The Nevada County picayune., 1910-05-13
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L. Country House.
cHAPTER l.

,obod house for the summer out iul n and found herself involved ln os those mysterious crimes that or our newspapers and detectlVe repcies happy and prosperous TOT
 had been perfectly com ...hls. for 20 years l had had the .aSow .boxes filled in the spring, the .nots lifted, the awnings put up ana . furniture covered with brown
 for as many summers l had said sabv to my friends, and, after otobinq their perspiring hegira, had titled down to a delicious quiet i'll wbere the mail comes three nos day. and the water supply .s not depend on a tank on the bof
 ,,d tben-the madness seized me. v,o, look back over the months l Dent in Sunnyside. l wonder that l ,rvived at all. As it is, 1 show the oar and tear of my narrowing eX- orences. I have turned very gray ;adv reminded me of it only yester- ay bv saying that little bluing In s rinse water would make my hair livery instead of a yellow white. l ate to be reminded of unpleasant hings and I snapped her off.
 No" said sharply, I'm not going use bluing at my time of life, or karch, either
 Liddys nerves are gone. she says, nce that awful summer, but she has nough left, goodness knows! And hen she begins to go around with a mp in her throat, all l have to do tn threaten to return to Sunnyside, nd she is frightened into a semblance cheerfulness-from which you may dge that the summer there was any hing but success.
 The newspaper accounts have been garbled and incomplete-one of hem mentioned me but once, and hen only as the tenant at the time e thing happened-thatI 1 feel it my he to tell what l know. Mir. Jamie bn, the detective, said himself he puld never have done without me, lthough he gave me little enough fedit, in print.
 shall have to go back several ears-13, to be eXact-to start my ory At that time my brother died, kaving me his two children. Halsey las Il then and Gertrude was seven. Then Halsey had finished his cleo fical course and Gertrude her board g school both came home to stay. he winter Gertrude came out was )te at night to bring her home from pings, taking her to the dressmakers etween maps the next day. and dis puraging ineligible youths with either bore money than brains or more rains than money By spring I was bite tractable. So when Halsey sug- ested camping in the Adirondacks nd Gertrude wanted Bar Harbor, we Pmpromised on good country house ith links near, within motor dis nce of town and telephone distance the doctor. That was how We went Sunnyside.
 we went out to inspect the property, pa 1t seemed to deserve it's name. cheerful appearance gave no fndi- ation whatever of anything out of e ordinary Only one thing seemed nusual to me; The housekeeper. who Au been left in charge. had moved oni the house to the gardeners lodge rev days before. As the lodge was enough away from the house. it ehed to me that either fire or 'eVes could complete their work of 'uucuon undisturbed. The proper. was an extensive one: the house on e top of hill, which sloped away in ea' stretches of green lawn and 'ppeo hedges, to the road, and across valley perhaps couple of miles 'ay' was the Greenwood Club houso 'iuude and Halsey were infatuated. me property was owned by Paul us'fong, the president of the auers bank, who at the time we tne mousse was in the west with
 "he and daughter, and a Dr. a'Ne'' the Armstrong family phy- 'ah lfalscy knew Louise Arm. 'ne-had been rather attentive to
 ue winter before, but as Halsey
 "i"@ys attentive to somebody. I u not thought of it seriously. al.
 e" she was a charming girl I oi MT Armstrong only through
 'ohnection with the bank where s,os ''u'eA money was largely in ou. /. ana through an ugly story .a 'ue son, Arnold Armstrong, who a,. 'eported to have forged his ia. "''ile Tor considerable amount some bank paper. However the nao had no interest for me.
 70, .ieafed Halsey and Gertrude ss to house party. and moved ont n, sunnyside the first of May.
 ous, "e hrst night passed quietly 1n tsa | have always been grateful .t t"a' one nights peace; it shows brah,o e"e country might be under fa at ni, ."cunStances. Never after ,,or, asnt did l put my head on my womb t'" h any assurance how long