New Britain herald., 1921-07-30

with leather and had a small oval glass set in the upper half through which could be seen a spacious din- ing-room, flooded with the sunlight from four long windows. The door opposite. the head of the stairs was the one he had used in leaving the library.
 The door at the right was exactly like the dining-room door and must lead directly into the hall Peter thought. Glancing toward the small glazed aperture he saw that all the lights in the hall had been turned on.
 l Peter paused an instant, looking l through the tiny window. All the hall, except that part hidden by the stair way, was clear before him. He saw that the outer vestibule doors had been closed, so that no one could see in from the street. O'Malley was l standing so that Peter saw him in profile, his heavy figure bent for ward, studying intently the still form on the floor.
 l Behind the captain and facing the pantry door stood Schuyler. His ex- pression was intent and anxious and as Peter looked he stopped sudden l ly, and then strengthened as the young detective came through the door.
 Not much to be determined about the body until we can move it, said OMalley as Peter came forward. The wound is in the back and there are no marks to be seen-Well Murphy, to the officer who had just appeared at the drawing-room door, Could you get him? ?''
 .sNo, sir I got his house on the | wire and, by luck, the chauffeur an- swered the phone. He says that MT. Pendleton left town this morning on an early train, for house party somewhere in the country down near Philadelphia he thinks
 "Pendleton." exclaimed Clancy. That's the man she went out with last night
 O'Malley nodded and turned again to Murphy. Well" he said sharp ly, don't they know the name of the people he's stopping with or the town he went o?''
 NO, sir. He was only going to be gone till Monday and didn't leave any address All tho man knows is that he took MT. Pendleton to the | cuuSylVdAAd oIdIAOAA oDoNS co V o'clock this morning"
 i O'Malley, a man of few words, nod ded silently. He was holding some thing in his hand and Murphy and Schuyler were looking at it with eager interest It was nothing of special significance-just a partly used paper | of matches with the name of we'll known cigar store on the outside. There were millions of papers exactly like 1t all over the country.
 Richard had been standing per fectly. still on the spot where Peter had first seen him when he returned to the hall. There was no possibility of their searching him, especially with Clancy to vouch for him, but he longed ardently to get away. He had taken only a step or two | toward the drawing-room when a muttered exclamation from Peter ar l rested him. The young detective had been examining the black-and-white l marble floor with a microscope and had progressed just beyond the bot tom of the stairs,
 1 Look here, captain he said, and the older man, who had been study ling the immediate surroundings of the body, quickly Joined him and dropped heavily to his knees.
 Drawn by an irresistible fascina- tion, Dick followed.
 Near the wall which supported the staircase, on one of the white squares of the floor, lay a single irregular circle of dark red. A drop of blood. plain and unmistakable.
 Once tkey stopped simultaneously and Dick, by craning his neck, could just discern an indistinct red mark as if something bloody had been l drawn for a short space along the center of the floor
 Here's the coroner said Murphy sticking his heaC through the cur tains. "I'll go down and let him in.'' The two men rose to their feet and came back down the brilliantly light 1 ed hall.
 Come in her, MT. Schuyler" said O'Malley, taking Richard by the arm. You can talk to the coroner at once and we won't have to keep you any longer"
 They entered the drawing-room, 1 leaving Clancy still hard at work in the hall. A brief explanation from O'Malley, a few questions from the coroner, and Dick was at last given T