6
THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE
£e?mrV ❖
ROBERTS
❖ RINE
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
VOPTKICKT not OY MU -MXIMI'ca. J
SYNOPSIS.
Mini Times, spinster anil guardian of
Gervude ai. I Halsey, established sumnv r
heuil'iuartors at Sunnyside. The servant
<!• 'i-'iTi Oertrudo and Ilalsoy r.rrlve with
Jack Bailey. The house was awakened by
h revolver shut and Arnold Armstrong
was found sic t In death in the hall. Mis
Innes found Hulsey's revolver on tin
lawn. 111 and .la i< Bailey had disap
peared. Gertrude revealed thai she was
engaged to Jack Bailey, with whom she
talked In 'in- billiard room shortly before
the murder. I te< tive Jamleson accused
Mibs Innes of holding back evidence, lie
lmpr! ». tied an intruder in an empty room.
Tt.e | r sc:ped. Certrnde was sus
pp.t«,! ' of an Injured foot. Ilal
ley reappears and says hi- and Bailey
w "r" l al'td away by a telegram. Cashier
Bailey o! Paul Armstrong's hank, de
funct, was arrested for embezzlement.
Iviul .Vrnistr :ig's death was announced.
ll.* l "iy's liam ee. r.oulse Armstrong, told
Slalsey that while she still loved him. she
was marry another. It developed that
I">r. Wall er was the man. T..otii.se was
found at the bottom of the circular stair
case. Recovering consciousness, she said
something had brushed by her on the
stairway and she fainted. Bailey Is sus
pected of Armstrong's murder. After
seeing a ({host," Thomas, the lodgekcep
•r. was found dead with a slip In his
pocket bearing the name of "I.ucien Wal
lace." Dr. walker asked Miss Innes to
vacate in favor of Mrs. Armstrong. She
refused. A rjote from Bailey to Gertrude
arranging a meeting at night was found.
A ladder out of place deepens the mys
tery. The stables were burned. During
the' excitement a man stole into the house.
A search failed to reveal him Miss Innes
shot an intruder. A man limping was
seen on the road. Halsey mysteriously
disappeared. Doulse scenting danger be
fore bij absense whs noted.
CHAPTER XXV.— Continued.
"He's as dear to me as he is to you,"
she said sadly. "1 tried to warn him."
"Nonsense!" I said as briskly as I
could. "We are making a lot of trou
ble out of something perhaps very
small. Halsey was probablyllathe i
is always late. Any moment we may
hear the car coming up the road."
But it did not come. After a half
bour of suspense, Louise went out
quietly, and did not come back. I
hardly knew she was gone until I
heard the station hack moving off. At
11 o'clock the telephone rang. It was
Mr. Jamieson.
"I have found the Dragon Ply, Miss
Innes," he said. "It has collided with
a freight car on the siding above the
station. No, Mr. Innes was not there,
but we shall probably find him. Send
Warner for the car."
But they did not find him. At
four o'clock the next morning we were
still waiting for news, while Alex
patched the house and Sam the
grounds. At daylight I dropped into
exhausted sleep. Halsey had not come
back, and there was no word from the
detective.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Halsey's Disappearance.
Mr. Jamieson came back about
eight o'clock the next morning; he
■was covered with mud, and his hat
•was gone. Altogether we were a sad
looking trio that gathered around a
breakfast that no one could eat. Over
a cup of black coffee the detective
told us what he had learned of Hal
sey's movements the night before. Up
to a certain point the car had made it
easy enough to follow him. And I
gathered that Mr. Burns, the other de
tective, had followed a similar car
for miles at dawn, only to find it was
a touring ear on an endurance run.
"He left here about ten minutes aft
er eight," Mr. Jamieson said, "lie
went alone; at 8:20 he stopped at Dr.
Walker's. I went to the doctor's
about midnight, but he had been
called out on a case, and had not
come back at four o'clock. From the
doctor's it seems Mr. Innes walked
across the lawn to the cottage Mrs.
Armstrong and her daughter have
taken Mrs. Armstrong had retired,
and he said perhaps a dozen words to
Miss Louise. She will not say what
they were, but the girl evidently sus
poets what has occurred. That is, she
suspects foul play, but she doesn't
know of what nature. Then, appar
ently, he started directly for the sta
tion. Along somewhere in the dark
stretch betw«*< n Carol street and the
d» pot he evidently swerved suddenly
—perhaps some one in the road—and
went full into the side of a freight.
We found it there last night."
"He might hav< been thrown under
the train b> the force of the shock,"
1 said tremulously.
Gertrude . Uuddered
"We i n. in. iihil e\<>ry Inch of track
There no sign."
i "Hut sur«*l> he can't be -gone!" 1
cried At. n't there traces iu the
mud anything?"
"Tin rt is no mud -only dust. There
has bei n no rain And the footpath
theio I ot cii ih rs .Mis t It. nt', lam
liiclljt d to think that hi* has met with
bad lr> utile lit. In the light of what
bus fe!<no l>. ore. I do not lltlnk he
hi-, been ii rd<nd" 1 shrank from
tie word "Burns is hack in the conn
try on u eh'* we got fiuut Us night
clerk at the drtif store There will b
two more nieii Sere by mum, and the
City office Is on the loofcuut."
" I he i reek" " Gertrude u k.*d
"I he cr< ek is shallow now If it
w • .woi •' with run It would b>
d -.j i.i T! re Is baldly my wm r
•umiiiM tot n. I must u k you some
H'i"»iiuuM Hud Mr. Hale*? any pus
• l-net *a. I
a»4 jr gUOV bbluru,' It
[ky\ 1 KK
? \\ a
/ II 112 Vv? X
| I \
,'i ian
"Miss Armstrong Is Very 111 and Unable to See Any One."
persisted. "And you were as sure
then."
"He did not leave the Dragon Fly
jammed into the side of a freight car
before."
"No, but he left It for repairs in
a blacksmith shop, a long distance
from here. Do you know if he had
any enemies? Any one who might
wish him out of the way?"
"Not that I know of, unless —no, I
cannot think of any."
"Was he in the habit of carrying
money?"
"He never carried it far. No, he
never had more than enough for cur
rent expenses."
Mr. Jamieson got up then and be
gan to pace the room. It was an un
wonted concession to the occasion.
"Then I think we get at it by elim
ination. The chances are against
flight. If he was hurt, we find no
trace of him. It looks almost like an
abduction. This young Dr. Walker
—have you any idea why Mr. Innes
should have gone there last night?"
"I cannot understand it," Gertrude
said thoughtfully. "I don't think he
knew Dr. Walker at all, and —their re
lations could hardly have been cordial,
under the circumstances."
Jamieson pricked up his ears, and
little by little he drew from us the
unfortunate story of Halsey's love af
fair, and the fact that Louise was go
ing to marry Dr. Walker.
Mr. Jamieson listened attentively.
"There are some interesting devel
opments here," he said thoughtfully.
"The woman who claims to be the
mother of Lucien Wallace has not
come back. Your nephew has appar
ently been spirited away. There is an
organized attempt being made to en
ter this house; in fact, it has been
entered. Witness the incident with
the cook yesterday. And I have a
new piece of information." He looked
carefully away from Gertrude. "Mr
John Bailey is not at his Knicker
i bocker apartments, and I don't know
j where he is. It's a hash, that's what
lit is. It's a Chinese puzzle. They
I won't fit together, unless—unless Mr.
j Bailey and your nephew have again—"
And once again Gertrude surprised
1 me. "They are not together," she
! said hotly. "I—know where Mr. Bailey
Is, and my brother is not with him."
"Miss Gertrude," he said, "if you and
i Miss Louise would only tell me every
> thing you know and surmise about
this business, I should be able to do a
great many things. I believe I could
: tlnd your brother, and 1 might be able
i to- -well, to do some other things."
Hut Gertrude's glance did not falter.
"Nothing that I know could help
you to find Halsi-y," she said stubborn
ly "I know absolutely as little of his
disappearance as you do, and I can
only say this: I do not trust Dr.
Walker. I think he hated llalsey,
and he would get rid of him If he
could"
"Perhaps you are right. In fact, 1
had some such theory myself. Hut l»r
Walker went out lute hi t night to a
."•rlous in Summit villa, and I
Mill there I turns trac< d him there.
We ha\ made guarded Inquiry at tin
Greenwood club and through ih< vil
luge There Is absolutely nothing to
goon but thin; tin thu embankment
above the railroad, at the point where
we found the lu.iehlite, Is a small
house. AII ohl wuiuan and a daughter,
who Is very lante, live there They
»»y that Hoy distinctly heard th
shoek when th« Dragon Kly hit the
e,»i, and thejr Kelt to III* bottom o!
tfe. ir garden and to-k do» r. Tl«
automobile there, ihey euuld see
th« lights, arid they thought SOIIMI one
had been Injured It was very dark.
CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1910.
but they could make out two figures. I
standing together. The women were '
curious, and, leaving the fence, they j
went back and by a roundabout path j
down to the road. When they got !
there the car was still standing, the
headlight broken and the bonnet
crushed, but there was no one to be
seen."
The detective went away immedi
ately, and to Gertrude and me was '
left the woman's part, to watch and j
wait. By luncheon nothing had been
found, and I was frantic. I went up
stairs to Halsey's room finally, from
sheer inability to sit across from Ger
trude any longer and meet her terror- ;
filled eyes.
Liddy was in my dressing room, sus
piciously red-eyed and trying to put
a right sleeve in a left arm-hole of a
new waist for me. I was too much
shaken to scold.
"What name did that woman in the
kitchen give?" she demanded, vicious
ly ripping out the ofTending sleeve.
"Bliss. Mattie Bliss," I replied.
"Bliss. M. B. Well, that's not what
she has on her suitcase. It is marked
N. F. C."
The new cook and her Initials trou
bled me not all. I put on my bonnet
and sent for what the Casanova liv
eryman called a "stylish turnout."
Having once made up my mind to a
course of action, I am not one to turn
back. Warner drove me; he was
plainly disgusted, and he steered the
livery horse as he would the Dragon
Fly, feeling uneasily with his left foot
for the clutch, and working his right
elbow at an imaginary horn every
time a dog got in the way.
Warner had something on his mind,
and after we had turned into the road
ho voiced It.
"Miss Innes," he said. "I over
heard a part of a conversation yester
day that I didn't understand. It wasn't
my business to understand It, for that
matter. But I've been thinking all
day that I'd better tell you. Yesterday
afternoon, while you and Miss Ger
trude were out driving, I had got the
car in some sort of shape again after
the tire, and I went to the library to
call Mr. Innes to see It. I went into
the living room, where Miss Liddy
said he was.and half-way across the
library I heard him talking to some
one. He seemed to be walking up and
down, and he tn a rage, I can tell
you."
"What did he say?"
"The first thing I heard was -i \
cuse me. Miss Innes, but it's what he
said, 'The damned rascal.' lie said,
"I'll seu him In'—well. In hell was
what he said, 'ln hell first.' Th»n
somebody else spoke up; It was a
woman. She said: '! warned them,
hut ttiey thought I would be afraid."*
"A woman! I'ld you wait to *e« who
It was?"
"I wasn't spying, Miss Innes," War
ner said with dignity. "But then. Xt
tiling eaugl.t luy attention she said:
I'l knew th'-re was something wrong
| from the start. A man i*u t well one
| day, and dead the next, without hub*
| reason.' I thought *he was speak.ng
of Thomas "
| "And you don't know who It was!" I
I eielaimcd "Warm r >on hud tie k»y
Ito tills wl ll OMUVfI M In your
liandi and d' i lint see It!"
However. U re whs nothing to h«
don. I i- lv i to make inquiry
! when I got I .me. and In the mean
lime, my pre tent ■fraud ith >tihe<l nie
! I .no IHe Armstrong, and to attempt to
A 11. at It. lid HI A Ull 111 b IL but
she stood squarely in the doorway,
and it was impossible to preserve
one's dignity and pass her.
"Miss Armstrong is very ill and un
able to see any one," she said. I did
not believe her.
"And Mrs. Armstrong—is she also
ill?"
"She is with Miss Louise and can
not be disturbed."
"Tell her it is Miss Innes, and that it
is a matter of the greatest impor
tance."
"It would be of no use, Miss Innes,
my orders are positive."
At that moment a heavy step sound
ed on the stairs. Past the maid's
white-strapped shoulder I could see a
familiar thatch of gray hair, and in a
moment I was face to face with Dr.
Stewart. He was very grave, and his
customary geniality was tinged with
restraint.
' You are the very woman I want to
see," he said promptly. "Send away
your trap, and let me drive you home.
What is this about your nephew?"
"He has disappeared, doctor. Not
only that, but there is every evidence
that he has been either abducted or
—" I could not finish. The doctor
helped me into his capacious buggy
in silence. Until we had got a little
distance he did not speak; then he
turned and looked at me.
"Now tell me all about it," ho said.
He heard me through without speak
j ing.
"And you think Louise knows some
thing?" he said when I had finished.
"I don't —in fact, lam sure of it. The
best evidence of it is this: She asked
me if he had been heard from, or if
anything had been learned. She won't
allow Walker in the room, and sha
made me promise to see you and tell
you this: don't give up the search for
him. Find him, and find him soon.
He is living."
"Well," I said, "If she knows that,
she knows more. She is a very cruel
and ungrateful girl."
"She is a very sick girl," he said
I gravely. "Neither you nor I can
; judge her until we know everything.
Roth she and her mother are ghosts of
i their former selves. Under all this,
] these two sudden deaths, this bank
j robbery, the invasions at Sunnyside
and Halsey's disappearance, there is
some mystery that, mark my words,
will come out some day. And when
it does, we shall find Louise Arm
strong a victim."
Then we drove slowly home. I had
< the doctor put me down at the gate,
and I walked to the house —past the
lodge where we had found Louise, and,
later, poor Thomas; on the drive
where I had seen a man watching the
lodge and where, later, Rosie had been
frightened; past the east entrance,
j where so short a time before the most
obstinate effort had been made to en
| ter the house, and where, that night
two weeks ago, Liddy and I had seen
the strange woman. Not far from the
west wing lay the blackened ruins of
the stables. I felt like a ruin myself
as I paused on the broad veranda be
' fore I entered the house.
Two private detectives had arrived
in my absence, and it was a relief to
turn over to them the responsibility
1 I 'lf !!■
3^ *
: '-flw'
j | /. 7
If
I u"
Gertrude.
of tie hou " and grounds M. Ja it tie
son. they sulci, had arranged for uior*
to as- !st iu the search lor the uilss>u|
man, and at that time the country
( being scoured in all directions.
Th" household staff was again de
pleted that afternoon. I.lddy was wait
ing tot' ll me that the n> w cook had
gone, bag and burgage, without wait
ing to b< paid. No on< had admitted
the visitor whom Warier had heard
, in 11..- lit In >. Mhm, possibly. >i>*
tiilhxing cook Again Iwu working ta
a cm 1.-
Hl* Little Jok«,
"I'm s«>! ry, old tui u, "aid the duel**
. «l .!t t, * lit t I . H I ■( »♦»•
eiiloiuft .n lull we I I u> reuiov*
"Will I Set belter*" «»k»4 the HUM
fevbly.
"Vm. your« all right now Tm
|. •< '• !.< tin with kki : w »»t u. tfe
§ra*%"
KING OfJHE COCOS
Bachelor of 30 Inherits Throne
and Vast Estate.
!• Absolute Monarch Over Malaya
Inhabiting the Cocos Keeling
Group of Islands—Capital
Has Population of 700.
London.—His Majesty, Sidney I, the
new King of the Cocos Keeling
Islands, Is in London engaged over
the administration of the affairs of the
late king, his father, whose estate has
just been proved at the value of over
$1,000,000, exclusive of his properties
in the islands.
The new king received a representa
tive of the London Leader in the ante
room of a city office in YVhittington
avenue, and consented to be inter
viewed with a readiness that is re
markable, to say the least of it, on
the part of a reigning monarch.
King Sidney is a tall, spare young
man of about 30, as brown as a
beechnut, with high cheek bones,
close-cropped black hair, a carefully
trained mustache, and a soft, caress
ing voice. He was completely dis
guised in well-fitting clothes of gray
and patent leather boots. An enor
mous emerald glowed upon the little
finger of his left hand —a jewel such
as none but a king dare wear, and
from his watch chain dangled a medal
of gold, struck in commemoration of
the discovery of the Cocos Keeling
islands in the early days of the seven
teenth century.
"Pray be seated," said his Majesty,
producing an aromatic cigarette. "The
court 1 receive here is quite unoffi
cial, I assure you. At the royal pal
ace of New Selma it might be differ
ent " He waved his hand airily.
"I ain plain Mr. Sidney Clunies Ross
here; and when I get to Cocos I shall
have quite enough of kingship to last
me a lifetime. It's true that when I
am at home I shall be a king with
more power than most monarchs, with
a royal palace that cost a fortune to
build, with my own laws to administer
in my own way, and no ministry to
worry me.
"In my kingdom," continued his Ma
jesty, "there are neither police nor
A Native's Mansion.
soldiery. I am chief magistrate and
commander-in-chief as well as king,
just as my father was before me. I
settle all disputes, civil, ecclesiastical
and moral! I may tell you that as
'heir apparent' Iran the regency in
my late father's absence, and so serv
ed a useful apprenticeship to the busi
ness 1 am now succeeding to. I think
I've got the hang of the islands, so to
speak, and I don't anticipate any trou
ble when I come into my kingdom.
The principles of government have
been simplified since my great-grand
father reigned as first king of the
Cocos Keeling group.
"We are strictly a moral communi
ty. No drunkenness is allowed, and
beyond the Utile whisky that is doled
out from the palace, no intoxicating
liquors are obtainable on the islands.
There was a time, not so long ago,
when the natives manufactured their
own fire water. They brewed a con
coction from cocovuti, which they
called 'pahu toddy.' They got drunk
on It—nastily drunk —and the result
was a law prohibiting every possible
variety of palm toddy. Today, so far
as 1 know, there isn't a drop of that
toddy obtainable on the islands."
His Majesty went onto describe
the principal city of the island group
and Its domestic life. New Selma la
1 Its name, and Its population Is barely
#'o all, wlh two or threw exceptions.
Malays, of whom Itiin, the Queen
Mother, Is one. New Selma boasts a
modern school In which Arabic and a
tittle Kngllsh are taught, and the
• young idea Is trained in the tenets of
1 Mohametaiilsm. which Is the religion
>f ull proper Malayans. All murrylng
and giving In marriage has to be done
through the New Melma registry office
—after his Majesty has approved of
the union. To understand the divorce
laws of the kingdom It Is perhaps
nee* -*»ry to be a Helman; they
ire a little complicated. .I.lke his
futher before htm, the new king was
sent to Scotland (the hoiue of bis an
ivslors) to be educated.
It will bo only In mwmnlmic# wl*h
the flu of things If King Hid lev
I marries lu the Islands, an Ills forbear*
' did ills grandfather married the
| beautiful Nlnla Dupong. a Malay *f
tarly (toiler Hoik.
0,1 4f iii a n)d tm iit* tuuil la W njinlll
SAVED
FROM All
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ji!;- /jjjjM"*" 1 had pains down
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• ¥?'•'' backache, and a
1 wv' weakness. The doc-
< — J /' tur wanted me to
■*" have another opera
. tion. I took Lydla E. vegeta/
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/ '' \ \ kl® Compound and
I. /'-' / ( • lam entirely cured
—l' If / ' „—lof my troubles."—
Mrs. ATTGTJSTE VESFEMIAXW, De Jor
est, Wisconsin.
Another Operation Avoided.
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Finally I was confined to my bed and.
the doctor said an operation was r.ecea.
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Orleans, La.
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If yon want special advice abont
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Thompson's Eyo Water
He Was a Boston Boy.
"Your little boy must be very In
telligent," said a visitor to a Boston
school teacher whose live year-old sou
was forming Greek words with build
ing blocks.
"Intelligent!" exclaimed the proud
parent. "He Is phenomenally gifted.
As an example of his early erudition,
what do you suppose were the first
words he ever spoke?"
"'Papa' and 'mamma?'"
"Stuff and nonsense!" ejaculated the
father, in a tone of disgust. "Why, the
day he was 12 months old he suddenly
laid down his algebra and said to me:
'Father, the longer I live the more In
dubitable proofs I perceive that there
is in Boston as much culture to the
square inch as there ever was tn the
ambient area of ancient Athens!' "
An Awful Moment.
The company always included many
delightful women, and I remember the
consternation caused among them one
day by Burnham, the scout. He ex
plained that he attributed his success
as a scout to the acuteness of his
sense of smell; It was like a blood
hound's.
"There's no one here today," he
affirmed, "who at any time anywhere
in the future 1 could not recognize in
the dark. Yes, I could tell you, and
you, and you," nodding at an alluring
group in modish apparel, "by the way
you smell."
For an awful moment the conversa
tion flagged.—McClure's.
STOPPED SHORT
Taking Tonics, and Built Up on
Right Food.
The mistake is frequently made of
trying to build up a worn out nervous
system on so-called tonics —drugs.
New material from which to rebuild
wasted nerve ceils is what should be
supplied, ai.d this can be obtained
only from proper food.
"Two years ago 1 found-myself on
the verge of a compWe uervoua col
lapse, due to overwork and study, and
to Illness In the family," writes a Wis
consin young mother.
"My friends became alarmed be
cause 1 grew palu and thin and could
not sl<»ep nights. I took various tonics
proscribed by physicians, but their
eff< cts wore off shortly after I
■topped taking them. My food di 4
not seem to nourish mo aud 1 gained
Bo fleah nor blood
"Heading of Crape-Nuts, Id»
!• rutin* d to stop the ton sand see
what a ch.tngt) of diet would do. I
ate drape-Nuts four times a day,
*ith TF HIU and drank milk al >, »eh|
• h«4 < i»rly after Mtlßf a dish of
"111 about two woks I was r|ue|l|tlg
school last »inng on avouix ••{
» route t i..»»li ha . .I. >e <i I in a
I if ut i ' i> < i t<i m tin
' iflvifll