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Show a I Professor Seinyonuv, the? celebrated I -i hemiat whose profound knowledge of i 'jxicology had more than onoe been placed at the disposal of the author!-I author!-I Ue0 in the eolution of crime, tugged I a his bllBhy while side-whiskers nnd I gazed at Sergeant John Harry from tho Homicide bureau. I Tho professor?! head with its t-hock I ( white haii' nodded slowly and his I frrewd eyes twinkled. 'You tell me that there is now .calmness .calm-ness upon the waters? No crime of more importance than the average 1 petty misdemeanor cngairt-s the ut- i tention of your bureau? Is that vhy J you have honored me tonight with an i unexpected but mot welcome call, and In your Chilian clothes?" I "Tou'vo got me. Professor Semi -mov.'" Tho detective laughed again frankly "There's no crime wave hreatening to break over us thut 1 know of, but a rather curious case i-ui come to our attention at head-I'jarters." head-I'jarters." Tho roll of distant but approaching L bunder broke in upon his worrit- w are going to have a storm " Wit The professbi rose from hla chair H( uitl waddling over to the winddwa H mlled down the shades. He moved rith astonishing i upidit:. and irlgi Bm T do not like to watch it approach; HH t fills me with a sense t puspenso. El - foreboding. It ls the electricity in . 9 he air, I suppose. You shall tell mc ' K9 ill about your case, but first yuii must I . Illy apartment, cay muui uiviicn ire quite on tho other side of the city, ."ii know, but hero on thla old square vvhero tho aristocruy of forgotten generations lived once upon a time I tlnd the absolutely different atmosphere atmos-phere which brinK.s relaxation " Barry followed his host through a spacious, old-fashioned dressing room and bath to the hod room ut the back Here, too, the professor paused to pull down the shades ami then opening open-ing a door at the right displayed a modern kitchenette. "Thin house, you perceive, must once have been a fumily mansion but it has now been made over, an apartment apart-ment to each floor.'- I'rofessor Semy-onov Semy-onov explained "A shop of hammered ham-mered brasses and other atrocities occupies oc-cupies the street level, a young genii gen-ii man whom I do not know has but lately arrived on the second Door. His apartment is larger than mine, how-- how-- ever, for :m extra room Is built out over the strip of garden but the extension ex-tension ends on the floor above his In B studio with a skylight It is occu-pled, occu-pled, that third floor, by a woman who paints portraits. Mrs. McGrath i ells me. The fourth apartment, thut direct- j ly below mine here, houses a crochet y I gentleman with no ear for music; he raps on his ceiling when I play my . violin at unseasonable hours. "Above mo in an attic studio lives ono of the feminine freaks peculiar to i the nt-ltrhborhood In its docliri ng (years; a. smocked, thin, wraith-like creature with bobbed huir and a pointed chin She might be .'0 or 40. md it is understood that she writes for the eccentrie little, magazines u-hlch spring up sporadically hereabout. here-about. So now, my dear sergeant, you are acquainted With hiy home pnd its surroundings. What do you think of it?" He chuckled as he Led UIO way back to the living room and Barry followed, at a loss what to reply. The professor profes-sor was known on three continents, ills scientific discoveries had made him rich; he might have lived in Boli-x Boli-x tary state in a house of his own or occupied the most expensive bach. b: ipartmeht in town. Why had ho - hoscn to hide himself away in such dingy, dreary quarters0 "You seem to be mighty comfortable, comfort-able, Professor Scuiyonov." The detective de-tective spoke as heartily as he could , and his host laughed outright 'That is the point"' ho exclaimed HH I saw that you were surprised when Kl . my warn ir simple HH and here, you BOO, I am Jusi a queer, .1.1 foreigner named Pcrrvonov, who) I minds his business and -joes his wa HS in peace; 1 am not Professor Seniyo- I H nov, the chemist, to whose laboratories H all tie- world comes. No one knows i fl of my abode except the few like your- Hl - If to whom I have given my address i H iid I am undisturbed. But now you, H must tell me about your case. Is it In H affair of poisoning?" B I Before Sergeant Barry could reply J K another flash of lightning as keen H knife thrust swept beneath the KH edges of tho window .shades and for an Bfl Instant dulled the electric lights into 89k M. n angry orange tlm- EH Professor Semyonov started, then H shrugged. HH "That was nearer, eh? I am as bad j BH' perhaps as a hysterical housemaid but does it not seem as though the very j HB atmosphere wuited for the breaking i Kn " It Is like the report of guns!" Toe; 9 professor pulled his worn gorgeously- B hue'd dressing gown more olOsely SEv a bout lom as h sank once n or 1 H his chair. "I have heard them in HH own country many years before the HjjH late war and the memory of them is H9B with me always. But let us forget the H dorm if we can. The case you men- Hi Honed; Is it murder'."' 9 "Frankly. I don't know. ' Ba.n in- ! 9 spondod. "It Is similar to that Tudor j Bjl affair at Randy Cove last summer " H A sudden. Sharp detonation burst i HH crackling upon their ears and both ' H men leaped to their feet and stood for H the fraction of a second staring at j H each other. The professor's nervou.s- i H ness hud fallen from him and he ' Hl spoke with the calmness of fatal- I BM "There was no lightning. That was Vfl not thunder, but a shot! Come'" f Tho realization of the truth had 1 .pierced the detective's consciousness even before hi host voiced it and he sprang for tho door As he flung it open. eith the rotund figure in the I a tiered dressing gown close at his heels, he hoard unmistakably the j sound of hurrying footSjtens below and plunged for the bead of the stairs. I The narrow hall was but dimly . lighted and In tho unnatural silence 'which followed the echo of the shot, their own feet as they clattered down ithe matting-covered stairs drowned out tho lesser sound which had come up to them. The hallway directly below was deserted de-serted and the door leading Into the apartment was closed and blank. Professor Pro-fessor Semyonov paused to hammer upon l but Barry hastened on downward, down-ward, hjs eyfs striving to pierce the gloom. Was that a fleeing figure he-1 low him or just his own distorted I shadow advancing before his reckless descent? On tho third floor he halted The door of this apartment also? which his host had told him was occupied by I a woman portrait painter, was closed, but from the lino of the sill streamed a peculiar, bright light like a beam j of sunshine. The professor ceased his fruitless efforts and rejoin d hi- companion com-panion just as there. came a soft thud .uid then from the street leel a violent vio-lent ringing und poundincr. "Perhaps wo were mistaken." Barry' remarked. "It might have been a fra- j cas out In the street " in- i . - i navch i to tlx i ool of the Easel ami to What Bay There. The professor shook his head decidedly de-cidedly und then pointed to tho lino of light irorri beneath the door before them. "Someone is In here, at any rate. We will knock " 'rapped smarll. waited, and rapped. I again, but there came no response, I only tho Steady gl u e of that garish light arid the banging from the en- ! i trance on the ground floor. Professor Semyonov sn rugged and turned to descend still further, but the sergeant grasped his arm. "That's only someone who heard what we did the officer on this beat, perhaps and wants to investigate. I Let him wait. Ii anything is wrong in this house it is behind that door! I'm going to assume responsibility for breaking it in, processor. Stand buck!" j The door Itself was a massive one but the lock evidently Old and flimsy .and at his third onslaught it snapped! ' with such suddenness tha lie was al- j ! most precipitated into the apartment. A single glance suffices ro BhOW tlm ; outlines of daintily carved furniture j and cushions scattered about in profusion pro-fusion by an obviously feminine hand but the room was empty and its oniy illumination was that strange ray of counterfeit sunlight which streamed through an opened door in tho opposite op-posite wall, a door which led evidently, evident-ly, to that studio built out over the strip of garden of which tho professor j hud spoken. The still, heated air was heavy with a subtle, cloying perfume but mingled with, it was a harsh acrid odor that j war, not new to the detective and he sprang across to the doorway of the studio ami then paused. Pacing him upon a large easel was tho portrait of a woman in a gray evening eve-ning gown poised 011 tho third step of a staircase with one slippered foot slightly advanced and a hand of startling start-ling whiteness upon which a huge oih-rald oih-rald blazed rested on the dark, polished pol-ished wood of the b.ilutt'ade. The painting was only half finished, hut it was indicated in broad splashes of COl-or COl-or and with the bold, sweeping lines of the cartoonist which rendered the likeness unmlstalcable io anyone familiar fam-iliar wifih the lineaments of those lu j the city'n higlo--! society. All this Barry took in with one darting glance and then his eyes traveled trav-eled to the foot ot tlie casc.1 and what lay there. It was the huddled body of a woman with masses of lawny hair scarcely dishevelled by her fall and spreading stain upon the breast of her paint-daubed smock. Kneeling bosldo t: he gently raised the head, which rolled backward In his hands and the curiously long, narrow. nar-row. Itall-upened iY's stan d up suddenly sud-denly into his with -a dull, unwinking gaze. "Dead!' the professor announced beside him. "She was nt work when t'.ie shot pierced her breast. See. her thumb is stf thrust through the palette and the maulstick and brush have but just tallon from her hands." (Continued In Our Next Issue.) fSopyrlgbt. 1922. NBA Service.! |