New Britain herald., 1921-07-06
CHAPTER Hi. The Vanishing Man.

CHAPTER Hi. The Vanishing Man. IL stil! lacked 20 minutes of 9 o'clock. that night when Harry Kent | turned into the Saratoga apartment | hotel, and not waiting to take one of l the elevators, ran up the staircase to | the apartment which had been occu- | pied joined by Jimmy TurnbulI and | Philip Rochester.
 The soft click of the outer door as | it swung to was hardly noticeable, and Kent, pausing long enough to get | his breath from his run up the stair | case. stepped into the living room l and reached for the electric light | switch. Instead of encountering the 1 cold metal of the switch his groping l fingers closed over warm flesh. Startled as he was, Kent retained | enough presence of mind to grasp the | hand tightly; the next second a man hurled himself upon him and ho gave back. As Kent got his second wind, | confidence in his strength returned | and he redoubled his efforts, sudden l ly his hands shifted their grip and he swung his adversary backward, pin l ming him against the wall l A faint, sobbing breath escaped the man, and Kent felt the whole figure against which he pressed culver and relax; the taut muscles of chest and arms grew slack, collapsed. l Kent stood iE wonderment, peering ahead, his hands empty-the man | had vanished!
 1 Drawing long, long breath Kent | felt his way back to the electric | foh ] ing both the wall brackets and the ! table lamps
 l How had the man vanished so ut terly, leaving no trace behind in the l apartment? The window in Roches- ter's room was locked on the inside in fact, all the apartment windows were securely fastened, ho had found on his tour of inspection: the only not locked was the oval, swingins window high up in the side wall of the bathroom; only a child could squeeze through it, Kent decided An 1 ldea flashed through Rents brain | was the man Philip Rochester? Rents meditations were interrupt ed by the sound of the opening of the | front door. The night clerk of tho l hotel stepped inside the apartmen, 1 and, closely followed by sandy-
 haired man, walked into the liyins
 room. He halted abruptly at sight of l Kent.
 l "Goo6 evening, MT. Kent" ha eS.. | claimed, and took in at Q glance tho
 orderly arrangement of the room
 Pardon my unceremonious entrance. but I had no idea you were here. sir: we received a telephone message that a burglar had broken in here"
 You did!" Kent stared at him. Was
 he right, after all, in his conjecture: had the man been Philip Rochester ? It would seem so, for who else after taking refuge elsewhere, would have Itelephoned a warning of burglars to
 the hotel office? Have you any idea
 who sent the message, MT. Stuart?" l 'I have not. it was an outside cal I-' Stuart turned to his companion
 Sorry I brought you here on an
 idiotic chase, Mir. Ferguson"
 That's all right responded the
 deteitive good naturedly. Would vor
 like me to look through the apart
 ment just to see if any one really r;
 concealed on the premises, MT
 Kent?" he asked, and added quickly
 central office; MT. Stuart can voucT for me-"
 Rents hesitation vanished. I'd be
 obliged if you would, Ferguson" You don't recall me. but met VOL
 while working on the Chase case you handled that trial in great shape l Ferguson looked admiring1y at hi companion. ''Lots or the praise wen to your partner, MT. Rochester, bu ] know you did the work. Now MT Kent, I want your assistance in a pug zlins case"
 'Go or, I'm listening" Did you read in the paper abou
 MT. Turnbul1s death?" he asked an, as Kent nodded a silent afirmativ in answer to his question he askd an other. Did you know him well?'' r Yes
 Did he have an enemy?' Not to my Knowledge" Kent wa l l watching the detective narrowly
 what was he driving at? "On tn l contrary Turnbul1 was extremely pop u1ar.
 : With Col McIntvre?" Ferguso r had hoped to surprise Kent with tn t | question, but his companions eX | pression did not alter. ) 'N-no, perhaps he was not over
 popular with the colonel" he admit
 ted slowly.
 ''The case piqued my interest" sai the detective, "and l made an ir e vestigation on my own hook. Afte ! the departure of the Mcintyre twir
 and Coroner Penfeld I wen back the court room and pokcd around +h