Show ap ti OF fp THE y jea jia afi asas t X BY ELIZABETH JORDAN 0 D appleton Appl ton century co inc service I 1 SYNOPSIS young rex hale calls on casper kneeland friend of his father in new york and finds him proudly successful but strangely strang sly preoccupied he tells hale of of his cifes death while insane invites him tor for the summer to halcyon camp his home on long island and promises him he will be useful as his secretary there hale is joined at lunch by fred ainsworth an unpopular college mate also at A ral alcyon cyon who leaves him with a feeling of unpleasant mystery he is at rt at the train by mrs wilbur nash lm m he questions about the menage ai j jl experiences a disturbing premonition on the premonition is barely eased by the comfortable hospitality of hosanna Kne elands elderly sister and her friend ruth forbes middle aged sophisticate in his room hale finds a soiled paper printed this plase dangerous danl erous hale meets the rest of the strange group dr craig psychiatrist friend of bert kneeland nervous young son of casper and beautiful but moody joan kneeland niece of the house ainsworth drops in at his room questions him about his reactions and tells him of berts hopeless love tor for his heiress cousin and that mrs forbes is down and nd out the whole group seem to get on n each others nerves later hale sees hosanna furtively meeting a shabby man in the woods the maid tells of the recent poisoning of a cat and dog mrs nash suggests that ainsworth has S some ome hold on them returning from a wim swim hale finds in his room a clever sketch of skull and crossbones kneeland arrives for the weekend week end also curious about hales reactions and asks him to be his substitute host a life of the party and meanwhile try to solve the mystery of the behavior of them all tyvr t n CHAPTER tv continued 9 when the games ended bert and hale went upstairs together hale had expected to say a brisk goodnight at the door of his room when he realized that young kneeland was lingering on the threshold as if he had something to say he changed his mind A tete a tete with the son of the house in this new mood of his might reveal something worth knowing come in and have a cigarette he invited and kneland was across the threshold before he had finished the sentence once there however his self consciousness returned he was very fidgety and bungled simple actions like the lighting of his cigarette his hand shook as he struck a second match hale observed this and made an inward comment the boys nerves are shot to pieces but when the two men were comfortably seated in easy chairs by an open window facing the sea kneeland relaxed 1 I dont intend to keep you very long he began apologetically 1 I just want to say now ive a chance to do it that well that I 1 think your being here for this summer is a corking idea im strong for it thanks im glad you feel that way II if you dont mind telling me rex added with a grin id be glad to know why you do kneeland was taken aback by the directness of the question he flushed and stammered why the usual reasons I 1 sup pose fit in and all that sort ol of thing he said uneasily he added with more assurance 1 I think you can be very helpful to dad I 1 guess you can see that im a total loss to him so far hale made a perfect smoke ring in what way can I 1 help your fat faer t aper he asked quietly kneeland d stared at him 1 I dont know on dad dads s mind he said slowly he mentioned the matter to me except to say be here this summer and handle his home mail at a guess id say he likes you and thinks brighten us up god knows we need brightening his voice sharpened and rose as he went on and his mask slipped aside a trifle we seem to be getting 9 et horribly on one an others nerves he jerked out craig cant talk of anything but diseased brains im sorry now I 1 asked him here ainsworth rides dad as it he were a cowboy on a bucking broncho and dad acts as it if he were the broncho he kick the bounder off the premises and I 1 cant imagine why basked ea him he shut me up in you kicked craig off the premises ure either hali hale said aid gently tie he offered nis guest a tresh cigarette and lit another for himself herberts mask settled into place again th a ts a different matter he said stiffly craigs my best pat pal weve been together pretty constantly the last five years its been mighty decent of him to bother with a bonehead like me but I 1 had a whole summer of him before and ohe he stopped what does he talk of when youre alone with him hale asked casually young Kne elands voice dropped the same thing but more of it he tells me about his damned experiments peri ments and his clinic cases he says he knows im interested in everything ery thing that concerns him he says he has no one else to talk to and I 1 guess a fact hes a lonely chap I 1 suppose why he puts up with me lie he actually asked me to sit in his laboratory and watch him carve up his ca davers after one go of that I 1 drew the line right there bert shuddered now I 1 keep pretty much to myself in the daytime I 1 hustle bustle off alone in my boat or car I 1 have to hear all about his work at night though youve heard his gay prattle at dinner he comes to my room when we go upstairs and talks his head off he knows I 1 dont like it im bored stiff by it in fact I 1 hate it but well hes frightfully tactless you dont mean he has cadavers cadavero ca davers here rex asked in amazement kneeland looked at him uncertainly he appeared to fear that he had said too much it was equally clear however that he was finding a certain satisfaction in pouring out these revelations not whole ones he muttered at last bits pickled in a small vat he has up in his laboratory he gets the things from his hospital brains mostly theres no secret about it he hastened to add the vat is always fastened with a combination lock when he there and the servants have orders to keep out of the room he cleans it himself he considers every minute lost when he experimenting or talking about his cases craig thinks hes on the verge of a big discovery I 1 guess he is hes so infernally fer nally clever but I 1 wish to god hed stop talking about it he had got back to his grievance and rex nodded on the face of it U the thing was simple enough A case of scientific passion selfishness and utter self absorption hale was looking below the face of it and his own face grew grave his reply was still casual craig is a sell self centered type he said he has lived and worked alone so long that he has lost his sense of proportion we had a man at huelva who was like that the rest of us fled bed from him as if he had been a cholera germ he talked on making an amus ing story of the experience with the man at huelva herbert brightened hale had got what he be wanted he kept the conversation on an impersonal plane during the rest of the call and kneeland responded eagerly he stayed an hour longer evidently unwilling to leave at last he glanced at his wrist watch and jumped up with an apology awfully sorry he said 1 had no idea how late its been a bully t talk alk hale we went nt with him to the door and paused there with his hand on the knob if I 1 were you he suggested cheerfully 1 I let craig make any more night visits id lock the door and let him think I 1 was asleep herbert shook his brown head 1 I tried that a few times he admitted he like it he was funny about it surprised and awfully hurt he says it helps him to thresh things out with me he says it clears his brain and that sort of thing AU ALI right let him clear his bis brain some other way hale retorted 1 I think he needs some mental housecleaning house cleaning just lock yourself in and snore when he raps after a few times he may get the idea that you want some sleep youve got to have it I 1 dc dont wt believe id sleep at all if he spent many of the night hours describing his experiments to me 1 I 1 dont sleep much herbert confessed he added in a relieved tone 1 I think ill take your advice anyway ill try it dont mind if he like it hale laughed I twi be good for him to learn that he cant have everything he likes hes being abominably selfish about this he stood by his open door tor for a moment looking after young knee lands disappearing figure he had learned through the casual talk around hire him since his arrival that the son of the house slept at the rear end of the upper hall next to his fathers room and bath and on the same side as hales room beyond the elder Kne elands room was joans room this was directly opposite that in which craig made himself comfortable with ainsworth as his next door neighbor mrs spencer forbes and miss hosanna had too rooms and a connecting bathroom at the front end of the hall directly across from hales quarters there were also two guest rooms on the third floor where craig had his laboratory these of course were now unoccupied hale locked his door and strolled toward his writing table he felt very wideawake wide awake he decided to write a letter or two to quiet his nerves before trying to sleep he was not certain that young knee lands confidence and disingenuousness were entirely sincere the lad would bear watching he reached the writing table pulled out his chair and stopped short he had been pleased by the tables sensible location next to the rear window and by the generous supply of stationery its numerous drawers contained now directly under his eyes one of its sheets of letter paper lay before him it was white with the words halcyon camp embossed across the top indars green the post office address and telephone number of the camp were engraved in the right hand corner it was not these things at which hale looked he had seen them before the paper was a sheet from his own supply but directly in its iti center erect and malignant was a very clever pen and ink sketch of a cobra coiled to strike below it four printed words straggled down the side of the page WHY WATE FOR this time haie did not grin over the message lie he looked at it thoughtfully for a long moment then he impaled it on a pin and picked it up he dropped it into an envelope took a bill case from an inside pocket put the envelope into it and restored the case to the pocket he undressed slowly and deliberately libera tely he had considerable thinking to do he decided to do it in bed in the darkness returning from the bathroom in his hajam pajamas as and moving toward his bed he again stopped short with a muffled exclamation something was pressing against his feet he looked down he had turned out all the lights save the one bulb bub on the reading lamp over his bed by its it was a large and really beautiful black cat glow however he distinctly saw his visitor it was a large and rea really lly beautiful black cat with green eyes and a green ribbon around its neck the ribbon ended in a smart bow hale stared down at the animal wondering how it had got into his room it might have slipped past him unnoticed when he opened the door to speed herbert on his way dont you know this a safe house for animals he asked it theres a vivisectionist experimenting on the top floor just the same ill have to put you out I 1 cant have you prowling around here au all night on second thought he picked up the purring creature and then crossed to the bell and rang it it was after midnight but he had seen that tho the lower hall was still lit when herbert left banks must be somewhere around he fie would make an effort to put the cat into banks care banks was around he responded to the bell almost at once his impassive face brightened when he saw the cat 1 I just discovered this visitor hale explained 1 I fancy ashes been asleep under the bed thank you sir banks took the animal which accepted the change philosophically though with a lingering backward glance at her host jane will be relieved sir he added ashes been in quite a state about the cat all evening its her cat yes sir mrs wilbur nash sent it over this morning as a present jane was pleased but ashes a little overanxious seeing nap hap bened to the other pets her name banks added stroking the cats head is daisy why should mrs nash give jane a cat hale asked curiously Is jane an old employee of hers no sir janes sister ellen worked for mrs nash tor for five years then one day ellen fell down the cellar steps in mrs nases town house bouse and broke her neck it was a most unusual occurrence sir it got into the newspapers it made a strong bond between mrs nash and jane mrs nash banks added solemnly paid all the funeral expenses and gives jane cats besides I 1 see A generous nature hale threw open the door put daisy to bed and seek your own repose he invited for a moment he watched banks sedate progress down the hall As he stood i there he heard the sound of light tapping at the far end of the corridor he glanced along the pat passage craig stood at Hc herberts door tapping on it gently but persistently hale returned to his room slipped on his dressing gown and strolled out of the room and down the hall craig was still at herberts door he was no longer tapping he was merely waiting hale approached him with a winning smile anything I 1 can do he asked cheerfully no thanks I 1 merely wanted a word with bert craig stared at him bleakly and without moving 1 I think hes sound asleep hale suggested 1 I hope so I 1 thought he looked ill III tonight you see he added glancing at his wrist watch its pretty late its twenty mini min i utes to one I 1 thought you might be sick when I 1 heard you tapping can I 1 offer you a drink or anything no thanks im turning in myself good night the look that went with the words was not a benediction hale responded to it with a friendly nod he heard craigs bedroom door close with a snap as he returned to his own room TO BE CONTINUED |