The Circular Staircase

he lay dead or dying at the foot of the chute. I got down the staircase somehow, and through the kitchen to the basement stairs. Mr. Jamieso

t, Miss Rachel. That Jamieson's down there now. There's only trouble comes of hunting ghosts; they le

ppearance. He ran up the stairs two at a

d," he said angrily. "Whe

cked, so nobody can get at the clothes, and then the key's left in the door? so

"come down with us and

took her by the arm, and she came along finally. She swi

she said sulkily.

r, well locked. And then he stooped and began punching around the keyhol

" he said in a low tone. "T

" gasped Liddy, a

'll have to clear this thing at once. Mr. Jamieson, if you will watch here I will go to the l

ows, of course, and there is nothing to prevent

e basement stairs," I suggested, "an

the steps and along the drive. Just at the corner I ran full tilt into somebody who seemed to be as much

Ray," she exclaimed,

d. "That is-unless-you didn't see any one crossin

ven't seen any one, except old Thomas, who looked for all the world as i

t for air, you'd better put on your overshoes." And then I noticed that Gertrude was li

t yourself,"

lained. "I thought perhaps I might see Ha

e entrance, but the iron gates, once closed and tended by the lodge-keeper, now stood permanently open. The day of the motor-car had come; no one had time for closed gates and

had fallen had been able to lock the laundry door on the inside. If the fugitive had come from outside the house, how did he get in? If it was some member of the household, who could

by this circumstance. Whoever had taken refuge at the head of the stairs could scarcely have been familiar with the house, or with the location of the chute. The mystery seemed to deepen constantl

m an upper room came wavering shadows, as if some one with a lamp was moving around. I had come almost silently in my evening slippers, and I had my second collision of the eve

my part. He faded away-this is not slang; he did-he absolutely disappeared in the dusk without my getting more than a

two or three poundings to bring Thomas to th

Warner?"

he's in b

goodness' sake open the door,

ly, and disclosing a cool and comfortable looking interior.

Thomas did not want m

om. I could hear Thomas going up the stairs, could hear him rouse Warner, and the steps

ng myself the question when Warner came running down the stairs and into the room. He was completely but somewhat incongruously dressed, and his open, boyish face looked abashed. He was a country boy, absolutely frank an

ss Innes?" he a

replied. "Mr. Jamieson wants you to help hi

by this time, and he

, "come back here.

n, but he did

Thomas," he said, an

guessed the use! However, I put the bag in the back of my mind, which was fast becoming s

tairs was double-barred, and had a table pushed against it; an

he house?" I asked, ignoring the array of sauc

t into her room, and found she had gone without her hat. People that trust themselves a dozen miles from the city, in str

basement. Oddly enough, I was not alarmed. With all my heart I wished for Halsey, but I was not frightened. At the door he was to force, Warner put down

ave an exclama

ound such careless wor

heaped-up basket of clothes under the chute. The basket had been overturned, but that was all. Mr. Jamieson examined the windows: one was unlocked, and offered an easy escape. The window or the door? Which way had the fugitive escape

the tea-pot is the refuge in times of stress, trouble or sickness: they give tea to the dying and they put it in the baby's

a pretty young girl, and perhaps she has a sweetheart. It will be a good thing if she

m, and while I was drinking my cu

nt to say this: The person who escaped from the laundry was a woman with a foot of moderate size and well arched.

trude's sprained ankle. Wa