6 THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE BKmahV ❖ ROBERTS ❖ RINE nmmvons BY K-yWrfr*^ CTRRA/CMR NOT FLY OMAS -IUMHL'CO. T CHAPTER I. I Take a Country House. This Is the story of how a middle aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous. For 20 years I had been perfectly com fortable; for 20 years I had had the window-boxes filled in the spring, the carpets lifted, the awnings put up and the furniture covered with brown linen; for as many summers I had said good-by to my friends, and, after watching their perspiring liegira, had settled down to a delicious quiet in town, where the mail comes three times a day, and the water supply does not depend on a tank on the roof. And then —the madness seized me. When I look back over the months I spent in Sunnyside, I wonder that I survived at all. As it is, I show the wear and tear of my harrowing ex periences. I have turned very gray — Liddy reminded me of it only yester day by saying that a little bluing in the rinse water would make my hair silvery instead of a yellow white. I hate to be reminded of unpleasant things and I snapped her off. "No," I said sharply, "I'm not going to use bluing at my time of life, or starch, either." Liddy's nerves are gone, she says, since that awful summer, but she has enough left, goodness knows! And when she begins togo around with a lump in her throat, all I have to do is to threaten to return to Sunnyside, and she is frightened into a semblance of cheerfulness —from which you may judge that the summer there was any thing but a success. The newspaper accounts have been so garbled and incomplete—one of them mentioned me but once, and then only as the tenant at the time the thing happened—that I feel it my due to tell what 1 know. Mr. Jamie son, the detective, said himself he could never have done without me, although he gave me little enough j credit, in print. I shall have togo back several years—l 3, to be exact —to start my story. At that time my brother died, leaving me his two children. Halsey was 11 then and Gertrude was seven. When Halsey had finished his elec trical coursts and Gertrude her board lig school both came home to stay. The winter Gertrude came out was nothing but a succession of sitting up late at night to bring her home from things, taking her to the dressmakers b tween naps the next day, and dis couraging ineligible youths with either more money than brains or more brains than money. Ry spring I was euitc tractable. So when Halsey sug gested camping in the Adirondacks and Gertrude wanted Rar Harbor, wo compromised on a good country house with links near, within motor dis tance of town and telephone distance of the doctor. That was how we went to Sunnyside. We went out to inspect the property, and it seemed to deserve its name. Its cheerful appearance gave no indi cation whatever of anything out of the ordinary. Only one thing seemed unusual to me: The housekeeper, who had been left in charge, had moved from the house to the gardener's lodge a few days before. As the lodge was far enough away from the house, it seemed to me that either lire or thieves could complete their work of destruction undisturbed. The proper ty was an extensive one; the house on the top of a hill, which sloped away in great stretches of green lawn and clipped hedges, to the road, and across the valley, perhaps a couple of miles away, was the Greenwood Clubhouse Gertrude nnd Halsey were infatuated. The property was owned by Raul Armstrong, the president of the Traders' bank, who at the time we took the house was In the west with his wife and daughter, and a l)r. Walker, the Armstrong family phy sician. Halsey knew Louise Arm strong—had been rather atti ntlvo to her the winter before, but as Halsey Mas always attentive to somebody, I hail not thought of It seriously, a|. though she was a charming girl. I knew of Mr. Armstrong only through his connection with the bank, wb»r« the children money was tart ly In vested, and through an ugly story about the son. Arnold Armstrong, who was reported to have forged his fa ther's nnine for a eon-IderabK amount to some bank paper. However, the story had had no Interest for me. I cleared llals y and Gertrude away to a house party, and moved out to gunnysldi the flit or .]»>•. The llrst night parsed quietly enough. I hnvi alwa) * been grateful for ti it <>n night' < |• a> It [.how* what the country iright !»• und< r fa vorabh clretiiiistuno *. Nev< r alter tl.at nigbt did I put my h< ,t : , 0 pillow with any ftssuranct how lorn; It would be there; or on my shoulder* for that matti i On the following niornltiK IJddy and .Mrs lUlaton. my < •. ti hi>>»,->« keep. i, hud i' .lift I • nee of o| i II u,i Ah Ralston left on the II train lust aft. r lunctioon, lb ih it b..Uer, * i tale u ■ - . B°' Dsivrvwr fcjtn Coc nuti Dm way jj'f'" ' I." H j | r£f i-• • •'r l—r t - ® 3 »- —-p I j 112t 1 " : I A I t--, O a DRAWING ROOM fiUxari | I | L X J Rooh # jj R CONttPVATGirv Tcrjlacl I ■—sH , « IW * B pi 1 ' J |j FIRST FLOOD. PLJU» unexpectedly with a pain in his right side, much worse when I was within hearing distance, and by afternoon he was started cityward. That night the cook's sister had a baby—the cook, seeing indecision in my face, made it twins on second thought—and, to be short, by noon the next day the house hold staff was down to Llddy and myself. And this in a house with 22 rooms and five baths! Liddy wanted togo back to the city at once, but the milkboy said that Thomas Johnson, th' - Armstrongs' colored butler, was wJrking as a waiter at the Greenwood club and might come back. I have the usual scruples about coercing people's serv ants away, but few of us have any conscience regarding institutions or corporations—witness the way we beat railroads and street car compan ies when we can—so I called up the club, and about eight o'clock Thomas Johnson came to see me. Poor Thomas! Well, it ended by my engaging Thomas on the spot, at outrageous wages, and with permission to sleep in the gardener's lodge, empty since the house was rented. The old man —he was white-haired and a little stooped, but with an immense idea of his personal dignity—gave me his reasons hesitatingly. "I ain't sayin' nothing', Mis' Innes," he said, his hand on the door-knob, "but there's been goin's-on here this las' few months as ain't natchal. 'Tain't one thing an' 'taint another—it's jest a door squealin' here, an' a winder That Completed Our Demoralization. fiu. closing' there, but when doors nn' windon gets to cuttln' up capers and there's nobody nigh 'em, it's time Thomas Johnson sleeps somewhat's else." I,lildy, who seemed to be never more than ten feet away from me that night, and wan afraid of her shadow in that (treat barn of a place, screamed a littlo, and turned a yellow green. Hut I am not eusily alarmed. Ii was entirely in vain I represented lo Thomas that wo wore alone, and that he would have to stay In the hou <• that night. He was politely Arm, but lie would come over early the next morning, ami if I gav« him a Ki y, he would tome in time to get some sort of breakfast. I stood ou the huge veranda and watched him shuttle along down the shadowy drive with mlngb d fi>«|la|i irritation at hi t cowardice and thaiikfulm i at get ting lit iu at all I ain not ashamed to say thai 1 double-locked the ball door when I went In "You can lock up the r« st of the hou ■ and goto bed, Kiddy," I said severely, "You gi*«' nio tl»« rr«tpi standing there. A woman of your an** out lit to have In Iter aetise '* It ttsual ; ly braci s l.ldd. to mention h< r age; be owiih to l» which Is absurd ller mother cooked lor lay gatidfalher, uiid Kiddy nn t be at least as old as I, lltit that night she refu« d to J brace "You're not going t" ask uiv to luck CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JULY 21, 1910. up, Miss Rachel!" she quavered. "Why, there's a dozen French win dows in the drawing room and the bil liard room wing, and every one opens on a porch. And Mary Anne said that last night there was a man standing by the stable when she locked the kitchen door." "Mary Anne was a fool," I said sternly. "If there had been a man there she would have had him in the kitchen and been feeding him what was left from dinner, inside of an hour, from force of habit. Now don't be ridiculous. Lock up the house and go to bed. lam going to read." But Liddy set her lips tight and stood still. "I'm not going to bed," she said. "I am going to pack up, and to-morrow I am going to leave." "You'll do nothing of the sort," I snapped. Llddy and I often desire to part company, but never at the same time. "If you are afraid, I will go with you, but for goodness' sake don't try to hide behind me." The house was a typical summer 1 residence on an extensive scale. Wherever possible, on the first floor, the architect had done away with par -1 titions, using arches and columns in stead. The effect was cool and spaci -1 ous, but scarcely cozy. As Liddy and I went from one window to another, our voices echoed back at us uncom . fortably. There was plenty of light— the electric plant down in the village supplied us —but there were long vis tas of polished floor, and mirrors which reflected us from unexpected | corners, until I felt some of Llddy's foolishness communicate lUolf to me. 'l'he house was very long, a rectan . g!e In general form, with the main en trance in the center of the long side. The brick-paved entry opened Into u J short hall, to the right of which, sepa rated only by a row of pillars, was a huge living room. Ileyond that wan | tin- drawing room, and in the end the I billiard room. Off the billiard room, l in the extreme right wing, was a di n, nr cnrdrooiu, with a small hall open ing on the east veranda, ami from ' there w< nt up a narrow circular xtuli ! ease. Uddy and I got as far as the card room and turned on all the lights. 1 tried the small entry door there, which opened on the veranda, and e»- ntulm d ih<- window s I w rything waa s« ure, uitd l.lddy, a little hss ner % ous nuw, had just isiluted out to mu tin- disgraceful dusty condition of tin ! hardwood ttoor, when suddenly the 1 lights went out. \V>< walt< d a mo ment; I think l.lddy was stunned with friKht or he would hnvu screamed And then I clulch> d her by the arm and point) >1 to ou<> oi the window* opening on the porch The sudden change threw the window lutu relief, an oblong of grayish light, and showed us a figure standing close, peering In As I looked It darted »< ru** tie vi i anda and out of sight iu th« ilarkuv.»s. CHAPTER 11. A Link Cuff-Button. Liddy's knees seemed to give away under her. Without a sound she sank down, leaving me staring at the win dow in petrified amazement. Liddy began to moan under her breath, and in my excitement I reached down and shook her. "Stop it," I whispered. "It's only a woman—maybe a maid of the Arm strongs'. Get up and help me find the door." She groaned again. "Very well," I said, "then I'll have to leave you here. I'm going." She moved at that, and, holding to my sleeve, we felt our way, with nu merous collisions, to the billiard-room, and from there to the drawing-rooin. The lights came on then, and, with the long French windows unshuttered, I had a creepy feeling that each one sheltered a peering face. In fact, in the light of what happened afterward, I am pretty certain we were under surveillance during the entire ghostly evening. We hurried over the rest of the locking-up and got upstairs as quickly as we could. I left the lights all on, and our footsteps echoed ca vernously. Liddy had a stiff neck the next morning, from looking back over her shoulder, and she refused togo to bed. "Let me stay in your dressing room. Miss Rachel," she begged. "If you don't I'll sit in the hall outside the door. I'm not going to be murdered with my eyes shut." It was 11 o'clock when I finally pre pared for bed. In spite of my assump tion of indifference, I locked the door into the hall, and finding the tran som did not catch, I put a chair cau tiously before the door —it was not necessary to rouse Liddy—and climb ing up put on the ledge of the tran som a small dressing-mirror, so that any movement of the frame would send it crashing down. Then, secure in my precautions I wont to bed. I did not goto sleep at once. Liddy disturbed me just as I was growing drowsy, by coming in and peering un der the bed. She was afraid to speak, however, because of her previous snubbing, and went back, stopping in the doorway to sigh dismally. Somewhere down-stairs a clock with a chime sang away the hours — eleven-thfrty, forty-five, twelve. And then the lights went out to stay. Th<» Casanova Electric Company shuts up shop and goes home to bed at mid night: when one has a party, I be lieve it is customary to fee the com pany, which will drink hot coffee and keep awake a couple of hours longer. I tut the lights were gone for good that night. Liddy had gone to sleep, as I knew she would. She was a very unreliable person: always awake and ready to talk when she wasn't wanted and do/.ing off to sleep when she was I called her once or twice, the only re sult being an explosive snoro that threatened her very windpipe—then 1 got up and lighted a bedroom candle. My bedroom and dressing room were above the big living room on the first floor. On the second floor a long corridor r?n the length of the house, with rooms opening from both sides. In the wings were small cor ridors crossing the main one—the plan was simplicity Itself. And just as 1 got back into bed, 1 heard a sound from the east wing, apparently, that made me stop, frozen, with one bedroom slipper half off, and listen. It was a rattling metallic sound, and It reverberated along the empty halls like the crash of doom. It was for all the world as If something heavy, per haps a piece of steel, had rolled clat tering and jangling down the hard wood stairs leading to the card-room. In the silence that followed Liddy stirred and snored again. 1 was ex asperated; tirst sue kept me awake by silly alarms, then when she was needed she slept like Joe Ji'ffersoli, or Hip they are always tin- sumo to me. ! | went In and aroused her, und I give I her credit for being wide uwake the minute I spoke. "Get up." I said, "If you don't want to be murdered In your bed " "Where? How?" she yelled voclfer ; oiiHly, and jumped up. "There's somebody In the house," I said. "(Set up. We'll have togo to the telephone." "Not out In the hall!" she gasped[ "Oh. Ml.-s Itachel, not out lu the hall!" tryliiK to hold me back. Hut I am a laiti" woman and l.lddy Is small We K«u to the door, somehow, und I.ldd) In Id a brass andiron, whleli It was ull shi could do to lift, lot alone brain anybody with I listened, and, Item ing iiothliiK, opei»« il lh«« door a little and peered Into the hull. Il was a black void, rull of terrible nugges lion, and my candle only enaphusUed tie gloom, l.lddy tnpuftled and «lr« * Hie bark an it In. »lnl a* the door slammed, ihe mirror I had put 011 tli« transom ctitue duwn and hit h< r ou the head That completed »ur d»- mornlUntlon It was some Him befor* attack* d Irom lo hlnd by a burglar, und * hen she lotilid the intrrei smashed on the floor she wasn't iwnl bolt. 1 fro in. I'UMtIMUIiUI INCOMPETENT. 't. if '' Mrs. Hare—Old Snail got his boy a position last week and he only held it one day. Mr. Hare —What was it? Mrs. Hare—A messenger boy. A Hibernian Verdict. A New Yorker is the happy employ er of an aged Irishman, who grows eloquent over the woes of the Em erald isle. Said the boss: "Pat, the king of England is dead." The old man was silent for a mo ment. Then he took off his hat. "Well," he said slowly, "as a man he was a fine bit of a boy. As Eng lishmen go, he was as good as yez can make them. As a king, there was nobody on earth as could beat him. But still, I'll keep me eye on George." Your Wife's Picture. A man ought to be ashamed to live so that his wife is compelled to look as she does at housecleaning time. He'll allow her to buy cheap old yellow soap right along and take twice as long for her housework and washing, when Easy Task soap will save time, health and money for her. A man wouldn't tol erate old-fashioned methods in his place of business for a minute. If your wife would use Easy Task soap all the time there wouldn't be a tenth of the dirt to get rid of at housecleaning time. For tho Dog's Sake. "Where are you going for your sum mer vacation this year?" asked Mrs, Gotrox. "O, dear, I've not made up my mind yet," sighed Mrs. Rich wearily. "I want to find some quiet, restful spqt, where my dear little French poodle can get plenty of fresh air." Decidedly So. Hewitt—Are you sweet on that girl? Jewett —Sweet on her? The sugar trust isn't in it. A rich man's children seem to think it is up to them to make a noise in the world. Ennui is the price we pay for knowl edge. Mm. Win slow*« Soothing Syrup. For children teething. w»ft«*ns 1 M«* KUHI>. nunoosln fLimuiaiiou.allay* p*in,euro® wind colic. &cu u>iu«. It is a wise worm that turns no oftener than he has to. WESTE^^DA What Prof. Shaw, tha Wall-Known Afrl< cutUirlat, Saya About Its ——— rulno^cnt lli» V-V«iU>rn |Dw?SaJ jg A th« lut- rnikii >UM! U uu.t --y lui • n ul il mt»* ■ I •« r. tr h«EQ**» to tuko Up till* Uflit" K»*rlf 70,000 Americans > Tj if r hoinwi ■i 1" %%•*•!•*«• «ml<» il.u t ••nr. T%r i: >*A9 luou |ho.lu< ««I Mt»otiit-r li*i'£o •A 112 1 ' cr«n» «»f w imu 111111 «# j lit mlilltloii it. %% lil« li il>«* i nitio u* TiV 1 i'i|M«ri« nut mi liiHiiiMM** I•••*». iv*'' -jJH < •Ulu ru •»*«»'. tU*r>l «• ft'; 112 truu'itf ml rri '.n Kn 11 . 5? ► ■ • , "yiiua wliO«ti . . .1 -V. il. H M- WIU, * MS "dRS> V J I-*" Bu" Jinf Tall US, Ohio SI 'I —II. ir«-l >..||| u PROOF i¥Se3ff>mntfF \V«» tell you ahouttniw ynn'll 112 I nft r Lukiutf a i A '< aTU T Uutl milium uf Uiv, U4O und in aU 1! 11- li« t thm i I iik— 'JfOll fct *.'/ U but i|j| ill t inniiiiJig— A "\i » 112 u ll tk* r*aaa4l«a tk»«la*ald m*w fna »*eio*l war ka, bad ala* ocamiud wick a *Daa t*r •( tk* kaat fkiileliaa, but found a*tkl*r that *ar* Ik* r*M*t abklnrt from **-DRuPI." I akall arOMrlba It IB my pr»gCia* Mr rhmnatlam aad kmdrad «Uaam'' FREE If jm ara tutoring with Rbeumatlem, Ifatiralgla, Kidney Troubl* or any kin dred dlsaaae. writ* to ua for a trial boMla of "•-DROPS,'* and teat it youreelf. "••DROPS" eaa ba uaad any length of tiaaa without acquiring a "drug habit," aa It la entirely free of opium, oocalne. H alookol. laudanum, and other similar H Ingredients. H Wb* si** Bottl*. "l-DHPr no* taw) ■ 01.*0. raalaiatrDnitkU. ■ BWANIOI INEHMATW SORE OOHPAIY.SI Dept. (0. ieo Laka Strut, H j«^Xrur4 in WB HIHUMIMUMiI THIS ad. is directed at the man who has all the business in his line in this community. <3 Mr. Merchant —You say i you've got it all. You're sell ing them all they'll buy, any how. But at the same time you would like more business. Make this community buy more. Advertise strongly, consist ently, judiciously, tj Suppose you can buy a lot of washtubs cheap; advertise ! a big washtub sale in this pa per. Putin an inviting pic ture of a washtub where j people can see it the minute they look at your ad. Talk strong on washtubs. And you'll find every woman in this vicinity who has been getting along with a rickety washtub for years and years i will buy a new one from you. €f That's creative business power. i = OURj AD. KATES ARE RIGHT —CALL ON US ll'upjrrlflit. Mil. by \V N J,*.' Wor d-of - Mouth Advertising Passing encomium#, only over your store counter, about the quality of what you've to sell, results in about as much j sail faction us your wife would Utt if you gave her a box of j citfura 'jr Christmas. Advertising in This Paper i.»lk-> (" aviTvl" «t\ it unt< u»«l makue I TTRUE\ is. » -asrarxx.--. •