Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1920-05-27
Wust-a4;e.ss
~
lrwinMyers
Johnston s:sa...s:

great-uncle TO plot against the Brad.
ford family?
4. How were the mysterious sounds
heard both by my great-uncle. by Bar
bara Bradford. and by myself TO be
accounted for?
s. How were the mysterious foot
steps heard by Mrs. Burke to be eS-
planned? Were they merely the i'm
aginings of a superstitious old woman?
The relations between Mr.. Bradford
and Rufus CASTOR puzzled me. Miss
Bradford'S recollection of her fathers
remark about my great-unrle certainly
indicated that he held no high opinion
of him. My ~great-uncle'S actions
throughout had been peculiar. His
suddenly sending for me and insisting
on my coming here 10 live. his insist
ence on leaving his wife's jewels in my
care. and on entrusting me with the
combination Of the safe, all now took
on a sinister aspect. 1t certainly was
peculiar that he had gone off without
leaving me any address where he could
be reached.
Then. too. there was my W unex
pected and unwarranted discharge at
my place Of business. I was positive
in some way it vas connected with my
having come to this place to live. Had
my great-uncle himself brought 1t
about for the purpose Of discreditlng
me? Was 1t the work Of the black
mailers to get square with me for hav-
ing accidentally butted in on the
meeting they had arranged with Miss
Bradford?
The scar.faced man! Who was he?
I was certain that he was in some way
involved. 1t might have been he who
had caused me TO lose my job. Ger
tainly the m%alevolent glance he had
given me in the restaurant that night
showed that he would have wrought
me harm if he could. The neXt time
/ laid eyes on him I was determined
to trail him with bulldog tenacity I'M
til l a%scertained his identity and where
he lived. l felt sure that the trail Of
the mystery would lead to his door.
l decided not to leave the apartment
all day. l had laid in a plentiful sup
ply of food the day before so there
was no necessity for my going out.
There vas plenty of work for me to
do. / must try to devise some way
Of examining the safe door and the
Jewel box that remained for evidence
of fingerprints. and l must inspect the
building both from within and without
to see If I could learn how the notes
were delivered.
From one of the toilet tables I OBJ
tanned some fine powder and opening
the wall safe again l took out the
jewel box and carefully busted it over
with the powder. ! hoped that the
powder would reveal markings of
hands on the box, but either l was too
inexperienced or my method was
wrong, for I succeeded in obtaining
no sort Of result, beyond finding out
what my WI fingerprints looked like
on a sheet Of paper prepared with
homemade lampblack. After an
hour or two Of experimentation I gave
1t up as a bad job, and turned to the
study Of methods by which the notes
might have been delivered.
The CASTOR apartment was on the
sixth floor Of the building, which was
surrounded by ordinary three and
dwelling houses. 1t must
have been someone In the building,
II not in the apartment itself. 1t would
be quite possible for someone on the
floor above to have projected the notes
my window and that Of Miss
Bradford by attaching them to the
Of a long stick. l made up my
mind to ascertain who occupied the
above.
The mystery Of the whispers did not
;eem to be of such easy solution.
While I had been inclined at first to
'egard my W experience as a dream, /
he coincidence Of Miss Bradford and
ny great-uncle having had the same I
convinced me that 1t was some {
devised by the plotters for {
on the fears Of their intended
Eagerly I waited for the coming Of
and from half-past seven on
sat by my window waiting for Bar
'sra's signal. 1t was nearly nine
''clock before l heard the three taps b
hat had so startled me the evening 8
'efore. Quickly I thrust my head out
4 the window and was rewarded by I"
eeing hers appear at the same mo- k
nent.
1--WE must not talk long" she warned Il
ne. someone might see us. Have n
'ou learned anything newT Il
"Yes." I whispered. IN my uncle's p
I found several entries about the 81
ghispers." a
How strange" she exclaimed. II
Where Is Mr.. Gaston7' IL
II don't know" o
That's funny" q
cts more thar that. II is decided e.
odd that he left no word where he
Juld be reached" e
II don't blame him." she almost u
,bbed. ~ wish we could all get away n
7 somewhere, away from 1t all" <
Don't worry. Everything we find D
1t will help discover the plotters. IL
Inc from what part Of your o x
d the sounds come" .
always from the same place, up u
the corner, near the ceiling" II
81 thought 80" I answered. That's u
here they came from In my room. u
hat shows It Is just some mechanical
lex they are using In the hope Of ter u
flying US. Do you know who lives II
the floor abOvei"
~ haven't the slightest idea. DO u
u suspect themf'' ~