Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1920-06-03
SYNOPSIS.

CHAPTER I.-Circumstance having
prevented Spalding Nelson, clerk, Joining
the American forces going to France. he
ls IN Respondent mood when he re.
ceives an invitation to dinner from his
great-uncle. Rufus CASTOR. On his way
to the house he meets. under peculiar cir.
cumstances. O young girl. apparently In
trouble. to- whom he has an opportunity
to be of slight service. She lives In the
same apartment building as Rufus Cas-
CASTOR and his wife are going to Maine
for trip and want to leave Nelson In
charge Of the apartment. He accepts.
CASTOR and his wife tell their great.
which they have heard In the house.
CHAPTER lion his way to the Gas.
ton apartment next Sunday Nelson again
meets his accidental acquaintance Of .
urges him not to allow the fact Of their
being acquainted to be known. At the
apartment Nelson meets the superfntend-
ent. Wick. and instinctively dislikes him.
In wall safe he finds a necklace Of
Meeting Barbara In the hallway she
passes him without recognition. Dining
In restaurant he is conscious OF the un-
pleasant scrutiny OF stranger. but .
CHAPTER I1I.-Next day Nelson finds
the pearls have disappeared from the
wall safe. His first idea Of informing the
police is not acted upon because Of Pc
charged from his position without ade-
quate explanation or reason. and feels
himself involved In something Of mye-
terry. He decides to conduct an investi-
cation himself. That night Barbara sig
which is opposite his. and they arrange
q meeting Tor next day. In the morning
he finds q note In his room, asking him
why he had not Informed the police Of
the loss Of the Jewels
CHAPTER iv.-Barbara tells Nelson
her sister Claire had some years before
made q runaway marriage with an ad.
venturer. from whom she was soon parted
and the marriage annulled. Clairehis en-
gagged to be married and someone know
Ing of her escapade has stolen documents
concerning the affair from the Bradford
apartment and demands large sum Of
money for their return. threatening to
mands are not met. Neither Barbara nor
her sister have the money to satisfy the
demands. She tells Nelson she has also
heard mysterious Sounds In the fiat. They
agree to meet frequently.
CHAPTER V.-The CASTOR laundress,
the only person In the apartment besides
Nelson. tells him she has heard whispers
and footsteps. apparently in the wall. He
begins to suspect his great-uncle of some
knowledge Of the affair. Barbara tells
him she also has heard the footsteps. In
the morning he discovers his pockets
have been searched during the night, in
contestable evidence of the presence Of
someone in the apartment during the
night.
Access to either apartment would
not be difficult. BY short rope lad
ders they could easily reach either set
of rooms. They would be so located
that there would be little difficulty for
them to devise mysterious sounds for
terrifying the people In the apart
ments below. l recalled that In ev-
cry case the voices and the footsteps
seemed to come from somewhere up
near the ceiling. OF course 1t seemed
prcposterous that a criminal band
would find lodging in luxurious
apartment house like this, yet, why
not? Tenants in these buildings knew
little about each other and cared less.
There was no exchange Of neighborly
visits. Once having gained access to
such q building by forged references,
so long as they paid their rent prompt
ly, no one in the building would both
er his head about the character Of any
of the other tenants.
This last theory seemed the most
plausible. Besides 1t was the easiest
to work on. 1t ought not to be diff
cult to ascertain who lived in the two
apartments above. Undoubtedly my
best source of information would be
Nellie Kelly, the telephone operator.
Perhaps, too, she might be able to in
form me Of my great-uncle's where
abouts. More than likely he had left
a forwarding address for his mail with
her.
With q letter I had written to my
mother, I descended to the main floor
and began a conversation with Miss
Kelly by asking where was the near
est place that could buy stamps. As
we chatted began complaining how
lonely 1t was in the apartment and
wound up by inviting her to dine with
me that evening.
l had anticipated ready acceptance
Of my invitation and was amazed to
find 1t firmly refused. In much con
fused manner she advanced dozen
reasons, or rather pretexts. She did
not go out with the people Of the
house. Her mother would not like 1t
| She did not know me well enough
Mr.. Wick would discharge her II HI
| hcard about IL,