The Tupelo journal., 1910-05-27
ByMzRY =
p ROBERTS
= AZNZHART
ILLUSTRATORS 6y R9>M4In@
coereexy 800 ~ soess ,nxsAaEca
I.
I Take a Country House.

keep our newspapers int detectlVe
agencies happy and prosperous. For
20 years / had been perfectly COM
Portable; for 20 years | had had the
window-boxes filled in the spring, the
carpets lifted, the awnings put up and
the furniture covered with brown
linen; for as many summers | had said
good-by to my friends, and, after
watching their perspiring hegira, had
settled down to a delicious quiet in
town, where the mail comes three
times a day, and the water supply
does not depend on a tank on the
roof.
And then-the madness seized me.
When | look back over the months l
spent in Sunnyside, | wonder that
survived at all. AS it is, / show the
wear and tear of my narrowing ex-
%periences. | have turned very gray
Liddy reminded me of it only yester-
day by saying that a little bluing in
the rinse water would make my hair
silvery instead of a yellow white.
hate to be reminded of unpleasant
IuluSS anu 4 udppCd hCi oh'
NO" l said sharply, I'm not going
to use bluing at my time of life, or
starch, either"
Liddy's nerves are gone, she says,
since that awful summer, but she has
enough left, goodness knows! And
when she begins to go around with a
lump in her throat, all | have to do
is to threaten to return to Sunnyside,
and she is frightened into a semblance
of cheerfulness-from which you may
Judge that the summer there was any
thing but a success.
The newspaper accounts have been
so garbled and Incompetence OF
them mentioned me but once, and
then only as the tenant at the time
the thing happened-that feel it my
due to tell what | know. Mr.. jamie
son, the detective, said himself he
could neve have done without me,
although he gave me little enough
credit, in print.
l shall have to go back several
story. At that time my brother died,
leaving me his two children. Halsey
was IL then and Gertrude was seven.
When Halsey had finished his cleo
trical course and Gertrude her board
ing school both came home to stay.
The winter Gertrude anne out was
nothing but a succession of sitting up
late at night to bring her home from
things, taking her to the dressmakers
between maps the next day, and dis
c%ouraging ineligible youths with either
more money than brains or more
brains than money. By spring | was
quite tractable. So when Halsey sug-
gested camping in the Adirondacks
and Gertrude wanted Bar Harbor, we
compromised on a good country house
with links near, within motor dis
lance of town and telephone distance
of the doctor. That was how we went
to Sunnyside.
We went out to inspect the property,
and it seemed to deserve it's name.
It's cheerful appearance gave no indi-
cation whatever of anything out of
the ordinary. Only one thing seemed
unusual to me: The housekeeper, who
had been left in charge, had moved
from the house to the gardeners lodge
a few days before. AS the lodge was
far enough away from the house, it
seemed to me that either fire or
thieves could complete their work of
destruction undisturbed. The o
" was an extensive one; the house on
the top of a hill, which sloped away in
great stretches. of green lawn and
clipped hedges, to the road, and across
the valley, perhaps a couple of miles
away, was the Greenwood Club house.
Gertrude and Halsey were infatuated.
The property was owned by Paul
Armstrong, the president of the
Traders bank, who at the time we
took the house was in the west with
his wife and daughter, and a DR..
Walker, the Armstrong family ply
sician. Halsey knew Louise Arm.
her the winter before, but as Halsey
was always attentive to somebody, I
had not thought of it seriously, al
though she was a charming girl. /
knew of Mr.. Armstrong only through
his connection with the bank, where
the children's money was largely in
vested, and through an ugly story
about the Son, Arnold Armstrong, who
was reported to have forged his ia
Tiers name for a considerable amount
to some bank paper. However, the
story had had no interest for me.
| cleared Halsey and Gertrude
away to a house party, and moved out
to- Sunnyside the first of May.
The first night passed quietly
enough. ] have always been grateful
for that one nights peace; il shows
what the country might be under IA
vorable circumstances. Never after
that night did | put my head on my
pillow with any assurance how long
it would be there; or on my shoulders,
for that matter.
On the following morning Liddy and
Mrs. Ralston. my own housekeeper,
had a difference of opinion, and Mrs.
Ralston left On the IL train. Just after
luncheon, Burke, the butler, was taken
Unexpectedly with a pain in his right
side. much worse when / was within
hearing distance, and by afternoon he
vas started cityward. That night the
cooks sister had a baby-the cook,
seeing INDIGESTION in my face, made 1t
twins on second thought-and, to be
short, by noon the next day the house
hold staff was down to Liddy and
myself. And this in a house with %