Copyright by D. Appleton. Century Co, Ine, WNU Service SYNOPSIS Lella Seton, young and beautiful, and An expert on paintings, Is commissioned to go over the collection of paintings in the home of the wealthy Kellers in New York, where a party is in progress, From her window she witnesses a man in another room strike a woman, Short- ly after Mrs. Keller sends up word, ask- ing her to join the party at dinner. Lella hastily dresses and goes down. Bhe Is seated between Mr, Deck, a critic, and Monty Mitchell, a noted lawyer Introductions follow. There are Mr, Harriden, Miss Letty Van Alstyn, Mrs. Crane, Mrs. Watkins and Prince and Princess Rancini, guests. Leila finds she is taking the place of Nora Harri. den, Dan Harriden leaves the table, and MfYchell explains he has gone up to see how his wife's headache is. He returns shortly, Deck, saying he must put In a call, leaves Upon his return, he begs Leila to secretly take a mes- Sage to Nora "to take no steps until I see you” Leila consents, Leila finds the Harriden rooms empty and so in- forms Deck. Coming out she passes Letty, Harriden asks Princess Rancini to run up and see his wife The prin- cess reports the absence of Nora. Search is fruitless, Harriden admits that he had a row, and belleves she is spite- fully hiding. Letty tells of seeing Leila come from the room. Leila ac cuses Har. riden of having struck his wife. This Harriden denies. From the Harridens' window Leila sees what proves to be Nora's lifeless body, A ghastly head wound caused death. Dan says she was lying on her bed when he went to din- ner, and when he ran up later the room was dark. Thinking she was asleep, he left without seeing her, Mrs Keller comes upon & pool of blood in the closet. A diamond chain Is miss- Ing. Donahey, polices inspector, ques- tions the guests. Harriden fails to re- port the row he had with Nora, He brands Leila's story of seeing a man strike a woman a lie Anson, a maid, tells of seeing Deck outside the Har- riden door, Deck says he passed by in seeking g lost handkerchief, CHAPTER IV—Continued — “I don't know what time I came up to hustle to dress. ™ Mitchell reported, and Keller stated that he had gone up before the time in question and had been talking through the open doors with his wife. Donahey turned toward Alan Deck. “You, Mr. Deck?™ Deck answered, “1 went up fairly early to my room-—though I haven't any wife to vouch for it.” His sone was lightly mocking. “After 1 changed I went to the picture gallery on the third floor—by the south stairs.” he mentioned. “My presence there Miss Seton can certifs- to. We encountered each other there ™ The inspector's gaze moved back to me. “Appointment?” “Accident,” I told him. “We had never met each other before” “What were yon doing there? I reminded him that the pictures were my business in the house. Alan Deck said merely, “Time on my hands —things to think out. Like a big place to tramp about in" Donahey made more of his little notes. Then, as usual, he asked for the exact time of this encounter and listened wearily to our uncertainties that finally decided it had been a lit- tle before eight. “That's when 1 lost my handkerchief,” sald Deck. “Now let me get this straight,” sald Donahey., “Your rooms are In the south wing, second floor. Before din. ner you went up to the gallery on the second floor, using the stairs on your side of the house. You met Miss Seton there, accidentally. You lost your handkerchief, During dinner you went Up to call your paper, then you re membered that you had lost your handkerchief, probably In the gallery, and you started out to find it. You went along the hall that goes across the length of the house, passing the door of Mrs. Harriden's room." “Among others,” interpolated Deck, “Was that when the maid saw you?" Deck reflected. “No—when I was coming back from the gallery, She was coming from the south, along the hall toward me.” "OK. The mald saw you and thought you might have been coming out of the room. That's it, lsn't it? “That's It,” sald Deck In his non- chalant volce. “I might Just have stopped, wondering If it was worth while to try that call again, I didn't get it, the first time.” Donahey finished his notes without comment, then concentrated again up- on me, “Now then--about this thing at the window now" “Can't you forget that?” Harriden demanded. “Why do you want to waste your time" “Now, now, Mr, Harriden, 1t may lead to something, It may have been some outside fellow, somebody who came here to see her on the QT. He" Harriden made a surge forward and IL thought the veins on his congested face would burst. He looked almost at the limit of his self control, “Are you suggesting that my wife had a clandestine visitor" “Not the way you think at all” the official returned with his unmoved de tachment. “She might have owed him money, gambling or something, or he might have been blackmalling her. Funny things like that happen. He may have forced his way In, and she didn't want to give him away, She may have hid him In the closet and faked a headache so they could talk while you folks were eating. And then he made a grab at her shiners and they got to struggling, and he stabbed her.” Harriden cursed him for a fool. “Do you think my wife was ever afraid of a blackmaller?' he thundered. “Can't you see this girl 1s just making this up to get herself some sensational limelight" “Well, now, she hasn't any reason for making It up, has she?” Harriden gave me a sudden, strange look, “How do I know?" he sald wearily. “I don’t know a damned thing about her except that she's lying. She cooked up this story to cover up her golng into my wife's room.” “Don't you think, Mr. Donahey,” came Mrs. Crane's practical volce from somewhere behind us, “that this in. vestigation has gone far enough to- night? It 1s well on into the morn- ing” Donahey conceded, “Something in It, lady. There's guards around the place and guards inside the house and nobody is to stir out till we get through with this.” We had risen to go out when one of the policemen came in, bringing a young man in the livery of an under. butler, —————— CHAPTER V rather a reedy looking with a cadaverous face, prominent cheek-bones and deep-set eyes. He looked excited, and the po- liceman with him was excited, as he boomed along to the inspector, Don- ahey took the affairs into his hands. “My man says you've admitted know- ing something. what's your name?” “Elkins,” said the man in a strained, nervous voice, “You work here?" “Yes, sir, for three years. And 1 mean no disrespect to my employers in speaking out about a guest. I un- derstand my duty to tell any- thing that I might know.” “That's your duty,” sald Donahey grimly, “What do you know?" Elking was breathing quickly, “People often forget that servants can hear,” he said “They talk out while we're passing things—it's em- barrassing. 1 was Just behind that Chinese screen In the lounge when they were talking. I was taking glasses off a table “It was the violence of what was being sald that caught me,” Elkins went on. “Not like the ordinary run of talk of the cocktail hour.” Donahey only nodded encouragingly. “But it was savage sounding, sir. The lady was Mrs Harriden, She had been drinking with the gentleman, talking together for some time, And then, when 1 was behind the screen, I heard him say In quite a terrible voice, though very low, ‘If you do, you'll be the sorriest woman on God's earth.” “And what did she say?" “I didn't catch that. I got the tone of her voice — it was like she was laughing sort of sassy." sald Elkins with a slip into the colloquial. “And the man said to what she sald, 1 warn you. And then he sald some thing about lying, he sald, ‘Tq say you lied ln your teeth, and she said something again, that I didn't hear. « « « Her words were all run together like. And then he said, ‘God, if you do!—1 warn you.' And then some. body was asking for another shaker, and I had to hurry across the room, +» « And when I heard she was ly- ing dead downstair-—well, I couldn't say this had anything to do with it, but when the officer began asking me had 1 heard anything of thelr goings on and was there any bad blood about, why I'd have done less than my duty, sir, If 1 had covered the facts.” “Sure. You had to tell it” Dona. hey sald evenly, “Now-—about this fellow. Who was he? You haven't told us that, yet” “There, sir. That gentleman there. Mr. Deck.” Deck stood there, and his white face, with his dark, bitter, defiant eyes, sent a queer terror through me. He was like a man In a pillory for all the world to gape at, And then my eyes went on, and found the figure of Harriden. He had stood there, back by the door, during that time, listening. , . , And now he looked at Deck. Donahey’s head was thrusting out on his thick neck like a turtles, “Well, Mr. Deck?” His silence agonized me. And then he said, “lI don't remember,” and his lips twitched in a mockery of a smile. “You don't remember?” “Not a word. I was quite tight be fore dinner, . , , I haven't the fainte est recollection of anything sald down. stairs” Donahey ground out, “Yet yon re member that you went up early to your room, you sald?” “Oh, 1 remember that,” Deck sald Jauntily. “I got to my room all right,” he went on, “and the cold water re vived me. But everything that went on downstairs Is just a total Joss” “Do you happen to remember,” sald the inspector with terrible sarcasm, “any reason why you could have said the words you have no recollection of saying to Mrs. Harriden?" Deck was silent, “What was between you? Donahey shot cut. “Friendship,” sald Deck, He was young man, Now, it's I know that I felt I could not bear to look at Hurriden, and yet I looked CENTRE at him and saw him standing, like a man of stone, his grim, blunt profile toward that younger man. The sheer beauty of Deck seemed somehow in solent and flaunting before that hus band's haggard eyes, 1 felt a sharp cleavage of sympathy . . . terror for Deck and anguish for that bereft man's palin, It was the easing of a physical straln when Harrlden turned and walked out of the room. I remember a dull surprise at find. Ing It was only half-past two “when I was In my room. I was so spent emotionally that 1 was consclous of nothing but a crush- Ing depression. There was no denying the reality of Elkins’ high - strung words, And I had my own corroboration of Deck's desperate message, Take no steps. For all my exhaustion I could not sleep: my htoughts kept milling about In confused conjecturing. Had Deck been the man at the window—had he followed her up to finish the quarrel there? It might have been Deck, 1 thought, He might have slipped away when he heard Harriden come in the next room —she might have promised to meet him as soon as possible in the gal lery. Then she did not come. Per haps her husband had stayed too long in the room. What was thelr quarrel about, I wondered, my temples throbbing heavy lly against the pillow. Was she threat ening to leave him—was he mad with Jealousy? The sorriest woman on God's earth. . . . Had he gone up from din. ner to carry out his wild threat? Oh, no, no, no! Only to see her, to plead with her. For he had sent me up later to try to get word to her, to urge her to take no steps. . . . Oh, fool that I had been not to speak out before! Then my story might have carried conviction, but now it would seem a lame invention of mine to save him. Or had his sending me on that er. rand been merely a ruse on his part, to make It appear that he still be lieved her In her room, when all the time he kpew that room was unten anted and her poor body shrouded in the shrubbery below? I did not know what to belleve, My mind went round and round In the mazes of its doubt, . «. He had been so long away from that table. . . But that had been because he was trying to reach her, my defensive heart instantly declared. He had told me that her room phone did not an- swer—of course, he had gone to her door and knocked — perhaps even tried it I wondered if he had peeped In and found darkness and ghostly curtains blowing In the wind. Or If he had found the door locked-—locked by an unknown assassin who was still Inside. I determined to try to make Deck confide in me, Since I salready knew 80 much, since I had proved stanch, surely he would tell me the truth, sut If his sending me had been a ruse ~-T My mind wearled from dil this wondering. At last 1 slept, I woke very suddenly. 1 woke to the Instant impression that some one was in my room. I lay there with my REPORTER, “People Often Forget That Serv. ants Can Hear™ eyes shut, not daring to open them, trying to feign sleep, feeling in every nerve that something was there something just within the door. There had been some sound, some indefin- able sound that had waked me, Every Instant the feeling grew more terrible; I knew then that fear could be paralyzing, for I lay there literally unable to move or speak, simply help- less and terrified, waiting for some. thing horrible to happen. Then there was a creak at the door and soft, muffied steps down the hall, I knew I was not imagining those steps ; I heard them, though my own thump- ing heart beats sounded louder to me. I suppose it was only a moment or two, really, that I lay In the grip of that helplessness, then motion and sense came back to me, and I reached out and managed to flasi Then "I jumped up door, 1 forced myself to look the blackness of that hall, I saw noth. ing. I heard nothing, I did not go ou and look down the stairs; 1 back and shut and locked my Should I eall some one on phone? 1 moved toward it tated, caught back by the fear thing hysterical and panicky, * out down easy for overwrought nerves to play tricks and in my half-asleep condition within my door. The steps, though, had been real. But the steps could easily be accounted for, m room was occupled, I persuaded myself that this was so. What else could it be? Confidence had revived with the lighted room and | chair by the door. My very excess of other direction, for 1 did not phone. It was not easy to get to sleep agaln but I did, ultimately, and it was streaming across the dark, polished on the rose-red of the deep-cushioned chalr, But no sun could lift the de. pression of that past night or banish the pletures moving before my eyes— Nora Harriden's limp, gold-clad body in her husband's arms . . that hus- band's face, rigid, grief-smitten . Deck’s defiant, high-held head and his bitter, tormented eyes, I must get fo Deck, I thought ex- citedly, and hurried into a cold show- er, wondering what was done about breakfast in that house, I phoned the question and was Informed that break- fast would be up. Coffee was my chief need, black and hot, and 1 welcomed it all the more since the mald who brought the tray told me that the inspector would like to see me as soon possible, | took a last look at myself In the glass, then went downstairs, The halls were empty ; so, too, was the big entrance hail, except for a po- lHceman at the front door. in the drawing-room Donahey was behind his usual table, He nodded in response to my good morning, then jerked his bead toward a couple of young men at & table at the far end of the room and sent me to have my fingerprints taken, That was to be expected, | thought, and certainly 1 had nothing to worry about, except that I was rather Inter. ested In the process of print taking, for I knew something about the work, 80 1 fell Into chat with the two young men. It was just a formality, they said; there was nothing to be gained from all this print taking unless they g0t the print of some insider, for all the household had been over the room. “Except Deck,” said & heavy voice beside us, 1 started, and found Harriden star. ing down at us out of red-rimmed eyes, man's face looked as if years of hours had passed ; he deep lines in it were accentuated til they seemed like seams, and the flesh was sparer and tighter over the hard-angied bones. “Deck wasn't in the room after the murder—and don't you forget that” he admonished grimly, I was Impatient to see Deck. 1 thought of phoning to his room, then I remembered that a policeman might be listening In-—1 thought of getting in touch with Monty Mitchell and trusting him with a message. But Don. ahey detained me then with more questions, and I bad to go over what I bad said before and tell him more about myself and bow I happened to be there at all. At the end he told me I must appear at the inquest oun Sunday morning. I went out in the ball and wandered about a little irresolutely, thinking that If I kept out in sight | might en. counter either Alan Deck or Monty Mitchell without having to phone and betray my eagerness to the officials. AS a pretext for lingering 1 read the papers over and over, The headlines were sensational— Society Beauty Murdered — and the first pages were filled with stories of Nora's life, and there was one account of the famous yellow diamond chain The pendant on it, it was stated, was a flawless jewel which had been worn on the turbans of a royal Turkish family, for generations: the last hel: had given It to Mrs. Harriden Instant. ly upon her expression of admiratior ~a costly gesture which her husband had paid for, later, by persistent losses at cards. The chain, so the paper sald | had been assembled by Mr. Harriden to match the pendant. My eyes raced through the accounts of the guests: there was no reference to Alan Deck except as "a favorite In the Long Island set” No reporter, 1 was sure, had been able to get In the house ; the papers had had to take the facts that Donahey had given out, ang the list of guests and do what they could with their Imagination, After the inquest, I supposed, Deck's threats could no longer be kept se | cret; the papers would make what they could of that. Luckily he would | have his own paper to give a favors. ! ble version. Bpt he would have to | give an explanation of his words—and : I hoped fervently that the night had | brought him counsel and Inspiration, | Restiessly I wondered where he was keeping himself. I began to think that all of the guests were upstairs, gathered Int). mately In the Kellers' private sitting. room talking things over by them. selves; I feit so alone in that house that it was a comfort to see the Prince Rancinl coming out from the long lounge just behind this entrance hall, He looked at me with the Latin's quick interest in his big, brown eyes-a stal. wart, handsome fellow, with white teeth flashing In his brown face as he smiled at me. I smiled back at him, and he came up to me. “A terrible business,” he sald, roll Ing out his rs Very fervently 1 agreed, (TO BE CONTINUED) he instead No, 1859.8 isn't excited about the milder width th new wider she at tends to sienderize the waistline? 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