Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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iml k » • ^ M » Thursday, November 12, 1931 McCORMICK MESSENGER, McCORMICK, SOUTH CAROLINA PAGE NUMBER THREfl IGHT v- MARY ROBERTS RINEHART * ▼ » _ _ _ _ s i AAAr%\* r»s\nenTC Dikip^iadt / SYNOPSIS Nix people, Horace Johnson Mvho tolls the story), his wife, ••M IVIrN. Dane, Herbert Rob- iMMon ami his sister, Alice, and Hr, ftperry, friends and neigh- Immx, are In the habit of hold- lug weekly meetings. At one lu them, Mrs. Dane, who is hoxteMN, varies the program by utiexpectedly arranging a spir it ualihtlc seance with Miss Jeremy, a friend of Dr. Sperry anil not a professional, as the medium. At the first sitting the medi um tells the details of a mur der us It is occurring. Later • hat night Sherry learns that a m iMitmr, Arthur Wells, has I-•e»i shot mysteriously. With Johtisou he goes to the Wells * ' MUeiicr and they find con- Hnuatldn of the medium’s ac- Mumt, Mrs. Wells tells them her husband shot himself in a lit of depression. At u second seance. Miss Jeremy adds details about a summer resort where Charles * hitigham was known to have been at the same time that Mra Wells was th re. She also • peaks of a pocketbook being lost which contained some im- uortar t car tickets and letters. Afrw. Dane, alone of the women, se'*fnj» thrilled by the investiga tion. Johnson goes alone and in vestigates the deserted house. Ho is frightened by strange noises, as of an intruder in the house, but completes his in vestigation. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY SEVENTH INSTALMENT I know, as it happens, very little of firearms, but I did realize that a shot from a .45 Colt automatic would have considerable penetra tive power. To be exact, that the bullet had probably either lodged Itself in a joist, or had penetrated through the flooring and might be somewhere over my head. But my candle was inadequate lor more than the most superficial examination of the ceiling, which presented so far as I could see an unbroken surface. I turned ifty attention, therefore, to the floor. It was when I was turning the rug back that I recognized the orgin of the sound which had so startled me. It had been the soft move ment of the carpet across the floor parrels. Some one, then, had foeen there before me—some one who knew -what I knew, had reasoned as I reasoned. Some one who, in all probability, still lurked on the up per floor. Obeying an impulse, I stood erect and called out sharply, “Sperry” I said. “Sperry.” There was no answer. I tried a^ain, calling Herbert. But only my r.wn voice came back to me, and the whistling of the wind through the windows I had opened. fears, never long in abey ance that night, roused again. I had instantly a conviction that XVCM human figure, sinister and dahOfeTous, was lurking in the Shadow* of that empty floor, and I remember backing away from the and standing in the center of t's/m prepared for some steal- ihy, VkUfderous assault. When none I looked about for a weapon, finally took the only thing in *//al-tong$ from the fireplace. k'VjrS. with that, I made a cursory 'V~vJ of the near-by rooms but was no one hiding in them. I went back to the rug and ex- caxuhjiA the floor beneath it. I was home one had been there me. Bits of splintered wood aV/ut, The second bullet had fired, had buried itself in the i .wr yob had, some five minutes before been dug out. Ti-e extraordinary thing about /a Arthur Wells story was not his Jaiiin#. For killing it was. It was the way a was oolved. Here was a young woman, Miss Jeremy who had not known young Wells, had not known his wife but uriui that first meeting at Mrs. ■Dane's, never met any member of the Nelghborhod Club. Yet, but for her, Arthur Wells would have gone to his grave bearing the stigma of moral cowardice, Qf suicide. The solution, when'it came, was amazing, but remarkably simple. Lake most mysteries. I have in my own house, for Instance, an ex ample of a great mystery* founded on mere absentmindedness. This is what my wife terms the mystery of the fire-tongs. ' I had left the Wells house as .soon as I toad made the discovery in the night nursery. I carried the fA candle and v the fire-tongs down- j when I told my story to Sperry stairs. I was apparently, calm that afternoon, but watchful. I would have said “You see how it is,” I finished, that I had never been more calm “You can stay out of this, or in my life. I knew quite well that come, in, Sperry, but I cannot stop I had the fire-tongs in my hand. | now. He was murdered beyond a Just when I ceased to be cogniz- doubt, and there is an intelligent ant of them was probably when, on effort being made to eliminate ev entering the library, I found that ery particle of evidence.” my overcoat had disappeared, and He nodded. that my stiff hat, badly broken, lay “It looks like it. And this man on the floor. However, as I say, j who was there last night ” I was still extraordinarily compos- “Why a man?” ed. I picked up my hat, and mov- “He took your overcoat, instead ing to the rear door, went out and of his own, didn’t he? It may have closed it. When I reached the been —it’s curious, isn’t it, that street, however, I bad only gone a we’ve had no suggestions of Elling- few yards when I discovered that ham in all the rest of che material.” I was still' carrying the lighted j Like the other members of the candle, and that a man, passing by,) Neighborhood Club, he had a copy had stopped and was staring after of the proceedings at the two ^ie. seances, and now he brought them My composure is shown by the out and fell to studyig them, fact that I dropped the candle “She was right about the bullet down the next sewer opening, but in the ceiling,” he reflected. “I the fact remains that I carried the suppose yoiV didn’t look for the box fire-tongs home. I do not recall of shells for the revolver?” doing so. In fact, I knew noth ing of the matter until morning. On the way to my house I was elabor ating a story to the effect that my overcoat had been stolen from a e: aurant where I and my client ’"ud dined. The hat offered more serious difficulties. I fancied that, oy kissing my wife good-by at the breakfast table, I might be able to get out without her following me -o the front door, which is her cus tom. But, as a matter of fact, I need not have concerned myself about the hat. When I descended to breakfast the next morning I found her surveying the umbrella-stand in the hall. The fire-tongs were standing there, gleaming, among my sticks and umbrellas. I lied. I lied shamelessly. She is a nervous woman, and, we have no children, her attitude toward me is one of watchful waiting. Through long years she has expect ed me to commit some indiscretion —innocent, of course, such as go ing out without my overcoat on a cool day—and she intends to be on hand for every emergency. I dar ed not confess, therefore, that on the orevious evening I had burglar iously entered a closed houuse, had there surprised another intruder at work, had fallen and bumped my head severely, and had, finally, had my overcoat taken. “Horace,” she said coldly, “where did you get those fire-tongs?” “Fire-tongs?” I repeated. “Why, that’s so. They are fire-tongs.” “I am not a curious woman,” she put in incisively, “but when my husband spends an evening out, and returns minus his overcoat, v/ith his hat mashed, a liunp the size of an egg over his ear, and puts a pair of fire-tongs in the um brella stand under the impression that it is an umbrella, I have a right to ask at least if he intends to continue his life of debauch ery.” I made a mistake then. I should have told her. Instead, I took my broken hat and jammed it on my head with a' force that made die my “I meant to, but it slipped mind.” He shuffled the loose,pages of the record. “Cane—washed aw r ay by the water—a knee that is hurt —the curtain would have been safer—Hawkins—the drawing-room furniture is all over the house. That last, Horace isn’t pertinent. It refers clearly to the room we were in. Of course, the point is, how much of the rest is also extrane ous matter?” He re-read one of the sheets. “Of course that be longs, about Hawkins. And probab ly this: “It will be terrible if the letters are found.” They were in the pocket book, presumably.” He folded up the papers and re placed them in a drawer. “We’d better go back to the house,” he said. “Whoever took your overcoat by mistake probably left one. The difficulty is, of course, that he probably discov ered his error and went back again last night. Confound it, man, if you had thought of that at the time, we would have something to go on today.” “If I had thought of a number of things, I’d have stayed out of the place altogether,” I retorted tartly. “I wish you could help me about the fire-tongs, Sperry. I don’t seem able to think of any ex planation that Mrs. Johnson would be willing to accept.” “Tell her the truth.” “I don’t think you understand,” I explained. “She simply wouldn’t believe it. And if she did I should have to agree to drop the investiga tion. As a matter of fact, Sperry, I had resorted to subterfuge in order to remain out last evening and I am bitterly regretting my mendacity.” But Sperry has, I am afraid, rather lose ideas. “Every man,” he said, “would rather tell the truth, but every wo man makes it necessary to lie to her. Forget the fire-tongs, Hor ace ,and forget Mrs. Johnson to night. He may not have dared to go back in daylight for his over coat.” Yther city that afternoon and did lot return for two days. It was, it will be recalled, on the Thursday night following the sec ond sitting that I had gone alone to the Wells house, and my inter view with Sperry was on Friday. It was on Friday afternoon that I received a telephone message from Mrs. Dane, asking me to take tea with her. “At what time?” I asked her sec retary. “At four o’clock.” I hesitated. I felt that my wife was waiting at home for further explanation of the coal-tongs, and that the sooner we had it out the better. But, on the other hand, Mrs. Dane’s invitations, by reason of her infirmity, took on some thing of the nature of commands. “Please say that I will be there at four,” I replied. I bought a new hat that after noon, and told the clerk to destroy the old one. Then I went to Mrs. Dane’s. / She was in the drawing-room, plainly excited. Never have I known a woman who, confined to a wheel-chair, lived so hard. She did not allow life to pass her win- dov/s, if I may put it that way. She called it in, and set it moving about her chair, herself the nucleus around which were enacted all sorts of small neighborhood dram as and romances. Her secretaries did not marry. She married them. It is curious to look back and remember how r Herbert and Sper ry and myself had ignored this quality in her, in the Wells case. She was not to be ignored, as I dis covered that afternoon. “Sit down,” she said. “You look half sick, Horace.” Nothing escapes her eyes, so I was careful to place myselh with the lump on my head turned away from her. But I fancy she saw it, for her eyes twinkled. “Horace, Horace!” she said. “How I have detested you all week!” “I? You detested me?” “Loathed you,” she said with unction. “You are cruel and un grateful. Herbert has influenza, and does not count. And Sperry is in love—oh yes, I know it. I know a great many things. But you!” I could only stare at her. “The strange thing is,” she went Vt-ftY MARStlALL Dresses this season must be be- ! coming. That is absolutely essen- ; tial because the time has passed when onfc might choose a dress that was up to date and smart and let it go at that. To be sure we like to have our dresses reflect the recent fashion trends and most of us insist on smartness. But re member this—a dress cannot really > reflect the new smartness unless it is becoming. Whether you buy it ready made or make it at home yourself your new dress must have that look of individuual adaptation characteristic of the dressmaker dress that has been designed ex- -r on, “that I have known you for years, and never suspected your sense of humor. You’ll forgive me, I know, if I tell you that your lack of humor was to my mind the only flaw in an otherwise perfect char acter.” (TO BE CONTINUED.) fc 4 *! i I ■oo\ o o\ pressly to suit the individuality of the woman who wears it. Collars and sleeves focus our at tention this season and the design of these two features of a dress has much to do with its becoming ness. Collars are not always cut higher at the front but there is a tendency to fit them more carefully at the side and back. Many of the new dresses for autumn and winter are finished with a narrow band of fur at the neckline. Some of the f>. new dresses are finished with flat tering wide revers. Others show a new modified cowl neckline. Some- times the touch of lingerie takes the form of a lace modesty piece at the point of a deep V-neck line. More often the touch of lingerie consists of a collar made of lace or satin or chiffon. The one shown in the sketch is of white satin or organdie. Mfi illlilfl m R How to train BABY’S BOWELS Babies, bottle-fed or breast-fed, with any tendency to be constipated, would thrive if they received daily, half a teaspoonful of this old family doctors prescription for the bowels. That is one sure way to train tiny bowels tc healthy regularity. To avoid the fretfulness, vomiting, crying, failure to gain, and other ills of constipated babies. Dr. Caldwells’ Syrup Pepsin is good for any baby. For this, you have the word of a famous doctor. Forty-seven years of practice taught him just what babies need to keep their little bowels active, regular; keep little bodies plump and healthy. For Dr. Caldwell specialized in the treatment of women and little ones. He attended over 3500 births with out loss of one mother or baby. Starting out as we did with much talk about the second Empire per iod as an influence in present-day dress, it is decidedly interesting to see that we have arrived at a some what later period. Second Empire, as you know, means Empress Eu genie and the years before 1870 when she shared the throne of Im perial France with Napoleon III. It means hooped skirts, drooping shoulders, and all the other fash- ipns that we associate with our own Civil War epoch. But now the period that seems to have most influence, at least so far as dresses are concerned, is the period of the 1880’s, when the sil houette was as slender in its own way as it is today. There is qff course no real danger of a revival of bustles, but on evening dresses there are puffs that strongly sug gest the 1880 bustle, and afternoon dresses are frequently finished with tied sash ends of a bustle sort. Very frequently the sash ends are attached to the dress at thte front so that while they are drawn back they also draw back the dress, lift ing it slightly upward toward the back, and producing the effect of flatness at the front of the waist that seems so desirable at present. Possibly you may not like this new silhouette, but usually.it is aiL a matter of acquaintance. Once you become familiar with the un doubted charm and supple grace of dresses of this 1880 type, you will find them most attractive. Cloth-covered buttons are , used much this year for trimming. TXT f WmZm. IA ••y.wxi A man had stopped and was staring at me. lump she had noticed jump like a toothache, and went out. When, at noon and luncheon, I tried to tell her the truth, she listened to the end: Then: “I should think you could have done better than that,” she said: “You .have had all morning to think it out.’* However, if things were in a state of armed neutrality at home, I had a certain compensation for them “Very well,” I agreed. But it was not very well, and I knew it. I felt that, in a way my whole domestic happiness was at stake. My wife is a difficult per son to argue with. She is just as tenacious of an opinion once formed as are all very amiable people. However, unfortun ately for our investigation, but luckily for me, under the circum- w , rib , 00 # „ stances. Sperry was called to an- «program. P ° regu ar farm Dr. W. B. Caldwell's SYRUP PEPSIM A Doctor's Family Laxative Buttermilk contains most of the vitamins B and C present in whole milk, but since the butterfat has been almost entirely removed, vit amins A and D, which are soluble in fat, will be limited in amount, depending on how much butterfat remains. The buttermilk is valu- able as a food in spite of this lack, but when it is necessary to include larger amounts of vitamins A and D in the diet, whole milk should be used. — txt Better methods of soil building and intensive soil cultivation have diminished the need for clearing up new lands for crop production. This favors -the growing timber as a crop on the less fertile or more brolcqn parts of the farm, and ;(! ; t AT] BV ERNEST CAMP J® A $4,000 Pane— A few weeks ago, an automobile tire acted as a slung shot, throw’- ing a stone through a window pane, thirteen and one-half by seventeen feet belonging to Altman’s de partment store. The huge window went out of business, pronto. ; The entire country was combed for a duplicate, without result. Cables to Europe uncovered a plate of the right size in the warehouse of the Union Commerciale des Glaceries in Belgium. It was or dered rushed to New York by the Belgenland. Eighteen men, specially trained in the art of handling glass, watch ed while the huge pane was swung out of the hold of the Belgenland over the special truck waiting on the pier to transport the glass to Altman’s. Just as the crane hov ered over the truck with its $4,000 burden, a chain slipped. Altman’s spent a lot more money on special cables. Socialist Cafeteria— There’s an expatriated Russian, in this town who is a craftsman in wonderful furniture. He sells to Mrs. Payne Whitney and others who do not have to look at ttoe- price tag. Few of those who deal with him know whether he is for or against the Soviet. The other day, however, we hap pened to drop in on him around the lunch hour and he invted us to his own particular Sovietized cafeteria located on East 46th Street. He explained to us that it was dif ferent. That it catered largely v;o the “middle-class.” It was a revelation. The food was better prepared, of greater variety and the prices were about the same as at most cafeterias above the level of the “one-armed” food places. Most of the patrons had a distinctly artistic look, like painters and artists. One novel feature of the place was the fact that the customers picked up their trays and litter af- ,ter eating and carried them to a shelf oehind which dish-washers were busy. Just one more step in self-service. Run on Co-Operative Plan— The socialist cafeteria, we found, is owned by the diners themselves. They pay their checks in the regu lar way, except that they write their number on it. At the end of the year the profits are distributed among the owners in proportion to the amount of patronage they have given the place. Business Men— One of the most successful of the street beggars here is a certain blind man. For months he has been accompanied by a friendly little Boston bull dog. A certain- appealing look in the dog’s eyes- won many a dime. Lately, however, the blind man. found a wonderfully productive stand on steps leading down to the subway. The crowds were herded close to him and many of those forced to jostle him felt obliged to drop something in his hat. The dog was hidden by the crowd and became more of an as^et than, a liability. He ceased to earn a profit ov er his keep. Just recently we saw a legless man on the street, begging from passers-by. With him was the blind man’s dog. Appar ently a sale had been effected. v A \ r' M.