The Leedy Times And Herald (Leedy, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 9, 1920 Page: 3 of 8
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THE LEEDEY TIMES
The House of
Whispers
“I AM IN TROUBLE”
Synopsis— Circumstance having
prevented Spalding Nelaon clerk
tram Joining the American force
going to France he le In a de-
epondent mood when b receive
an Invitation to dinner from hi
great-uncle Rufu Gaston On the
way to the house he meets under
peculiar circumstances a young
girl apparently In trouble to whom
he ha an opportunity to be of
light service She Uvea In the same
apartment building a Rufus Gas-
ton and h accompanies her to the
house Gaston and bis wife ar go-
ing to Maine for a trip and want'
to leave Nelson In charge of the
apartment He accepts Oaaton
and his wife tell their great-nephew
of mysterious noises— "whispers' —
which they have heard In the
house On hi way to the Gaston
apartment the next Sunday Nelson
again meets his accidental ac-
quaintance of a few days before
Barbara Bradford She urges him
not to allow the fact of their be-
ing acquainted to be known At
the apartment Nelson meets the
superintendent Wick and Instinc-
tively dislikes him In a wall safe
he finds a necklace of magnificent
E earls worth a small fortuna
testing Barbara In the hallway she
passes him without recognition
Dining In a restaurant be Is con-
scious of the unpleasant ecru tiny
of a stranger but a man whom he
had seen before Next day Nel-
son finds the pearl have disap-
peared from the wall safe His
first Idea of Informing the police
Is not acted upon because of pe-
culiar circumstances He has been
discharged from his position with-
out adequate explanation or reason
and feels himself involved In some-
thing of a mystery He decide to
conduct an Investigation himself
CHAPTER III— Continued
I dined In a little restaurant In one
of the side streets and walked home
Immediately on entering the apart-
ment I decided to put my money In
the wall safe There would-be less
temptation for me to apend It If I
carried only a little In my pocket
As I opened the safe by means of
the combination I made the astound
Ing discovery that one of the Jewel
cases had disappeared
And now I stood hesitating at the
telephone Self-protection bade me
notify neither the superintendent nor
the police Tet I must do something
The Jewels entrusted to my care had
been stolen The thief must be found
and the pearls recovered
Why should not I myself play the
detective 1 I had abundant leisure
now My great-uncle had Informed
me that there was something wrong
In the house and had charged me to
discover what It was Here was the
opportunity for me to fulfill the trust
be had Imposed on me
The thought flashed across my mind
too that perhaps the crafty old gen
tleman had deliberately planned the
disappearance of the gems Perhaps
he had devised an elaborate test to
see If I was honest If I was of thd
right caliber to be bis heir Maybe he
nd hit wife had not gone to Maine
at all They might even be quartered
In another apartment In this very
house surreptitiously entering when
they knew I was absent There real-
ly had been no necessity for them to
give me the combination of the safe
They need not have told me anything
shout the pearls I wondered If they
themselves might not have taken sway
the Jewel box Just to seo If I would
discover the loss and to ascertain
what I would do about It
Another theory suggested Itself My
nunt evidently prized her Jewels high
ly After they had started ahe might
have repented having left them behind
end have sent the old colored butler
back to get them He of course
would have a key to admit him and
they would have supplied him with
the safe combination as they bad me
Probably he had been told to leave
some message for me and bad forgot-
ten to do so More than likely In
day or two I would receive a letter
from old Kufua that would explain
everything
I waa glad now I had not notified
the superintendent nor tbs police My
second theory surely was far more log-
ical than the first- It seemed prepos-
terous that they would risk hundreds
of thousands of dollars' worth of gems
Just to test my honesty
8tlll I determined to make s thor-
ough Investigation If they had been
stolen I would set about In a scien-
tific way to discover the method of
the theft and to bring about restora-
tion 1 would keep my investigation
secret and If It turned out that the
pearls were safe no ooe would know
of my fright about the matter I be-
gan outlining my work as a“ detective
First I would examlna tbs safe
knob for possible finger prints
Second I would Interrogate Mrs
Burke I would watch her carefully
for any appearance of guilt I would
try without arousing her suspicions
to ascertain If ahe bad let her key
out of her possession
Third I would Insert an advertise-
ment offering reward for the return
of the Jewels so worded that only the
thief end myself would understand
Fourth 1 would try to locate the
Gastons and would question the hall
boys and telephone girt as to whether
they had surreptitiously returned
Fifth I must try and discover what
was In the mysterious letter that had
led to my discharge While this did
not seem to have any connection with
the other affairs that were troubling
me If I waa to remain In New York
and become - better acquainted with
Barbara Bradford as I fondly hoped
I meant to have nothing hanging over
me
I was about to get Into bed bad
turned out the light In fact when I
recalled the errand that had led me to
open the wall safe I had more than
two hundred dollars In my trousers
pocket and I purposed putting It
where It would be safe With the
feeling that If the Jewels had disap-
peared so might my money I pressed
the light button In the sitting room
and looked about for a hiding place
Recalling a custom of my mother’s
stepped over to the bookcase and tak-
ing a Macaulay's History Volume
Three from the shelf placed between
the leaves all of my money except
fifteen dollars No burglar was likely
to find It there
I extinguished the light and In the
darkness stepped back Into my bed-
room and stopped stock still
From somewhere In the room there
came three distinct taps Instinctive-
ly I crouched In an attitude of self-
defense and strained my ears to listen
My first Impression was that there
was someone in the room probably
the burglar I hesitated about turn-
ing on the light If be were armed
It would give him all the advantage
Breathlessly I listened Once more
there came three distinct raps this
time apparently from somewhere out-
side the room I wondered If It had
been sounds like these that bad so ter-
rified the old couple
Perhaps It waa the echo of someone
pounding In another apartment the
nolae being carried along by a water
pipe The thought that It might be
the crackling of some bidden steam or
refrigerating pipe suggested Itself
Both these theories I rejected The
sound whatever It was bad originated
close at hand
It came again This time I was cer-
tain that It was not due to footfalls
as I bad at first conjectured I was
able too to locate more closely the
direction from which It came - The
window at the foot of the bed stood
open and the sound seemed to float
In from somewhere outside I hurried
over to the window and thrust my
head out At first I could see noth-
ing but even as I looked a white arm
thrust forth from an adjacent window
on the same floor It held a riding
crop and reaching out as far as was
possible It rapped three times -on the
sill of my window
It dawned on mo at once that the
window next mast belong to the Brad-
ford apartment ’ It must be Miss
Bradford trying to signal to me
"Hello" I called ont softly
“Oh Is that you Mr Nelson t" a re-
lieved voice whispered “I thought
you would never hear I must
you"
"Why didn't you phone me?"
“I couldn't Someone might hear
me"
“Whst'e the matter?"
“I've had another letter”
"From those men In the park?"
"I suppose so"
"Tell me shout It"
1 can't now Can yon meet
somewhere tomorrow?"
"Wherever yon say"
"Do yon ride?"
"Tea Indeed"
Til be In the cross lane that leads
from McGowan's Pass tavern between
eight and eight-thirty”
Tit be there"
Whether or not she heard me I did
not know Rhe withdrew quickly
from the room se If someone bad en-
tered I waited there' In the window
for a full hour In case she should wish
to communicate with me again
By and by the light la her window
was extinguished but even then I sat
there at the window adjoining hoping
In vain that she would seek to renew
the conversation
When at last I got Into bed I was
In a Jubilant mood I had quite for-
given Miss Bradford for ratting me
when she met me In company with bar
By WILLIAM
JOHNSTON
Copyrlfht by
Little Brawo A Oo
mother and sister it was enough for
me to know that when trouble again
threatened her she had decided to
trust In me and had sought my aid
I fell asleep at last and slept for I
do not know how long Opening my
eyes In the darkness I seemed to feel
the presence of someone In the room
There was the sound of footfalls some-
where — muffled seemingly some dls
tance off I was almost certain I
could detect muttered words In a
curious detached state of mind I list-
ened wondering whether I was awake
or asleep The footsteps seemed to
come closer then recede The whis-
pering noise ceased I sprang np and
hastily lighting np all the rooms ex-
plored them thoroughly There was
no evidence anywhere of anyone’s
presence As I lay there thinking
about it I decided that my Illusion
must have been a dream due to my
thought of spirit rapptngs when I first
had heard Mias Bradford’s signal
I was still thinking about my expe-
rience when I awoke early -the next
morning Springing lightly ont of
bed I stopped In utter bewilderment
There In the center of the room on
the floor lay a small white folded slip
of paper It could not have been n
dream after alt I had heard foot-
steps and whispers I bad not Imag-
ined It Someone had been In the
room while I slept There was the
proof the note they bad dropped
Wondering If Mias Bradford had
found still another unusual way of
communicating with me I hastened to
pick up the folded paper that lay on
the floor On the outside It bore my
name In typewriting "Mr Spaldlug
Nelson"
With eager fingers I unfolded the
paper wondering what message It con-
tained As I read It I stood there
aghast It ran:
“Why didn’t yon teU the police
about the pearls?"
CHAPTER IV
I had twice traversed the cross lane
near McGowan's Pass tavern waiting
for Barbara Bradford Although It
had been my Intention to ride thither
I was amazed to learn on applying at
two of the stables near the park en-
trance to hire a horse that the few
they had there either were owned pri-
vately or had been already engaged
There was nothing for me to do but
to go to my rendezvous on foot I bad
almost despaired of Miss Bradford's
coming when I spied her cantering
slowly along the lane followed at
decorous distance by a groom She
was looking right and left and when
she saw me her face brightened but
she rode a few steps past me with no
sign of recognition I was wondering
what to make of this new slight when
she suddenly reined In and allowed
the groom to come up with her
"James” I heard her say to the
groom "my head aches and the rid-
ing Is making It worse Take the
horses back to the stable and I will
walk the rest of the way home”
"Very well Miss Bradford” he said
touching bis cap as he assisted her
to alight
She waited until he bad vanished
and then hastened to the bench where
I was seated one I bad pnrposely se-
lected because It was half bidden by
turn In the road and the branches
of a wide-spreading tree
She colored vividly aa I roes to
greet her with outstretched hand
“Oh Mr Nelson” she cried "I don’t
know what yon will think of me ask-
ing yon to meet me here I am In
trouble I moat tell someone I don’t
know what to dot”
"The only thing to do” I suggested
"Is to begin at the beginning and tell
me the whole atory I've alstera of my
own Just pretend yon are one of my
Olsten and let me help yon"
She looked at me thoughtfully
studying me as If questioning wheth-
er or not I was to be trusted and ap-
parently deciding In the affirmative
told me an amaslng story
"It's all about my sister Claire" she
began "She's five years older than
L Bhe's a lovely gtri but she’s— that
la she used to be— Impulsive roman-
tic and headstrong 8 be and my
mother never got along well together
and she waa sent sway to boarding
school One winter It was six years
ago mother waa In Europe end only
Dad and I were at home
She sighed sadly Evidently her
words were bringing back te her mo-
ments of heartache
"Te make a long story abort Claire
ran away from tbs school and married-married
a French chauffeur em-
ployed by a family la tha neighbor
hood ' She took me Into her confi-
dence a week later and I— well I told
dad There was a terrible time about
It alL Dad found out that her hus-
band was already married had a wife
and child right here In this city He
had the marriage annulled and man-
aged to keep everything ont of the pa-
pers He threatened Claire’s husband
with prison and made him go back to
France Dad was simply wonderful
No one knew anything about Claire's
escapade except oursoires the prin-
cipal of the school end tha Judge
down In Nassau county who ordered
the marriage annulled Dad kept moth-
er abroad until after It was all over
and to this day she never has heard
a word about It"
"Tour father must be a wonderful
man" I said enthusiastically
"He was" she said simply "He baa
been dead two years"
“Oh I’m so sorry” I cried “ I did
not know"
“If Dad were alive be would know
what to do Ton see when he died
there was not much money left We’re
really little better than paupers
We've been living from day to day on
our tiny capital and Mother has been
working every wire to arrange a good
match for Claire I wanted to do
something to go ont and earn a living
for myself but she never would con-
sent She Insisted I'd be damaging
Claire’s prospects it I went Into trade
as she calls It and I promised her I'd
do nothing until after Claire la safely
married"
“And la she to be married?" I asked
“She was to be but now I don’t
know She Is engaged to marry young
Harry D Thayer who Is worth a lot
of money but someone has found out
about her secret"
“How did they find out?” I asked
eagerly I understood now the myste-
rious meeting In the park that bad
brought me first Into touch with Bar-
bara Bradford Some band of rascals
was trying to blackmail Claire Brad-
ford and her slater was trying to save
her
“That’s the greatest mystery of all"
exclaimed Miss Bradford "Before
Dad died be turned over to me all the
papers about the annulment of Claire’s
marriage Somehow be seemed to
rely on me far more than on either
Mother or Claire He explained to
me the Importance of always keeping
them In case the past should ever
crop up but he charged me to see that
they always were safely pat away
where no one conld find them”
Where did you keep them?"
asked
In the wall safe In my sitting
room”
"In the wall safe!” 1 cried think-
ing In bewilderment of the coinci-
dence that these papers should have
bad a similar hiding place to the Gas-
ton Jewels which bad vanished so
strangely
Tea” she answered plainly puzzled
at my bewilderment "It was an ex-
cellent hiding place No one but my-
self bad the combination I don’t see
now who could have taken them
found the safe locked as It always
was"
“When did you first discover the pa-
pers were missing?"
“Let me see" she pondered
“Claire’s engagement was announced
at s dinner three weeks ago last
Thursday The newspapers on Sun-
day carried a brief notice of It Two
days later the first note came"
“What note?”
She reached Into the pocket of her
riding habit and drew forth a folded
slip of paper
“I brought It with me to show you
here- this Is the first one"
Like the mysterious note 1 myself
had received only the preceding night
this one was not Inclosed In an en-
velope It was Just a folded slip ad-
dressed In typewriting to "Miss Claire
Bradford” On the other side was this
message:
"What If Thayer knew about your
being married before? How much
will you give to get those papers
back?”
"Where did you get this?” I asked
"I found It on the floor of my bed-
room one morning when I got up late
I gave It to my sister without having
read It thinking she had dropped It
there 8he read It and screamed and
fainted Fortunately Mother was out
of the house at tha time Naturally I
read the note then I went to the
safe and found the documents gone
Claire has been nearly crazy ever
since She Insists that tt la all my
fault She says I ought to have de-
stroyed the papers bat I couldn’t
could I?"
“Of course not" I replied warmly
“Ton did quite right In keeping them
It was not your fault they
stolen”
“1 couldn’t destroy them Dad had
told me to keep them" she said simply
"What did you do then? Did you
tell your mother?"
Barbara has heard the
whispers too
(TO BE CONTINUED
TOLD BY DODSON
You Don’t Need to Sicken Gripe
or Salivate Yourself to
Start Liver
Tou’re bilious sluggish constipated
Ton feel headachy your stomach may
be sour your breath bad your akin -
sallow and you believe you need vile
dangerous calomel to start liver and '
bowels
Here’i my guarantee 1 Ask your drug-
gist for a bottle of Dodson’s Liver
Tone and take s spoonful tonight U It
doesn’t start your liver and straighten
you right up better than calomel and
without griping or making you sick 1
want you to go back to the store and -get
your money
Take calomel today and tomorrow
you will feel weak and sick and nau-
seated Don’t lose a day Taka a
spoonful of harmless vegetable Dod-'
son’s Liver Tone tonight and wake np
feeling splendid It Is perfectly harm-
less so give it to your children any
time It can’t salivate — Adv
Wrong Again
“Now Just listen to our new neigh--
bor talking to her baby" said Mr Dob-
walte who was sitting by an open
window of his apartment "That’s
what I call mother love"
“Ton ought to see her ’baby'” re-
plied Mrs Dubwalte with a sniff
That Ittsy plttsy pecloua’ ahe’s rav-
ing about runs around on four legs" -—
Birmingham Age-Herald
MOTHER)
California Syrup of Figs’
Child’s Best Laxative
Accept "California" Syrup of Figs
only— look for the name California on
the package then yon are sure your
child is having the best and most harm-
less physic for the little stomach liver
and bowels Children love Its fruity
taste Full directions on each bottle
Ton must say "California"— Adv
Naturae New Role -
Robert age three bad been put to
bed at the usual time but because of
long afternoon nap the sandman
was slow in appearing At the end
of a half hour of pleading to be per-
mitted to come downstairs and play
bis sister came Into the room
"Now you He down there and go to
sleep” she commanded
“Well alster nature won’t let me" '
he nnswered between Bobs — Indlanap-
oils News
"Cold in the Head”
le an acuta attack of Nasal Catarrh’
Thaw subject to frequent "colda in tba
head" -111 find that tbe use of HAUL'S
CATARRH MEDICINE will build up the
hratem cleanse tbe Blood and render
them less liable to colda Repeated at-
tacks of Acute Catarrh may lead to
Chronic Catarrh
HALL’S CATARRH MEDICINE la
taken Internally and acta through the '
Blood on tha Mucous Surfaces of the Sys-
tem thus reducing the Inflammation and
restoring normal conditions
AU Druggists Circular free
F J Cheney A Co Toledo Ohkk
Adapting Natural Power -
With the ever-increasing supply of
electrical energy furnished by the de-
velopment of Switzerland's vast re-
sources in water power consideration
of various electrically driven house-
hold appliances Is growing from jreor
to year reports Consul Francis It
Stewart Berne Up to the present
time the use of washing machines In
Switzerland has been very limited and
electrically driven machines have been
utilized only In public laundries
It There Enough to Taste?
"How does your wife like having a
kitchenette?"
"Fine! Ton should taste some eC
her m ealettes"
PE
Morning
eepYbur Eyes
Clean — Clear s Health)’
’
O
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Bradshaw, A. C. The Leedy Times And Herald (Leedy, Okla.), Vol. 17, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 9, 1920, newspaper, September 9, 1920; Leedy, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1756682/m1/3/: accessed March 29, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.