The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-01-18

Taylor came to him in the library, l
 and at his entrance OdeH noted the | look Of grim satisfaction upon his | face.
 God morning sergeant. Have you seen the chief?'' l Odeu nodded. Just came from him. He said 1 that you succeeded in searching Miss Meade's room and her sisters, but l you found no opportunity to get into l the one occupied by the younger Chalmers boy.'' "I did this morning, not an hour ago. He kept to his room all day yesterday, but today he went down to breakfast, and that was my chance" Taylor replied eagerly. 'I | didn't find anything in his room ex- l cept clothes and books there wasn't l so much as a single letter lying l around, and his fountain pen looked as if it hadn't been used for months. ''I reckon he doesn't do much but | read, for I never saw so many books
 in my life outside of a library; they're | overfiowing the bookcases and piled
 up in the corners of the room. and a | lot of them are on medical subjects. | There were a couple of extra braces. l too, for his back; and the shelves and | cabinet in his private bathroom were | stacked with medicine bottles. ''I was in there giving them the I once over when he came up from breakfast, and I swung the door quick within an inch of closing just | as he opened the other door leading l from the hall. for I'd heard that high l whining voice of his. and I knew he | wasn't alone. I only caught the end 1 of a sentenece first-'on1y keep you
 minute. Then a woman's voice said | quietly, Yes, sir It was that maid | Gerda, and she spoke in a kind of a l hushed way as if she were waiting for | something to fall
 i "Ive known for the last month j-young Chalmers finished with some- | T I,o T., |, l woman gave a sharp little cry and
 then tried to cover it up by a bluff. | I don't know what you mean, sir! I | I never heard
 | ''He laughed that sneering laugh of l his and interrupted her. T caught l you listening at the head of the stairs l one day and saw the expression on your face as you looked down at him. 1 You looked as though you could kill him then I'm not going to give you | away; don't be afraid of that. Life I and death are nothing to me, and I | wouldn't ring the curtain down on 1 this little melodrama for worlds It | amuses me immensely
 l 'tShe lost all her deferences then | and snapped out at him. 'You-you're
 not human!' He only laughed at her l again and said: Possibly not, but I 1 don't want the fun spoiled. That's l why I asked you to step in here for
 a moment; I wanted to warn you that 1 the young man from headquarters is
 no fool, and your English is alto, | gether too good for a lady's maid. | Movie page
 Better cultivate Jane a bit even if | it does go against the grain, and | copy her speech the next time he in
 terviews you That's all
 I 'I tried to get a look at them through the crack in the door, but | they weren't on a line with it; ano
 the woman didn't reply for a full minute. When she did it was with
 all the old deference and little bit | added, as if she were mocking him. | Very good, sir. Thank you sir And with that she was gone.
 | T was afraid he would come into the bathroom and catch me; but he
 walked up and down for little, chuckling to himself, and then turn
 ed and left the room. and I heard
 him going down the front stairs
 which were mended yesterday. That
 was my cue and + beat it. :, You're quite sure of that conver- sption word for word. Taylor? ?'' Odell
 | asked.
 ''Word for word, sergeant. Who
 ever the woman is, young Chalmers has her number.
 What could that criptic converse } tion mean? For some time after he
 had dismissed the operative and sent
 him back to headquarters OdeU sat lost in thought. It did not seem pos [ sible that even the sardonic ittle hunchback,t embittered as he was t with all the world, could have been referring to the series of cri7n es I which had already carried off his own r mother and brother, unless he were l indeed insane, as the woman Gerda l had hinted. But had she in her turn 3 been referring to him when she gave
 1 to Odell himself that mysterious 3 warning
 t Obviously, if each suspected the 3 other neither could be guilty; yet
 Ia sfrooa Tod, he m = why should Rannie Chalmers caIlous, r sneering remark have shaken the 9 woman momentarily from her we'll ] studied pose. At whom sould she y ] haveb cen looking with murder in D her eyes when the hunchback came
 upon her, as he had said? If she l | wore not concerned in the tragic nys- e >1-y what was her purpose in this e house?
 :; Gro Be Continued.)