6 THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE ❖ ; ROBERTS ❖ RisrtiAßT ; ILLUSTRATIONS BY , tbPrtVCHT /fC» Or OO&Ai niRRIiJciX T SYNOPSIS. < ns innes, spinster and guardian of | G-rtru.lc .in.l ilalaey, established sum rner headquarters at Sunnyside. Arnold 1 Ai'iiriilong was found shot to death in , the hull. Hertrude and her Mance, Jack Bailey, had conversed in the billiard < i,,.an shortly before the murder. Detec- , the Jamieson accused Miss Innes of hold ins back evidence. Cashier Bailey of Paul 1 Armstrong's hank, defunct, was arrested ] for embezzlement. Paul Armstrong's death was announced, Tlalsey's fiancee, * Louise Armstrong, told Halsey that while she still loved him. she was to marry an- . other. It developed tiiat Dr. Walker was 1 the min Louise was found unconscious ( at the bottom of the circular staircase. She said something had brushed by her in the dark on the stairway and she , fainted Bailey is suspected of Arm strong's murder. Thomas, the lodgekeep er, was found dead with a note in his pocket bearing the name "Luolen Wal lace." A ladder found out of place deep- ' ons the mystery. The stables were : burned, and in the dark Miss Innes shot an intruder. Halsey mysteriously disap peared. His auto was found wrecked by a freight train. It developed Halsey had an argumejit In the library with a woman before his disappearance. New cook dis appears. Miss Innes learned Halsey was alive, nr. Walker's face becomes livid at mention of the name of Nina Carring ton Evidence was secured from a tramp that a man, supposedly Halsey, had been bound and gagged and thrown into an ' entpty box car. Gertrude was missing. Hunting for her. Miss Innes ran into a man and fainted. A confederate of Dr. Walker confessed his part in the mys tery. CHAPTER XXlX.—Continued. "She struck me as being an ugly customer, and when she left, about 11 o'clock, and went across to the Arm strong place, I was not far behind her. She walked all around the house first, looking up at the windows. Then she rang the bell, and the minute the door ■was opened she was through it, and into the hall." "How long did she stay?" "That's the queer part of it," Riggs said eagerly. "She didn't come out j that night at all. 1 went to bed at daylight, and that was the last I heard of her until the next day, when I saw her on a truck at the station, covered with a sheet. She'd been struck by the express and you would hardly have known her —dead, of course. 1 think she stayed all night in the Armstrong house, and the agent said she was crossing the track to take the up- f -Miin to town when the express struck her." "Another cl*o!e!" I exclaimed. "Then we are just where we started." "Not so bad as that, Miss Innes," Riggs said eagerly. "Nina Carrington came from the town in California where Mr. Armstrong died. Why was the doctor so afraid of her? The Car rington woman knew something. I lived with Dr. Walker seven years, and I know him well. There are few things he is afraid of. I think he killed Mr. Armstrong out in the west some where, that's what I think. What else he did I don't know—but he dismissed me and pretty nearly throttled me— for telling Mr. Jatnieson here about Mr. Innes' having been at his office the night he disappeared and about my' hearing them quarreling." "What was it Warner overheard the woman say to Mr. Innes in the li brary?" the detective asked me. "She said I knew thefc? was some thing wrong from the start. A man isn't well one day and dead the next, without some reason.' " How perfectly it all seemed to fit! CHAPTER XXX. When Churchyards Yawn. I) was on Wednesday lliggs told us the tory of his connection with some lucid' : ' • that lih<) been previously utr explained llalsi'y had been gone since the Friday night before, and with tin- passage of each day I felt that lie might bi» carried thousands of miles In the box-car, locked in. per- ! hai , without waiter or food. I had r-ud of ei, . s where bodies had been found i<>ck<*d In cars on Isolated sid ItigH in the west, and my spirits went down widi every hour. Ills HMUfJf was d. sillied to he at niost iis sudden as lits disappearance, and was due directly to the trump Alex had brought to Sunnyside. It m< .'ins the uiun was grateful fur his relea-e, and when lie learned some thing of tlalsey's whereabout* from anoth* r number of his fraternity— for It is a fraternity In wm prompt In letting us know t ill \\ > die I.iv evening Mr Jamie »ou, who hud been down at Ibe Arm strong house trying to see Umis.— and failing »> t met mar the gate at Sunayslde by an Individual precisely as repul lvc and unkempt as the one Alex had captured The man knew the del. ctive, and lis gave him a plei e of duty paper, on whi«h was ' sera*led th« words: "He's at City tuispliul. JohmtvllUi" Tb« tramp who brought the paper pretended to know nothing ■ ept this: Tb« paper had been pi st d along from a "ln»bo" In Information would b> taluablw to us Again the long distant » twlephuae ism. into requisition Mr Jamiesua i .tiled the b<> pttal, while *• > iuwd«d around him lad when there was uo and that k« would probably mover, • » alt la »g*t< 4 and tried t« s> ta«i I •iu mm 1 fcii • d l.tddr. sad i bat. bad terrible n»o«« ats •»»*> e wb«* J*i« "'a. i<«< la tie -tt ><• ue at Aaybuta b/ || u«i«» k ibat night («*<•> «-to an b*t »* «» lo .}<»»*» Rosie. The domestic force was now i down to Mary Anne and Liddy, with the under-gardener's wife coming every day to help out. Fortunately, Warner and the detectives were keep ing bachelor hall in the lodge. Out of deference to Liddy they washed their dishes once a day, and they con cocted queer messes, according to tiieir several abilities. They had one triumph that they ate regularly for breakfast, and that clung to their clothes and thefr hair the rest of the day. It was bacon, hardtack and onions, fried together. They were al most pathetically grateful, however, I noticed, for an occasional broiled ten derloin. It was not until Gertrude and Rosie had gone and Sunnyside had settled down for the night, with Winters at the foot of the staircase, that Mr. Jamieson broached a subject he had evidently planned before he came. "'Miss Innes," he said, stopping me as 1 was about togo to my room up stairs, "how are your nerves to night?" "I have none," I said happily. "With Halsey found, my troubles have gone." "I mean," he persisted, "do you feel as though you could go through with something rather unusual?" "The most unusual thing I can think of would be a peaceful night. But if anything is going to occur, don't dare to let me miss it." "Something is going to occur," he said. "And you're the only woman I can think of that I can take along." He looked at his watch. "Don't ask me any questions, Miss Innes. Put on pli wjl A ffl'" 8 "She Walked All Around the House First, Looking Up at the Windows." heavy shoes, and some old dark clothes, and make up your mind not , to be surprised at anything." < Liddy was sleeping the sleep of the I Just when 1 went upstairs, and 1 I hunted out my things cautiously The I detective was waiting in tiie hall, and 1 was astonished to see Dr. Stewart i witli him. They were talking con < fldentially together, but when I came down they ceased. There were- a few preparations to hi- made: the locks to | be gone over, Winters to be instructed as to renewed vigilance, and then, after extinguishing the hall light, we crept, in the darkness, through the front door, urn! into the night. I asked no questions. 1 felt that they were doing me honor lu making . me one of tli< I arty, ami I would show them I could be as silent as they We went across the fields, passing through the woods that reached almost to the i ruins of tiie stable, going over stiles now and then, and sometimes step t ping over low fetir ». Once only somebody spoke, and then it was an ' emphatic bit of pr«d unity from Ur Stewart when be ran Into a wire . fence. t welt. Joined at tin) end of Ave | minute* by another utau, who full Into step with thu dot tor silently, lie car ried something over his shoulder | i which I could not make out. In this I < way we walked for perhaps 10 utilities i ■ The dm lor was putting somewhat > when w«i Dually . uine to a halt I con • 112. that just at that iiiliiulh MEN I rfuimysldv seemed a cheerful >»put W« • bid paUM-d at the edge of a level i learcij plat n, bordered all around I > with primly trimmed uvergroog irooa |i> twees tbent I • aught s gllnip»« of i I hi |(t ~i Myself I my I >4l now both the man who bad tl t . 111 I I '!■. iUttS) CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1910. of headstones, and although, when I found myself last, I had an instinctive desire to keep looking back over my shoulder, I found that, the first uneasi ness past, a cemetery at night is much the same as any other country place, I filled with vague shadows and unex- i pccted noises. Once, indeed —but Mr. Jamieson said it was an owl, and I tried to believe him. In the shadow of the Armstrong granite shaft we stopped. I think the doctor wanted to send me back. ( "It's no place for a woman," I heard him protesting angrily. But the de- j tective said something about wit- ; nesses, and the doctor only came over and felt my pulse. "Anyhow, I don't believe you're any worse off here than you would be in . that nightmare of a house,"he said finally, and put his coat on the steps of the shaft for me to sit on. There is a sense of desecration, of a reversal of the everlasting fitness of things, in resurrecting a body from its mother clay. And yet that night, in the Casanova churchyard, I sat quiet ly by, and watched Alex and Mr. Jamieson steaming over their work, without a single qualm, except the fear of detection. The doctor kept a keen lookout, but no one appeared. Once in a while he came over to me, and gave me a reassuring pat on the jp'or. "I never expected to come *his," he said once. "There's one thing sure— I'll not be suspected of complicity. A doctor is generally supposed to be handier at burying folks than at dig ging them up." Tho uncanny moment came when Alex and Jamieson tossed the spudes on the grass, and I confess I hid my face. There was a period of stress, I think, while the heavy coffin was be ing raised. 1 felt that my composure was going, and, for fear 1 would shriek, I tried to think of something else —what time Gertrude would reach Halsey—anything but the grisly reali ty that lay just beyond me on the grass. And then 1 heard a low exclamation from the detective and I felt the pres sure of the doctor's lingers on my arm. "Now, Miss liitus," he said gently. "If you will come over—" 1 held onto him frantically, and somehow 1 got there and looked down pMHntaMn* umrrnm - "Hut thu Thai in ihi m« ltd ut » 4 it* t tt*4 u mil a CHAPTER XXXI. Between Two Fireplaces. What witli the excitement of the dis covery, the walk home under the stars in wet shoes and draggled skirts, and getting upstairs and undressed without rousing Liddy, I was completely used up. What to do with my boots was the greatest puzzle of all, there being no place in the house safe from Lid dy, until I decided to slip upstairs the next morning and drop them into the hole the "ghost" had made in the trunkroom wall. I went asleep as soon as I reached this decision, and in my dreams I lived over again the events of the night. Again I saw the group around the silent figure on the grass, and again, as had happened at the grave, I heard Alex's voice, tense and tri umphant:l "Then we've got them," he said. Only, in my dreams, he said It over and over until he seemed to shriek it in my ears. I wakened early, In spite of my fa tigue, and lay there thinking. Who was Alex? I no longer believed that he was a gardener. Who was the man whose body we had resurrected? And where was Paul Armstrong? Prob ably living safely in some extradition less country on the fortune he had stolen. Did Louise and her mother know of the shameful and wicked de ception? What had Thomas known, and Mrs. Watson? Who was Nina Carrington ? This last question, it seemed to me, was answered. In some way the woman had learned of the substitu tion, and had tried to use her knowl edge for blackmail. Nina Carrington's own story died with her, but, however it happened, it was clear that she had carried her knowledge to Halsey the afternoon Gertrude and I were look ing for clews to the man I had shot on the east veranda. Halsey had been half crazed by what he heard; it was evident that Louise was marrying Dr. Walker to keep the shameful secret, for her mother's sake. Halsey, al > ways reckless, had gone at once to Dr. Walker and denounced him. There had been a scene, and he left on his way to the station to meet and notify Mr. Jamieson of what he had learned. The doctor was active mentally and physically. Accompanied perhaps by Riggs, who had shown himself not everscrupulous until he quarreled with his employer, he had gone across to the railroad embankment, and, by jumping In front of the car, had caused Halsey to swerve. The rest of the story we knew. That was my reconstructed theory of that afternoon and evening; It was almost correct—not quite. There was a telegram that morning from Gertrude. Halsey conscious and Improving. Prob ably hotne In day or so. GERTRUDR. With Halsey found and improving | in health, and with at last something I to work on, I began that day, Thurs- j 1 day, with fresh courage. As Mr. j Jamieson had said, the lines were | closing up. That I was to be caught j and almost finished in the closing was { happily unknown to us all. It was late when I got up. I lay tn my bed, looking around the four walls j of the room, and trying to imagine be ! hind what one of them a secret cham- j ber might lie. Certainly, in daylight. ; Sunny side deserved its name; never j was a house more cheery and open,' less sinister in general appearance. There was not a corner apparently that was not open and aboveboard, ' and yet, somewhere behind its hand somely papered walls I believed firmly j that there lay a hidden room, with all the possibilities it would involve. I made a mental note to have the house tnea-ured during the day to dls cover any discrepancy between the outer and Inner walls, and I tried to recall again the exact wording ol the paper JuiulcM>n had found. (T<> 88 t'ONTINTKI>.) At the Half-Century Mark, Youth is eternal to hint w ho believe* In eternity. To me youth means any where from eight onward I was an exceedingly old permit at eight and I trust I violate no confidence when I confess a youthful exuberance now that I have bumped against the halt way post Kilty is a splendid time for youthful expauslun; one's fancy still retains all Its Ingenuity while one's judgment Is bettered by experience When sitting on the So milestone the vane o( man's Vision points southward to thi past and northward to the fu tore with a minimum o( ovulation ■ Rancorous thought and splenetic ex | presslou give way to i|ut«tur nerve* and calmer view, and the uielluw light ed vista of the years that have goaa »ulten the heart ol Ihe youth uf a halt century of years John I'biliy tfuus* lb Ute Circle Different, 1 "I wrote htm that I was ready u "If. .< • it . it.ut lie wo.ilti ha*t lit! i-ii4 I** WMMili Iwif ImH I , ** i i u.m iu • vu«tt • «iit* j SUFFERED 30 YEARS. But Chronic Kidney Trouble Was Finally Cured. Charles Von Soehnen, 201 A St., Colfax, Wash., says:"For 30 years I Buffered from kidney trouble and was laid up for days at a time. There was ta dull ache through the small of my back and I had rheu matlc pains in every joint. The kidney secretions passed too freely and I ".vas annoyed by having to arise at night. 1 could not work without intense suf fering. Through the use of Doan's Kidney Pills, I was practically given a new pair of kidneys. I cannot exag gerate their virtues." Remember the name—Doan's. For sale by all dealers. 50 cents a box. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo, N. Y. UNKIND JOLT FROM ADAM As If Eve Hadn't Sorrow Enough, Her Partner Had to Add to the Affliction. Adam had Just received his notice of ejectment. He stared at It a long time In silence, while Eve, crouched In a dusky corner, softly whimpered Presently the father of mankind looked around. As Eve caught his angry eye her whimper changed to a gulping sob. "Well," he sternly said, "you've cer tainly put us In a fine mess with your silly curiosity! And yet when I refused to have anything to do with your apple scheme you called me a poor fool. Do you remember that you called me a poor fool?" "Ye-es," sobbed Eve. "Well, there's but one question I want to ask you?" said Adam. "What Is It?" gasped the first mother. "Who's looney now?" he harshly demanded. Then he turned away abruptly and started to pick up the family gourds and the tent poles.—Cleveland Plain Dealer. Couldn't Be Thankful. Bishop Charles W. Smith at a har vest dinner In Portland said of the harvest spirit: "The harvest spirit Is one of thank fulness, but there are some crabbed old farmers who couldn't be thankful If they tried. "I said to such an old fellow as he conducted me over his farm on a gold en autumn afternoon and showed ms & record harvest: " 'Well, sir, this year, at least, you've got nothing, nothing whatever to complain of.' " 'I don't know about that, bishop,' he answered, with a shake of tha head. 'l'm afraid there'll be no spoilt hay for the young calves.'" BUSINESS 18 BUSINESS. Mr. Kicker —Your 1)111 actually ; makes my blood boll. Doctor Slick—Then, rlr, I must 1 charge you S2O more (or sterilizing your system. NEWSPAPERS TAKING IT UP Metropolitan Dailies Giving Advice How to Check Rheumatism and Kidney Trouble. This 1H a simple houm recipe now Iiik made known In all the larger cltUs through the newspapers. It Is Intended to cheek tl-.o many cases of Kheutnal'sm and dread kidney trouble which have made so many cripples, Invalids and weaklings of some of our brightest and strongest people The druggist* everywhere, even In the sinulle>t communities, have been notified to supply themselves with the Ingredients, and the sufferer will have no trouble to obtain them. The pre scription 1.-i us follows: fluid K*tract j Ifendelion, one half ounce; Compound Karg< ii, ene ounce, and I'onitxiuld ! Syrup of Sarnaparllla, tkree ounce* Mu by shaking well In a bottle The di e Is one teasiionutul after each , I meal and at bedtime. Htcent experiments In hospital ! ee»es pfevH tht» almide mlitum ef 1 fee live In Nhtumillili He causa ot Its positive action upon thw elimlna live tissues of the ktdueva, It compels thf*e most vital iimutis to niter from the blend sml system the waste Im purities and uric add which ere the I must' uf rheumatism It clean*** (he I kid' eys. strength- »s theut anil re | moves qulcklv such »vm»»toios as | hsrk-,. he hltMs) disorder*, h* uMW I WMsktleSS fl'eMUr nt UHmsIION <*> <ful scu'd'n* ami <l«i»>i»f 4 nrt«M It Set» •s s MMtle thorough regulator to Ik li. >e who suffer slid ir» MNHM I to fni > has* a le-ttle of m< dl elt,. ' ..eld hoi lei a IMttft lueoe I •• tM. if.re with M .kit..; iki ' 4y of Uavs |Poor druggist ito It tui »«» COLDS Cured in One Day "l regard my cold cure as being better thai a Life Insurance Policy. " —MUNYON. A few doses of Munyon's C' 11 Cure will breal; up any cold and proven l pneumonia, It relieves tlie head, throat ar. i lungs al most instantly. These little sugar pelleta can be conveniently carried in the vest pocket for use at any time or anywhere. Price 25 cents at any druggists. If you need Medical Advice write to Munyon's Doctors. They will carefully diagnose your case and give you advio* by mail, absolute}? fnje. They put you under no obligations. Address Munyon's Doctors. Munyon'i Laboratory, 53d and Jefferson streets, Phil adelphia. Pa. AS REPRESENTED. Patient —Look here, doctor; you eaid If I took a bottle of your tonic I would have a remarkable appetite. Why, I only eat one soda cracker each week. Doctor —Well, don't you call that • remarkable appetite? BABY'S SCALP CRUSTED "Our little daughter, when three months old, began to break out on the head and we had the best doctors to treat her, but they did not do her any good. They said she had eczema. Her scalp was a solid scale all over. The burning and itching was so severe that she could not rest, day or night. We had about given up all hopes when we read of the Cuticura Remedies. We at once got a cake of Cuticura Soap, a box of Cuticura Ointment and one bot tle of Cuticura Resolvent, and fol lowed directions carefully. After the first dose of the Cuticura Resolvent, we used the Cuticura Soap freely and applied the Cuticura Ointment. Then she began to improve rapidly and In two weeks the scale came off her head and new hair began to grow. In a very short time she was well. She is now sixteen years of age and a pic ture of health. We used the Cuti cura Remedies about five weeks, reg ularly, and then we could not tell she had been affected by the disease We used no other treatment after we found out what the Cuticura Remedies would do for hpr. J Pish and Ella M. Fish, Mt. Vernon, Ky. Oct. 12, 1909." Some One Must Do It. J. Plerpont Morgan, at one of the sumptuous dinners that he gave in Cincinnati during the recent church congress, praised the power of adver tising. Mr. Morgan's eulogy concluded with an t plgram quite good and quite true enough to be pasted In every business man's hat. "If a dealer." he said, "does not ad j vertise his wares, it is ten to one that the sheriff will do It for him." Th*r+ la mor»* Catarrh In fhb* -teflon of th«% emir try thru* a.i oliuT u.MMM i putt«. »>i., r. u ul until ll»«* ;a»t 112. \ art I- - It » I'M I M'urut* •• I r a *r. f-t I many >< \r* dortora pr».n«»uiu»«l It a local »<<t | j.'t v 4 local r<un*4te*. ami by constant i> !u: g to eun «lth local treatment. prabixiM'tl it inruraMa. 112. . .• tut* proven Catarrh I•u« ac« .«tltutt<>i a. I* i ai»<t tli> r-P#r* raquir#* const it'itional treatment I litm « t» *rfh Cure, tniU»ufactttrc4 by 1.1 I.v »• . l 11»m1o. Otafe* in th« only • onvtitutf»it*l run? a ti •• tttarart It la tak<m Intern*!!)* in « -«•» from 10 Ur »ps t . * tetanuonful. *'"»• «!trect \ on th» !• <«* l t i mil- w eurfocr* of y»« l»ir\ .fftr on# litm tr I doilftfi for a»«y c:ut« It tail* to cur- heiwl I tcr nrralart ami testinxtntaia. AiiUr. ** I I « 111 MY k CO.. Toledo* OWo. H.>M by l>r>i 'MM*. 78#. iua U»!n l amity PHM tor eoajtlpaUuo. He Never Slaved Again. Marmaduke What do >ou auppoe* 'h:«t wretched barbt*r said when lie •havfit me* Mettle I don't know. Marmuduk*' tie nald It reminded Mm of a KHtue he used to play when a luty called "Hunt the Hare" Important to Mother* Kmudlum laretully every bottle of * I (\\S roHIA, m »afe mid sure r* iuml y for | imaiiia and clilldiill, and »«« that It : s ' 111 l . I r Ovrr :*» V- ir» 'fh« Klud You Have Al» a>* Uu isht. The Simple Wife Ur linliker You villi have tu g<t KnU-kev Inn... aery my dr.tr; I D#v*r eniokw before breakfaet ! I.» In.pi.»» hoi 4« e»H» S*« «l j 0 «a miH
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers