6
THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE
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ROBERTS
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tLLmmVOHS BY
mmuCHT noa BY BOOBS nißfujf L-a T
SYNOPSIS.
Miss Innes, spinster and guardian of
Gertrude and Halsey, established summer
headquarters at Sunnyside. Amidst nu
merous difficulties the servants deserted.
As Miss Innes locked up fur the night,
• lie was startled by a dark Ilirure on the
veranda. She passed a terrible night,
which was tilled with unseemly noises.
In the morning Miss lnnes found a
■trance link cuff button in a clothes
hamper. Gertrude and Halsey arrived
with Jack Bailey. Tho house was awak
ened by a revolver shot. A strange man
was found shot to death, in tho hall.
It proved to he the body of Arnold Arm
strong, whose banker father owned the
country house. Miss Innes found Hal
sey's revolver on the lawn. He and Jack
Bailey had disappeared. The link cuff
button mysteriously disappeared. De
tective Jamieson and the coroner arrived.
Gertrude revealed that she was engaged
to Jack Bailey, with whom she had
talked in the billiard room a few mo
ments before the murder. Jamieson told
Miss Innes that she was hiding evidence
from him. He Imprisoned an intruder in
an empty room. The prisoner escaped
down a laundry chute. It developed that
the intruder was probably a woman. Ger
trude was suspected, for the intruder
left a print of a bare foot. Gertrude re
turned home with her right ankle
sprained. A negro found the other half
of wiiat proved to be Jack Bailey's cuff
button. Halsey suddenly reappeared.
He said he and Bailey had left because
they had received a telegram. Gertrude
said that she had given Bailey an un
loaded revolver, faring to give him Hal-
Bey's loaded weapon.
CHAPTER IX.—Continued.
They stared at each other across
the big library table, with young eyes
all at once hard, suspicious. And
then Gertrude held out both hands to
him appealingly.
"We must not," she said brokenly.
"Just now, with so much at stake, It
—is shameful. I know you are as ig
norant as I am. Make me believe It,
Ilalsey."
Halsey soothed her as best he could,
and the breach seemed healed. But
long after I went to bed he sat down
stairs in the living room alone, and I
knew he was going over the case as
he had learned it. Some things were
clear to him that were dark to me.
He knew, and Gertrude, too, why Jack
Bailey and he had gone away that
night, as they did. He knew where
they had been for the last 48 hours,
and why Jack Bailey had not returned
with him. It seemed to me that with
out fuller confidence from both the
children —they are always children to
me—l should never be able to learn
anything.
As I was finally getting ready for
bed, Halsey came upstairs and knocked
at my door. When I had got into a
negligee—l used to say wrapper be
fore Gertrude came back from school
—I let him in. He stood in the door
way a moment, and then he went into
agonies of silent mirth. I sat down
on the side of the bed and waited in
•evere silence for him to stop, but he
only seemed to grow worse. When
he had recovered he took me by the
elbow and pulled me in front of the
mirror.
" 'How to be beautiful,'" he quoted.
"'Advice to maids and matrons, by
Beatrice Fairfax!'" And then I saw
myself. I had neglected to remove
my wrinkle eradicators, and I presume
my appearance was odd. I believe
that it is a woman's duty to care for
her looks, but it is much like telling
a necessary falsehood —one must not
be found out. By the time 1 got them
off Halsey was serious again, and I
listened to his story.
"Aunt Ray," he began, extinguish
ing his cigarette on the back of my
Ivory hair-brush, "I would give a lot
to tell you the whole thing. But—!
can't, for a day or so, anyhow. But
one thing I might have told you a long
time a ago. If you had known it, you
•would not have suspected me for a
momentoooff —of having anything to do
with the attack on Arnold Armstrong.
Goodness knows what I might do to
a fellow like that, if there was enough
provocation, and I had a gun in my
hand —under ordinary circumstances.
But —I care a great deal about Louise
Armstrong, Aunt Ray. I hope to mar
ry her some day. Is it likely I would
kill her brother?"
"But the whole thing Is absurd," I
argued. "And besides, Gertrude's
sworn statement that you left before
Arnold Armstrong came would clear
you at once."
Halsey got up and began to pace
the room, and the air of cheerfulness
dropped like a mask.
"She can't swear it,"he said finally.
"Gertrude's story was true as far as
It went, but she didn't tell everything.
Arnold Armstrong came here at 2:30
—came into the billiard room and left
In five minutes. He came to bring—•
something "
"Halsey,' I cried, "you must tell me
the whole truth. Every time I see
a way for you to escape you block it
yourself with this wall of mystery.
What did ho bring?"
"A telegram—for Bailey," he said;
"It came by special messenger from
town, and was—most important. Bailey
had started for here, and the messen
ger had gone to the city. The
•teward gave it to Arnold, who had
been drinking all day and couldn't
sleep, and was going for a stroll in
the direction of Sunnyside."
"And he brought it?"
"Yes."
"I can tell you—as soon as certain
things are made public. It is only a
matter of days riow," gloomily.
"And Gertrude's story of a tele
phone?"
"Poor Trude!" he half whispered.
''Poor loyal little girl! Aunt Ray,
They Stared at Each Other Across the Big Library Table.
there was no such message. No doubt
your detective already knows that and
discredits all Gertrude told him."
"And when she went back, it was to
get—the telegram?"
"Probably," Halsey said slowly.
"When you get to thinking about it,
Aunt Ray, it looks bad for all three
of us, doesn't it? And yet—l will take
my oath none of us even inadvertent
ly killed that poor devil."
I looked at the closed door into
Gerturde's dressing room, and low
ered my voice.
"The same horrible thought keeps
recurring to me," I whispered. "Hal
sey, Gertrude probably had your re
volver; she must have examined It,
anyhow, that night. After you—and
Jack had gone, what if—that ruffian
came back, and she —and she—
I couldn't finish. Halsey stood
looking at me with shut lips.
"She might have heard him fum
bling at the door—he had no key, the
police say—and thinking it was you,
or Jack, she admitted him. When
she saw her mistake she ran up the
stairs, a step or two, and turning, like
an animal at bay, she fired."
Halsey had his hand over my lips
before I finished, and in that position
we stared each at the other, our
stricken glances crossing.
"The revolver—my revolver —thrown
into the tulip bed!" he muttered to
himself. "Thrown perhaps l'rom an
upper window; you say it was buried
deep. Her prostration ever since, her
—Aunt Ray, you don't think it was
Gertrude who fell down the clothes
chute?"
I could only nod my head in a hope
less affirmative.
CHAPTER X,
The Traders' Bank.
The morning after Halsey's return
was Tuesday. Arnold Armstrong had
been found dead at the foot of the cir
cular staircase at three o'clock on
Sunday morning. The funeral services
were to be held on Tuesday, and the
interment of the body was to be de
ferred until the Armstrongs arrived
from California. No one, I think, was
very sorry that Arnold Armstrong was
dead, but the manner of his death
aroused some sympathy and an enor
mous amount of curiosity. Mrs. Ogden
Fitzliugh, a cousin, took charge of the
arrangements, and everything, I be
lieve, was as quiet as possible. I gave
Thomas Johnson and Mrs. Watson
permission togo into town to pay
their last respects to the dead man,
but for some reason they did not care
to go.
Halsey spent part of the day with
Mr. Jamieson, but he said nothing of
what happened. He looked grave and
anxious, and he had a long conversa
tion with Gertrude late in the after
noon.
Tuesday evening found us quiet,
with the quiet that precedes an ex
plosion. Gertrude and Halsey were
both gloomy and distraught, and as
Llddy hatj already discovered that
somej of !the china was broken —it is
impossible to have any secrets from
an old servant —I was not in a pleas
ant' humor myself. Warner brought
up the afternoon mail and the even
ing papers at seven—l was curious to
know what the papers said of the
murder. We had turned away at least
a down reporters. But I read over
the head-line that ran half-way across
the top of the Gazette twice before I
•comprehended it. Halsey had opened
the Chronicle and was staring at it
fixedly.
"The Traders' bank closes its
doors!" was what J, read, and then I
put down the paper antl looked across
the table.
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER i, 1910
"Did you know of this?" I asked
Halsey.
"I —expected it. But not so soon,"
he replied.
"And you?" to Gertrude.
"Jack—told us —something," Ger
trude said faintly. "Oh, Halsey, what
can he do now?"
"Jack!" I said scornfully. "Your
Jack's flight is easy enough to explain
now. And you helped him, both of
you, to get away! You get that from
your mother; it isn't an Innes trait.
Do you know that every dollar you
have, both of you, is in that bank?"
Gertrude tried to speak, but Halsey
stopped her.
"That isn't all, Gertrude," he said
quietly; "Jack is—under arrest."
"Under arrest!" Gertrude screamed,
and tore the paper out of his hand.
She glanced at the heading, then she
crumpled the newspaper into a ball
and flung it to the floor. While Hal
sey, looking stricken and white, was
trying to smooth it out and read it,
Gertrude had dropped her head on the
table and was sobbing stormily.
I have the clipping somewhere, but
just now I can remember only the es
sentials.
On the afternoon before, Monday,
while the Traders' bank was in the
rush of closing hour, between two and
three, Mr. Jacob Trautman, president
Sent Two Telegrams.
of the Pearl Brewing Company, came
into the bank to lift a loan. As se
curity for the loan he had deposited
some 300 International Steamship
Company s's, in total value $300,000.
Mr. Trautman went to the loan clerk,
and, after certain formalities had been
gone through, the loan clerk went to
the vault. Mr. Trautman, who was
a large and genial German, waited for
a time, whistling under his breath.
The loan clerk did not come back.
After an interval, Mr. Trautman saw
the loan clerk emerge from the vault
and goto the assistant cashier; the
two went hurriedly to the vault. A
lapse of another tea minutes, and the
assistant cashier came out and ap
proached Mr. Trautman. He was no
ticeably white and trembling. Mr.
Trautman was told that through an
oversight the bonds had been mis
placed, and was asked to return the
following morning, when everything
would be made all right.
Mr. Trautman, however, was a
shrewd business man, and he did not
like the appearance of things. He
left the bank apparently satisfied, and
within 30 minutes he had called up
three different members of the Trail
ers' board of directors. At 3:30 there
waR a hastily convened board meeting,
with some stormy scenes, and late in
the afternoon a national bank exam-
iner was in possession of the books.
The bank had not opened for business
Tuesday.
At 12:30 o'clock the Saturday bo
fore, as soon as the business of the
day was closed, Mr. John Bailey, the
cashier of the defunct bank, had taken
his hat and departed. During the aft
ernoon he had called up Mr. Aronson,
a member of the board, and said he
was ill, and might not bo at the bank
for a day or two. As Uailey was high
ly thought of, Mr. Aronson merely ex
pressed a regret. From that time un
til Monday night, when Mr. Bailey
had surrendered to the police, little
was known of his movements. Some
time after one on Saturday he had en
tered the Western Union office at
Cherry and White streets and had sent
two telegrams. He was at the Green
wood Country club on Saturday night,
and appeared unlike himself. It was
reported that he would be released
under enormous bond some time that
day, Tuesday.
The article closed by saying that
while the officers of the bank refused
to talk until the examiner had finished
his work, it was known that securities
aggregating a million and a quarter
were missing. Then there was a dia
tribe on the possibility of such an
occurrence; on the folly of a one-man
bank, and of a board of directors that
mat only to lunch together and to
listen to a brief report from the cash
ier, and on the poor policy of a gov
ernment that arranges a three or four
day examination twice a year. The
mystery, it insinuated, had not been
cleared by the arrest of the cashier.
Before now minor officials had been
used to cloak the misdeeds of men
higher up. Inseparable as the words
"speculation" and "peculation" have
grown to be, John Bailey was not
known to be in the stock market. His
only words, after his surrender, had
been: "Send for Mr. Armstrong at
okce." The telegraph message which
had finally reached the president of
the Traders' bank, in an interior town
in California, had been responded to
by a telegram from Dr. Walker, the
young physician who was traveling
with the Armstrong family, saying
that Paul Armstrong was very ill and
unable to travel.
That was how things stood that
Tuesday evening. The Traders' bank
had suspended payment, and John
Bailey was under arrest, charged with
wrecking it; Paul Armstrong lay very
ill in California, and his only son had
been murdered two days before. I sat
dazed and bewildered. The children's
money was gone; that was bad
enough, though I had plenty, if they
would let me share. But Gertrude's
grief was beyond any power of mine
to comfort; the man she had chosen
stood accused of a colossal embezzle
ment —and even worse. For in the in
stant that I sat there I seemed to see
the coils closing around John Bailey
as the murderer of Arnold Armstrong.
Gertrude lifted her head at last and
stared across the table at Halsey.
"Why did he do it?" she wailed.
"Couldn't you stop him, Halsey? It
was suicidal togo back!"
Halsey was looking steadily through
the windows of the breakfast room,
but it was evident he saw nothing.
"It was the only thing to do, Trude,"
he said at last. {'Aunt Ray, when I
found Jack at the Greenwood club last
Saturday night, he was frantic. I can
not talk until Jack tells me I may, but
—he is absolutely innocent of all this,
believe me. I thought, Trude and I
thought, we were helping him, but It
was the wrong way. He came back.
Isn't that the act of an innocent
man?"
"Then why did he leave at all?" I
asked, unconvinced. "What innocent
man would run away from here at
three o'clock in the morning? Doesn't
it look rather as though he thought
it impossible to escape?"
Gertrude rose angrily. "You are not
even just!" she flamed. "You don't
know anything about it, and you con
demn him!"
"I know that we have all lost a
great deal of money," I said. "I shall
believe Mr. Bailey innocent the mo
ment he is shown to be. You profess
to know the truth, but you cannot tell
me! What am Ito think?"
Halsey leaned over and patted mj
hand.
"You must take us on faith," he
said. "Jack Bailey hasn't a penny
that doesn't belong to him; the guilty
man will be known in a day or so."
"I shall beMeve that when it is
proved," I said grimly. "In the mean
time, I take no one on faith. The In
neses never do."
Gertrude, who had been standing
aloof at a window, turned suddenly,
"But when the bonds are offered for
sale, Halsey, won't the thief be de
tected at once?"
Halsey turned with a superior
smile.
"It wouldn't be done that way," h*
said. "They would be taken out of
the vault by some one who had accest
to it, and used as collateral for a loa»
in another bank. .It would be possible
to realize 80 per cent, of their fac«
value."
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Origin of "John Bull."
The name "John Bull," as applied ts
the English nation, was first made us-*
of iu a poem dated 1712.
TUBERCULOSIS IN THE PRISON
Per Cent, of Suffering Is Enormous
and There Seems but Ona
Remedy.
From several investigations that
have been made by the National As
sociation for the Study and Preven
tion of Tuberculosis it is estimated
that on an average about 15 per
cent, of the prison population of the
country is afflicted with tuberculosis.
On this basis, out of the 80,000 prison
ers housed in the penal Institutions
of the United States at any given
time, no less than 12,000 are infected
with the disease. If the Philippine
islands and other insular possessions
were taken into consideration the
number would be much larger. Some
of the prisons of Pennsylvania, Kan
sas and Ohio show such shocking con
ditions with reference to tuberculosis
that many wardens admit that these
places of detention are death traps.
Similar conditions could be found in
almost every state, and in the major
ity of cases the only sure remedy is
the destruction of the old buildings
and the erection of new ones.
LEG A MASS OF HUMOR
"About seven years ago a small
abrasion appeared on my right leg
Just above my ankle. It irritated me
so that I began to scratch it, and it
began to spread until my leg from my
ankle to the knee was one solid scale
like a scab. The irritation was always
worse at night and would not allow
me to sleep, or my wife either, and it
was completely undermining our
health. I lost fifty pounds in weight
and was almost out of my mind with
pain and chagrin as no matter where
the irritation came, at work, on the
street or in the presence of company,
I would have to scratch it until I had
the blood running down into my shoe.
I simply cannot describe my suffer
ing during those seven years. The
pain, mortification, loss of sleep, both
to myself and wife is simply inde
scribable on paper and one has to ex
perience It to know what it is.
"I tried all kinds of doctors and rem
edies but I might as well have thrown
my money down a sewer. They would
dry up for a little while and fill mo
with hope only to break out again Just
as bad if not worse. I had given up
hope of ever being cured when I was
Induced by my wife to give the Outl
cura Remedies a trial. After taking
the Cutlcura Remedies for a little
while I began to see a change, and
after taking a dozen bottles of Cutl
cura Resolvent in conjunction with
the Cuticura Soap and Cutlcura Oint
ment, the trouble had entirely disap
peared and my leg was as fine as the
day I was born. Now after a lapse of
six months with no signs of a recur
rence I feel perfectly safe In extend
ing to you my heartfelt thanks for the
good the Cuticura Remedies have done
for me. I shall always recommend
them to my friends. W. H. White,
E. Cabot St., Philadelphia, Pa., Feb.
and Apr. 13, 1909."
THE DOCTOR'S IDEA.
K?
Invalid —Doctor, I must positively
Insist upon knowing the worst.
Dr. Wise —Well, I gues3 my bill will
be about SBS.
In the Desert.
Here is a glimpse of the horrors of
a western desert taken from the Gold
flld (Nev.) News: "Another desert
victim is reported, and Archie Camp
bell, manager of the Last Chance
mining property, near Death valley,
came to Goldfield yesterday to en
deavor to establish the identity of the
unfortunate.
"Mr. Campbell encountered the un
known man on the desert in a fright
ful condition. He was in the last
stages of desert exhaustion, devoid
of clothing, sunburned, blistered and
crazed, with his tongue swollen enor
mously, a pitiable object, and unable
to speak.
"He was tenderly conveyed to camp
but kind aid came too late, for an
hour after he had absorbed the first
cup of water he expired."
And They Wondered!
Judge Nicholas Longworth, who used
to sit on Ohio's supreme bench, looked
unnaturally grave, and a neighbor, In
recognition of his facial depression,
named a pet owl "Judge Longworth."
It was the very next day that an ex
cited maid broke up his wife's garden
party. "Oh, madam," said she. "Ma
dam! Judge Longworth has laid an
egg."
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Munyon's Hair Invlgorator cures dandruff,
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If you have Dyspepsia, or any liver trouble,
Bs« Munyon's Paw-Paw Pills. They cure Bil
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Constipation
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Prompt Relief--Permanent Core
CARTER'S LITTLE
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Quaint Table Manners.
Jerome S. McWade, the Duluth mil
lionaire, talked at a dinner about the
delights of a backwoods vacation.
"I goto a quaint backwoods village
every summer," he said, "and number
less are the quaint people I meet
there.
"Old Boucher, for instance, the jan
itor of the village church, is most
amusing with his quaint ways. I had
old Boucher to lunch one day, and
the cold lobster was served with a
mayonnaise sauce. When my servant
offered this sauce to Boucher, the old
man stuck his knife in it, took up a
little on the blade, tasted it, then
shook his head and said:
" 'Don't choose none.' "
Another Tradition Exploded.
Two Englishmen were resting at the
"Red Horse Inn" at Stratford-on-Avon.
One of them discovered a print plo»
turing a low tumbling building under
neath which was printed: "The House
in Which Shakespeare Was Born."
Turning to his friend in nxMd surprise
he pointed to the print. His friend ex
hibited equal surprise, and called a
waiter, who assured them of the ac
curacy of the Inscription.
" 'Pon my word," said the observ
ing Englishman, shaking his head du
biously, "I thought he was born in a
manger!"— Success Magazine.
A Fitting Design. ..
"I want an estimate on 10,000 letter
heads," said the professional-looking
man with the silk hat.
"Any special design?" asked the en
graver.
"Yes, sir," replied the caller. "In
the upper left-hand corner I want a
catchy cut of Patrick Henry making
his memorable speech, and in dis
tinct letters, under the cut, his soul
insplrlng words, 'Give me tiberty or
give me death.' You see," he added,
handing a card to the engraver, "I'm
a divorce lawyer, and want some
thing fitting."—Lipplncott's.
The Summer Girl.
"How'd you like to be engaged to a
millionaire?"
"I was engaged to one all last sum
mer, and he seldom spent a dime. 1
want to be engaged to a young man
who is down here for two weeks with
about S3OO in his roll."
A woman tells her troubles to a
tor; a man tells his to a lawyer.
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