The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, May 12, 1920, Image 13
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
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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
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