The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-05-07

q. Was there anything In the past
relations of Mr.. Bradford and my
great-uncle that would cause my |
great-uncle to plot against the Brad
ford familyf
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-
plained2 Were they merely the I'M
aginlngs of superstitious old womanf
The relations between Mr.. Bradford
and Rufus CASTOR puzzled me. Miss
Bradford's recollection of her fathers
remark about my greatuncle 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 to live, his insist
ence on leaving his wifes jewels in my
care, and on entrusting me with the
combination OF the safe, all now took
on 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 own unex-
pected 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 II
about for the purpose of discrediting
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 her
/ was certain that he was In some way
involved. 1t might have been he who
had caused me to lose my job. Ger
tamly the maleyolent glance he had
given me in the restaurant that night
showed that he would have wrought
me harm II he could. The next time
/ laid eyes on him I was determined
to trail him with bulldog tenacity I'M
til ascertained his identity and where
he lived. I felt sure that the trail of
the mystery would lead to his door,
decided not to leave the apartment
all day. / 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. must try to devise some way
of examining the safe door and the
jewel box that remained for evidence
of tingerprints, and must inspect the
building both from within and without
to see IL could learn how the notes
were delivered.
From one of the toilet tables l 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. I hoped that the
powder would reveal markings of
hands on the box, but either was too
inexperienced or my method was
wrong, for l succeeded in obtaining
no sort of result, beyond finding out
what my own fingerprints looked like
on sheet of paper prepared with
some homemade lampblack. After an
hour or two of experimentation l 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
four-story dwelling houses. 1t must
have been someone in the building,
IL not in the apartment itself. 1t would
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 the
end of a long stick. l made up my
mind to ascertain who occupied the
apartments above.
The mystery of the whispers did not
| seem to be of such easy solution.
While l had been inclined at first to
regard my own experience as q dream,
the coincidence of Miss Bradford and
my great-uncle having had the same
Illusion convinced me that it was some
claptrap devised by the plotters for
pFeying on the fears of their intended
victims.
Eagerly l waited for the coming of
evening and from half-past seven ON
l sat by my window waiting for Bar
bara's signal. 1t was nearly nine
o'clock before heard the three taps
that had so startled me the evening
before. Quickly thrust my head out
of the window and was rewarded by
seeing hers appear at the same mo-
ment.
1--WE must not talk long" she warned
me. someone might see us. Have
you learned anything new2"
Yes" l whispered. "In my uncle's
diary found several entries about the
whispers"
How stranger she exclaimed
"Where Is Mr.. Gaston?"
II don't know"
THAT'S funny"