The Springfield herald., 1912-03-22
The Mystery, of the
Shadow on the Wall
100 % q

oooo0ooooooVo
What did you say the mother was
like?"
II didn't say" I retorted, pleased to
catch Rand at one of his tricks.
mo? Well. then, will. She is a
pale blonde. with ash-colored hair.
rather long. pointed teeth. tall. grace
full figure, an aquiline nose and a
ly beautiful"
"You know her!" l charged. resent
fully.
mo, I never saw her in my life."
Rand's smile Is often frank and kind,
but when am trying to follow him
through one of his baffling calculations
-deduced. as in the present case.
from the very things that his informer
does not know-I feel that smile to
be q very exasperating one. He gave
NO heed to my protesting "Oh. come
now. Randi" but whistled softly as he
stepped about, getting into his coat.
You'll take the case" l hazarded,
watching him.
Yes. might as we'll. Toni" he
called out to the tall Sioux who is his
cook, bodyguard. chauffeur and friend.
and who is never far away, Tom. Just
run out and buy half dozen sulphur
candles-the kind you use for fumigat-
ing, you know. And Tom-get out the
car. We're going to-where did you
say the place is7"
"2O16 Old Boston road"
knew that the whole Danvers FAM
lily felt distinct sense OF disappotnt-
ment in the friend" whose shrewd-
ness I had recommended. but whom
they did not know as the great detec-
tive. for Rand seldom wanted his per-
sonality exploited.
The long hall where had witnessed
the ghostly apparition of the night be-
fore was, of course, the first thing to
which we gave attention. Rand walked
its length twice. had US tell him ex-
actly where the shadow was always
seen, and asked to be shown the rooms
and passages over it. From there he
went to the laundry, which extended
under the whole back of the house. but
declined to let any of US save Tom
accompany him.
Dinner was announced soon. but 1t
was an utter failure. Mrs. Danvers
could not eat, young Danvers looked
too serious for such young fellow,
and even Rand looked graver than /
had ever seen him. Happening to
glance out into the hall. from which
the dining room opened, 1 saw Toms
tall figure lounging among the shad-
ows. Evidently we were keeping close
formation.
81 want mamma to leave here at
once" Miss Danvers told me. under
cover of some light conversation which
had arisen between her mother and
Rand.
Where will you go?" asked.
She shrugged her shoulders weartly.
Back to Europe. suppose. Matthew
and 1 were wild to return to America
and to this house. You know We lived
here when we were children, and 1t
was the happiest time Of our lives.
We were always talking about Ameri-
ca and wanting to return, but-father
didn't care for 1t. and would never
allow us to talk about It,"
She continued to talk Of Europe.
but 1 replied absently, for, in reality,
1 was listening to conversation be-
tween Rand and Mrs. Danvers. and
the thread of connection which ran
through 1t teased me.
Was Mr.. Danvers English? All,
Welsh. That, no doubt. accounted for
the type of beauty to which Miss Dan
yers belonged. Mrs. Danvers Sup
posed so" in so faint and disheartened
a tone that 1 felt sorry for her, but
Rand went on, praising the old house.
How fortunate to have servants SO
faithful that they would remain with
a deserted house for-how many
years? Fifteen, perhaps? Yes, 1t was
fifteen, corroborated Mrs. Danvers,
again family.
OF course she would advise with the
family lawyer before disposing of the
property. as, no doubt, she had deter
mined on doing-Yes, 1t was indeed a
pity that he was SO far away. How
did it happen that Mr.. Danvers had all
of his business interests represented
by an Italian? She hadn't said that 1t
was by an Italian? She hadn't? How
odd! Then, of course, he must have
known 1t in some way; one hears all
SOTLS OIL lnlOTLldliou. otiah6e ehou6h,
wasn't 1t? Mr.. Danvers must have
had some strong Partially for Italians
even the servants were Italians and
Sicilians, at that. oh, but Mrs. Dan
vers must know that those English
names did not mean anything. All the
servants were Italian-oh, yes. he
knew Italians well.
knew that Miss Danvers must no.
tice my abstraction and she. in her
turn, began to listen to the one-sided
conversation. Utter perplexity cloud
ed her eyes as she listened, and finally
indignation filled them, for her moth