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Show ISTEPonthoSTAIRS 4 llHW I hlgix uniE TODAV. B Zs The- report of u revolver. followed I by hurrying footsteps on the stairs, I causes Detective Barry and his friend. Professor BefaiyonoV, to rush from the J better's rooms on the fifth floor of a I New York apart merit housp. They 1 diCOVer that boiulifi.l Miriam Vane, II society portrait painter, ha been I murdered in her studio apartment on I the third floor Ladd. young artist OH the MOOnd floor, Grlswold, a bache-I bache-I lor on the fourth, and Patricia Shaw, ' a writer on tho sixth, deny bavins: I heard the shot. Qrlstrold states that II lidd had been friendly with Miss I Yape. This. Ladd denies, (.o ON WITH THE STORl . Well," Oordon Ladd moistened his lips and spoke slow lv. weighing each word with care. "I lt myself In at the entrance with my house key and had reached the door of my apart -L ment outside here when gla nclng up the stairs 1 caught a glimpse of Mrs. Vane in the hall above. Just outside i her own door As 1 had not pcen her In several days 1 went half-way un tho stair- ,4C?' and greeted her, with tho half-formed intention of paying her a short call if It were not too late, hUl she said thai she was too busy and must work upon a portrait, or words to that effect, ef-fect, so I bade her 'goodnight' and coming back to m) own apartment let myself In and clobed tho door. It seemed almost tho next moment, as I have stated, that the commotion rose, and as no one else seemed llke-I llke-I ly to reply to that banging on the en trance door I went down and admitted admit-ted the policeman. We. heard olcs and saw lights coming ' from Mrs. Vane's apartment and went up together, to-gether, but 1 had heard no shot and of course had no suspicion of the truth. That is why it floored me so when when I saw the body." it was only at the conclusion of his long explanation that the young man faltered and Into his BJ es there came again that switt. tie. ting look of sheet, stark honor which Barry had noted earlier, when he had collapsed at the discovery of the murder. Mr. Ludd," he recommenced .suavely. "How was Mrs. Vane dressed When vou saw her in tho landing above ' The same as when her body was found?" "Of course!" Tho artist stared. "Did you see anyone else In the hallways hall-ways or on the stairs, cither above or below ?" "No one." Tho reply was decisive but the pause before it came was a fraction LOO long and Barry seized upon up-on It. Then, Mr. Itdd, what in your estimation es-timation was the reason for .Mrs Vane's presence out there in the public pub-lic hall .' Did she offer any explana-?W explana-?W lion?" BJ 'Certainly not. and I thought noth- f lng of it!" Ladd replied hotly. "It Is I Bf a ridiculously trivial notion to quibble over! There might have been hun- dred unimportant reasons." "There might have been a hundred m reasons, Mr. Ladd!" Again there : came that maddening repetition of his ft name which had so often helped in I breaking a stubborn witness under the f third degree. "But in this case there r was only one, and you know it! .I i ; Vane was cither receiving or ejecting a guest, and if you saw no onu else, .- you yourself must have been that guest! w. havi purposely lntor.ro- fated the other tenants of the house i before approaching you and we have . -"learned more than yog think! The iv saying that walls have i its If true also A I of ceilings " 'M j He paused significantly while Ser- geant Oral;,- siaied at linn in gi nuine MS surprise, but the shot round its m h. WWt Leaping to hla feet, with hll hand- some faco darkened and distorted In a paroxysm of roge. lidd cried. gmW "So that's what you two have been trying to get at, is It? That miscrablo ( wretch Qrlswold hns noted my ac- sMm QUalntanceshlp with Mrs. Vane and deliberately tried to blacken her char-cmm char-cmm acter in your eyes! I admit that I was in love with her, all our world In Paris as well as here will tell you of my long attempt to make her my wife, H but they will also tell you thul she has laughed at my love for her. as she jfl I has at that of all others. I would have S said nothing, but now mat ho has 9 spoken, ask him what claim ho has upon hei, gentlemen, for I Hod to you! 9 I did .see someone upon tho stalrsl it was he whom I saw leaving her apart-H apart-H ment a moment before I entered my own and the shot was rired which V must have ended her life'" jjl Sergeant Barry felt that the mo- 9 ment was too tense arid the possible 31 issue too Important to (five his col- 1 1 league an Opportunity to Interrupt. F Without a glaitco at Craig he de mand-Jmh mand-Jmh -d of ih. aimosl distraught youni jf : 1st before him; 'Mm "Thul being the coee, Mr. Ladd, tell us the truth of what happened last V night! Why did you go halfway up U tho flight of Blalrs leading to Mrs jpi Vane's apartment if you saw her in thl hall talking to a neighbor whom you upparently dislike?" jH "Mrs. Vane seemed bantering lier depurtlng guest In her usual gay man-I. man-I. ner, and he was glowering ut her la a J resentful fashloa. The moment he "ad disappeared up the stairs and be- fore Mrs. Vane had had an opportun-Bt opportun-Bt ' lty to turn and re-enter her ow n apart ment I called to her. and wont up lo her." His tone had been more and WM more uncertain and now he hurried on: "I begged for five minutes of her time, but she snubbed me laughingly and I returned here." There was silence for a moment while Segeant Craig made no effort to enter the examination, and Barry a eyed the young man before them very gravely. At length the more experienced exper-ienced official spoke: Mr ladd, you haTc not told us all of the truth: What happened between be-tween those two on the stairs which made you rush up to Mrs Vane only in I ii' i i imi!'-. '1 Wer.' cm i iniUerl '.' Were you not with her In her studio, when tho deadly shot was fired T" Ai the unexpected accusation the young man shrank back, then sprang from his chair. ' This is what you In your police Bis tig call a 'frame-up.' ittl t 11 ' You've xi to ban? the tho murder on soine-oni soine-oni I BUppOSO, and so I am to be the goat ?" "By no mfniif." Barry also had risen ris-en "You must realise the strong circumstantial cir-cumstantial case against you. but I do not think you are guilty." Barry continued QUiOtl "Do vou know vvhv" Because ever since this interrogation was started, in spite of the damaging admissions ; ou made against yourself you have deliberate! equivocated and evaded and I think 1 know the reason. ' Barry's tone softened and deepened. "I believe you did care for Mrs Vane, honornblv and sincerely arc) it is for that very feet that I ask you to tell us the truth now " l-'or an Instant the youn; mun hesitated, hesi-tated, and then sinking; once more ln-I ln-I to his chair he burled his face In his hands. At last Gordon Ladd raised his head, snd upon his white, set face there was written implacable resolve "Ton win, Sergeant Barry I I would die myself before I would willingly rako up anything; against the memory of the woman I loVed( even though she had played mercilessly with me. only tn turn me down irrevocably In the end. but there s some mystery about this whole thing that I don't under un-der stand, and It may In a way have I "Mr. l-add. nU Have Not fold Is All ttlO Truth " some bearing upon the manner of her death. No breath of scandal has ever touched her. Novei theless. she must have had some source of income, far her studio was luxurious almost palatial compared to this and her war work and fits of idleness whioh She indulged In later were alike un-j remunerative. " His voice broke anil Fergeani P.nrry waited a moment before ask-IrJg ask-IrJg 'Why did Mrs. Yatn- return 1o America last auiuninf" Gordon Ladd shrugged. A whim of hers, wo all though:; we would not have been surprised had she announced her depnrture for China. There was nothing nothing definite between us two. you know. I was simply one of many who worn permitted to adore her at a distance. The rest forgot, but I didn't, 1 fol-tewed fol-tewed her to New York, and when I found that success had crowned her bizarre talents and yet she waslk -lng In this this hovel, I was amasod beyond words! In the artistic colony In Paris false conventions are unknown un-known and when I discovered that this studio here was vacant I took It Just so that I might be near her, even 'hough she still laughed at my wooing. Then then 1 began to no-fa no-fa - t his man fjrlswold " His voice had hardened perceptibly on ihe Inst words and Barry remarked re-marked "If the report we get on him tallies with his own account of himself, he Is a highly respectable member of society." "Oh, i know all about him1 Ail anybody knows, f mean. I've looked him up." Budd cried defiantly. "What I want to know is this why-Is why-Is he living hidden away in a cheap makeshift studio building like this, a man with ail his money? Why was she, a brilliant artistic success, content oven for a day In such surroundings sur-roundings after tho luxury which had always been hers? Why did he reputedly n confirmed woman j hater cajl upon her, and why did she even permit or tolerate his acquaintance, ac-quaintance, she who was accustomed abroad to the society of notabla men ?" "Why did you not ask her?" "I did, but she always put me Off; told me h- was an American type that she hud almost forgoUen and that he amused her. A week ago I couldn't stand it any longer I proposed pro-posed to her i or th- lust time, and WhOn oho laughed at mo as usual I rnuiit have lost my head and gnno a bit too far for she told me seriously at last that she would never ue rnv wife." Gordon ladd paused his cloochd h.mds tightening until tho knuckles showed white. ' I kept away from her after th.it until tonight, when I came In as I told you and oaw her bidding bint 'good-night' on the lindlng above. There's no !ov lost between them, T could sweor to that' She was ei -lng at him. and if ovr hatred looked out of a man's eyes, it looked out of his. and yet somehow the sight drov e me w lid ' it ontlnuofl in Our Monday's Issue) (Copyright. 1922, NEA Servli r n |