Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-04-06

minute, he sits still. as did, and waits
until the storm clears.
Miss Margery was not long in
emerging from her handkerchief.
II didn't sleep much she explained,
dabbing at her eyes, "and am nerv-
Gus, anyhow. Mr.. Knox, are you sure
it was only Harry trying to get into
the house last night
"Only Harry" repeated. III Mr..
Wardrop's attempt to get into the house
leaves me in this condition, what
would real burglar have done to
mel"
She was too intent to be sympathet-
ic over my disfgured face.
"There was some one moving about
upstairs not long before came down. -
she said slowly.
"You heard me; I almost fell down
the stairs"
ibid you brush past my door, and
strike the knob?" she demanded
mo, was not near any door,"
Every WE'LL" triumphantly. Some
one did. Not only that, but they were
tn the store.room on the floor above.
could hear one person and perhaps
two, going from one side of the room
to the other and back again."
"You heard goblin quadrille. First
couple forward and back" said
facetiously.
able ones. The maids sleep back on
the second floor, and-don't tell me it
was rats. There are no rats in my
Aunt Letitia's house."
was more impressed than I cared
to show L found I had u half hour
before train time, and as we were
neither Of us eating anything, sug-
gested that we explore the upper floor
of the house. did 1t, l explained.
not because I expected to find any
thing, but because I was sure we
would not.
We crept past the two closed doors
behind which the ladies Maitland were
presumably taking out their crimps
and taking in their tea. Then up a
narrow, obtrusively clean stairway to
the upper floor.
It was an old-fashioned, sloping
rooted attic, with door opened into a
large room, and In there were the
family trunks of four generations Of
,Maitlands., One on another they were
all piled there-little hair trunks,
squab-topped trunks, huge Saratogas
OF the period when the two maiden
ladies were in their late teens land
there were handsome, modern trunks,
too. For Miss Fleming's satisfaction
I made careful examination Of the
room, but it showed nothing. There
was no dust to have been disturbed;
the windows were closed and locked.
In the main attic there were two
step ladders, some curtains drying on
frames, an old chest Of drawers with
glass knobs and the veneering broken
in places. One of the drawers stood
open, and inside could be seen red
and white patchwork quilt, and a
grayish thing that looked like flannel
and smelled to heaven of camphor.
We gave up finally, an. started down.
Part way down the attic stairs
Margery> stopped her eyes fixed on
the whit-scrubbd rail. Following her
gaze, stopped, too, and felt sort
of chill go over me. No spot or blenl-
ish, no dirty finger print marked the
wilderness of that stair hail, except
in one place. On it, clear and dis
tinct, every line Of the palm showing,
was the reddish imprint of hand!
Margery did not speak; she had
turned very white, and closed her
eyes, but she was not faint. When the
first revulsion had passed, I reached
over and touched the stain. 1t was
quite dry, of course, but it was still
reddish-brown; another hour or two
would see it black. 1t was evidently
fresh-Hunter said afterward 1t must
have been about six hours old, and as
things transpired, he was right. The
stain showed q hand somewhat short
and broad, with Widened finger-tips;
marked in ink, it would >not have
struck me so forcibly, perhaps, but
there, is ugly red against the white
wood, it seemed to me to be the i'm
print of brutil murderous hand.
Margery was essentially feminine.
what did l tell you?" she asked
Some one was in this house last
night; I heard them distinctly. There
must have been two and they quar-
relied" she shuddered.
We went on downstairs into the
quiet and peace of the dining-room
again. l got same hot coffee for Mar
gerry, for she looked shaken, and
found had missed my train.
Il am beginning to think l am be-
ing pursued by malicious spirit, she
said, trying to smile. Il came away
from home because people got into
the house at night and left queer signs
of their visits, and now, here at Bell
wood, where nothing ever happens, the
moment I arrive things begin to oc-
cur. And-just as it was at home
the house was so well locked last
night"
did not tell her, OF the open hall
door, just as had kept from her the
fact that only the contents Of Harry
Wardrop's bag had been taken. That
it had all been the work Of one person
and that that person, having in some
way access to the house, had also
stolen the pearls, was now my conf
dent belief
looked at Bella-the maid-as she
moved around the dining-room; her
stolid face was not even intelligent:
certainly not. cunning. Heppie, the
a. 4 l. ~