The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-07-02

one, OUT was anything but convinced.
Allowing for my nerves and the fact
thai small noises magnify themselves
at night, there was still no possibility
that the picture had made the series OF
sounds l heard. To prove It, however, I
dropped i again. It fell with a single
muttled crash Of its wooden frame. and
incidentally ruined itself beyond repair.
l justified myself by rejecting that tr
the Armstrong; chose to leave pictures
IN unsafe positions, and to rent a house
With a family ghost, the destruction OF
property was their responsibility. not
mine.
1 warned Liddy not to mention what
had happened to anybody, and tels-
phoned to town for Then.
after a breakfast which did more credit
to Thomas's heart than his head. I
went on q short tour of Investigation.
The sounds had come from the east
wing, and not without some qualms [
began there. At first l found nothing.
Since then l have developed my overs
of observation. but at that time | was a
novice. The small eard-room seemed
undisturbed. | looked for footprints.
which is, ! believe, the conventional
thing to do, although my experience
has been that as clues both footprints
and thumb-marks are more useful in
hction than in fact. But the stairs In
that wing offered something.
At the top of the flight had been
placed a tail wicker hamper, packed
with linen that had come from town.
1t stood at the edge of the top step, al
most barring passage, and on the step
below it was a long fresh scratch. For
three steps the scratch was repeated.
gradually diminishing, as if some OBJ
ject a fallen. striking each one. Then
for four steps nothing. On the fifth
step below was a round lent In the
hard wood. That was all and il seemed
little enough. except that I was positive
the marks had not been there the day
before.
Il bore out my theory of the sound.
which had been for all the world like
the humping of a metallic object down
a light of steps. The four steps shaa
been skipped. l reasoned that an iron
bar, for instance, would do something of
the sort-strike two or three steps, end
down, then turn over. jumping a few
stairs, and landing with a thud.
Iron bars, however, do not fall down.
stairs in the middle of the night alone.
Coupled with the figure on the veranda
the agency by which it climbed might
be assumed. But-and here was the
thing that puzzled me most-the doors
were all fastened that morning. the
windows unmolested and the particular
door from the card-room to the We
randa had a combination lock of which
l held the key, and which had not been
tempered with.
| fixed IN an attempt at burglary as
the most natural explanation-an at
tempt frustrated by the. falling OF the
object, whatever it was. that had
reused me. Two things could not
understand, how the intruder had
escaped with everything locked. and
why he had left the small silver, which.
In the absence of a butler, a re-
manned downstairs over light.
Under pretext of learning more about
the place, Thomas Johnson led me
through the house and the cellars.
without result. Everything was in
good order and repair; money had been
spent layishly on construction and
plumbing. The house was full of con-
veniences, and 1 had no reason to re-
pent my bargain, save the fact that.
in the nature of things, night must
come again. And other nights must
follow-and We were a long way from
a police-station.
In the afternoon a hack came up
from Casanova, with a fresh relay of
servants. The driver took them with
a flourish to the ~ervants entrance and
drove around TO the front of the house..
where I was awaiting him.
Two dollars" he said in reply to
my question. Il don't charge full rates,
because, bringin' EN- up all summer as
p 7 d. ff me- - ..I1
When they got off the train, I seq. seq
1, There's another bunch for Sunny
side. cook, parlor-maid and all Yes'n
six summers, and a new lot never
less than once a month. They WON'T
stand for the country and the lone
someness, I reckon"
But with the presence of the punch
OF servants my courage revived. and
late IN the afternoon came a message
from Gertrude that she and Halsey
would arrive that night at about II
O'Clock, coming in the car from Rich
field. Things were looking up: and
when Beulah, my cat, a most intelligent
animal, found some early catnip on a
bank near the house and rolled in 1t
in a feline ecstasy. I decided that get
ting back to nature was the thing to
do.
While l was dressing for dinner
Liddy raped at the door. She was
hardly herself yet. but privately / think
she was worrying about the broken
mirror and its augury more thar any,
thing else. When she came in she was
holding something in her hand and she
laid it on the dr~essing-table carefully.
II found it in the linen hamper" she
said. 1T must be Mr., Halseyss, but 1t
seems queer how it got there
1t was the half of a link c~uff-bufton
of unique design, and l looked at IL
carefully.
Where was it? In the bottom of
the hamper?" 1 asked.
"On the very top" she replied. ITS
a mercy it didn't fall out on the way"
When Liddy mad gone 1 examined the
fragment attentively. 1 had never seen
it before. and l was certain it was not
Halsey's. 1t was of Italian workman
ship, and consisted of a mother-of-pearI
foundation. incrusted with tiny seed
pearls. strung on horsehair to hold
them. In the centre was q small ruby.
The trinket was d enough. but not
i~ntrinsieally of great value. Its interest
tfor mn lay In his. Lids had found