Evening star., 1934-02-25
INSTALLMENT XXI.

Gedge broad she's apt to get her head
pushed in one of these nights if she
goes on laying with it up against
pete full of stuff, and she'll see it.
If she's like most DANES"
From what I hear, she isn't"
swell, guess she's like enough to
make her feel that if there's going
to be a murder in the home she'd
rather it was the old man than her.
You put it to her, boy. You go to
her and say, Lookout. Mrs. Gedge,
1t amt safe for you sleeping in that
room with all that ice. First thing
you know, some heist-guyll be bust
ing the joint, and then where'll you
be? Getting your head pushed in or
lying there with your throat cut,
that's where you'll be- You snap out
OF that room, Mrs. Gedge,' you say,
and let your old man sleep there, or
before you know where you are XII
me marking the spot Thatu shift
her"
Packy weighed the advice thought
fully. There seemed a good deal in
it. Such a speech might well have
the desired effect. The trouble was
that it would be rather difficult to
lead up to in general conversation
with woman you had only just met.
well, Ill think it over he said.
"You do" said Mr.. Slattery. You
go back to bed and think it over.
Me, I rather guess, now I'm in the
Joint, III take a look around. Folks
sometimes leave gold clocks and that
on the dressing table. What l mean,
you never know. And you don't want
to miss a trick these days. Say, did
you ever see the stock market in such
a state? Everything down to nothing,
you might say, and me with all my
capital locked up Got to make what
you can when you can, what I
mean"
1t was not for Packy to stand in
the way Of fellow man pluckily
trying to make good losses incurred
through the fluctuations of the
worlds markets, so he bade him
goodnight.
1t seemed to him after he had
been in bed some 10 minutes that
the silence of the chateau was broken
by a distant shout or cry but he
was too sleepy to give it his attention.
One of the things one always wants
to know about a house party is what
sort of night everybody had. AS re-
CARDS the Chateau BliSsac, the Slum-
bers of the great majority of its in
mates had been entirely satisfactory.
Only Mr. Gordon Carlisle had failed
to rest adequately. Much thinking,
rendering him feverish, had caused
him to turn and toss til an ad-
nd urIoo hn
ceed in achieving a doze, he was
jerked ut of it by that same shout
or cry which had momentarily dis
turbed Packy. Speculation on this
had made him wakeful again. 1t was
not till dawn that he finally fell asleep
and it was scarcely two hours later
when sunlight, streaming in through
the window across which he had for
gotten to draw the curtain, brought
him to life once more.
His idea on getting out Of bed had
been to exclude this sunlight. But,
finding himself at the open window,
he leaned out to see what kind of a
day it was. From where he stood,
on the second floor of the house the
view included a pair of legs incased
in gray trousers and terminating in
two shoes of generous dimensions.
The spectacle Of legs where no legs
should be is always an arresting one
Mr.. Carlisle was frankly nonplussed.
Rapidly running over in his mind the
topography OF the house, he diSCOV-
cred that their owner must be sit
ting on the window sill Of the bed
room occupied by Senator Opal. There
surged over Mr.. Carlisle an intense
desire for further data and only by
going out and looking up from a less
acute angle could he hope to probe
this mystery.
Taking a snap judgment on the
evidence at. present to hand, he pre-
sumed that the sitter must be the
Senator himself. Only a man of es-
tabliShed eccentricity would rooSt on
window sills first thing in the morn
ing. Only when he reached the gar
den did he discover that his reason
ing had been faulty. Senator Opal
might be temperamentally of window
sill-sitting timber. But the man on
whom Mr.. Carlisle's astonished gaze
rested was his old friend, Soup Slat-
terry. And as he espied Mr.. Slattery
simultaneously Mr. Slattery espied
him.
There followed one of those awk-
ward periods which occur when a
man who is compelled to confine him
self entirely to grimaces is endeavor-
ing to convey his thoughts to a sec
ond party who is so overcome with
amaZement that he would scarcely be
In position to understand the plain
est speech. Mr.. Slattery contorted his
features. Mr.. Carlisle continued to
cape. 1t was only at the end of about
five minutes, just after Mr.. Slattery
had nearly dislocated his lower jaw
IN particularly eloquent passage,
that the marveling confidence game
artist realized that what his friend
was silently appealing for was a
ladder
Raising his hand in sort of
Fascist salute and nodding vigorously
several times, he proceeded in quest
of the desired object
A ladder is not one of those things
you can just reach out and lay your
hand on. Eventually, he discovered
one outside distant shed, only to
find that it was too heavy for him
to carry. Returning with the dis
oeAoOSAAA Cthoh bSAOlC 4LIll VI
this misfortune in dumb show, he
received another shock.
The window sill, which 10 minutes
before had featured Mr. Slattery so
prominently, was now empty.
Gordon Carlisle paused on the brink
tf believing in miracles. The only
theory that seemed to fit the facts
was that his friend had suddenly
scared through the air like bird
He could not have fallen, for the
only corpse on the ground below was
that of a small snail.
Then, just in time to save his reason
from collapse, Mr.. Carlisle observed
the stout water pipe which ran down
the wall near the window. And, put
ting 2 and 2 together, he deduced that
III the interval of his absence Mr..
Slattery must have discovered this
pipe. The fact that he had not done
so earlier appeared to indicate that he
had taken to the window sill while