Evening star., 1931-04-18
MYSTERIOUS WAYE
By Percival Christopher Wren,
Author of "Beau Geste'
tcoryright

moved about the house In the night OF
the small hours of the morning his
silence and comparative invisibility were
remarkable. Black clothing, socks
| gloves and black silk handkerchief
about his face, rendered him but q
mere substantial shadow among the
( immaterial shadows and darkneSseS Of
the ancient house.
| Armed and alert, he acted as though
! dangerous enemy might attempt
entry-Such as he who entered the
house of Mr.. Webb Of Witherby End
to slay and rob.
There had been, year or two ago
a story about maid who, going to bed
quite sane, was discovered to be quite
| insane. The silly creature could only
babble Of black bogey in the corridor
And now Mrs. Meskins, the house
keeper, was telling Mr. Board, the but
ler, that here was Ella Spragge, that
pretty housemaid, wanting to leave.
Her tale was that she crept out OF
the room where she and two others
slept and went down to the floor below
to ask the nurse to give her something
for raging toothache.
AS she got to the bottom of the stair
case she saw, according to her account
''an awful black thing pass the end OF
the corridor, and, as she stood, trem-
bling in terror, another bigger one
went past the same spot. The next
thing she knew was that she was half
lying at the bottom of the stairs and as
cold as death. When she had come
round bit more, she had crept to her
room, her toothache completely cured.
Have her up before the doctor,
opined Mr.. Board. THAT gel thought
she'd like to make a sensation and get
a in1nnFfnY
And yet despite Mr.. Board and his
opinion of maids veracity, the shadow
that was Mr.. James had. upon occasion,
a shadow, though he did not cast it.
Mr.. John Waye, who slept little and
mostly by day, was invariably awake
between the hours of 10, when nurses
went off duty for the night, and in
the morning, when nurses and daylight
did appear. Some part of the night he
spent in writing, some in reading, and
at certain hours he sat in darkness and
in thought, his sad face grim.
1t was his unvarying practice to sit
facing the door of his room, and to keep
that door wide open. The night nurse,
would see him and he would see her or
any one else who might pass.
When the night nurse had made her
rounds and switched off all lights save
at corners, staircaseS or intersecting
corridors, MIR. Waye, armed with black
pin and reel of black cotton, would
dart across the corridor, stick the pin
in the top of the wainscot, attach the
end Of the cotton thereto and return to
his door, Here he would break the cot
ton from the reel, and, passing the end
OF this detached piece through the key
hole, would tie it to his littl3 finger,
and then, seating himself in his arm
chair, draw it taut
Thus, across the dark corridor, ran
an invisible line of communication that
would be tugged and broken by any
pasSerby and Mr.. Waye be instantly
aware of the fact. Nor would the
prowler suppose that his silent passing
was recorded.
And. this night, as was his custom,
John Waye sat on guard.
Would they, at the same age, have
been indistinguishable? How his heart
had leapt, and how nearly he had cried
Rosemary" before them all when frs:
his eyes had fallen upon her. Darling
beautiful Marjorie!
Suddenly the little finger of John
Wages sensitive hand felt a slight but
quite preceptible twitch.
Conclusive twitching-and then death!
DIR. MacAdOo's poison does its work
weli-and xpectedly-tomOrrOw