The Circular Staircase

erful enough all day, allowed his spirits to go down with the sun. He had a habit of watching the cor

r soles in assorted sizes-I always send knitted slippers to the Old Ladies' Home at Christmas-and now I sorted over the wools with a grim determination not to think about the

s was wiping silver and the air was heavy with tobacco smoke.

id, "you have

nce itself. "It's on my coat, ma'

ing cloth. Thomas gave a clutch at his coat, whirled to the sink, filled a tumbl

smoke, you must; but don't stick a lighted pipe in your pocket again. Your skin's your own: you can blister it i

he said, but he

d indifferently. The old man's eyes

g his head. "Somethin's goin' to happen, sure. You ain't took

ks have to stop, don't th

wife died. And that ain't all,-no MA'M. Last three nights I slep' in this place, after the electrics went out I had a token. My oil lamp was full of oil, but it kep' goin' out, do what I w

umbling over his dishes. Later on I heard a crash from the pantry, and Liddy reported that Beulah, who is coal black, had darted

for good. Gertrude stood smiling in the hall, with her hat quite over one ear, and her hair in every direction under her pink veil. Gertrude is a very pretty girl, no matter how h

ur affections and your Saturday-to-Monday list. Let me present John Bailey, only

iled his teeth were above the average. One never knows why certain men cling to a messy upper lip that must get into things, any more than one understands some women building up their hair on wire

excitement as possible. After all, what had I to tell? An inquisitive face peering in at a window; a crash in the night; a scratch or two on the stairs, and

been hard to persuade-probably Gertrude knew why-and they had carried him off triumphantly. I roused Liddy to get them something to eat-Thomas was beyond reach in the lodge-and paid no attention to her evident terror of the kitchen regions. Then I went to be

come from just outside my door. For a moment I could not move. Then-I heard Gertrud

cried hysterically. "Some

ude with shaking hands was lighting a lamp. Then we opened the door into the hall, where, crowded on the upper landing of the stairs, the maids,

on a chair and sat th

oom and knocked; then I pushed the door open

Liddy, we went there. Like Halsey's, it had not been occupied! Gert

rm and dragged me toward the stairs. "They may only be hurt, and

e found the living-room and the drawing-room undisturbed. Somehow I felt that whatever we found would be in the card-room or on the staircase, and nothing but the fear that Halsey was in danger drove me on; with every step my knees seeme

th a gasping sob. "Jack

could see his white face, and then she drew a deep breath and dropped limply to her knees. It was the body of a man