6 THt CIRCULAR STAIRCASE BV MARY ❖ ROBERTS ❖ RZNEHART tiLuamvorte by tofrfi/cnr /nog OY ITARJYI nrnta/ca. T SYNOPSIS. Miss Tnnes, spinster and guardian of Gertrude and llalsey, established summer headquarters at Sunnyside. Amidst nu merous difficulties llu servants deserted. As Miss Innes locked up for the night she was startled by a dark ligure on the veranda. I ns-' mly noises disturbed her during 'lie night. In the morning Miss Innes found u strange link cuff-button In a hamper. Gertrude ami Halsey arrived with Jack nail. y. The house, was awak ened liy a revolver shot and Arnold Arm strong was found shot to death in the lm!l. Miss Innes found llalsey's revolver on the lawn, lie and Jacl< Bailey had dis appeared The link cuff-button mysteri ouslv disappeared. Detective Jamiesoil arrived. Gertrude revealed she was en gaged to .lack Hailey, with whom she | talked in the billiard room a few mo- | ments before tlie murder. Jamieson ac cused Miss Innes of holding back evi dence. lie imprisoned an intruder in an empty room. The prisoner escaped down a laundrj chute. Gertrude was suspected. A negro found the other half of what proved to he Jack Bailey's cuff-button. Halsey reappears and says he and Bailey left in response to a telegram. Gertrude said she had given Bailey an unloaded revolver, fearing to give him a loaded weapon. Cashier Bailey of Paul Arm strong's bank, defunct, was arrested for embezzlement. Halsey said Armstrong wrecked his own bank and could clear Bailey. Paul Armstrong's death was an nounced. Halsey's fiancee, Louise Arm strong, Was found at the lodge. The lodg'-keeper said Louise and Arnold had a long talk the night of the murder. I.ou lse was prostrated. Louise told Halsey, that while she still loved him she was to marry another, and that he would despise her when he learned the whole story. CHAPTER XlV.—Continued. Gertrude and Halsey went for a long walk that afternoon and Louise slept. Time hung heavy on my hands, and I did as I had fallen into a habitj of doing lately—l sat down and thought things over. One result of my meditations was that I got up sud denly and went to the telephone. I had taken the most intense dislike to this Dr. Walker, whom I had never seen, and who was being talked of in the countryside as the fiance of Louise Armstrong. I knew Sam Huston well. There had been a time, when Sam was a good deal younger than he is now, be fore he had married Anne Endicott, when I knew him even better. So now I felt no hesitation in calling him over the telephone. Hut when his office boy had given way to his confidential clerk, and that functionary had conde scended to connect his employer's desk telephone, I was somewhat at a loss as to how to begin. "Why, how are you, Rachel?" Sam •said sonorously. "Going to build that j house at Rock View?" It was a 20- j year-old joke of his. "Sometime, perhaps," I said. "Just j now I want to ask you a question J about something which is none of my business." "I see you haven't changed an iota In a quarter of a century, Rachel." This was intended to be another jest. "Ask ahead: everything but my do mestic affairs is at your service." "Try to be serious," I said. "And tell me this: Has your firm made any plans for a bouse recently for a Dr. Walker at Casanova?" "Yes, \v< have." "Where was it to be built? I have a reason for asking." "It was to be, 1 believe, on the Arm- Ktrona; place. Mr. Armstrong himself consulted nie, and the inference was —in fact. I am quite certain —the house was to be occupied by Mr. Arm strong's daughter, who was engaged to marry Dr. Walker." When the architect had inquired for the different, members of my family, and had finally rune off. I was certain of one thins Iconise Armstrong was in love with llalsey, and the man she was going to marry was Dr. Walker. Moreover, this decision was not new; marriage had been contemplated for some tlui» There must certainly be -iome explanation but what was It? That day I repeated to leonine the telegram Mr Harton bad opened. She seemed to understand, but an unhap pier fac« I have never seen. She looked like a criminal win me reprieve is over, and the day of execution ap proaching. CHAPTER XV. Liddy Give* the Alarm. The next day. Friday, Gertrude broke tin- news of her stepfather's d-Hth tu Ismi-e She did it a- gently an ah" could, tellintt her tlrxt that he was very 111, and flnally that he was dead received the news in the must unexpected maimer, and when Gertrude came out to tell me IMM ' • : I i 1 •<>d it. IMM lit almost »ho« ked "Sin jiiat lay and «iured at me, Sunt Hm> " she said "lv> you know I believe she Is Iliad Klud' Atid She else What sort of a mm Mas Mr Pkui VnitairoM. an)ho* *" "H «w » bully as well as a ran cat, Gertrude," I -aid "Hut lam ma vim i d of one Hum will a* ml far Hal V now and they will uiakt Km limine ItaU steadily refused lc KM till *ll that day, and th« Im» beta ur lie »trl aud Ih iv *4k> i »I»4 • • I ail u« >* u iit« »i« a ttli lei U 4a» I'-im* Mv WNH * I A 4 iU 4 ' ** Mlt t|M face in the shadow, and my heart fair ly ached for him. He was so big and boyish! When I had finished he drew a long breath. "Whatever Louise does," he said, "nothing will convince me. Aunt Ray, that she doesn't care for me. And up to two months ago, when she and her mother went west, I was the happiest fellow on earth. Then something made a differenfce; she wrote me that her people were opposed to the mar riage; that her feeling for me was what it had always been, but that something had happened which had changed her ideas as to the future. I was not to write until she wrote me, iuid whatever occurred, I was to think the best I could of her. It sounded like a puzzle. When I saw her yes terday, it was the same thing, only, perhaps, worse." "Halsey," I asked, "have you any idea of the nature of the interview between Louise Armstrong and Arn old the night he was murdered?" "It was stormy. Thomas says once or twice he almost broke into the room, he was so alarmed for Louise." "Another thing, Halsey," I said, "have you ever heard Louise mention a woman named Carrington, Nina Car rington?" "Never," lie said positively. For try as we would, our* thoughts always came back to that fatal Satur day night, and the murder. Every con versational path led to it, and we all felt that Jamieson was tightening the threads of evidence around John Bailey. The detective's absence was hardly reassuring; he must have had something to work on in town or he would have returned. ■■ "We Had a Quiet Hour," Halsey and I. The papers reported that the cash ier of the Traders' bank was ill in his apartments at the Knickerbocker —a condition not surprising, considering everything. The guilt of the defunct president was no longer In doubt; the missing bonds had been advertised and some of them discovered. In every instance they hail been used as collateral for large loans, and the belief was current that not less than j a million and a half dollars had been realizt d Kvery one connected with the bank had been placed under ar rest, and released on heavy boud. Was he alone in his guilt, or was the cashier his accomplice? Where was the money? The estate of the dead man was comparatively small — a city house on a fashionable street, a large estate largely mortgaged, an insurance of |.",i),000, and oiue personal property this was all The rest lost in speculation prob ably, the papers said. There was one ; i ihi IIK which looked tint omfortablu for j Jack Haliey: II - and Paul Armstrong i together bad promoted a railroad com ' puny iu N< w Mexico, and it was ru mored that together they had sunk > Inige sums of money there. The busi ness alliance between the two iu«n ■ added to the belief that llailay knew : torn* thing of the loot ing Ills uiit-x ! ' idaim-d ah nee from tU<- hauk on Monday I- at color to th« su-plrion igainM him The strange thing tied to le |»u surrendering himself 'in He polllt of de| .rtur«i 111 lor, It *I IIK d lli'- shrewd •ah illation of a It set' ra al I was not aetlt> ly an lie to Qerirude » lover, but I uieant to tie com lueed, ok« way or tkt it her I took no one on faith. That night the riunuyside about b«? (ail to iiiili again l«id«ly had been I 4i« ping in laiulse * di easing room on , j 4 I IIUI hand the approach u( dusk i signal for her to barricade itu ; utii■ n giluaied aa It wan, be rond ih» 'in alar atniriaa#, nothing > got an >in <-hi it) ul eielteHtani wuslil j *«» iu4i|ti her (411 it alter datk I il ii, 4( Ike I'Ukii «V4VUIVIL | CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1910. tome to have a sinister appearance,but we kept that wing well lighted, and until the lights went out at midnight it was really cheerful, if one did not know its history. On Friday night, then, I had gone to bet], resolved togo at once to sleep. Thoughts that insisted on obtruding themselves I pushed resolutely to the back of my mind, and I systematically relaxed every muscle. I fell asleep soon, and was dreaming that Dr. Walker was building his new house immediately in front of my windows; I could hear the thump-thump of the hammers, and then I waked to a knowledge that somebody was pound ing on my door. I was up at once, and with the sound of my footstep on the floor the low knocking ceased, to be followed immediately by sibilant whispering through the keyhole. "Miss Rachel! Miss Rachel!" some body was saying, over and over. "Is that you, Liddy?" I asked, my hand on the knob. "For the love of mercy, let me in!" she said in a low tone. She was leaning against the door, for when I opened it, she fell in. She was greenish-white, and she had a red and black barred flannel petticoat over her shoulders. "Listen," she said, standing in the middle of the floor and holding onto me. "Oh, Miss Rachel, it's the ghost of that dead man hammering to get in!" Sure enought, there was a dull thud —thud —thud —it came apparently from the wall. "It's not a ghost," I said decidedly. "If it was a ghost it wouldn't rap; it would come through the keyhole." Liddy looked at the keyhole. "Hut It sounds very much as though some one is trying to break Into the* house." Llddy was shivering vlolent'y. I told her to get me my slippers and she brought me a pair of kid gloves, so I found my things myself and pre pared to call lialsey. As before, the night alarm had found the electric : lights gone; the hall, save for its night lamp, was In darkness, as I went across to llalsey's room. I hardly know what I feared, but It was a re lief to find him there, very sound asleep, ami with his door unlocked. "Wake up, lialaujr," I said, shaking him. lie stirred a little, l.iddy was half in and half out of the door, afraid an usual to be left alone, and not quite daring to enter Her scruples teemed to fade, however, ull at once. She gave a suppressed yell, bolted Into the room and stood tightly clutching the foot board of the bed. lialsey was gradually waking. "I've seen It," Ltlddy wailed "A woman In white down the hall!" I paid no attenduu. "lialsey." 1 p«-rseveiud, "some one Is breaking Into the house, (kt up, won't you?" "It isu't our house,"he said sleep! ly. And ih>u be roused to the t>xi i gency of the occasion "All right, Aunt Hay," he »uld, still yawning "If you'll let uie |»l into aoun thiug " It was all I could do to get l.iddy out of th>- room, The dwinsiids of tin oct tiaiou had no influence on b#f; sh» ' had seen the ghost, she pei ..i.,n <|, and abu wasn't going lulu the ball Hut I got her oter to my ru<«n at la«i, more dead than alive, and made h«r He down "h the bad The tappings. which aeeitted lu have ceased fur a while, had I'MUIBIHH U>L again, hut th<y w>ie falnut lialsey j t ami* uver in a few tumuii», and stood ! listening and trying to I<M«tu tie sound Utvu mm tuy r*»ol»ei .%unt itay." | b« »aM, «'»4 I vee 4 had found in the tulip bed —and gave it to him. He saw Liddy there and divined at once that Louise was alone. "You let me attend, to this fellow, whoever it is, Aunt Ray, and goto Louise, will you? She may be awake and alarmed." So in spite of lier protests, I left Liddy alone and went back to the east wing. Perhaps I went a little faster past the yawning blackness of the circular staircase; and I could hear Halsey creaking cautiously down the main staircase. The rapping, or pounding, had ceased, and the silence was almost painful. And then sud denly, from apparently under my very feet, there rose a woman's scream, a cry of terror that broke off as sudden ly as it came. I stood frozen and still. Every drop of blood in my body seemed to leave the surface and gath er around my heart. In the dead si lence that followed it throbbed as if it would burst. More dead than alive, I stumbled into Louise's bedroom. Sho was not there! CHAPTER XVI. In the Early Morning. I stood looking at the empty bed. The coverings had been thrown back, and Louise's pink silk dressing-gown was gone from the foot, where it had lain. The night lamp burned dimly, revealing the emptiness of the place. I picked it up, but my hand shook so that I put it down again, and got somehow to the door. There were voices in the hall and Gertrude came running toward me. "What is it?" she cried. "What was that sound? Where is Louise?" "She is not in her room," I said stupidly. "I think —it was she—who screamed." Liddy had joined us now, carrying a light. We stood huddled together at the head of the circular staircase, looking down into its shadows. There was nothing to be seen, and it was absolutely quiet down there. Then we heard Halsey running up the main staircase. He came quickly down the hall to where we were standing. "There's no one trying to get in. I thought I heard some one shriek. Who was it?" Our stricken faces told him the truth. "Some one screamed down there," I said. "And—and Louise is not in her room." With a jerk Halsey took the light from Liddy and ran down the circular staircase. I followed Llm, more slow ly. My nerves seemed to be in a state of paralysis; I could scarcely step. At the foot of the stairs Halsey gave an exclamation and put down the light. "Aunt Ray," he called sharply. At the foot of the staircase, hud dled in a heap, her head on tho lower stair, was Louise Armstrong. She lay limp and white, her dressing-gown dragging loose from one sleeve of her night-dress, and the heavy braid of lier dark hair stretching its length a couple of steps above her head, as If she had slipped down.. She was not dead; Halsey put her • down on the floor and began to rub her cold hands, while Gertrude and I Liddy ran for stimulants. As for me, I sat there at the foot of that ghostly staircase —sat, because my knees wouldn't hold me—and wondered where it would all end. Louise was still unconscious, but she was breath ing better, and I suggested that we get her back to bed before she came ; to. There was something grisly and horrible to me, seeing her there in almost the same attitude and in the same place where we had found her brother's body. And to add to the similarity, just then the hall clock, far off, struck faintly three o'clock. It was four before I/ouise was able to talk, and the first rays of dawn were coming through her windows, KN« hay limp and White. which la*« d the uast, bidets she emit tell us t'oh»r> utly what had I giVu It >!■«» told tt. Whli ley piuyiKd In l>ud, und i kt b> ede in r, uut• i. ( n. ii uiel ).< Id hi r beni while she talked i*ru Mi. OUNVtMUKI*» Uewg in Kverytntiif Whatever kappun# It anybul > g iit*> b> tuin>d ta hweetUui teswite Well Mutsma INJURED IN WRECK. Conductor Thrown Down 25 Fool Emb'ankment. George Hahn, C. & N. W. conductor, Arbor Ave., West Chicago, 111., says: "1 was thrown from a car down a 25- foot embankment and my kidneys were badly bruised. Kidney trouble t developed and for a whole year, I was un able to work. I suf fered agonizing paina In my back and the kidney secretions were in terrible con dition. My vitality gradually diminished and the doctor's treat ment failed to help. When in despair I-Legan with Doan's Kidney Pills and fcoon improved. Continued use cured me and at present my health is ex cellent." Remember the name—Doan's. For sale by all dealers. 50 cents a box. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y. Unfair. Senator John H. Bankhead, discus sing a political move, said with a smile: "Oh, it's too coldly calculated. It's almost unfair. In fact, it's like Mrs. Blank. "Mrs. Blank is a leader of Bar Har bor society. Her husband said to her, one afternoon, as she made a very elaborate toilet for a garden party that she w r as giving to somo members of the British legation: " 'Why did you write to all our guests that this party was to be absolutely in formal?' "Mrs. Blank laughed. " 'So as to be the best-dressed wom an present, of course,' she said." A Happy Husband. "Our house used to smell soapy and steamy wash day," say-s a well-known man, "but since my wife began buying Easy Task laundry soap, there Is no more of that. I've investigated that soap and find it is made of purest cocoanut oil, cleanest tallow, borax and naphtha, and that it not only cleans, but antisepticises clothes, cooking ves sels and everything else washed with it. We tried it first by buying two cakes for ten cents, with the under standing that our money would be re funded if it didn't make good. Of course, it made good." Not Impregnable. Horace Avory, K. C., just appointed a judge, is one of the mordant wits of the British bar. One day, cross-ex amining a recalcitrant witness, he asked: "What are you?" "A retired gentleman," proudly as serted the ex-cheesemonger. "Well," snarled Avery, "when you achieved the position of gentleman, why did you retiro from it?" Does Engineering Work. Mile. Bandurin is superintendent of an engineering firm in Russia. She was graduated from the Women's Technological Institute in St. Peters burg, and has had practical expe rience in engineering. She built a steel warehouse for an army co-oper ative society, has been assistant en gineer in building a bridge across the I Neva and has done other Important I work. Remarkable Young Lady. From a l'euilleton: "Her voice was ! low and soft; but once again, as Janet | Fenn withdrew from the room and closed the door after her, the fiendish j gleam came into her odorless eyes." "If we hear any more of Janet we will let you know." —Punch. A Business Transaction. "So Mr. Penniwise married his typ ist!" said Miss Cayenne. "Yes." "1 wonder whether she gains an al ; lowanee or ho merely saves a salary V J —Washington Star. PRESSED HARD. Coffee's Weight on Old Age. Whrn prominent men realize the In ' jurious effects of coffee and the change In health that l'ostum can bring, they are glad to lend their testimony for i the benefit of others. A superintendent of public schools ! in a Southern state says: "My moth er, since her early childhood, was an ■ Inveterate coffee drinker, had been ■ troubled with her heart for a number of years and complained of that 'weak : all over' feeling and hick stomach. "Some time ago I was making au of | Octal visit to a distant part of tho country and took dinner with one of the merchants of the place I noticed I u somewhat peculiar flavor of the cof- I fee, and asked him concerning it. He ! r< plied that It was Postum. I was so 1 pleaned with it that, altei the uieai was ; over, I bought a packagu to carry I hotue with me, and had wife pre i pare some for the next meal; the hole Mildly liked It mo well thai we discontinued coffee and used l'< ~unit entirely. "1 hud really b< < n at times verf I noxious coiu-eruing my mother's cou- I illtlon but we noticed that after using I I'us turn tor a short time, she felt »o I intuit better thsn khu did prior to its u»e. sud h.td little trouble with her { heart ami no sick stomach that the ' headache* «> ru nut »o fti 'lueßl, aii'l j her federal voadtttuu much improved j ThU eon tin tied until *h. »** as well j and hearty as the rest u( its. I"I know Post urn has benefited wy j M«|f and the other muni- r* of ib» fam ily, hut In a more mark' 4 degree in t» it« itt 01) ninth, 1 c* »h« was % I »#r ihr «!••*%« Mfi* »**». «*• 11**Mt «!•»* •»* Hi** »*•» ftf« i'MulWt, IIM*. full m| lIMUMMI I !«!##*•( BUSY THEN. The Private Citizen—A general has an easy time after the war is over. The General —Not for very long, though. You soon have applications for your autograph and invitations to banquets. TINY BABY'S PITIFUL CASE "Our baby when two months old was suffering with terrible eczema from head to foot, all over her body. The baby looked just like a skinned rabbit. We were unable to put clothes 011 her. At first it seemed to be a few mattered pimples. They would break the skin and peel off leaving the un derneath skin red as though it wera scalds. Then a few more pimples would appear and spread all over tha body. leaving the baby all raw without skin from head to foot. On top of her head there appeared a heavy scab a quarter of an inch thick. It was aw ful to see so small a baby look as she did. Imagine! The doctor was afraid to put his hands to the child. Wo tried several doctors' remedies but all failed. "Then we decided to try Cuticura. By using the Cuticura Ointment we softened the scab and it came off. Un der this, where the real matter was, by washing with the Cuticura Soap and applying the Cuticura Ointment, a new skin soon appeared. We also gave baby four drops of the Cuticura Resolvent three times dally. After three days you could see the baby gaining a little skin which would peel off and heal underneath. Now the baby is four months old. She is a fine picture of a fat little baby and all is well. We only used one cake of Cuti cura Soap, two boxes of Cuticura Oint ment and one bottle of Cuticura Re solvent. If people would know what Cuticura is there would be few suffer ing with eczema. Mrs. Joseph Koss mann, 7 St. John's Place, Ridgewood Heights, N. Y.. Apr. 30 and May 4, '09." Outlining Treatment. "I want you to take care of my practise while I am away." "But, doctor, I have Just graduated. Have had little experience." "You don't need it with my fashion able patients. Find out what they have been eating and stop it. Find out where they have been summering and send 'em somewhere else." Resinol is Appreciated and Highly Recommended by Intelligent People in All Parts of the World. I highly recommend Resinol Oint ment to all persons who are troubled with skin eruptions of any kind. I have found these preparations most useful and efficacious in many cases. M. F. Ryan, Bedford Sq., London. Local Enterprise. Tourist —Why do you call 'his a vol cano? I don't believe it lias had an eruption for a thousand years! Guide—Well, the hotel managers in this region club together and keep a fire going in it every year during the season.—Meggendorfer Blaetler. Important to Mothers Examine cart-fully every bottle ot CASTORIA, a safe and sure remedy for Infants and children, and »>ee that it Signature In T'se For Over !)U Years. The Kind You Have Always Bought. There Is genius and power in per sistence. —Orison Swett Marden. Mrs. WliMiow'R Soothluir lynp. Knrrh it. 11 u<. iihti. r . r..lu. <.!P Ymir truly great are notoriously not happy. J. Snnlth. TRY MURINE EYE R?IKIEDV For Red, Weak, We..ry,W»t«r>r Ejei and ■ \ GRANUL.ATFDEYEt.IDS H Murine Ik)e.-«i'tSmart—Soothe.- Eye I'uin Dnuiwta S«ll Maria* Era liauJi. Lmuial, Ik, S0«, tl tl Mu. i'y* HaJva, in Aaapn. I ' • * I ■ * *,\t HOOKS AND AUVU K I II! t: tIY MAIL Murine Eye Remedy Co., Chicago DR. J. D. KELLOGG 8 ASTHMA Remedy for tho prompt rullut of A.Unu.i .nut Hiiy F««iir. A. k your tlroUKint for It. Miiita lur Mtt uMl'lk. NOHTHHUf A LYMAN CO, Ltd . BUFFALO, N T. (!lovoluiid hirci lon TRUSSES C' " NU I M.IHUUH. u* Put tu §»•*•»••'* PATENTS •a » DUtU » «• «*»4, FLORIDA Vt 4, IANM M*
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers