The evening world. Newspaper, October 3, 1922, Page 24

ERE BOT E HOUSE OF PERIL BY LOWES Story EOWARD The Master My COPYRIG Thirteen Men Around a Table In a Fifth Avenue Mansion TWELVE UNCONSCIOUS, ONE STRANGELY SLAIN A Strange Odor in the Air; a Goldfish Floating Dead in Its Bowl THE MOST MYSTIFYING DETECTIVE STORY BEGIN NOW ‘OF NEW YORK LIFE z CHAPTER I. What the Butler Found. ARIE, the parlor-maid, tossed her head indignantly. She jerked a thumb toward the stairs and the upper regions of the house generally. “A nice lot!” she cried. “Not one of ‘em gone home. This joint ain't a tit place for a decent girl. I'll beat it at the end of the month.” Whe butler looked puzzled. He was, as all butlers should be, tail, portly, bald-headed and English. It is almost impossible to imagine an American butler. He glanced up the stairs, as though expecting the comparative gloom of the hallway landing to yield some sort of confirmation or denial of the girl’s statement. ure?” he inquired “Of course I'm sure.” Indeed, Marie was vehemently so. “Didn't I peck in when I kem down? Dead drunk, all of em. And, oh, the smell! Like passin’ a corner saloon in Seventh Avenue on a Satur- day night before prohibition.” “Well,” said the butler. “I'll just go an’ see what the trouble is.” “Better ring up the Fire Station, an’ get ‘em to lend you a hose,” snorted the parlor-maid. The man turned on the stairs, apparently wishing to say some- thing. But he repressed: the words, whatever they might have been. Repression was a habit he had cultivated of late years. He walked ‘on. treading with the remarkable lightness of step often feund in big, heavy men. pr» The house was a Fifth Avenue ren eee ge ieee qiMansion, but not typically so, since was not a pronounced draught, but “its architecture was simple and pleas- the inrush of alr was nevertheless ing. It stood on the south corner of wholesome and effective. He went to a crosstown street not far above the the second, or centre, window, but main entrance to Central Park, ~"d was brought up with a distinct shock, its rooms were arranged in the shapo In a large glass bowl, nearly filled of an “‘L,"’ whereof the longer part with water, and standing on a high faced the street and the shorter the put narrow round table, was a plump avénue, In the inner section were goldfish floating on its back—quite ‘the stair-case elevator, and a series dead, of bathrooms, linen-closets, and store cupboards. A gallery gave ac- cess to the main rooms on the first floor, and the butler made ‘for the The butler uttered a most un-but- ler-like expression. This little crea- ture had been his pet for many ; months. Mechanically his hand went spacious drawing-room, which had {9 pocket in the loose jacket he three windows facing west and two wore at that hour of the day. He * north. All of these opened onto a , brought forth a paper bag of ant balcony, protected by a wrought-iron : railing. The door was situated near Mice pana nine enna Ae tee the south, wall darting in meteoric flight up and down and around the basin in antici- tion of eedy meal. But nev maid's disagreeable recollection of PEA” Wouia those opal uy never ee eng aoe although. her Tom the Iridescent body. It was lying a eee motionless, upside down on the syr- sarcastic comment had, to some ex- Tow or the water tent, prepared the butler for the ex- “fy Ban een this traordinary scene that met his eyes. 20°" A 4 The blinds were drawn, and clusters [hine of electric lights shone through a slight haze of tobacco smoke. Mostly , Lfting it with s tenderness ne acty’ Eee. bt 5 * Avion on ame hoor three | belng restore vitality by the warmth of his x iy acrong. 5 © fingers. The least wriggle would have ining-room — table—were thirteen Anéers, The lesat wiimels wots ead: young men, all in evening dress, all prt pon SRERae at Gackt RA apparently sodden with alcohol, and WYO ey "dead some hours. He i ensible. : 4 | Pere her he pastors d's glimpse Put It back In the water. Bome drope of this disreputabie gathering nor her {lt ote PAPE bags And pgnoner st scornful description of it prevented ‘Again the butler muttered an oath. the butler from being surpriwad nnd ASMn the puller multertne ‘thirteen slightly alarmed. Nevey vetore had He anced Angry wus tempted to the members of the singulariy-named rouse them by no gentle means. But ce Club indulged in such an orgy. jiy habit of self-constraint cane to He knew at once that someting out jis ald. He placed the package on of the common had happened. Being the table and raised that blind as a butler, his first thought New to the Wo) cuality, of liquor the revellers had He was about to open ¢he window imbibed, bat, unless some uncanny aiso when, out of the tall of his eye chance had intervened, that question ag it were, he notiétd a peculiar ex- conld not arise, as every bottlc on tho pression on his employer's face. He came from one of the hest- described it afterward as “a waxy ed cellars in New York, and bore jook." It was really that tint of @ pre-war label camailleu gris which the illustrators Yet these well-dressed youngsters of mediaeval Psalters and Horae lent seemed to be helplessly intoxicated. to all saints and early Christian mar Their stertorous breathing and aban- tyrs, whereas Anthony van Cort- doned attitudes gave first evidence of jand's skin was usually a dusky red, that apparent fact. Then the butler sniffed, not will it 's true, but and so physically fit that he could, rather with the air of an expert test- and did, live a strenuous life ing some suspected compound The butler was thoroughly scarod “That's neither champagne, nor now, He hurried to the upper end of whiskey, nor brandy, nor any liquor the room and knelt by his master's The first whiff of air from the in- terior more than justified the parlor- said the “You poor, harmless, wee that I know of," he mutteved. “I side, lifting his head and speaking to wonder what it can be?" him Naturally he sought a more whole- “Wake up, Mr. van Cortland!"’ he some atmosphere and a better light, said, quite loudly, “Wake up, sir! there being few things on earth so It's nearly half-past seven.” thoroughly ghastly as an all-night The sound of his own volce was debauch illuminated by electricity almost affrighting. It seemed wholly struggling againss the beams of a out of place in that room of owe. summer morning's sun, even if these Then, as gently as he had handled the found but occasional chinks in dark goldfish, he lowered van Cortland's blue blinds. So he rather hurried head to the rug, for his young em- across the room to the nearest window ployer would not wake up in this overlooking Central Park, trying, as world. He, too, was dead. There was he went, to ascertain with sidelong no doubting it. Eyes, mouth, lips glance whether or not Anthony van were eloquent witnesses of the great Cortland, his employer, was as utter- silence. Even the fingers of each ly hors de combat as the twelve hand were claw-like in their tontrac guests. Yes, so far as he could judge, tion van Cortland'’s plight was in no wise After a pause of breathless horror less discreditable than that of any of the butler nerved himself to conduct his friends. Indeed, the host was a hurried examination of each of the stretched on his back on the hearth- remaining occupants of the room. He rug, in front of a fireplace which assured himself that they were alive stood between the two northern win- but insensible. They rem him of dows. men under the influence of an 4 So the butler raised the blind and thetic, and the conceit added to his opened the window both above and distress. Pulling himself together, in helow. He had closed the door when the manner of one accustomed to mili Re entered the room. Hence, there tary drill, he stepped over the body ¢ f ‘ee | \ he having been a healthy young man ¢ of one of the revellers and stretched a hand toward a decanter half filled with Hqueur brandy. But he drew back, Yo," he muttered. ‘That won't do. This is no time for Dutch cour- age. God only knows what will Hap pen if I make a mistake now. I must keep my head clear until this affair is out of my control for good and all."" Again he glanced around the room Beyond the raising of the blinds and the quickly-abandoned effort to re store van Cortland’s consciousness he had Mterally touched nothing, he as sured himself, Nothing, except “By jing!’ he sald, “I am forget ting the goldfish. Poor thing! Wh should it have been killed, too’ At that moment he did not stop to ask himself why he used the word “killed’* rather than “dead,” He was morg than a little dazed and terrified. He really needed a nip of brandy, but resisted another prompting in the di rection of the decanter. », no!" he commanded himself again. ‘‘Not yet. Not till the police have come.”* Tho definite thought of the police and of what their visit would mean steadied him. He literally stole to the door, as if fearful now of awak- ening any of the sleepers. In tui ing the knob he. touched a key which he withdrew and locked the door from the outside, putting the key in the pocket which had held the ant-eggs. He did these things stealthily, first looking about the gallery, up and down the stairs, and along a passage running parallel with the northern rooms to make certain he was not observed by any other member of the household. ‘Then he descended the stairs with the slow step of one who has a crushing weight on his mind “Well?” said the pert parlor maid though modulating her voice some- what. ‘An’ what about it?” He halted, giving the girl a lack- lustre stare which she did not appre- ciate in either sense of the word, she was by way of being pretty, and the butler was a highly presentable man. “Yes, Mr. Brown, it's really mo,’ she went on, jo I Be Marie,’’ he replied, ut- tering each word as though weighing it. ‘Will you kindly ring up the gar- uge and ask Morrison to bring the limousine at once’? “Why, Morrison’ll be in bed!"* said ie M s, he may be, but he's to come here as quickly as possible."* Marie beileved her master might appear at any second, so she tripped away to the telephone booth on the ground floor. She did the tripping very neatly, as the butler was waten- ing her, she imagined, He was a steady, good-looking fellow, who kept very much to himself. Anyhow, a stiri never knew. Mr. Brown passed u hand over his forehead and eyes. “That's got rid of her," he mised “What to do next? Perhaps I'd bet ter find the nearest cop. He can phone the right people He crossed the hall quigkly, un latched a heavy door of glass and iron, drew the bolts of an outer door and séemed to surprise a young man who had a hand out to pre an elec. tric bell 90d work, Brown!" laughed the newcomer “Ia it thought reading or Christian Science?" “Oh, Capt uart, Iam so glad te © you, ped the butler, closing the glass door behind him The siender, well built soldier was probably surprised at the warmth of his welcome, but it conveyed nothing to him otherwise “No more than I'm glad tos you,” he said. ‘Mr, van Cortland nd I are riding in the park at 8.15, and I ventured to come here early, hoping to join hun in a cup of coffee and an egg. They're a lazy crew in my pl So, please don't look so solemn vnd shut me ont. “Oh, sir, I didn't mean to: say 7 was glad,"’ muttered Brown, agitation mastering him now that he had com- panionship far more than when he was alope. ‘A terrible thing has happened here. Mr.—Mr. van Cort- land is dead “Dead? Are you crazy? “No, indeed, sir, I'm telling you the dreadful truth When did he die? And he “Oh, I don’t know. I can’t even guess, sir. I went to the drawing- room five minutes since--I can't be sure to a minute, I am so upset—and there I found him dead, and the rest of ‘em lying around him." The rest of them? 1x that infernal Ace Club “Yes, sir." “Are they all dead u mean TEACY f New York Life CLOODE a quite capable cavalry stery The other gentlemen have made a fierce night of it, judg- for the best, His first notion had ing from the whiff of alr which he been to dash half a glass of water got in the doorway. Stuart, who had been examining the faces and postures of the twelve ine broke in firmly when Brown would have resumed his nar- s pardon, sir," she said, blush. Let me see them But—do you “Let me int been dead hours. This is a bad A lot of people will suffer before it’s cleared up. he was going to be married?” Stuart could only nod had seen death too often in France dread present- in New York. pallid husk of the best but- sensible men, you sent for a doctor, sent for Mr. van Cort- It may prove use- I was coming out"’ u're damn well coming in I think you're out “Look here!"* he sald, ‘we really must do something: in staring and wondering. There's no use d never seen a more superb As matters stood, he had been his tempestuous-soyled one, it {s true, yet a youngster with- out vice, with a nature oscillating be- Now it was the younger man wi to excitement, was recovering his shattercd did These fellows are not so much under the influence of alcohol, They've been doped. I suppose you !ng and drinking by the members of LYING ON THE: FLOOR WERE THIRTEEN YOUNG MEN, ALL IN EVENING DRESS, WITH ALCOHOL AND QUITE INSENSIBLE.” ALL APPARENTLY SODDEN impulses of a cavalier are right about the police having the first innings, and I fancy that no one else is going to die. pen to know the Chief of the Detec- It's early hours, but he his deputies Where is the telephone its discovery Luckily I hap- Stuart was pulled himself together. showed that his momentary ell me, if you feel up to it, just at has happened, Brown," , almost calm now, He was interrupted aH in any dilemma friend were interests of he had. cast Cortland's room, he first door gets into the ning papers. who know of th you to help, fails to give most trivial action ¢ » was on the to tell his story by a knock on opened before it, though he sprang forward with a thought, eyeing the climbed the actually so flustered at not so much as a two covertly s the car here?” “Yes, sir?!” sent you here this morning whom he was just stop from entering raind asking the chaut- feur to wait “Sorry, Mr. Brown, “put Mr. van Cortland told me to call e smiled back. sed his eyes thi produced a latch key his bed hasn't been slept in, pping out of this, quick When she heard the truth later “That's all right, Roberts, d to take the lead treated girl, in whose strength of ch good sense and ful whether criminal or a maniac nd he turned his head without aid impressively friend had placed whether he slightest trust sphone booth Morrison was sympathize at detectives r tragedy of v sets - s yielding swi posed on thos a valet or Bro} smart riding costume boots were the dernier man-servant, Marie thut upstairs must vastly puzzled to decide how into the face of Harry Holgate, one among the men whom he recognized, and sec if this rough treatment wi not restore the royster’s senses, bul somehow or other, Brown had manag- ed to infect him with a suspicion of foul play in regard to van Cortland. The dead goldfish figured nebulously in this theory, as the butler was cons vinced that his pet not only was in the best of health overnight but had sure vived many heavy evenings of smake the Ace Club e that same room, If van Corfland. had actually murdered, who could have done this] thing? No young and healthy man in all the city was less likely to have ® secret and deadly enemy. And what would Mary Dixon think when sho knew that her promised husband had met his death in such a w Stuart did not know Miss Dixor 1 never seen her, he believed, save in certain hardly recognizable pictures in the Sunday newspapers—but she had the repute of bein) t charming girl, a leader of the Junior League, New York's galaxy of youthful beauty and social prominence, and in every way fitted 1o become the mistress of van Cortland’s house and fortune, Crime or no erime, the death of her promised husband must be a danger- ous ordeal for her. Certainly, the butler was right. They must tread warily that morning or further mis- chief would ensue He was greeted somewhat curtly by the man on duty in the detective v®> reau “Mr. Winter will not be pleased when he hears how a rriend’s ctvit quest for assistan aid Stuart decisive “Oh, a frie you?” answe you've said about t trouble Stua up Mr. Fu after a another voico came over tt eplione, a queer, high-pitched, somewhat ll tempered voice, which, however, did not break in on Stuar nation of the call “All right,’’ it said. “Have that butler ready I'll be there 1 five minutes, And for the love of ike, keep any doctor! out of th re 2 Ul lve had a look around." Well, within the stipulate utes Brown had to problem. He was to the chauffeur and trying v cause why there had been such an urgent demand for tli car without any apparent reason, v : itivy dapper little man, who slit either a fashions or a popus lar comedian of tt and dance ra pause, ndmit m five min another type, hurried up to the and an- nounced that he was * neaux Brown nearly blur 1 ont: “Of the Detective Bure heer inere- dulity tied his ¢ Brown simply the glass do He. prece é ective up the stairs, announced 1 1 waited to see What effect Furneaux’? as * | don th young offi He we azed at tho nd opened other word. ppointed, Stuart ntative of the | h an ex- ank aston) h of you two knows an thing about this business?" said Fur neaux crisply {r. Hrown—the Dutler—can_ teil you something about is Stuart's hesitating reply “And you “Nothing Furneaux wheeled 1 with the rapidity of a jack-in-the-b q Stuart had not failed to notice that Furneaux's curiously unprofessiona guise did not prevent him from sum4 ming up the room and it arre con tents with an extr ily aler glance. While the butler talked thi detective listened without the slight est interruption. At the end he hur- rled to the fireplace and knelt best van Cortland’s body ( “Why do you think he hasn't diec a natural death?’ he asked Brown, raising his head in a pert way that ree minded Stuart of a sparrow “IT don't like his lo the answer ‘Have you seen other dead men?’ “Yes, sir. A great many." “What were you? An undertaker?i4 “No, cir, A policeman, and afters “A policeman in London?” Q “Yes, sir Furneaux rose “Ring up Dr. Gec 83d Street Tell was Iw t him to hurry. Then get some ope to help you to carry Mr. van Cortlana to his own room and lay him on the bed As the butler left the room Fur- neaux went to examine the goldfish He smelt the wate nd even tasted & few drops of it fixed his extraordinarily brilliant black on Stuc Your friend ! he said mitted — suictd t Brown i would have raise lf an hour ago, and spoiled every clue that may) offer itse Another Mystifying Installment i Morrrow, ft >