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Show 71 ",,6TEPonfho STAIRS If Continued from our Last 1MB) I l) When his door had closed and he jr" was out of the way I rushed up t her' I don't know what I said; I must have been crazed with Jealousy arid jh mystery of It all. J do rcmriii-i. rcmriii-i. i (hough, quite distinctly, that ho turned on me In a cold fury, forbade for-bade me ever to address her again, uid enterlnR her apartment, shut the loor In my face! I descended, let myself In here almost mechanically, and dropped Into that chair you're sitting sit-ting in now, sergeant. Craig was settling back In his chair, with a gesture to Harry, when the latter stepped forward. Mr. I-idd, as I understand it. your apartment here is a replica of h one Just above, studio and all. Have you any objection to showing us about?" "Not at all " In conirasi to that of the dead woman's ladd's studio was hung with rare tapestries and furnished as luxuslously as that of a social dilettante, yet Its easel upon which stood an unfinished landscape, .ind the curved refectory table . n-leasly n-leasly covered with paint tubes and Mlie;ie.j (loths, Mho'.-'il II In lie a wiitkroom no Ick.i than hers. W " What color do you call this?" Marry picked up a tj'- :i nd squeezing squeez-ing a bit of Its contents on the palette pal-ette he Indicated the blotch of reddish red-dish brown. ' Burnt sienna.'" responded the artist, art-ist, promptly. "I seldom utie It you can see there was none on the pal- tte before but I always keep a full issoi-tment of colors on hand. ft is odd you should have asked roe i 0111 that:" why?" demanded Barry quickly, for the young man's tone had tcn3ed with bo roe Hidden emotion. "Well, it Is just a trivlnl ins iter, but over a week ago the ns-t time, in fact, that Mrs. Vane and I had D chummy little talk in her studio -J advised her i" use more burnt sienna' With the seal brown to get the! proper effect of the mood on tin. j sialrca-e in that portrait She v. as do-i InH of Mrs. Vanslttatt. Mo,- nil" b tore which her her own olood asl found tonight!" Barry replaced the tube reflective-1 iv on the table as C.aig. with .n e 1 denl effort to emulate his colleague, j picked up one "f the bottles in 1 i, Ihlffed II speculatively. wr "That's turpentine.' Ladd remarked and his voice had sunk again to a dnii apathy. "It's funny about this turpentine"' Craig still stood in the cable. "It's used as B leaning fluid. Isn't It ' I Seems to me I've simdt th. i o.l ,-somewhere ,-somewhere else In this houss tonight." to-night." ".Naturally the studio above is permeated with It." Barry turned' iway from the window and let 'he! m shade drop 'Mi Ladd f vou'II jus I 1 shoi through the youi H now w. wor 1 In uble von H I more K J Barr thanked tl i-r ind bade P I 'n -goodnight In Hi hall Craig n I U ruddy brow. V "Well. John, we've n nice mess to H report at Headquarters'" he W noun.ed In n low i EjD llcemen -n guard might HIJ "Here's a woman she, dead, and evei V last ( nant In the house except he Hw professor seems mixed up In Bfl lPW, though every one f.f then- base 9 "ed and peached on he rest' Who fj lbe devil was tills Miriam Vane. any. Lw whnl were the res; Qf Ihem to If in B lei her pi . with him liki . n u h Ki ' mouse i please her I ;hM kicked him oul when he )- M came Inconvenient He mnj ha i n Hied her, 1 dori'i think so H think he would have adored the wo- V man lie thought she y and pro- J i cted her v. ith hie last i l H "The woman he thought sl.e w:"' M repeated Craig, pausing on the stairs H in his astonishment. B "What are we going upstairs again H for?" demanded Craig. 'I've -ui H make my report at headquarters, and fW It's getting "ii toward morning." V "You're n Up ' Qrlswold again, then and ask him B ,; I h lied ibout hit acquaintance il Wn Barrj b H quiascal glance upon the younger B sergeant S 'I am not " the other announced K with decision. "We have vonng Mfl Uidd's word for It that Grlswold EH hed, but iwlther of them were under HH oath. They're both under guard and in the morning we'll have them down Ha) "n the carpet and get the truth out BBSC B f t hem " HV ' Kl r I v I I . about il Rfl you might find out what time tKtle S Miss Shaw goes nut and let the pro- ttM ressor i now i i im j hi n be 1 HH ing to hear," Bfl Craig stand. "Oh. yes; I forget that not you slipped under his door. You said something about porch-cllmblng and chemistry. You're not putting anv-HB anv-HB thing over on me. John"" No.' Rarry smiled H "I'll put the men on guard out- slJo wls so that thev won't kick B tip a lutnpus if they see him, like a HKltJJ modern Santa Claus, perambulatfn: I HB ,he f're escape with his white whls- kors waving In the earlv mornlns i , breeae Thai not slmplj asked I lm j to get Into the other apartments when he sure the occupants I were gone, ami seaeh for trncea of a certain chemical compound ." "Hut wed only Jut left Miss Shaw s apartment: we hadn't seen either QriSWpld'S or Ludd's then'' ralg exclaimed beneath his breath. I 'Nou don't suspect her. John?" H.nrv Smiled, but trifle dryly- liary waited until the younger aergednt'e footsteDs had died away in lbs quiet nlgbt air and then turned turn-ed to the guard. "Doane. do vou know who I am?" The patrolman nodded. "Ail right," Barry broke In. "I lake it that your orders tonight. Doaite, ar' to Keep guard outside the 'apartment here In which the woman was shot unless you hear any tus-plctOUS tus-plctOUS sCund within, or sec something some-thing which you think should be ln- estigated. "Right, sir." Doane responded. ' rry good- You're going to see and hear something suspicious within with-in five' minutes, .ind that something N going to l, ni'' I "ndersta nd ?" 'I don't sir." Doane replied. "But vhat you say goe.i. You mean you rant to have another look around the place? I've orders not to let anybody In. but as long as you're ij: icing the responsibility, the lock Is smashed and 1 can't aee every shadow shad-ow In this dark hall." Barry pushed open the broki ii door. Whicb swiiuk drunkenly on its hlngee, and entering the perfumed, littered living room, he found his way to the wall switch and turned on the opalscen: lamps. The littie writing desk was open its profusion of papers scattered on Barrj drew forth the coritcnts or tin i omp.irt mCUl . I the floor, and the drawers of an al-' I moat prlcddaa Chinese cabinet had been forced. A'pproaQhing the lat-ter, lat-ter, Barrv observed that n eonlent! were mainly raps Of drawing paper pa-per on which many figures had been' scrawled, each with a few ieft line?. an 1 picking on- no ho Whistled toflly. It was s minlture caricature. cruel in Its sharply defined charac-l Iter delineation. of pompous gool jnatured Theodore Vansittarl hus-jband hus-jband of the woman whose unfinished j portrait Flood on the ease! in the 'studio, and glancing over the others I Barry found like caricatures of sev- eiai people prominent in the social and political life of the city. ; He was tufnlng away from the ; cabinet when he noticed something which it was obvious that the de-1 ItectiVes had overlooked. a small' I compartment at the top, with a ban-! 'die formed by a ting red-gold dragon 1 j i ' a allied undisturbed. Barry tugged at the little dragon' but It wa.s immovable, the slngh gill I eye above its snout-llkq nose seem-1 ing to wink mockingly at the futtUtj of his efforls. Somo'thlng about that eye and the curious formation of Its socket gave the sergeant a sudden I Inspiration, and taking a blunt pen-j pen-j ell from his pocket he pressed sharply upon the globule of gilt as! ; upon a bell button. Instantly the dragon turned in-' ward as upon a sj.rinir th.- front ol the compartment dropped forward on I nolseleas unseen hinges and the In-i terlor of the .small, secret space was I exposed, , Mentally congratulating himself i that Toane had elected to remain outside. Barry drew forth the eon-tents eon-tents of the compartment In both hands and carried It careful!) to it small table It was evident enougn it last that somewhere beneath the hard, surface brilliancy and devilish-1 ly clever, bitter humor of the dead woman tliciv had lurked ;l humauh sentimental regard for episodes In her llf- that had vanish.,! from lie ophiM i, ,1, d pn s. ni f.,i i !,.-, ,. I,,.. neath his hands were clearlj m.-mentos m.-mentos of the past, the foolish' faded objects, meaningless to anyone else, which even woman treasure until! rm riiorx ceases to have value. A faded blue satin ribbon, iiff al d yellow at the edges held a knol of crumbling brown sprigs which mufl once have bit en flowers, a toi n - rap of real lace, discolor. ,i now too rich In quality for a graduation dress but tt might ,a.v. be, ,, a bu "i i bnrini veil or christening robe om e upon a time; a lock of short curling hair matted and red-brown, a battered gold locket vuthout initial 01 Inscription; an empty cartridge oi ti caliber, and n smafi snapshot.! illki faded and discolored and half torn across as though someone had " "' '" destroy it. and then '.bought better of It Taking up the faded snaps), ol hi Kamlned u closely. its faint Urn -showi d the figure of a tali . leudi i girl 'lad Jn a licht-colore'i . .,, Which made it stand out ag what appeared to be a mas- ,i " rj In full leaf At lvr Bldc and ' caching to a bo c her knei . is a blurred object resembling a hug. dog I. ni i he outlines were so indls-1 tlnct that its breed could nut be ietermlni .! (Oontinued in Our .Next issue) (Copyright 1922. NBA Sorvl,-,. i 'i |