The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-10-31
THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE


! Snunysidc deserved its uamc: never was
house more CHEEKY aud open, less
sinister in general appearance. There
was not corner apparently that was
| moi open and above board. and vet,
somewhere behind lis handsomely pa
prrcd walls believed firmly that there
lay hidden room, with all the posi-
| bilitIcs il would involve.
| made mental nojc Ia have the
house measured during the day. to dis
| cover amy discrepancy between the
outer and inner walls, and | tried TO
| recall again the exact wording of the
| paper that Jameson had found.
| Tho slip had said "chimncy.' II
was the only clue, and a house as large
As SuunySidc was full of them There
| was an open fireplace i'm my dressing
room, bul none in the bedroom. and as
| ! lay there. looking around. ! thought
| of something that made me sit up sud
| denly. The trunlS-room, Just over my
head, had an open fireplace and a
brick chimney and yet. there was nuth-
| ing Of the kind in my room. got out
of bed and examined tho opposite wall
closely. There was apparently no fIuc.
and ! knew there WAS mono i'm the hall
Just beneath. The house was heated
by steam, rs | have said before. IN
inc liNingroom was n huge open fire
lA'''. bHN lN was 'll WIG 'lh'' cI''
Why did the trunll.room have both
\ radiator and an open fireplace!
Architects were not usually erratic. II
WIS not fifteen minutes before | was
upstairs. armed with n tapc-meaSurc
n Lien of 4 foot rule, eager To Justify
Mr.. Jameson & opinion of my intelll.
gcucc, and firmly resolved not 10 tell
him Of my suspicion until ! had more
than theory TO 90 on. The hole IN
the trunk room wall still yawnrd there,
between the chimney and the outer
wall I examined il again, with no
new result The space between the
brick wnIl and the plastcl and lalh
one, however, had 4 new significance,
The hole showed only one side OF the
chimney, and | determined 10 inVcsti-
gate what Law in the space on the other
side Of the mantcl
worked fevcrishly. Liddy had gone
40 the village 10 market, ii being her
firm belief that the store people sent
short measure unless she watched the
scales, and that. since the failure of the
Traders bank we must watch The cor
UcrS; and knew that what ! wanted
10 DO must be done before she came
back, ! had no tools, bat after rum.
maging around | found q pair of gar
den scissors and n haIchet, and thus
armed | set TO work. The plaster came
mate. II gave under the blows, only
10 spring back into place again, and
the necessity for caution made it dou-
bly, hard.
had blister on my palm when
nj last The hatchct went through and
fell with what sounded like The re,
port OF n gun to my OvcrstralEcd
nerves. [ sat on a trunk, waiting to
hear Liddy fly mp the stairs. with the
household behind her, like the tail of
p comet. But nothing happened, and
with growing feeling Of uncannincss,
| set TO work enlarging the opening
The result was absolutely nil. When
| could hold lighted candle in hhe
opening, | saw precisely what / had
seen on The other side of the chimney
space between the true wall and the
false one. possibly seven feet long and
about three feet wide. II was in no
sense Of the word a secret chamber, and
it was evident it had not been dis