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The House of Whispers mLA WILLAM' JOHNSTON fllustratons by IRWIN MYERS Copyright, by Littlo, brown & Co. (Continued Froni Page one.) else Would it be ilig it?" "Oh, bosh !" I excilined. I was well enough acqiainted with the upersg. tions of the Irish to understand who she meant by "the little people." It's the habit of the old crones from the Enerald Isle to attribute anything they cannot tinderstand to fairies. "You may laugh," she retorted indig nantly, "but I heard them, I tell ye." "Where did you hear them, these footsteps?" "Coming right out of the wall, here in this room, and in the kitchen, be yond." "It was probably somebody in an other apartment you hear(." "It was not. The floors do be dead. ened like, and it's nothing at all you can hear. It was somebody walking soft-like right there in the wall at me back." "Well." I announced, "if there is' anything like thnt going on, I am go Ing to stay here until I hear it. I want to make sure 110 one cai come into the apartmnent but myself, so I am going to ask you to give ine your key. I'll he home here all the morn Ing, so I can let you in wien you ring." "It's ie key you're wantinig, is it?" Sie prodceed it from a pocket of her gown and linided it over, first unknotting it fromt a corner of her ker-lief where she had tied it for safe keepinig. "And indeed if It's ineself you're not trusting with a key after Mrs. Gaston letting me have it for these ten years back, it's your own bed( you can lie making. I'll not ho coining near the place again." In flie indignation she flounced out in the place. To tell the truth I vas lot sorry that site haid announced her tecislop not to return. While my im pression of her was iat sie was a simple-minded old woman of utt- mont honesty, I was just as well satisfied that no Otte but imyself should have entry to the apartmnent until I had finished my investigations and had made further progress in solving the Kysteries that were so rapidly devel "'t once more to myself, I sat down tem y great-uncle's (10sk and made o it a list of questions that must be answered: 1. Where was Ruifus Gaiston? Had tile old gentlenin really gone away or was he it hiding in the huilding? 2. Who iad remottived the Gaston penrls fromi the wall safe? It must be0 someone1 wh'io knew~i the~ comibina tion. 3. Who had written the nxoto I found on1 the floor'01 of my iWbroom? I low andic when'f ha~d it beenl pineed oin thxe floor thteie? 4. W\ho were the personsx wh'lo wvere tryintg Lo biackmtali the faminily3 next door? 5. 1 low had the anionymouis notes been dl'Iiveed on Ithe iiloi' of' ltarbar Brad ford's room11? (Evidetly thle wr'ti t'r wats t he same ilCs in my caise.) 6. Was there aninlimg in the last reixtions of Mr'. liraord ndu miy gret'tI-ttncle thait woutld causte imy grent -ile (to nlot na~Ztilost tile lttrnd 7. How were the mysterious sounds heard both by my great-uncle, by Bar bara Bradford, and by myself to be 'accounted for? 8. How were the mysterious foot steps heard by ,Mrs. Burke to be ex plained? Were they merely the in aglitlngs of a superstitious old woman? The relations between Mr. IBradford and Rufus Gaston puzzled me. Miss Bradford's recollection of her father's remark about my great-uncle certainly indicAted that he held no'high opinion of him. My grent-uncle's octions throughout had been peculiar. His Addenly sending for me and insisting on my qsming here to live, his Insist exae oe Waving his wife's jewels in my ebee, and on entrusting mie with the combination of the safe, all now took on a sinister aspect. It certainly wias peculiar that he had gone off without leaving ie any nlddress where lie could be reached. Then, too, there was my own unex pected anid unwarranted discharge at my place of business. I was positive in some way it was connected With my having come to this ploee to live. 1iad my grent-uncle himself brought It about for the purpose of discrediting me? Was it the work of the black mailers to get square with me for hav Ing necIdentally butted in on tihe meeting they had arranged with Miss lelzadford? The scar-faced man I Who was he? I was certain that lie was in some way involved. It might have been he who had caused me to lose my job. Cer tainly the malevolent glance -he had given me in the restaurant that night showed that he would have wrought ie harm if lie could. The next time I laid eyes on him I was determined to trail him vith bulldog tenacity un, til I ascertained his identity nnd where he lived. I felt sure that the trail of the inystery would lead to his door. I deelded not to leave the apartment all (lay. I had 1pld In a plentiful sup ply of food the day before so there was no necessity for moy going out. There wias plenty of work for me to do. I nust try to devise some way of examinng the safe door and the jewel box that remained for evidence of fingerprints, and I miust Inspect the 1)1111(11bui- both from wvithin ad withont to .9eo if I could learn how the notes were delivered. Fromn one of the toilet tables I oh tained somne flne pow(ler and opening the wall safe again I took out the jewel box and carefully ilusted It over with the powder. I hoped that the wvder would reveal markings of jands on the box, but either I'wns too 6experienced or my method was wrong, for I succeeded In Obtaining no sort of result, beyond findlig out what my own Ilngerprints looked like on a sheet of paper preparedi with some home-made lampblack. After an hour or two of experinentation I gave it ump as a bad job, and turned to the I study of methods by which the notes might have been delivereu. "The Gaston apartment was on the slktl floor of the buildIng, which was surroulnded by ordinary three and four-story dwelling houses. It -mist have been someone In lie building, If not in the apietiment itselAf. 'tw be (ite lpossible for soime'one on the floor above to have projected (te notes through mlly Window and that of Mlsn liradford by iatteheing them to tle end of a long atick. I iade up iy inid to ascertaln who occupied th' TPhei' i mystery' of then whiisp er's dI idi not sei'm to be oif suich i'asy siltionii. Wh Cile iShdb nlne tfrtt the cinc(idence ofi~t( .\!)s' lirii' or011 !, ndo tilin condviedii llthat it wsii some I sat by my 'viadwi waiting for' 11:ar of the wnindow a we rewarded 'ij seeing hers appear at the same mo ment. "We must not talk long," 3he warned me. "Someone might see us. Have you learned anything now"" , "Yes," I whistIered. "In my uncle's diary I found several entries about the whilaere." . . "Ilow strange I" she exclaimed, "Where is Mr. Gaston?" "I don't know." '.i" f ;::'/ r "That's funn.y." "It's more than that. It is decided 'Iodd that he left no *word where he uld be reached." "I don't blame him," she almost Ibed. "I wish we could all get away I somewhere, away from It all.' "Don't worry. Everything we find out will help discover the plotters. Tell me from what part of your rooin did the sounds come." "Always from the same place, UP in the corner, near the celling." "I thought so." I answered. "That's where they cane from in my room. That shows it is just some mechanical trick they are using in the hope of ter rifying us. Do you know who lives on the floor above?" "I haven't the slightest idea. Do you suspect them?" "I suspect everybody until this mys tery is solved," I replied almost sav agely. "Not so loud, they may hear you. Have you learned anything else?" "No, nothing. I questioned old Airs. Burke, Mrs. Gaston's laundress. She knew nothing, although she insisted that she had often heard footsteps when there was no one In the apart ment. Of course it is only her mag ination." "I'm not so sure," Milss Bradford wilspered. "I've henrd them, too. They seemed to come right out of the wall." "Why," I exclaimed in nmaizeiment, "that's Jtust how she deselhed them." "Often, too, when I get Il) inI the morning I have a s(raine feeling that there nns1;t have heel soieone ini my room wvhile I was nisteep." "llow strang"' !" I ittI ered. more to mtyself tha (o i her. "I wmnder if It could be iainyie valklii. in I thir sleep." " iYutunai"--she iesitated-"my sister?" "I doii't minian anyone," I hastened to say. "I was only thinling iloid. wonidering if it could he a possible ex phanation. I have heard of innocent persons doing all sorts of things un tier hyiolic intlience." "I've read of that, too." she said so herly, "i wonder-" She left the sentence unfinished, but I felt that the same thought had flash ed into her mind as into iine. Was it Possible that the unserupulous French man who had wrouged her sister years ago had in Some i way recently gained nn interview with her and had gotteni her once m'ore into his power? Could tmind Claire Bradford herself had tak en away the papers concerning the an nulment of her marriage and wvas plac Ing -the notes in the blackmali !o1 ? "Look here," I sail deterum1'iedly. "we've !,tit !1) see (1eh other Some whero tomorrow nnld talk this over. Wihere ClN we 1eet ?" "I'm afraid I 'aen't mannge it to morrow. I'm husy with my motler and sister 1111 diy o1n''i g. 'TeI'shayler haps. But we inisth't talk h're lmg ''GhodIi iht ,''" 011nled 'ofily hbmt her heaid had beeni ailr'eady wVitihi'ynwn, so qul tha t I larelly knewtt wh- ther' sh'e heard '(l ua. As I was abiout re~ady fori hed I r'ealleud -that I lhnd sp'ent, mollst of the miioney I ha 11my pock I ts, so I vlsi te. thle b,,ook ase whereu' I haid se4ret ed 1ny honard and taking ott ai twenlty-dllar~ bill, wr'aipedl it abiout the thr'ee onel-dhollar' bllis 1 had left andi put thle r"ol in my1' troutsers ipocket. The next mnornming., as I waus dress \. I I Gazed at it Horror-Stricken. ing, I haplpened to drlawt forthI liy tnoney'. I ga"zed n t it hiorr'or-stri'cen. I distinelly13 reen iclled hving wtrnpped the twent y-dlilart'111 bil aout thle three45 smnaller' illIs. NOW (one ofi the dollar lills wats onl the outtslide. Tiher'e before me was inisiptable evidence that someonne hadl bieen In m~y roomi wlile I slpt. 51omeone11 had gn miy moneyiP3. Someone1I( hm:i1 1411 thle itol lari biill On tihe outile' oi~ f the4 roll. Wh'lo had11 don14 it? Ilo hadt t111Ihey (To he c0o11111 ed. Celdsi Cause Girip and influenza L AXATIVE BROMO QULNINEF Tablets removeo the cause. Thoro is only one "Biromo Qulinn." E.W. OROVE'S sidnatnra on bor- Sac. NO FUND FOl HOOVERI. New York, 'May 6.--Herbert Hoov er, candidate for Republican presi dential nomination In a statemnent is sued here tonight, declared his atti tude toward 'the nomination was not changed by the California primaries and that he will not organize a cam paign nor have my sopporters raise a great campaign fund and then mort gage my soul in advance in order to attain that election. 'I ielieve thait the people have a right to elcet their President without having some one put over on them," he said. "I have certain definite idea: regarding economic, social and Inter national problems. I believe that the') ideas are, in inany ways, iII lc Cord with the ideas of the great m1a Jority of American citizens. "I can only repeat what I havO said before," i1e added, "and that Is that I have never had any i)Qrsonal ambition In this thing.. Aly interest is only that of any other citizen Who waits to see the goverInllen t reflect the spirit of its people." to figure why Camels sell! You should know why Camels are so unusual, so refreshing, so satisfying. First, quality-second, Camels expert blend of choice Turkish, and choice Domestic tobaccos which you'll certainly prefer to either kinc smoked straight I Camels blend makes possible that wonderful mellow mildness-yet all the desirable body is there I And, Camels never tire your tasteI You'll' appreciate Camels freedom from any unpleasant cigaretty after taste or unoleasant cigaretty odor I For your own satisfaction compare Camels puff by puff with any ciga rette in the world at any price! H 'DOME.7C Camelo aro sold overywhere in scientifically sealed packages of20 cigA BLEND rettos; or ten packages (200 cigarettes) in a in asino-pa per.covered C-10 A Rl X TrT X carton. We strongly recormend this carton for the homeo or offico aupply or when you travel. R, J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO., Winston-Salem, N. C lUare1.rikW We bcg to annraounce that vv re V V our new quarters in the Hicks stab e . in rear of the post office. Visit us here. Oni Cash Basis Starting May 1st, we went on a sarctfly cash basis for Parts, Repairs, Tires and Ac.. cessories. No Exception Meet Us at the Chautaue'ua "sTUDEAKF P ,,MANO' We are boosting the Laurens Chautauqua May 17 to 24 MUSIC *. FUN .'. LECTURES Wholesome and Educating Buy Season Tickets and Save Money MEET US WITH A SMILE., CITY VULCANIZING STATION