The Wister News (Wister, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 1910 Page: 2 of 8
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THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE
CATARRH OF THE KIDNEYS
FULLY RECOVERED
BKmary ♦>
^ ROBERTS
❖ RINfflART
M-U/STRAVONS BY
tarrfrfrrr -rr$ by «<imj -ma**./.-a r
SYNOPSIS.
Miss Innes. spinster and guardian of
Gertrude and Halsey, established summer
headquarters at Sunnyslde. The,servants
desert. Gertrude and Halsey arrive with
Jack Bailey. The house was awakened by
a revolver shot and Arnold Armstrong
was found shot to death In the hall. Miss
Innes found Halsey'* revolver on tho
lawn. He and Jack Bailey had disap-
peared. Gertrude revealed that she was
engaged to Jack Bailey, with whom she
talked in the billiard room shortly before
the murder. Detective Jamieson accUS< -1
Miss Innes of holding back evidence. He
imprisoned an intruder in an empty room.
The prisoner escaned. Gertrude was sus-
pected because or an injured foot. Hal-
sey reappears and says he and Bailey
were called away by a telegram. Cashier
Bailey of Paul Armstrong's bank, de-
funct, was arrested for embezzlement.
Paul Armstrong's death was announced.
Halsey's tlancee. Louise Armstrong, told
Halsey that while she still loved him, she
was to marry another. It developed that
Dr. Walker was the man. Louise was
found at the bottom of the circular stair-
case. Recovering consciousness, she said
something had brushed by her on the
•tairway and she fainted. Bailey is sus-
pected of Armstrong's murder. After
'"seeing a ghost," Thomas, the lodgekeep-
•r, was found dead with a slip in his
pocket bearing the name of "Lucien Wal-
lace." Dr. Walker asked Miss Innes to
vacate in favor of Mrs. Armstrong. She
refused. A note from Bailey to Gertrude
arranging a meeting at night was found.
CHAPTER XXI—Continued.
"Grossmutter," he said. And I saw
Mr. Jamieson s eyebrows go up.
"German," he commented. "Well,
young man, you don't seem to know
much about yourself."
"I've tried It all the week," Mrs.
Tato broke in. "The boys knows a
word or two of German, but he doesn't
know where he lived, or anything
about ihimself."
Mr. Jamieson wrote something on a
card and gave It to her.
"Mrs. Tate," he said, "I want you
to do something. Here is some money
for the telephone call. The instant
the boy's mother appears here, call up
that number and ask for the person
whose name is there. You can run
Across to the drug store on an errand
and do it quietly. Just say, 'The lady
has come.'"
" 'The lady has come,'" repeated
Mrs. Tate. "Very well, sir, and I hope
It will be soon. The milk bill alone
ia almost double what It was."
"How much Is the child's board?" I
asked.
"Three dollars a week, including bis
washing."
"Very well," I 6ald. "Now, Mrs.
Tate, I am going to pay last week's
board and a week in advance. If the
mother comes she Is to know nothing
of this visit—absolutely not a word,
and, In return for your silence, you
may use this money for—something
for your own children."
Her tired, faded face lighted up, and
I saw her glance at the little Tates'
small feet. Shoes, I divined—the feet
of the genteel poor being almost as ex-
pensive as their stomachs.
As we went back Mr. Jamieson
made only one remark; I think he
was laboring under the weight of a
great disappointment.
"Is King's a children's outfitting
place?" he asked.
"Not especially. It is a general de-
partment store."
He was silent after that, but he
went to the telephone as soon as we
got home, and called up King & Co. In
the city.
After a time he got the general
manager, and they talked for some
time. When Mr. Jamieson hung up
the receiver he turned to me.
"The plot thickens," he said with
his ready smile. "There are four
women named Wallace at King's, none
of them married, and none over 20. I
think I shall go up to the city to-night.
I want to go to the Children's hospital.
But before I go, Miss Innes, I wish you
would be more frank with me than
you have been yet. I want you to
show me the revolver you picked up
in the tulip bed."
So he had known all along!
"It was a revolver, Mr. Jamieson," I
admitted, cornered at last, "but I can-
not show It to you. It is r.ot in my
possession."
CHAPTER XXII.
A Ladder Out of Place.
At dinner Mr. Jamieson suggested
sending a man out in his place for a
couple of days, but Halsey was cer-
tain there would be nothing more,
and felt that he and Alex could man-
age the situation. The detective went
back to town early in the evening, and
by nine o'clock Halsey, who had been
playing golf—as a man does anything
to take his mind away from trouble—
was sleeping soundly on the big leath-
er davenport In the living room.
I sat and knitted, pretending not to
notice when Gertrude got up and wan-
dered out into the starlight. As soon
as I was satisfied that she had gone,
however, I went out cautiously. I had
bo Intention of eaves-dropping, but I
wanted to be certain that it was Jack
Bailey she was meeting. Too many
things had occurred in which Ger-
trude was, or appeared to be, involved,
to allow anything to be left in ques-
tion.
I went slowly across the lawn, skir-
ed the hedge to a break not far from
the lodge, and found myself on the
open road. Perhaps 100 feet to the
left the path led across the valley to
the Country club, and only a little
way off was the foot-bridge over Cas-
anova creek. But just as I was about
to turn down the path I heard steps
coming toward me, and I shrank into
the bushes. It was Gertrude, going
back quickly toward the house.
1 was surprised. I waited until she
had had time to get almost to the
house before I started. And then I
stepped back again into the shadows
The reason why Gertrude had not
kept her tryst was evident. Leaning
on the parapet of the bridge In tb«
moonlight, and smoking a pipe, was
Alex, the gardener. I could have
throttled Liddy for her carelessness
In reading the torn note where he
could hear. And I could cheerfully
have choked Alex to death for his
audacity.
Hut there was no help for It; 1
turned and followed Gertrude slowly
back to the house.
The frequent invasions of the house
had effectually prevented any relaxa-
tion after dusk. We had redoubled our
vigilance as to bolts and window-
locks, but, as Mr. Jamieson had sug-
gested, we allowed the door at the
east entry to remain as before, locked
by the Yale lock only. To provide only
one possible entrance for the Invader,
and to keep a constant guard in the
dark at the foot of the circular stair-
case, seemed to be the only method.
In the absence of the detective,
Alex and Halsey arranged to change
off, Ilalsey to be on duty from ten to
two, and Alex from two until six.
Each man was armed, and, as an ad-
ditional precaution, the one off duty
slept in a room near the,head of the
circular staircase and kept his door
open, to be ready for emergency.
These arrangements were carefully
kept from the servants, who were only
commencing to sleep at night, and
who retired, one and all, with barred
doors and lamps that burned full until
morning.
The house was quiet again Wednes-
day night. It was almost a week since
Louise had encountered some one on
the stairs, and it was four days since
the discovery of the hole in the trunk-
room wall. Arnold Armstrong and
his father rested side by side in the
Casanova churchyard* and at the Zion
African church, on the hill, a new
mound marked the last resting-place
of poor Thomas.
Louise was with her mother in
town, and, beyond a polite note of
thanks to me, we had heard nothing
from her. Dr. Walker had taken up
his practice again, and we saw him
now and then flying along the road,
always at top speed. The murder of
Arnold Armstrong was still unavenged,
and I remained firm In the position I
had taken—to stay at Sunnyside until
the thing was at least partly cleared.
And yet, for all Its quiet, it was on
Wednesday night that perhaps the
boldest attempt was made to enter
the house. Qn Thursday afternoon
the laundress sent word she would
like to speak to me, and I saw her in
my private sitting room, a small room
beyond the dressing room.
Mary Anne was embarrassed. She
had rolled down her sleeves and tried
a white apron around her waist, and
she stood making folds in it with fin-
gers that were red and shiny from her
soap-suds.
"Well, Mary," I said encouragingly,
"what's the matter? Don't dare to
tell me the soap Is out."
"No, ma'am, Miss Innes." She had
a nervous habit of looking first at my
one eye and then at the other, her
own optics shifting ceaselessly, right
eye, left eye, right eye, until I found
myself doing the same thing. "No,
ma'am. 1 was askin' did you want the
ladder left up the clothes chute?"
"The what?" I screeched, and was
sorry the next minute. Seeing her
suspicions were verified, Mary Anne
had gone white, and stood with her
eyes shifting more wildly than ever.
"There's a ladder up the clothes
chute, Miss Innes," she said. "It's
up that tight I can't move It, and I
didn't like to ask for help until I spoke
to you."
It was useless to dissemble; Mary
Anne knew now as well as I did that
the ladder had no business to be
there. I did the best I could, how-
ever. I put her on the defensive at
once.
"Then you didn't lock the laundry
last night?"
"I locked it tight, and put the key
in the kitchen on its nail."
"Very well, then you forgot a win-
dow."
Mary Anne hesitated. •
"Yes'm," she said at last, "I thought
I locked them all, but there was one
open this morning."
I went out of the room and down
the hall, followed by Mary Anne. The
door into the clothes chute was se-
curely bolted, and when I opened it
I saw the evidence of the woman's
story. A pruning ladder had been
brought from where it had lain
against the stable and now stood up-
right In the clothes shaft, Its end rest-
ing against the wall between the first
and second floors.
I turned to Mary.
"This is due to your carelessness,"
I said. "If we had all been murdered
In our beds It would have been your
fault." She shivered. "Now, not a
word of this through the fcouse, and
send Alex to me."
The effect on Alex was to make him
apoplectic with rage, and with it all I
fancied there was an element of satis-
faction. As I look back, so many
things are plain to me that I wonder
I could not see at the time. It is all
known now, and yet the whole thing
was so remarkable that perhaps my
stupidity was excusable.
Alex leaned down the chute and ex-
amined the ladder carefully.
"It Is caught," he said with a grim
smile. "The fools, to have left a
warning like that! The only trouble
Is, Miss Innes, they won't be apt to
come back for a while."
"I shouldn't regard that In the light
of a calamity," I replied.
Until late that evening Halsey and
Alex worked at the chute. They
forced down the ladder at last, and
put a new bolt on the door. As for
myself, I sat and wondered if I had
a deadly enemy, intent on my destruc-
tion.
I was growing more and more nerv-
ous. Liddy had given up all pretense
at bravery, and slept regularly In my
dressing room on the couch, with a
prayer-book and a game knife from
the kitchen under her pillow, thus pre-
paring for both the natural and the
supernatural. That was the way
things stood that Thursday night,
when I myself took a hand In the
struggle.
CHAPTER XXIII.
While the Stables Burned.
About nine o'clock that night Liddy
came Into the living room and re-
ported that one of the housemaids de-
clared she had seen two men slip
around the corner of the stable. Ger-
trude had been sitting staring in front
of her, jumping at every sound. Now
she turned on Liddy pettishly.
"I declare, Liddy," she said, "you
are a bundle of nerves. What If Eliza
did see some men around the stable?
It may have been Warner and Alex."
"Warner Is In the kitchen, miss,"
Mary Anne Had Gone White.
Liddy said with dignity. "And If you
had come through what I have, you
would be a bundle of nerves, too. Miss
Rachel, I'd be thankful if you'd give
me my month's wages to-morrow. I'll
be going to my sister's."
"Very well," I said, to her evident
amazement. "I will make out the
check. Warner can take you down to
the noon train."
Liddy's face was really funny.
"You'll have a nice time at your
sister's," I went on. "Five children,
"hasn't she?"
"That's it," Liddy said, suddenly
bursting Into tears. "Send me away,
after all these years, and your new
shawl only half done, and nobody
knowln' how to fix the water for your
bath."
"It's time I learned to prepare my
own bath." I was knitting compla-
cently. But Gertrude got up and put
her arras around Liddy's shaking
shoulders.
"You are two big babies," she said
soothingly. "Neither one of you could
get along for an hour without the oth-
er. So stop quarreling and be good.
Liddy, go right up and lay out aunty's
night things. She Is going to bed
early."
After Liddy had gone I began to
think about the men at the stable, and
I grew more and more anxious. Hal-
sey was aimlessly knocking the bil-
liard balls around In the billiard room,
and I called to him.
"Halsey," I said when he sauntered
in, "is there a policeman in Casa-
nova?"
"Constable," he said laconically
"veteran of the war, one arm; in of-
fice to conciliate the G. A. R. element
Why?"
"Because I am uneasy tonight."
And I told him what Liddy had said.
"Is there any one you can think of
who could be relied on to watch the
outside of the house to-night?"
"We might get Sam Dohannon from
the club," he said thoughtfully. "It
wouldn't be a bad scheme. He's a
smart darky, and with his mouth shut
and his shirt-front covered, you could-
n't see him a yard off in the dark."
Halsey conferred with Alex, and
the result, in an hour, was Sam. His
Instructions were simple. There had
been numerous attempts to break into
the house; it was the intention, not
to drive intruders away, but to cap-
ture them. If Sam saw anything sus-
picious outside, he was to tap at the
east entry, where Alex and Halsey
were to alternate In keeping watch
through the night.
As before, Halsey watched the east
entry from ten until two. He had an
eye to comfort, and he kept vigil In a
heavy oak chair, very large and deep.
We went upstairs rather early, and
through the open door Gertrude and I
kept up a running fire of conversation.
Liddy was brushing my hair, and Ger-
trude was doing her own, with a long
free sweep of her strong, round arms.
"Did you know Mrs. Armstrong and
Louise are In the village?" e'je called.
"No," I replied, startled. "How did
you hear it?"
"I met the oldest Stewart girl to-
day, the doctor's daughter, and she
told me they had not gone back to
town after the funeral. They went di-
rectly to that little ye low house next
to Dr. Walker's, and are apparently
settled there. They took the house
furnished for the summer."
"Why, it's a bandbox," I said. "I
can't Imagine Fanny Armstrong In
such a place."
"It'8 true, nevertheless. Ella Stew-
art says Mrs. Armstrong has aged ter-
ribly, and looks as if she is hardly
able to walk."
I lay and thought over some of
these things until midnight. The elec-
tric lights went out then, fading slow-
ly until there was only a red-hot loop
to be seen in the bulbs, and then even
that died away and we were embarked
on the darkness of another night
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Ingenious Burglar Alarm.
The simple burglar alarm that has
been under test by the police authori-
ties In Dresden and Berlin seems to
have resisted all attempts to pass
without giving warning. It consists
of a curtain or portiere, wired with
fine conductors connected at certain
places with metal knobs, and when
this is drawn across the door or win-
dow, or around the safe, the slightest
disturbance throws the knobs out of
contact and breaks the electric cir-
cuit. The alarm may be signalled
by a series of bells, lights, or other
electric appliances, either on the
premises or at the police station.
Cutting the material or interfering
with it in the slightest degree, has In-
stant Effect, and the wiliest burglar is
unable to enter the premises having
this apparently trifling protection
without giving notice.
Mrs. Maria Gonpoll, Mayer. Minn.,
| Writes the following:
I "1 must inform you that I recovered
my health after using your valuable
j medicine, Peruna.
j "I had suffered with catnrrh of the
kidneys and bowels, but now I am
mtieh better and feel real strong."
Making Him Go.
"I don't think I shall go to the
poker party to-night"
"That's one of the truest thinks you
have done for quite awhile."
"Jinx owes me $5 which he was to
pay me at the party to-night, and
which I had decided to give to you to
go shopping with, but I am really too
tired to go out; guess I'll let It go this
time."
"That is just like you! If it was
anything you wanted to do you would
go in a minute, but when it is some-
thing for your wife you are too tired!
You will go to that poker party to-
night or you will hear from me!"
Marvels of Modern Surgery.
Knife operations on the stomach
have given a death rate of from one
to 20 per cent., against 20 to 40 per
cent, ten years ago. Cutting open
the upper abdomen, splitting the
stomach open and turning it wrong
side out, searching for cancers and
ulcers, has become a not uncommon
operation, often followed by great
cures and benefits, and is largely an
American specialty. — New York
Press.
Make the Liver
Do its Duty
Nine times in ten when the liver is right the
stomach and bowels are right
CARTER'S LITTLE
LIVER PILLS
gently but firmly com^
pel a lazy liver to
do its duty.
Caret Con*.
stipation.
Indiges-
tion,
Sick
Headache, and Distress after Eating.
Small Pill, Small Dot*. Small Pric*
Genuine munbeu Signature
THE RIVAL CAPTIANS.
Carters
pills.
Chlmmle—G'wan, you're no ball
player. Yer couldn't ketch a foul if
It was moultln'!
Patsy—Gittout, you couldn't ketch
a fly if It was stuck on sticky fly-pa-
per till it was dead as merlasses!
An Exacting Personage.
"I suppose you find life easier
since the summer boarders have
gone?"
"Nope," replied Farmer Comtossel.;
"we're workln' an' worryln' just as
much as ever tryln' to keep the hired
man contented."
The Family Growler.
"Why are you weeping, little boy?"
"I broke de pitcher."
"Well, there's no use crying over
spilt milk."
"G'wan! Dis Vuz beer."—Louisville
Courier-Journal.
WISE WORDS.
A Physician on Food.
A physician, of Portland, Oregon,
has views about food. He says:
"I have always believed that the
duty of the physician does not cease
with treating the 6ick, but that we
owe it to humanity to leach them how
to protect their health, especially by
hygienic and dietetic laws.
"With such a feeling as to my duty
I take great pleasure in saying to the
public that in my own experience and
also from personal observation I have
found no food equal to Grape-Nuts,
and that I find there is almost no limit
to the great benefits this food will
bring when used In all cases of sick-
ness and convalescence.
"It is my experience that no physi-
cal condition forbids the use of Grape-
Nuts. To persons In health there is
nothing so nourishing and acceptable
to the stomach, especially at break-
fast, to start the machinery of the hu-
man system on the day's work.
"In cases of indigestion 1 know that
a complete breakfast can be made of
Grape-Nuts and cream and I think It Is
not advisable to overload the stomach
at the morning meal. I also know the
great value of Grape-Nuts when the
stomach Is too weak to digest other
food.
"This is written after an experience
of more than 20 years, treating all
manner of chronic and acute diseases,
and the letter Is written voluntarily
on my part without any request for it."
Read the little book, "The Road to
Wsllvllle," in pkgs. "There's a Reason."
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Harder, A. A. The Wister News (Wister, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, December 2, 1910, newspaper, December 2, 1910; Wister, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc131679/m1/2/?q=wichita+falls: accessed June 20, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.