The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-01-03
the dull. harsh voice that was char acteristic of her:


 ''Thank you. sir. I'll do my best" She made no protest when Dun- dee with a word of embarrassed
 apology went rapidly through the | heavy suitcase she had brought up
 from the basement with her. And when he had finished his fruitless I smoothed the coarse, ulitarian garments he had disarranged. Five minutes later Dundee was alone in the house where murder had been committed under such | strang and baffling circumstances | that afternoon. He was not ner- vous, but again he made a tour of inspection of the first floor and
 basement. looking into closets, test ing windows to make sure they | were all locked. Everywhere there | were evidences of the thoroughness
 of the police detectives who had searched for the weapon with which
 Nita Selim had been murdered. In | the basement, as he had subcon-
 sciously noted on his headlong dash
 to question Lydia Carr. the furnace
 doors swung open. and the lids of
 the laundry tubs had been left
 propped up, after the unavailing
 He plodded wearily up the base
 ment stairs and on into the kitchen.
 Perhaps the ice box had something
 fit to eat in 1.-the fruit intended for Nita's and Lydia's Sunday breakfast. Those caviar and an-
 onovy sandwiches had certainly not stuck with him long. .9! He was making his way toward the electric refrigerator when he stopped as suddenly as if he had been shot.
 The kitchen door, which he had taken especial pains to assure him. self was locked, when he had made
 the rounds immediately after the departure of Captain Strawn and his men, was standing slightly ajar!
 Someone had entered this house! Dundee stared blankly at the
 door. which was equipped with a modern lock. Someone with a I key But why had the door
 been left ajar? To make escape easier?
 With the toe of his shoe Dundee pushed the door to, heard the click of the lock, then, all thought of food routed from his mind, made a quick but almost silent dash into the dining room to secure one of the pair of tall wax tapers, which, in their silver candlesticks, served as
 ornaments for the sideboard. With his candle held high, so that well aware that 1t made him 6 per- feet target. Dundee opened the un- painted dor and found himself in
 the dark, musty smelling room that had served Nita Selim and the Grains before her as storeroom. From the ceiling dangled q green cord ending in a cheap, clear-glass bulb. But it's light was sufficient to penetrate even the farthest low
 hooks made by the three gables. He blew out his candle and dropped it as useless now.
 A puck tour convinced him that nothing human was concealed be- hind one of Nita Selim's empty wardrobe trunks, or behind one of i the several pieces of heavy old fur niture. undoubtedly left behind by the dispossessed Grain family. Big footprints on the thick dust which coated the flor showed him that he was being no more thor ough than Captain Strawn's brace of plainclothes detectives had been
 much earlier that evening. Two pairs of giant footprints.
 With an exclamation he discov.. cred a smaller. narrow pair of prints, and followed their winding trail all around and across the attic And then he remembered. [.
 Ralph Hammonds footprints, of course. made that morning as he went about his legitimate business of measuring and estimating for the job of turning the storeroom into bedrooms and bathrooms.
 Dundee had not realized that he ! was frightened until he was in the hall again. facing one of the three
 doors in the buff-tinted plastered
 wall. With surprise. and some amusement, he became aware that his hands were trembling, and that his knees had a curious tendency to buckle.
 The fact that the door directly in front of him was open about two inches served. for some odd reason,
 to steady his nerves. Pushing the door wide open with his foot-for he never forgot the possibility of
 discriminating hngerprints which
 might easily he obliterated--he dis
 covered n light switch near the door frame.
 The Instant illumination from a
 ceiling cluster revealed large bed-
 room. and, less clearly. another and
 smaller room beyond it. facing as
 the house faced-toward the south
 Knees and hands steady again. he
 investigated the finished portion of the gabled story swiftly. A charm. | ing layout. he told himself. Hnd Penny crain once enjoyed thls de