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THE GARDEN MURDER CASE vXtor, half pockvtinf m« in lh« cor Mr bohlnd it. vhoro ! wm not tm- modiatrlj notlcoablo. I vm about lo spoak to him, whan Zalia Qraam cam# In. “Philo Vance." She called hi* name In a low, tremuloua voice. He turned and looked at the girl with a quizzical frown. "I've been waiting in the dining room," she said. “I wanted to see you before you spoke to the oth ers." I realized immediately, from the tone of her voice, that my presence had not been noticed. Vance continued to look squarely at the girl, but did not speak. She came very close to him now. “Ten me why you have made me suffer so much," she said. "I know I have hurt you," Vance returned. "But the circumstances made it Imperative. Please believe that I understand more of this case than you imagine I do." "I am not sure that I under stand." The girl spoke hesitantly. “But I want you to know that I trust you." She looked up at him, and I could see that her eyes were glistening. Slowly she bowed her head. “I have never been inter ested in any man," she went on— and there was a quaver in her voice. "The men I have known have all made me unhappy and aeemed always to lead me away from the things I longed for . . ." She caught her breath. “You are the one man I have ever known whom I could—care for." by 11 VAN t t*ol ■ rjff vft *** (V * i AT i e« «*t ST ZZ 'Z nr r l ’ • Zif' 1 1 & rflRLi JJ . w- ^ ^ W . ii boaaalf* «en with a Jovial air Vance nod dad to him brusquely. "Mr. Hammle." he said, “we're wholly familiar with your philoso phy of minding your own business and keeping silent in orde.' to avoid all involvements. A defensible at titude—but not in the present cir cumstances. This is a criminal case, and in the interest of justice to everyone concerned, we must have the whole truth. Yesterday afternoon you were the only one in the drawing-room who had even a partial view down the hallway. And we must know everything you saw, no matter how trivial it may seem to you." , Hammle gave in. “First of all, then,” said Vance, without relaxing his stern gaze, "when Miss Graem left the room, ostensibly to answer a telephone call, did you notice exactly where she went?" “Not exactly," Hammle returned; "but she turned to the left, toward the den. You understand, of course, that it was impossible for me to see very far down the hall, even from where I sat." "Oulte" Vance I thjak bis name la wewt by door, carrying a coat over hie a A little later—two or three 1 should say—Zalia Graem and the nurse passed each other in the pas sageway. Zalia going toward the stairs, and the nurse toward the study. A couple of minutes after that Floyd Garden passed the door on his way to the study again—" “Just a minute," Vance interrupt ed. “You didn’t see the nurse re turn downstairs after she passed Miss Graem in the passageway?" Hammle shook his head emphat ically. “No. Absolutely not." Vance took another deep puff on his cigarette. “One more thing, Mr. Hammle; while you were out* there in the garden, did anyone come out on the roof from the terrace gate?" “Absolutely not. I didn’t see any body at all on the roof." “And when Garden had returned downstairs, what then?" “I saw you come to the window and look out into the garden. I was afraid I might be seen, and the minute you turned away I went over to the far corner of the garden, by the gate. The neat thing | knew. to be pushing Floyd away from him. and then he disappeared down the hall toward the stairs. Floyd stood outside the dining-room door for several minutes, looking after his cousin, and then went down the hall affer him; but he must have changed his mind, for he came back into the drawing-room in short or der." "And you saw no one else in the hall?" "No. No one else.” "Very good." Vance took a deep inhalation on his cigarette. "And now let’s go to the roof-garden, fig uratively speaking. You were in the garden, waiting for a train, when the nurse was almost suffo cated with bromin gas in the vault. The door into the passage way was open, and if you had been looking in the direction you could easily have seen who passed up and down the corridor." Vance looked at the man significantly. "And I have a feelin’ you were looking through that door, Mr. Hammle. Your reaction of astonishment when we came out on the roof was a bit overdone. And you couldn’t have seen much of the city from where you had been standing, don’t y’ know.” Hammle cleared his throat and grinned. "You have me there, Vance." he admitted with familiar good-humor. “Since I couldn't make my train. I thought I'd satisfy my curiosity and stick st'ipped hesitantly in the doorway, looking uncertainly at Vance. "Did you want me too?" she asked diffidently. "I think it might be best. Miss Beeton,” said Vance. "We may need your help." At that moment the front door bell rang, and Burke ushered Doc tor Siefert into the den. "I just got your message, Mr. Vance, and came right over." He looked about the room questioning- ly. "I thought you might care to be present," Vance said, "in case we can reach some conclusion about the situation here. I know you are personally interested. Otherwise I wouldn’t have telephoned you." "I’m glad you did," said Siefert blandly, and walked across to a chair before the desk. Vance lighted a cigarette with slow deliberation, his eyes moving aimlessly about the room. There was a tension over the assembled group. 1 The taut silence was broken by Vance’s voice. He spoke casually, but with a curious emphasis. "I have asked you all to come here this afternoon in the hope that we could clear up the very tragic situation that exists." He was interrupted by the startling sound of a shot ominously like that of the day before. Every one in the room stood up quickly, aghast at the sudden detonation. Everyone except Vance. And be fore anyone could speak, bis calm authoritative voice was saying: Pattern 5800 to be done in contrasting ma terial. Cut flowers for applique from colorful scraps. In pattern 5800 you will find a transfer pat tern of the apron with the motif 7Mi by 9Mi inches (including pocket) correctly placed, a motif 4 by 4Vk inches and applique pattern Foreign Words ^ and Phrases 9 Vous etee bien innocent de croire a pareils cootea. (F.) You are very simple to believe such to The Arts Dept.. S80 W Fourteenth St. New York, N. Y, Please write your name, ad dress and pattern number plainly. Appreciation of Beauty Appreciation of beauty is not confined to the rich nor to the highly educated. It is possess^! by all, in some degree, and the presentation of beauty should be such that it can be appreciated by all, not the select few.—J. Cooney. Young-Looking Ski* mt IS—Now o ftoalltr for Womaal Now a wodora akia crawa nogs; *nd tooluninat* u*ly headt, freckle*. Aek for Go Id eo Peacock ■leac® Dept. H-315, Park, Tana. 0 a tea If jrowx dealer cannot supply row. Dead 20c with yoor dealer's name for a Trial Package of 4i genuine Pe-Ko jar Rings; seal prepaid. [fejt Rnbber Company !~7 CHEW LONG BILL NAVY TOBACCO Me RCHANDI8E BUY muat be good to be ADVERTISED GOODS ^JOVS GLOOMS Is me as If M | darad why upstairs." Vanes returned har gaze Ijr "No. It must ha vs sounded much closer to you,” ha said. “But why didn’t you mention that important fact yesterday when I talked with you about the crime?" "I— don’t know," the girl stam mered. "When I saw Woody dead up there, I naturally thought I’d been mistaken." “But you couldn’t have been mis taken," returned Vance, half under his breath. "And after the revolver had been fired yesterday from a downstairs window, it was surrep titiously placed in the pocket of Miss Beeton’s top-coat in the hall closet. Had it been fired from up stairs it could have been hidden to far better advantage somewhere on the roof or in the study." He turned again to the girl. "By the by, Miss Graem, didn’t you go to that closet after answering your telephone call hers in the den?" The girl gasped. "How—how did you know?" "You were sees there." explained Vanes. The girl turned heck le Vance i SS*******