6
THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE
BKmahy ❖
ROBERT
<» niNEHART
lummmm BY
c* ■ymr /tea ar SOA9J ■«»»«/» »
SYNOPSIS.
Miss Tnnoa, spinster and guardian of
Gertrude und llalsey, established summer
headquarters at Sunnyside. Amidst nu
merous difficulties the servants deserted.
As Miss Innes locked up for tiio night,
she was aturtled by a dark figure on the
veranda. She passed a terrible night,
which was tilled with unseemly noises.
CHAPTER ll.—Continued.
"Them's going to be a death!" she
wailed. "Oh, Miss Rachel, there's go
ing to bo a death!"
"There will be," I said grimly, "If
you don't keep quiet, Liddy Allen."
And so we sat there until morning,
wondering if the candle would last
until dawn, and arranging what trains
we could take back to town. If we had
only stuck to that decision and gone
back before it was too late!
The sun came finally, and from my
window I watched the trees along the
drive take shadowy form, gradually
lose their ghostlike appearance, be
come gray and then green. The
Greenwood club showed itself a dab
of white against the hill across the
valley, and an early robin or two
hopped around in the dew. Not un
til the milk-boy and the sun came,
about the same time, did I dare to
open the door into the hall and look
around. Everything was as we had
left it. Trunks were heaped here and
there, ready for the trunk-room, and
through an end window of stained
glass came a streak of red and yel
low daylight that was eminently
cheerful. The milk-boy was pound
ing somewhere below, and the day
had begun.
Thomas Johnson came ambling up
the drive about half-past six, and we
could hear him clattering around on
the lower floor, opening shutters. I
had to take Llddy to her room up
stairs, however—she was quite sure
she would find something uncanny. In
fact, when she did not, having now
the courage of daylight, she was actu
ally disappointed.
Well, we did not go back to town
that day.
I warned Liddy not to mention what
had happened to anybody, and tele
phoned to town for servants. Then,
after a breakfast which did more
credit to Thomas' heart than his head,
I went on a short tour of investiga
tion. The sounds had come from the
east wing, and not without some
qualms I began there. At first I found
nothing. Since then I have developed
my powers of observation, but at that
time 1 was a novice, The small card
room seemed undisturbed. I looked for
footprints, which is, I believe, the con
ventional thing to do, although my
experience has been that as clews
both footprints and thumb marks are
more useful in fiction than in fact.
ISut the stairs in that wing offered
something.
At the top of the flight had been
placed a tall wicker hamper, packed
with linen that had couie from town.
It stood at the edge of the top step,
almost barring passage, and on the
step below It was a long, fresh
scratch. For three steps the scratch
was repeated, gradually diminishing,
an If some object had fallen, striking
each one Then lor four steps nothing.
On the fifth step below was a round
dent in the hard wood. That was all,
and It seemed little enough, except
that I was positive the marks bad not
been there the day before.
It bore out my theory of the sound,
which had been for all the world like
the bumping ot a metallic object down
u (light of steps. The four stops had
been skipped I reasoued that an iron
bar, for Instance, would do something
of the sort —strike two or three steps,
end down, then turn over, Jumping a
few stairs, and landing with a thud.
Iron bars, however, do not fall
down stairs In the middle of the night
alone Coupled with the figure on the
veranda the agi-ncy by which It
climbed might be assumed Hut—and
here was the thing that pustzled me
most—the doors w«re all fastened
that morning, ih. windows unmolest
ed, and the particular door from the
card room 10 the veranda had a com
bination lock oi whli h I held the key,
and which had not been tampered
with
I lined on an attempt at burglary,
as the mo * natural explanation an
attempt fru -irati d by the falling of
the object, whatever It was, that had
rou*«d u»e Two things I could not
understand; how ihi Intruder bad «»
taped with . verything h« ked, aud
wh> hi had left the small silver,
which In tin it of u butler, had
remain* d do »n-.talr* over ulght
in lb* uit* rui.'i'B 4 hack tame up
fioui .. .us .u, with a fr« h leiay oi
servant» Ih. drlv-r too* thiia with
a flourish iu ilin vMiU' > utrauce,
and dtov« atuutid to the front of the
hoi.! , *hi'ti I was awaiting hint
fw o JolK.i I,'' he l aid in reply la
«4a- *tluii • | Uon t i barge fuij
lat>». Uiau e. UIH.HU, Vrn up «||
• « ...ei as I do. It paya io make a
•I'Ual P<l, % h»n ih.) get o« the
1 ' '■ -• I »U< I. an. L. r
in, Ainu,*!*,. p„ lloi
« '«••* > ""lit ' i«-nd (oi lb*
' *'* 4 * J '"«• »*•"» It'i—, I
l%i kuU **
to M4I 'w'v yi at !ti«
as ■
"I Was Roused by a Revolver Shot."
"bunch" of servants my courage re
vived, and late in the afternoon came
a message from Gertrude that she and
Halsey would arrive that night at
about 11 o'clock, coming In the car
from Richfield. Things were looking
up; and when Beulah, my cat, a most
intelligent animal, found some early
catnip on a bank near the house and
rolled in it in a feline ecstasy, I de
cided that getting back to nature was
the thing to do.
While I was dressing for dinner,
Liddy rapped at the door. She was
hardly herself yet, but privately I
think she was worrying about the bro
ken mirror and its augury, more than
anything else. When she came In she
was holding something in her hand,
and she laid it on the dressing table
carefully.
"I found it in the linen hamper,"
she said. "It must be Mr. Halsey's,
but it seems queer how it got there."
It was the half of a link cuff but
ton of unique design, and I looked at
it carefully.
"Where was It? In the bottom of
the hamper?" I asked.
"On the very top," she replied. "It's
a mercy it didn't fall out on the way."
When Liddy had gone I examined
the fragment attentively. I had never
seen It before, and I was certain it
was not Ilalsey's. It was of Italian
workmanship, and consisted of a
mother-of-pearl foundation, encrusted
with tiny seed-pearls, strung on
horsehair to hold them. In the cen
ter was a small ruby. The trinket
was odd enough, but not intrinsically
of great value. Its Interest for me
lay In this: I.iddy had found it lying
In the top of the hamper which had
blocked the east-wing stairs.
That afternoon the Armstrongs'
housekeeper, a youngish good-looking
woman, applied for Mrs. Ralston's
place, and I was glad enough to take
her. She looked as though she might
be equal to a dozen of Llddy, with her
snapping black eyes and heavy jaw.
Her name was Anne Watson, and I
dined that evening for the first time
in three days.
CHAPTER 111.
Mr. John Bailey Appears.
I had dinner served in the break
fast room. Somehow the huge diulng
room depressed me, and Thomas,
cheerful enough all day. allowed his
spirits togo down with the sun. He
had a habit of watching the corners
of thi> room, left shadowy by the can
dles on the table, and altogether it
was not a festive meal.
Dinner over I went Into the living
room I had three hours before the
children could possibly arrive, aud I
got out my kutttlng
The chug of the automobile as it
climbed the hill was the most wel
come sound 1 had heard for a long
time, and with (jertrude aud llulsey
actually before me, my troubles
■ • im-d over lor good, liurtrude stood
smiling iu thi' hall, with her hat quite
over urn ear, and her hair In every
dtriitioti under her pink veil Oer
trude U a very pretty girl, no matter
bow her hat Is, and I was not sur
pili il whin Mali • » presented a good
looking young mail, who l>ow>-d at
me and looked at Trude that la tln
t ldi< ilous nti kuumu Uertrudi brough'
from school,
I hav (nought a guest, Aunt Itay,
Hal < > said "I wuut yon to adopt
bit.i into jour affections and your Hat
Uida; to Honday II .t l.et me premni
iohii ltail«*), only you must call hliu
latfc in i i hours b« II be •■ailing you
Aunt'. I know Mm."
W» shook bands, aud I got a t bate
iu Uimli at Mr Bailey, be was a tali
i 'iloa, nfl..i|n o. and wi-i* a I
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1910.
small mustache. I remember wonder
ing why; he seemed to have a good
mouth and when he smiled his teeth
were above the average. One never
knows why certain men cling to a
messy upper lip that must get into
things, any more than one under
stands some women building up their
hair on wire atrocities. Otherwise,
he was very good to look at, stalwart
and tanned, with the direct gaze that
I like. lam particular about Mr. Bai
ley, because he was a prominent fig
ure in what happened later.
Gertrude was tired with the trip
and went up to bed very soon. 1
made up my mind to tell them noth
ing until the next day, and then to
make as light of our excitement as
possible. After all, what had I to tell?
An inquisitive face peering in at a
window; a crash in the night; a
scratch or two on the stairs, and half
a cuff-button! As for Thomas and his
forebodings, it was always my belief
that a negro is one part thief, one
part pigment, and the rest supersti
tion.
It was Saturday night. The two
men went to the billiard room, and I
could hear them talking as I went up
stairs. It seemed that Halsey had
stopped at the Greenwood club for
gasolene and found Jack Bailey there,
with the Sunday golf crowd. Mr. Bai
ley had not been hard to persuade—
probably Gertrude knew why—and
they had carried him off triumphant
ly. 1 roused Liddy to get them some
thing to eat —Thomas was beyond
reach in the lodge—and paid no at
tention to her evident terror of the
kitchen regions. Then I went to bed.
The men were still in the billiard
room when I finally dozed off, and the
last thing I remember was the howl
of a dog in front of the house. It
wailed a crescendo of woe that trailed
off hopefully, only to break out afresh
from a new point of the compass.
At three o'clock in the morning I
was roused by a revolver shot. The
sound seemed to come from Just out
side my door. For a moment I could
not move. Then—l heard Gertrude
stirring in her room, and the next
moment she had thrown open the con
necting door.
"O, Aunt Ray! Aunt Hay!" she
cried hysterically. "Home one has
been killed!"
"ThievM," I said shortly. "Thank
gooduons, there are some men in the
house tonight." I was getting into
my slippers and a bath robe, and Ger
trude with shaklug hands was lighting
a lamp Then *« opened the door
Into the hall, where, crowded on the
upper landing ot the stairs, the maids,
white-faced and trembling, were peer
ing down, headed by I-lddy. I was
greeted by a series of low screuius
and questions, and I tried to quiet
them Gertrude had dropped on a
chair and sat there liiup and shiv
ering
I went at once across the hall to
Halsey's room and knocked; then I
pushed the Uuor open, it Has empty;
the bed had not been occupied!
"lie must be !u Mr lialiey's room."
I said excitedly, and fallowed by I.id
dy, we wont there. I.lke Hal. <7 *, it
hud not been Occupied! Gertrude was
u® her reel now. but she leaned
against th« door for support
They have been killed!" fche
git ped Tie 11 she caught iue by the
arm and dragtfed iue toward ilie
stall* They may only be hurt, aud
He must iliel them,'* she i>ald, her
••yes dilated with excitement
I d<>n i rebieiuijt r how we got down
the slain, | do remember expecting
et ry moment tu be kill, d Thee..ok
was at the telephone upotalis, (ailing
the Greenwood i lub, and l.iddy was
b« Mud me, afield u* tome *ud nu>
daring to stay behind. We found the
living room and the drawing room un
disturbed. Somehow I felt that what
ever we found would be in the card
room or on the staircase, and nothing
but the fear that Ilalsey was in dan
ger drove me on; with every step my
knees seemed to give way under me.
Gertrude was ahead and in the card
room she stopped, holding her can
dle high. Then she pointed silently to
the doorway into the hall beyond.
Huddled there on the lloor, face down,
with his arms extended, was a man.
Gertrude ran forward with a gasp
ing sob. "Jack," she cried, "Oh, Jack!"
LJddy had run, screaming, and the
two of us were there alone. It was
Gertrude who turned him over, final
ly, until we could see his white face,
and then she drew a deep breath and
dropped limply to her knees. It was
tho body of a man, a gentleman, in a
dinner coat and white waistcoat,
stained now with blood —the body of
a man I had never seen before.
CHAPTER IV.
Where Is Halsey?
Gertrude gazed at the face in a kind
of fascination. Then she put out her
hands blindly, and I thought she was
going to faint.
"He has killed him!" she muttered
almost inarticulately; and at that, be
cause my nerves were going, I gave
her a good shake.
"What do you mean?" I said fran
tically. There was a depth of grief
and conviction in her tone that was
worse than anything she could have
said. Tho shake braced her, any
how, and she seemed to pull herself
together. Hut not another word would
she say; she stood gazing down at
that gruesome figure on the floor,
while Liddy, ashamed of her flight
and afraid to come back, drove before
her three terrified women servants
into the drawing room, which was as
near as any of them would venture.
Once in the drawing room, Gertrude
collapsed and went from one fainting
spell into another. I had all I could
do to keep Liddy from drowning her
with cold water, and the maids hud
dled in a corner, as much use as so
many sheep. In a short time, although
it seemed hours, a car came rushing
up, and Anne Watson, who had waited
to dress, opened the door. Three men
from the Greenwood club, in all kinds
of costumes, hurried in. I recognized
a Mr. Jarvis, but the others were
strangers.
"What's wrong?" the Jarvis man
asked —and we made a strange pic
ture, no doubt. "Nobody hurt, is
there?" He was looking at Gertrude.
"Worse than that, Mr. Jarvis," I
said. "I think it is murder."
At the word there was a commotion.
The cook began to cry, and Mrs. Wat
son knocked over a chair. The men
were visibly impressed.
"Not any member of the family?"
Mr. Jarvis asked, when he had got
his breath.
"No," I said; and motioning Liddy
to look after Gertrude, I led the way
with a lamp to the cardroom door.
One of the men gave an exclamation,
and they all hurried across the room.
Mr. Jarvis took the lamp from me—l
remember that —and then feeling my
■elf getting dizzy and light-headed I
closed my eyes. When I opened them
their brief examination was over, and
Mr. Jarvis was trying to put me in a
chair.
"You must get upstairs," he said
(Irmly, "you and Miss Gertrude, too.
This has been a terrible shock. In
his own home, too."
I stared at him without comprehen
sion. "Who is It?" I asked with dlf.
Acuity. There seemed a band drawn
tight around my throat.
"It Is Arnold Armstrong," he said,
looking at me oddly, "and he has been
murdered—in his father's house."
After a minute 1 gathered myself
together and Mr. Jarvis helped me
Into the living room. I.iddy had got
Gertrude upstairs, and the two
strange men from the club stayed
with the body. The reuctlon from the
shock and slraiu was tremendous; I
was collapsed—and then Mr. Jarvis
asked me u question that brought
back my wandering faculties.
"Where Is llalsi-y?" he asked
"llalsey!" Suddenly Gertrude's
stricken face rose before me the
empty room upstairs. Where was
ilulsey?
"lie was here, wasn't he?" Mr. Jar
vis persisted. "He Stopped ut the club
on his way over."
"I don't know where lie la," Is tld
feebly
One of the iih'U from the club catuu
in, u*k>d for the telephone, und t
could hear him excitedly talking, ty
ing something übout coroners und de
tection. Mr Jarvis haued over to
lue,
"Why don't you tru-tt me, Miss In
uv»? 'he .ihl "If |tau do iu.y thing
I Will. Kill tell tile the whole tiling "
I did. finally, from the b. giitninf,
and when | told of Ja. It Hull. ) * i>*
IIIK lit tie- boos.- Ut>tl bight lo givt 4
long whistle
"I wish I hey w.-ra uotu h> re,"" h*
said w butt I tltti in d Wkat> t«r m.J
prank took it., iu It w«uM In**
Lu tlvt ti 114• y *«•!"«♦ b ft' Uliy w
ifu ate
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Instantly
and takes out ail inflammation in one
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instantly relieved and quickly healed by
D r.Porter's
Antiseptic
Healing: Oil
A soothing antiseptic discovered by an
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fund money if it fails to cure. 25c, 50c & sl.
I'arii Medicine Co. Deng, N. C.
My wife was severely burned from a red hot cook
stove. We applied DR. TORTER S ANTISEPTIC HEAL*
INC. OIL. and In ten minutes her burns were relieved.
We used It as directed and In a lew days the burns were
entirely healed. We can strongly recommend it to heal
the wurst burns and sores.
(Signed) J. W. Church, Notary Public.
Made by
Maker of
Laxative Bromo Quinine
Notes and Comments.
Chu! ch—Does your neighbor play
that cornet without notes?
Gotham—Yes; but not without com
ments.—Yonkers Statesman.
An Exception.
Caller—ls Mrs. Brown at home?
Artless Parlor Maid (smiling confi
dentially)—No, ma'am —she really is
out this afternoon.
Annie Telford, "Queen's Nurse," o'
Bailyantral, Ayrshire, England,
Writes as Follows:
I have great pleasure in testifying
what a valuable remedy in various
Skin Troubles I have found Resi'iol
Ointment to be. I have used it in ex
tremely bad cases of Eczema and in
poisoned wounds, and always with
most satisfactory results. I have 'ho
highest opinion of its curative val le.
Looked Like a Pattern.
"My dear," asks the thoughtful hus
band, "did you notice a large sheet
of paper with a lot of diagrams o.n it
about my desk?"
"You mean that big piece with dotj
and curves and diagonals and things
all over it?"
"Yes. It was my map of the
of Halley's comet. I wanted to —"
"My goodness! I thought it was thst
pattern I asked yoa to get, and the
dressmaker is cutting out my new
shirtwaist by it!" —Chicago Evening
Post.
Well, Wasn't He Right?
The minister was addressing the
Sunday school. "Children, I want to
talk to you for a few moments about
one of the most wonderful, one of the
most important organs in the whole
world," he said. "What is that that
throbs away, beats away, never stop
ping, never ceasing, whether you
wake or sleep, night or day, week in
and week out, month in and month
out, year in and year out, without any
volition on your part, hidden away in
the depths, as it were, unseen by you,
throbbing, throbbing rhythmically all
your life long?" During this pause
for oratorical effect a small voice was
heard: "I know. It's the gas meter."
What's the Answer?
We're ready to quit! After sending
two perfectly rhymed, carefully scan
ned. pleasurably sentimental pieces of
poetic junk to seventeen magazines
and having them returned seventeen
times, we turn to the current issue of
a new monthy and find a "pome"
modeled after Kipling's "Vampire,"
and in which home is supposed to
rhyme with alone, run on page eleven
With all the swell eurlycues ordinarily
surrounding a piece of real art. If
poetizing is a gift we are convinced
that this poet's must have been. As
for us, we are on our way to the wood
shed to study the psychology of the
ax or any other old thing that hasn't
to do with selling poetry to mag*,
sines.
Compound
Interest
comes to 1 ife? when the body
feels the delicious glow of
health, vigor und energy.
That Certain Sense
of vigor in the brain and easy
poise of the nerves conies i
when tin- improper foods are 1
cut out und prcdigest<-d
Grape=Nuts
take their place.
It it h.i i taken you y< j
to run d \vu il n't i xp< > t one |
mouthful of this gr< ut I >1 {
t • linn,' y m bark (i -r it i»
nt u stimulant hut a
rehuilder.),
Tut days trial show such |
big icvtlis that otic sit k»
I i it.
"There's a Reason"
Cut tin hull* iHMik, "Th«
ha J ».I WtfUvtlW," »u pk.il.
ftMilt Ml I II ■ Vt, V' ' , I I'll.,
lt-.ii • n*i>i tt.afc.
j The Place to to; Cheap S
) J. F. PARSONS' >
CTttS
RHEUMATISM
LUHBAQO, SCIATICA
NEURALGIA and
KIDNEY TROUBLE
"l-MOPS" taken Internally, rids the blood
at the poisonous matter and aolda which
we the dlreet oauses of these diseases.
Applied externally It affords almost In
stant rellel from pain, while a permanent
our* la being effected by purifying the
blood, dlssolvlag the poisonous sub
•lanoe and removing It from the system.
DR. 8. D. BLAND
Of Brewton, Oft., writtm:
M 1 had bHB » sufTerer for a snnbtr of yun
Willi Lumbago and Rhonaattpm tn my arms
*>4 lags, and tried all the remedial that I oould
gather from medical wonfcs, and also consulted
with a number of the beet physicians. but found
nothing that gave the relief obtained from
"•■DROPS." 1 shall prescribe It In my praoUoe
for rheumatism and Kindred dleeasea''
FREE
If yon are suffering with Rheumatism.
Neuralgia. Kidney Trouble or any kin
dred disease, vrlte to us for a trial bottle
of DROPS." and test it yourself.
"••DROPS" can be used any length of
time without acquiring a "drug habit."
as It Is entirely frea of opium, oocaine,
aleohol. laudanum, and other similar
Ingredients.
bun Uln Bottle, "5-DBOPS" (80S Desas)
•1.00. Far •■!• by Draffliti.
BWAISOR BHEDBMTIB BORE SOMPAIY,
Beyt. 80. ISO Lake BuhL, H
Rnsnnni
THIS ad. is directed at the
man who has all the
business in his line in
this community,
q Mr. Merchant —You say
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.
•J Make this community buy
more.
•J Advertise strongly, consist
ently, judiciously.
<J 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
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
will buy a new one from you.
•J That's creative business
power.
OURj AD. KATES ARE RIGHT
—CALL ON US
iCuurright. IJUU. by W. N. LV
Wor d-of - Mouth
Advertising
Passing encomiums, only over
your store counter, at>out the
quality of what you've got to
sell, results in about as much
satisfaction as your wile would
K»*t it you pave her a box of
cigars for Christmas,
Advertising in This Paper
t > fvrrvlxulv :t| once an ! makoa
(hum uik t»*v k with muiiey
sAim the it
Ad. Gun +
[TRUE \
J)