The Red Cloud chief., 1920-10-14
CHAPTER X.

Hartley house had a general 0ffice
where the business Of the estate was
handled. II vas to one side of the
main entrance.
I had promised to be an extraOrdin-
airy person In meeting extraordinary
circumstances, but all l did was to go
to the office and. lighting the lights, sit
there. I was in the extreme detection
OF a weakling when the door opened
and IsObel came In.
"What are you doing, upf" I asked.
"Tll ask the same thing Of you.
What are you and the whole household
doing, awake and movIngY"
I told her that hOusebreakers had
been surprised at work and had es-
capped.
"If you have been disturbed" I sug-
gested, probably your father has, also.
You had better go to his room and tell
him that the servants have been fius-
tered by a burglar scare, and then you
had better go to your mothers room
and stay with her until things quiet
down."
That seemed sound enough advice,
but when Isobel had gone I was left
wondering again what to do next. 1t
was out Of the question to notify the
authorities. The thieves had stolen
something which, from what I knew Of
It. I preferred to have In their hands
rather than In the possession Of the
police.
Our detective agency I could trust,
but l did not want to communicate
with anyone but Mcclure, the superin-
tendent. and there was no need Of tele-
phonlng him until later In the morn
ing.
The case, as I thought 1t over, came
to this: The Spanlard and the attor-
ney, by the aid OF a confederate. a
woman. had obtained possession Of the
diary containing the secret Of Hartley
house. They would SOC be heard
from. They would not disappear. We
did not have to pursue them. They
would pursue us.
There was the possibility of dealing
with them by force extra-legally. Any
thing we did for our protection had to
he done ex~tra-legally. I thought Nc
CURE could and would attend to that,
and l Intended to instruct him to con-
slider murder the only process not to
be thought of.
I tried to reconcile my ideas Of Mr..
Sidney's character with the facts Of
the family's terrible dilemma. What
| could q man Of so just and honorable.
kindly and charming n nature-as re-
vealed In his old age-have done, even
In a hot and passionate youth, which
he could not face now2 What crime
could he have committed which not
only constituted n danger to his secur-
lty but remained a source Of satlsfac.
ton to him?
For two hours I sat by the telephone,
expecting ~momentarily to hear from
the chauffeur who had gone In pursuit
of the thieves. II was about -four
o'clock In the morning-there was q
pale suggestion OF light In the windows
when Mrs. Aldrich, the h~ousekeeper
came to the office. She was an imper
turbable lady Of disciplinary habit and
ordinarily unrufied dignity, but now
she was disturbed.
Doctor" she said. "Agnes, the new
maid, cannot be found. She Is not II
her room. Her bed has not beer
touched. Most of her belongings ant
her suitcase are gone. came to 20,
with this probably unimportant do
nestle incident, thinking that-well
the occurrence of the night nigh
have some connection with this girl.
~ think Agnes probably gas In
yolved In the matter" | said.
ave have always s dreaded to tax
a new servant" said Mrs. Aldrict
"but Agnes came recommended for tn
month by a very faithful girl VIII
wantSd a months leave. Has anythln
of great value been takenl"
"NOthing OF any intrinsic valu
whatever, Mrs, Aldrich. ! imagine IN
robbers were alarmed before the
found any jewels or plate"
"Thnt's a consolation, In any event,
said the househeeper "but we neve
shall be able TO take In a new servar
again with any ease " mind"
The chauffeur telephoned ms MIR
Aldrrh went away. The chase In III
night had bael useless. AS might i
expected. and | told him TO rctur
ln,,a