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O
s . z A CHICAGO
The House in the Mist’
By‘ ‘Hermann Bacher Deutsch and Robert J. Casey
an'.iinds the place wrecked." Oh, I don't
CHAPTER X.
know what to do, I don‘t know what to
d " -
THE DELIRIOUS CAT.
TRIED to calm myself as I mounted
the stairs at lllrs. Brennan's. It
o. , -
. “What happened . to the note you
brought up here?’ I broke in. being not
would ha,-diy do to let the whole at all concerned with Mrs. Brennan‘.-3‘
hoxuseslee tthalt something was wrong. a "”;]‘::"“‘;fre$v”“'“e 9‘ :,“w"';'Orne
n e alway a servant burnpe subbed. .1 guess ".5 them
into 1119- She Was 3 new One-an 1111- In the corner indicated by the nod of
couth-looking girl. probably 18 years her head, found a crumpled ball o
old. and despite my agitation I noticed paper. A2 I spread it out on the Wlndaw
sill I saw many -things.
that she was frightened at the sight of
me. Attributing this to the state of my
nerves as reilected in my face, I at-
tempted to act naturally.
"I am Mr. Bradshaw," I said. "Would
you please ask‘ Mrs. Brennan if she
would be kind enough to send a glass of
milk and some crackers to my room."
She nodded and disappeared like a
surprised burglar and I bolted up the
."Come wit‘ Rocco," I declphered in a.
sprawling uneducated and. “I ain't
urt serious but need help.‘
"HIGGINS."
This Wns the trick which she had seen’
thru at was a consolation to
know that the crock had felt himself
orced to resort to ii. ruse to obtain her
assistance-and yet t was her
cem
stairs. empted to use his name a lure.
I do not know exactly what. I had been "What 33' id the automobile go?"
Iearin ' ked 1‘ '
Generally the proposition of impend-
ing harm to Janet had stood out before
everything ultho I had not attempted to
visualize what that peril might be. I
had no sooner reached the upper hali-
way that I knew that my agitation had
ry re-
bered because he use to live out
on that side 0' town " -
"Yo let yourself. Mrs.
been well-founded. “id 9"” '1“ ,
p . I d I p .3. x l
-73"?” '30" 5390“ 0199“-. A 5”“ 395 roaa V 58:11. II“ Igglgrgtogorhz
jet showed that it was empty save for
Mrs. Brennan who sat beside the bed I went out
weeping. .
“What's the matter?" I inquired sharp-
ly, altho Heaven knows I dlilri need to
be told A broken chair. an overturned
known for several years and succeeded
in renting a car without a driver for the
night. -
Then I passed on into my room to get
a raincoat for the rirst oi the storm was
already pattering against Janet's win-
Brennun, d0WS-
Had I not become so accustomed to
ho‘hhs taken ho:-r'."' I demanded.
LEDGER
V The Story From the'Beginning ' T
The famous Everett diamond.
In a strange
manner'the almost priceless gem
came into the possession o
JAMES lJR.‘DSHA‘V. -B. traveling
salesman and story writer. who had
come North from Oklahoma and
taken an apartment in Mrs. Bren- .
nan’s rooming-house. In fu
e was a. spot of blood
on the sleeping suit. In an adjoin-
ing room he found -
TERRY llIGGIN'5.whose hand was
cut and bleeding. Bradshaw aided
the young man, who was not ser
ously injured: and. getting no ex-
planatlon from Higgins, returned to
a neighborhood park
with Mrs. Brenl'lnl'l‘s girl roomcr.
reiined and
as he was known at the rooming-
ghouse. On their way to the park
the pair met apuspicious character
known to the girl
Dog-man could explain
hereabouts of the missing Ev-
erett diamond.
ADSHA‘V decided to make
try for the twenty-live hundred ‘dol-
gg ns Wins later found
having been killed by
7 dead.
“nII’PI-IR,” the huge bulldog. Brad-
Our‘ hero's
w ow.
dlckens did he get free?" -
,'I.‘his story began in No. 3 the Ledger
for, Jan. 15. Back copies may be ob-
tained from our agents or newsdealt-rs.
Ci-IAPTER XI,
THE HOUSE IN THE BIIST.
HAD no time to investigate the death
of a cat, aliho I was sorely puzzled.
subconsciously I connected this latest
enigma with the others that had found
a beginning in this
"Th 1 ti. t bil h "‘ "““
wa”ed'"'“..‘fh:';,“fne';n fknsog lifeless ha nister meaning that
they do." .
Ailhi) there waslittle tangible thought
in Mrs. Brennan’.s hysterical informa-
C vs
where Illgglna had dropped it. and that
his policies in the matter were likely to
prove more vigorous than those of the
e succeeded.
"Will you tell me. Mrs. Brennan," I
asked. "just what all this is aboutml>e-
ginning at the the beginning? you must
remember t at on’! know the first
thing or what you,are trying to talk
about." ‘
She stopped weeping thenmsavn for
occasional isolated tear-storms-and be-
gun to blurt out a mar
it
this ugly man with the black eye asked
me to bring a. note up to her. what else i
7" -
only u
been damaged in the hrs! rush
of our conflict. ‘
"lie give me the note," she went on.
"an' I carried here?" She
-paused again as a step sounded on the-
Bren-
wa
Then
rs. Brennan,’ s 1 me. ‘Mrs. -
Brennan. what did the man look like as
this?’ I told her an‘ she sez, ‘
‘Mrs. Brennan. you tell in won't
work. Just tell him -that--“It won't
work." ' dvlse me to think up some
an’ that I knowed he didn't
good. '
“But he only laughed. He Just shoved
me aside ’ we on upstairs." Here
to the lower regions ot ‘ .
"I heard sounds of a light." Mrs. Breri- msiit-nu Sick,’ say. He."
rian went on excitedly. “I came up hero
ound the door closed, but they was surprises that I expected them as E mat-
smashln' things inside aomethin' fierce. ter of course, I should have been bowled
"Then pretty soon this black-eye fel- of! my feet with astonishment at what
' -lah comes out with Miss Roberts in his I saw when I opened the door.
arms. i In the center of the door was a. black
.“'She‘u sick,‘ he: he, ‘I'm agonna take ‘kitten waltzing about ilk
her to a doctor's.‘
"'She ain't sick,’ I 1192, ‘An’ Ialth if E doleful. alheit rather drunken wall.
you go t2kIn' her out 0' here you'll go 1 Cullid "Oi l'9""3mb9Y' 9V?’ hRViflK seen
to 5 doctor youraelff e cat before and could Blippi
“Just thin the -girl opens her eyes. l’“"“""’“ “ "’ “OW “
7 5””. any right, “,1 nmnnanvv she room un as it had followed the new
saysllkc nothln' matters much. ‘It’: all "h5"‘b“""3“l 35 “"5 P“’“KM UP my
right. I'll go to the doctor’! with him.’ l"Ml'=0"<
Then he carries hr-rKdnWnstairs an’ out
into the automobile an’ I comes in hers times; then
spun around dizzliy a fgw
dropped dead at my feet.
z
and nearly all motor cars. way
The motorcycle policemen
speed-exeeptl
case.
B 1 did
not think he would he attempting much
speed. Believing that ho had eluded ms,
‘an element of danger. for any
- b
he would take no chances on being
brought back to the city by an inquisi-
tive policemen.
Gilmore road was twenty miles to the
north. At an average rate f fifteen
miles an hour, which I didn‘t think
would dare exceed, a’ won d arrive
there an hour and a. quarter after his
departure from Mrs. Brennan‘s. At fort)’
in‘ es an hour. barring accident, I could
catch up With him before he reached
his destination.
The speed. however. was impossible to
maintain. Once I had turned into Perry
boulevard, I was compelled to slow down
to make fast travel advisable .
So I swept across the northern bound-
ary.of the little behind schedule.
The boulevard led thru a region of largo
estates and save for its concrete surface
been, the
Which came over the windshield to meet
me. were thrown thru my clothing with
a biting force. -
I held on as a forlorn hope. determined-
ly. doggedly and perhaps rather foolish-
l . Yet for all ‘my determination I
. might have stopped long enough
raise the neglected top when I noticed
-a light ahead of me
In E moment I identiiled it-it’c.-ime
. fr 111 .an automobile traveling without 3.
tail-lamp The g are I saw was the re-
Aimost immediately it disappeareclw
but I knew that I was close on the trail.
Three of four minute: later I crossed
Gilmore r a
I was compelled to slow down a
mission depended upon my turning 01'?
at the right one. I
Woods. forest of 51. sort one would
hardly expect to rind close to a ity.
thickly grown 1vith'underhi-ush and
pressing close to the edge or the road.
7 had succeeded the rolling estates com-
k
on zi few miles bac , ' .
So suddenly that I almosit shot by It.
9. break appeared in the white l"lIiI fence
Rocco had spoken of-its very seclusion
argued tha 4
Without hesitation I turned in.
The way was tortuous and not without
automo-
ilist knows the diiiiculty of ke?P”“7
a little clearing and I saw the house in
the mist for the first time.
The rain. driven thru the forest ‘by 3
shrieking wind, hail become a gauzy
cloud that enveloped the house like 8
s r u .
It was a small house-six eight
rooms perlinps. and lights, seemlM.'iY in
‘every window. made :i lnu a
to penetrate the mist. Ever
floor and um alike.
turned the car around so
he 'nilntile quickly. extinguished the
lights. throttled down the engine so that
he ‘
