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CHAPTER I. I TAKE A COUNTRY HOUSE
CHAPTER I. I TAKE A COUNTRY HOUSE
This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and prosperous. For twenty years I had been perfectly comfortable; for twenty years I had had the window-boxes filled in the spring, the carpets lifted, the awnings put up and the furniture covered with brown linen; for as many sum
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CHAPTER II. A LINK CUFF-BUTTON
CHAPTER II. A LINK CUFF-BUTTON
Liddy’s knees seemed to give away under her. Without a sound she sank down, leaving me staring at the window in petrified amazement. Liddy began to moan under her breath, and in my excitement I reached down and shook her. “Stop it,” I whispered. “It’s only a woman—maybe a maid of the Armstrongs’. Get up and help me find the door.” She groaned again. “Very well,” I said, “then I’ll have to leave you here. I’m going.” She moved at that, and, holding to my sleeve, we felt our way, with numerous col
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CHAPTER III. MR. JOHN BAILEY APPEARS
CHAPTER III. MR. JOHN BAILEY APPEARS
I had dinner served in the breakfast-room. Somehow the huge dining-room depressed me, and Thomas, cheerful enough all day, allowed his spirits to go down with the sun. He had a habit of watching the corners of the room, left shadowy by the candles on the table, and altogether it was not a festive meal. Dinner over I went into the living-room. I had three hours before the children could possibly arrive, and I got out my knitting. I had brought along two dozen pairs of slipper soles in assorted si
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CHAPTER IV. WHERE IS HALSEY?
CHAPTER IV. WHERE IS HALSEY?
Gertrude gazed at the face in a kind of fascination. Then she put out her hands blindly, and I thought she was going to faint. “He has killed him!” she muttered almost inarticulately; and at that, because my nerves were going, I gave her a good shake. “What do you mean?” I said frantically. There was a depth of grief and conviction in her tone that was worse than anything she could have said. The shake braced her, anyhow, and she seemed to pull herself together. But not another word would she sa
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CHAPTER V. GERTRUDE’S ENGAGEMENT
CHAPTER V. GERTRUDE’S ENGAGEMENT
At ten o’clock the Casanova hack brought up three men. They introduced themselves as the coroner of the county and two detectives from the city. The coroner led the way at once to the locked wing, and with the aid of one of the detectives examined the rooms and the body. The other detective, after a short scrutiny of the dead man, busied himself with the outside of the house. It was only after they had got a fair idea of things as they were that they sent for me. I received them in the living-ro
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CHAPTER VI. IN THE EAST CORRIDOR
CHAPTER VI. IN THE EAST CORRIDOR
When the detective left he enjoined absolute secrecy on everybody in the household. The Greenwood Club promised the same thing, and as there are no Sunday afternoon papers, the murder was not publicly known until Monday. The coroner himself notified the Armstrong family lawyer, and early in the afternoon he came out. I had not seen Mr. Jamieson since morning, but I knew he had been interrogating the servants. Gertrude was locked in her room with a headache, and I had luncheon alone. Mr. Harton,
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CHAPTER VII. A SPRAINED ANKLE
CHAPTER VII. A SPRAINED ANKLE
I was panic-stricken. As I ran along the corridor I was confident that the mysterious intruder and probable murderer had been found, and that he lay dead or dying at the foot of the chute. I got down the staircase somehow, and through the kitchen to the basement stairs. Mr. Jamieson had been before me, and the door stood open. Liddy was standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding a frying-pan by the handle as a weapon. “Don’t go down there,” she yelled, when she saw me moving toward the basem
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CHAPTER VIII. THE OTHER HALF OF THE LINE
CHAPTER VIII. THE OTHER HALF OF THE LINE
“Miss Innes,” the detective began, “what is your opinion of the figure you saw on the east veranda the night you and your maid were in the house alone?” “It was a woman,” I said positively. “And yet your maid affirms with equal positiveness that it was a man.” “Nonsense,” I broke in. “Liddy had her eyes shut—she always shuts them when she’s frightened.” “And you never thought then that the intruder who came later that night might be a woman—the woman, in fact, whom you saw on the veranda?” “I ha
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CHAPTER IX. JUST LIKE A GIRL
CHAPTER IX. JUST LIKE A GIRL
“Aunt Ray!” Halsey said from the gloom behind the lamps. “What in the world are you doing here?” “Taking a walk,” I said, trying to be composed. I don’t think the answer struck either of us as being ridiculous at the time. “Oh, Halsey, where have you been?” “Let me take you up to the house.” He was in the road, and had Beulah and the basket out of my arms in a moment. I could see the car plainly now, and Warner was at the wheel—Warner in an ulster and a pair of slippers, over Heaven knows what.
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CHAPTER X. THE TRADERS’ BANK
CHAPTER X. THE TRADERS’ BANK
The morning after Halsey’s return was Tuesday. Arnold Armstrong had been found dead at the foot of the circular staircase at three o’clock on Sunday morning. The funeral services were to be held on Tuesday, and the interment of the body was to be deferred until the Armstrongs arrived from California. No one, I think, was very sorry that Arnold Armstrong was dead, but the manner of his death aroused some sympathy and an enormous amount of curiosity. Mrs. Ogden Fitzhugh, a cousin, took charge of t
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CHAPTER XI. HALSEY MAKES A CAPTURE
CHAPTER XI. HALSEY MAKES A CAPTURE
It was about half-past eight when we left the dining-room, and still engrossed with one subject, the failure of the bank and its attendant evils, Halsey and I went out into the grounds for a stroll. Gertrude followed us shortly. “The light was thickening,” to appropriate Shakespeare’s description of twilight, and once again the tree-toads and the crickets were making night throb with their tiny life. It was almost oppressively lonely, in spite of its beauty, and I felt a sickening pang of homesi
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CHAPTER XII. ONE MYSTERY FOR ANOTHER
CHAPTER XII. ONE MYSTERY FOR ANOTHER
The most commonplace incident takes on a new appearance if the attendant circumstances are unusual. There was no reason on earth why Mrs. Watson should not have carried a blanket down the east wing staircase, if she so desired. But to take a blanket down at eleven o’clock at night, with every precaution as to noise, and, when discovered, to fling it at Halsey and bolt—Halsey’s word, and a good one—into the grounds,—this made the incident more than significant. They moved slowly across the lawn a
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CHAPTER XIII. LOUISE
CHAPTER XIII. LOUISE
The doctor from Englewood came very soon, and I went up to see the sick girl with him. Halsey had gone to supervise the fitting of the car with blankets and pillows, and Gertrude was opening and airing Louise’s own rooms at the house. Her private sitting-room, bedroom and dressing-room were as they had been when we came. They occupied the end of the east wing, beyond the circular staircase, and we had not even opened them. The girl herself was too ill to notice what was being done. When, with th
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CHAPTER XIV. AN EGG-NOG AND A TELEGRAM
CHAPTER XIV. AN EGG-NOG AND A TELEGRAM
We had discovered Louise at the lodge Tuesday night. It was Wednesday I had my interview with her. Thursday and Friday were uneventful, save as they marked improvement in our patient. Gertrude spent almost all the time with her, and the two had grown to be great friends. But certain things hung over me constantly; the coroner’s inquest on the death of Arnold Armstrong, to be held Saturday, and the arrival of Mrs. Armstrong and young Doctor Walker, bringing the body of the dead president of the T
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CHAPTER XV. LIDDY GIVES THE ALARM
CHAPTER XV. LIDDY GIVES THE ALARM
The next day, Friday, Gertrude broke the news of her stepfather’s death to Louise. She did it as gently as she could, telling her first that he was very ill, and finally that he was dead. Louise received the news in the most unexpected manner, and when Gertrude came out to tell me how she had stood it, I think she was almost shocked. “She just lay and stared at me, Aunt Ray,” she said. “Do you know, I believe she is glad, glad! And she is too honest to pretend anything else. What sort of man was
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CHAPTER XVI. IN THE EARLY MORNING
CHAPTER XVI. IN THE EARLY MORNING
I stood looking at the empty bed. The coverings had been thrown back, and Louise’s pink silk dressing-gown was gone from the foot, where it had lain. The night lamp burned dimly, revealing the emptiness of the place. I picked it up, but my hand shook so that I put it down again, and got somehow to the door. There were voices in the hall and Gertrude came running toward me. “What is it?” she cried. “What was that sound? Where is Louise?” “She is not in her room,” I said stupidly. “I think—it was
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CHAPTER XVII. A HINT OF SCANDAL
CHAPTER XVII. A HINT OF SCANDAL
In giving the gist of what happened at the inquest, I have only one excuse—to recall to the reader the events of the night of Arnold Armstrong’s murder. Many things had occurred which were not brought out at the inquest and some things were told there that were new to me. Altogether, it was a gloomy affair, and the six men in the corner, who constituted the coroner’s jury, were evidently the merest puppets in the hands of that all-powerful gentleman, the coroner. Gertrude and I sat well back, wi
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CHAPTER XVIII. A HOLE IN THE WALL
CHAPTER XVIII. A HOLE IN THE WALL
My taking the detective out to Sunnyside raised an unexpected storm of protest from Gertrude and Halsey. I was not prepared for it, and I scarcely knew how to account for it. To me Mr. Jamieson was far less formidable under my eyes where I knew what he was doing, than he was off in the city, twisting circumstances and motives to suit himself and learning what he wished to know, about events at Sunnyside, in some occult way. I was glad enough to have him there, when excitements began to come thic
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CHAPTER XIX. CONCERNING THOMAS
CHAPTER XIX. CONCERNING THOMAS
“Mr. Jamieson,” I said, when we found ourselves alone after dinner that night, “the inquest yesterday seemed to me the merest recapitulation of things that were already known. It developed nothing new beyond the story of Doctor Stewart’s, and that was volunteered.” “An inquest is only a necessary formality, Miss Innes,” he replied. “Unless a crime is committed in the open, the inquest does nothing beyond getting evidence from witnesses while events are still in their minds. The police step in la
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CHAPTER XX. DOCTOR WALKER’S WARNING
CHAPTER XX. DOCTOR WALKER’S WARNING
Warner was on his knees in a moment, fumbling at the old man’s collar to loosen it, but Halsey caught his hand. “Let him alone,” he said. “You can’t help him; he is dead.” We stood there, each avoiding the other’s eyes; we spoke low and reverently in the presence of death, and we tacitly avoided any mention of the suspicion that was in every mind. When Mr. Jamieson had finished his cursory examination, he got up and dusted the knees of his trousers. “There is no sign of injury,” he said, and I k
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CHAPTER XXI. FOURTEEN ELM STREET
CHAPTER XXI. FOURTEEN ELM STREET
It was Monday evening when we found the body of poor old Thomas. Monday night had been uneventful; things were quiet at the house and the peculiar circumstances of the old man’s death had been carefully kept from the servants. Rosie took charge of the dining-room and pantry, in the absence of a butler, and, except for the warning of the Casanova doctor, everything breathed of peace. Affairs at the Traders’ Bank were progressing slowly. The failure had hit small stock-holders very hard, the minis
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CHAPTER XXII. A LADDER OUT OF PLACE
CHAPTER XXII. A LADDER OUT OF PLACE
At dinner Mr. Jamieson suggested sending a man out in his place for a couple of days, but Halsey was certain there would be nothing more, and felt that he and Alex could manage the situation. The detective went back to town early in the evening, and by nine o’clock Halsey, who had been playing golf—as a man does anything to take his mind away from trouble—was sleeping soundly on the big leather davenport in the living-room. I sat and knitted, pretending not to notice when Gertrude got up and wan
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CHAPTER XXIII. WHILE THE STABLES BURNED
CHAPTER XXIII. WHILE THE STABLES BURNED
About nine o’clock that night Liddy came into the living-room and reported that one of the housemaids declared she had seen two men slip around the corner of the stable. Gertrude had been sitting staring in front of her, jumping at every sound. Now she turned on Liddy pettishly. “I declare, Liddy,” she said, “you are a bundle of nerves. What if Eliza did see some men around the stable? It may have been Warner and Alex.” “Warner is in the kitchen, miss,” Liddy said with dignity. “And if you had c
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CHAPTER XXIV. FLINDERS
CHAPTER XXIV. FLINDERS
If Halsey had only taken me fully into his confidence, through the whole affair, it would have been much simpler. If he had been altogether frank about Jack Bailey, and if the day after the fire he had told me what he suspected, there would have been no harrowing period for all of us, with the boy in danger. But young people refuse to profit by the experience of their elders, and sometimes the elders are the ones to suffer. I was much used up the day after the fire, and Gertrude insisted on my g
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CHAPTER XXV. A VISIT FROM LOUISE
CHAPTER XXV. A VISIT FROM LOUISE
That day was destined to be an eventful one, for when I entered the house and found Eliza ensconced in the upper hall on a chair, with Mary Anne doing her best to stifle her with household ammonia, and Liddy rubbing her wrists—whatever good that is supposed to do—I knew that the ghost had been walking again, and this time in daylight. Eliza was in a frenzy of fear. She clutched at my sleeve when I went close to her, and refused to let go until she had told her story. Coming just after the fire,
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CHAPTER XXVI. HALSEY’S DISAPPEARANCE
CHAPTER XXVI. HALSEY’S DISAPPEARANCE
Nothing that had gone before had been as bad as this. The murder and Thomas’ sudden death we had been able to view in a detached sort of way. But with Halsey’s disappearance everything was altered. Our little circle, intact until now, was broken. We were no longer onlookers who saw a battle passing around them. We were the center of action. Of course, there was no time then to voice such an idea. My mind seemed able to hold only one thought: that Halsey had been foully dealt with, and that every
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CHAPTER XXVII. WHO IS NINA CARRINGTON?
CHAPTER XXVII. WHO IS NINA CARRINGTON?
The four days, from Saturday to the following Tuesday, we lived, or existed, in a state of the most dreadful suspense. We ate only when Liddy brought in a tray, and then very little. The papers, of course, had got hold of the story, and we were besieged by newspaper men. From all over the country false clues came pouring in and raised hopes that crumbled again to nothing. Every morgue within a hundred miles, every hospital, had been visited, without result. Mr. Jamieson, personally, took charge
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CHAPTER XXVIII. A TRAMP AND THE TOOTHACHE
CHAPTER XXVIII. A TRAMP AND THE TOOTHACHE
The bitterness toward the dead president of the Traders’ Bank seemed to grow with time. Never popular, his memory was execrated by people who had lost nothing, but who were filled with disgust by constantly hearing new stories of the man’s grasping avarice. The Traders’ had been a favorite bank for small tradespeople, and in its savings department it had solicited the smallest deposits. People who had thought to be self-supporting to the last found themselves confronting the poorhouse, their two
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CHAPTER XXIX. A SCRAP OF PAPER
CHAPTER XXIX. A SCRAP OF PAPER
For the first time in twenty years, I kept my bed that day. Liddy was alarmed to the point of hysteria, and sent for Doctor Stewart just after breakfast. Gertrude spent the morning with me, reading something—I forget what. I was too busy with my thoughts to listen. I had said nothing to the two detectives. If Mr. Jamieson had been there, I should have told him everything, but I could not go to these strange men and tell them my niece had been missing in the middle of the night; that she had not
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CHAPTER XXX. WHEN CHURCHYARDS YAWN
CHAPTER XXX. WHEN CHURCHYARDS YAWN
It was on Wednesday Riggs told us the story of his connection with some incidents that had been previously unexplained. Halsey had been gone since the Friday night before, and with the passage of each day I felt that his chances were lessening. I knew well enough that he might be carried thousands of miles in the box-car, locked in, perhaps, without water or food. I had read of cases where bodies had been found locked in cars on isolated sidings in the west, and my spirits went down with every h
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CHAPTER XXXI. BETWEEN TWO FIREPLACES
CHAPTER XXXI. BETWEEN TWO FIREPLACES
What with the excitement of the discovery, the walk home under the stars in wet shoes and draggled skirts, and getting up-stairs and undressed without rousing Liddy, I was completely used up. What to do with my boots was the greatest puzzle of all, there being no place in the house safe from Liddy, until I decided to slip upstairs the next morning and drop them into the hole the “ghost” had made in the trunk-room wall. I went asleep as soon as I reached this decision, and in my dreams I lived ov
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CHAPTER XXXII. ANNE WATSON’S STORY
CHAPTER XXXII. ANNE WATSON’S STORY
Liddy discovered the fresh break in the trunk-room wall while we were at luncheon, and ran shrieking down the stairs. She maintained that, as she entered, unseen hands had been digging at the plaster; that they had stopped when she went in, and she had felt a gust of cold damp air. In support of her story she carried in my wet and muddy boots, that I had unluckily forgotten to hide, and held them out to the detective and myself. “What did I tell you?” she said dramatically. “Look at ’em. They’re
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CHAPTER XXXIII. AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS
CHAPTER XXXIII. AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS
As I drove rapidly up to the house from Casanova Station in the hack, I saw the detective Burns loitering across the street from the Walker place. So Jamieson was putting the screws on—lightly now, but ready to give them a twist or two, I felt certain, very soon. The house was quiet. Two steps of the circular staircase had been pried off, without result, and beyond a second message from Gertrude, that Halsey insisted on coming home and they would arrive that night, there was nothing new. Mr. Jam
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CHAPTER XXXIV. THE ODDS AND ENDS
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE ODDS AND ENDS
Of Doctor Walker’s sensational escape that night to South America, of the recovery of over a million dollars in cash and securities in the safe from the chimney room—the papers have kept the public well informed. Of my share in discovering the secret chamber they have been singularly silent. The inner history has never been told. Mr. Jamieson got all kinds of credit, and some of it he deserved, but if Jack Bailey, as Alex, had not traced Halsey and insisted on the disinterring of Paul Armstrong’
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