The Abandoned Room

which it had seemed to issue assumed in the pallid moonlight a new unfriendliness. Insti

don't really believe there c

!" the detec

orney questioned

ice you heard

am n

not so

ce of a spiritual responsibility for the mystery of the Cedars, was

oroner's right for once. No excuse for a woman hidi

e a human being,"

nder through the woods, crying like that without a special purpose. This man

ad thought of t

w. He 'phoned me the man knew nothing. Spoke of him as a foreigner who lolled around

case from the start. He wasn't to bla

ccepted it as the beginning of fulfilment of his prophecy last night that an accident to Howells and the entrance of a new ma

ins. "If you can get away with it bring

s hesi

This isn't an ordinary case. I don't want to walk into

don't care to leave the Cedars fo

urred to Bobby that he was afraid. Graham, h

u like," Doctor

, it was reasonable, sought to protect Katherine from the Cedars itself and from Robinson's too direc

came, too? I've known

son s

think of th

close and whispered in t

aid. "Go with 'em, if y

e would go, not to he

house. The three men faced t

he detective warned. "If h

more care to limit the sound of their passage among the trees. And each moment the physical surroundings of the pursuit increased Bobby's doubt of Paredes. No ordinary impulse would bring a man to such a place in this black hour before the dawn-particularly Paredes, who spoke constantly of his superstitious nature, who advertised a thorough-paced fear of the Cedars. The Panamanian's decision

lessly. There was no sound beyond the normal stirrings of the forest. Bobby had a feeling, similar to the afternoon's, that he was watched. He tr

They've probably gone on. I'll have to

mination. Testifying to Paredes's continued stealth, they m

to the lake. H

an opaque glass, hiding sinister things. Suppose Par

gh in the centr

around th

ui

e were after hi

the right a ledge of smooth rock stretched from the water to a

dn't leave his marks on the rocks or the pin

ted the discovery of the queer light in the deserted house, its

his suggestion that he go to the front of the house to investigate. This path might

as intere

far i

than a mile,"

he detective decid

had seemed so hopeless yesterday. He had found the spot where his consciousness had come back momentarily to record a wet moon, trees straining in the wind like puny men, and a figure in a mask which he had called his conscience. He gazed, his hope retreating before an unforeseen disappointment, for with the paling moon and the bent trees survived that very figure on the discovery of whose nature he had built so vital a hope; and in this b

continued almost indifferently. He still wanted to know Pared

ything was as Bobby remembered it. At the front there was no decayed wood or veget

he house. Moreover, he hadn't hidden his tracks, as he could have done, in the thick grass. Instead he had come in a straight line from the woods across a piece of sandy ground which contained the record of his direction and his continued stealth. But insid

here. She may have kept to the grass and this marked-up path, for, since I don't believe in banshees, I'll swear there's been a woman around, either a crazy woman, wand

the banshees, as you call them, to

ture was bound to breed something like confidence among its actors. Rawlins, Bobby hoped, would be less unfriendly. The detective, in f

. "I don't say how much, because I can't get a moti

iled bland

there's a motive a

huck

to understand in the worl

ham, over his stern principles of right, had already stepped outside the law in backing Katherine's efforts to save Bobby

gone to her room. The coroner had left. Robinson and Graham

emanded. "We'd about decided

with a frown. At the end he arose and, without saying anything, wal

They'll know from Howells's murder that Mr. Blackburn didn't die a natural death. If reporters get in don't talk to them. I don't wa

leared h

nder close observation. But he has a fair idea of Paredes's habits, his haunts, and his friends in New York. He might be able to lea

t attorney

you mean. Wa

he other. The little eyes, surrounded by puffy flesh, becam

thing about holding Mr. Blac

thoroughly as a direct a

sooner you go the better. The

acquiescence. He started for the stairs,

e downstairs. No n

ned to Doc

l Miss Perr

e understood the warning

lking to the stable to see them off. Gra

umped at the chance to run us out of the house. He'll have several hours during which to turn the plac

me a chance to sli

nces. At the junction of the road from Smithtown a car pick

ile we went to the stable. They're still playing

picions. Robinson had telephoned the New York police for a search. A famili

tlemen," he greet

him in a bu

have to pay fo

an gr

t gray hairs

each room. Bureau drawers had been turned upside down. The desk had b

nything. If he did you

he find?"

Graham answered, "why shou

't believe the court wa

me since the night of his grandfather's murder. In the car again he

s handwriting,"

ed note aloud with a tone

R BO

Why should you threaten poor Maria? And you boasted you were going out to the Cedars to kill your grandfather because you didn't like him any more. So I to

that yesterday morning,

! Then it was

ouldn't she have addressed it to the Cedars where there was a fair chance of its being opened and rea

the dancer's apartment t

out?" Graham as

ame on duty at

d a bill in t

age for her. We'd better

the upper hall he explai

for the last twenty-four hours-don't you see? It was yesterday afternoon you th

ng pretty f

ance. A ph

er face was troubled. She studie

ght-" s

ss was coming bac

girl's manner. It was certain th

ber me?" B

a friend of mademoiselle's. You ca

e girl spread her hands.

was no one there who knew anything at all, except that ma

lanced a

ked, "did you

ore luncheo

uctions? Didn't she say

irl n

he said she would be back afte

nstructions?"

appointments. What am I to do? Perhaps I shouldn't be talk

. "You can safely leave all that to her managers. I am go

's eyes

. I have been a

ing. She played no part to c

ers' office, with the t

easoned

rning last night. She probably made a bee line for the Cedars. It was probably she that you saw at the lake, probably she who cried last night. If only she hadn't written that note! I can't get the meaning of it. It's up to her managers now. If they haven't heard fro

tion of Maria's absence destructive to Graham's theory. Early as it was they found a bald

tary tells me you've come about this temperamen

anager ran his fingers across

laughin

initely disappear

urtain and give them a spiel about a sudden indisposition. And believe me, gentlemen, audiences ain't what they used to be. Did these ginks sit back and take the show for wha

ke capital out of her absence. The papers would publish her

lexed massage of his forehe

l dancer met foul play? Millions in jewels on her pe

type familiar to the Tenderloin. For purposes of identification it was worthless. Always followed by the car from Smithtown, they went to the hotel where Paredes had lived, to a number of his haunts. Bobby talked with men who knew him, but he learned nothing. Paredes's friends had had no word since the man's departure for the Cedars the day before. So they turned their backs on the city, elated by the significance of Maria's absence, yet worried by the search

e footprints and the handkerchief, but it doesn't tell us how any human being could have entered that room to c

are you going to do with your physical fact? And how does it explain the friendly influence that wiped out my

od criminal who isn't you. I'm going to try to find out wh

ime he gl

time, Bobby, but I don't think yo

e was trying to interest this chap in the New York end. I saw him off and on after that and got to like him for his quiet manner and a queer, dry wit he had in thos

I wonder if Robinson didn't scare him away by threatening to question him. Paredes

t companies. More than his running away, the thing that worri

the forest imposed silence, closed eagerly about them, seemed to welcome them to its dead loneliness. There was a man on guard at the gate. They hurried past. The house showed no sign of life, but

evidence has been f

real interest, the impulse at the back

out of her since we've been gone. I oughtn'

mpty but they heard voices in the library. They hurried across the dining room, pausing in the

d the district attorney stood in front of the fireplace, studying him with perplexed eyes. The persistence of their regard even after Bobby's entrance suggested to him t

the deuce are

pelled a cloud of

ter a fatig

the hope Graham and he had brought back from the city. He

from? What were yo

imself, no accounting for his easy gesture now as he dr

idea my movements were of such interest. I've told them that I took a stroll. The night

"you have had practically no

es no

tressing,

why you went on tiptoe, and I suppose yo

hing like that, and it occurred to me to follow such

angrily, "you walked in th

es sm

was chance. Quite silly

"it was chance that took y

shook

the rest by that strange, disappearing lig

u been since?"

far to the station I thought I'd go on into Smithtown and have a bath a

apparently absurd formula

uld call ghosts. I'm Spanish and I know." After a moment he added: "The

ut Rawlins brushed

id you go to

.' Nothing could be f

if that's s

reed, and Rawlins left t

e? No, no, Mr. District Attorney, look to the ghosts. They alone are sufficiently clever. But I might say, since you take this

pose, unwilling that action should be taken too hastily against the Panamanian; for even now guilty knowledge seemed incompatible with Par

s common sense to put him where you can find him

g," Robinson mused, "but

raham asked quickly. "Have you got

matically, but his f

to learn how the room was entered, how the crimes were committ

s in New York searched. You had me

ed to the front door, opened i

inx mean about gh

grass about the fountain, at the melancholy walls,

e you're right, Mr. Graham, but I wonder if

rom the Cedars the person most likely to solve its mystery. As long as a chance remained that Howells had been right about Bobby he would

foreigner's lau

movement tow

ificantly, "find that ou

ad again offered the unexpected, and he entered. Paredes was no longer in the room. Bobby was about to speak, but Robinson shook his head angrily, raising his hand in a gesture of warning. All three

, graceful figure, his lack of emotion, his inscrutable eyes, and his pointed beard, a suggestion nearly satanic. For the stealthy scraping had come from behind the closed door of the

ed was out of keeping with the man. It disturbed him nearly

him," Graha

the door. He grasped the knob, swung the door

tched, as though an infinitely quiet descent had been interrupted. The exposure had been

el

aredes," Graham said, and the t

recipitately down. His eyes were dangerous. As Bobby watched the face whose quiet had at last been

r what?" h

n connection with your little excursion be

admirable effort of the will he smoothed the rage from

d voice that scarcely rose above a whisper. "To help

cry out against the supposed frie

dn't make any noise, why you lost your temper when we c

stepped

aham. He's too slippery. I'

es cried, "that y

I'll lock you up as

swung

y? You'll forget that I a

y fl

ou doing up there? Answer those q

took a cigarette from hi

eady. For the first tim

d. Rawlins came back fro

e tab

s the

him up, and tell the judge, when he's arraigned in the

l in Smithtown all

d Parede

a lamb or a lion? Say, you'll find the ja

s light died in his eyes. He became a

lamb. Ho

'd only say something! If you'd only explain

s shrugged h

?" he aske

s deftly over the Pa

inned. "All right. We'll forget the

s got his coat and hat and follo

greedily this opportunity to find Katherine, to learn from her, undisturbed, what had happened in the house that morning, the meaning, perhaps, of her despairing gesture. When, in response to

out the heel mark in the court. They cling to that, becau

about it, do you, Kathe

t do that

honestly don't know any

id you know they'd taken him? We found

d quality about

all morning they seemed more interested in you th

ghed fe

ed at her handkerchief. After a moment she looked him frankly in the

redes's suspic

herine. And I'm to

to her lips. Her

lame yourself. You m

irable through all these years, swept him to a harsher revolt than he had conquered in the library. In the face of Graham, in spite of his own intolerable position he knew he

nk of me, Bobby. It's yo

erly anxiety of her attitude. It made h

go?" she cal

vaguely, wit

that was to lead to his death. Robinson's mood was very different. He talked a great deal, making no effort to hide his irritation. His failure to find any clue in the private stair

ht. It was a relief for all of them to

t sleep there," Gra

glanced

red. "The library lounge is ple

was no question about his purpose. He

d them, "I can see if you do get up and wander abou

would be an

stom, what is there t

wered, ha

fa. The man isn't exactly working for me. Tonigh

yaw

ever. I've seldom been so

esit

artley. I can go to sleep wit

ll sleep quietly enough, and we'l

dled sleepily. Bobby recalled his last thought before losing himself last night. He tried to force from his mind now the threat in R

to him, he was fighting

matter? Leav

oice, unnaturally s

you doin

he stood instead in a cold place; and the meanin

rself," Graham s

, perhaps to the library. Graham had awakened him. It seemed to offer the answer to everything. It seemed to give outline to a m

at shivering on the bed. Graham e

it?" Bobby a

don't think Robi

e an ominous unre

do?" Bobby

anny. You were like an automaton. I didn't wake you at

He drew a blanket a

ow the way in and out, b

ing down

hudd

put Howells out to protect myself. I was going after Robi

turne

just now," he answered huskily, "for aft