THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE &ZMAHV ❖ 5 s ROBERTS ❖ nisLnmr wusmmm by r^/v/A/r^j c* *i jir ,*43 uv tkatij rtKKui'cu < SYNOPSIS. jrisi Innes, spinster nnd guardian of Gertrmi' and Halsey, established sum mer headquarters at Sunnysidt. Arnold Armstrong was found shot to death In tlx' iial! Gertrude and In r Hancc, Jack 11 iilev, had conversed in the billiard i.i'im shortly before the murder. I>etec •i .i .I.tmleson accused Miss Innes of liold h ti'k evidence. fashier Kailcy of Paul ri.i>:i m.-.'s bank, defunct, was arreted " r embezzlement. Paul Armstrong's death v ..s announced. Hulsey's llanee,-, I.oulsi Armstrong, told Halsey that while she still loved linn, she was to marry an other. It develojitd that 1 >r. Walker was •he man. Louise was found unconscious at the bottom «.f the circular staircase. ,"i.e said something had brusl.od by her in the darl; r. Walker confessed Ills part In the mys tery. He stated that the t'arrington wo man had been killed, that Walker feared her. and that he believed that Paul Arm ronsr had been killed by a hard guided l>. Walker. Halsey was found in a dis t at hospital. Paul Armstrong was not dead. M:ss Innes discovered secret rooms in which the Traders' bank treasure was belli*, ed to be. Mrs. Watson, dying, said she killed Arnold Armstrong; who years befor ■ had married her sister under the albs of Wallace. I„ucien Wallace w.«3 lorn of lln marriage. Miss Innes discov ered a secret panel to the mysterious room and unwittingly locked herself with in Paring the hunt for her the search ers ran across I'aul Armstrong. Arm strong pitched forward down the circular staircase, breaking Ills neck. In the se cret room was found the Traders' bank loot, which Armstrong-had taken. CHAPTER XXXlll.—Continued. As Alex and I reached the second floor, Mr. Jamieson met us. He was grave and quiet, and he nodded com prehendingly when he saw the safe. "Will you come with me for a mo ment, Miss Innes?" he asked soberly, and on my assenting, he led the way to the east wing. There were lights moving around below, and some of the maids were standing gaping down. They screamed when they saw me, and drew back to let me pass. There ■was a sort of hush over the scene; Uex, behind me, muttered something I could not hear, and brushed past me without ceremony. Then I realized that a man was lying doubled up at the foot of the staircase, and that Alex was stooping over him. As 1 came slowly down, Winters >;ti pped back, and Alex straightened himself, looking at me across the body with impenetrable eyes. In his hand lie held a shaggy gray wig, and before me on the iloor lay the man whose headstone stood in Casanova churchyard—Paul Armstrong. Winters told the story in a dozen words. In his headlong flight down the circular staircase, with Winters just, behind, Paul Armstrong had pitched forward violently, struck his head against the door to the east ver anda. and probably broken his neck. He had died as Winters reached him. As the detective finished, I saw Hal sey, pale and shaken, in the card room doorway, and for the first time : that night I lost my self-control. I put j my arms around my boy, and for a j !<:oment he had to support me. A sec- I 'Hid later, over ilnlsey's shoulder, I I i.iw something that turned my emo- I ion into other channels, for behind \ ■ ■ mi, in the shadowy cardroom, were | ■ ieitrude and Alex, the gardener, and there is no use mincing matters —he was kissing her! I was unable to speak. Twice 1 j opened my mouth; thin I turned 11;il- ; v around and pointed. They were quite unconscious oi us; her head was j •n his shoulder, his face against her hair. As it happened it was .Mr. 'amie. on who broke up the tableau. lie stepped over to Alex and touched him on the arm. And now," he said quit tly, how long are you and 1 to play our little | iituedy, Mr. Ilailey?" CHAPTER XXXIV. The Odds and Ends. Of Dr. Walker's ei; -at tonal escape that night to South America, of the ! recovery of over (1,000,000 in cash and HI curltles in the safe from the i lilnili) v room—the papers have kept the public well Informed. Of my slian in discovering the secret chamber tlii ■. havi been singularly silent, Th« lnn< i hi dory las never be. n told Mr Jamb mn M>t all kinds ot credit, and sum* of H he deserved, but If Jack Ilailey. a< Alex, had not traced liaise) and in ,-Med on the disiiititrriiiK ot I'ti'il Armstrong's casket. If he had not suspected the truth from the •art. whera would th« detective hart In en? When llalsey learned the truth, h< misted on Kolntt the n.M morning weak as he was, to lionise, and lr, night she was at felittsoy*)de. under (i'-rtrwde's particular cure, while hct What Halsey said to Mr* Arm »m»o, I never liih », but ih*i he **» •••»!» ..derato and chivalrous I feet eon lllli ftl It With I 1.1 IO y i H alvv He Was Kissing Her. He and Louise had no conversation together until that night. Gertrude ind Alex—l mean Jack —had gone for i walk, although it was nine o'clock, *nd anybody but a pair of young geese would have known that dew was fall ing, and that it is next to impossible to get rid of a summer cold. At half after nine, growing weary r j[ my own company, I went down stairs to find the young people. At the door of the living room I paused. Sertrude and Jack had returned and were there, sitting together on a Jivan, with only one lamp lighted. They did not see or hear me, and I beat a hasty retreat to the library, [hit here again I was driven back. Louise was sitting in a deep chair, looking the happiest I had ever seen ler, with Halsey on the arm of the •hair, holding her close. Tiie next day, by degrees, I got the whole story. Paul Armstrong had a besetting ■ ?vil—the love of money. Common | mough, but he loved money, not for | vhat it would buy, but for its own sake, j \n examination of the books showed i 10 irregularities in the past year >ince John bad been cashier, but be- J ore that, in the time of Anderson, the | >ld cashier, who had died, much I strange juggling had been done with j lie records. The railroad In New I Mexico had apparently drained the j canker's private fortune, and he de- j ermined to retrieve it by one stroke. I rhis was nothing less than the loot-! ng of the bank's securities, turning | hem into money, and making his es j :ape. Hut the law lias long arms. Paul j Vrm.strong evidently studied the situa-' ion carefully. Just as the only good j ndian is a dead Indian, so the only , safe defaulter is a.dead defaulter. He! leeided to die, lo all appearand s. and vhen tiie hue and cry subsided, he vould be able to enjoy his money al nost anywhere he wished. The first necessity was mi accom-1 dice. The connivance of Dr. Walk* r vns suggested by his love for l»uise I'he man was unscrupulous, and with lie fjlrl as a bait, i*;iul Armstrong loon had him fast The plau was ap parently the acme of simplicity: A I imall town in the west, an attack of j Kurt dbeaao, u body from a medical •ollego dlMsectlnK room ahl|tpcd in it runk to l>r. Walker by a eoll.-aKue lit inn I'ntin isio. ami palmed off for tlx- MiplMj.-i'd banker. What wan dmpler? The woman. Nina CiurinKton. was he cog that What ahe onl;. « impeded. what *he really knew, we { H'ver burned. Hhe wax a chamber nabl in the hotel at C and It ua •vbb-nifS Ini.-ntlon to bla< kluall »r Walker His position at that time ■> an uncomfortable: To pa) the vmu HI LO k.,1 ~I HI I* «■» I'tion, and. i-rwhat h«* »ua-1 .••I i.tl until the Hl. .lie Y had IH-«K re noted from the chimney nmiii Tltwy << MtH'd int.. th.' r.»st.| In trout of the .tr tn tu|i ||, mtd Nlf played imn in Ir itandti The mr »truck lh« lull. • 'id they had only to tlM|ui.<. <>| m, ■in tia < l»»u» figure IN Ih<> toad Thin ih. v .It.l I It,it • i"! I I' ~ tin** CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1911. days Halsey lay In the box car, tied hand and foot, suffering tortures of thirst, delirious at times, and discov ered by a tramp at Johnsville only in time to save his life. Togo back to Paul Armstrong. At tho last moment his plans had been frustrated. Sunnyside. with its hoard in the chimney room, had been rented without his knowledge! Attempts to dislodge me having failed, he was driven to breaking into his own house. The ladder in the chute, the burning of the stable and the entrance through the cardroom window—all were in the course of a desperate attempt to get into the chimney room. and her mother had, from the first, been the great stumbling blocks. The plan had been to send Louise away until it was too late for her to interfere, but she came back to the hotel at C just at the wrong time. There was a terrible ! scene. The girl was told that some j thing of the kind was necessary; that | the bank was about to close and her j stepfather would either avoid arrest I and disgrace in this way. or kill him -1 self. Fanny Armstrong was a weak- J ling, but Louise was more difficult to j manage. She had no love for her step j father, but her devotion to her moth |or was entire, self-sacrificing. Forced j into acquiescence by her mother's ap peals, overwhelmed by the situation, the girl consented and fled. From somewhere in Colorado she sent an anonymous telegram to Jnrk Hailey at the Traders' bank. Trapped as she was, she did not want to see an Innocent man arrested. The tele- I gram, received on Thursday, had sent the cashier to the bank that night in ! a frenzy. ■ Louise arrived nt Sunnyside and found the house rented. Not knowing what to do. she sent for Arnold at the Greenwood club, and told him a little. I not all. She told him that there was something wrong, and that the bank was about to dose. That his father i was responsible. Of the conspiracy ! she said nothing. To her surprise, \rnold already knew, through Italley Unit night, that things were not right. Moreover, he suspected what Utilise did not. that the money was hidden at Sunnyside. lit' had a scrap of |iuper that indicated a concealed room some where. His inherited eupidlty wa, aroused Kuger to get Halsey and Jack Hailey out of the house, he went up to the east entry, and In the billiard room gave the cashier what he had refuted earlier !n the evening the address of Paul Armstrong la California and a telegram which had been forwarded to the elub for Italley, from Mir Walk er. It was in response to one Italley had sent, and it said that Paul Arm strong was very 111. Italley was utmost d*«|M-rute lie derided togo weal and Had Paul Arm strong and to force him to dl*itorK> ltd lie moment of sturtli », > .< H* M• ■ where Mr. Jan.: mm had hi al'il tie- i .ii\ he i. ad lliat II John ltm|.-> had know a Paul Arav *Mstt »• ll>* Ncvurilt 1 H«ml tiik* ii VVbert* «u > II? %na fruit* am** » u.*i». by Ar m«»M Atuifttrt»ft«t it » item* t vwm* fcft IMf malum H was Halsey's idea that, John Bailey come to the house as a gardener, and pursue lils investigations as he could. His smooth upper lip had been suffi cient disguise, with his change of clothes, and a hair-cut by a country barber. So it was Alex, Jack Bailey, who had been our ghost. Not only had he alarmed Louise—and himself, he ad mitted —on the circular staircase, but he had dug the hole in the trunkroom wall, and later sent Eliza into hysteria. The note Liddy had found in Ger trudes scrap-basket was from him, and it was he who had startled me into unconsciousness by the clothes chute, and, with Gertrude's help, had carried me to Louise's room. Ger trude, I learned, had watched all night beside me, in an extremity of anxiety about me. That old Thomas had seen his mas ter, and thought he had seen the Sun nyside ghost, there could be no doubt. Of that story of Thomas, about see ing Jack liailey in the footpath be tween the club and Sunnyside, the night Liddy and I heard the noise on the circular staircase—tliat, too, was right. On the night before Arnold Armstrong was murdered. Jack Bailey had made an attempt to search for the secret room. He secured Arnold's keys from his room at the club and got into the house, armed with a golf stick for sounding the walls. He ran against the hamper at the head of the stairs, caught his cuff-link in it, and dropped the golf-stick with a crash. He was glad enough to get away without an alarm being raised, and he took the "owl" train to town. Ihe oddest thing to me was that Mr. Jamieson had known for some time that Alex was Jack Bailey. But the tace of the pseudo-gardener was very queer indeed when, that night, in the cardroom, the detective turned to him and said: "How long are you and I going to play our little comedy, Mr. Bailey?" Well, it is all over now. Paul Arm strong rests in Casanova churchyard, and this time there is no mistake. 1 went to the funeral, because I wanted to be sure he was really buried, and I looked at the step of the shaft where I had sat that night, and won dered if it was all real. Sunnyside is for sale—no, I shall not buy it. Littls Lucien Armstrong is living with his step-grandmother, who is recovering gradually from troubles that had ex tended over the entire period of her second marriage. Anne Watson lies not far from the man she killed, and who as surely caused her death. Thomas, the fourth victim of the con spiracy. is buried on the hill. With Nina Carrington, five lives were sac rificed in the course of this grim con spiracy. I here will be two weddings before long, and Liddy has asked for niy heliotrope poplin to wear to the church. I knew she would. She has wanted it for three years, and she was quite ugly the time I spilled eof lee on it. We are very quiet, just the two of us. Liddy still clings to her ghost theory, and points to my wet find muddy boots in the trunkroom as proof. I am gray, I admit, but 1 haven't felt as well in a dozen years. Sometimes, when I am bored, I ring for Liddy, and we talk things over When Warner married Kosle, Liddy miffed and said what 1 took for faith lu'nt ss in Kosle had been nothing but tnawklshness. I have not yet outlived Uddy's contempt because I gave them -liver knives and forks as a wedding Rift. So we sit and talk, and sometimes l.iddv threatens to leave, and often 1 Uncharge her. hut we stay together omehow. 1 am talking of renting a house next year, and Liddy says to In ure there Is no ghost. To be perfect ly frank. I never really lived until ihat summer. Time has pa-sed since I began this story. My neighbors are l>ai king up for another aumnn'r. Liddy ■■ having the awninxn put up, and the window boxes tilled. Liddy or no Lid ly, I shall advertise to-morrow for a hous* in tie < xutitry. and I dou't care if it has a Circular Staircase. TIIK KM). Hunters Kill Big Cruily. 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