Nogales international., 1931-12-19
FIFTH INSTALMENT
SYNOPSIS

Six people. Horace Johnson (who tells
r,e story), his wife, cid Mrs. Dane, Herbert
[ Crimson and his sister, Alice, an Or.
,iperry, friends AMI neighhors, are III the
abit Of holding weekly meetings. AT one OF
rem. Mrs. Dane, who is hostess, varies the
rogram by Unexpectedly arranging a spirit.
alstc seance with Miss Jeremy trienc OF
,jr. Sperry and not professional as the
lediun
,'etails of a murder as it is occurring. Later
hat night Sperry learns that nelgh39r'
Arthur Wells, has Teen shot n1ysteri2usly. |
with Johnson he goes to tie Wells residence |
and they find confirmation IF the medium $ |
!ccount. Mrs; Wells tells them her husband
The French maid admits she was yut at the |
i;re Wells was shot, telerh3ning frcm al
nearby drug store. Johnson goes to the drug
store where the clerk tells him the maid
phoned. to the Ellingham house, telling
somebody there not "tc call that night
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
When l told him it was a case OF
suicide, he remarked, philosophically:
"a lot of people get the big once
in a while, they come i'll here for
dose of sudden death, and it takes
watching. It's matter OF the point
of view,"- he continued mere cheer
fully. "And my point Of view just
now is that this place is darned cold
and SOS the street. You'd better have
little something to warm you up be-
! fore YOU go out, Mr.. Johnson
was chilled through, to tell the
! truth, and although / rarely drink
anything | went back with him and
took an ounce or two of villalnous
whiskey, poured out of jug into a
graduated glass. 1t is with deep hu-
initiation of spirit record that house
maid coming into my library at seven
o'clock the next morning, found me,
in top hat and overcoat, asleep on the
! library couch.
had. however, removed my collar
and tie. and my watch, carefully
wound, was on the stnoking-stand be-
side me.
The death of Arthur Wells had
taken place on Monday evening. Tues
day brought nothing new. The coroner
was apparently satisfied, and ON
Wednesday the dead mans body was
cremated.
"Thus celebrating all evidence,
Sperry said, with what felt was
note Of relief.
But think the situation was both
ering him, and that he hoped to dis
count in advance the second sitting by
Miss Jeremy, which Mrs Dane had al
ready arranged for the following
Monday, for on Wednesday after
noon, following a conversation over
the telephone, Sperry and | had a
private sitting with Miss Jeremy in
Sperry's private Office. | took my wife
into our confidence and invited her
to be present, but the unfortunate
GOODNESS following the housenlaid's
discovery of me asleep in the library
on the morning after the murder, was
! still noticeable and she refused.
The sitting however, was totally
without value. There WAS difficulty on
the mediums part in securing the
trance condition, and she broke out
once rather petulantly, with the re-
mark that we were interfering with
her in some way.
l noticed that Sperry had placed
/ Arthur Weiss stick unobstrusively on
his table, but we secured only ram
bling and non-pertinent replies to our
questions, and whether it was because
the Wells matter did not come up at
all | found total lack Of that sense
! Of the unknown which made all the
evening sittings SO griSly.
/ | am sure she knew we had wanted
something, and that she had failed TO
give it to US, for when she came out
! She was depressed ard i'll a state OF
lowered vitality.
I'm afraid I'm not helping you,"
! she said. Pm little tired, l think" y
She was tired. I felt suddenly
very sorry for her. She was so pretty
and so young = only twenty-six or
Whereabouts = to be in the grip of
| forces so relentless. Sperry sent her
home in his car, and took to pacing
the floor of his office.
I'm going ITO give it up, Horace"
he said. Perhaps you are right. We
may be on the verge of some real
discovery. But while Pm interested, so
interested that it interferes with my
work, I'm frankly afraid to go on.
There are several reasons"
/ argued with him. There could be
no question that if things were left
as they were, number of people
/ would go through life convinced that
Elinor Wells had murdered her hus-
band. Look at the situation. She had
sent out all the servants and the gov
erness, surely an unusual thing in an
Establishment of that sort. And Miss
Jeremy had been indicated in three
points; some stains had certainly been
washed UP, we had found the key
where she had stated it to be, and
Arthur had certainly been shaving
himself,
b. In other words" I argued, 1--WE
can't stop, Sperry. You can't stop.
But my idea would be that our inves-
legations be purely scientific and not
criminal"
also. in other words" he said,
"you think we will discover something,
SO you suggest that we compound
felony and keep it to ourselves!"