6 THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE BvmnY ❖ V- ROBERTS ❖ RTNEHART ILLUSTMTIOm BY mtPrtUCNJ not ev oca** -jvmml'C* ' SYNOPSIS. Miss Innes. spinster anil guardian of Gertrude -'lie V:ilsey. establishes Mimmer headquarters at Sunnyslde. Amidst nu merous dlffieullies the servants deserted. As Miss limes locked up for the night, she was startled hy a dark figure on tho veranda. Sli<' passed a terrible night, t/hieh was tilled with unseemly noises. In the morning Miss Innes found a Btrnnffo link mi it button in a clothes hamper. Gertrude and Halsey arrived with Jack Bailey. The house was awak ened bv a revolver shot. A strange man was fmirid shot to death In the hall. It proved to be the body of Arnold Arm strong. whose banker father owned tlio country house. Miss Inncs found ll«il nev's revolver on the lawn. He arid Jack Bailey had disappeared. CHAPTER IV.—Continued. "Especially what?" "Especially since Jack Bailey and Arnold Armstrong were notoriously bad friends. It was Bailey who got Arnold into trouble last spring— something about the bank. And then, too — "Goon," I said. "If there is any thing more, I ought to know." "There's nothing more," he said evasively. "There's just one thing we may bank on. Miss Innes. Any court In the country will acquit a man who kills an intruder in his house at night. If Halsey—" "Why, you don't think Halsey did It!" I exclaimed. There was a queer feeling of physical nausea coming over me. "No, no, not at all," he said with forced cheerfulness. "Come, Miss In nes, you're a ghost of yourself, and I am going to help you upstairs and call your maid. This has been too much for you." About six o'clock Gertrude came In. She was fully dressed, and I sat tip nervously. "Poor Aunty!" she said. "What a shocking night you have had!" She came over and sat down on tho bed, and I saw she looked very tired and worn. "Is there anything new?" I askod anxiously. "Nothing. The car is gone, but War ner" —he is the chauffeur —"Warner is at the lodge and knows nothing about it." "Well," I said, "IT I ever get my hands on Halsey Innes I shall not let go until I have told him a few things. When we get this cleared up, I am going back to the city to be quiet. One more night like the last two will end me. The peace of the country— fiddlesticks!" Whereupon I told Gertrude of the noises the night before, and the figure on the veranda in the east wing. As an afterthought I brought out the pearl cuff-link. "I have no doubt now," I said, "that it was Arnold Armstrong the night before last, too. He had a key, no doubt, but why he should steal into his father's house I cannot imagine. He could have come with my permis sion easily enough. Anyhow, whoever it was that night left this little sou yenir." Gertrude look one look at the cuff link and went as white as the pearls in it; she clutched at the foot of the bed and stood staring. As for uie, I was quite as astonished as she was. "Where did—you—find it?" she asked finally, with a desperate effort at calm. And while I told her she stood looking out of the window with a look I could not fathom on her face. It was a relief when Mrs. Watson tapped at the door and brought me some tea and toast. The cook was in bed, completely demoralized, slid re ported. 9nd Liddy, brave with the day light. was looking for footprints around the bouse. Mrs. Watson herself was n wretk; "he was blue-white around the lips, and she had one hand tied uii. She said she lmd fallen down stairs in her excitement. It was natur al. of course, that the thing would shock her, having been the Arm strongs' housekeeper for several years and knowing Mr. Arnold well. Gertrude had slipped out during my talk with Mrs. Watson, and 1 dri sod and wont downstairs. The billiard and card rooms were locked until the coroner and the detectives got there, and the men from the club had gone buck for more conventional clothing I could hear Thomus in the jiantry alternately wailing for Mr. Arnold, as lie called him, and citing the tokens that had precurM-d the murder. The hou e seemed to choko me, and, slipping a haw! around me, I went out iitid *o|d>i After I I* It her I 1 NMh >t IN nit of 11 k iIM Rfl Nothing n« iii. d to be disturb* d; the home lotiiti i| mi calui and pea* ful In 111 1 iUi 4 i>« .1 u.n« It IniU He i|ny I ht'ff been I seemed to see a network closing around my boy, innocent as I knew he was. The revolver—lain afraid of them, but anxiety gave me courage to look through the barrel —the revolver had still two bullets in it. I could only breathe a prayer of thankfulness that I had found the revolver before any sharp-eyed detective had come around. I decided to keep what clues 1 had, the cuff-link, the golf stick and the re volver, in a secure place until I could see some reason for displaying them. The cuff-link had been dropped into a little filigree box on my toilet table. I opened the box and felt around for it. The box was empty—the cuff-link had disappeared! CHAPTER V. Gertrude's Engagement. At ten o'clock the Casanova hack brought up three men. They intro duced themselves as the coroner of the county and two detectives from iliP 4i®L "One Look Was All I Needed." the city. The coroner led the way at once to tho locked wing, and with the aiil of one of the detectives examined tho rooms and tho body. The other detective, after a short scrutiny of the dead man, busied himself with the outside of the house. It was only aft er they had got a fair idea of tilings as they were that they sent for me. 1 received them in tho living room, and 1 had made up my miud exactly what to tell. I had taken the house for the summer, 1 said, while the Arm strongs were in California. In spite of a rumor among the servants about strange noises —I cited Thomas- noth ing had occurred the first two nights. On the third night I believed tliut some one had been In the house; 1 had heard a crashing sound, but be ing alone with one maid had not in vomtlgati d. Tho house had been locked in the morning ami apparent ly undisturbed. Then, as clearly as I could, 1 related bow, the night before, a shot hud roused us; that my niece and I hud investigated and found a body; that 1 did not know who the murdered man was until Mr Jarvls from the club Informed me, and that 1 knew of no r ,i--(iu why Mr Arnold Armstrong riliould steal Into his futher's house at night. I should have been glad to ul lovt hi in entree there at any time. "Tluve you reason to believe. Miss Junes," the coroner asked, ' that any member of your IIIIUM holil imagining Mr. Armstrong was a buig.tlr, shot i him In #elf-d«i"nse?" "I lIUVe no 1 euson for thiukiiiK so," i mM | 1 - 1 ' 11 v Your theory Is that Mi Armstrong I was followed here by some enemy ■ I le * out* 1 d 111 i ' ' I d<>ii t U. nk I liut< 1 i' niitd "The thing that ha» pn««led me ! > »hj Mi Xrmsti'CMig Aflrthtd <;#t« r CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1910. his father's house two nights in suc cession, stealing in like a thief, when he needed only to ask entrauce to be admitted." The coroner was a very silent man; he took some notes after this, but he seemed anxious to make the next train back to town. He set the in quest for the following Saturday, gave Mr. Jamieson, the younger of the two detectives, and the more intelligent looking, a few instructions, and, after gravely shaking hands with me and regretting the unfortunate affair, took his departure, accompanied by the other detective. I was just beginning to breathe freely when Mr. Jamieson, who had been standing by the window, came over to me. "The family consists of yourself alone, Miss Innes?" "My niece*is here," I said. "There is no one but yourself and your niece?" "My nephew." I had to moisten my lips. "Oh, a nephew. I should like to see him, if he is here." "He is not here just now," 1 said as quietly as I could. "I expect him— at any time." "He was here yesterday evening, I believe?" "No—yes." "Didn't he have a guest with him? Another man?" "He brought a friend with him to stay over Sunday, a Mr. Bailey." "Mr. John Bailey, the cashier of the Traders' bank, I believe." And I knew that some one at the Greenwood club had told. "When did they leave?" "Very early—l don't know at just what time." Mr. Jamieson turned suddenly and looked at me. "Please try to be more explicit," he said. "You say your nephew and Mr. llailey were in the house lust night, and yet you and your niece, with some women servants, found the body. Where was your nephew?" I was entirely desperate by that time "1 do not know," I cried, "but be sure of this: Halsey knows nothing of this thing, and no amount of air cumstantlal evidence can make an in nocent man guilty." "Sit down," he said, pushing for ward a chair. "There are some things I have to tell you, and, In return, please tell me all you know. Believe me, tliiugs always come out. In the first place, Mr Armstrong was shot from above The bullet was tired at close range, entered below the shoul der and came out, after passing through the heart, well down the back In other words, I believe the murderer sti oil on the stairs and flred down. 11l the second place, I found on the edge of the billiard table a charred cigar which had burned Itself puttl) out, uud a cigarette whleh had consumed Itself to tbe cork tip. Nelth* er one had been more than lighted, then put down and forgotten. Have | you any Idea what It was that made your lie phi *v and Mr ll.tlley leave their cigars and their gam «, take out tie automobile vvflliout calling the chauffeur, and till that at It t me S' * ci rlalnly before three o'cloi k in the morning?" "I don't know,"l said, "but d -pent! on It, Mr Jaiulcsou, llalsey will be back himself to • (plain everything." I itn ei«-|y hop hi, In iiil ill** lane*, has It occurred tu you that Mr. Itaih y might knuw something of tbls?" • i (truth id loin downstairs nitd just as he Spoke ah* i Hllit- In 1 •** her stop suddenly, as if she had been struck. "He does not," she said in a tone that was not her own. "Mr. Bailey and my brother know nothing of this. The murder was committed at three. They left the house at a quarter be fore three." "How do you know that?" Mr. Jam leson asked oddly. "Do you know at what time they left?" "I do," Gertrude answered firmly. "At a quarter before three my brother and Mr. Bailey left the house, by the main entrance. I —was —there." "Gertrude," I said excitedly, "you are dreaming! Why, at a quarter to three —" "Listen," she said. "At half-past two the downstairs telephone rang. I had not gone to sleep, and I heard it. Then I heard Halsey answer it, and in a few minutes he came upstairs and knocked at my door. We—we talked for a minute, then I put on my dress ing gown and slippers, and went down stairs with him. Mr. Bailey was in the billiard room. We—we all talked together for perhaps ten minutes. Then it was decided that—that they should both go away—" "Can't you be more explicit?" Mr. Jamieson asked. "Why did they go away?" "I am only telling you what hap pened, not why it happened," she said evenly. "Halsey went for the car, and instead of bringing it to the house and rousing people, he went by the lower road from the stable. Mr. Bailey was to meet him at the foot of the lawn. Mr. Bailey left —" "Which way?" Mr. Jamieson asked sharply. "By the main entrance. He left — it was a quarter to three. I know exactly." "The clock in the hall is stopped, Miss Innes," said Jamieson. Nothing seemed to escape him. "He looked at his watch," she re plied, and I could see Mr. Jamieson's eyes snap, as if he had made a dis covery. As for myself, during the whole recital I had been plunged into the deepest amazement. "Will you pardon me for a personal question?" The detective was a youngish man, and I thought he was somewhat embarrassed. "What are your—your relations with Mr. Bailey?" Gertrude hesitated. Then she came over and put her hand lovingly in mine. "I am engaged to marry him," she said simply. I had grown so accustomed to sur prises that I could only gasp again, and as for Gertrude, the hand that lay in mine was burning with fever. "And —after that," Mr. Jamieson went on, "you went directly to bed?" Gertrude hesitated. "No," she said finally. "I—l am nervous, and after I had extinguished the light, I remembered something I had left in the billiard room, and I felt my way back there through the darkness." "Will you tell me what It was you had forgotten?" "I cannot tell you," she said slowly. "I—l did not leave the billiard room at once—" "Why?" The detective's tone was imperative. "This is very important, Miss Innes." "1 was crying," Gertrude said in a low tone. "When the French clock in the drawing room struck three I got up and then—l heard a step on the east porch, just outside the cardroom. Soma ono with a key was working with the latch, and I thought, of course, of Halsey. When wo took the house h<> called that his entrance, and he had carried a key for it ever since. The door opened and I was about to ask what he had forgotten, when there was a flash and a report. Some heavy body dropped, and. half crazed with terror anil shock, 1 ran through the drawing room and got it>stairs -I scnrcely remember how." She dropped into a chair, and I thought Mr. Jamieson must have fin ished. llut he was not through. "You certainly clear your brother and Mr. Motley admirably," hi* said. "The testimony is invaluable, especial ly In view of the fact that your broth er and Mr. Armstrong had, I believe, quarreled rather seriously some itiue ago." "Nonsense," I broke In. "Things are bad enough, Mr. Jamieson, without in venting bad feeling where It doesn't exist, (Jertrude, I dou t think Hals y knew tie- the murdered man, did be?" Rut Mr Jainle-'on was sure of his ground. ItK l ONTINt'Kf) > A New Suit Defying Cloth. A new cloth is being made In til < utta, Inul.j, which Is manufactured on sci.-utitl< principles to mi. orm to nature's i in of u.udltig off the nun's rays, as exemplified in the color of the »kln and tb<- pigments under the skin. It Is the b'iie! ol ph) >li'iatH th.»t on* of the chief reasons for »l<■ intttty ll< III) re. mill <1 111 l:i»l n III' It that of improper clothing Th«* >l«- signers of what m<> must wear to be of the eleet may ordain a color or t< v ture thoroughly n*i» nll ••«! to the pie vailing climatic niudltlone, and aafety and I'iinf t are often op.M Ji • a U ioC«U<4U«li Vau ,\ot'd«u / vrfrmoiMr* s? , Fertilizers Increase the yield —Improve the quality—Enrich the soil. Every Harvest, proves it. Can you afford to risk your wheat? Be safe. */4rmours Fertilizers prow the biggest crops. Ask your dealer. Armour Fertilizer Works Chicago YOU CAN STOP Y or R FRVEND I FR'OM N DRINKING Write ine, and I will tell yott the only proven method that will actually atop a man from drinking; either with or without hln eoriHent, and without danger to hlin, or loss of hln time. It will co«( you nothing to try. I have given my advice to hundreds upor hundreds, and never heard of a o where It failed. Address E, FOKTIS'i ltoom Ulti» I hlcago, lllluola, 44> Dearborn Htreet. Absolute secrecy promised. TOUGH LUCK. ' "i "Why, what's the matter, my lad?" "800 hoo! Ma sez I got to presi dent when I grows up, an' I'd set my heart on bein' a prize fighter. 800 hoo!" WEAK KIDNEYS WEAKEN THE WHOLE BODY. No chain is stronger than its weak est link. No man is stronger than his kidneys. Overwork, colds, strains, etc., weaken the kidneys and the whole body suffers. Don't neglect the slight est kidney ailment. Begin using HI I VL Doan ' s Kidney Pills II! I tLt' I !'F.[! at once. They are A j ['ji especially for sick I j 1 Ted Hiatt, Oswe | j | go, Kans., says:"For »L Li- • - many years I suf fered from kidney disorders. I was :in j&B. treated by specialists ' n Kansas City and tefriChicago, was told I had an abscess of the kidneys and an operation was advised. I thereupon began the use of Doan's Kidney Pills and gradually improved. Soon an op eration was unnecessary as my kid neys were well." Remember the name.—Doan's. For sale by all dealers. 50 cents a box. Fostur-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. T. Didn't Care for Expenses. They were seated at the breakfast table. "John, dear," said the young wife, "this is my birthday." "I'm glad you mentioned it, darling," rejoined her husband. "I'll buy you a present the first thing when I got downtown." "Well," she said, "I hope you won't get any cheap 98-cent aitair." "Of course I won't," he replied. "Why, I would be ashamed to present you with anything that cost less than a dollar." Simple Truth. You can only do clean washing with clean soap. You know that cocoanut oil, borax and naphtha arc natural cleansers and sterilizers and that they can't harm fabrics. Easy Task soap Is the only one that combines these scientifically, and for that reason It cuts washday work in two and does the work better than it ever has been done. Ten cents to test it; money back quickly if it ian't what is claimed for it. Confused Impressions, "Of course, you know the story of Willium Tell," said the serious citi zen. "To tell you the truth," replied Mr. Cumrox, "I'm not clear about him. 1 can't exactly remember whether he was a great marksman or a famous opera singer." Women In Love. ' Women In love are generally trou blesome and persecuting," Such is the reported opinion of M. Kmile Fa guet. And If a French critic dot s not understand the subject, of whom shall we seek understanding?" His Big Bill. Guest How long Is (his lease of your hotel to run? Hotel Clerk What lease? Guest The one { just gave you the money for. It Would Depei d. "Would you marry a u> n «lm wore side whisker*?" "I might If 1 thought It w»uld be worth white to reform htm." A Mean Man. "la your wife going u» Kurop* this "No. I've bribed a furttine teller to warn her to watch fur a slim blonde \V« live truly In proportion as «• w«*rt»*itv»d WwiNtt. Poor Digestion? This is one of the first signs of stom ach weakness. Distress after eating, sour eructations, sick headache, bil ious conditions are all indicative that it is the stomach that needs assistance. Help it to regain health and strength by taking BEECHAM'S PILLS for they are a stomach remedy that never disappoints. They act quick ly and gently upon the digestive organs, sweeten the contents of the stomach, carry off the disturbing elements, and establish healthy con ditions of the liver and bile. The wonderful tonic and strength ening effects from Beecham's Pills, make them a safe remedy—they Help Weak Stomachs ID Boxea with full direction*. 10c. and 25«. PARKER'S HAIR BALSAM ffifc'i" vfjftpClean if ■ and beautifies the hair. Promoiai a luxuriant growth. Wi Never Fails to Restore Gray 1 'p to ' I * a Awfully Busy. Jim —A stitch in time saves nine. Tom —Who said that? Jim —Gee! Ain't you read youi Bible? Tom—Nope; I ain't even had tlma to read the sporting page this morn ing yet.—Cleveland Leader. How She Conciliated Them. Filmer —How did it happen that these five men who were so angry with the woman in the nickelodeon for not taking off her hat became so friendly with her afterward? Screeners —It was raining like fury when the show was over and she in vited them to take shelter with her under her hat. Autoing and Optics. "Is not auto driving terribly hard on the eyes?" we asked. "Well, I guess not," replied the chauffeur, withering us with scorn. "Why, before I got to runnin' a car I was thinkin' o' gettin' specks, my eye sight was that poor I couldn't see the contribution box in church until It was so near past me It was too late to dig for any money. IJut I hadn't been runnin' that wagon two days till I could see a policeman's little finger stickln' out from behind a tree four miles away. I could even see which way a copper's eyeballs were turned if he was standin' in the shade three miles off. Hard on the eyes! Well, not much! It's the best medicine for weak eyes that was ever Inveuted, don't you forget It." ( A Dream of Ease — Post Toasties NO COOKING! An economical hot weather luxuty loud that phases and • at any mt-al. So KUUU you'll want mom. Served right from the |i4i kage with < ream »>r milk. 1 i * iull> pU .iiiurf with fii-sii "The Memory Lingers" 10c »ud Mc Suld by Urwctrt I'Mitim t . RO d CM. , I