The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1920-05-12

ford familyY
z. How were the mysterious sounds
heard both by my great-uncle, by Bar
bara Bradford, and by myself to be
accounted for?
8. How were the mysterious foot
steps heard by Mrs. Burke to be ex-
planned? Were they merely tho I'm
aginings Of superstitious old woman?
The relations between Mr.. Bradford
and Rufus Castor puzzled me. Miss
Bradford's recollection Of her fathers
remark about my great-uncle certainly
indicated that he held no high opinion
Of him. My great-nncle's actions
throughout had been peculiar. His
sa&denly sending for me and insisting
ON my G9ming here to live, his insist
enee on having his wife's Jewels in my
cace, and on cntrusting me with the
combination Of the safe, all now took
peculiar that he had gone off without
leaving me any address where he could
be reached.
Then. too, there was my own uncx-
pcctcd and unwarranted discharge at
my place Of business. was positive
In some way 1t was connected with my
having come to this place to live. Had
my great-uncle himself brought 1t
about for the purpose Of discrediting
me? Was 1t the work of the black
mailers to get square with me for hav-
ing accidentally buttcd in on the
meeting they had arranged with Miss
Bradford?
The scar-faced mani Who was he?
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 malevOlent glance he had
given me I'm the restaurant that night
showed that he would have wrought
me harm IL he could The next time
1 laid eyes on him I was determined
to trail him with bulldog tenacity un-
til ascertained his identity and where
he lived. felt sure that the trail Of
the mystery would lead to his door
[ decided not to leave the apartment
all day. l had laid in plentiful sup
ply Of food the day before so there
was no necessity for my going out.
There was plenty Of work for me to
do. l must try to devise some way
of examining the safe door and the
jewel box that remained for evidence
Of fingcrprints, and I must inspect the
building both from within and without
to sec If l 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 took out the
jewel box and carefully busted it over
with the powder I hoped that the
powder would reveal markings Of
hands on the box, but either Twas too
Inexperienced or my method was
wrong, for I succeeded in obtaining
no sort of result, beyond finding out
what my own ilngerprints looked like
on sheet Of paper prepared with
5 some homemade lampblack. After an
hour or two Of experimentation I gave
1t up rs n 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
four-story dwelling houses. 1t must
have been someone in the building,
II not in the apartment itself. Il wo;i;,
be quite possible for someone on the
floor above to have projected the notes
through my window and that OF Miss
bradford by attaching them to Tie
end Of long stick | made UP my
mind to ascertain who occupied the
apartments above
The mystery of the whispers did not
sccm to be Of such easy solution.
While | had been inclined at first 10
regard my Cwn experience as Il dream.
the coincidence of Miss Bradford and
my grcatmclc having had the same
illusion convinced ne that 1t was some
c!nptrap devised by the pl0ttcrs for
prcyng ON the fears Of their intended
victims.
Eagerly | waited for the coming Of
evening and frnm half-paSt seven on
| sat by my window waiting for Bar.
barns signal. 1t was nearly nine
o'clock before ncard the three tapS
that had so startled me the cvcnnc
before OuicklV | thIuSt my bnoJ nrt