New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1915-06-09

into the bedroom. and It has no bolt
only a key, That kind Of q lock Il
only three minute delay or less.
Now, then, Miss Maitland was q light
sleeper. When che wakeqed she was
too alarmed to scream. She tried to
get to the door and was intercepted.
Finally she got out the way the In
truder got In and ran along the hall.
Every door was locked. In a frenzy
she ran up the attic stairs and was cap
tured up there. Which bears out Miss
Margery's story of the footsteps back
and forward.
He brings her down the stairs
again. probably half dragging her.
Once she catches hold of the stair rail
and holds desperately to 1t, leaving the
stain here"
But why did he bring her DOWN." I
asked why wouldn't he take what
he was after and get away?'
she probably had to get the key Of
the iron door. It was hidden. and time
was valuable. If there was a scape-
grace member of the family, for in
stance, who knew where the old lady
kept money and who needed it badly,
who knew all about the house and
who"-
Fleming" exclaimed. aghast.
"Or even our young friend Wardrop,"
Hunter said quietly. HE has an hour
to account for. The trying to get in
may have been blind, and how do
you know that what he says was sto-
len out of his satchel was not what he
had just got from the iron box over
the mantel in Miss Maitland's room ?
One-thirty, Miss Margery says, when
she heard the noise. One-forty-five
when you heard Wardrop at the shut
tiers. tell you. Knox, it is one of two
things. either that woman is dead
somewhere in this house or she ran out
of the hall door just before you went
downstairs. and in that case the Lord
only knows where she is. If there is a
room anywhere that we have not ex-
plored'-
Il am inclined to think there u.s." I
broke in. thinking of Wardrop's face a
few minutes before. And just then
Wardrop joined us. He closed the door
at the foot of the boxed in staircase
and came quietly up.
you spoke about an unused room or
a secret closet, MI. Hunter" he said,
without any resentment in his tone.
1--WE have nothing so sensational as
that, but the old house is full of queer
hooks and crannies, and perhaps in
one Of them we might f1nd"- He stop
ped and gulped. Whatever Hunter
might think. whatever might have
against Harry Wardrop. determined
then that he had had absolutely moth
ing to do with little Miss Maitland's
strange disappearance.
The first place we explored was a
closed and walled in wine cellar long
unused and to which access was gain
ed by small window in the stone
foundation of the house. We moved
every trunk in the storeroom. The
grounds had been gone over inch by
inch without affording any clew, and
now the three Of us faced one another.
aC udy was SAI"OSI 6OAOp anu we
were exactly where we started. Hunt
er had sent men through the town and
the adjacent countryside. but no word
had come from them. Miss Letitia had
at last succumbed to the suspense and
had gone to bed, where she lay quietly
enough, as is the way with the old.
but so mild that she was alarming.
At o'clock Halves called me up
from the Office and almost tearfully
implored me to come back and attend
to my business. When said it was
impossible l could hear him groan.
Halves is of the opinion that by keep
ing fresh magazines in my waiting
room and by persuading me to the ex-
travagance of Turkish rugs he has
built up my practice to its present
fourishing state. When left the tele-
phone Hunter was preparing to go
back to town and Wardrop was walk
ing up and down the hall. Suddenly
Wardrop stopped his uneasy prone
made and hailed the detective.
"By George" he exclaimed. II forgot
to show you the closet under the attic
stairsy'
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