The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, May 12, 1920, Image 9
VOLUME XXXV. LAURENS, SQUTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1920. NUMBER 43
Johns
(Continued from Last Week.)
CHAPTER V.
I was deternined to let the disap
pearance of the jewels elone until I
had found some way of getting tke
Bradfords out of their troubles. ~b
key to *!e mystery surely lay in *0
notes that had been found on the fve
to both apartments. If I could disceo
er how the notes had been put there
and who put them there, I would be
on the trail of the miscreants.
The placinr of the notes indicated
the necessity of a confederate in the
apurtilent house. Could it be hiat
one of the employees was in league
with the plotters? Was one of &V
Bradford servants betraying thea?
Was iy aged great-uncle in hidf
somewhere, playing malevolent prnak
on ts? How had that note gotten in
to my own apartment? Nobody had
access to the place but mnyself-yes,
and Mrs. Burke, my great-aunt's trust
ed old laundress. I determined to re
turn to the apartment and lie in wait
for her until she came in to do up
my room. In the week that I had
lived there I had not even laid eyes or
her, although each evening when I
cuae ill I iouni lmy imd nealy made.
While I awaited her arrival I busied
myself with studying anow the differ
ent rooms in the apartment, hoping
ever to find some new clue to the
- methods by which the anonymous
notes lhad been delivered.. I went to
the back of the house and looked out
of the rear windows. An ornamental
ledge of stone, perhaps eighteen inches
wide ruf along apparently on theievel
of the flooring. Any agile person
might easily have crept along it if
they dared risk falling six stories to
the ground, but there was no means of
access to it save from either my bed
room or the sitting room or from the
corresponlding roois in the Bradfor.d
tipartmet. Certainly no one from lily
apartment hlad been flipping mysterl
ous notes into the other apartment.
Could -the converse be true? Was
ther'' some uinaitlnneed personi in the
lrlndford family who was d(oing it?
(ould it I ono (if the serviants, or
po assibly Claire Bradford? She aiways
lad4 been flighty, iecording to lir sis
ter's deseri pt io. H1ad ler trolble
unhlinicted her to such alt extent thnt
Sie was playing miysterious hysterlea
pr -1ki oi all of us?
I sat dlowi at moy unmcle's desk. The
pigeoniholes eraoimmied full of paperg
caught my eye. Under ordinary Or
Under Ordinary Circumstances
Wouid Have Hesitated to Examir
Them, but Now I Felt No Scruples.
cuimstmances I would have hesit ated I
examine thema, but nowv I felt
serupIIles. Old Rufus had wa rned a
that there was some mnystery abol0
t ho plnce. The pearls had strange
disappeared. I faced the necusath
of hgiving stoalen themi. Suriely I wi
entitled to examine anything and e
orythinig In my efforts at solving ti
maystecry.
Pigeonhole after pigeonhole I extd1
inied without result until at last I enai
to a little leather-covered (diary.
read it with interest, noting that
was for the present year anid that il
last entry hadl been mande only the 1
before lhe had departed for Ma 1
About six weeks iprevious to .tho~ paa
ent date I found this amaini nts
"heard whispers last nighi
A week later there was another (
try- "Wlhisners again'." flho cot
The
[ouse
hispers
ton by
'"' . Irw i Mye tw
be no question as to wvhat he meant.
The ghostly noises that had been heard
by both Miss Bradford and myself had
been heard by him, too. No wonder
the old man had been so terrilled.
Other entries In the book recorded
hearing the whispers at intervals of
about one week.
I wondered which had been his bed
room. It was hardly likely that he
had occupied the room in which I
slept. As I debated the matter I
heard someone moving about my room
and went to investigate. It was Mrs.
Lilren. mnking n my bed. She would
know which room my great-uncle had
been accustomed to occupy.
As I entered the bedroom for the
purpose of cross-questioning her, my
first Impresson-and philosopers tell
us that the first Is most likely to be
the correct one-was of a simple-mind
ed, kindly old Irish woman of the ut
most honesty. I was certain 'ust by
looking at her that there wasn't a
crooked hair in her head, even if she
had had the intelligence necessary for
crimes beyond the ordinary.
"It's Mr. Nelson I'm seeing at last,"
she exclaimed with satisfaction. "I
was wondering when I would be lay
Ing eyes on ye."
"-Yes," said 1,"1 "I"Mr. NI'elson,
Mr. Gaston's great-nephew."
"Sure and I'd have knowed ye any
where. It's as like ye are as two peas,
barring the old gentleman's white
hairs."
Ifer statement rather startled me,
for while I never had regarded myself
as an Adonis, on the other hand I
nrver had supposed I looked anything
ike Old luftis. -
"Was this my great-uncle's pedroorn
whee 'hv wis here?" I asked, trying to
wake my inquiry seen casunl.
"It was and It wasn't." Mrs. Burke
replied. "Ie gets queer notions, the
ould gent lenan does. In the last few
weeks he's slept in every room in th
house."
"What made him do that?"
"It's not for me to be saying." Do
voutly sho crossed herself. "Some
"Sometimes I Do Be ThInking i
House Is Haunted."
times I (10 1)e thinkIng the' house
haunttted. Thle old manii was all tl
She heusitted and1( looked furtive
"'About whilipers," I su:.ge'st ed. I
stenid of repilyitng to miy question al
shot antotlher one11 at tie.
"Anid have ye been hearilng thei
too?"
e I laughed, trying to put a note
merriment Into my tones.
"I dlon't believe In things likec that
The old wvomian noddedl her lie:
sagely.
it "It ain't believing in themt thin
that makes you hear themi. Elthv
you hear thema or you don't. The (
nman heardl them."
"IHow (10 you know?"
"Didn't I hear him asking mese
about it? le hoard them, ma
times."
"How about the othiers-the sol
ants-did1 they hoar theml, too?"
it "They may have that. Niggerds
10alwvays hearing things anyhow. I
what tho whIte folk hea'r that count
S"How nhlout the other apartments
Sthe house? Do the people in the
Shear whispers?"
"N'evor that I've heard toll of, 1
,how should I know? ThIs is the o1
1placo in thep house that I work."
"Did Mrs. Gaston over speak to you
about it?"
"She did and she did not. Sho nev
er in so many words asked me If I
heard them. All she siys to me was,
'Nora, if ever you see or hear anything
strange or unusual here, you're to lot
me knowt at once,' And I says, 'Yis,
Mrs. Gaston, I will.'
"And have you ever seen or heard
anything?"
The old woman buised herself with
minklng up the bed for a moment be
fore she answered me.
"I'ml) not saying I've seen anythIng,"
sho began, "but there's tlugs I could
be telling if I was minded to open my
111)s."
"If you know anything," I said, "you
mnust tell ne. Mr. Gaiton put me hero
to fibd out what was wrong."
"There's no doubt there's wrong
here."
'What makes you say that? What
have you seeni? What do you know?"
"It's neither what I've seen nor
what I know." She nodded mysterl
ously. "IL's what I've been hearing
mnyself."#
"i1or heaven's sake, wonian," I cried,
losing patience, "what is it you'vo
hea rd ?"
"I've heard them walking," she an
nlotInCedI with mum air of truinph.
"Youi'veU ead who wal Iking?''
"TIhe little OOmtle, of course. Who
(Continued on Page Five. )
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