The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 19, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, July 29, 1910 Page: 3 of 8
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THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE
B
♦
.MARY
ROBERTS
* * BINCHMT
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
c*^fifcjfl a aoaai-ruRKuifca T
SYNOPSIS.
InrifF. spinster ami guardian of
Gertrude and Halsey, established summer
headquarters at Sunnyslde. Amidst nu-
merous difficulties the servants deserted.
As Miss Junes locked up for the night
ehe was startled by a dark tigure on the
"veranda. Unseemly noises disturbed her
during the night. In the morning Miss
Innes found a strange link cuff-button In
a hamper. Gertrude and Halsey arrived
with Jack Bailey. The house was awak-
ened by a revolver shot and Arnold Arm-
Strong was fmuid shot to death in the
halt. Miss Innes found Halsey's revolver
on the lawn. He and Jack Bailey had dis-
appeared. The link cltiff-button mysteri-
ously disappeared. Detective Jamieson
arrived. Gertrude revealed she was en-
gaged to Jack Bailey, with whom she
talked in the billiard room a few mo-
ments before the murcler. Jamieson ac-
cused Miss Innes of holding back evi-
dence. He imprisoned an intruder in an
empty room. The prisoner escaped down
a laundry ehute. Gertrude was suspected.
A negro found the other half of what
proved to be Jack Bailey's cuff-button.
Halsey reappears and says he and Bailey
left in response to a telegram. Gertrude
said she had given Bailey an unloaded
revolver, fearing to give him a loaded
■weapon. Cashier Bailey of Paul Arm-
strong's bank, defunct, was arrested for
embezzlement. Halsey said Armstrong
wrecked his own bank and could clear
■Bailey Paul Armstrong's death was an
Anoiinced. Halsey's fiancee, lionise Arm-
strong. was found at the lodge. The
lodgokeeper said I^ouise and Arnold had
a long talk the night of the murder. Lou-
ise was prostrated. I,ouise told Halsey,
that while she still loved him she was to
marry another, and that lie would despise
her when he learned the whole story.
CHAPTER XIV.—Continued.
Gertrude and Halsey went for a
Jong walk that afternoon and Louise
alept. Time hung heavy on my hands,
and I did as I had fallen into a habit
of doing lately—I sat down and
thought things over. One result of
my meditations was that I got up sud-
denly and went to the telephone. I
had taken the most intense dislike to
this Dr. Walker, whom I had never
seen, and who was being talked of in
the countryside as the fiance of Louise
Armstrong.
I knew Sam Huston well. There
had been a time, when Sam was a
good deal younger than he is now, be-
fore he had married Anne Endicott,
when I knew him even better. So now
I felt no hesitation in calling him over
the telephone. Rut when his office
boy had given way to his confidential
clerk, and that functionary had conde-
scended to connect his employer's
desk telephone, I was somewhat at a
loss as to how to begin.
"Why, how are you, Rachel?" Sam
•aid sonorously. "Going to build that
house at Rock View?" It was a 20-
year-old joke of his.
"Sometime, perhaps," I said. ".lust
now I want to ask you a question
about something which is none of my
business."
"I see you haven't changed an iota
In a quarter of a century, Rachel."
This was intended to be another jest.
"Ask ahead; everything but my do-
mestic affairs is at your service."
"Try to be serious," I said. "And
tell me this: Has your firm made any
plans for a house recently for a Dr.
"Walker at Casanova?"
"Yes, we have."
"Where was it to be built? I have
• reason for asking."
"It was to be, I believe, on the Arm-
strong place. Mr. Armstrong himself
consulted me, and the Inference was
—In fact, I am quite certain—the
bouse was to be occupied by Mr. Arm-
strong's daughter, who was engaged
to marry Dr. Walker."
When the architect had inquired for
the different members of my family,
and had finally rung off, I was certain
of one thing. Louise Armstrong was
i In love with Halsey, and the man she
g was going to marry was Dr Walker,
f Moreover, this decision was not new;
marriage had been contemplated for
some time. There must certainly be
ssme explanation—but what was It?
That day I repeated to Louise the
telegram Mr. Harton had opened. She
seemed to understand, but an unhap-
pier face I have never seen. She
looked like a criminal whose reprieve
Is over, and the day of execution ap-
proaching.
CHAPTER XV.
Liddy Gives the Alarm.
The next day, Friday, Gertrude
broke the news of her stepfather's
death to Louise. She did it as gently
as she could, telling her first that he
was very 111, and finally that he was
dead Louise received the news in
the most unexpected manner, and
when Gertrude came out to tell me
bow she had stood it, I think she was
almost shocked.
"She just lay and stared at me,
Aunt Ray," she said. "Do you know,
] believe she is glad, glad! And she
Is too honest to pretend anything
else. What sort of a man was Mr.
y^l'aul Armstrong, anyhow '
' "He was a bully as well as a ras-
cal, Gertrude," I said. "But I am con-
vinced of one thing; Louise Will send
for Halsey now, and they will make
It all up."
For Louise had steadily refused to
see Halsey all that day, and the boy
was frantic.
We had a quiet hour, Halsey and I,
that evening, and I told him several
things; about the request that we
give up the lease to Sunnyslde, about
the telegram to Louise, about the
rumors of an approaching marriage
between the girl and Dr. Walker, and,
last of all, my own interview with her
the day before.
He sat back in a big chair, with his
face in the shadow, and my heart fair-
ly ached for him. He was so big and
boyish! When I had finished he drew
a long breath.
"Whatever Louise does," he said,
"nothing will convince me, Aunt Ray,
that she doesn't care for me. And up
to two months ago, when she and her
mother went west, I was the happiest
fellow on earth. Then something
made a difference; she wrote me that
her people were opposed to the mar-
riage; that her feeling for me was
what it had always been, but that
something had happened which had
changed her ideas as to the future. I
was not to write until she wrote me,
and whatever occurred, I was to think
the best I could of her. It sounded
like a puzzle. When I saw her yes-
terday, it was the same thing, only,
perhaps, worse."
"Halsey," I asked, "have you any
idea of the nature of the interview
between Louise Armstrong and Arn-
old the night he was murdered?"
"It was stormy. Thomas says once
or twice he almost, broke into the
room, he was so alarmed for Louise."
"Another thing, Halsey," I said,
"have you ever heard Louise mention
a woman named Carrington, Nina Car-
rington?"
"Never," he said positively.
For try as we would, our thoughts
always came back to that fatal Satur-
day night, and the murder. Every con-
versational path led to it, and we all
felt that Jamieson was tightening
the threads of evidence around John
Hailey. The detective's absence was
hardly reassuring; he must have had
something to work on in town or he
would have returned.
tome to have a sinister appearance,but |
we kept that wing well lighted, and I
until the lights went out at midnight
it was really cheerful, if one did not
know its history.
On Friday night, then, I had gone
to bed, resolved to go at once to sleep.
Thoughts that insisted on obtruding
themselves I pushed resolutely to the
back of my mind, and I systematically
relaxed every muscle. I fell asleep
soon, and was dreaming that Dr.
Walker was building his new house
immediately in front of my windows;
I could hear the thump-thump of the
hammers, and then I waked to a
knowledge that somebody was pound-
ing on my door.
I was up at once, and with the
sound of my footstep on the floor the
low knocking ceased, to be followed
immediately by sibilant whispering
through the keyhole.
"Miss Rachel! Miss Rachel!" some-
body was saying, over and over.
"Is that you, Liddy?" I asked, my
hand on the knob.
"For the love of mercy, let me in!"
she said in a low tone.
She was leaning against the door,
for when I opened it, she fell in. She
was greenish-wliite, and she had a
red and black barred flannel petticoat
over her shoulders.
"Listen," she said, standing In the
middle of the floor and holding on to
me. "Oh, Miss Rachel, it's the ghost
of that dead man hammering to get
in!"
Sure enought, there was a dull thud
—thud—thud—it came apparently
from the wall.
"It's not a ghost," I said decidedly.
"If it was a ghost it wouldn't rap; it
/T,
"We Had a Quiet Hour," Halsey and I.
The papers reported that the cash-
ier of the Traders' bank was ill in his
apartments at the Knickerbocker—a
condition not surprising, considering
everything. The guilt of the defunct
president was no longer in doubt; the
missing bonds ,had been advertised
and =ome of them discovered. In
eveij instance they had been used as
collateral for large loans, and the
belief was current that not less than
a million and a half dollars had been
realized. Every one connected with
the bank had been placed under ar-
rest, and released on heavy bond.
Was he alone in his guilt, or was
the cashier his accomplice? Where
was the money? The estate of the
dead man was comparatively small—
a city house on a fashionable street,
Sunnyside, a large estate largely
mortgaged, an insurance of $50,000,
and some personal property—this was
all. The rest lost in speculation prob-
ably, the papers said. There was one
thing which looked uncomfortable for
Jack Hailey: He and Paul Armstrong
together had promoted a railroad com-
pany in New Mexico, and it was ru-
mored that together they had sunk
large sums of money there. The busi-
ness alliance between the two men
added to the belief that Bailey knew
something of the looting. His unex-
plained absence from the bank on
Monday lent color to the suspicion
against him. The strange thing
seemed to be his surrendering himself
on the point of departure. To tne, It
seemed the shrewd calculation of a
clever rascal. I was not actively an-
tagonistic to Gertrude's lover, but I
meant to be convinced, one way or the
other. I took no one on faith.
That night the Sunnyslde ghost be-
gan to walk again. Liddy had been
sleeping in Ixiuise's dressing room on
a couch, and the approach of dusk
was a signal for her to barricade the
entire suite. Situated as it was, be-
yond the circular staircase, nothing
but an extremity of excitement would
have made her pass it after dark. I
confess myself that the place seemed
would come through the keyhole."
Liddy looked at the keyhole. "But it
sounds very much as though some one
is trying to break into the house."
Liddy was shivering violently. I
told her to get me my slippers and
she brought me a pair of kid gloves,
so I found my things myself and pre-
pared to call Halsey. As before, the
night alarm had found the electric
lights gone; the hall, save for its
night lamp, was in darkness, as I went
across to Halsey's room. I hardly
know what I feared, but it was a re-
lief to find him there, very sound
asleep, and with his door unlocked.
"Wake up, Halsey," I said, shaking
him.
He stirred a little. Liddy was half
in and half out of the door, afraid as
usual to be left alone, and not quite
daring to enter. Her scruples seemed
to fade, however, all at once. She
gave a suppressed yell, bolted into the
room and stood tightly clutching the
foot-board of the bed. Halsey was
gradually waking.
"I've seen it," Liddy wailed. "A
woman in white down the hall!"
I paid no attention.
"Halsey," 1 persevered, "some one i
is breaking into the house. Get up, ,
won't you?"
"It isn't our house," ho said sleepi-
ly. And then he roused to the exi-
gency of the occasion. "All right,
Aunt Ray," he said, still yawning. "If
you'll let me get Into something—"
It was all I could do to get Liddy
out of the room. The demands of the
occasion lud no influence on her; she
had seen the ghost, she persisted, and
she wasn't going into the hall. Iiut
I got her over to my room at last,
more dead than alive, and made her
lie down on the bed.
The tappings, which Beemed to have
eeaBed for a while, had commenced
again, but they were fainter. Halsey
came over in a few minutes, and stood
listening and trying to locate the
sound.
"Give me my revolver, Aunt Ray,"
he said; and 1 got It—the one 1 hud
found in the tulip bed—and gave it to
him. He saw Liddy there and divined
at once that Louise was alone.
"You let me attend to this fellow,
whoever it is, Aunt Ray, and go to
I^ouise, will you? She may be awake
and alarmed."
So in spite of her protests, I left
Liddy alone and went back to the
east wing. Perhaps I went a little
faster past the yawning blackness of
the circular staircase; and I could
hear Halsey creaking cautiously down
the main staircase. The rapping, or
pounding, had ceased, and the silence
was almost painful. And then sud-
denly, front apparently under my very
feet, there rose a woman's scream, a
cry of terror that broke off as sudden-
ly as it came. I stood frozen and still.
Every drop of blood in my body
seemed to leave the surface and gath-
er around my heart. In the dead si-
lence that followed it throbbed as if it
would burst. More dead than alive,
I stumbled into Louise's bedroom. She
was not there!
CHAPTER XVI.
fn the Early Morning.
I stood looking at the empty bed.
The coverings had been thrown back,
and Louise's pink silk dressing-gown
was gone from the foot, where it had
lain. The night lamp burned dimly,
revealing the emptiness of the place.
I picked it up, but my hand shook so
that I put it down again, and got
somehow to the door.
There were voices in the hall and
Gertrude came running toward me.
"What is it?" she cried. "What was
that sound? Where is Louise?"
"She is not in her room," I said
stupidly. "I think—it was she—who
screamed."
Liddy had joined us now, carrying a
light. We stood huddled together at
the head of the circular staircase,
looking down into its shadows. There
was nothing to be seen, and it was
absolutely quiet down there. Then
we heard Halsey running up the main
staircase. He came quickly down the
hall to where we were standing.
"There's no one trying to get in. I
thought I heard some one shriek.
Who was it?"
Our stricken faces told him the
truth.
"Some one screamed down there,"
I said. "And—and Louise is not in
her room."
With a jerk Halsey took the light
from Liddy and ran down the circular
staircase. I followed 1-iin, more slow-
ly. My nerves seemed to be in a state
of paralysis; I could scarcely step. At
the foot of the stairs Halsey gave an
exclamation and put down the light.
"Aunt Ray," he called sharply.
At the foot of the staircase, hud-
dled in a heap, her head on the lower
stair, was Louise Armstrong. She lay
limp and white, her dressing-gown
dragging loose from one sleeve of her
night-dress, and the heavy braid of
her dark hair stretching its length a
couple of steps above her head, as If
she had slipped Sown.
She was not dead; Halsey put her
down on the floor and began to rub
her cold hands, while Gertrude and
Liddy ran for stimulants. As for me,
I sat there at the foot of that ghostly
staircase—sat, because my knees
wouldn't hold me—and wondered
where it would all end. Louise was
still unconscious, but she was breath-
ing better, and I suggested that we
get her back to bed before she came
to. There was something grisly and
horrible to me, seeing her there in
almost the same attitude and in the
same place where we had found her
brother's body. And to add to the
similarity, just then the hall clock,
far off, struck faintly three o'clock.
It was four before Louise was able
to talk, and the first rays of dawn
were coming through her windows,
WRECK AVERTED
ON TRUNK LINE
STRIKING RAILROAD MEN TRY
TO DERAIL PASSENGER
Oklahoma Directory
EQUALS DEERE IMPLEMENTS
aud VELIE VEHICLES
Ask your dealer, or
JOHN DEERE PLOW CO., OklihomaCiti
MACHINERY0F ALL KINDS F0R SALE
111 n IS 111IIL11 I Repair work carefully aud
promptly done. Write, call or phone.
Southwestern Manufacturing Co. 0klS!,,jm*
RIOTING AT SOUTH BEND Opportunity
Detective Shoots and Seriously In-
jures One Man—After Burn-
ing Two Cabooses Police
Disperse the Mob
South Bend, lud.-—Strikers attempt-
ed to derail east-bound passenger ]
train No. 8 at Olivers, the first station
at which Grand Trunk east bound
trains stopped in passing through j
South Bend. The engineer of the |
train noticed the turned switch signal j
in time to stop his train and thereby j
probably prevented injury, if not loss
of life to the passengers.
Rioting in the local yards began j
Saturday night and was spasmodic
through the day Sunday. Ono man, J.
Preel, of this city, was wounded seri-
ously by John Peck, of Battle Creek,
Mich., an employe of a private detec-
tive agency, assisting the railroad.
Four others were arrested.
Late in the afternoon a mob burned
two cabooses and attempted to de-
stroy several freight cars, but the ar-
rival of the police and the lire depart-
ment resulted in the dispersal of the
crowd.
now knocking. All who ser-k a professional
life work should investigate the science ol
Chiropractic.
CARVER CHIROPRACTIC COLLEGE
Third and Broadway OKLAHOMA CITY, 0«LA.
i«Kvr« can you BAll lots in sconnty sunt and roll! 1111.1-
Vessel Sinks, Drowning 246 People
Tokio, Japan.—The Tetsurel Maru,
plying between Kobe and Dairen, sunk
off Chindo, Korea. The steamer had j
24G passengers aboard, of whom 40 [
were saved. The others are missing, j
Warships have boen sent to the res- j
cue.
Direct reports from Chindo state
that two of the Tetsurel's lifeboats
landed 40 passengers, who tell of har-
rowing scenes when the befogged ves-
sels struck. Six life-boats were
launched and filled with passengers.
There was no panic, and everything
was carried off In the most orderly
manner.
The captain and a majority of the
crew were unable to leave the steam-
j er. Six first-class passengers were
saved, including W. Cunningham, the
British vice-consul at Osaka, as well
as thirteen second-class passengers.
LEADING MISTAKES IN LIFE
Writer Has Recorded Ten, of Which
Most of Us Assuredly Have
Our Share.
Some of us may be glad to be told
that there are only ten life mistakes,
for there seem to bo so many more,
but a recent writer has catalogued
them. Perhaps these are only the ten
leading ones from which the smaller
errors arise. Let's look over the list
and see how many of them are ours:
First, to set up our own standard of
right and wrong and Judge people ac-
cordingly; second, to measure the en-
joyment of others by our own; third,
to expect uniformity of opinion In this
world; fourth, to look for judgment
and experience in youth; fifth, to en-
deavor to mold all dispositions alike;
sixth, to look for perfection in our
own actions; seventh, to worry our-
selves and others with what cannot
be remedied; eighth, to refuse to yield
in immaterial matters; ninth, to re-
fuse to alleviate, so far as It lies in
our power, all which needs allevia-
tion; tenth, to refuse to make allow-
ance for the infirmities of others.
Thirty-eight Bankers In Prison
Leavenworth.—United StateB Mar-
shal John Abernathy has arrived here
with Charles E. Biilingsley, sentenced
for seven years for falsifying records
of the Capitol National Bank at Guth-
rie. He will be put to work at once.
The banker's colony now lias thirty-
eight members.
Masked Robbers Hold Up Train
Weehauken, N. J.—Five masked
and armed men held up train No. 105
on the New York, Ontario & Western
railroad just outside the limits of this
city. Four of the robbers invaded Iho
train and forced a number of persons
to give up their valuables at the pis-
tol point.
Tit for Tat.
Being of a literary turn and having
plenty of leisure, both Mr. aud Mrs.
Glupplns contributed special articles
occasionally to two different newspa-
pers In the town where they resided.
One day Mr. Glupplns picked up a
manuscript his wife had just finished,
and proceeded to look it over.
"That's very good, Bertha," he said,
after completing Ills inspection, "but
I see you use the phrase, 'well-known
fact.' I wouldn't do that."
"Why not?" she asked.
"Well, if a thing is well-known, why
mention it?"
Ills wife said nothing in rejoinder
at the time, but a few days later, while
reading one of his articles in print,
she found something to criticize.
"Horace," she said, "I am surprised
to see you using the phrase, 'self-evi-
dent.' "
"What's the matter with that?"
"Why, If a thing is self-evident,
what is the use of calling attention to
It?"
Horace looked at her sharply over
his glasses, but made no verbal re-
sponse.—Youth's Companion
Dies From Overdose of Chloral
Rochester, N. Y.—M. J. Coghlan, su-
perintendent of a hospital al Wood-
ward, Okla., died at the home of his
father-in-law in Canistee, as the re-
sult of an overdose of chloral. Cogh-
lan's wife {'led several weeks ago and
since then Coghlan has been despond-
ent.
Seventy-five Poisoned in Joplin
Joplin, Mo.—The most widespread
epidemic of ptomaine poisoning in the
history of Joplin is attributed by phy-
sicians to atmospheric conditions al-
most without precedent In tills locali-
ty. Seventy-five cases of serious pto-
maine poisoning have been reported.
A Knowing Girl.
When young Lord Stanlmgh came
to visit an American famil; , the mis-
tress told the servants th t In ad-
dressing him they should always say
"I'our Grace." When the young gen-
tleman one morning met on of tho
pretty house servants In th* hallway
and told her that she was £• attrac-
tive looking he thought he nutild kiss
her, she demurely replied clasping
her hands on her bosom and looking
up into his face with a bwstlflc ex-
pression, "O Lord, for this blessing
we are about to receive, wd thank
thee."—Lippincott's.
k, ^
Shoots Himself to Save Home
Hutchinson, Kas.—To prevent tho
foreclosure of a mortgage on his
home, W. H. Israel, of Lewis, shot
himself at a rooming house. His son,
Edward Isrrael, and Thomas Haun, an
attorney from Kinsley arrived at tho
hospital as he was dying. They had
been searching for him for a week and
feared that he iuterfded to end his
life.
Plenty of Material.
"Son," said the press humorist, "you
have inherited some of my humor."
"Not enough to make a living with,
dad."
"Never mind. I'm going to leave
you all of my jokes."
As He Remembered It.
"Johnnie, what did '.he minister
preach about today?"
"It was about something that stings
like an adder and bites like a multi-
plier."
She Lay Limp and White.
which faced the oust, before she c ould
tell us coherently what had occurred.
I give It as she told it She lay
propped in bed, and Halsey sat beside
her, unrebuffed, and held her baud
while she talked.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Good in Everything.
Whatever happens to anybody, it
may be turned to beautiful resi'Jta.—
Walt Whitman.
Miners Have Returned to Work
Webb City, Mo.—Eight hundred
miners at. the American Lead, Zinc
& Smelting company's mines who
went out on a strike because a reduc-
tion of ten per cent was made In their
wages, accepted the reduction and
have returned to work.
Sixteen Babies Killed by Heat
Detroit, Micli. -Health Officer Kief-
er reported that sixteen babies wore
killed by the heat in Detroit Saturday.
[ Most of them died of cholera infantum
caused by the intense humidity. The
hoard of commerce is co-operating
( with the health deparlment to Becuro
pure milk for the babies.
Large Grain Crop in Panhandle
Amarlllo, Tex.—Local grain eleva-
tor men calculate that, farmers of tho
Panhandle will clear tills year $5,000,-
: 1100 out of the small grain crop. This
is by far the best showing ever mado
i in the Panhandle.
p Girl Awarded $4,000
i Belton, Tex.—The first suit for
breach of promise of marriage ever
tried In this county ended with a ver-
dict for $4,000 and costs of Bult for
Miss Mary E. Carpenter, Syracuse
! N. Y.
There's vitality, snap and "go"
In a breakfast of
Grape-Nuts
and cream*
Why?
Because nature stores up
In wheat and barley
The Potassium Phosphate
In such form as to
Nourish brain and nerves.
The food expert who originated
Grape-Nuts
Retained this valuable
Element in the food.
"There's a Reason"
Read the famous little book,
"The Road to Wellville,"
Found in Packages.
P08TUM CEREAL COMPANY, Limited.
Haiti? Creek,
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Allan, John S. The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 19, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, July 29, 1910, newspaper, July 29, 1910; Norman, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc118328/m1/3/: accessed June 7, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.