| Show circular nit AD sj s j wAsTE TA 11 aw AM Y an BY a v imas w m buinac m c f SYNOPSIS miss innas spinster spinster anil and guardia A of gertrude and halaby sey established summer rummer headquarters at sunny sunnyside side amidst numerous difficulties the servants deserted As alias innes locked up for the night the was startled by a lark dark inure figure on th the vera ada unseemly molses disturbed her during the night in the morning miss innes found a strange link curf cult button in R hamper gertrude and halsey arrived with mth jack galley daily tho the house wn was awakened by a revolver shot hot and arnold arm Bt barong rong was nas found shot to death in the hall alas innes found Hal halseys revolver on the lawn ile ho and jack bailey had bad disappeared the link curt cuff button mystery ou ouy n P detective jamieson Jam leson gertrude 3 P revealed she was en baked to jack dally dall y with whom the talked in the bl billiard illard room a few wort the murder jamieson Ja accused miss mils innes of holding back evidence ile he imprisoned nn an intruder in an empty room the prisoner escaped down i laundry chute gertrude was suspected A negro found the other halt of what proved rove to be jack balleys baileys cuff button halsey reappears and says he anti and dalley bailey left in response to a telegram gertrude said phe nhe response had al riven given dailey bailey an unloaded revolver fearing to give elv b him rn a tended loaded weapon cashier nalley dailey of 0 paul arm strongs s bank defunct was wait arrested tor for embezzlement halsey haley sam said armstrong crooked Ms his own bank anti and could clear ralley bailey paul armstrongs death was announced halseys Hal nal fiancee flan ree boulse armstrong was found at the lodge tho th said boule anti and arnold had a long talk the night of the he murder louise was prostrated louise told that w while e she lie still loved him she sh was to 0 o marry another anti and that lie he would d despise dixe her when lie he learned the whole story it developed that dr walker and louise were to lie marr married led A prowler was hemi in the house hoise t louise was found nt at the bo bottom it om of the circular staircase louise said she had heard a knock at the door and answered ans it something brtis brushed hed past her on the stairway and she fainted CHAPTER continued you heard no other sound the coroner asked there was no one with mr armstrong when he be entered it was perfectly dark there were no voices and I 1 heard nothing there was ws just the opening of the door tho the shot and the sound of somebody falline then while you went through the drawing room loom and upstairs to alarm the household the criminal whoever it was could have escaped by the east cast door yes yea thank you that will do I 1 flatter myself that the coroner got if little atle enough out of me I 1 saw mr air jamieson Jam leson smiling to himself and the coroner gave me up after a time I 1 admitted I 1 had found the body said I 1 bad not known who it was until mr jarvis told me and ended by looking up at darbara barbara fitzhugh and saying that in renting the house I 1 had not expected to be involved in any family scandal andal Bc at which she turned purple the verdict was that arnold armstrong bad met his death at the hands bands of a parson or persons unknown and we prepared to leave darbara barbara fitzhugh flounced out without waiting to speak to me but mr harton came up as I 1 knew lie he would you have decided to give up the house I 1 hope miss innes he said mrs airs armstrong has wired me again 1 I 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 la Is discovered I 1 will leave then judging by what I 1 have heard you will be back in the city very soon he sat said and I 1 knew that lie suspected the discredited cashier of tho the traders bank mr jamieson Jam leson came up to me as I 1 was about to leave the c coroners ora ners of lice flee illow how Is your patient he asked with lits ills odd little smile 1 I have haa no patient I 1 replied lart led 1 I will mill put it in a different way then now how Is alases armstrong slit she she Is doing very well I 1 11 stammered tam good cheerfully anti and our ghost ts Is it laid mr jamieson Jam leson I 1 said suddenly 1 I 1 wish you would come to Sunny sunnyside side and spend a few days there the ghost Is not laid I 1 want you to spend one night at least watching the circular staircase the murder of arnold armstrong was a beginning not an end ile he looked serious perhaps I 1 can do it he said 1 I have been doing something else but well I 1 will come out tonight to night we vero very silent during the he trip lack back to Sunny sunnyside side I 1 watched gertrude closely find and somewhat sadly toine to ine me there was one glaring flaw in her story and it seemed to stand out tor for every one to see arnold arm strong had had no key and yet she ald timid she had locked the east cast door ile he must have been admitted from within the house over anti and over I 1 repeated it to myself that night as gently as I 1 could I 1 told L loulia 0 alse ulse the story of her step brothers leath death she sat in her big pillow failed chair and heard me Ai rough without interruption it was clear that she was shocked beyond words it I 1 had hoped to learn anything from her expression I 1 had titled ailed she was as much in the dark as an re ra were CHAPTER A holt hole in the wall waif my at taking the detective out to sun ayalde raised nn an unexpected storm ot of front boci gertrude and ll luiney misey I 1 rii not noi prepared Tre pared fur for it and I 1 scarce scarcely knew how to account tor for it it to me mr air jamieson Jam leson was far loss less formidable under my eyes where I 1 knew what he be was doing than he was waa off in tho city twisting circumstances and motives to suit himself and learning what he wished to know about events at sun in some occult way I 1 wits was glad enough to have him there when excitements excite ments began to come thick and fast A new element was about to enter into affairs it day or tuesday at tho the latest would find dr walker back in his een and white house in the village villa gc and nd louises attitude to him in the immediate future would signify halseys Hal Ilal happiness or wretchedness as it might turn jura 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 attached to her from the day mr air jamieson Jam leson came to there was a subtle change in gertrudes manner to me it was elusive difficult to analyze but it was there she was no longer frank ald laddy dy heaved a sigh elgh girl and woman she eho said ive been with you 25 years miss misa rachel through good temper and bad the idea and what I 1 have taken from her in the way of 0 bulks t but I 1 guess I 1 cant stand aland it any longer my trunks packed who packed it UT I 1 asked expecting from her tone to be told she bad wakened to find it dono done by some ghostly hand 1 I did allies Ilac rachel bel you wont bellevo believe me when I 1 tell you this house la is baun haunted ted who was waa it tell fell down the clothes chute who was it scared miss boulse almost into her grave im doing my best to ind find out I 1 said what in tho the world are you driving at she drew a long breath there Is a hole in the trun kroom wall dug out since last night its big enough to put your head in and the plasters all over tho the place Non nonsense I 1 said Pl ister la Is always falling but liddy clenched that just ask alex she ehe said when 21 0 to if fill n there was something baffling in the girls girl eyes with me although I 1 think her affection never wavered at the time I 1 laid the change to the tact fact that I 1 had forbidden all communication with john bailey and had refused to acknowledge any engagement between the two gertrude spent much of her time wandering through the gi grounds or tatting taking long cross country walks halsey played golt golf at the country club day after day and after louise left as she did the following week mr air jamieson Jam leaon and I 1 were much together ile iia played a fair kame game bage but he be cheated at solitaire the night the detective arrived saturday I 1 had bad 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 rosto on the drive I 1 saw that he thought the information motion was important and to my suggestion that we put an additional lock on the past east wing door lie opposed a strong negative 1 I 1 think it probable lie he said that our visitor will be back again and the thing to do Is to leave things exactly ac aly as they are to avoid rousing suspicion then I 1 can watch for at least a part of each night and probably mr air innes will help us out I 1 would say as little to thomas as possible the old man knows more than lie he Is willing to admit I 1 suggested that alex the gardener would probably be willing to help hell and mr jamieson Jam leson undertook to make the arrangement for one night however mr jamieson Jam leson preferred to watch alone apparently no nothing illing occurred the detective sat in absolute darkness on the lower step of the stairs dozing lie he said afterwards now and then nothing could pass him in IA either direction and the door in the morning remained as securely fastened 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 with it a face as long as the moral law she laid out my things as aa usual but I 1 missed her customary garrulous garrulousness nesa I 1 was not regaled with tho the now new cooks extravagance as to agg agi anti ana b even forbore to mention that jamieson Jan ileson on who ahw 0 o arrival she had bad looked with silent disfavor the matter liddy I 1 asked at last you sleep last night nighta no maam she said stiffly did you yon have two cups of coffee at your dinner I 1 inquired no marn mam indignantly I 1 sat eat up and almost upset my hot water I 1 always take ft cup of hot wa ter with a pinch of salt gait before I 1 get up it tones the stomach liddy allen alien I 1 said stop combing that switch and tell me m what la Is wrong with you he put the new cooks trunk there last night the wall was as smooth as this this morning its dug out and theres there a plaster on the cooks trunk miss rachel you can get a dozen detectives and put one on every stair in the house and never catch anything theres somo some things you can cant t handcuff liddy was right As soon 83 1 I could I 1 went u up to the truo 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 game future time the maids rooms trunk room and various storerooms store rooms include ing a large airy linen room opened from a long corridor like that on tile the second floor and in tile the trun kroom as liddy had said was a fresh break in the plaster not 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 tile 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 it a conflagration to gain headway you are sure the hole was not hero here yesterday I 1 asked liddy whose ex easlon pr was a mixture of satisfaction arid and alarm in answer she pointed to the new cooks trunk that necessary adjunct of the migratory domestic domet lc the top was covered with fine white plaster as was the floor nut but there were no large laige 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 ilia 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 oa a gravestone in the casanova Cas anoia churchyard I 1 I 1 brought sir air jamieson Jam leson up to see bee the hole in the wall directly a ater arter ter breakfast ills his expression wa ana a very verv odd when ho he looked at it and the he t first he did was to try to d discover what object ii if any such a hole could have lie ile got a piece of candle anti by enlarging the aperture a little was able to examine what lay beyond tile the result was nil the trun kroom al though heated by steam beat like the rest of the house bonsted boasted of a fireplace and mantel as well the open ing had been made between the flue duo anil and the outer wall of the house glivic was revealed however on inspection only the brick of the chimney cli finney on one side and the outer wall of the alio house on the other in depth the space ex tended only to the flooring the had been made about tour feet 4 fron from mot ihu hour floor and inside were all the missing idita lilts of plaster it had bad been a methodical lacal ghost it was very much of a dili appoint alent I 1 had expected a secret room at tho the very least and I 1 think even mr jamieson had fancied he might inight at last have hav G a c clew 1 ew t to 0 the mystery there was evidently nothing inore to be tile dla covered liddy reported that everything was serene among the servants and that none of them had been disturbed by the noise the maddening thing however was that the nightly visitor had bad evidently more than one way of gaining access to the 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 ile he said euld a break in the plaster might have 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 int at that but we vie put in nn an uncomfortable sunday G gertrudo gertrude went to church and halsey took a long walk in tho the morning louise I was waa able to sit up and she allowed halcey and liddy to assist her downstairs late in tile the afternoon the east veranda was shady green with vines and palms cheerful with cushions and lounging chairs we put louise in a steamer chair and she sat there passively enough her hands clasped in her lap we were very silent ellent halsey sat on the rall rail with a pipe openly watching louise na as she looked broodingly across the valley to tho the hills there was something baffling in the firlo eyes and gradually Ilal boyish features fea turea lost their glow at seeing her about again and settled bottled into grim lines ile he was waa like ilko hla his father just then wo we sat until late into afternoon halsey growing more antil moro more moody short ly before six he got up and went inoc the house and in a few minutes lit hc came out and called me to the tele phone it was anna whitcomb to ID town and she aho kept me for 20 minutes telling mo me the children had had the measles and how mma mine sweeny bad botched her now gown when I 1 finished liddy was behind me her mouth a thin line 1 I wish you would try to look cheer tul ful liddy 1 I 1 groaned your fact fac would sour milk dut but liddy seldom beldon replied to my gibes she folded bet bei lipe a little tighter ile he called her up she said ora orace c u arly he called her up and asked h hei e i to keep you at the telephone so lic h could talk to silas aliss louise A thank less child is sharper than A toot tooth ll ron Non I 1 said bald brusquely s might have known enough to leavo leav them its a long time since you 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 |
