity to stop work and get full the fuller the river the fuller the male tion then this flood will likely make em drink themselves to death be said its a lulu ulu its the neighborhoods hoods annual de bauch the women are busy in the cellars or they d get full too I 1 hope since its come this fir far it will come farther so the landlord will have to paper the parlor that masats as at 3 0 clock at 4 mr air lad ley went down the stairs and I 1 heard him getting into a skiff in the lower hill hall there boats going back and forth all the time carrying crowds of curious people and find taking the flood suf febers to the corner grocery where they were lowering groceries in a has ket on a rope flom an upper window I 1 had been making tea m when ben I 1 heard mr nir ladley go out I 1 fixed a tray with a cup of it and some crackers and took it to their door I 1 had never liked mrs airs ladley but it was chilly in the file house with the gas shut off and the lowel floor full of ice lee water and it Is hard enough t keep boa ideis in the flood district she did not answer to my mv knocks so copeney the door and went in she was at the window looking after him nd ind the file brown valise that figured in the case later v m as opened on the floor over the foot of the bed is as the black ind white dress with the red collar when I 1 poke to her she turned around qu akly she was a tall wo man about twenty eight with very white teeth and yellow hair which she parted a little to one side and bud diew down over hei ears she had a sullen face and large well shaped hands with her nails long and very pointed the she devil has brought you some tea I 1 said where shall she petit put it she devil she repeated raising lier her eyebrows its it s a very thoughtful she devil who called you that but with the sight of the valise and the tear fear that they might be leaving I 1 thought it best not to quarrel she had left the window and going to her i die dieb hsing sIn t table a b ae had iickie up cel he i nail wall file 1 I 1 I 1 sever never mind stay I 1 said I 1 hope you are not going away these floods don t last and they e a benefit plenty of the people around here rely on cm em every year to wash out their cellars no I 1 1 in not going away she re piled lizila I 1 in taking that dress to miss hope it the the theater she la is going to wear it in charlies aunt next week she b t half enough of 0 f a wardrobe to play leads in stock look at this thumb nail broken to the quick if I 1 had only looked to see which thumb it was but I 1 was putting the tei tea liay on the washstand nash stand and moving mr air ladley s r y tiers il ers to find room for it peter the spaniel begged for a lump of sugar and I 1 gaie gale it to him where Is mf nit ladley I 1 asked gone out to moisee see the river I 1 hope be li 1 be careful there a a drowning or to tto every year in these floods then I 1 hope he won wont t she slid bald caln caan ly do iou 3 on know nhat hat I 1 was do in ins when you tame came in I 1 was 1001 ins ing after his boat and hoping it bad had a hole in it you ft bont on t feel that way tomorrow nils I 1 idler ladler I 1 pio protested tested shocked youre you re just nervous and put out most men have their ugly times ganv a time I 1 wished mr air pitman pit in fin was wag gone goue until he went then I 1 d have ghen a good bit to have him bick hick agala she was standing in froit of the dresser dreser fixing her hair over her ears she turned and looted at me over liei hei shoulder probably Pio bably mr air pitman was a man main she said mv husband Is a fiend bend a devil na ell 1 I 1 good many nl women bonien have said that to me at different times but just let me sly say such a thing to them oi 01 rei eat their own wolds to them the next day d ay iy and trev would fly at me in a fura ao I 1 said nothing and put the cream into her tea I 1 never siw saw her again there Is not much sleeping done in the flood district during a spring flood the gas was shot off and I 1 gave mr reynolds and the I 1 adleys each a li limp rap I 1 sat in the back room that I 1 had made into a tempo temporal raty kitchen with a an anile ile and with a around my aho ho alders the water rose fast in the lower hall but by midnight at the seventh step it stopped rising and I 1 stood still I 1 always have a skiff during the flood season and as the water rose I 1 tied it to one spindle of the stair case after another I 1 nude made myself a cup of tei tea and at I 1 0 clock I 1 stretched out on a sofa tor for a few hours sleep I 1 think I 1 had bad been sleeping only an hour oi 01 so when some one touched me on the shoulder and I 1 started up it was mr reynolds partly dressed some one has been in the house mrs pitman he said they went away just i ow in the bolt boat perhaps it was nas peter I 1 suggested that dog Is wandering around it at night fot not unless peter can row a boat said sir mr nev drvie I 1 gol got tip alleada full dressed ind taking the candle we went ment to the tali case I 1 noticed that it was a min ate or so after 2 0 clock as we left the oom the boat was gone not untied but cut loose I 1 be he end of the lope was still fastened to the stair lail I 1 sat sown down on the stalls and looked at mr reynolds Pey it its a gone I 1 bald said if the house latches file well ha hale e to biown its rather curious when you con sider bider it X V e both spoke softly not to disturb the ladle s I 1 ye ve been awake ind and I 1 he ile nd lid no DO boat come in and yet f no one came in a boat and came from the street they would have bave had bad to swim in I 1 adt queer and creepy the street door was open of course and the lights going beyond it gave me a strange feeling to sit there 1 in the 1 dit kness on the stairs with the arch of the front door like the entrance to a la lavern erd and see now and then a chunk of fee ce slide into view turn around in the eddy and pass on it was bittel cold too and the wind was rising go through the house said mr reynolds sheres likely nothing worse the matter than some drunken mill hand on a Na vacation cation while the mills are under water but I 1 d better lie ile left me and I 1 sit sat there alone in the file darkness I 1 had a presentiment of something wrong but L tried to think it was only discomfort and the cold fhe rhe water arh brhen ell in by the wind swirled at my feet and something dark floated la in and lodged on the step below I 1 reached down and touched it it was a dead kitten I 1 had known a dead cat eat to bring me any thing but bad luck and here was one washed in at my very feet CHAPTER R REI nEl came back soon M and reported the house quiet and in ill order but 1 I found peter shut up in one of the third floor rooms he laid aid did you put him there I 1 had not and said so but as the dog me the have blown shut we did not attach much importance to that at the time well the skiff was gone and there was as no use worrying about it until morning I 1 went back to the sofa to leep keep warm but I 1 left my candle light ed and my door open I 1 did not sleep the dead cat eat was on my mind and as if it were not bad enough to have it w asbed in at my feet about 4 in the in morning orning peter prowling uneasily dis CON copied bied it and bi ought it in and put it on my couch met ind stiff poor little thing I 1 looked at the clock it was a ter after 4 and except for the occa dional crunch of one ice lee cake bitting hitting another ln in the yard rd everything mas was assia ta adli oki I 1 auld aid ai d then I 1 beara lue |