Evening Star Newspaper, September 11, 1929, Page 28

The Door of Death By John Esteven 3 . North American ' N ropolitan (Coprright 1939, Nor Berican, Negomaper fwmm uumu. sYNopsis. known_to be w red. Circum: band, Pry orse, a, but refubes the Or. Ames, a_irien an’s sister, Eleanor ilty, Norse de- v e Teceives " ot 3 es a bearing Ballion’s signature, In which n?r‘i: suspect admits nd sa ome Ballion and Miss Graham are o Presses him. Hall-heartedly . 73 aid Norse in a fi et s sl investigation “that the ontinued From Yesterday's Star.) <ot l It was not coolness so much as an alert and critical appraisal; the sort Biven to those who, from casual ac- quaintances, are on the point of becom- ing factors in our intimate concerns. But, en these concerns revolve about A& young and attractive woman, there is ‘apt to be more suspicion (han be- | neyolence in the scrutiny, and more | Jealousy than either. And somehow I had the intuition that Ballion's jealousy could be scathing and relentless, that it was safer to filch bare-handed the quarry of a lion than give an impression here of intruding. Not that I admired him the less for this—it was merely an aspeet of his character and energy; nor, above all, could I blame him; but, as I had not the slightest desire to intrude, his pos- sible uneasiness left me embarrassed. When we dropped Norse at the police offices, he gave me a suitably veiled warning. | “How long,” he asked, “will it take | before Anne Roderick can be moved?” And, when answered doubtfully, he exclaimed: “Poor Eleanor, she's been under a dreadful strain, and Celia's burial today means a new effort. I hope you'll see that she gets away from Greyhouse as soon as possible.” I replied that I had urged her to leave, that she needed a change badly, and that T would do my best. i been there a year,” he went on, “since Celia’s condition grew worse. So far, I've been able to take her out a good deal, and she's had some distraction; but now that's im- possible. The place will seem a prison to her, and I don’t want her to detest it, because (this is strictly- between vou and me) we expect to live to- gether there some day.” I congratulated him with real feeling, NINTH INSTALLMENT. PELT, rather than observed, a change in Carl Ballion's attitude as the three of us drove into town. %, | long . ineonvenlenced. Canti | you_there. d | me know. And, at any s | to_exercise (rflnd,lxoluwrvulnn. | denied even the solace of bed. for if there was ever & man who, by reason of personal charm and attain- Ovwp Gourp said... “write whatever you please, - Floyd Gibbons™ “. .. go out and watch New York’s famous ‘Old Seventh’ Regiment take the concealed name cigarette test. We will publish your eye-witness story word for word”. . . So here it is. ice.) 5 ments, deserved . Eieanor Graham, it Was he. I think my manner reassured him. He thanked me for ata) at Greyhouse; but hoped I would not be "Of course, I feel safef in havin, If I can-do anything, le rate, I'll be out it the tmpiitatin, ui mp] n, perhaps fanci- ful on my part, was Lh:t thllnlended He need not, wever, have been concerned. Now that, so to speak, the vague allurement of & doubt had passed from my interest in Eleanor, I was consclous of my nightly attendance at Greyhouse as an act of professional al- trulsm. And that is distinctly a mild emotion. Indeed, that night hard day of office work, visits, and hos- pital engagements, I felt a growing dis- relish toward returning to the solitary mansion. " Apart from the crime and' sorrow that darkened it, I was consclous of an atmosphere of menace peculiar to the place, which had impressed me on the evening of my first arrival. I believed that, even under normal circumstances, Greyhouse would have produced the effect of detachment and mystery. Never had the club presented itself as more cozv and human; never had I a stronger inclination for the company of my fellow men than to- night as I motored out along the country highroad. No doubt, because of Mrs, Ballion’s funeral that after- noon, Eleanor would leave me to dine in solitary state under the ministra- tions of the sphinx-like Hasta, and afterward I would sit by myself in the eat hall before the stone fireplace. 1 could seek amusement in the books or other curios of Francis Balllon's museum—T shuddered at the notion. Then, top, after a gloomy evening, there was this fantastic midnight visit of Norse’s to watch for, so that ; T el no little ill-used and put upadlg by the whole arrangement—an attitudé that, if compared with my alacrity at Elean- or's request of the morning, will indi- cate what difference there is between sentimental interest and mere friend- ship. It was with leaden resignation that I handed my valise to Hasta and climbed the wide staircase to my room. Anne Roderick’s conditfon had re- mained unaltered during the day. The nurse I had sent was in attendance, and I found Eleanor at the bedside. It was evident that the day, with its last ministry to Celia Ballion, had been hard; ‘and, as I had supposed, she preferred to dine alone. Therefore, my forebodings being ful- filled, I sat by myself, watching Hasta glide forth and backe in the dim ex- panses of the dining-room. Beset by | the silence, I even attempted conver- sation with him, but he remained politely. uncommunicative, and I was By Floyd Gibbons Camp SMiTH, Peekekill, N. Y., Aug. 17th.—I have shared the soldier’s cigarette in pretty near- ly every corner of the world, and I know how set in his ways an army man can get when it comes to knowing what smoke he likes. So, frankly, the idea that a two year old cigarette—even if it did have the name OLD GOLD— could win this test over three old time brandsseemed unbelievable. But the thing worked out. At Camp Smith, where T witnessed the test, OLD GOLD put the bee on 506 Yanks of the Old Seventh New York Regiment. The Old Seventh went OLD GOLD with 195 bull’s-eyes, as against 144 for the next brand, with the two other old timers rating scores of 81 and 86. That’s the target tally for the 506 doughboys who stood on the smoking line and took drags on each of the four masked ciga- rettes. What's more, this con- cealed name test is as square as a regimental parade ground. h(&.my'ne:; , I use the word advis- differen by mere me, as if I myself had & con: in the mind of some one ejse, And this mind exerted hypnotic press It wes as if this agency, or whatever one might call it, were bent on dis- solying me in its own thought pros cesses, making me one with itself—just as in a crowd individual psychology is dominated and absorbed that of the 5 I .found .myself reacting inst it in a sort of panic, as if my individu- ality were at stake. But the pressure continued; I lost headway, as if against an unremitting undertow. For in- stance, it was with a sense of sur- render, of having the strange impres- sion thrust upon that I became conscious of a strange famillarity in my surroundings—the kind of parm. nesia that induces a bellef that one has seen an absolutely new place be- fore; only here the impression was more vivid, and resembled the recogni- tion of a formerly well-known scene that has remained unvisited for many years. I say this conviction impressed itself as something foreign to my own mind, just as one succumbs to echloroform. I could not rid myself of it by any argument, I repeated in vain that Greyhouse was comparatively modern, that 1 had not set foot in it before two nights ago; but, for all that, the sense of an unwelcome intimacy con- tinued, and at length I was forced to | set it down as a result of fatigue or | solitude, and accept it. This, however, | was not enough. One breach, as it were, having been made in my resistence, | the invading current penetrated deeper. | I was startled during the evening by | ideas that I could have sworn were not | mine, that bore no resemblance to my | usual thought, d that I resented | involuntarily as an intrusion from | without, but could not expel, As an instance of this, I became suddenly aware that I should like to possess Greyhouse, or rather subject myselt to it, be possessed by it—a most outrageous notion, because at the same time I knew that I loathed the place, that 1t contradicted every taste I had with regard to coziness and home-like attraction; but, none the less, this idi- otic craving insinuated and persisted, | wresting away, 50 to speak, a certain area of thought. Aganist this fantastic imposition from nowhere my mind continued to struggle. I recalled in succession the day’s events, what patients I had vis- ited, what were tomorrow’s problems; and yet, at the end of every avenue, I found myself back at Greyhouse. After all, even Norse's untimely visit at 1 o'clock would be a relief. What, I wondered, did it portend? What were the reasons for his secrecy? He ad- | mitted himself that everything had bee: satisfactorily explained by Ballion statement, but had he further sus picions, in spite of it? Then of what, or whom? Of Hasta? | I watched the buytler moving to and | fro, competent, silent—a noiseless man, | who accorded with the statelines: SMOOTHER AND BETTER! . . .* fi*mmm?;-rmmummm:udu-p his complete orchestra, every e wround him like its own shadow. He kept his eyes lowered, but one knew that he observed everything. His step was like the easy swing of a panther. If there were any one left to suspect, in view of Ballion's confessions, surely this was he, At the conclusion of din- ner, I saw him lift my chair of mas- | sive walnut with one Rand, as if it had been a feather, and place it against the wall. It would have taken my entire stren; - 1 spent an hour afterward before the fire, uneasy and depressed. Not for a moment could I rid myself of the im- pression already described—that sense of being observed and mentally in- vaded. The stroke of ten was an ex- cuse to go up for a final visit to my patient, She was asleep. Eleanor had retired, and, having instructed the nurse to call me if necessary, I went back to the gloomily splendid room I had occupled on my first night at Greyhouse. . There remained three hours until Norse's arrival. Somehow or other, I got through them, although in a feverish tedium I should not like to repeat. The cir< cumstances of my last vigil there were too recent, the identity of hour and glnce evoked too clearly those other ours with their grim aftermath. I could not wholly prevent a return of the former apprehension, and feared without reason to fear. What was it that haunted me? The house itself, or the dense silence? My head throb- bed, as if worn out in its useless strug- gle against nothingness, At 1 o'clock I turned out the light and waited in darkness near the win- Some time passed. Then, a startlingly distinct, it flared ane gone. I replled with the covenanted , | above all, signal, then opened my door quietly, :flmwtammmflm. We were like boys at of the.lantern, I ing no little asl it, when sud enl‘y I was not the only one house. Unmistakably, some one was moving in_the hall below. There was a night-lamp on the stair landing, and I had about reached this when I heard the first sound. Advanc- ing now with still greater caution, I stood looking down along the flight of steps into the hall. There also a single light transformed, though dimly enough, the space below to a kind of spectral chiaroscuro. And at the foot of the stairs stood the figure of a man. When I first caught sight of him, his head was turned toward the li- brary doors, and almost at once he himself moved in that direction. I heard him almost inaudibly shutting the doors, and concluded that he had come way, but, as the locks were not yet repaired, they had probably swung ajar, and he wished to léave no sign e. In this I judged cor- immediately afterward, astir glide toward the light and heard the click of an electric swith, Beneath me now extended a well of darkness, I felt instinctively that he was again ap- proaching the stairs. But who was he? Had Nourse after 1l found some entrance to the house, and was he now coming to meet me? That seemed im) ible, because I had seen the flash of his lamp outside only a minute ago. Then who else, and, th what purpose, did he visit Francis Ballion’s study at thjs hour? —and it ought to be plain to everybody that now is the time to build. Plenty of material on hand; plenty of men to do the work; plenty of demand for houses; banks will listen to reason; prices down where a dollar can whisper in their ear—and the welcome sign on our front door. Come in or call up. Galliher & Huguely, Inc. Sherman Ave. and W St. NN\W. North 0486 Was this a reenactment of that night? Was it the strangler fresh from his grave, ed play his part once more and stealing now to a ghostly victim? Involun- tarily I shrank back along the balus- The night-lamp was so arranged as to light enly the corridor; it !l‘z't‘t the staircase in complete darkness. But through the darkness some one was ap- {P"And now occurred the these urre e first of hallucinations (I have no other word) - Dec. 1600 2 rms., kitchen, bath and dinette 4 rms., r. h., kit., dinette Eugene National 7062 1 felt not Gnreasonably a chill of | that miliar, it to |I had stood before as sentinel m:hr:- 1616 Sixteenth Street FAIR DIANA VICTOR. il iR ¥ r - ing a stairway at night, that I had bl e il waited as now, peering ih vain at the | tures Champagne Stakes at 5 to 2. coming an AL le assassin. > sense of craft and stealth, DO(N’?AS'K‘!;! England;, ';:tnu::: ml’m’:mlmmm t bef 1’:‘"}..‘” Dians, 't_modfll ofwbw'z 2 3 al -‘before - pened, 1 knew what would occur. | the Champagne stakes n today by a short head from the Aga Khan Stable’s Blen- A sudden mass of shade rose in front | jc e of me—a body shocked against me—. |Sh0u:' mncmey. l?’hmmu m“m”, ::: ifield for the race, which was witaessed (Te be continued.) by a lurge erowd. 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