The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-05-08

ing
And, as 1t proved. those ghostly
little fingerprints had never q need
to be photographed and ticketed
and carefully docnmented.
They served their purpose wholly
in their own ghostly fashion and
added their own small link to the
gradually accommodating sequence Of
the chain that was so strangely
woven and was in the end so dread
fully like moose.
The incident of the door had final
ly convinced me Of the folly OF lin
gering unarmed about those dark
stretches of halls and untenanted
rooms, and | returned speedily to
the second floor and to my own
room.
Once there, in the welcome light,
with the shutters open to their fall
est, Isconvinced myself once and for
all that the clumsy. enormous ward
robe was merely an enormous,
clumsy wardrobe and nothing else,
and that there was no secret or hid
den entrance to my room.
With an aching shoulder !
emerged into the corridor. II was
dusk by that time, and | had an i'm
preston Of lights in the court be-
low.
knew. now, the general plan Of
the hotel; | knew the locations Of
the various tenanted rooms; all on
the second floor. I had not, 1t is true,
penetrated the storerooms in the
wing below my own room: the time
had been too short.
I knew that the switch box was
exactly where Mrs. Byng had told
me 1t was, and that she could
scarcely have failed to recognize
Sue.
/ knew that the priests room was
OF an intersecting corridor not far
from the angle where I'd caught q
disturbing glimpse Of q moving
shadow on the previous night.
And knew about the fingerprints
which had not destroyed.
BESIDE me was the door into
the White Salon. / had opened
the door, remembered, in the dark.
ness Of the night when the odor of
tobacco smoke had reused me. I
opened it again and stepped inside.
The shutters were closed, and In
the dusk / could see little. found
and pressed the switch. but there
was no bulb In the high. ornate
crystal chandelier.
AS my eyes adjusted themselves
to the gray gloom. however, could
make out objects carved arm.
chairs and sofas, and Q heavy gift
mirror above q large fireplace. and
In one corner great piano that
doomed up darkly, so large that
there was a sort Of cavern Of
shadow under 1t.
The Pope's piano, undoubtedly.
Its dark unwieldiness and the look
OF waiting that an old piano al.
ways has--as II It were patiently
waiting for the hands that had once
touched it--gave the last touch Of
morose somberness to the room.
! went out hurriedly. closing the
door sharply behind me to shut in
that waiting plano and those wait
Ing chairs. and ! wished the dImiy
cavernous White salon with its
musty air and It's silence were at q
happier distance from my own
room.
Momentarily paused in the long
narrow corridor with ito closed
doors on one side and its glass wall
on the other to look, as somehow
| always did pause to look, down
into the court and over the whole
sweep Of surrounding windows and
encirciang walls.
Lights were on in the lobby. The
light was already swaying under
the entrance arch. ard thus above
the gate that was not yet closed.
Two policemen were In the court,
huddled under their capes and lean.
ing against the inner wall, which
sheltered them to some degree IRON
the wind.
Lovschiem and Grethe were In
the lobby. could see into the PAR
Tor. since the light was shining
there and the window facing the
court yet unshuttered: Mrs. BynK
and Sue were still there.
l turned and walked along .he;
north corridor. turned into the main
section OF the hotel. and started
again toward the corridor running
to the elevator. /;
The whole upstairs was silent
and deserted and unbelievably
empty. My footsteps made no sound
on the carpeted corridor. Thus n
was. suppose, that as passed the
closed door to Sues room distinct.
y heard someone moving about be.
yond It.
And Il could not be Sue. because
had Just seen her sitting there In
the parlor.
fcopytsAt. 1853. kasao. @. Rss-Aa-tl