The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-15
The Window By MARY ROBERTS
 RINEHART
(Continued.)

It 1Sn mlQe, EepIleu m0ekiy. By Dwn face is beneath these excrescences. tried to cover the bump on my fore head with French chalk, but it only ac- sentzated the thing, like snow on mountain top"
 '' The purple peaks of Darien,'" she, quoted, pouring me my coffee. Do you know, feel so much better since you have taken hold of things. Aunt Leti- lia thinks you are wonderful"
 thought ruefully of the failure of my first attempt to play the sleuth, and I disclaimed any right to Miss Le kitia's high opinion of me.
 Before any one comes down, Miss Fleming" said, 'I want to ask a uuestfon or two. What was the name of the maid who helped you search the house that night?''
 ~Annie''
 ''what other maids did you saythere wereY'
 .sDelfa- and Rose"
 ssDo you know anything about them? Where they came from or where they wentfr
 She smiled little.
 ~what does one know about new -servRntsT' she responded. 'They bring you references, but references are the price most women pay to get rid of their servants without a fuss Rose was fat and old, but Della was ! pretty thought she rather liked Carter"
 Carterkas well as Shields, the police man. puf Miss Della down as a fafre-
 And yow have noddea where Carter wentT''
 ssSone."
 W@drups came in then. The two elderly ladies, it seemed, had tea and toast in their rooms when they waken- cd. Wardrop: looked haggard and worn, avoided Miss F1eming's eyes, and, after ordering eggs instead of his chop, looked at his watch.
 sT want to get the 9:30, Margie," he said. s'I may not be out to dinner. Tell Miss Letitia, will you? He turn ed to go, but came back to me and held out his hand.
 'T may not see you again" he began
 ssNet ifI see you first, I interrupted He glanceds at my mutilated features and smiled
 'T have made you a ,Maitland,'' be said. 'I didn,t think that anything but a prodigaI nature could duplicate Miss Letitia's nose I'm honestly sorry, Mir. Knox, and if you do not want Miss Jane at that bump with a cold silver knife and some butter, you'd better duck before she comes down. Goodhys Margie. ,"
 I think the girl was as much baff1ed as was by the change in his manner when he spoke to hers His smile fad ed and he hardly met her eyes. I thought that his aloofness puzzled ra- ther than hurt her. When the house door had closed behind him, she drop ped her chin in her hand and looked across the table.
 ''YOu did not tell me the truth last night, MT. Knox," she said. ssScme- thingshas happened to Harry"
 'sHe was robbed of his travelling bag," explained on Fred's theory that half a truth Is better than poor lie.
 'His travelling bagv' she repeated scornfully. +'Mr. Knox, something has happened to my father, and you and Harry areshiding it from me.''
 ~On my honor, it is nothing of the Sort" I hastened to assure her. ''I saw him for only @ few minutes, just long enough for him to wreck my ap- pearance"
 "He did not speak of father"
 '.No"
 She gotnp and, crossing to the wood en mantel, put her arms upon it and leaned her head against them. ''I wanted to ask him. she said drearily, ''but I am afraid to- Suppose he doesn't know and I should tell him. He wouldsgo to MT. Schwartz at once, and Mir. Schwartz is treacherous. The papers would get it, too."
 Her eyes filled with tears, and felt as awkward as a man always does when a woman begins to cry.
 'I didn't sleep much," she explained, iabbing at her eyes. HMr. Knox, are you sure it was only Harry trying to get into the house last nightW
 "Only Harry: I repeated.
 "There was some one moving about upstairs not long before came down. 5 she said slowly,
 sYou heard me. I almost fell down the stairs.''
 "Did you brush past my door and strike the knob?" she demanded.
 'sNo. I was not near any door,"
 svery wen," triumphantly. Some one did. Not only that, but they were fin the storeroom on the floor above. l 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 face tiously.
 "I heard real footsteps-unmistak- able ones"
 Twas more impressed than cared to show.
 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 nar- row, obtrusively clean stairway to the upper floor. It. was an old fashioned sloping roofed attic, with narrow win dows and a bare floor. At one end door opened into large room, and in there were the family trunks of four