Show vw 41 WHARY ROD 40 tov ayrs R 4 ff w r t SYNOPSIS innes spinster and guardian ot of exer gertrude trude and halsey established summer headquarters at sunnyside Sunny alde side the servants d lobert loa e vert ert gertrude and halsey arrive with jack ck bailey the house was awakened by t revolver shot and arnold armstrong was found shot to death in the hall asa aless innes found Halie ys revolver on the tha lawn ile ha and jack bailey had disappeared gertrude rev revealed aled th that at s the h 0 was a engaged to jack bailey with whom all she talked in the tha billiar droom shortly before the murder detective jamieson Jam leson accused allas innes of holding back evidence iia he imprisoned an intruder in an empty room T the prisoner escaped gertrude was suspected G d because of an injured font hal bey oy reappears pears and says jays he and bailey were ware reaf ca called 1 ed away by a telegram cashier balley alley of paul armstrongs armstrong bank defunct f was waa arrested f tor 0 r embezzlement baul aul armstrongs dea death t h was announced la leys fiancee louise armstrong told halsey a ey that while she still loved him she was wan to marry an another 0 ther it developed that thai dr walker wag wa the man boulse was found at the bottom of the circular staircase recovering consciousness she said something om ething had brushed by her on the tha fairway and she tainted fainted dailey bailey Is suspected of armstrongs murder after seeing ins a shoot ghost thomas the es er was found dead with a knien 1 in his fackre pocket bearing the name of 8 I 1 eclen wallee wallace dr walker asked M miss so innes to vacate in favor of mrs armstrong she refused A note from bailey to gertrude arranging a meeting at night wils was found A ladder out of place deepens d pens the mystery CHAPTER continued apparently only a few minutes elapsed during which my eyes were becoming accustomed to the darkness then I 1 noticed that the windows were reflecting a faint pinkish light liddy noticed it at the same time and I 1 heard beard her jump up at that moment sams deep voice boomed from somewhere just juat below firel he yelled the stables on farel I 1 could see him in the glare dancing up and down on the drive and a moment later halsey joined him alex was awake and running down the stairs and in five minutes from the time the fire was discovered three of the maids were sitting on their trunks in the drive although excepting a few sparks there was no fire nearer than yards gertrude seldom lo loses her presence of mind and she ran to the telephone but by the time the casanova volunteer fire department came tolling up therill the hill bill the stable was a furnace with the dragon fly safe but blistered in the road some gasoline exploded just as the volunteer department got to work which shook their nerves as well as aa the burning building the stable being on a hill bill was a torch to attract the population from every direction the stable was off the west wing I 1 hardly baldly know how I 1 came to think of the circular staircase and the unguarded door at its foot liddy was putting my clothes into sheets preparatory to tossing them out the window when I 1 found her and I 1 could hardly persuade her to stop 1 I want you to come with me liddy I 1 said bring a candle and a couple of blankets she lagged behind considerably when chesaw me making for the east wing and at the top of the staircase she balked 1 I am not going down there she said firmly there la Is no one guarding the door down there I 1 explained who knows this thir may be a scheme to draw everybody away from this end of the house and let some one in hire here the instant I 1 had said it I 1 was con I 1 had hit bit on the explanation and that perhaps it was already too late it seemed to me as I 1 listened that I 1 heard stealthy footsteps on the east ast porch but there was so BO much ab shouting outing outside that it was impossible to tell liddy was on the point of retreat very well I 1 said then I 1 shall go down alone alane run back to mr halseys Hal room rind and get hla his revolver dont shoot down the stairs it if you hear a noise remember I 1 shall be down there and hurry I 1 put the candle on the floor it at the top of the staircase and took tooh oft off my bedroom slippers then I 1 crept down the stairs going very slowly and listening with all my ears just at the toot foot of the stairs I 1 stubbed my toe against Hal big chair and had to stand on one foot in a soundless agony until the pain subside i to a dull ache and atheni then I 1 knew I 1 was right some onn oni had put a key into the lock and was turning it for some reason it refused to work and the key was withdrawn there was a muttering of voices outside I 1 had only another trial and the door would open the candle above made a faint gleam down the well like staircase and at that moment with a second no more to spare I 1 thought of a plan the heavy oak chair almost filled the space between thu tho newel post and the door with a crash I 1 had turned it ou on its side wedging it against the door its legs against the stairs I 1 could hear bear a faint scream from liddy at the crash and then she came down the stairs on a run ran with the rey revolver olver held straight out in front of her thank god she said in a shaking voice 1 I thought it was you I 1 pointed to the door and she un der stood call out ot of the windows at the other end of the house I 1 whispered run tell them thein not to wait tor for iny anything IN G b 93 0 it went off right through the door she went up the stairs at that two at a time evidently she collided with the candle for it went out and I 1 was left in darkness I 1 was really astonishingly cool I 1 remember stepping over the chair and gluing my ear to the door and I 1 shall never forget feeling it give an inch or two there in ia the darkness under a a teady steady pressure from without but the chair held although I 1 could hear bear an ominous cracking of one of the legs and then without the slightest warning the window broke with a crash I 1 had bad my finger on the trigger of the revolver and as I 1 jumped it went off right through the door some ono one outside swore roundly and tor for the first time I 1 could hear bear what was said only a scratch men are at the tha other end of he house lave have the whole rats nest on us and a lot of profanity which I 1 wont write down the voices were at the broken window now and although I 1 was trembling violently I 1 was determined ter mined that I 1 would hold them until help came I 1 moved up the stairs until t I 1 see into the or rather through it to the window As I 1 looked a small man put hla his leg over the sill and stepped into the room the curtain confused him for a moment then he turned not toward me but toward the billiard room door I 1 fired again and something that was glass or china crashed to the ground then I 1 ran up the stairs and along the corridor to the main staircase gertrude was standing there trying to locate the shots and I 1 must have been a peculiar figure with my hair in crimps my dressing gown flying no slippers and a revolver clutched in my hand I 1 had no time to talk there was the sound of footsteps in the lower hall and some one bounded up the stairs I 1 had gone berserk I 1 think I 1 leaned over the stair rail and fired again II 11 alsey below yelled at me what are you doing up tip there he yelled you missed me by an inch and then I 1 collapsed and fainted when I 1 came around liddy was rubbing my temples with eau de quinine and the search was in full blast well the man was gone tho the stable burned to the ground while the crowd cheered at every falling raffa ratter and the volunteer fire department sprayed it with kith a garden hose and in the house alex aiex and searched every I 1 corner of the lower floor finding no one the truth of my story was shown by the broken window and the overturned chair that the unknown had got upstairs was almost impossible lie ile had not used the lie main staircase there was no way to tho the upper floor in the east cast wing and liddy had been at the window in the west wing where the servants stair went up hut but we did not go to bed at all sam hannon and warner helped in the search and not a almet escaped scrutiny even the cellars were given a thorough overhauling without result the door in the east cast entry had a hole through it where my bullet had bad gone the hole slanted downward and the bullet was embedded in the porch some reddish stains showed it had bad done execution somebody will walk lame halsey said when lie ha had marked the course of the bullet its too low to havo have hit anything but a leg or foot from that ume time on I 1 watched every person I 1 met for a limp and to this day the man who halts in his walk Is rn an object of suspicion to me but casanova had no lame m men n the tha nearest tip reach to it was an old follow fellow who w ho tended the safety gates at the railroad and he I 1 learned on inquiry h had ad two artificial legs our man had bad gone and the large and expensive stable at Sunny sunnyside side was waa a heap of smoking rafters and charred boards warner swore the fire was incendiary and in view of the attempt to enter the house there seemed to b no doubt of it it CHAPTER flinders it if halsey had only taken me fully into his confidence through the whole affair it would have been much simpler it if he had been altogether frank about jack bailey and if the day after the firo fire he had told me what he suspected there would have been no harrowing period for all ot of us wit with h the hoy boy in danger dut but young people refuse to profit by the experience 0 of f their elders and sometimes the elders are the ones to stiffer buffer I 1 was much used up the day after the fire and gertrude insisted on my going out the machine was tem temporarily po out of commission and the carriage horses had bad been sent to a farm for the summer gertrude finally got a trap from the casanova liveryman and wo we went out just lie as we turned from the drive into the road we passed a woman she had bad put down a small valise and stood inspecting the house and grounds minutely I 1 should hardly have noticed her had it not been for the fact that she had bad been horribly disfigured by smallpox ugh gertrude said when we had passed what a face I 1 shall dream of it tonight to night get up flinders minders flinders I 1 asked la Is that the horses name it Is she nicked flicked the horses stubby mane with the whip lie ile look like a livery horse and the liveryman said he had bought him from the armstrongs whan they purchased cd a couple of motors and cut down the stable nice flinders good old boyll boy flinders was certainly not a common name for a horse and yet the youngster at richfield had bad named his prancing curly curl haired little horse flinders Flinder sl it set mo me to thinking at my request eralsey had already sent word of the fare to the agent from whom me had bad secured the house also lie had called mr jamieson Jam leson by telephone and somewhat guardedly had told him of the previous nights events sir mr jamieson Jam leson promised to bome come out that night and to bring another man with him I 1 did not con alder it necessary to notify sirs mrs armstrong in the village no doubt she knew of the fire and in view of m refusal to give up the house an irta ner view would probably have hae yn en un pleasant enough tint hut as we passed dr walkers white and green house bousi I 1 thought of sol stop here gertrude I 1 said 1 I am going to get out to see louise 7 she asked no I 1 want to ask this young walker something sa s1 she e was curious I 1 knew but I 1 did not wait valt to explain I 1 went up the walk to the house where a brass sign at the side announced the office and went vent in the reception room was empty but from the consultation room loom beyond camp came the sound of two voices not very amicable it Is an outrageous figure some one was waa storming then the doctors quiet tone ev evidently not arguing merely stating something hut but I 1 had rot pot tiros time to listen to some person probably disputing hla his bill so I 1 coughed the ceased at once a door closed somewhere and the doc tor entered from the hall or of the house lie ile looked sufficiently surprised at see fit e ing me good afternoon ec ti octor I 1 said formally 1 I shall not keep you from fioti ME your patient I 1 wish merely to ask aak a question wont you sit down it will not be necessary doctor has any one come to you either cither early this morning or today to day to have you treat a bullet wound nothing so startling has happened to me ho he said bald A bullet wound 1 things must be lively at 1 I say it was at Sunny sunnyside side dut but as it happens it was it any such euch case comes to you will it be too much trouble for you to lot roe me know 1 I shall bo be only too happy he be said 1 I understand you have had bad a fire up there too A ore fire and shooting in one night la Is rather lively for a quiet place like that it Is as quiet as a boiler shop I 1 replied as I 1 turned to go and you are still going to stay 11 until I 1 am burned out I 1 responded and then on my way down tho the steps I 1 turned around suddenly doctor I 1 asked at a venture have you ever heard of a child named lucien wallace clever as he was his face cli changed angea and stiffened lle lie was on his bis guard again in a moment mo ta ent lucien wallace ho he repeated no I 1 think not there are plenty of wallaces around but I 1 dont know any lucien I 1 was as certain as aa possible that he did people do not lie its readily to me and this man lied beyond a doubt dut but there was nothing to be gained now his defenses were up and I 1 left half irritated and wholly baffled our reception was entirely different at dr Stew stewarts arCs taken into the bosom of the family at once flinders tied outside and nibbling the grass at the roadside gertrude and I 1 drank some homemade home made elderberry wine and told briefly 0 of the fire of the more serious part of the nights experience of course we said nothing but when at last we had left the family on th the e porch and the good doctor was untying our steed I 1 asked him the same question I 1 had bad put to dr walker Wall shott he said niesa bless my soul no why what have you been doing up at the big house miss innes some one tried to enter the house during the fire and was shot and slightly injured I 1 salil said hastily please dont mention it we wish to make as little ot of it as possible there was one other possibility feasibility and we W e tried that at casanova station I 1 saw the station capter and asked him it if any trains lett left casanova between one and daylight there was none until 6 a m the next question que s tion required more diplomacy did you notice on the six train any person any man wh who 0 limped a little I 1 asked please try to remember we are trying to trace a man who was seen loitering around Sunny sunnyside side last night before the fite he was all attention in a moment 1 I was up there myself at the fire ho he said volubly im a member of the volunteer company first big alre weve had since the summer house burned over to the club golf links I 1 sly my wife was sayin the other day dave you might as well a saved the money in that thorp there helmet and shirt and here last night they came in handy rang hang that bell so bo hard I 1 t time scarcely to get em ein on and did you see a man who limped gertrude put in as he stop stopped P ed for breath I 1 1 I not at thy the train mam he said hold no such person got on here today to day hut dut ill tell you where I 1 did see a roan man that limped I 1 wait waft till the company lett left theresa fast freight goes through at and I 1 had to get down to the station I 1 seen there much more to do anyhow at the alre ali 0 wed got the flames under control gertrude looked at me |