The Daily Alaska empire., 1930-09-25

taking the precaution to slip his hand around the door jamb and turn on the lights. No one was in sight Closing and locking the door, he looked down on the floor. Some distance away lay the wooden plug. Its smooth surface bore unmistak able scratches where some sharp instrument had been jammed into it.
 With revolver cooked and ready, he went into both closets in the room and then into the bathroom, only to return immediately, con- vinced that no other human being besides himself was there.
 Had the unknown who pushed the wooden peg out of the key hole done so simply for look into his bedroom to see if he was there or had the intruder, provided with a key, come inside and gone out, relocking the door? And was the intruder the remarkable dancer whose shadow he had seen for the second time silhouetted on the drawn curtain of the dormer win dow of the locked room in the at- tic?
 He froWned in beWilderment as he reached around and pulled the reading lamp by the side of the bed closer to him. Then picking up the envelope he had taken from Lucy, he examined the words. Miss Elsa Chase" carefully through his magnifying glass. Undoubtedly it was Jack WinsloW's writing. So that was how he communicated with Elsa-through Lambert.
 For a moment Thorne hesitated then taking up his penknife he ran one of the blades under the flap of the heavy, linen-lined envelope and looked inside Ii was empty.
 The next second the room was plunged in darkness and Thorne, resting on his pillows, prepared for a long vigil-one thought upper most in his mind Had Lambert, true to his trust, given the contents to Elsa, and intentionally left the sealed envelope as a decoy, or had Lucy removed the note?
 Next morning, when Arnold Wins low entered the dining room for breakfast, it was to find his wife prepared to wait on him, instead of the servants. She was in far from amiable spirit.
 Arnold" Her husband winced at the severe pronouncement of his given name. The servants are de- moralized; Lucy is ill in bed, Lam bert absent" She put the coffee pot and cream pitcher on the din- ing table at his elbow. Tt is best to discharge Lambert
 Winslow's spoon rattled against the side of his cup as he stirred his coffee. Discharge Lambert" He repeated the words mechanically. My dear, after all these years of faithful service Impossible!"
 His wife's thin lips closed in their most obstinate lines. You must let me be the best judge of his worth, she said Sometimes servant can remain too long in one place, and" picking her words with care, T feel Lambert has outlived his usefulness as a butler"
 The steaming coffee cooled with the quantity of cream Winslow poured into it. He emptied his cup before replying, slipping it slowly.
 Do as you think best" He smil- ed across at his wife. Your judg- ment is always sound. Send Lam bert to me when he returns" Wins low pushed aside his plate, the bacon and eggs untasted, and rose I Did you see Thorne before he left?"
 Last night? No"
 T meant this morning; Thorne spent the night here.' He looked up and caught his wife's startled expression. What is the matter? Are you ill?"
 For a second she could not get her breath to answer. I'll be all right in a minute. A glass of sher- ", Arnold" and so saying she slipped back in her chair in a dead faint.