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Show W&ai tine Gtay House Hiel THE STORY "V Hilton ll.inliy. vi'osperous New York morohant, luia mivhnstM a country pl;ue the tJnxy hou, noar Vin IMtihiH. Miss SolenoM, a former tomiut of the (.liay hoiiso, warns Mm that the turns a is umltT curse; Kurihor rtlarm-inic rtlarm-inic tie tails are linpivssod upon AdtMf Smui-ker, lltinby's secretary, secre-tary, by a man who claims to have been chaurtVuf for Sir Stanford Stan-ford Seymour, former occupant of the place. The llanhys lniifih mT the warnings, as some form of practical Joke. Hut thev nr shocked when they hear that the caretaker whom they have put in charge of the i, ray house, r man mimed Kerr, has been mysteriously mysteri-ously murdered llanhv consults his friend IV 1 ham. The family starts for the new home. Apple-ton, Apple-ton, clerk of Douglas a nd Smith, the agents from whom Manhy bought t li e limy house, explains to I'olh a m. that ft dan Kerens pond near the house, in which several children have been drowned, has since been filled In, but he urxes Pelham to dissuade Hanby from occupying the (ray house. Hanby and Junior learn that the caretaker was known to the police as "Red Chnpln" and had a bad record. CHAPTER III Continued It wns his first opportunity to see a man with a prk-e on his head. Death had revealed with marked emphasis the unsocial qualities with which Ked t'hapln had heen (lowered. What be had tried during life to hide was now plain for all the world to see the loose mouth, the short cranium, crani-um, the thrust-forward Jaw. Junior shuddered a little. "What do you suppose he wanted the Job of looking after an einptj house for?" "It's my belief he was hiding," said , the policeman from Kingston. "I've checked up on him pretty well. He kept himself to himself In Kingston. He received no callers or mall. Ills landlady says he was suspicious of strangers. Ked was always one to frequent fre-quent pool rooms and places like that; hut this trip he kept away from them. Why? Be knew they was after him." "Who?"' Junior asked eagerly, for- v getting that he was listening open-eyed open-eyed to a policeman Ignorant of psychology. psy-chology. The man that bumped him off. We shan't probably ever know who. We've got Red, and somebody else'll pick np his pals when their time comes." The policeman pointed to the dead nian's big, roughened hand. "That's the hand that squeezed the : life out of a Salt Lake City detective. Strangled him in a telephone booth, he did. and not a soul near by beard It. That's the hand that shot half a dozen i men. Look at that face, Mr. Hanby. : and, when yon see another like It, watch out '" "I will." Junior said quickly. He envied the professional bis poise at a moment like this. So occupied was he with this Intimate touch of 'crime that he did not notice until the car slowed down to pass Amenia that he had again missed the Gray boose. "Wow !" he said, a mile or so further on, "yon missed that truck by little less than an Inch I" "Ton exaggerate," replied his father. "It wasn't half an Inch. I'm In a hurry to get home. Bill Pelham may have news." They did not speak again for some time. Then Hanby surprised bis son " by asking queslions concerning Leslie Barron, the youth to whom Cella gave K" --good deal of her time. "Les is a peach," said Junior warmly. warm-ly. "If I were he, I wouldn't stand the way Celia behaves. One day she's sunar and the next vinegar." i "I've seen that," Hanby returned. Thats' not ODusual. I did not mean that Is he courageous? Would he be '. a useful man In a tight place?" "You ought to have seen the scrap he put up against a strong-armed 'I waiter that tried to put him out of a ' roadhouse last April! The waiter was an old heavyweight pugilist, and he certainly could punish. Ies knew he was outweighed and outclassed, and he had a chance to duck; but he Isn't that sort of a mother's boy. He was out for twenty minutes." .' "Thai's interesting," his father com- ! mented. "I didn't think the languid j Les had a fight in bim; but you don't expect me to approve of a rowdy boy being thrown out of a questionable '" roadhouse, I hope?" j "It wasn't a questionable place," , Junior retorted. "You've taken mother there. Les isn't rowdy he's Just fas ' tldious. He complained of a big fly In his coffee. That ronsed the waiter 1 to fury, and he said that Les could i drink It or not, but he had to pay." i Junior wondered why bis father - should ask about Leslie's gameness. j Mr. Hanby was In an unusually I JJmnghtful mood. """'you're pretty husky," he said presently. pres-ently. "What do you weigh?" "A hundred and seventy stripped," ' Junior told hitn. "My weight to a hair.' Les Isn't so i much, is he?" "He and Bill weigh a hundred and fifty-five stripped. Why? Going to I promote some boxing exhibitions?" ', "Nothing like that." "What's on your mind, dad?" i "Sherlock Lupin, It would take more t than your admitted skill to find out, because 1 don't know myselt I apolo-yi.Tj, apolo-yi.Tj, for it. For tue.Jrst time, the , Wiray house gave me a shiver as J passed It This murder was the cause. I 1 don't revel In crime. 1 hate It. I I like people to be happy and hurtnoni- 1 ous. Something Inside me leads me Tine lysfcry of a Haunted Mansion - Hy -Wyndbam Marlyn V. N. IT, Servli-a Copyright by Wymlhum Murtyri almost Invariably to dependable people. peo-ple. 1 wouldn't have picked this fellow fel-low lted t'hapln to have watched a dog pound, If ho was half ns bad ua you say. I took that man Smucker over wllh the business, the d d, dlny anarchist I 1 caught myself calculating calculat-ing my forces If anything unpleasant happened up at the Gray house. 11111 lYlham would tackle a lion single-handed, single-handed, lie's heen proved I wondered won-dered n little about Leslie." "Pad, you don't really think there's nnythlng wrong with that new place?" 'SAMX.-. WcWr "I'm Not Going to Be Frightened Out of It by Any Rude Old Woman." Inquired Junior, his eyes sparkling at the thought. "I'll have to disappoint yon by saying say-ing no. It was Just a passing fit of depression. It has gone." "I'll be gone, too. If yon don't cut the speed down," his son cautioned. "Slow downl There's a motor cop In the offing." CHAPTER IV Bill Pelham was waiting for them. "Won't take me ten minutes to get Into clean clothes, said Hanby. "I've got strange news, Dina." "So has Bill." she retorted. "Mine is of a tragic nature." "You've nothing on me," said Bill "I'm In the wholesale tragedy business." busi-ness." Dina, Pelham, and Uanby discussed the matter In the library. Hanby listened to what Appleton had told his friend. "Then Smucker wasn't lying," he remarked. re-marked. "Appleton corroborates bis story. It means that some one wants to prevent us living there. What could the reason possibly be?" "J give It up." said Pelham. "Do you think the police have the right dope on the Chnpln murder?" "What else could It be?" "That these same people who want to keep you out started to terrorize you by murdering him. It may be that he was an Innocent victim. Of course, we know that he was wanted by the law, and that In a sense his removal is a blessing to society, but all the same he may have Intended to be an honest watchman for the time being." "Dina," said Hanby presently, again conscious of his wife's unusual depres slon, "if you are scared at the pros pect of going up there, I'll open nego tlatlons with Miss Selenns. who particularly par-ticularly loathes aud despises me What about It?" Think twice before you answer." Bill Pelham warned her. "I haven't even seen the place yet." she said, smiling. "I'm not going to be frightened out of it by any rude old woman. Mil, I believe she's at the bottom bot-tom of all this mystery. I'm not going to rob my Housalonlc of his manor!'' "Housatonic?" Bill queried. "What's that?" "Hll's real name. At college you called him Tony." "It's a new one on me," said Bill. "Blame your Aunt Selina for It," Hanby declared. "She got me going with her California rivers. I tell you that old hag has a face like the Furies. She may be mad and vindictive, but i- ' ' . f r h something on tier mind more than a passing whlin. I don't know but Dina'H right. Klin said I should meet disaster, ruin, and even death. There's some mystery about my pleun-nni pleun-nni house In Dutchess county." ".Nothing will keep mil away from It now," Dina assorted. "Wo hIiiiII have four utile bodied men In thu place all tint Hummer." "Four?" her husband demanded. "You are not counting fourteen-year-old Tim us an uhlc. bodied male, are you?" "There will bo you, Junior, LeHlIo, and Bill." "Me?" Pelham cried. "Of course I On your own confession, confes-sion, you've nothing to do until your 1 company Is reorganized In the fall. Danger calls, and wo need you. I've already picked out your suite." "Dina, you are taking great chances. Fven dull-willed till, thu last to scent (he danger, knows that I'm In love with you." "That makes yon so much the safer. You shall work, believe me. I'm crazy to have ninio stately old-world gardens. gar-dens. You shall be my man with the hoo." "1 sign on here and now," suld BUI. "Where are you going?" "I promised to tell Tim about the Inquest. My children have the modern Interest In crime. Don't go I I shan't be very long." Pelham looked at Hanby almost wistfully. wist-fully. "till, was that a Joke on me or a genuine Invitation?" "Don't you want to come?" "Kxcept for the reason that your family Is my family, that I shull live reut free and make enough out of you at pool to ipeud an allluent winter no I" "That'a settled, then," suld Hanby. "Honestly, Bill, I shall be glud to have a man like you. with nerve and courage, cour-age, around the house." "That sounds as If yon anticipated trouble." "Oddly enough, I do. I must be getting get-ting old, but driving back today I began be-gan to make excuses for not living In the Gray house. Subconsciously, 1 was actuated by fear. Most people patronize patron-ize their subconscious mind nowadays, but It's the subconscious mind that gives yon the real danger signals. I'm going up there, but I'm not going op there with the Idea thnt every prospect pros-pect Is as pleasing as It looks. I'm on guard I" "If that's o, 1 demand a salary as well as free board and entertainment. Make It five dollars a day, and replace all clothes stained with gore in the exercise of my duly with ones of equal or greater value. The trouble with you Is that after piking along on thirty thousand a year and a mere duplex apartment, you've got twice thnt amount and a thirty-room mansion. man-sion. It has gone to your poor weak head. You are paying too much attention atten-tion to poor Aunt Sellna." "You didn't see or hear ber," Hud by reminded blm. "She's merely a crank. One morning, morn-ing, thirty long years ago. In the bosky dells that are now yours, she met a rustic swain and pursued him with love, Wlse'y he Jumped Into the lake and was drowned. It Is a sacred spot to her." "What about the Seymour chaui feur?" "An Ignorant, good hearted, generous man, fond of children. His simple, untutored mind believes that evil spirits dwell there because his boss' children ventured on an unsafe bridge and wT-re drowned. Probably he has a dozen kids himself. As to Red Chnpin, be took refuge there and was killed by his pals whom he had double-crossed. double-crossed. Perfectly plain, as I see It." "Maybe." Hanby suld slowly, "It Is merely annoyance that the house I bought for Dina should be mixed up in this tragic business." He spoke al most Irritably. "I hate gloom and tears and death. Wheu I first saw the Gray house. 1 said. 'Here Is a place where people have been happy.' Prettv rotlen picker, eh. Bill?" "Your family will take the curse oft anything," said the other. "Dina will have us all dancing as happily as ever Junior will bring his crowd, and Cella will Import hers. I miss my guess tf the result won't be a very interesting mixture. Dance on I" he concluded dramatically. "Outside your win dows your faithful house detective will be watching the simple-minded sleuth whose meager pay Is five dollars a dai and extras. During the day I shall be hoe man in chief to Dina. At dusk I am the house detective. I'll get a deputy's badge, in case I have to make arrests." There was a knock on the door, and Mary Sloan entered. (TO BE CONTINUED.) 0KHtHa-CHIHHCHCKOHCHCKHCH |