Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-25

into that phone, had been such a little
ninny. What he was about to do was
like--well, it was like helping little
chattering, muddy dog out of a ditch,
He would put the recovered prop
erty in a plain paper wrapper ad.
dressed to Linny, on the Gray hall
| table. No need for Linny to know
who had served her. The little blase
ninny might nIsunderstand his
service.
Elm street. belonging to the older
part of town, had lawns wide and
thick, with privet and barberry
hedges. hydrangeas and caladium.
Bat belonged to what was known as
an old family. His mother was the
kind of widow for whom safe deposit
boxes and trust companies were in
vented But Arthur understood well
enough that only sons like Bat can
| spend far more money than can be
cajoled out of a conservative widowed
| mother.
MYTH humor not mellowed by this
W understanding, he walked to the
front steps and doors of the large
brick house. Front doors. be it re-
marked! No need to skulk until 1t
was necessary. And later. an open
approach at the start might be re.
called as legal support.
He rang the bell. No answer
Again. None. Good, Faithful Anne
had not failed a friend. He Slipped
around the terrace--to such name
! It was justly entitled. with it's mas
sive stone balustrade-and readily
made his way to the hall window
which Linny had mentioned. The sill
was high. But the feat was trifiing
for 1.-THE man in the sos.
The window was unlocked. He
made his way down an unlighted hall
and reached a pair Of folding doors
on his left.
He sent his pocket flash up and
down the hall with excess caution.
But emptiness rang like a gong
| throughout the house.
In the doorway, he was about to
| fash the little beam over the room
| that he was entering, when sound
stayed his hand.
one hand grasping a heavy curtain
fold, he waited, startled. He could
not place or define the sound.
| To the left he edged four inches,
drawing the velvet folds about his
person.
Whoever was In the room had no
desire to be known. The one sly
sound was followed by silence. Ar
| thur waited.
He feared that 1t might be Linny.
He had not much faith in portly
parents ability to keep girl locked
| in her ROOM He wished that this
! lack OF faith had come to him sooner.
| He regretted exceedingly the ex-
| cuse he had made to Burt, an hour
back, for getting away. He had said
| that n headache needed to be walked
of. Engrossed in his drawings, Burt
| had nodded absently, not raising his
green eye shade. 80,
There is no regret, OF course. hke
| that of the liar about to be found out.
| Kenamer wished devoutly that he was
| back at the desk opposite Burt, wear
| ing his own green eye shade. He be-
| gan to blush over what Burt would
| think. IIinny would blab the matter
abroad, with laughter or blase
| shrug of her thin shoulders. He'd
cut a figure, He'd be
/ There came a second shock. BY
| this time, without the least sound,
| he had practically shrouded himself
| in the velvet curtain of the door
way. 1t was we'll Some one else
! had crawled through the hall window
| and was approaching silently down
the hall. And that some one, coming,
coming closer, was about to enter
was entering the library. Kemmer,
almost flattened against the jamb,
had actual but unpreceiVed contact
| with the person entering.
BY this time he was mastering the
dark in that small degree OF which
the optical never is capable when
light is nearly lacking. But it was
more by a concentration OF the SIX
senses than by sight or by hearing
that Kemmer knew that TINS thlrd
person-counting himself and some
one already in the room-was max
| ing careful way toward the most inn
portant object in the room. the hand
some old desk.
Then he heard again that first
| small, sly sound! But now, instead
| of alarming him,-oh, the courage
| induced by a curtain!-it gave him
malicious satisfaction. Number One
so he designated whoever 1t might
| be man or girl, who was first on the
premises-.was undoubtedly as panic
stricken as himself, Number Two.
| And Number Three seemed to have
been galvanized in his tracks.
| Arthur could almost place the
small sly sound of Number One, too.
| It was opposite the door-at what he
| would say was the southeast corner
! of the room.
| And then he had another shock.
| Number Two, had he fatuously styled
| himself? Surely there had been
| squirming movement in the north
west corner of the room. That would
| make four people. His spine had a
| chill feeling. The chill feeling spread
| from spine to knees. AS still as the
door-tanlb itself, he stood. For now
| a fifth person was coming down the
hall. And a fifth person was step
ping rioiselessly through the doorway
| into the library, almost touching MIN.
The fifth person who had entered
| the room must have gained some sort
of shelter. There came small
! sound, like a suppressed cough, from
| the southwest corner. The last TO
| enter must have got behind chair:
| A heavy, handsome old rocker seemed
| to have been moved perhaps the six
teenth of an inch. Our fathers rock
| ing chairs were not moved even SO
| little distance without uttering
| dignified creak.
! X 49, X
A RTHUR' KEMMER hastily made
- up his mind. Thank heaven he
| had had gumption enough-no, to be
| honest, luck enough--to stay at the
| door. He might be able to ,unswathe
| himself from the velvet curtain, gain
| the hall sprint down it and jump
/ through the window to safe lawn and
! then street--and then those safe
| bachelor quarters where his good
| friend Burt was engrossed in assidu-
| GUS labor.
! Absorbed. he had not heard fresh,
careful footsteps from the window,
down the hall All
| The unexpected happened. This
! last conner was warier than the
| others and knew, moreover, that a
velvet curtain hung at hand. Fingers
| reached, cIutched, caught. A thin.
small form flattened into supposed
| shelter Oh---gurgle.
1 fSaIt.r.lc flnlf never. rose 1iTlDn the air!