The Abandoned Room

s it lay, turned on its side, as if to inform them of the fashion of this murder. The tiny hole at the base of

ry hand to the bed-post and grasped it. His rumbling voice la

first time there's been blood fr

rine

There's only one answer to this. There must

gh filled the old room. It ceas

this man has been dead more than thirteen hours. Even a few insta

servants, must have overcome the locks again and deliberately d

Doctor Groom an

d to a large extent cont

een gossiping about the supernatural. When you first came you hinted dark th

d under the impulse of a sudden fright in this room. I also said, you remember, t

hed the det

dmitted yourself that the

detective faced him wit

ree he was

t that caused death. I want to know how, while Blackburn lay on his back,

e you dr

pointed to

ained from unusual wounds in the head. Being, as you call it, a tri

dge that sooner or later he would be arrested for

at you mea

ever heard of this house knows wh

herine had been frightened as children by the stories clustering about the old wing. They nodded from time to tim

t bed from a Revolutionary skirmish with a bullet at the base of his brain. For man

. He stood where you stand, detective, and blew his brains out. He fell over and lay where his son lies, his head on that pillow. Silas Blackburn was a money grubber. He started with nothing but this property, and he made a fortune, but even he had enough imagination to lock this room up after one more death of that kind. It was this girl's father. You were too young, Katherine, to remember it, but I took care

estless, as if he missed

e strolled t

interesting for old women and young chil

ld me how these doors were entered, how that wound was m

d at Bobby. His voic

ell you why the murderer came back t

nced that the doctor had ha

raham, Paredes, and he we

something to you, Bobby. Tell us carefully, Katherine

ng-drawn sigh. I tried to pay no attention. I fought it. I didn't call at first. But I couldn't keep quiet. I knew

one up here?

hink

said. "I was

ou doing?" G

Katherine's c

echoed. "And she d

. Bobby gras

you tryi

nk of that. I shouldn't have spoken. I'm more inclined t

ossible. After last night and just now I'm not so sure. I

smi

jury would listen

the doctor came from the corridor of the old win

d comfortable by the fire in t

il Graham, Paredes, the doctor, and Bobby were on the

He wanted Bobby out of the way while he searched his room again, this time for a sharp,

The doctor settled himself in his chair. He paid no attenti

his house I have responded to strange, unfriendly influe

e walls of the old house. He paused and gazed at one of the foot-prints in the soft earth by the fountain. Shreds of plaster adhered to the edges, testimony that the detective had made

e you lo

as on the library lou

lls

know what you face. But I hate to see you suffe

the windows of

round except the

ghed s

ation won't hold water. Paredes put his finger on it. I would

p, B

er you are active in your sleep, whether you are evil and ingenious

ked. "You must get this idea out of your head. You must have slee

Bobby said, "that I

d to the

stion. I was he

"your handkerchief and

ll me by sending me to the chair. And who would know his way around that dark house

"but we can't give in. By the way, has

r all, Paredes and he

d there," he answ

ver paid

never been exactly calculating about money. Whenever he wan

would be a motive in conserving that source, in increasing it. Probably lots of pe

nough to have got through those doors? And what about

iled

e or the ghosts

you now, tell me about it. Another thing, Bobby. We can't aff

oor and asked Docto

pass your confidences o

re natural a

peared, a slouch hat drawn l

a first-class place to catch cold. Dampest h

the effects of such drugs as could be given in wine.

lways filled him. He recited the story of last night's dinner, of his experience

mething may have b

saying you had a thing to do with it yourself, but I don't believe you were drugged. Any drug likely to be used in wine would probably have sent you into a deep sleep. And your symptoms on waking up are scarcely sharp enough. Sorry, boy. Sounds more like aphasia. The path you've been treadin

g about the case

tor grumbled. "Suggestions work in a

ing closer together. He glanced at the windows of t

n by Mr. Graham. You came here, no doubt, and stood around. With an automatic appreciation of your condition you may have taken that old precaution of convivial men return

ked, "you don't

probe everything. Whenever I go near Silas Blackburn's body I receive a very powerful impression that his de

aham and Bobby at the sound of an a

coroner at l

the court. A little wizened man, with yellowish skin stretche

rilly. "What you d

abolished," the doctor rumbled. "This is the dead man's gr

he coroner's han

whenever I go on a little holiday. I had got five ducks, gentlemen, when they came to me with that damned telegram. Bad business mine, 'cause

path, side by side

hook his head. "I don't want to. I'd rather s

ed from the court and started down a path tha

here, where the trees were particularly stunted, branches cu

stood last night, fancying the trees straining in the wind like puny men,

among the undergrowth. Ahead he saw a placid, flat, and faintly luminous stretch. He pushed through the bushes and paused on the shore of a lake, small and stagnant. Dead, strip

agnant lake, nor, he recalled, had the boys of the village fished or bathed there. Certainly he hadn't glimpsed it last night.

dusk without sound. He received, moreover, an impression of anger and haste as distinct as the bird had projec

he shape of a woman, clothed in black, detached itself from the shadow. T

that?" h

igs or rustling of dead leaves. If there had been a woman there she had fled noiselessly, yet, a

e thicket. He couldn't quiet, however, the feeling that he had had a glimpse of a woman

ght invaded the forest completely, making it impossible for him to search farther. It had grown so dark, indeed, that he found his way out with difficulty

discoloured glow diffusing itself thr

or. Paredes and Graham

not through ye

mmenced to pace the

ne would think she'd been through enou

laughed

obby, you'll need the powers of the p

t up the stairs. The two women who followed him, were in tears. They paused, as if seeking an excus

k hair and eyes suggested a no

Robert. He found out a

ou might think we'd mu

It was red and like an open wound as she deman

"Go on up and answer or the

hey followed Jenkins, and in the

irst. His face was

thed. "It's moved!

out his han

were this afternoon, and everything we've done,

as white as Jenkins. At an impatient nod from Bobby the three servants w

. There's no question about the rest of it. The man was clearly murdered with a sharp tool of some sort, and the murderer was in the room again this afternoon, and disturbed the corpse. Howells says he knows who. It's up to hi

owed the doctor with a growing curiosity. His level smile seemed to have

coroners we ought to

long squeak as an i

ve always believed you were an old fogy

fingers through his

was inserted through the bed while Blackburn lay on his back. And if you've t

squeak. He glanced at the

nder our noses is almost certainly the person

watched the docto

ly inter

struggled in

he squeaked. "Have your und

wered him

ranged. I've onl

Groom. His voice pointed it

take this hairy old theorist

owells continued to stare. The doctor checked himse

ou, old sawbones?"

e doctor sh

's in the

was thinner, more i

, driving through the woods. Old f

face the prospect of th

t in this situation," he sa

ner's ey

." He added with a sharp maliciousness: "I leave my

roner had gone, excused himself wit

I shall write in the

ed and

on his report,"

al man!" Pare

tioned you?"

ed, and we've both been clams. I fancy he doesn't think much of me

m asked, "when Miss Per

stifle

fire. I am very tire

ook particul

o-morrow, with a fresh mind, I hope to be able to dissect a

d to me last night, Carlos," Bobby sai

ve reply, for a sign, perhaps, that the Panamanian was offended and prop

a trifle more pres

Bobby with th

And after a moment: "He's clever-hard to sound. I have t

take them off my mi

fire, trying, always trying to remember, yet find

a sombre gown that made her face seem too white,

oo, at the smouldering fire. From her presence, from h

ese weeks. You don't understand quite, why that was." She wouldn't let him go on. She s

t evidently still filled his mind, for he spoke only when it was unavoidable and then in monosyllables. Paredes alon

ced to play solitaire. The detective, Bobby gathered, had brought his report up to date, for he lounged near by, watching the Panamanian's slender fingers as they hand

in New York as to the movements of Maria an

pite of Howells's evidence, we're not all a little afraid since this afternoon, of something such as Katherine felt last night-somethi

afraid last night!"

ied, "is the fac

pau

at?" he as

men in the room of death overhead. They tried again to thread the mazes of this problem whose only conceivable exit led to Bobby's guil

h other then. Kath

tomb here,"

ins. None of them wished to be disturbed. Eventually it was the detective who intruded. He strolled in, gla

of clearing up the last details of the mystery. Since it depends on the

n removed to his own room. The room where he was killed is empty. I mean to go up and enter and lock the doors

d directly at Bobby. His words

it the murderer under the preci

ct to gain by tha

. Of course he realizes it would be a good deal to his advantage to have me out of the way. I ask him to come, therefore, as stealthily as he did last night. I beg him to match his skill with mine. I want him to play h

h at stake. The detective's manner increased the hatred which had blazed in Bobby's mind when he had stood in the bedroom over

the motive for disturbing the body. And have yo

ve answered

r, seems quite slender or round enough. I'll get all that out of

you announce your plan

e's level sm

ns. Mr. Paredes knows them. I wish every one in the house to know them. That

e arose

said, "you are accusing one of

s," Howells answered.

oat. The cast of his footprint must be secreted there, and almost certainly the h

this murder he could understan

gone closer to

to spend the night in that room. It isn't pleasant. A

urst out

much chance to take a fall out of me as anybody. I'll be going

the private staircase. They heard him, after he had

he'll finish Bobby in the morning. That mustn't happen. He mustn't go

pread hi

go to New York and get a

ime for the New York end then. I've no faith in it. Watch Carlos if you want, but most im

am n

without my advice. You ought to get to bed now. You must have rest, and Kather

ey, I wish that man wasn't there.

k Bobby

ve up hope. We'll do something.

p, of losing control of his thoughts and actions, appalled him. Yet such an offer, he realized, must impress Graham as delicate, as

. If you're restless or need me

th Graham. Her hand was on Graham's arm. There was, he fancied, in her eyes an emotion deeper than gratitude or friendship. He sighed as the

taken it then. If it remained where he had left it, which was likely enough in the disordered state of the household, he would drink it now. Re

r to-night, but afterward-he couldn't shrink perpetually from sleep. He shrugged his shoulders, remembering it would make lit

n, with languid gestures, continued to play his s

you were ti

usual his expression disclosed nothing of his thoughts, yet he

he murmured, "and you k

nk better while

le he undressed the effects of the doctor's narcotic were pe

imself that he couldn't accomplis

in the eyes of the law. The doctor will testify t

challenging him with his level smile to make a secret entrance of the old bedroom in a murderous effort to escape the penalty of the earlier crime. And Howells had been right. His death would give Bobby a chance. The destruction of the evidence

rance-like sleep. He swung in the black pit again, fighting out against crushing odds. The darkness thundered as though informing him that graver forces than any he had

y! Bo

lackness assumed the familiar, yielding quality of the night. T

ine. Her tone made the night as frig

s the

know. Get up. Hartley's

use is so dar

what's

ne shrank against the wall, hiding her eyes from the light of his candle. He thought it odd she should wear the dress in whic

it?" Bobb

o hard to wake." The idea seemed to fill

d. "Go back to your room,

of terror. "No. We have to go to that room

uiet her. "We'll

was asleep. It woke me up, stea

m. "You came out and

ressing gown. This dress was by the bed. I

ught before drifting into the trance-like sl

ked you were sle

undly,

take care of himself. He'll probably give us the deuce for di

an," she

am walked to the rail and glanced down. Bobby followed him. On the table by the fireplac

still downstairs. The front door's

very late,

ine sh

ed at my watch. The sa

into the corridor. Bobby shrank from the da

ome, Katherin

, as I had to k

s chattered back at them. Graham knocked again. With a passionate revolt Katherine raised her

s no

Graham called. "Wh

t," Katherine whispered,

e down to the lib

Katherine

e've got to break in her

dded his weight. With a splintering of wood the door flew open, precipitating th

called, "and the k

which stole past the curtain of the open window. It shook across the body of Howells, fully clothed with his head on t

ught his

wel

candle on

must look at the

his head!" Ka

egal," Gr

cried. "We'v

hand. With a motion of abhorrence he drew it

him. I thought of it jus

time he touched Howells's hea

God!"

ain, at a fresh crimson splotch, straying beyond the

etched, as if it had touched some poisono

it," he whispered, "exp

oom whose shadows seemed crowdi

ow. Don't you see? He's got to be, or Groom's right, and we're fighting the d