Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-05-26
ByM4RY =
ROBERTS
. .RZVEH4RT
AkLEzR4170NS BY R%wAikSa%
cePrRer1 100 ~ sOess 41Essufca :.
CHAPTER ]. ......
| Take a Country House.

Uue Ol lnOS6 mysterious CIluleo. Iuat
keep our newspapers and detective
agencies happy aud 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, l 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. l
hate to be reminded of unpleasant
things and I snapped her off.
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 incomplete-one Of
them mentioned me but once, and
then only as the tenant at the time
the thing happened-that l feel it my
due to tell what l know. Mr.. jamie
son, the detective, said himself he
could never have done without me,
although he gave me little enough
credit, in print.
| shall have to go back several
=
story. At that time my brother died,
leaving me his two children. Halsey
was II 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 came 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
cOuraging ineligible youths with either
more money than brains or more
brains than money. By spring l 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 wa!
far enough away from the house, i
seemed to me that either fire o.
thieves could complete their work o
CT
ty was an extensive one; the house Oh
the top of hill, which sloped away il
great stretches of green lawn ant
clipped hedges, to the road, and acros
the valley, perhaps a couple of mile
away, was the Greenwood Club house
Gertrude and Halsey were infatuated
The property was owned by Pau
Armstrong, the president of tn
| Traders bank, who at the time w
took the house was in the west wit
his wife and daughter, and a Dr
Walker, the Armstrong family ply
stefan. Halsey knew Louise Arm
stronghold been rather attentive t
her the winter before, but as Halse
was always attentive to somebody,
had not thought of it seriously, a
though she was a charming girl.
! knew of Mr.. Armstrong only throug
his connection with the bank, wher
the children's money was largely il
vested, and through an ugly stor
about the son, Arnold Armstrong, VIII
was reported to have forged his f;
theirs name for a considerable amour
to some bank paper. However, tn
story had had no interest for me.
l cleared Halsey and Gertrud
away to house party, and moved OF
to Sunnyside the first of May.
The first night passed quietl
enough. / have always been gratef,
for that one nights peace; it show
what the country might be under f
vorable circumstances. Never aftt
that night did I put my head on m
pillow with any assurance how lo1
1t would be there; or on my shoulder
for that matter.
On the following morning Liddy ar
Mrs. Ralston. my own housekeepe
had a difference of opinion, and Mr.
IldlSlOu lclI Ou the IL Train. d SI dl u
luncheon, Burke, the butler, was take
Unexpectedly with pain in his rig
side, much worse when / was with
hearing distance, and by afternoon
was started cityward. That night Il
cooks sister had baby-the coo
seeing indecision in my face, made
twins on second thought-and, to
short, by noon the next day the hous
hold staff was down to Liddy al
myself. And this in house with
rooms and five baths!
Liddy wanted to go back to the eli
at once, but the milkboy said tn
Thomas Johnson, the Armstrong
colored butler, was working as