TIC CIRCULAR STAIRCASE Dvmary ❖ ' ROBERTS ♦ RENE ILLI/JWATTOm BY \rrmCHT not or aw t ruKMiif .*o ' / SYNOPSIS. Miss Innes, spinster and guardian of Gertrude am! lialsey, established sum mer headquarters at Sunnyside. Arnold Armstrong was found shot to death In the hall. Gertrude and her fiance. Jack | Bailey, had conversed in the billiard room shortly before the murder, detec tive Jamleson accused Miss Innes of hold ing back evidence. Cashier Bailey of Paul Armstrong's bank, defunct, was arrested for embezzlement. Paul Armstrongs d ath was announced, llalsey's fiancee, l.oulse Armstrong, told lialsey that while Mhe still loved him, she was to marry an other. It developed that l>r. Walker was the mm Uouise was found unconscious at tie 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 "I.ucien Wal lace." A ladder found out of place deep ens the mvstery. The stables were burned, and in the dark Miss lanes shot an intruder, lialsey mysteriously disap peared. His auto was found wrecked by a freight train. It developed lialsey had an argument in the library with a woman before his disappearance. New cook dis appears Miss l;*ies learned lialsey was alive. 1 >r. 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 empty box car. Gertrude was missing. Hunting for her, Miss Innes ran into a man and fainted. A confederate of l">r. Walker confessed his part in the mys terv. He stated that the Carrlngton wo man had been killed, that Walker feared her. and that he believed that Paul Arm strong had been killed by a hand guided by Walker. Halsey was found in a dis tant hospitr.l. Paul Armstrong was not dead. Mise Innes discovered secret rooms In which the Traders' bank treasure was believed to be. Mrs. Watson, dying, said she killed Arnold Armstrong, who years before had married her sister under the alias of Wallace. I.ucien Wallace was born of the marriage. CHAPTER XXXIII. At the Foot of the Stairs. As I drove rapidly up to the house from Casanova station in the hack, I saw the detective Burns loitering across the street from the Walker place. So Jamleson was putting the screws on—lightly now, but ready to give them a twist or two, I felt cer tain. very soon. The house was quiet. Two steps of the circular staircase had been pried off without result, and beyond a sec ond message from Gertrude that Hal sey insisted on coming home and they would arrive that night there was nothing new. Mr. Jamieson, having failed to locate the secret room, had gone to the village. I learned after wards that he called at Dr. Walker's, under pretense of an attack of acute Indigestion, and before he left had in quired about the evening trains to the city. He said he had wasted a lot of time on the case, and a good bit of the mystery was in my imagination! The doctor was under the impression that the house was gtiarded day and night. Well, give a place a reputation like that, and you don't need a guard at all—thus Jamleson. And sure enough, late in the afternoon, the two private detectives, accompanied by Mr. Jamleson, walked down the main street of Casanova and took a city bound train. That they got off at the next station and walked back again to Sunnyside lit dusk was not known at the time. Personally, I knew nothing of either move; I had other things to absorb me at that time. Liddy brought me some tea while I rested after my trip, and on the tray was a small book from the Casanova library. It was called "The Unseen World" and had a cheerful cover, on which a half-dozen sheeted figures linked hands around a headstone. At this point in my story, Halsey always says: "Trust a woman to add two and two together, and make six." To which I retort that if two and two plus X makes six, then to discover the unknown quantity is the simplest thing In the world. That a houseful of detectives missed it entirely was because they were busy trying to prove that two and two make four. The depression due to my visit to the hospital left me at the prospect of seeing Halsey again that night. It was about five o'clock when Liddy left me for a nap before dinner, hav ing put me into a gray silk dressing gown and a pair of slippers. I listened to her retreating footsteps, and as soon as she was safely below stairs I went up to the trunkroom. The place had not been disturbed, and 1 proceeded at once to try to discover the entrance to the hidden room. The openings on either side, as I have said, showed nothing but perhaps three feet of brick wall. There was no sign of an entrance —no levers, no hinges, to give a hint. Either the mantel or the roof, I decided, and aft er a half-hour at the mantel, produc tive of absolutely no result, I decided to try the roof. I am not fond of a height. The few occasions on which I have climbed a step-ladder have always left me dizzy and weak in the knees. The top of the Washington monument is as im possible to me as the elevation to the presidential chair. And yet—l climbed out on the Sunnyside roof vithout a second's hesitation. Like a dog on a scent, like my bear-skin progenitor, with his spear and his wild boar, to me now there was the lust of the chase, the frenzy of pur suit, the dust of battle. I got quite a little of the latter on me as I climbed from the unfinished ballroom out through a window to the roof of the east wing of the building, which was only two stories In height. Once out there, access to the top of the main building was rendered er.3.v least It looked easy—by a small vertical Iron ladder, fastened to the wall outside of the ballroom, and per haps 12 feet high. The 12 feet looked short from below, but they were dif ficult to climb. I gathered my silk gown around me, and succeeded final ly in making the top of the ladder. Once there, however, I was complete ly out of breath. I sat down, my feet on the top rung, and put my hair-pins In more securely, while the wind bel lowed my dressing-gown out like a sail. I had torn a great strip of the silk loose, and now I ruthlessly fin ished the destruction of my gown by jerking it free and tying it around my head. Luckily, the roof was flat, and I was able togo over every inch of it. But the result was disappointing; no trap door revealed itself, no glass window; nothing but a couple of pipes two inches across, and standing perhaps 18 inches high and three feet apart, with a cap to prevent rain from en tering and raised to permit the pas sage of air. I picked up a pebble from the roof and dropped it down, listening with my ear at one of the pipes. I could hear it strike on some thing with a sharp, metallic sound, but it was impossible for me to tell how far it had gone. I gave up finally and went down the ladder again, getting In through the ballroom window without being ob served. I went back at once to the trunkroom, and, sitting down on a box, gave my mind, as consistently as I could, to the problem before me. If the pipes in the roof were ventilators to the secret room, and there was no trap-door above, the entrance was probably In one of the two rooms be tween which it lay—unless, indeed, the room had been built, and the open ing closed with a brick and mortar wall. The mantel fascinated me. Made of wood and carved, the more I lookec} the more I wondered that I had not noticed before the absurdity of such a mantel in such a place. It was cov ered with scrolls and panels, and fin ally, by the merest accident, I pushed one of the panels at the side. It moved easily, revealing a small brass knob. It is not necessary to detail the fluctuations of hope and despair, and not a little fear of what lay beyond, with which I twisted and turned the kjiob. It moved, but nothing seemed to happen, and then I discovered the trouble. 1 pushed the knob vigorous ly to one side, and the whole mantel swung loose from the wall almost a foot, revealing a cavernous space be yond. I took a long breath, closed the door from the trunkroom into the hall —thank heaven, I did not lock it—and pulling the mantel-door wide open, I stepped into the chimney-room. I had time to get a hazy view of a small portable safe, a common wooden table and a chair —then the mantel door swung to, and clicked behind me. I stood quite still for a moment, in the darkness, unable to comprehend what had happened. Then I turned and beat furiously at the door with my fists. It was closed and locked again, and my fingers in the darkness slid over a smooth wooden surface without a sign of a knob. I was furiously angry—at myself, at the mantel-door, at everything. I did not fear suffocation; before the thought had come to me I had already seen a gleam of light from the two small ventilating pipes in the roof. They supplied air, but nothing else. The room itself was shrouded in blackness. I must have dozed off. I am sure I did not faint. I was never more composed in my life. I remember Mr# 1 I [i\T|hxjC J No Trap-Door Revealed Itself. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1911. planning, If I were not discovered, who would have my tilings. 1 knew Liddy would want my heliotrope pop lin, and she's a fright In lavender. Once or twice I heard mice In the par titions, and so I sat on the table, with my feet on the chair. I imagined 1 could hear the search going on through the house, and once some one came into the trunkroom; I could distinctly hear footsteps. "In the chimney! In the chimney!" I called with all my might, and was rewarded by a piercing shriek from Liddy and the slam of the trunkroom door. I felt easier after that, although the room was oppressively hot and enervating. I had no doubt the search for me would now come In the right direction, and after a little, I dropped Into a doze. How long I slept I do not know. It must have been several hours, for I had been tired from a busy day, and I waked stifT from my awkward position. I could not remember where I was for a few minutes, and my head felt heavy and congested. Gradually I roused to my surround ings, and to the fact that In spite of ventilators, the air was bad and grow ing worse. I was breathing long, gasping respirations, and my face was damp and clammy. I must have been there a long time, and the searchers were probably hunting outside the house, dredging the creek, or beating the woodland. I knew that another hour or two would find me uncon scious, and with my inability to cry out would go my only chance of res cue. It was the combination of bad air and heat, probably, for some inade quate ventilation was coming through the pipes. I tried to retain my con sciousness by walking the length of the room and back, over and over, but I had not the strength to keep it up, so I sat down on the table again, my back against the wall. The house was very still. Once my straining ears seemed to catch a foot fall beneath me, possibly in my own room. I groped for the chair from the table, and pounded with it frantic ally on the floor. But nothing hap pened; I realized bitterly that if the sound was heard at all, no doubt it was classed with the other rappings that had so alarmed us recently. And then —I heard sounds from be low me, in the house. There was a peculiar throbbing, vibrating noise that I felt rather than heard, much like the pulsing beat of fire engines ?n the city. For one awful moment I thought the house was on fire, and every drop of blood in my body gath ered around my heart; then I knew. It was the engine of the automobile, and Halsey had come back. Hope sprang up afresh. Halsey's clear head and Gertrude's intuition might do what Liddy's hysteria and three detectives had failed in. After a time I thought I had been right. There was certainly something going on down below; doors were slamming, people were hurrying through the halls, and certain high notes of excited voices penetrated to me shrilly. I hoped they were coming closer, but after a time the sounds died away below, and I was left to the silence and heat, to the weight of the darkness, to the oppression of walls that seemed to close in on me and stifle me. The first warning I had was a stealthy fumbling at the lock of the mantel-door. With my mouth open to scream, I stopped. Perhaps the sit uation had rendered me acute, per haps It was instinctive. Whatever it was, I sat without moving, and some one outside, In absolute stillness, ran his fingers over the carving of the mantel and—found the panel. Now the sounds below redoubled; from the clatter and Jarring I knew that several people were running up the stairs, and as the sounds ap proached, I could even hear what they said. "Watch the end staircases!" Jamie son shouted. "Damnation—there's no light here!" And then a second later. "All together now. One two three—" The door into the trunkroom had been locked from the inside. At the second that it gave, opening against the wall with a crash and evidently tumbling somebody into the room, the stealthy fingers beyond the mantel door gave the knob the proper Im petus, and —the door swung open, and closed again. Only—and Liddy al ways screams and puts her fingers In her ears at this point—only now I was not alone in the chimney room. There was some one else in the dark ness, some one who breathed hard, and who was so close I could have touched him with my hand. I was in a paralysis of terror. Out side there were excited voices and in credulous oaths. The trunks were being jerked around in a frantic search, the windows were thrown open, only to show a sheer drop of 40 feet. And the man in the room with me leaned against the mantel-door and listened. His pursuers were plain ly baffled; I heard him draw a long breath, and turn to grope his way through the blackness. Then —he touched my hand, cold, clammy, death like. A hand in an empty room! He drew in his breath, the sharp intaking of horror that fills lungs suddenly col lapsed. Beyond jerking his hand away instantly, he made no movement. I think absolute terror had him by the throat. Then he stepped back, with out turning, retreating foot by foot from The Dread in the corner, and I do not think he breathed. Then, with the relief of space be tween us, I screamed, ear-splittingly, madly, and they heard me outside. "In the chimney!" I shrieked. "Re hind the mantel! The mantel!" With an oath the figure hurled itself across the room at me, and I screamed again. In his blind fury he had missed me; I heard him strike the wall. That one time I eluded him: I was across the room, and I had got the chair. He stood for a second, listening, then —he made another rush and I struck out with my weapon. I think it stunned him, for I had a sec ond's respite when I could hear him breathing, and some one shouted out side: "We —can't —get—In. How—does —it open?" But the man in the room had changed his tactics. I knew he was creeping on me, inch by Inch, and I could not tell from where. And then —he caught me. He held his hand over my mouth, and I bit him. I was helpless, strangling—and some one was trying to break in the mantel from outside. It began to yield some where, for a thin wedge of yellowish light was reflected on the opposite wall. When he saw that, my assailant dropped me with a curse; then—the opposite wall swung open noiselessly, closed again without a sound, and I was alone. The intruder was gone. "In the next room!" I called wildly. "The next room!" But the sound of blows on the mantel drowned my voice. By the time I had made them understand, a couple of minutes had elapsed. The pursuit was taken up then, by all except Alex, who was de termined to liberate me. When I stepped out into the trunkroom a free woman again I could hear the chase far below. I mu3t say, for all Alex's anxiety to set me free, he paid little enough at tention to my plight. He jumped through the opening into the secret room and picked up the portable safe. "I am going to put this in Mr. Hal sey's room, Miss Innes," he said, "and I shall send one of the deteotives to guard it." I hardly heard him. I wanted to laugh and cry in the same breath — to crawl into bed and have a cup of tea, and scold Liddy, and do any of the thousand natural things that I had never expected to do again. And the air! The touch of the cool night air on my face! (TO BE CONTINUED.) Worried Over His Trousers. The humors and tragedies of New York East side life are delineated by Frank Marshall White in an article in Harper's Weekly. Master Jacob Ros enberg, eleven or twelve years of age, was suffering from a broken leg. "His supreme agony came, however, when Dr. M. ripped up one side of the juvenile trousers with a pair of scissors to make room for bandages. 'My new pants! My new pants! He's cutting my new pants!' Jacob shrieked, and almost wriggled himself out of the grasp of the policeman and the driver in his efforts to prevent the mutilation of his raiment. All the way to his home in the ambulance the boy bewailed his mangled trousers more than he did his broken leg. We think that preachers ought tg say more about hell fire and brim stone; people are feeling allogothw 100 easy about Uiwmselvu*. AND GO AHEAD BLOWLY. Philosopher- And now, after having reviewed all philosophy with yoa, there is only one law that I can lay down for your guidance. Student—What is that? Philosopher—When you are sura you are right, you should suspect that you are wrong. Two Bad Cases In England Cured by Resinol Ointment. I have been using Resinol Ointment during the last few weeks for a varicose ulcer on leg and can bear tes timony to its cooling and curative qual ities. Have never found anything to equal it. I was recommended by my Bister, Mrs. Cairus Ladykirk, Norham on Tweed, to try it. She had been treated 14 months previously without effect, but was entirely cured by Res inol Ointment. Robert Davidson, Gateshead on Tyne. Not What He Asked For. A small boy hurried into the cor ner butcher shop and told the propri etor his mother wanted a nice, ten der turkey for Thanksgiving, and she wanted it dressed. The butcher se lected just such a bird from the lot in the window, and said, with satisfac tion: "Here's a dandy, my boy—just what your mother wants!" "No, it ain't!" returned the youth. "That turkey hasn't any clothes on." —Judge. Mean of Her. Mrs. Galey (back from the moun tains) —Well, my dear, did you keep open house during my absence? Galey (earnestly)—l should say I didn't, Louise; why, there wasn't a night that I didn't lock the doors at nine o'clock. Mrs. Galey—Yes? And where did you go th~n? A Great Invention. Vance —I think Ferdle ranks with Edison as an inventor and benefactor of man. Luella —What did he invent? Vance —He invented a device to pwe vent cigawette papers fwom blowing away in a stwong breeze.—Scraps. Important to Mothers Examine carefully every bottle of CASTORIA, a safe and sure remedy for Infants and children, and see that it In Use For Over B<> Years. The Kind You Have Always Bought. Reverse Art. "An actress in her makeup re verses the usual rules of art." "How so?" "She paints first so she can draw afterward." Household Hints. By taking one hobble skirt and sewing up one end of it a very pretty ragbag may be made in which to put the others. Stop guessing! Try the best nnd most certain remedy for all painful ailments— Hamlins Wizard Oil. The way it re lieves all soreness from sprains, cuts, wounds, bums, scalds, etc., is wonderful. It is often a shorter way, and more useful, to fashion ourselves to others than for them to adjust themselves to us.—La Fontaine. No Man is Stronger Than His Stoma & Jpferi A. strong man is strong all over. No man can be strong who is suffering from weak stomach with its consequent indigestion, or from some other disease of the stomach and its associated organs, which im pairs digestion and nutrition. For when the stomach fflL'l JlCn X is weak or diseased there is a loss of the nutrition ( contained In food, which is the source of all physical JffiS v strength. When a man "doesn't feel just right," rewfc'li;\V'>' when he doesn't sleep well, has an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach after eating, is languid, nervous, irritable and despond* ent, he is losing the nutrition needed to make strength. Such a man should use Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery. It cures diseases of the stomach and other organs of digestion and nutrition. It enriches the blood. Invigorates the liver, strengthens the kidneys, nourishes the nerves, and so GIVES III'TILTH AXI) STRENGTH TO THE WHOLE BODY. You can't afford to accept a lecrit nostrum as a substitute lor this non alcoholic medicine op KNOWN COMPOSITION, not even though the urgent dealer may thereby make a little bigger profit. Ingredients printed on wrapper. W. L. DOUGL A $ •3.00 >3.50&>4.00 SHOES FSoKEii / fift Boys' SHOES. $2.00. $2.60 AND $3.00. BEST IN THE WORLD. FL • . TTieTieiieilts of frvelihlesTl If I could take you Into my which apply principally to lur ß e factories u t lirockton, pv / * - sole leather.aiul therodliced Ma*"., ami shuw you how CHIC- U . WFLJ tariff on solo leather, now ' u "y "• Douglas shoe* are , j enables mo to glvo the .U The LialSe£%{£!!',JlßWlL., T wearer more value for lib 112 u WO uid then understand why ] money, better nncl longer tioiiarforiioiinr l f;uurant<-« Xfc i wearing an<l $4 i".v Nhoos to hold their shape, 1 A shoes than I could give pre- flt better nn.l w.ir iNt : 1 vlons to the t arid revision. «''» n any other »<<*•. *1.60 jj*"\ . 1J %'Sk wnunMHHMaHismraMnnV "T f4.(K) allots you i'»n l>uy. t. 1 r J-.'l Do you realize that my shoos have heen the standard fororerSO .*ri£RW 13 years; that I make and mora $3.00. s:|.so and *4.00 .hoes than , C P t a r ' r , NO SUBSTITUTE V% . L. DOtUIiAM, I \ "» fcpurl* He., lirockton. Mass. Your Liver is Clogged up That'* Why YonV. Tirod-Out of Sort*— HAT* NO CARTER'S LIVER PILLS jßjjga^ d*lf. Utsaest, Indigcitioa, Side Headsckc. SHALL PILL. SMALL DOSE. 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You can gfef Become Rich V? * VM"f&2 by cottleralsing,dairying,mixed farming and grain growing in r 'inllwi 1 provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, llyFree homestead ond pre emptlon areas, as well as land held by railway and land com fjh QLPiI panies, will provide homes /IMIDw for millions. 1 ' 1 Aduptable soil, healthful C.iinnto, splendid s< hools ""k* churches,iood railways. literature "Last Best West,'^how >v «?? & 10 rea <>h Ibe country and ol her pa r off tlcalurs, write to Sup't of linnil* Br f JSEWIT? K rat lon, Ottawa, Canada, or to the TLi«p' , vjS Canadian (Government Agent. CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AGENT BuiWi °l Toledo, Ohio (Use address nearest yon ) 38 Keep Fit Your brain, muscles and nerves depend upon good physical condition. Secure it by using BEECHAM'S PILLS Said Evarywhera. In boiu 10a. tad ZSa. Jk ATIIEU] a CUBEDTQBTAYCUREB Ad I nlHAsxru&OThS 11 —— aathmatlo aymptoma. 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Do Good. Never Sicken. Weaken orGripe. 10c, 25c, 50c. Never Bold In bulk. Thetenu. lne tablet stamped CCC, Guaranteed to cure or your money back. 928 DEFIANCE STARCH—"™^ •—other atarchea only 12 ounce#—sumo price and "DEFIANCE" IS BUPERIOR QUALITY. A VP , ilTPy° nr Invention. Ftm prollmln rF* 9 IN Pa I arysearcta. Booklet free. MILO I M I bll I il. STKVKNH * CO., lisuib. ) -(.4, 8&3 Iklh t»L. Washington: *OU Dearborn Bt., Chicago. W. N. U., CLEVELAND, NO. 53-1910. 7
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers