The Circular Staircase

n, leaving me staring at the window in petrified amazement. Liddy began t

mstrongs'. Get up and help me find the door." She groaned again.

d a creepy feeling that each one sheltered a peering face. In fact, in the light of what happened afterward, I am pretty certain we were under surveillance during the entire ghostly evening. We hurried over the rest of the

begged. "If you don't, I'll sit in the hall outside th

ence whether they are shut or open. But you may stay in the dressing-ro

e she came to the door and looked in to where I was co

" she said, with her shoes in her

uraged her without looking up,

the transom did not catch, I put a chair cautiously before the door-it was not necessary to rouse Liddy-and climbing up put on the ledge of the

y coming in and peering under the bed. She was afraid to speak, however, because

believe it is customary to fee the company, which will drink hot coffee and keep awake a couple of hours longer. But the lights were gone for good that night. Liddy had gone to sleep, as I knew she would. She was a very unreliable person:

main one-the plan was simplicity itself. And just as I got back into bed, I heard a sound from the east wing, apparently, that made me stop, frozen, with one bedroom slipper half off, and listen. It was a rattling metallic sound

ke by silly alarms, then when she was needed she slept like Joe Jefferson, or Rip,-they are always th

you don't want to be

yelled vociferou

se," I said. "Get up. We'll

dy with. I listened, and, hearing nothing, opened the door a little and peered into the hall. It was a black void, full of terrible suggestion, and my candle only emphasized the gloom. Liddy squealed and drew me back again, and as the door slammed, the mirror I h

she wailed. "Oh, Miss Rachel,

grimly, "if you don't

until dawn, and arranging what trains we could take back to town. If w

across the valley, and an early robin or two hopped around in the dew. Not until the milk-boy and the sun came, about the same time, did I dare to open the door into the hall and look around. Everything was as we had left it. Trunks

er floor, opening shutters. I had to take Liddy to her room up-stairs, however,-she was quite sure she would fin

ot go back to

es magnify themselves at night, there was still no possibility that the picture had made the series of sounds I heard. To prove it, however, I dropped it again. It fell with a single muffled crash of its wooden frame, and incidentally

come from the east wing, and not without some qualms I began there. At first I found nothing. Since then I have developed my powers of observation, but at that time I was a novice. The small card-room seemed undisturbed. I looked

e step below it was a long fresh scratch. For three steps the scratch was repeated, gradually diminishing, as if some object had fallen, striking each one. Then for four steps no

a flight of steps. The four steps had been skipped. I reasoned that an iron bar, for instance, would do somethin

limbed might be assumed. But-and here was the thing that puzzled me most-the doors were all fastened that morning, the windows unmolested, an

, whatever it was, that had roused me. Two things I could not understand: how the intruder had escaped with everythin

er and repair; money had been spent lavishly on construction and plumbing. The house was full of conveniences, and I had no reason to repent my bar

ervants. The driver took them with a flourish to the servants' entranc

o make a special price. When they got off the train, I sez, sez I, 'There's another bunch for Sunnyside, cook, parlor maid and all

arrive that night at about eleven o'clock, coming in the car from Richfield. Things were looking up; and when Beulah, my cat, a most intelligent ani

ly I think she was worrying about the broken mirror and its augury, more than anything else. When

he said. "It must be Mr. Halsey's,

ff-button of unique design,

the bottom of th

plied. "It's a mercy it d

isted of a mother-of-pearl foundation, encrusted with tiny seed-pearls, strung on horsehair to hold them. In the center was a small ruby. The trinket was odd enoug

d I was glad enough to take her. She looked as though she might be equal to a dozen of Liddy, with her snapping