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ETHEL OPENS
THE DOOR





ETHEL OPENS
THE DOOR
A N E X P L O I T OF
THE SHADOWERS, INC.
By
-PAVE Fox 4-sº
Author of “The Man Who Convicted Himself”
–L E. OSh *A victors
NEW YORK
ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY
1922
&o
K


Tiſº NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
129210B
Astºº, I.Fºx axi,
Tillº ºut Mariex's
1341
º - +. 1922, by
Robert M. McBRIDE & Co.
New York
PropBRTY f
OF THE -
NBW YORK
SQCIETY Lºs RARy


;
s
II.
III.
IV.
CONTENTS
RoBERT BRINGs A CARD
A REFRACTORY CLIENT
PHINEAs SNEED's INVENTION
“O-Four-Two-SIx”
THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL
THE Sound UN HEARD
CoNCERNING THE “GULL”
AN INSIDE JoB .
RED JIM's DAUGHTER .
BlocKED TRAILs - - -
PHINEAs SNEED CoMEs ACROSS
THE MAN IN THE CASE
THE SEcond THREAT .
Twenty-Four Hours .
THE OPEN Door - -
THE SHADowers Lose A CLIENT
AND GAIN A NEw ONE
CoNSPIRAtoRs
19
47
59
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
>
t
>-
~.
THE EMPTY Box
IT WAS Not I .
74
91
106
116
133
151
167
181
195
211
227
240
254
265
277





CHAPTER I
ROBERT BRINGS A CARD
66 HOSE handsomely engraved circulars which we
sent out seem to have been bloomers, except for the
Punderford case, Rex.” George Roper, ex-confidence man
and now member of the unique band of former criminals,
who had organized a discreet detective agency under the
name of “The Shadowers' turned lugubriously to their
chief. “As long as we are not interfering with the authori-
ties in their own particular field and none of us are—er—
‘wanted,” don't you think we might be a trifle more open
in our method of soliciting clients?”
“You must admit, George, that the Punderford affair
was highly profitable,” remarked Lucian Baynes defensively
as he twirled his small, blond mustache. He looked more
like the fastidious, dapper, rather innocuous man of fash-
ion than the most astute smuggler who ever kept the cus-
toms officials of more than one country on the qui vive, and
who was one of the greatest art connoisseurs and jewel
experts of his time. “Surely we can afford to wait awhile
for other fish to come to our nets.”
“Of course you are satisfied, Luce, for that was your
special case and you covered yourself with glory in it!”
Phil Howe, one-time safe-breaker sighed and his merry but
[1]


2 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
furtive eyes clouded. “I wouldn't mind a little action my-
self, and if I hadn't given Rex here my word not to turn
another single trick—?”
He paused suggestively and glanced at the well-built,
aristocratic looking man of forty-five, who sat at the head
of the council table, but Rex Powell's level gray eyes were
fastened upon the high-bred, sensitive face of the eccentric
individual opposite, who sat reflectively stroking the rather
weak chin to which a black mustache and goatee had so
recently lent distinction with long, slender, tapering fingers;
those fingers which until he had joined The Shadowers and
had become a handwriting expert had turned out the clev-
erest forgeries and counterfeit bank notes of the decade.
“What do you say, Cliff?” Rex Powell asked at last.
“It’s true, of course, that only one case has come our way
as yet and even though we succeeded in solving it—or
rather, Luce did with our co-operation—it is bound to be a
waiting game at best. Punderford is grateful, but natur-
ally he will be wary about recommending us lest it arouse
awkward questions, and wild horses couldn't drag from
anyone else connected with that affair an admission that
they had ever heard of our organization. Are you, too,
becoming discouraged?”
“Not by a long shot!” Clifford Nichols responded stoutly.
“Aside from the fact that the association with you fellows
has given me a new lease of life since you dragged me
from that Bronx flat where I was brooding myself into
neurasthenia over my last—er—enforced retirement, this
game is bound to liven up on the average of percentage if


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 3
for no other reason. Let me see, Rex; you sent out five
hundred circulars to as many society women, did you not?”
Rex nodded without speaking and the other pursued:
“As I remember you suggested that if the lady who re-
ceived the circular found herself in need of any discreet,
strictly confidential investigation by a private corporation
of gentlemen, not blackmailers nor inefficient bunglers, she
should send her card to us; that we were not connected
with any so-called private detective agency, gave no infor-
mation to the press, permitted no publicity and never car-
ried our results to the authorities unless requested to do
so by our clients. Is that right?”
“Absolutely,” Rex replied. “I particularized by mention-
ing the fact that we undertook no divorce evidence, nor
investigation of a scandalous or trivial nature, but if any
jewels or valuable documents were missing, if the personal
safety of anyone were endangered, or forgery suspected, or
blackmail attempted it would be well to communicate with
us. I sent five hundred other letters differing slightly in
tone, to financiers, both active and retired, all over the
country.”
“Exactly,” Cliff summed up. “Don’t you think that of
the four hundred and ninety-nine matrons and five hundred
magnates a certain percentage of them are bound to come
to us sooner or later with delicate matters which they
would not take to the authorities for worlds and yet could
not handle by themselves? I'm not wasting my time; those
books on reading character by handwriting which you in-
stalled in my private library will merit months of study


4 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
still. This may be a waiting game, old man, but I’ll sit
tight and play with what I hold.”
The sixth and last of the regular members of The Shad-
owers had taken no part in the discussion. He was an ex-
ceedingly fat, exceedingly bald man of perhaps fifty, with
a round benevolent face which had been peculiarly suited
to his former vocation of manufacturing and selling fake
medicines. A chemist of no mean ability, Henry Corliss
might have risen high as a toxicologist by reason of his
profound researches into the lesser known poisons, but the
lure of the easier way had long ago proved too much for
his easy-going nature, and he had placidly administered
innocuous cures to hypochrondriacs for many years, in-
terrupted only by certain periods spent as an involuntary
guest of the outraged and exasperated authorities. Now,
as a medical expert, he had already proved himself a val-
ued adjunct to the organization.
When their leader turned inquiring eyes upon him he
chuckled and rubbed his plump hands together.
“Oh, I’ll trail, with Cliff,” he announced. “Of course
it had to be one of the dames who rose to our bait first;
men are more cagey, and it would be only as a last resort
that they would nibble, but once they do we'll have them
hook, line and sinker, to make use of Luce's metaphor.
Did you know that the small office just across the corridor
is rented at last?”
The room in which they were seated was hexagonal in
shape and almost spartan in its simplicity, but the Jacobean
table, the massive chairs and rugs of obvious antiquity all
*


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 5
bespoke the quiet elegance of a gentleman's study rather
than the sanctum of the head of a detective firm. In each
of the six sides of the wall was a panel, five of them lead-
ing into the respective labratories and studies of the five
other regular members, but the last connected with the
anteroom which was presided over by the only feminine
association of the organization. She was a fluffy, golden-
haired young person with guileless blue eyes and a diffi-
dent expression of girlish innocence which had proved her
salvation on the one unfortunate occasion when a relent-
less store detective had haled her to court on the well-
grounded charge of attempting to “lift” a two-hundred-dol-
lar lace collar, and the fatherly judge had left her off on
her own recognizance because, as she once informed Cliff
without braggadocio, she had "buffaloed him with her baby
stare.”
Only one other person had ever detected her at work
and that was Rex Powell. With the plan for organizing
the Shadowers in mind he had approached her tentatively
but finding her totally lacking in ethics of any sort and
unregenerate in her attitude toward society he carefully
concealed the real purpose of the association from her and
led her to believe that they proposed to work a novel and
stupendous scheme of graft and crime. With all the small
boy's worship of the train robber of fiction, Ethel Jepson
had been proud to cast her lot unquestioningly with theirs,
and the result had already manifested the wisdom of Rex's
choice.
Now while the Shadowers discussed the probabilities of


6 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
the future she was sitting behind her desk, which imme-
diately faced the entrance door of the suite, unconcernedly
masticating wintergreen gum and reading the latest thriller
in best-sellers, when the door opened. Ethel glanced up
and without change of expression she closed the book and
one hand slipped beneath the desk's edge while with the
other she touched a bit of inlaid wood upon its top.
Thereafter several things happened almost simultan-
eously in the council chamber. At Henry Corliss’ abrupt
question Rex had asked quickly:
“Do you mean the office that has been vacant ever since
we opened up here? I wonder what kind of business is
going to be conducted from there, and what type of man
is running it? Did you get a look at him? It is important
for us to know.” -
“On the possibility that someone might be shadowing
the Shadowers, eh?” suggested George Roper.
t was at that precise moment that Ethel, in the outer
office, closed her book and as though in answer to the
query of the ex-swindler and confidence man something
clicked faintly and Rex Powell with a warning gesture
to the rest, touched the invisible spring concealed under
the edge of the table.
Instantly a masculine voice came to their ears.
“Excuse me. There is no name on the door and I was
unaware that this office was occupied.” The tones were
strong but oddly hesitant. “May I ask what firm this is?”
“Confidential information bureau.” A faint ticking
mingled with Ethel's glib response as she gave the defini-


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 7
tion of their organization which the Shadowers had agreed
upon for anyone who ventured within their precincts ig-
norant of their real purpose.
“I thought that I might find a spare window pole in
here.” The voice continued still somewhat uncertainly.
“I’m the new tenant in the office across the hall and I rang
for the superintendent but my bell seems to be out of
order.”
The eyes of the listening Shadowers were fastened upon
the panel which gave into the outer office, when close
beside it a tiny slit like those in a slot machine, appeared
in what had seemed to be the solid wood and through
it a narrow tape of paper curled. At a nod from Rex,
George Roper's lank, funereally clad form disengaged it-
self from his chair and gliding noiselessly over to the slit
he tore off the tape at a point where its tiny typed char-
acters gave place to a blank space, and returning to the
table he spread it out before the others.
“‘Big young man tanned store clothes good quality
looks like movie Westerner,’” they read. “‘Think win-
dow pole stall try vamp what dope I can.’”
The message from the diminutive, silent keyboard which
Ethel held concealed upon her lap had scarcely been
grasped by the sextette when her voice came to them, its
accents provocatively lowered.
“That's too bad! I'm sorry, sir, that we haven't a win-
dow pole; that is, I don't think that we have, but I am new
here myself. Shall I ask one of the clerks?”
“Oh, no, don't bother, please.” The intruder's tone be-


8 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
trayed a shade of nervous impatience which was as quickly
controlled. “I presume one of the elevator men can get the
superintendent for me. Sorry to have troubled you.”
“It isn't any trouble, sir. If you've just taken that office
perhaps you are looking for a stenographer? I know one
I could recommend you who's a wiz—I mean, very quick
and accurate, if personality and—er—looks don't count.”
“Thank you.” He spoke drily. “I do not need a
stenographer yet. What sort of information does this firm
of yours supply?”
“Search—that is, I really couldn't say.” Ethel's voice
was bland and silky, but the little tape reeled off disgust-
edly through the aperture in the wall:
“Dont vamp worth a cent just nosey.”
Aloud she continued: “I don't know their clients’ busi-
ness. I only receive them and show them in to one of
the firm. The clerk might be able to tell you—”
“It doesn't matter.” The man interrupted her hurriedly.
“I’ll get the superintendent now. Thanks.”
The entrance door opened and closed with a thud and
the dapper little expert on safes remarked ruefully:
“Another false alarm and it looked like a prospect at
last! Book agents, solicitors for ads. or charity and now
our new little playmate across the hall. Nothing stirring
and all our grand talent going to waste!”
“Perhaps we'll have better luck next time, Phil. It's
too bad, though, that she didn't find out what our neigh-
bor's own line is, since he was so curious about ours.”
|


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 9
Rex picked up the receiver of his desk telephone, and
spoke into it. “Come in for a minute, Ethel, please.”
The panel slipped aside and Miss Jepson presented her-
self, complacently patting the blobs of yellow hair which
adorned her ears.
“Did I pull it off all right, Mr. Powell?” she asked.
“He is just a kind of a boob, I guess; I gave him a nifty
little opening to say something pretty to me and then I
could have kidded him along, but it went 'way over his
head. He looks as though he was more used to ridin' a
range, anyway, than sitting cooped up in an office.”
“Then you don' think he might be a plainclothes man
trying to investigate our game, my dear child?” George
queried.
“Who, him?” Ethel's small nose wrinkled in fine scorn.
“He’s no dick! Whatever business he's starting he'd bet-
ter look sharp or the wise ones of this burg will pick him
clean. He has got nice eyes, though.”
“That will do, Ethel. You had better go to lunch now,”
Rex said hastily, adding as the panel closed behind her:
“It is perhaps as well for the secrecy we have maintained
that our neighbor did not prove susceptible to Ethel's
rather elemental blandishments.”
“Oh, she is a loyal infant, I'll say that for her, although
I admit that her form of speech grates on one's sensibili-
ties at times.” Lucian Baynes shuddered fastidiously.
“I have no doubt that in her secret soul she is wondering
why we do not turn another trick but she has faith enough
in us to wait without question. I think I will get a bite


10 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
myself and then stroll up to the Lejune galleries; they
have an exhibition of etchings on including a Whistler that
I once endeavored to remove from the collection of Sir
Algernon Lennox but without success. I should like to
have a look at it again for old times' sake.”
Cliff Nichols rose also.
“Rex, lend me a ten-spot, will you? It is too late to go
to the bank now, and look at what some shop or other
handed me yesterday!” he displayed a crisp, new ten-dol-
lar bill. “Fancy anyone shoving the queer on me!”
“Of course, old man, but is that actually phony?” Rex
pulled out his wallet. “It looks good to me.”
“Perhaps, but to an experienced eye there is just a shade
of difference between the engraving on it, and that on the
product of the Mint. I shouldn't care to attempt passing
it, with my record.” Cliff shrugged. “So are the mighty
fallen I’”
When he, too, had taken his departure Henry Corliss
gazed inquiringly about at the other three.
“What do you boys say to a planked steak around the
corner at the Hilliard?” he suggested, his small eyes twink-
ling in anticipation. “They serve a good thick one with
oodles of vegetables—”
Phil Howe shook his head in mock regret but a sly grin
played about the corners of his close-shaven lips.
“I’ve got a date, so I suppose it will be cold lobster and
peach short cake for mine!” he mourned. “That's the
trouble with a skirt; they may be all there with the looks


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 11
but when it comes to ordering regular food for a white
man—l”
“Hush!” Rex held up a warning hand once more.
“Someone is rapping on the entrance door. Don't you
hear it?—George, go and see who it is and if you think it
is worth while for us to listen in, press that small inset of
lighter wood on Ethel's desk.”
“And if it isn't worth while I'll give the intruder a
bawling out that no bally-hoo of my early circus days could
equall” George promised darkly as he got up again from his
chair, and then with a comical return to his ministerial
manner he added: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick
and the temper short, my brethrenl"
Rex touched the concealed spring beneath the edge of
the table once more and Phil halted on the way to his
study, while even Henry forgot his appetite momentarily.
It was evident that George had pressed the spring in Ethel's
desk in passing so as to take no chances, for they distinctly
heard the opening of the door and his unctous tones in-
quiring:
“You were looking for someone, my good man?”
“Yes sir, I—I must have been mistaken, but I was quite
certain that this was the right number, sir.” A quavering,
elderly voice replied. “If you'll excuse me—”
“Perhaps I can help you if you will tell me whom you
want to see.” George's tone had grown more business-
like. “Come in.”
The door closed and then the elderly voice came again
more tremulous and uneasy than before.


12 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“It is very good of you, sir, but the matter is a-a con-
fidential one, in a manner of speaking. I have a message
from my employer for a certain corporation whose circu-
lar read that they had an office in this building. I—I have
brought a card.”
Behind the panel Phil gave vent to a little yelp of exul-
tation which he smothered by clapping his hands over his
mouth as Rex glared at him. Henry's rotund form had
stiffened with attention.
“Your employer's visiting card?” George asked smooth-
ly. “Are you by any chance looking for the Shadowers?”
“Yes, sir, that was the name.” The man's voice rose
eagerly.
“Then you have come to the right place. We are the
Shadowers,” announced George. “Give me the card and
sit down. Our secretary is out at present but I myself
will see if the president of our firm is in his private office.
—Ah, Mr. Phineas Dilworth Sneed?”
He raised his voice as he read the name from the card
and Rex moved over to the files in the tall case and ran
hastily through them.
“I am his butler and valet. Mr. Sneed is very much up-
set, sir, and I was to ask that someone would come at
once to consult him.”
Rex had found what he sought and now he took a card
from the index file and laid it silently before his colleagues.
They read:—
“Phineas Dilworth Sneed. 60-65. Retired capitalist,
rated at over a million. Residence, Burlingame Hotel.


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 13
Widower. Collector of curios. No clubs. Associates
unknown.”
“What hunch made you select him as one of the five
hundred to whom to send a circular, Rex” murmured
Henry. “The result proved that you made a good guess,
all right, but there is nothing in those notes to suggest
that he might have a skeleton in his closet.”
“Isn't there?” Rex responded in a whisper. “Take the
last three items. Half of the pleasure any collector takes
in his possessions is in exhibiting them to his friends, not
merely in hoarding them up to gloat over in secret. As
far as I was able to gather the man is practically a recluse.
Think it over.”
The voice of George Roper came to them once more
from the outer office.
“A consultation would be a mere waste of time until we
know the nature of the affair which is troubling Mr. Sneed.
We have experts for each separate line of investigation.
Did your employer take you into his confidence?”
“Yes, sir, to a certain extent.” The man coughed de-
precatingly. “My wife and I have been with him for a
great many years, and as he is all alone—”
“Go on.” George was plainly giving his leader time to
look up the data on their prospective client. “I under-
stand. What is it Mr. Sneed wishes us to investigate for
him?”
“It’s a matter of of an anonymous letter, sir.” The
butler spoke in a low, shocked tone as though the mention
of such a thing in connection with his employer savored of


14 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
outrage. “Mr. Sneed would have paid no attention to it,
I am sure, but he has many valuables in his apartments
and he could not be certain that the letter was the work of
a crank. He thinks that in some way his safe has been
tampered with, too, but we don't see how that could be,
my wife and I, for one or the other of us are always at
hand.”
“The safe!” Phil Howe ejaculated under his breath.
“I can see where one dame gets a stand-up for luncheonſ"
“An anonymous letter, and Cliff off the job.” Henry
shook his head. “Let's have a look at the old retainer out
there, Rex.”
As he spoke the panel leading from the outer office was
pushed aside and George entered, carefully closing it after
him.
“You heard?”
Rex nodded, switched off the dictaphone and put away
the card which he had taken from the index file.
“Bring him in,” he said. “Henry, it would be as well
for you not to appear in person until we know whether
there will be anything in your line in this case or not. You
can listen from your laboratory.”
Henry reluctantly edged his plump body through the
aperture leading to his sanctum and the panel had scarcely
closed when George ushered in their visitor. He was a
very old man, almost totally bald, and his bent form shook
as though with palsy, but there was a shrewd gleam in his
faded eyes as he glanced from Phil to his older companion.
“This is the head of our firm, Mr. Powell. You must


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 15
tell him what you have just told me.” George added:
“The other gentleman is our expert on safes, and you may
speak in the strictest confidence for your employer.”
“You come from Mr. Phineas Sneed about an anony-
mous letter which he has received, I understand?” Rex
came to the point without preamble. “What is your name?”
“Robert, sir, Robert Frost.” The old man bowed trem-
ulously.
“Sit down, Robert. When did this letter come?”
“In the morning's mail, sir. I put it beside Mr. Sneed's
plate at breakfast along with his newspaper and I never
gave it another thought until I saw his face as he opened
it. It fairly gave me a turn" He caught himself up
and added hurriedly: “Mr. Sneed has been quite uneasy
lately about his safe, and I think he is afraid that the let-
ter has something to do with a robbery, sir.”
“H'm A thief doesn't usually advertise his coming,” Rex
observed. “Did your employer show you the letter, Robert?”
“No, sir. He'd finished his fruit and I was just pouring
his coffee when he picked up the envelope and slit it with
his knife. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be,”
he added ingenuously. “I could only see that there was
more than one page to it and the writing was large and
sprawly. Mr. Sneed made a queer little noise in his throat
as though he was choking and he put one hand up to his
neck. I—I was afraid he was going to have a stroke for
his face got all gray, like, and I had to speak to him two
or three times before he heard me.”
“What did you say?” Rex asked.


16 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“I hardly remember, sir, I was that upset myself at
seeing him so.” The butler passed his hands nervously
about the brim of his hat which he held between his knees.
“He just waved me away and sat there reading the letter
over and over, and after a while he got up and went in
his room and shut the door. He never touched his coffee
or the rest of his breakfast. I waited, but Jane—that's
my wife, sir, Jane said I ought to go and speak to him
and see if anything was the matter. When I knocked he
came out with the letter still in his hand, but he looked
all right again. He went to the safe and put the letter
away and got out your circular.”
“Ah, yes, I believe he was included in the list of those
to whom they were sent.” Rex nodded, with a side glance
at George.
“And very angry he was when it came.” Once more
the old man checked his garrulous tongue. “I—I mean,
sir, that he must have thought someone was trying to play
a joke on him, for Mr. Sneed has had no need of—of
detectives in all the years we have been with him until
now. He told me that the letter he got this morning was
unsigned and threatening, and he thought it must be the
work of some crazy person but he wasn't sure. I was to
come to you and tell you that money would be no object
if you would find the person who wrote it and see that
Mr. Sneed was protected from further annoyance. Those
were his words, sir.”
“But Mr. Sneed is not sure that it was written by a


ROBERT BRINGS A CARD 17
crank.” Rex paused. “You said something about his fear
of a robbery—?”
“Well, sir, Mr. Sneed has a safe that was built to order
for him and he thought no one else could work it but him-
self. He's got an idea lately, though, that somebody has
been tampering with it. He didn't say anything about it
this morning but I could see it was on his mind.” The
butler rose as though fearful he had said too much. “He
can tell you all about it himself, sir, if you will come. I
have a taxi downstairs.”
“Mr. Howe and Mr. Roper will accompany me,” Rex
said as he took up his hat and stick. “It is unfortunate that
our handwriting expert is not in, but when he returns I will
see that he is sent on to us. Your employer still resides
in the Burlingame Hotel?”
“Of course, sir!” Robert looked his astonishment at
the question. “He has the whole top floor remodeled to
suit him and he has lived there for more than ten years.”
“George, you and Phil go down to the taxi with Mr.
Sneed's man,” Rex directed in an undertone. “I have
some instructions to leave here for the others when they
get back.”
“I suppose this means that I am going to be left behind!”
Henry emerged from his seclusion as the others departed.
“Nothing in it for you, old man, nor for Lucian either,
as yet,” Rex responded. “Tell him to stick around, though
and await developments, but send Cliff on to the Burlin-
game as soon as you have given him an outline of the
case.”


18 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Humph! It doesn't look like much of a case to me,”
grunted the other. “Some crank must have picked on the
old guy and driven him into a blue funk, that's about the
size of it.”
Rex shook his head.
“Don’t be too sure, Henry,” he said. “Sneed is not in
his dotage by any means and there is more back of this
than the butler has told, or his employer would never have
sent for assistance from outside. There may be work for
all of us before the case is finished.”


20 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
Sneed's butler drew him aside for a moment and Phil
Howe whispered irrepressibly to Rex:
“Some swift place the old boy lives in ' I'll bet they
never had anything more exciting here than a G.A.R. con-
vention l’’
The man whom he and the rest of the Shadowers knew
as Rex Powell made no reply. For a moment his asso-
ciates, the case upon which they were just embarking,
and the daring adventures and vicissitudes of his self-
chosen criminal career had faded from his mind and he
was once again a small boy treading the same tesselated
marble floor of the lobby in the wake of a tall, slim, aristo-
cratic woman whom he had called mother, on the occa-
sion of more than one formal visit to some cousins.
He aroused himself from his reverie with a start as
George Roper's voice sounded in his ears.
“Robert has evidently satisfied the major-domo that we
are the proper sort of people to enter these sacred if some-
what musty portals, for he is leading the way to the ele-
vator. Ah, my friend, if he had only an inkling of our
former vocations!”
The clerk had bent once more over his ledger and the
bell-boy captain returned to his station, but the elderly
waiter still stood in the dining-room door as they passed
with his tray upheld upon a knarled, rheumatic hand.
“The elevator stops at the floor below Mr. Sneed's apart-
ments, sir,” Robert volunteered as they began a slow and
dignified ascent. “He had a special stairway built in when
his rooms were remodeled.”


A REFRACTORY CLIENT 21
“Were the alterations very extensive?” Rex asked.
“Oh, yes, sir. The employees of the hotel all sleep in
the annex and the top floor was cut up into small suites
for the guests, less expensive than those lower down. Mr.
Sneed had it all thrown into one.—But here we are, sir.”
He preceded them down the corridor to a small door in
which he inserted a key. It opened upon a tiny square
hall from which a narrow staircase led up to an anteroom
as limited in size as the private entrance just below, but
furnished with two heavily carved chairs. The door which
faced them was massively carved also and adorned with an
antique brass knocker which Robert lifted twice and let
fall resoundingly before he produced a huge, quaintly
fashioned bronze key.
George Roper uttered a slight exclamation which he as
quickly changed into a cough, but Rex did not heed. He
was gazing up at the single small window high in the wall
at the stairs’ head through which a tiny ray of sunlight
gleamed.
“You said, Robert, that Mr. Sneed occupied the entire
floor here? This hall and staircase must be about in the
center of the area upon which the hotel is built,” he re-
marked. “That window up there cannot look out upon
the yards in the rear of the private dwellings on the side
street.”
“No, sir.” The key rattled in the lock beneath the guid-
ance of the butler's tremulous hand. “Mr. Sneed left a
square inner court open to the sky when he planned the
alterations and the rooms are built all around it, but it is


22 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
so ugly that he had the windows put up high like that so
he wouldn't have to look out on it.”
The key turned and the great door swung inward dis-
closing a reception room with wide windows at the farther
end which looked out on the Avenue. It was furnished
austerely, with the chairs backed against the wall and a
plain mahogany table in the center, upon which stood a
bronze lamp of ancient design.
That was the only touch of the ornamental which the
room contained save for two mediocre pictures which hung
one on either side of the bare marble mantel surmounted
by a huge gilt mirror that reflected the bent, palsied form
of the butler as he moved to a door which stood ajar in
the right wall and knocked upon it.
A high, thin voice bade him enter and as he did so, clos-
ing the door noiselessly behind him Phil started to speak,
but George held up a warning finger. Utter silence
reigned, however, and after a long minute Rex strolled
over to the window and stood gazing down upon the double
line of motors crawling along the Avenue. All at once he
uttered an exclamation of surprise and his hands flew to
the sash, only to fall again to his sides, and he turned with
a baffled expression to George, who was regarding him
quizzically.
“What the ” he began, but got no further, for Robert
reappeared and taking their hats and sticks ushered them
into the room from which he had just emerged. It was
large and lofty-ceilinged, with windows facing on both the
avenue and side street, and through an archway in the


A REFRACTORY CLIENT 23
third wall could be seen another fireplace flanked by tall
bookcases. Huge davenports and deep-cushioned leather
chairs stood about at comfortable angles to the many side
brackets of modern electric fixtures which were placed
at regular intervals in the walls, every other available space
of which was covered with arrangements of keen-bladed
weapons of every country and period grouped with no re-
gard to their kind or age. Broadswords hobnobbed with
African spears, slender Italian rapiers with short, ugly-
looking dirks and over a desk in the corner a scimitar was
crossed with a machete.
A little old man, weazened and shrunken but dapper al-
most to the point of effeminacy had risen from before
the desk and now stood glancing in quick appraisal from
one to the other of them through gold-rimmed pince-nez,
from which a long loop of black ribbon was suspended.
His gaze passed over Phil and George and rested unerr-
ingly upon Rex Powell.
“You are the head of the firm known as the "Shad-
owers’?” His voice was reedy and piping. “Robert did
not grasp your name, but he is needlessly upset.”
“My name is Powell, Mr. Sneed, and although I am
nominally the president of our organization our various
cases are taken in hand by those of our experts whose
training has best fitted them for the investigation of each
particular problem. We are practically an association of
specialists,” Rex replied. “This is Mr. Roper and Mr.
Howe.”


24 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
Sneed nodded and motioned with one claw-like hand
to chairs.
“I am glad that you were at liberty to come to me at
once, gentlemen,” he said. “I trust, though, that Robert
has not made a great to-do about what after all will prob-
ably prove a very simple matter. I own that I myself was
agitated when I first opened the letter this morning—Rob-
ert has told you that it is because of an anonymous let-
ter that I sent for you?”
“Yes, Mr. Sneed. Our handwriting expert will follow
us here shortly.” Rex drew his chair closer. “Before we
undertake this case let me remind you of the promise we
made to our prospective clients in our announcements, one
of which was sent to you, of absolute secrecy and discre-
tion now and in the future. In return for this, however,
we must have the unreserved confidence of our clients.
They must be candid with us and withhold no fact or
even suspicion that might aid us in the investigation, for
we cannot work in the dark.”
“That is quite understood " A dry cackle broke from
the lips of their new client. “You call yourselves special-
ists, gentlemen; if I were ill enough to require the serv-
ices of a medical specialist would I not defeat my own
ends and practically throw his fee in the street if I were
to withhold from him the true symptoms of my case? I
am placing myself unreservedly in your hands.”
“Then, Mr. Sneed, will you tell us whether you have
the slightest inkling or not as to who might be the author
of the letter?”


A REFRACTORY CLIENT 25
“I have not, sir.” The old gentleman drew himself up
with an air of dignity. “It seems like the mere rambling
denunciation of a lunatic and if I had not feared that it
would be but the fore-runner of further annoyance and
perhaps an attempt at personal violence I would have de-
stroyed it and thought no more about it. I am at a loss
as to why it was addressed to me for its contents are wholly
unintelligible, but because of another incident of the past
few days I decided to place myself under the protection
of someone more discreet than the average police detec-
tive, and more intelligent. My safe, which I thought im-
pregnable, has recently been tampered with. It is not that
which gives me so much concern, for the attempt was un-
successful, of course, but the fact that an intruder could
have invaded my privacy without detection is most dis-
turbing. We all have our little idiosyncrasies, I suppose,
and mine is the not unnatural one of desiring seclusion in
my own home.”
His lips had drawn to a thin line and his withered jaw
set like a steel trap. George Roper hitched forward a lit-
tle and spoke in his drawling sanctimonious tones.
“Most assuredly, my dear sir! But was there any refer-
ence made in the letter to the safe or the fact that some-
one had forced an entrance here? Have you any reason
for connecting that incident with this anonymous threat
other than your inability to account for either of them to
your satisfaction?”
Sneed regarded him through narrowed eyes for a mo-
ment and then replied:


26 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“There was no reference to the safe or to the intruder,
but there was a vague, ridiculous accusation that I was
unlawfully possessed of something which the writer
claimed and a threat to take it away from me. The accu-
sation is false, needless to say, but the creature who
penned it should not be at large to persecute respectable
citizens, much less break into their homes.” Sneed rose.
“I will get the letter now and you shall judge for your-
selves.—I will bring the letter to you here.”
He added the last pointedly for Phil had risen, too, with
the expectation that he would be permitted to examine
the safe, but their client's meaning was unmistakable and
the discomfited mechanical expert sank back again as Sneed
moved with a peculiar sidling gait to the archway leading
into the library and the heavy portieres fell together be-
hind him. Phil turned to Rex, but George forestalled him.
“It is singular that Mr. Sneed should have been selected
at random for the attack of a crazed brain.” He spoke
obviously for the benefit of the man in the next room.
“It may be that he chose the name from the register and
there will be a flood of anonymous letters sent to patrons of
the hotel.”
“The fact that the safe was tampered with puts a differ-
ent complexion on the affair, though.” Rex followed his
lead. “If there is really any connection between the two,
the safe will be the starting point of our investigation,
since the attempt upon it was made before this letter came.”
Phil held up his hand suddenly and rising, tiptoed over
to the curtain at the side of the archway and peered cau-


A REFRACTORY CLIENT 27
tiously within just as there came a sharp click followed
by a subdued whirring and a thud. To the uninitiated the
sound was not unlike that of a crane hoisting and deposit-
ing some soft but heavy object, and Phil's face was a study
as he returned to his chair, evading the inquiring gaze of
the others.
A metallic clang and the rustle of paper came to their
ears and then Sneed reappeared holding an envelope gin-
gerly between thumb and forefinger as though its very
touch were contaminating. Drawing from it the two sheets
of paper which it contained he held them out to Rex.
“‘Phineas Sneed,’” the latter read aloud. “‘The dead
sometimes return. You thought you had beaten me when
you robbed me of my greatest treasure and had me sent
to a living death, but I have come back and lies and treach-
ery will not save you now if you try to stand in my path.
You are dealing with one who knows you and your devil-
ish schemes and who will stop at nothing for revenge.
For every hour spent in that hell you shall suffer! If harm
has come to that which you stole from me you shall pay!
Old man, take warning, for I shall come to claim my
own l’”
The silence which followed as Rex handed the letter to
his companions was broken by Sneed himself. He had not
resumed his seat, but stood by the desk plucking impa-
tiently at his pendulous under lip.
“Well?” he demanded. “What do you think of it? The
creature is unbalanced, of course, but that is where any
possible danger could lie. If he has got some crazed no-


28 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
tion that I have something in my safe that rightfully be-
longs to him, and with the cunning of the insane has man-
aged to gain access to my apartments I shall not feel at
ease until he is safe under lock and key.”
“Are you quite sure that you can recall no one who might
have such a fancied grievance against you, Mr. Sneed?”
George folded the two sheets together and laid them upon
the table. “In the financial world in which you were a
prominent figure not many years ago a man cannot climb
very high without making enemies, however unconscious
he may be of them. Have you thought well since that let-
ter came this morning?”
“It is a tissue of lies, sir!” Sneed's face was convulsed
with sudden rage and he brought his fist down sharply
upon the desk. “That lunatic not only accused me of rob-
bery but of being responsible for sending him somewhere,
for which he threatens vengeance. There is nothing in
my safe nor in my possession that is not lawfully mine,
but the writer of that letter, whatever kink he has in his
brain, may have conceived some cunning plan to rob me,
or be the tool of others.”
“In that case, Mr. Sneed, before we can proceed further
it will be absolutely necessary for our expert here, Mr.
Howe, to examine your safe and to know the exact cir-
cumstances under which you discovered that it had been
tampered with,” Rex said firmly, but their client shook
his head.
“Not at all ! I have told you that the attempt made was
unsuccessful; it was bound to be! No one can open the


A REFRACTORY CLIENT 29
safe for there is not another like it in the world. It was
constructed especially for me after an idea of my own and
no one could enter it who did not know the secret. I do
not propose that anyone shall!—It is not a matter of dis-
trust, gentlemen!” he added hastily as he noted the quick
flash in Rex's eyes. “The mechanism which controls my
safe has nothing to do with the letter upon which I have
consulted you. Find the man who wrote it and see that
he is put away; that is all I require of you and I am will-
ing to pay—”
“You cannot pay for our professional reputations which
are at stake if we fail in a case, Mr. Sneed, and we cannot
undertake yours, as I warned you, if you do not give us
your full confidence,” Rex retorted. “We must be the best
judges of what is or is not pertinent to our investigation.
You say that the safe was your own invention and espe-
cially constructed for you. The men who built it, there-
fore, must know the secret of its mechanism and it is
possible that they have adapted your idea and made others
like it. Have you thought of that?”
Once more a dry cackle broke from Sneed's lips.
“It was a matter not so much of construction as of in-
stallation, and I am quite certain that no other was built
like it for the man whom I employed died soon afterward
and I had made it to his interest to keep the details of my
invention to himself. The intruder who broke in here
may have learned of its location, but he could not gain ac-
eess to it.”
“When was the attempt made to break into it, Mr.


30 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
Sneed?” George interposed quickly before Rex could speak
again.
“Sometime between last Saturday morning when I took
some papers from it to my vault at the bank just before
the closing hour and the following afternoon,” Sneed re-
plied. “I went to it then to compare some accounts with
those I had in my desk and I discovered unmistakable indi-
cations that an attempt had been made to open it. That
is immaterial, however, except as it may have some bear-
ing on this letter—”
The harsh whirr of a buzzer interrupted him and he
crossed to the door by which they had entered and opened
it an inch or two, just sufficiently to reveal Robert's face
in the aperture. As the latter addressed his employer in
an undertone Phil turned in appeal to Rex.
“For the love of Mike, old man, let me get a flash at that
safe!” he implored. “Don’t take this bird's word for it
that the case depends only on that letter!”
“I am not,” Rex responded. “Don’t worry, Phil, your
turn will come, for we will see that safe or drop the case.”
“What is your handwriting expert's name?” asked
Sneed from the doorway.
“Mr. Nichols. Has he come? We left word for him—”
“Show Mr. Nichols in, Robert.” Sneed left the door
ajar and returning to the table he took up the letter. “Now
perhaps we shall make some real progress.”
Phil flushed and even George frowned, but Rex sat
seemingly unmoved and only those who knew him well
would have detected the slight hardening of his jaw or


A REFRACTORY CLIENT 31
sensed the unalterable determination which it portended.
His tone was still suave when he presented Cliff Nichols
on the latter's appearance, but he added:
“It has not been settled yet that we will accept this case.
Mr. Sneed agreed to place himself unreservedly in our
hands, but we differ as to the relevancy of a certain detail.
If we may not examine the safe we had best not take up
any more of his valuble time nor our own.”
He rose, but Sneed put out a nervously clutching hand.
“I am perfectly willing to show you how the attempt
was made to tamper with it!” he exclaimed. “I am nat-
urally jealous of my invention and do not wish it dis-
closed to the world, but I had decided to trust you before
I dispatched Robert with my message. If you insist your
expert is, of course, welcome to examine the safe, but I
prefer first to hear what this gentleman has to say about
the letter.”
He extended it to Nichols as he spoke and the latter
after a glance at their leader accepted it and read it with a
casual air.
“Quite so.” Cliff reached out for the envelope and slip-
ping the letter into it he placed it in his pocket. “There is
nothing extraordinary about this, my dear Mr. Sneed; it
is quite in the usual run of anonymous letters sent by
cranks to prominent men who may or may not have in-
curred their personal enmity. With your permission I
will examine this more fully at my office. From the in-
formation I found awaiting me there I understand that
it came in the ordinary mail this morning and your butler


32 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
according to custom laid it beside your plate.”
“Yes, but—but have you nothing to tell me about the
sender of it?” Disappointment made the old man's thin
tones shrill. “What does the handwriting indicate?
Surely if you are an expert in this—er—branch of your
profession you must have gained some facts from just a
first reading !”
“I have nothing to tell you now, Mr. Sneed.” Cliff
smiled but his mild, near-sighted eyes snapped at the
half-incredulous sneer. “At this stage of our investiga-
tion we ask questions, we do not reply to them before we
have sufficient data and time to study and reflect upon it.
This writing is disguised, of course, but is there not a
letter nor a stroke of the pen which is familiar to you,
however vaguely? Have you compared it with any speci-
mens of other handwriting which you may have among
your papers?”
“Certainly not! It never occurred to me to do sol”
Sneed disclaimed vigorously. “That would imply that I
had a suspicion as to the identity of the author and as I
have repeatedly assured your associates here I am as much
in the dark as they are. The contents of the letter is sheer
nonsense to me, the raving of a creature of unsound mind,
and the writing itself is like none other that I have
ever seen to my knowledge.”
“Yet you considered it of sufficient importance to call
us in.” Cliff spoke meditatively as though to himself and
their client retorted hastily:
“It is of sufficient importance to me, sir, that my peace


A REFRACTORY CLIENT 33
of mind and perhaps my personal safety be not endan-
gered by a crank! Then, too, my safe—!”
He paused biting his lips but George interposed.
“As Mr. Nichols can do nothing further until he has
had an opportunity to study the letter privately I might
suggest that you show us your safe now and then we will
return to our headquarters.”
Sneed glanced at each of the four unyielding faces and
shrugged.
“Very well, but remember, gentlemen, that the safe is
a mere detail, of minor importance. I should never have
gone to the trouble of consulting you about it. I require
your services only in regard to the letter and the sender of
it!” -
There seemed to be almost a note of warning in his
tones and George glanced meaningly at their leader as they
followed the old man to the curtained doorway, but Rex
was watching Phil. Since the glimpse which the former
safe-cracker had taken through those curtains when their
client went to procure the letter an unusual preoccupation
had settled upon him and over his weak, goodlooking fea-
tures an expression of amazement mingled with incredu-
lity had spread.
Now as he halted in the doorway only Rex was close
enough to catch the involuntary exclamation which escaped
him.
“Good Lord! The Super-swing


CHAPTER III
PHINEAs sneed's INVENTION
HE library was a square room almost as large as the
one they had just left, with two windows opening on
the side street and a third deep and high up in the opposite
wall, which evidently gave upon the inner court. The
lines of bookcases that reached from floor to ceiling on all
sides was broken otherwise only by the fireplace and be-
side it at an angle across the corner of the room, a safe.
It was of medium size and solid-looking, differing in no
wise at a casual glance from those ordinarily seen in offices,
and its half-opened door disclosed a double row of small
drawers and pigeonholes stacked with an orderly array of
papers. Ledgers and account books filled the lower space
and the bulk of a black japanned tin despatch box could
be discerned in its innermost recesses.
Yet to the trained perceptions of Rex Powell there
seemed to be something odd about the position of the safe.
It jutted out into the room taking up more space than its
dimensions appeared to warrant and the panelling in the
angle where the two sides of the wall met to form the
corner just above and behind it showed a faint tracery of
cracks in the dull varnish. Looking closer he noted that
upon each side of the safe there were short, claw-like pro-
[34]


PHINEAS SNEED'S INVENTION 35
jections of steel from which stout rods ran back seemingly
into the wood, and Sneed's unguarded admission that his
invention pertained more to the method by which the safe
had been installed than to that receptacle itself returned
to his mind.
George and Cliff Nichols stood regarding it critically
while Phil with a mere glance at its contents ran his hands
down the rods at either side, gazed up at the wall and then
with a nod as of satisfaction abruptly turned his back
upon it and began a slow circuit of the room. Sneed, who
had taken his stand on the hearth with a supercilious smile
uttered a low exclamation and plucked nervously at the
wrinkled skin about his sharp jaw, his small shrewd eyes
following every measured step of the mechanical expert,
but he said no word until the latter turned.
“Mr. Sneed, the installation of this safe was your own
idea, you say? What suggested it to you in the first
place? I know, of course, that it slides back into the wall
at the touch of a concealed spring, but that is not alone its
unusual feature. You have made a study of hydraulics?”
“Only a superficial one,” Sneed replied with elaborate
carelessness. “A movable wall safe is not unique and one
which I had seen suggested this to my mind. I drew a
rough plan without practically any working knowledge of
how it could be constructed and informed myself upon it
later. The man I employed found no difficulty in follow-
ing my instructions.”
“How long ago was it installed?”


PHINEAS SNEED'S INVENTION 37
Rex. “If you people are trying to make a complicated
affair out of this you are mistaken The crank who
wrote that letter is the one I want found and put away
and he may have had nothing to do with the attempt upon
my safe last week!”
“Yet that such an attempt was made, and that the letter
virtually accuses you of unlawful possession of some
‘treasure’ of evident value to the writer are two rather sig-
nificant points, you will admit,” Rex replied as patiently as
he could. “Will you tell us of your movements from Sat-
urday noon until you discovered on the following day that
the safe had been tampered with?”
“I went to my deposit vault at the bank just before noon
with the papers which I told you I had taken from the
safe.” Sneed had sidled back to his former position on
the hearth and his irascible temper seemed to have sub-
sided. “I had shut it carefully and tested it, as I inva-
riably do more from habit than anything else, for of late
I have kept nothing here of value to anyone but myself.
I lunched downtown and went to a curio shop or two
which I frequently visit, then returned to dine at home.
I retired early as usual without another thought to the
safe and nothing disturbed me or my servants during the
night. Sunday I motored out of town to look at some
property and it was late afternoon when I returned. I
began to figure up some accounts and it was then on
going to my safe that I found someone had tried to break
into it, as I will explain to you, gentlemen!”
From the beginning of his speech when he had again


38 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
stationed himself with his back to the fireplace Sneed had
apparently made no gesture or movement, yet now there
came to the ears of the four Shadowers the same subdued
whirring sound that they had heard before and a section
of the walnut panelling which met in the corner receded
a few inches and then rose smoothly behind the upper
part as the safe at the same time rolled back into the
aperture thus formed. There was a sharp click and the
sliding section descended noiselessly once more, fitting
with perfect exactitude into its place. Save for the minute
cross cracks in the surface of the panels, which might
easily have been laid to a defect in the grain of the wood,
no outward indication was left of the recess in the wall
and what it contained, and Sneed rubbed his shrivelled
hands together and chuckled in almost childish pleasure.
“Rather neat, eh?”
“It’s one of the slickest—!” George Roper had mo-
mentarily forgotten his present status and his slaty gray
eyes lighted with enthusiasm. “For a spook cabinet it has
everything else skinned—I mean that it is far superior to
the crude mechanism employed by some fraudulent spirit-
ualists whom we have had occasion to investigate lately!
—But I do not see any marks except those barely discerni-
ble fissures where the panels join the upper wall.”
“There are none, but anyone having known or guessed
that a safe was concealed here would naturally have sought
for a sliding panel and the spring or lock that controlled
it, realizing that mere force would not cause it to open.
The first thing that I noticed last Sunday afternoon was


PHINEAS SNEED'S INVENTION 39
the blur of fingermarks with here and there the imprint
of a whole moist palm where it had been pressed all up
and down the panelling, showing as clearly on the satin
finish of the wood as though it were a mirror.” Sneed
paused. “He must have suspected a system of leverage
then and looked for the handle or pivot that would start
it in motion, for this loose brick here in the hearth was
pried out of place, several of the volumes in the book-
cases on either side of the movable panels were disar-
ranged and there were fingermarks again, dusty this time,
all along the carving in the white marble of the mantel.”
“I wish we had been called in before those finger prints
disappeared,” Cliff Nichols remarked. “Did you observe
their general outline, Mr. Sneed? Was there any peculiar-
ity about the shape of the palm which impressed you
particularly?”
“Only that they were large and powerful looking—I
noticed the print of both palms, and the fingers were thick
and square at the ends, and rather curiously bent.”
“Spatulate.” Cliff nodded understandingly. “Those of
the average safe-breaker are, unless he is an artist in his
line.”
He cast a guileless glance at Phil as though for corro-
boration and that young man grimaced and thrust both
hands hastily in his pockets. George Roper's mellifluous
tones broke the momentary pause.
“Remarkable presence of mind, my dear sir! You must
have been greatly disturbed at the evidences of an in-
truder, yet you were sufficiently collected to note the im-


40 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
print of both palms' I would be too much to hope, I
suppose, that one had left a plainer impression than the
other?”
“It did not, Mr. Roper, but I understand what you
imply.” Sneed accepted the diplomatic tribute with pat-
ronizing modesty. “I observed, however, that where the
dust marks of all five fingers appeared on the mantel those
of the left hand were more numerous than those of the
right.”
“That is something to go upon, at any rate,” remarked
Rex. “The marks upon the woodwork would have dis-
appeared by themselves a few hours after they were made
and if one of your servants had dusted this room in the
morning surely the imprint of dirty fingers on that white
marble would have been noticed had they been made dur-
ing the night. You questioned them, of course?”
Sneed shook his head slyly.
“Only as to their movements while I was out and
whether or not they had heard anything during the night,
and before doing so I myself removed all traces of those
finger-prints. I keep only two servants, old Robert and
his wife Jane, and although they have been with me for
a number of years and I have always found them faith-
ful I preferred to hear their story without disclosing how
I knew that an intruder had entered my rooms. They
could throw no light upon the affair, however. Both had
been at home all of Saturday and on Sunday Jane had been
out from ten o'clock until three, but Robert had remained
at home. I myself returned shortly after four.”


PHINEAS SNEED'S INVENTION 41
“Had you occasion to enter your library yourself before
going out that morning?”
“No. I arose later than is my usual custom and the
car was waiting while I breakfasted. I have told you all
I can of the matter and it is in your hands now, gentle-
men, but once more let me impress upon you that my sole
object in sending for you was to protect myself from the
writer of that letter. If he proves to be the same man who
attempted burglary here, so much the better, but if not it is
reasonable to suppose that my visitor will not trouble me
again since his first effort was unprofitable.”
Sneed moved toward the other room as though to sig-
nify that the protracted interview was at an, but Phil
held doggedly at his heels.
“Just a minute, Mr. Sneed. From what you’ve told us
there is nothing to show that the Frenchman you em-
ployed couldn't have welched on you before he died;—
told the details of this invention of yours to somebody, or
sold them. You haven't told us yet how you ran across
him in the first place.”
“I tell you the feſlow is not a factor in this case!” The
old man's irascible temper flared up once more and his
small eyes flashed like twin points of steel. “I do not
wish to discuss my invention any further! It was more
a whim on my part than anything else; I wanted to see
my idea take practical shape and form, but I had no
definite plan to that end until this fellow came to me
and I learned casually during our interview that he was
a mechanical engineer. I sounded him and he was glad


42 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
to accept my terms and conditions. That is all there
was to it.”
“Why did he come to you? Did he hear that you were
interested in mechanics?”
“No. Some curio dealer had told him that I was mak-
ing a small collection of swords and other weapons and
he had brought an old Moorish knife to sell to me.—But
all this is totally beside the point! I want the writer of
that letter!”
“We will do our utmost to find him for you,” Rex as-
sured him as they followed him back into the corner room
once more. “By the way, your man tells me that your
apartments occupy the entire upper floor of the hotel here
and that they are built all around a square open roof-
court in the center. What is back of the library? I saw
no connecting door.”
“There is none. All along the back are store-rooms
and the servants’ quarters, including my private kitchen
where Jane prepares my especial diet whenever I have
one of my attacks. At right angles to it, parallel with
this side street are my own personal apartments; my bed-
room, dressing-room, dining-room and study. The latter
reaches to the Avenue on the other side of the reception
room and completes the square.—I cannot see, however,
that the arrangement of my apartment can have anything
to do with the matter I have called you in to investigate.
That letter came in the ordinary mail!”
He had spoken with nervous haste and his thin voice
had taken on a rasping quality as though he found it diffi-


PHINEAS SNEED'S INVENTION 43
cult to breathe. A dull, angry spot of color had mounted,
too, in his wrinkled cheeks and his fingers worked rest-
lessly on the high chair-back on which he had leaned. The
excitement of the morning and his own ungovernable tem-
per seemed to have brought him to the verge of one of the
attacks he had mentioned, and Rex ignored his expostula-
tion and remarked:
“We will get to work on it at once, Mr. Sneed, and
communicate with you as soon as we have made any prog-
ress. In the meantime, should we require further informa-
tion one of us will call upon you.”
“You will find me here.” Sneed pressed the bell in the
wall beside his desk. “I am not in the best of health and
rarely go out except on business. I prefer that you come
to me personally with what future questions you may wish
to ask, for Robert is a garrulous old fool and Jane exag-
gerates, I find, like all women! The letter itself furnishes
the only real data in the case and I have done all I can to
assist you when I placed it in your hands.-Robert, show
the gentlemen out.”
He did not accompany them into the reception room and
George, the last of the quartette to file out, glanced back
to see him sink once more into his chair, his head with its
scanty white hair bent forward in meditation and his
fingers drumming upon the desk.
Robert closed the living-room door behind them and
went for their hats and sticks and Cliff Nichols observed
disgustedly:
“There may be some interesting points in connection


44 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
with this letter but as far as our new client is concerned
I cannot say that I for one am entering upon this case
with any undo amount of enthusiasm. Of all the boorish
old reprobates—!”
George held up a warning hand.
“There is an old saying, my dear Cliff, that walls are
sometimes provided with ears. I would suggest that we
defer our discussion of this matter until we have—”
He paused for a door at the left of the fireplace opened
and a woman started forward into the room. She was
about fifty years old, broad of hip and shoulder, with
heavy beetling brows and a dark line of down upon her
upper lips. For a moment she gazed at them with a surly
air, then her sharp eyes fell and with a muttered word
of apology she crossed to the door on the other side of
which Sneed sat and entered without knocking, closing
it behind her with a definite slam.
“Whew If that is Jane, I don't wonder Robert wore
a henpecked air!” Rex shrugged and spoke in a careful
undertone. “Were you serious about that ear, George?”
George Roper's lank countenance remained immobile
and no movement of his lips was perceptible, but his un-
mistakable voice replied laconically:
“Electric light button beside door is dummy. Look
close!” He turned with sudden urbanity as Robert reap-
peared. “You and your wife must take excellent care of
these rooms. We were just observing that they do not look
as though it were all of ten years since they were done
over.”


PHINEAS SNEED'S INVENTION 45
“It isn't, sir.” The butler's face lighted with a pleased
smile at the praise. “Mr. Sneed lived in an apartment on
one of the lower floors until five years ago when he took
this and remodelled it as I told you before, sir. I—I hope
you'll be able to help him.”
He added the last in a half-whisper with a deprecatory
glance toward the connecting door and handed them their
hats and sticks in ill-concealed haste. Then he escorted
them out into the entrance hall and down the stairway
to the private door, which he unlocked for them.
No word passed between the four Shadowers after tak-
ing leave of him until they had descended in the elevator
and crossed the echoing lobby to the street. Phil Howe,
ordinarily the most garrulous member of the organization,
had not spoken since they left the presence of Sneed and
now he pushed his Panama a trifle back upon his curly
head and whistled softly as he strode along.
“Why so pensive?” George demanded. “Our client is a
rum old bird, I'll admit, but why in time you pestered him
so about the man who built his safe for him and then neg-
lected to find out the most important thing of all is beyond
me. You took the cross examination into your own
hands and I only interfered when it was necessary to
pour oil on the troubled waters, otherwise I should have
demanded myself that he show us how he worked the
mechanism of that invention of his.”
“Oh, that?” Phil asked airily. “He wouldn't have shown
you if his life had depended on it, and anyway it doesn't


46 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
matter. I saw how he worked it, or rather I guessed when
I rubbered at him through the curtains.”
“Sneed is right, though; this letter is the key to the main
problem.” Cliff patted his pocket complacently. “I saw
nothing so very remarkable about that contrivance. The
mechanical devices which Rex had rigged up in our offices
are far more amazing to me.”
“No. I fancy that safe works on a different and unique
system,” Rex said thoughtfully. “One thing is sure. There
is more mystery connected with Mr. Phineas Sneed that
he does not wish delved into than that which he has called
upon us to solve.”


CHAPTER IV
‘o-Four-two-six’
66GNUPPOSE we take the letter into consideration first,
for after all as Cliff says, it is the main key to the
problem,” Rex suggested. They were seated once more
about the council table in his private office and to Lucian
Baynes and Henry Corliss, who had joined them, had been
recounted the gist of their conversation with their new
client. “We can compare notes afterward as to any cu-
rious facts which may or may not have come under our
individual notice and then decide which of us is to assume
charge of the case.”
“That goes without saying, doesn't it?” Henry glanced
at Cliff as the latter produced the letter, and taking it
from the envelope he spread it on the table before them.
“Hope I'll get a look in as alienist when Cliff finds the nut
who wrote that letter. Read it to us, old man.”
Cliff complied and then observed:
“I’d like to know what you all think of it before I ex-
press an opinion. I want to see if one peculiarity about it
strikes you as forcibly as it does me.”
George Roper shook his head.
“I’ve worked every graft and played every con. game
going in my time and I flatter myself that I've learned to
[47]


48 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
be a pretty fair judge of human nature. Off-hand, I
wouldn't say that the fellow who wrote that was alto-
gether a nut. It is worded in a hifalutin style, but people
are sometimes unconsciously dramatic when they are
laboring under strong emotion, and there's another way
to look at it, too. What if he had wanted to make it read
like the work of a crank in case it fell into other hands
than Sneed's, but was convinced that the old man him-
self would know very well what it meant and who had
sent it? I’m confounded if it don't ring true to me, as
though the writer were sincere, however he might have
been mistaken in bringing his accusations and threats
against Sneed.”
“Did the old man smoke while you were there?” Henry
asked as he took up the letter and sniffed it audibly.
“No. There wasn't the slightest odor of tobacco in his
rooms,” Rex replied quickly.
“Then our letter-writing friend must have a varied and
inconsistent taste,” the chemical expert declared as he
passed the letter to Lucian. “You're rather a connoisseur,
Luce. You can't escape that smell of rank Virginia to-
bacco; it is stronger on the envelope than on the sheets of
paper, but the whole thing is permeated by another blend,
too. It's something more delicate and yet quite as pene-
trating. Do you get it?”
“My olfactory sense may not be as well developed as
yours, but I certainly do get it, Henry !” Luce made a
wry face as he dropped the envelope and held the inner
sheets gingerly to his nose. “Yes, by Jove, it is the pur-


*O-FOUR-TWO-SIX” 49
est Russian and of a grade that I thought couldn't be ob-
tained nowadays! The chap probably kept a box or two
of rare cigarettes in the same drawer with this writing
paper, but by preference smoked that other unspeakable
stuff.-Hello!”
His eyes had fallen upon the handwriting and he read
the letter carefully twice through to himself while the
others watched him. At length he glanced across the table
at Cliff.
“Here is another inconsistency. I wonder if this is
what you meant, my dear fellow 2 The bottom of the
page ends with the sentence: “For every hour spent in
that hell you shall suffer,’ and the word ‘suffer' is repeated
at the top of the next page. That is one of the funda-
mental rules of our English cousins in commercial corre-
spondence and is as essentially national a touch as is the
peculiar formation of some of the letters, particularly the
‘e’, yet the phraseology is distinctly American. I should
say that the writer was an Englishman, educated over
there but long enough in this country for our form of
speech to have become second nature to him. Was it that
to which you referred?”
Cliff Smiled.
“You and Henry have both approached it and by clues
which I hadn't discovered, but your final conclusion is
wrong, I think,” he replied. “There isn't necessarily any
inconsistency between the phraseology and the form of
writing, or the two widely different kinds of tobacco.—


50 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
George, would you say that the letter was composed by
some whining old dotard?”
“Hardly” George chuckled drily. “All the sentences
are clipped short except the second one, in which the
thought of his real or fancied wrongs ran away with him.
He may have stuck in a phrase or two at the end to make
it appear to others than Sneed like the work of a crank,
but the letter as a whole wasn't studied and I should say
it had been written on the spur of the moment by some
strong-willed fellow in a violent passion.”
“Exactly!” Cliff crowed exultantly. “I admit that I am
still a good deal of a tyro at deducing personality from
handwriting, but unless all the signs in those books on
the subject which Rex got for me are wrong these words
were written by an elderly man to whom penmanship
was rather a task.”
“And you claim there is no inconsistency—?” Henry
was beginning, but Rex cried:
“I see, Cliff You mean that letter is the work of two
people, an elderly man who wrote at the dictation of a
younger, stronger one!”
“That would account for the tobacco, of course,” Henry
agreed. “Say that the young fellow smoked the Russian
cigarettes and the old man the common domestic variety.”
“I wonder that didn’t occur to any of us but Cliff!” ex-
claimed Luce. “The writer was English and the other
American. It is just a supposition but if we assume that
some young man of Sneed's own social position keeps an
English valet and prevailed upon him to write that letter


“O-FOUR-TVO-SIX” 51
we will have a working basis even though it is a trifle too
much to take for granted.”
“No. That was my idea. Do you see how the pen
fairly plows through the paper on the upward strokes
and how wavering and uncertain it is on the downward
ones?” Cliff pointed to a line here and there as he spoke.
“That is not the free hand of one lately accustomed to
much clerical work and yet the formation of the characters
is typical of the old-fashioned London clerk, as Luce says.
Following the theory he just brought forward, let us say
that this valet has formerly occupied a superior position
but had fallen in some way upon evil days.-Don't smile,
Georgel"
“Oh, I'll grant you that an Englishman wrote that,
elderly if you like and a former clerk, but why the valet?
You'll be saying next that he wrote it under compulsion "
“Something very like it!” Cliff retorted. “He wasn't
exactly forced to do it for the writing doesn't indicate
fear, but it does show hesitation and reluctance and a
certain amount of emotion. Manservant or not, I think
he was influenced by the younger, stronger character and
persuaded against his better judgment.”
“Well, we are agreed on one point, at least,” observed
Rex. “Two had a hand in this affair, one dictating and
one writing. Henry has told us their taste in smoking to-
bacco and Luce deduced their respective nationalities,
while from the phrasing of the letter George claims that
the American is young, strong, impetuous and of violent
passions, and from the chirography Cliff has found that


52 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
the Englishman is elderly, emotional and of weaker will.
So far so good, but we haven't heard a word from you,
Phil. What is on your mind?”
Phil roused himself with an effort from his own train
of thought.
“Oh, I heard what you fellows have been saying, all
right, and I know from the last case we handled that it
isn't bunk, by a long shot, but when it comes to a guessing
game like that you'll have to count me out! I couldn't
tell from that letter whether one guy or ten had a hand
in writing it and if you had their photographs in front of
you where would you go from here?”
“Gad, but you are a pessimist—!” Cliff was beginning
but Rex interrupted him.
“Nevertheless, we've all had the floor and it is Phil's turn.
I have been observing this unusual concentration of his
and I think he has a suggestion to make. Out with it,
Phill"
“No, it's just a request.” The younger man leaned
forward earnestly across the table. “Whichever of you
fellows take charge of this case, for the love of Heaven
let me work on it in my own way until I have satisfied
myself about something. It is a point no one could handle
but me, and I don't even see any definite connection be-
tween it and that letter as yet, but it couldn't be just
coincidence! Unless I’m away off, old Sneed is the big-
gest liar and fraud in creation and he has made an enemy
who, as that guy says, would 'stoop at nothing' to get


“O-FOUR-TWO-SIX” 53
back at him. And Sneed knows it, too ! You can laugh,
but I tell you that old boy is in fear of his life!”
“Oh, come, Phil, that is a bit too much l” Luce drawled.
“He wouldn't have come to a practically unknown or-
ganization like ours if the affair were as drastic as that.
Granted that he wants to avoid notoriety, any man would
chance it by going to the authorities for protection rather
than be murdered in his bed!”
“Not if it would put him deeper in Dutch himself than
the guy would be who is after him " Phil objected. “Mind
you, this is only a wild guess on my part and if it should
turn out to be right that enemy of his may have mis-
judged him, but you haven't seen that apartment of his,
Luce. Rex can tell you that it is protected like a fort!”
Rex nodded.
“There were several unique features about it. George
got a few of them but I wondered if you and Cliff did,
Phil.”
“I’m not blind, or deaf, either!” the expert on safes re-
torted. “I might as well have been, though, for any word
that could be heard from one room to another of that
apartment and for a very good reason; the walls were
padded ! Did you notice how thick they were? When
we were talking fo Sneed and "Cliff came, Robert sounded
a buzzer in the livingroom to announce him, but the old
man didn't call out ‘come in,’ for he knew his voice
wouldn't be heard with the door closed; he crossed over
and opened it, and he was careful to find out that Cliff was
really our handwriting expert before he ordered the but-


54 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
ler to admit him. He told us about the attempt to rob
him but he wouldn't let us see the safe until Rex threat-
ened that if he didn't we would throw up the case.”
“I discovered, too, that the walls were padded when I
looked out of the reception room window at the stream
of traffic on the Avenue and realized that not a sound rose
from it. I tried then to open the window but it couldn't
be done; the sash was sealed tight,” Rex remarked.
“George discovered later that there was a dictaphone con-
cealed in the wall of that room, behind a fake electric
light button.”
“I found out something else that may have escaped you
fellows, before we entered the apartment itself.” George
chuckled reminiscently. “Lord, how it took me back to the
good old poolroom days! When Robert showed us up to
that private entrance hall and stopped to unlock the door
he sounded the knocker twice. It couldn't be heard within,
of course, with the walls padded, but I think it had some
electrical connection that announced our coming for Rob-
ert purposely fussed a lot with that key before he got the
door unlocked and in the meantime I saw a perfectly good
peephole open in the carving on one of the panels and an
eye appeared, the woman's, I think. Rex was too much
interested in that little window high up in the wall and
what it looked out on to notice—!”
“It didn't ‘look out on’ anything, if you remember,” Rex
interjected. “That and the one in the library which
opened on the roof court—if Robert is to be believed,
were for purposes of ventilation and light only. If the


‘O-FOUR-TWO-SIX” 55
old chap kept a harem the zenana couldn't be more care-
fully secluded ! Robert got nervous, too, when I asked
him about that first window; his hand trembled so that
he could scarcely unlock the door, and Sneed wasn't any
too pleased later when he learned that Robert had ex-
plained to us the way in which the apartment was laid
out. He as much as ordered us not to question his serv-
ants any more.—By the way, Phil, did you ever in your
late profession come across a safe that was installed like
his?”
Phil shook his head.
“No.” He spoke with an odd repression. “I’ve heard,
though, that a similar mechanical contrivance was possible,
but put to a far different use.—Don’t ask me any more
now, you fellows! Let me work in my own way and
you can go as far as you like with that letter—!”
His speech ended in a gulp and he sat staring with
protruding eyes at the envelope of the anonymous letter
which he had picked up idly as he talked and was turning
over and over in his hands. They clenched now until the
stiff paper crumpled between them and suddenly he sprang
to his feet.
“I’ve got it! It wasn't a coincidence after all!—Look
here, I told you fellows a minute ago that I didn't see any
definite connection between the letter and the point I
wanted to investigate, but I see it now! I've got the
proof Sneed's enemy didn't write that, if Cliff guessed
right about his age and character, and he couldn't have
dictated it, not in that language, but the warning comes


56 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
from him all right, or somebody who has taken up the
grudge for him?” Phil hesitated, his eager face flushing,
and then he burst out: “Gee, I know this sounds like
awful nerve when you all think I am just a roughneck
yegg, good enough perhaps to crack a crib but not there
with the headwork,+will you give me a chance to boss
this job? Luce got the dope on the last case from a
lump of dried mud, because he was the only one who
knew where it came from and what it was used for; now
I am the only one of us who stands a show of finding
the guy for whom that letter was written, and I could
use nearly all of you and save time right from the start!
Will you give me my chance?”
“What do you say?” Rex asked slowly as he looked
around the table. “Phil knows we don't think he is a
roughneck, he is just as expert in his line as any of us
are in ours.”
“More expert than I am in mine,” Cliff said generously.
“I don't want the leadership in this case but I would
hate to give up working on this letter now—.”
“I wouldn't want you tol" Phil cried. “If you would
stick to it and tell me every hint you can dope out of it
I wouldn't ask any more of you!”
“You all took my word for it in the last affair when
I told you I was the only one who could handle it, and
you were willing to follow my directions blindly,” Luce
reminded them. “Phil even went away out of his line to
get some information, and he did as much if not more
than any of us. Now if he can tell us what connection


‘O-FOUR-TWO-SIX” 57
there is between the attempted robbery and the anonymous
letter, and what made him so sure all of a sudden that
such a connection existed I am ready and willing to take
my instructions from him.”
“And I.” George nodded. “I am beginning to under-
stand now, Phil, why you were so insistent about finding
out who built that safe and what had become of him.
You had heard of Sneed's invention before, hadn't you?
The letter speaks of the dead returning; maybe you have
reason to suspect that this ‘Jules Dumois’ or ‘Dupuy' is
a pretty lively corpse!”
“Henry?” Rex turned to the rotund medical expert in-
quiringly, and the latter shrugged.
“Oh, let Phil take the ship, by all means ! He thinks
he knows what he is getting at, anyway and as he says,
where do we go from here if we depend solely on what
can be deduced from the letter? It won't give us the
names and address of the two men who concocted it, and
from what you have told me Sneed isn't likely to give you
any more information than he can help for fear of giving
his own hand away. We can't go through the city with
a fine-toothed comb looking for a young American with
an elderly English pal, or advertise for them, and if Phil
can locate them by going at the case from another angle,
let him tackle it.”
“But are you sure that you can?” Rex turned doubtful
eyes on their colleague. “You said that you had absolute
proof–?”
“I have.” The careless, happy-go-lucky note was gone


58 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
from Phil's voice and he spoke with grave seriousness.
“I am not going to tell you why, or how I came to know
about it, but there is a certain—well, call it a code number,
that came into my mind the minute I caught a glimpse
of the mechanism which controlled that safe of Sneed's.
Whether he has ever heard that number or not I don't
know, but somebody evidently thinks that he has, and
the letter must have been too vague to suit them. They
wanted to make sure he would know who was on his trail
and that it wasn't any bluff, so before the letter was
mailed they jotted this little reminder down in the corner.
It is so faint that you can hardly see it and I only noticed
it myself a few minutes ago. Sneed was probably too
upset to get it and it might not mean anything to him if
he did, but I—I know the codel”
He smoothed the envelope flat upon the table and
pointed to one corner. There, so lightly pencilled as to
be barely discernible appeared the number: ‘0426'.
“It is agreed, then,” Rex said after a pause. “Phil,
the case is yours!”


CHAPTER V
THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL
“I. mighty fine of you boys to give me this chance!”
Phil looked with sparkling eyes about the table at
his fellow Shadowers. “I needn't tell you that I will do
my level best to make good and prove that you didn't pick
a bloomer when you trusted me to run this investigation.
Of course, I don't know how much of a hand I'll be at
telling other guys what to do for I worked alone in the
old days from the time that I turned my first trick, but if
you will all just work with me and advise me when I
get in a hole I am sure we can't fail!”
“We won't!” George asserted confidently. “I don't sup-
pose you have thought out yet any special work for each
of us to do?”
“You’re just the fellow for one lead I want followed
up,” Phil replied. “You were once in the show business,
weren't you?”
“‘Show business?’” George repeated in surprise. “I
ran a shell game game with a circus in my early days, and
worked the carnival circuits with every fake device for
enticing kale from the pockets of hayseeds that was in-
vented at that time. But why—?”
“Coney Island closes for the season at the end of the
Inonth, but there are bound to be some busted concessions
[59]


THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL 61
are a pretty decent, hardworking couple, I gathered, and
the woman especially is the open-hearted kind who would
take anybody in who was sick or in trouble. That's all
I can tell you about them, and I know it is mighty little
dope to go on, but I don't want to pass up any chance,
no matter how slim.”
“If they’re still in the game you needn't worry. Peo-
ple in that line of work whether it's circus, carnival or
amusement park are all like one big family and I am
almost sure to find someone who can put me on their
track.” George rose. “If I am going to do this thing
in character I will just have time to climb into some clothes
fit for the part and get down there and look about a
little before the afternoon rush starts. Any further
instructions?”
Phil glanced half-deprecatingly at Rex, but the latter
shook his head smilingly.
“No, this is your show. I haven't any suggestions to
offer, but on the contrary I am waiting to take my in-
structions from you, my dear fellow !”
“It seems like rotten cheek, when you brought us all
together in this organization' You're the real leader.”
Phil flushed again. “If you don't feel like doing what—
what I thought of asking you to do later, Rex, why don't
mind giving me the office.”
“No, I'm playing the game all the way through.-
Going, George?”
“Yes. You will hear from me as soon as I have ar-
ranged to take up my new vocation. I'll wager I coin


62 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
money at it, too, so even if Sneed doesn't show the proper
appreciation for our efforts in his behalf I at least will not
be out of pocket! See you later.”
“I wonder how he deduced that Sneed was a miser,”
Cliff remarked when the panel had closed behind the
other's attenuated figure. “Of course, George had an
opportunity to study him at first hand longer than I did
this morning, but I would like to see a specimen of the
old boy's handwriting.”
“I meant to bring you one,” Phil declared. “I think
I have about got his number, but if you can dope out any-
thing more from his hen-tracks I'll be mighty glad.”
“Then I'll get to work on this letter at once.” Cliff
moved toward his own office. “I want to study it in con-
nection with some of those reference books of mine and
you'll find me here whenever you bring the other speci-
men.”
With a nod to the rest he disappeared and Lucian
Baynes stirred in his chair.
“When Henry told me who had sent his card to us in
my absence, Rex, I took the liberty of looking in your
files before your return and I found that you had listed
Sneed as a collector of curios,” he observed. “None of
you who called on him have mentioned such a collection.
Does it really exist?”
“Yes, of a kind, but I doubt whether it comes within
your scope, Luce. The walls of his living-room are cov-
ered with weapons; not firearms, but swords and spears
and knives. There is no attempt at arrangement and


THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL 63
from a casual glance I should not say that any of them
were of especial value. I fancy he picked up here and
there whatever struck his eye. Odd sort of taste for a
feeble old man who seems to be anything but blood-thirsty,
to say the least.”
“It is just an example of atavism I suppose.” Luce
drawled with a shrug. “That arch-murderer Bennington
had a hobby for hunting and classifying butterflies, if
you remember, and Mrs. Neil who wrecked all those banks,
put most of her money into a collection of embroidered
church vestments.-I would like a peep into that living-
room of Sneed's, but I don't suppose you have planned
any course of action for me yet, Phil?”
“I have, though, and one that you ought to take to like
a duck to water!” Phil chuckled. “For the time being
you are not a member of the Shadowers but a gentle-
man of leisure, travelling for your health. That English
accent of yours will come in good if you can keep it up!
Go to the Burlingame, engage a suite of rooms and get
in solid with the management. You know what I mean,
live quietly but tip everybody like a prince and scrape
acquaintance with the proprietor if you can. I want to
know all about those rooms of Sneed's being remodelled,
what excuse he gave for leasing that whole top floor
for himself alone and whatever you can find out about
the installation of that safe. Do you get me?”
“I do!” The drawl was gone from Luce's tones. “I
might even ingratiate myself with Sneed. I think I see
a way—”


THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL 65
most of the staff. Do you suppose you could be a wel-
fare worker looking up the record of a former con. for
the sake of some dying buddy of his whom you have
reformed?”
“Why couldn't I be a relative?” Henry suggested. “I
needn't be dying to want to know what has become of
my unfortunate brother or son!”
“Because you don't know the name he was sent up
under, much less his real one. This pal has lost track
of him and only learned that he was serving a term up
there about three years ago for burglary.” Phil's tone
had lowered and he did not meet the eyes of his two
companions as he added: “The yeggs he trailed around
with called him “The Gull’.”
“Do you happen to know what he looked like?” Henry
worked his question delicately. “It might help if I knew
his approximate age and a few other little details that
his dying pal would naturally have disclosed in talking
about him.”
“He was young, under thirty,” replied Phil slowly.
“He had sandy hair and he would have been freckled,
I guess, even in stir. There wasn't anything of the hard-
ened crook about him, but he was a dreamy kind of a
nut and easily led.”
“What if he is there still and the Warden trots him
out for me?” Henry rubbed his bald head uneasily. “I’m
not much up on this welfare business and if he should
swear that he never heard of this buddy he's supposed to
have had the Warden might get leery.—Not that there is


66 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
anything out against me, and I admit it would be a novel
experience to visit a pen. of my own free will, but I am
not over anxious to bring myself to the personal attention
of the authorities.”
“The Gull isn't there now,” Phil said briefly. “Your
reformed second-story man heard that he had been par-
doned, and mind, he never knew of any trick the Gull
actually turned. He was just in with the wrong crowd
and liked to talk as big as the rest of them. That's the
line to take, see?”
“His pal may have reformed but he needn't have be-
come a snitcher!” Henry remarked. “I’m going to get
real fond of my protégé before I reach the Big House.
What does he want to find the Gull for? Is he going to
leave him some of his wealth? He must have done pretty
well at his game before he turned over a new leaf or a
smug reformer like me wouldn't take so much trouble
to pander to his last wishes.”
“Oh, he could just have liked the lad and wanted to
see him once more. That's only a detail. The main thing
is to bluff the Warden into showing you the records and
to find out if you can what has become of the Gull.”
Henry rose somewhat heavily to his feet.
“I am going out first and locate some mission, or what-
ever they call it, where these welfare birds hang out,” he
announced. “One or two of them came my way at Joliet
but I didn't encourage them. Now I want to see them in
their natural habitat and get the line of talk one of them
would be likely to hand the Warden. I’ll get up there


THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL 67
on the first train tomorrow morning and I ought to be
able to pull off that interview and return by evening
You'll hear from me as soon as I get in.”
“Henry is growing cynical I am afraid,” Rex remarked
when he and Phil were alone together. “It is evident that
you know what you are doing, my boy, but I confess I
don't quite follow you. Second-story workers and side-
show people are queer fish to be in the same net with
Sneed. We mustn't forget that he is our client and
whatever mystery surrounds him is his own affair as
far as we are officially concerned. Don't let your inter-
est in the safe blind you to the main issue.”
“I’m not!” exclaimed Phil. “I am only going at it in
my own way to find out who wrote that letter. With
Cliff working on it now and Luce as close to old Sneed
as he can get, I knew I could spare Henry and George
to follow up those old leads, but I want you to try some-
thing entirely different. We all know that you—well,
you don't belong to us. Luce has a classy veneer, all
right, and Cliff was a college man, but you've come from
the real people and you've still got swell friends. I'd
bet that you even know some of the society dames and
financiers to whom you sent the Shadowers' announce-
ments ſ”
Rex laughed.
“I was careful to choose people who wouldn't know or
recognize me in case they required our professional serv-
ices! But I don't want to use any of my old acquaint-
ances if I can help it, Phil. I do belong to you of my
peº:
qt wº
* *
- º pesºſ? lºbkak,
* . .


68 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
own choice, and I’ve turned my back on them and their
world.”
He was still smiling, but there was a note of pain in his
voice and the younger man flushed.
“I didn't mean to bring up anything I shouldn’t, Rex,
but it struck me that if you wanted to-to appear again in
your old crowd you might be able to find out a little more
about Sneed and the kind of life he must have led before
he shut himself up like this. A man with all his money
wouldn't have buried himself alive the way he has with-
out some good reason and I want to find out what that
reason is. I am dead certain it isn't only because of the
enemy I told you about, it goes back further than that.
I want to know everything I can learn about his life
during the past—well, say ten years. Even if he didn't
go in for society his wife may have done so when she
was alive, and anyway among the men who butted up
against him in the financial world there ought to be one
or two who knew him more or less intimately. Do you
understand?”
Rex nodded.
“I’ll have to go after the old codgers, for if he has
been out of the game for a decade or more the younger
element won't recall him. The financial as well as the social
world has a short memory, Phil. You won't expect to hear
from me for a day or two?”
“No. Take your time; I may not show up here at
the office again before you have all reported, but I'll com-


THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL 69
municate with Ethel or whoever else happens to be in, of
course. When can you get on the job?”
“At once.” Rex took up his hat and stick. “I sup-
pose it is no good to ask you what your own program is?”
“I’m not sure, myself!” Phil replied candidly, with a
laugh. “It all depends on what I run into.—Good luck,
Rex.”
Yet when he was alone the smile faded from the young
man's lips and an introspective look took its place as he
rose and with hands thrust deep in his pockets paced
rapidly to and fro. It would seem that his thoughts
boded ill for someone, for his face darkened and now
and then he muttered wrathfully to himself, but when
at last he strode to the panel leading to the anteroom
and slid it aside he called out in his usual cheerful tone:
“Hey, Ethel!”
The little secretary shifted her wad of gum.
“Anything doing?” she asked with interest. “When I
got back from lunch Mr. Corliss told me he thought the
ball had started rolling again, but when I asked Mr.
Powell just now he said I should take my orders from
you. I'll sure be glad to do something besides stall book-
agents!”
“We have another little job on hand and I am sup-
posed to be running it, but I don't know how it will pan
out,” Phil responded. “There is something you might
be able to do, but I don’t want to get you into any trouble
or draw the attention of the bulls to our organization.


70 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
When you were caught with the goods that time they
didn't take you downtown, did they?”
“Police headquarters, you mean?” The blonde head
shook energetically. “No, and I’m not afraid they will
now, no matter what you want me to pull off for you,
Mr. Howe. Just give me the dope and you needn't worry
about my dragging you people into the line-up !”
“You're quite certain no one down there would spot
you?” Phil insisted somewhat uneasily. “You see that
is what I want you to do, Ethel; pay a little visit to head-
quarters and make some inquiries for me. Think you
could make yourself look homely and shabby and sickly?”
“I don't know about the sickly part but clothes'll make
the difference in the rest,” Ethel replied in matter-of-fact
honesty, but she looked a trifle startled, nevertheless. “I
wasn't mugged that time and I don't see how any of the
dicks in Centre Street would know me, but what's the lay?
I'm game for it, only I want a straight story if I’m going
on the carpet before the main guys.”
“You'll have to have more than that; you will need an
address and not a phony one, either. Where are you
living now?”
“With an old dame Mr. Powell found for me when he
got me out of Lefty Jane's hands. She goes out sewing
by the day—”
“What does she think you do?” Phil interrupted.
“Address envelopes, piece work for an advertising con-
cern. Mr. Powell didn't want her to get wise that I was


THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL 71
working for him. We've got a dinky little flat down in
the Chelsea district.”
Phil grinned irrepressibly.
“Must be lively for you, Ethell Rex will have you
going to night school next!” +
“And I'll tell the world I’d go if he wanted me to!”
Ethel flushed. “If it hadn't been for him I would still be
piking along working the shops instead of getting a chance
at a swell game like yours, even if I'm not on yet to how
you put it over, beyond the fact that we're all phony
dicks! I'll take a tip from Mr. Powell whenever he
hands one to me!—But what am I supposed to be when
I show up at headquarters, and who am I trying to get
a line on P”
“Your own name and address will be all right. You
are a working girl out of a job and staying with an old
friend. You'd better have come from some western city,
though, in case you don't put your story over slick enough
and they try to look you up. You've got an uncle named
Jim Peterson whom you lost track of about six or seven
years ago and just lately somebody told you he'd been
doing time for smuggling dope, and only got out last
Winter. Of course, you are sure he must have been inno-
cent, you know the old gag, Ethel,-and you would like
to find him if they can help you, because he always said
he would take care of you. Have you got that straight?”
“If I could think that fast and all new stuff I’d write
a book, Mr. Howe!” she exclaimed admiringly. “Sure
I've got it and I'll be Little Orphant Annie with bells on!”


72 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Don’t pull it too strong!” Phil warned. “It’s only a
flier, you know. When you come back on the job here,
all I want you to do is to stall an old gentleman named
‘Sneed’ if he calls up; tell him we are working on his
case and will communicate with him later.”
“So he is the fall guy now, is he?” Ethel laughed. “All
right, Mr. Howe. You can depend on me.—Say, that man
who moved into the office across the hall is kind of funny.
You know, the one who breezed in this morning for a
window pole?”
“How—“funny'?” Phil paused with his hand on the
doorknob for there was a puzzled note in the girl's tones.
“Have you seen him again?”
She nodded.
“I came up in the elevator with him when I got back
from lunch and he bowed real pleasant; not a bit fresh.
He kept looking at me and then away again quick as
though he wanted to say something but couldn't make up
his mind. I took my time about opening the door here and
he didn't close his after letting himself in. I could sort
of feel that he was looking at me. He sure isn't any dick
but he seems mighty interested in us. Want me to kind
of encourage him?”
“Not yet until we see what his game really is. Watch
your step at headquarters, Ethel. Goodbye.”
He had purposely treated as of no moment her infor-
mation about their new neighbor, but he glanced curiously
at the half-opened door of the other office as he passed,
conscious of a quick step within. He had reached the


THE MAN ACROSS THE HALL 73
elevator when the door behind him closed and the same
firm, springy tread followed down the hall just as the
car descended. Phil took in the tall, bronzed, broadshoul-
dered figure which Ethel had likened to that of a ‘movie’
Westerner' in one hasty but comprehensive look and then
ostentatiously turned his back, although when the street
level was reached he was careful to let the other precede
him and noted the free, swinging stride with which he set
off eastward.
Phil himself turned west, to the rather dubious tene-
ment quarter near the river where he had rented a room
from a former pal for professional purposes and where,
truth to tell, he felt more at home than in the dignified
bachelor apartment in which Rex had insisted that he in-
stall himself. There, as he donned a shabby pair of old
trousers and a ravelled sweater all thought of the stranger
was forgotten in his plans for the immediate future, but
when he issued forth once more some sixth sense borne
of the old days warned him of espionage.
In a doorway between two dingy shops across the way
stood the broad-shouldered figure of his fellow passenger
in the elevator and Phil slunk hastily past. He had
plainly not been recognized in his present rough attire,
but one fact was certain; as George Roper had hinted
half in jest, the Shadowers were being shadowed.


CHAPTER VI.
THE SOUND UNHEARD
HE demure young girl in the cheap, black gown and
modest straw turban who timidly descended the wide,
shallow stairway at police headquarters and ventured out
once more into the sunshine was a shade more pale beneath
the cleverly applied coating of powder than when she had
entered half an hour before. In spite of her vaunted
daring Ethel had felt none too easy in her mind at ven-
turing into the very citadel of her natural antagonists and
the unexpectedly searching inquiry to which she had been
kindly but very firmly subjected by the inspector in charge
had not tended to allay her inward nervousness.
Her mission would seem on the face of it to have been
futile for there was apparently no record of the further
proceedings of one Jim Peterson from the expiration of
his term on the previous winter, and vague promises of
future aid in her search had been all that was openly
vouchsafed to her. Eyes less keen than those of the
little ex-shoplifter would have missed the quick, signifi-
cant interchange of glances between the official and a
subordinate at her mention of her uncle's' name, and
ears less sharply attuned would not have heard the low,
peremptory order which was given as she took her de-
parture from the bureau.
74


THE SOUND UNHEARD 75
But Ethel had not spent the last two of her twenty
years in skilfully outwitting the authorities for nothing.
Whether she had made a favorable impression or not
with her story it was evident that the whereabouts of
Jim Peterson were no secret and she shrewdly suspected
that her claim of relationship might be investigated. If
a plainclothes dick were sent to interview him and she
could manage to trail along to his destination it would
not be necessary to return to the offices of the Shadow-
ers and admit her first failure in their service.
Walking to the corner she crossed the street and halted
suddenly before a candy store window as though her at-
tention had been arrested by the delectable display within,
but the heavy plate glass reflected as in a mirror the burly
figure of a young police detective who had left headquar-
ters in her wake. For a moment her heart stopped with
the thought that he might have been detailed to shadow
her, but he passed without a glance and plodded off
westward with a purposeful air. His brand new suit of
civilian clothes sat awkwardly upon him and he bore him-
self with the unmistakable tread of one still walking his
beat.
Ethel sniffed and wrinkled her small nose in contempt.
“He’s some green dick!” she murmured to herself. “It
ought to be easy.”
The plainclothes man did not look back but crossed
Broadway, empty of traffic in the Sunday noontide, and
continued west to the riverfront and then downward
with the slim black clad figure unobtrusively but tenac-


76 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
iously bringing up the rear. A forest of smokestacks tow-
ered above the covered wharves on the right and a multi-
tude of odors rose from the heaps of merchandise piled
upon the sidewalk behind the screening barricade of which
Ethel adroitly dodged when her unconscious quarry showed
signs of halting in his pace, for the district was as ob-
viously unfamiliar to him as it was to her.
Finally he stopped before a low, mean shop sand-
wiched between a warehouse and a fruitstand, its unshut-
tered, flyspecked window showing a meager display of
sailors’ supplies, and after a brief inspection he knocked
upon the side door. An interval passed during which
Ethel discreetly effaced herself behind a stalled truck; then
the plainclothes man rapped more loudly and at length the
door opened and a girl appeared.
She was a few years older than Ethel and her thin face
would have been pretty but for its habitually lowering
expression, which did not lighten during the short collo-
quy that ensued. No word reached the listening ears of
the Shadowers’ secretary, but she saw the other girl's
start of surprise and vigorous shake of the head before
she shrugged and turning, disappeared. In a few moments
her place was taken by a huge man of middle age whose
massive shoulders filled the narrow doorway and whose
sandy beard bristled redly in the sunlight.
He gesticulated vehemently and seemed to be working
himself up into a rage as he replied to the detective's
questions, and Ethel did not wait for the end of the inter-
view, but noting the number beside the dingily lettered J.


THE SOUND UNHEARD 77
Peterson’ over the door she dodged around the corner and
made for the nearest elevated station.
At the same moment Lucian Baynes from a hotel booth
not far from the Burlingame was endeavoring to get the
Shadowers’ office on the wire. Clifford Nichols was
alone and deeply engrossed in his study of the anonymous
letter when the insistent ringing of the bell at length
penetrated his consciousness and with an exclamation of
annoyance at the interruption he rose to reply.
“Is Phil there?” Lucian asked.
“No. I haven't heard from Henry or Rex, either, and
even Ethel seems to have deserted the shop.” Cliff's tone
was distinctly aggrieved. “Are you coming over?”
“Cawn't do it, deah old thing!” Lucian drawled with
an exaggerated accent and then added, chuckling: “Who
said the old birds in that hotel were dead ones? I've been
invited to sit in and let a retired Senator and three friends
teach me the famous American game of poker! I hope
Sneed doesn't kick at the expense account we turn in
when this case is over ! Incidentally, I have just been
smoking a cigar with the proprietor and I've found out
several things. Tell Phil that old Sneed is practically
a recluse; none of the hotel employees ever enters his
apartments except the waiter who takes his meals up from
the restaurant, and he receives no callers but a chap
named ‘Hodge,” who is supposed to be his lawyer. I
didn't want to seem too persistently interested, but I
gathered that his disposition has only soured during the
last few years, since he had his rooms done over and shut


78 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
himself up in them. The proprietor didn't know I was
pumping him, he merely cited Sneed as one of the eccen-
tric characters with whom he came in contact and I
flatter myself that I drew him out rather neatly.”
“Huh !” Cliff snorted. “I don't see how that is going
to help us make any headway! I am at a standstill with
the letter and I’m worried about Ethel; I didn't know
Phil meant to use her and I only hope he hasn't sent her
off on some hairbrained stunt that will land her in trouble.
The kid is so plucky she would try anything if she thought
it would be helping us. You haven't heard from Rex,
have you?”
“No. Tell the rest of the boys, though, that if they want
to communicate with me at the hotel they must ask for
“Mr. Lester Ballyntine.’ I’ll drop around when there is
anything worth while reporting, and don't you worry
about Ethell That young woman has a remarkably cool
head on her shoulders and she'll come through all right
whatever she's up to 1 See you later.”
Shaking his head dubiously, Cliff was hanging up the
receiver when the entrance door of the suite opened and
a tall, lanky individual appeared in gorgeous array. The
handwriting expert had to look twice before he recognized
the usually funeral George in a checked suit and startling
waistcoat, with a huge, off-color diamond in the center
of a crimson tie and a rakish imitation panama in his
hand. From the corner of his mouth a fat cigar was
tip-tilted and its fumes caused Cliff to back hastily away.


THE SOUND UNHEARD 79
“Good Lord! Where did you get that outfit? If you're
not a human side-show in yourself—!”
“That, my boy, is the intention " George interrupted
complacently. “Behold Zadkiel the Great! I am blend-
ing astrology with astronomy in an effort to rend the
veil of the future for the hoi polloi, and I have dropped
in for my robes and horoscope charts. Outside of busi-
ness hours I am a prosperous, good fellow and going
strong already with the other show people in Joyland.
If you can send me any trade, you'll find me just inside
the entrance to that amusement park, in a black-draped
booth adorned with the signs of the Zodiac; I’ve done my-
self up in style!”
“You have 1° Cliff conceded with a grimace. “Fortu-
nately it is Sunday or your connection with our highly
dignified firm might give rise to comment among the
other tenants in the building!”
George chuckled.
“I was rather an eye-full for one of them; that new
fellow in the office across the hall !” he remarked. “Don’t
know what he was doing there today, but his door was
open and he gaped at me like a fish as I passed.—I must
hurry and gather my paraphernalia together for my grand
opening this afternoon.—”
He had turned toward Rex Powell's sanctum to cross
it to his own, but the opening of the door arrested him
and Phil entered briskly. He was clad once more in his
usual dapper fashion and carried himself jauntily, although


80 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
his face was drawn and there were tired rings around
his eyes.
“Well, fellows, how goes it?” he demanded. “Got any
fresh dope from the letter, Cliff?—George, you look as
though you had started something.”
“I have " George nodded. “Cliff's refined taste is
shocked by the scenery, but as I was just telling him it
appeared to make a hit with our new little playmate across
the hall—.”
“You mean the one who has just opened up that office?
You haven't been talking to him, have you?” There was
a new note in Phil's tones which caused Cliff to glance
sharply at him, but before he could speak George de-
manded in quick concern:
“No.—Why? He looks all right to me. What's wrong
with him?”
“Nothing, except that whatever line he pretends to go in
for, it's a blind; his real business is with us.”
“What do you mean?” Cliff exclaimed. “He borrowed a
match from me in the elevator this morning and seemed
to be a pleasant, civil-spoken chap enough. Don't get
jumpy, Phil; our consciences are all clear.”
“Maybe so, but he tried to trail me yesterday.” Phil
told of the encounter, and added: “I’m pretty sure he
is going it alone on his own hook, and his work is so raw
that we needn't worry, only it is important for us to know
why he's after us. Be sure you tell Rex about it when he
comes in if I am not here.—Say, where is Ethel?”


THE SOUND UNHEARD 81
“Never showed up,” responded Cliff. “I’ve got a mes-
sage for you, though, from Luce.”
He was launched upon the delivery of it when Ethel
breezed in upon them. She looked warm and uncom-
fortable in the shabby black gown and her mop of yellow
hair was curling in moist ringlets about her powder-
streaked forehead, but she nodded a cheery greeting and
then demanded of Phil without preamble:
“Has my uncle got a beard like a house a-fire and a
build like a heavyweight champ?”
“He would have, I guess, if he let his beard grow and
filled out that big frame of his " Phil replied. “Bully for
you, Ethel ! Where did you see him?”
“Where he lives. The main guy at headquarters acted
like he fell for my bluff, but he was leery about giving
me my uncle's address till they found out the whole
thing was on the level. As soon as I made myself scarce
they sent a green dick straight down to ask my uncle
about this niece who was trying to wish herself on him,
and all I had to do was to follow.”
“Do you mean to say that you have had the audacity
to present yourself at police headquarters on a fake er-
rand and then deliberately trail a detective in broad day-
light?” There was a trace of respectful awe in Cliff's
tones. “My dear Ethel, is there anything you wouldn't
undertake?”
“Not much, but that plainclothes bull was easy,” she
replied modestly. “It is a good thing, though, that I didn't
give my real name and address at headquarters like you


82 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
told me to, Mr. Howe, for I could see by his actions even
if I was too far off to hear what he said to the dick, that
Uncle Jim wasn't adopting any nieces; not today!”
She told him in detail of her morning's exploit and
gave him the address she had obtained, adding as an
afterthought:
“Who was the girl? She had red hair like him and
she sure looked as if she had a grouch against the world.
If there is any dope you want me to get for you I'll go
down tomorrow and make friends with her, if I have to
pull a faint in front of her door!”
“I believe you would !” Phil agreed. “However, I'll
handle that end of it now that you've found old Jim for
me. You just stay on the job here and take any reports
that come in. I'm proud of you, Ethel!—You're certainly
the goods!”
Cliff had gone back to his study of the letter and George
was busily engaged in sorting costumes and appurtenances
for his new venture in chicanery from the varied collec-
tion in his studio when Phil took his departure.
The door of the office across the corridor was closed
and although he paused for a moment listening no sound
came from within. The man who had elected to spy upon
them must be in dead earnest to have gone to such elab-
orate detail in order that he might keep them under es-
pionage, but why? In whose interest had he established
himself there? They were engaged upon no other case
than that of Sneed and it was inconceivable that this


THE SOUND UNHEARD 83
stranger could be connected in any way with their eccen-
tric client.
Phil thrust this lesser problem from his thoughts and
making his way to the Burlingame he sent up his card
to Sneed. After an appreciable interval the bellman re-
appeared and conducted him up to the private entrance
of the suite where Robert received him. The old man's
manner was as deferential as before, but there was some-
thing almost furtive in his attitude and his faded eyes
did not meet those of the visitor.
They proceeded up the stairway to the great carved
door leading to the reception room. It was open and as
they crossed the threshold Phil looked vainly for the peep-
hole of which George had spoken.
“Mr. Sneed has not received any more anonymous let-
ters since yesterday, has he?” Phil asked.
“Oh, no, sir. There has been no further annoyance.”
Robert hesitated and then added in a lowered tone: “Ex-
cuse me, sir, but you'll be as quick as you can, and you
won't excite him? Mr. Sneed is all upset over this and
he's apt to get another of his attacks, though he wouldn't
like my speaking of it. He's not quite himself today.”
Before Phil could reply the butler turned as though
afraid he had said too much and led the way to the door
of the living-room which he threw open.
“Mr. Howe, sir,” he announced and closed the door
once more.
Sneed rose from his chair and as he came slowly for-
ward Phil had to check the exclamation which leaped to


THE SOUND UNHEARD 85
“You motored, I think you said, and the car was waiting
while you had breakfast.” Phil did not heed the other's
dissent. “You keep your own automobile, Mr. Sneed?”
“I do not, sir! The taxi service is good enough for me,
as I leave my apartment so rarely, but when I motor out
of the city I engage a touring car.”
“Always from the same company, Mr. Sneed? Do you
ask for any particular driver?”
“They know that I require a careful one but I have
always found them reliable. I fail to see—!”
“The car you had last Sunday was ordered ahead for
you?” Phil persisted.
“I ordered it myself on Saturday, but all this is mere
quibbling! Undoubtedly the attempt at burglary was
made during the night, and Jane forgot to dust the library
in the morning; that was why the fingermarks were left
until I discovered them.” Sneed paused and added point-
edly: “Is there anything further that I can tell you?”
“Only whether you noticed or not that there was some-
thing more on the envelope of that letter you received
yesterday than just the address, stamp and postmark?”
Phil spoke carelessly but his eyes did not leave the face
of the elderly man, and he saw the uncontrollable start
with which his question was received.
“‘Something more?’” Sneed moistened his withered
lips nervously. “What more could there be? I thought
I had examined it thoroughly—!”
“There were faint pencil marks down in one corner,
Mr. Sneed; a series of numbers. I do not pretend to say


86 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
that they were necessarily made by the writer of the let-
ter, but we wished to know if they suggested anything to
your mind.” Phil's tone had deepened in gravity. “The
numbers are o-four-two-six.”
If he had expected any manifestation of surprised recog-
nition on the part of the other he was doomed to disap-
pointment for Sneed merely shook his head and repeated
the numbers absently, adding:
“No. They are, of course, not the combination of my
safe, if that is the inference you have drawn, and they
mean nothing to me. I am at a loss—!”
He caught himself up abruptly and his jaw set like a
steel trap while his whole frame quivered with sudden
rigidity. No sound had reached Phil's ears but it was plain
that the other was listening intently and an expression of
mingled rage and apprehension swept his weazened fea-
tures. Then with an effort he pulled himself together.
“My dear sir, your handwriting expert will have to do
better than that.” The words came raspingly as he sought
to cover the pause. “Those numbers could have been pen-
cilled on the envelope as a memorandum by anyone who
handled it either before or after it was mailed. I must
confess that I am disappointed at the lack of progress
your firm has shown, but I suppose I must be patient. I—
I trust you will let me know the moment that any real
results have been obtained.”
His manner so plainly indicated dismissal that Phil
rose.


THE SOUND UNHEARD 87
“You will hear from us, Mr. Sneed. I hope that I have
not detained you?”
“Not at all !” the other disclaimed hurriedly. “Sorry
that those numbers—what were they, two, six, something?
—are of no value as a clue.—Robert will show you out.”
But Robert was long in coming in answer to the sum-
mons of the bell which Sneed had pressed, and it was
obvious that his impatience to see the last of his visitor
was mounting almost beyond his control. Once more that
keen, listening look crossed his face, this time with an in-
tensity of apprehension which seemed bordering on in-
ward frenzy and his hand shook as he jabbed again and
again at the bell.
“Confound that fellow ! He must be in his dotage!”
he muttered. “Gets slower and more deaf every—l Oh,
there you are at last, Robert! Don't try to make ex-
cuses, I've been ringing for ten minutes! Show this gen-
tleman out !”
Robert bowed his palsied head and stood aside silently
to allow Phil to precede him from the room, but not be-
fore a veiled look had passed between him and his em-
ployer that in one revealing flash conveyed an unmis-
takable message and a warning.
With a final word Phil took his departure but while
he waited in the public corridor of the floor below for the
elevator he turned over in his mind the curious episode
he had just witnessed. Though he himself had not heard
it, some sound must have reached Sneed's ears and those
of his old servant which filled them with alarm. Surely


88 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
it could not have come from within the apartment, whose
padded walls would have nullified the echo of a pistol
shot! What secret knowledge was shared between master
and man which the former would not impart even to one
of the detectives upon whom he had called for protec-
tion and assistance? Did it have any bearing upon the
anonymous letter and the attempted burglary or was there
a double mystery here?”
Still deep in thought Phil passed out of the hotel, but
on a sudden impulse he halted and scanned the faces of
the chauffeurs waiting beside their taxicabs in the string
which bore the crest of the Burlingame. The first man
was the most youthful, with a broad, smiling countenance
that promised loquacity, and giving the address of his
bachelor apartment Phil entered the cab.
Sneed had purposely ignored his question as to the
name of the motor car company he patronized when or-
dering an automobile for an out-of-town trip, and it had
occurred all at once to Phil that the preceding Sunday
had been a stormy one. The eccentric old man was ad-
mittedly in frail health and left his rooms but seldom.
On the occasion of their first interview he had explained
his absence from home at the time of the supposed at-
tempt upon his safe by mentioning that he had gone to
look at some property, but had that been the sole object
of the expedition he would surely have postponed it until
a more propitious day. What urgent errand had taken
him forth, defying wind and rain?
Arriving at his destination Phil added a generous tip


THE SOUND UNHEARD 89
to the fare and at the chauffeur's profuse thanks he re-
marked with a laugh:
“I’ll wager that is more than my uncle gives you, if you
ever drive him from the Burlingame! Do you know
Mr. Sneed?”
The chauffeur grinned.
“I sure do! He ain't the gentleman to leave a dollar
go without it gives him a pain, and that's a fact, if you'll
excuse me for saying so, sir.”
“Go as far as you like!” Phil was still chuckling. “The
boys from that company where he gets a touring car now
and then must call it a day when they have him for a
fare l’”
“The Marlton Service people? One of them had him
out for seven hours in the rain last Sunday and all he got
was two bucks for himself. He showed it to us fellows
in the line, and he sure was a sore guy!—Lots of the
fares we get at the Burlingame are like that, though; I
s'pose that's why they can afford to live there!—Thank'ee,
Sir.”
The Marlton Service Company's garage was only a few
blocks away and waiting until the taxicab had rounded
the corner on its return trip to the hotel, Phil hastened
there and entered the office.
“Five-passenger touring for next Sunday?” the man-
ager repeated in answer to his tentative inquiry. “Where
do you want to go, sir?”
“Over to Jersey,” Phil hazarded. “I’ll be out about
six or seven hours.”
–


90 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“It'll be around thirty dollars, I guess.”
“That's more than you charged my friend, Mr. Sneed,
of the Burlingame Hotel last Sunday.” Phil took a long
shot. “He didn't mention that you made any rate for
him, either.”
“We don't but that was an easy trip out on Long Island,
and he stopped for three hours or more at the Winton
Sanitarium. I'll make it twenty-five for you, though, sir,
since you've been recommended to us.”
Promising to let the manager know his decision Phil
left and returning to his rooms, he sought the suburban
telephone book. A protracted perusal of the 'W's' listed
under the headings of the various townships was unpro-
ductive of result until he came to Shoreville. There a
line leaped out at him which caused him to drop the book
with a low whistle. The Winton Sanitarium for the In-
curably Insane!


CHAPTER VII
conceRNING THE GULL’
HEN Rex Powell left the offices of the Shadowers
on Saturday afternoon following the conference
with Phil his way led far from the path chosen for the
others. A warm week-end in early September was not the
most likely time to expect to find a highly eligible young
bachelor drifting about in town without a houseparty
engagement, and it was with small hope of success that
he presented himself at an aristocratic apartment in that
section of the East Sixties which was immediately ad-
jacent to the Avenue, and sent up to Mr. Gideon Ormsby
a card that bore the name of Randolph Pinckney.
But Mr. Ormsby was at home and his smiling little
Japanese servant admitted the caller to a cool, spacious
living-room, where a huge, young man in comfortable
negligee advanced in cordial greeting.
“Thought you were off for the other side two or three
weeks ago, Rannie!” he exclaimed as they shook hands.
“What keeps you in this blistering town?”
“I might ask the same of you!” Rex laughed. “In fact,
Gid, I was ready to give myself odds that you would be
dated up for the week-end and it was only on a chance
that I looked in.”
“Jolly glad you did I was to have gone down to the
91


92 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
Prescotts’ but Edna had a bad motor spill a couple of
days ago and they called the party off. You used to
know them years ago, I think?—Matzu, crack some ice!”
“Yes, I knew the Prescotts,” Rex remarked musingly.
“It's so many years since I have been in this part of the
world except for flying visits, though, that I have made
no attempt to keep up with the old crowd. I believe you
are the only one who even remembers me.”
“That isn't true, old man, but it would serve you right
if I were, for not settling down instead of gadding off
to the ends of the earth.-Here's how, anyway!”
Rex took a long draught of the iced drink which Matzu
offered him, and setting the glass down with a sigh of
satisfaction he asked:
“What do you say to a little quiet dinner at one of the
roof gardens?”
Ormsby grimaced.
“It would be ‘quiet” enough except for some blatant
cabaret!—How about running out instead to the country
club? You've never been there, but we can get a corking
dinner and cut the dance afterward if you like. It is in-
fested with a lot of old boys from Wall Street, but I
don't mind admitting that I’ve picked up a tip or two
there that was worth while, and we can breeze back to
town any time we wish.”
Rex, remembering his mission, fancied that he, too,
might pick up a worth while tip concerning Sneed if he
could meet some of the latter's former allies or antagonists
of the Street, and acquiesced with enthusiasm.


CONCERNING THE ‘GULL" 93
A run of an hour in Ormsby's fast little roadster
brought them to a pretty white clubhouse with wide-
spreading verandas nestling in a valley surrounded by
low, rolling hills, and the voluntary expatriate from so-
ciety ran the gamut of what introductions were necessary
before he found himself seated with his host at a little
corner table on the terrace.
“It will be all right out here until they light the lan-
terns and the mosquitoes begin to gather,” Ormsby re-
marked. “I thought you might have preferred the grill.”
Rex shook his head. He was taking a chance of which
his companion little dreamed in venturing into this select
assemblage among which there might appear at any mo-
ment someone who had cause to remember not the scion
of the Pinckneys, but the Rex Powell of some nefarious
exploit of the immediate past. Better for him the com-
parative seclusion and semi-darkness of the terrace than
the gaily illuminated grill.
The dinner was all that Ormsby had claimed for it and
afterward as they sat smoking over their coffee and the
tables emptied near them a little circle of older men gath-
ered about the young broker and his guest. At first Rex
took little part in the conversation, which from golf and
yachting gradually but inevitably turned to the latest mar-
ket reports. The man next to him, a stout, elderly retired
financier, had just described a memorable coup of the old
days when under cover of the general hum of comment
Rex remarked to him:
“An acquaintance of mine was inside on that deal, as


94 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
I remember; an odd, old chap named Sneed. Did you
know him, sir?”
“Phineas D.P" the other laughed drily. “I have reason
to He nicked me for fifty thousand once! In his time
he was one of the keenest operators on the market.”
“I hear he has become quite a recluse since he retired,
but then he never cared very much about people.” Rex
felt his way carefully.
“No. He came originally from the Pennsylvania coal
hills, you know, and brought his wife with him. She had
helped him a lot in the hard, early days, I understand,
but she was a plain little woman without any of the
social graces and it was fortunate that she had no aspira-
tions in that direction. She died fifteen years ago or
more.”
“There were no children?”
The financier shook his head.
“No, Mr. Pinckney; I never heard of any. Sneed lived
around at hotels after her death and seldom appeared at
the clubs where we'd put him up. I'm blessed if any
of the old crowd knew what he did with himself outside
of trading hours, or cared particularly. He always kept
by himself and after one or two rebuffs the other chaps
let him alone, but he has dropped out of sight altogether
during the past few years.-Hello! Here's Wallie Pall-
iserl’”
Rex stiffened and edged his chair slightly away from
the glow of the nearest lantern. Waldo Palliser was a
millionaire thread manufacturer and one of the five hun-


CONCERNING THE ‘GULL" 95
dred to whom a circular announcement of the Shadow-
ers had been sent. If he might sometime require their
services it would be ruinous to have him recognize the
guest of this evening as a private detective.
“Mr. Pinckney was asking about Phineas Sneed,” Rex's
informant observed when the introduction had been per-
formed and the latest comer had settled his long, spare
frame into a chair opposite. “You knew the old fellow;
he was rather a mystery, wasn't he?”
Palliser nodded and his eyes rested curiously upon Rex.
“That is odd,” he remarked. “Haven't thought of him
in years and this is the second time I have heard his
name mentioned this week.”
“Really?” Rex spoke with assumed carelessness, but
every nerve was suddenly alert. “He used to be quite
a power in the Street, but I never knew much about him
personally. He was recalled to my mind just now by a
deal which was discussed and I wondered what had be-
come of him.”
“Oh, he's probably living in some old morgue of a
hotel, gloating over his money!” Gideon Ormsby put in
with a laugh. “He never cared for anything else in his
life!”
“You’re wrong, there, Gid.” Palliser lighted a cigar
and settled back in his chair. “He had a fad or hobby—
call it whatever you like, that was the strangest sort of
thing in the world for a man of his type to be interested
in, but it amounted to a passion. He used to collect wea-
pons, swords and spears and knives of all kinds and ages.


96 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
It didn't matter to him whether they were valuable in
themselves or not as long as each had a history, and the
more gruesome the better. Funny for a bloodless money-
grubber, eh? I've known him to let a deal slide that he
had worked on for weeks, on the chance of being able to
gather in at any price a common kitchen knife with which
some dago had stabbed another. It was quite by accident
that I discovered this peculiar penchant of his, and in
spite of his astuteness I always thought he was a little
bit cracked. There isn't any other mystery about him,
I fancy.”
“You never can tell.” Ormsby shrugged. “Maybe he
murdered his grandmother, or something! I’d be willing
to wager that if the early lives of one-half of our retired
monuments of wealth and respectability were to be dis-
creetly investigated the rattling of the skeletons would
sound like machine gun practice!”
He laughed at his own jest, but Palliser repeated
thoughtfully:
“‘Discreetly investigated’? Have you fellows heard of
a new organization called “The Shadowers’ that claims to
do that very thing, dig out family skeletons and give them
decent burial without recourse to the police? Perhaps
none of you have been so honored, but they had the con-
summate cheek to send me one of their circulars a month
or so ago, and I was interested in spite of myself, for
the wording was unique.”
“Never heard of them.” Ormsby drained his coffee cup.
i


CONCERNING THE GULL" 97
“Some new wrinkle of a private detective agency, I sup-
pose. They're good fellows to keep away from.”
“I rather think that these are of a different caliber,” in-
sisted Palliser. “I’d be apt to give them a trial if I found
myself in need of any investigating of a confidential na-
ture, as I told young Raeburn the other day; he was
enormously interested. That circular alone would inspire
confidence if a chap were in any difficulty.”
“Is Raeburn?” A lean, bronzed, middle-aged engineer
spoke up from across the table. “You mean Gerald Rae-
burn, don't you? I ran into him in Africa a year or two
ago. Likeable fellow and a thoroughbred, but I always
thought something had hit him pretty hard in life; he
had the look sometimes of a man who had been through
hell.”
“Oh, come, Holton” Palliser laughed. “He’s knocked
about a lot and he has the poise of experience, but he's a
lucky chap; he's struck a mighty good thing of it now.”
“Mines?”
Palliser nodded.
“They're floating a new company to put it on the mar-
ket. It was he, by the way, who spoke of Phineas Sneed;
asked if he were still in the game. This is no wildcat
proposition of his but the real thing, and he stands to make
his pile before he's forty.”
The first strains for the opening dance sounded from
the orchestra in the ballroom and after a few desultory
remarks the little group broke up, but not before Rex had
accepted an invitation from Holton, the engineer, to mo-


98 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
tor out for golf the following day. For some reason he
felt interested in the young man who looked as though
he had been through hell,’ who had asked about Sneed's
financial activities, and more than all, had himself evinced
an "enormous interest’ in the Shadowerers.
But the engineer could tell him little the next day. He
had known Raeburn as a sort of gentleman adventurer
in a country where antecedents were not too closely in-
quired into and had taken him at his face value, but Holton
was a keen judge of men and the fact that he rated Rae-
burn a thoroughbred served to abate Rex's curiosity. If
the young mining operator's interest in the Shadowers had
been anything more than an idle, impersonal one he would
doubtless come to them himself in time, and meanwhile,
the problem upon which they were then engaged remained
unsolved.
When they returned to town together in the late sum-
mer twilight Rex invited the engineer to dine with him at
a quiet restaurant which catered to the staid, older aristoc-
racy, where by appointment Gideon Ormsby joined them.
They had almost finished their meal when the latter
glanced up and exclaimed:
“There's the old chap now, of whom you and Palliser
were talking last night, Rannie! I haven't seen Sneed in
a public restaurant before in years.”
Grateful for the palm which half-screened his corner
seat from the rest of the room Rex looked in the direction
indicated and almost choked. The frail but stiffly erect,
little, elderly figure, dapper in the most immaculate of


100 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
or other, so it was a case of poetic justice. I suppose it
is their mutual interest in curios that brought him and
old Sneed together. Didn't Palliser say that he had a
collection?”
“Of weapons with a history.” Holton shrugged. “Palli-
ser's always picking up odd facts about people. I suppose
it was this tendency of his to nose into the idiosyncrasies
of others which made that detective agency mark him as
a prospect. I'd like to see that collection of Sneed's,
though. Raeburn told me once about a chap he knew who
had a similar one.”
“I wonder if he could have meant Sneed himself P” Rex
observed slowly. “If you recall, Mr. Palliser said this
young Raeburn had spoken of him.”
The engineer shook his head, and some swift thought
darkened his face.
“Oh, he couldn't have meant Sneed,” he replied shortly.
“Weapons with a history must be rather rare, I should
imagine. One would expect to find them in museums.”
“Or the hands of the police!” Ormsby suggested with a
laugh. “Finished your coffee, you two? Let's get on
down to the Sandringham and see if any of the week-
enders have strayed back to town yet.”
Holton acquiesced, but Rex pleaded an early business
engagement in the morning and bade them goodnight at
the doors of the restaurant, none too easy in his mind.
As they had risen from the table Luce had caught his
eye and winked deliberately, and Rex wondered if the en-
gineer's keen glance had noted the gesture, slight as it was.


CONCERNING THE ‘GULL’ 101
Leaving his two friends to proceed to the club where
once he himself had been a member, Rex hastened to the
office of the Shadowers, to find Phil in sole possession.
“Cliff has gone to get a bite to eat and I sent Ethel
home ages ago,” the latter announced. “Have you had
any luck?”
“Only in a general way,” Rex replied. “As far as I
have been able to discover Sneed has never had any inti-
mates, and aside from money all he cares about is that col-
lection of his. I'll go after some of the brokers tomorrow
with whom he used to trade. Whatever the motive back
of his hermit-like existence during the past five years, the
old man must have had some close associates before. I
met one man who thinks he is slightly cracked.”
Phil started, recalling their client's trip to the private
insane asylum on the previous Sunday.
“Perhaps if he isn't, himself, he has some relatives
who are,” he remarked.
“And it may be in the blood, you mean? I fancy some
of the financiers he has beaten at their own game would
like a touch of that same insanity!” Rex laughed, then
his face grew serious. “But all this isn't bringing us a
whit nearer to the identity of the man who is responsible
for that anonymous letter! Has Cliff made any headway?”
“If you can call it that!” Phil dug his hands keep into
his pockets and commenced to pace back and forth. “Hon-
estly, Rex, if I could believe half that flub-dub I'd be batty
myself Cliff had the nerve tonight to sit there and tell
me that the guy who wrote that letter, old as he was and


102 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
rheumatic into the bargain, had a mighty limber wrist—
‘remarkable dexterity,” he called it!—but poor control;
that he was easily led in minor things but dominated by a
fixed idea, and that although he would not act on impulse
even if he was emotional he would go to any length of
violence if he had made up his mind to it!—Cliff never
in this world could get all that from a few penstrokes, but
I wasn't going to argue with him. You're right, it don't
get us any nearer to the guy's moniker and hang-out,
but I have some dope of my own—Hello, Henry ! What's
the good word?”
Henry's rotund, usually ruddy face was pale and sagged
in weary lines as with a nod to the other two he sank
heavily into a chair and passed his handkerchief over
his bald head. The twinkle was gone from his eyes and
a shadow had crept into them, but he responded cheer-
fully:
“Several words, but whether they are good or not is for
you to judge. You young rascal, why didn't you tell me
what those numbers meant on that envelope? You let me
in for the surprise of my life!”
Phil grinned and then shook his head.
“I didn't keep it dark to kid you!” he protested. “If
I had told all of you yesterday what I knew you would
have thought I was crazy to try to connect it with Sneed,
and you'd never in the world have let me take charge of
the case.”
“Well, unless it is a coincidence almost too big to be


CONCERNING THE ‘GULL" 103
believed I'm blessed if I don't think that you're on the
right track.”
“What dope did you get?” Phil demanded eagerly. “Did
you see the warden?”
“Yes, and he's a regular fellow ! He was on to my wel-
fare-worker bunk, so I came across and said that I wanted
to look up “The Gull' for a friend of his. The warden
hauled out the records and gave me the straight goods.
“The Gull' had been so called by his pals because of his
many trans-Atlantic trips, but he was convicted four
years ago under the name of “Arthur Wicks' for attempted
safe robbery and got a ten-year stretch.”
“‘Attempted safe robbery!’” Rex repeated.
“That's not the most significant part of what I learned.”
Henry leaned forward with his hands upon his plump
knees. “Wicks was pardoned two years ago because of his
good prison record and the fact that he was practically
dying on his feet from consumption.”
“Huh !” snorted Phil. “A good record don't take eight
or ten years off a term, and he must have had influence
at work for him to get his pardon for bad lungs! There's
something phony right there, Henry.”
“I thought so, myself.” Henry nodded. “I even went
so far as to hint that to the warden and he didn't exactly
turn the possibility down.”
“The Gull always said that he'd been railroaded !” Phil
spoke as though to himself, unconscious of his self-reve-
lation. “Of course they all say that, but he was never the
whining kind. I wonder if somebody outside was inter-


104 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
ested enough in him to get to the guys higher up?”
Henry chuckled.
“I wondered, too,” he remarked. “In fact I was so
curious about it that when I left the warden I managed
to get hold of a grey-haired old trusty who remembered
the Gull and gave me the vague rumors concerning the
case which had drifted in by way of the underground at
the time of his release. Somebody had been working for
him in Albany, not to have him pardoned but to have the
case reopened and a new trial granted. When there
seemed a chance at last of that going through somebody
else in authority must have got cold feet, for advice went
out for a pardon rather than retrial and the Gull was so
far gone that I guess his friends were glad enough to
get him out without delay and call it square.”
“It doesn't seem as though the Gull was, though 1” Phil
observed. “Henry, the first thing in the morning I want
you to look up the old files of his case and find out who
his lawyer was; interview him if possible and get the
name of the person who worked to free the Gull, and
who the big guy was that got cold feet.”
“But look here, you two ſ” Rex interposed. “Henry said
something when he first came in about those numbers that
were scribbled on that envelope: I suppose he means the
envelope of the anonymous letter, but what have they to
do with this young safe-cracker, and why should they
have been sent as a sort of threat in a code signal to
Sneed? He has never been robbed "
“He has never reported a robbery, nor been known to


CONCERNING THE ‘GULL’ 105
have any influence at Albany, although I don't think it
would be difficult for him to exercise it, with all his
money,” Henry said slowly. “Do you recall what those
figures were on the envelope, Rex?”
“O-four-two-six?”
Henry nodded.
“Arthur Wicks, alias “The Gull,’ was convict o-four-two-
six in the big gray house up the river.”


CHAPTER VIII
AN INSIDE JOB
ARLY the next morning Phil put in an appearance
at the office of the Shadowers to find only Ethel in
occupation, but he had not been there long when Lucian
drifted in with a complacently expectant look upon his
face. It dimmed, however, at Phil's abrupt query:
“Did you get anything more about old Sneed and his
habits from those other guests at the hotel that you 'phoned
in you were going to play poker with yesterday after-
noon?”
“Only from the former senator; the others are compara-
tive newcomers there and I had to feel out my ground, you
know. But I've found out quite a little more from differ-
ent sources, as I suppose you are aware, my dear Phil, if
you have seen Rex.”
“Saw him late last evening but he didn't say anything
about you. He has been digging out some fellows who
knew Sneed and his crowd down in Wall Street.”
Luce nodded.
“Yes, he was dining with two of them last night at the
Dorincourt. So, I may add, was I, and my companion was
Phineas Sneed himself "
“What!” exclaimed Phil. “Are you trying to kid me,
Luce? How did you work it? I called on him myself yes-
106


4. AN INSIDE JOB 107
terday afternoon and the old bird seemed to be on the
verge of a collapse over this whole thing!”
“The senator managed it, but I managed the senator.”
Luce stroked his small blond mustache in great self-sat-
isfaction. “During our poker game in which I was diplo-
matic enough to be the loser I casually broached the sub-
ject of curious weapons, and mentioned a few of great
antiquity and historic interest which I had brought over
with me from the other side. When the game broke up
I took the senator to my rooms and showed them to him.”
“Oh, you did, did you?” Phil observed. “Where did
you dig them up on short notice?”
“One or two are passable imitations which I had had
made to replace the real ones which I proposed to-er—
appropriate from certain private collections if I had con-
tinued in my former profession,” explained Luce airily.
“One, however, was genuine; an exquisite Venetian dagger
that I could have disposed of a dozen times but because
of its sheer beauty I could not bear to part with it. I
made up a glib history of it and the senator was most im-
pressed. Just as I had hoped when I learned he was an
old hotel acquaintance of Sneed, he mentioned the recluse
on the top floor and his odd collection. In courtesy I
could only offer to let him show the dagger to Sneed and
he telephoned up to him from my rooms. We weren't
invited to come up, but Sneed himself called on me and
there is no mistake nor bluff about his craze for weapons
and his knowledge of historic ones. I had to stretch my
imagination a bit but I must have satisfied him that I was


108 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
as ardent a collector as he for he did not seem in any
hurry to depart after the senator had left us, and when
I hazarded the invitation to dinner he accepted without
the slightest hesitation and suggested the Dorincourt him-
self, saying that he had not been there in more than five
years but this was a gala occasion for him. I shall have
the old gentleman draped about my neck if I remain there
at the Burlingame another week; he has promised to show
me his own collection in a day or two.”
“What do you think of him?” Phil asked after a brief
pause.
“It is hard to tell; he is one of the most peculiar char-
acters I ever met,” Luce replied slowly. “I would have
sensed from his bearing, of course, that something was on
his mind, even had I not known of the anonymous letter
trouble, but if he seemed on the verge of a collapse when
you saw him a few hours earlier he must have regained
a marvellously quick control of himself when he came to
my apartment.”
“You don't think he could possibly have smelled a rat,
do you?” Phil's tone had quickened with anxiety. “If the
proprietor gave him an inkling that you'd been sort of look-
ing him up he may have been just stringing you.”
“Not hel Unless he is more cunning and courageous
than I give him credit for being he would never have met
me more than half-way in this acquaintanceship, if he had
been suspicious of my good faith.”
Phil shook his head.
“Still, I don't like it,” he said. “It doesn't listen well


AN INSIDE JOB 109
to me, somehow. What else did he talk about during din-
ner beside his collection? Did you manage to draw him
out at all about himself?”
“No, beyond a casual mention of the fact that he was
alone in the world and before his retirement had been an
active speculator on the market; facts which we and all
the world know. He talked of things and places in the
city that would be supposed to interest a stranger of an
artistic and historical turn of mind.” Luce drew a thin
gold case from his pocket and as he opened it he added
reflectively: “I’m bound to admit that to an ordinary
acquaintance he would have seemed merely a cordial, well-
informed old gentleman.”
“Then you drew a blank last night?”
“Not entirely; remember he has promised to show me
his collection and that means that I shall get inside his
rooms on a different basis than the rest of you chaps. He
may even take me into his confidence about the anonymous
letter later on if I gain his friendship, and tell me more
than he has you. Have a cigarette?”
Phil eyed with small favor the slender, delicate-flavored
roll of mild tobacco which he had accepted and remarked:
“It’s funny he didn't show you his collection last night
if he wasn't just trying you out.”
“That is one point I thought significant, myself. But
the old chap is full of contradictions and queer whims.”
“What, for instance?”
“Well,” Luce settled back in his chair. “He’s had his
two personal servants for years, as we know, but none of


110 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
the hotel waiters who bring his meals to his apartments
have been able to please him for long. He complains about
each one in turn after a few months and has them dis-
charged on some pretext or other, insisting that the
waiter who takes his place shall be the one who has most
recently been engaged in service. I got this information
from the proprietor himself in casual conversation
yesterday.”
“That just bears out the fact that he's an old crank,
doesn't it?” Phil shrugged.
“Not if the charge in the anonymous letter that Sneed
had robbed someone of an article of great value should
happen to be true and the old man did not want any out-
sider coming too often or too long to his rooms for fear
they should learn too much about the peculiar arrange-
ments there, particularly his safe,” Luce suggested. “The
waiter Sneed has now used to be a butler in private
familes on the other side and has only been employed at
the hotel for the past month. I arranged that he should
bring my breakfast up this morning and for a moment I
had a horrible suspicion that he penetrated my British ac-
cent, but he is an inscrutable old fellow and never batted
an eyelash.”
“Better get in with him, though, Luce. If he is the only
one admitted at present to Sneed's rooms, he might be a
lot more useful to us than that senator you picked up.”
Phil ground out the half-smoked cigarette and lighted one
of his own pungently rank ones. “Did you find out his
name?”


AN INSIDE JOB 111
“Albert Waller.—But I did get a stray bit of rather
curious information from the senator,” Luce added, with
a sniff of disgust at the acrid smoke which assailed his
nostrils. “Sneed was always rather reserved around the
hotel during the first few years he lived there, but al-
though he made no intimate friends he was fairly genial
and occasionally invited some of the other elderly chaps
up to the rooms he then occupied, but five years ago every-
thing changed suddenly. He had the top floor done over
and then leaving Robert and Jane in charge he went away,
none of his acquaintances knew where. When he returned
in a month or two he shut himself up as he has remained
ever since, merely bowing and exchanging a few words
with the senator and the rest with whom he had formerly
been friendly, when they chanced to meet in the lobby.
I know that we are supposed to find that anonymous letter
writer and protect Sneed against him as our client, but
upon my soul, Phil, the mystery about the old chap him-
self overshadows that mere incident in interest.”
Before the other could comment there came a rap upon
the panel leading from his study to the central room which
Rex had taken for his own and the latter appeared.
“I hope you boys have had better success than I,” he
announced. “You at least have been doing some pretty
fast work, Luce. Did you tell Phil who your companion
was at dinner last night? I left that fact for you to men-
tion yourself.”
Luce nodded and Phil remarked ruefully:
“He’s been making progress but as a leader I'm afraid


112 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
I’ve been a bloomer so far. Cliff hasn't shown up yet,
but he's been mooning over that anonymous letter long
enough—”
“Who says I have?” A new voice sounded indignantly
from behind Rex, and Clifford Nichols' moody, sensitive
face appeared over his shoulder. “Don’t you know that
official handwriting experts sometimes take weeks—!”
The sharp ringing of the telephone on Rex's desk in-
terrupted him and Luce and Phil stood tensely expectant
as their leader turned and caught up the receiver.
“Yes? . . . It is George!” Rex added in a hurried
undertone. “Hello, George, what luck? . . . You want
Phil?”
He handed the receiver to the other and George's voice
came clearly but guardedly over the wire.
“I’m talking from Coney, Phil, but not from Joyland.
I’ve located the couple you want; they're out of the old
game and running a little postcard-and-souvenir shop on
the Bowery here.”
“Great!—But are you sure they are the right people?”
Phil demanded anxiously.
“Positive of it,” George responded. “I’ve been talking
to them. The wife Jen was hurt by a fall from her slack
wire a year or so ago and that is why they've retired.
Want me to dig some information out of them about
anything?”
“I do not l” exclaimed Phil in haste. “I’ll be down
myself this afternoon and bring Rex with me. Don't get
them suspicious that we're private dicks or anything, that's


AN INSIDE JOB 113
all. Their record's clean, you understand, but they mightn't
be willing to give away their friends. We'll come to your
joint first and you can give us the dope.”
Hanging up the receiver he turned to the others and
announced:
“George has found the people I sent him down there to
look up.–Cliff, I wasn't kicking about the way you've been
working on that letter, for all that sort of stuff is beyond
me! When you came in just now I had started to say that
I wanted you to lay off it and do something else for me
this afternoon.”
“Hadn't you better ask what I’ve done this morning?”
suggested Cliff with a note of suppressed triumph in his
tones as he drew the letter in question from his pocket to-
gether with several folded sheets of paper. “I don't sup-
pose it has occurred to any of you that there might be pos-
sible clues here other than those conveyed by the phrase-
ology and the writing itself?”
“‘Clues?’” repeated Phil sharply, and Luce stared while
Rex advanced a step or two. “There was nothing else but
those pencilled numbers.”
“How about the paper which was used?” demanded
Cliff, adding: “Any idiot can see at a glance of course,
that it doesn't match the envelope; it's a common one, of
the kind that can be bought in packets in any cheap
stationer's, but the sheets of paper are a different size and
far better quality.” *
“Linen bond, I should say.” Rex nodded and held one
up to the light. “There is no watermark, though.”


114 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“But there's something else that is more important still "
Cliff exclaimed. “Put both the sheets together and you
will find that they are not quite even nor straight across at
the top. Now examine those upper edges under this mag-
nifying glass.”
He produced one and tendered it as he spoke, and Rex
complied.
“By Jove! They are curled over a trifle, aren't they?
I confess I should never have noticed it.”
Rex handed the glass and letter to Phil and Cliff.
responded.
“It isn't discernible to the naked eye, but they’ve been
cut with a blunt sheers.”
“Then there must have been something engraved upon
it and the two who concocted the letter cut it off,” sur-
mised Rex. “But it isn't commercial stationery.”
“No, it isn't,” Cliff agreed as he unfolded one of the
extra, blank sheets of paper which he had brought and
slowly spread it out upon the table before them, keeping his
hand over the upper portion. “It is hotel stationery. Can
you guess from what hotel?”
“Good heavens!” exclaimed Luce. “You don't mean—?”
He paused and for answer to the unfinished question
Cliff lifted his hand. Heavily embossed in conservative
blue upon the sheet of paper was the coat-of-arms of the
Burlingame.
An astounded ejaculation burst from the others, and
after a moment Rex observed:
“I am not trying to belittle your discovery, Cliff, but


AN INSIDE JOB 115
don't let us jump to conclusions. The paper appears to be
identical, but other hotels in the city as well as clubs might
supply cream-white stationery of exactly the same size and
texture to guests or members.”
“I have samples here from every hotel in the city of a
class which would be apt to supply this expensive grade
of paper and none of them matches but this, as you may
see for yourselves.” Cliff spread out the other sheets, ar-
ranging them with long, slim fingers which trembled
slightly with excitement. “Moreover the letterhead of the
Burlingame is engraved much lower than those on the rest
and you will find that the tops of the pages of that letter
have been cut off just below it if you will place them side
by side.”
There was a tense pause while the papers were measured
and compared and then Phil drew a deep breath.
“Cliff, you have made the greatest discovery on the case
so far ! It is an inside job!”


CHAPTER IX
RED JIM's DAUGHTER
EX and Luce were still staring at the tell-tale papers
before them when Phil turned to the latter and cried
quickly:
“Luce, you've got the chance of your life now! Every-
one in the Burlingame, guests and employees alike, could
make use of the stationery there of course; get back to
the hotel and find out who have been there for more than
five years, or especially who was there and left just about
the time Sneed had that top apartment built over for him-
self, and might have returned just lately. Then weed out
those that Sneed couldn't have come in contact with, and
bring a list of the rest here at five o'clock.”
“This afternoon?” Luce raised his eyebrows. “My dear
fellow, that is rather a tall order if I am to keep in my
character of a disinterested visitor from abroad l’”
“I don't care if you have to steal the register and flirt
with the chambermaid!” Phil retorted impatiently. “Get
all the names you can, anyway.”
“I’m off.” Luce laughed and turned to the sliding panel
as he spoke. “I do not intend to resort to either method
you suggest, but I'll bring you all the names I can gather.”
“Cliff, I take back whatever I said about your mooning
over your job; you certainly got results!” Phil remarked
116


118 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
play chauffeur again, with you and Ethel for passengers.
You can get the dope I want from George for me in Joy-
land, but it will be as a taxi driver that I mean to have
my talk with Cap and Jen.”
Despite the fact that it was Monday and nearing the end
of the season Coney Island was fairly well crowded when
a taxicab drew up before the garishly decorated gates of
the amusement park known as Joyland and a distinguished-
looking man of forty-odd alighted, accompanied by a very
blonde, blue-eyed young woman, who gazed about her in
amused reminiscence. The taxi driver after a good-natured
war of wits with the traffic policeman stationed before the
entrance pulled off to a discreet distance and waited, but
his two fares made their way into the park.
Various booths were arranged in a vast oval about a
miniature lake, gay flags and streamers of bunting flew
everywhere, and the hoarse voices of the barkers enticing
the crowds to different breakneck contrivances of diver-
sion were drowned in an occasional loud blare from the
brass band stationed beside the tanbark ring, where three
weary elephants were lumbering through their paces.
Ethel and Rex paused just inside the turnstile and were
standing for a moment in contemplation of the scene before
them when all at once from their left came a familiar voice
pitched in solemn, rounded tones.
“Come in and learn what the stars foretell! Zadkiel the
Great, to whom the mystic signs of the zodiac have been
made plain will reveal to you what the heavenly bodies
ordained at your birth ! Only a quarter, two-bits, twenty-


RED JIM'S DAUGHTER 119
five cents, the fourth part of a dollar! Strictlee no for-
tune telling, ladies and gentlemen, the stars do not lie!
Zadkiel the Great will show you your best talents, who
your friends and enemies are, what your lucky years will
be and point the way to fame and fortune! Only a quarter
to consult the greatest astrologer the world has ever
known l’”
In a long, black robe adorned with cabalistic figures
which fell in straight folds about his lanky, attenuated
frame, George Roper stood just between the parted cur-
tains of a shrouded booth with a low, crimson light glow-
ing from behind him, in weird contrast to the broad sun-
shine of early afternoon. Huge, sprawling reproductions
of the signs of the zodiac were plastered in staring white
over the sable draperies on either side and a rather shaky
framework of electric bulbs was arranged overhead to
flare out at night in a crude imitation of the Milky Way.
Ethel giggled irrepressibly as the strange figure trans-
fixed them with a gaze from the depths of his monk-like
cowl, in which there was no slightest flicker of recognition,
and then, half-turning, lifted the flap of the entrance in-
vitingly.
“Come in and learn the fame and fortune which awaits
you, young lady! Let Zadkiel the Great read the message
of the stars!”
“George, you old rogue, I believe you are enjoying your-
self " Rex exclaimed as he and Ethel entered the booth
and the self-styled astrologist fastened the curtains se-
curely behind them.


120 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Never more so! Look at this!” A brief grin broadened
George's preternaturally solemn mouth as he gestured to
a generously proportioned cashbox already half full of
loose silver. “I’m a little out of practice but I am doing
fairly well, and that spiel wasn't half bad, was it? I leave
my clients out here in the ante-chamber, retire behind
those curtains and make a quick change to more majestic
robes, and old Zad is on the job!—Where's Phil?”
Rex explained while Ethel gazed curiously about her
and George dropped the cowl to wipe his perspiring
Countenance.
“It is just as well that he didn't come in with you, I
guess,” the latter commented. “You can tell him where to
find Cap and Jen. Their little shop is really nothing more
than a stand and I don't believe they are playing in any
too much luck just now, but everyone who knows them
on the Island seems to have a good word for them. They
are three doors below the big carousel on the Bowery,
sandwiched in between a photographer's and a shooting
gallery. You can't miss it. They have a lot of cheap
toys and racks of postcards out in front and Mrs. Gillen—
that's ‘Jen', sits just behind the counter inside. She is
pretty well crippled from that fall which ended her slack
wire work, but she's about the most cheerful soul I ever
saw.”
“How did you spot them?” asked Rex.
“Through an old guy I ran into this morning who is a
regular character down here and knows everybody. He
owns half the concessions in Joyland, but he'd go out and


RED JIM'S DAUGHTER 121
peddle peanuts tomorrow if he could boost the price on
them. I got talking to him, found he'd been in the carni-
val game himself and the rest was easy, for Cap and Jen
had worked the same circuit with him more than once.”
George turned suddenly to Ethel. “Has that fellow who
moved into the vacant office across the hall been in evi-
dence today?”
“Has he been buzzing around, do you mean?” She
nodded. “He was hanging out as usual with his door
open when I passed and he said “good morning’ real
pleasant but I was in a hurry.”
“Why did you ask?” Rex spoke quickly. “Phil thinks
he's been planted there for some reason to keep an eye
on us.”
“So he told me, and I happen to know he's right.”
George had dropped the ministerial manner that had be-
come almost habitual with him and his tones were crisp.
“When I got my paraphernalia from the office yesterday
he left the building at the same time, and I had an idea
that he was following me, but I couldn't be sure, and I was
so busy planning my campaign down here that I put him
out of my mind. The usual Sunday mob was on hand and
it was nearly dark before I got this booth rigged up and
opened for business. I was outside launched on my first
spiel when I'm darned if I didn't see him standing just
on the edge of the crowd and trying to hide behind a fat
man, but he is so big and broad-shouldered himself that
I couldn't mistake him. I was hoping he'd try his luck
with me so that I could give him an earful, but he only


122 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
hung around for an hour or so and then disappeared. If
he's a dick—?” t
Ethel interrupted.
“He isn't,” she remarked decidedly. “I'd have gone up
myself when I was working the stores if I hadn't learned
to spot those plainclothes johns quicker than they could
spot me. I haven't got his number, but I guess whatever
is on his mind is his own trouble.”
Rex and George looked at each other and the former
exclaimed:
“By Jove, I wonder if Ethel has hit the nail on the
head? If he's a prospective client and afraid to trust us
without trying to investigate us first—!”
“If he is, I only wish he would consult old Zad!”
George interrupted in his turn. “Tell Phil to look out
for him, anyway, until we find out his game.”
Rex rose. -
“Come, Ethel,” he said. “We'll get back to Phil now
and go to interview that couple. Are you sure you've got
your story straight?”,
“Sure!” she replied confidently. “If it was true I’d be
game to try that performing act! It kind of gets you
down here, don't it, the crowds and the music and all?”
Rex looked at the eager young face, unspoiled by her
former brief experience in the sordid world of crookdom,
and a shade of pitying comprehension crossed his own.
“It is the excitement that appeals, my dear. You live
and thrive on it just as we do and that is why you are
truly one of us, only we find excitement in different ways.


RED JIM'S DAUGHTER 123
—George, you said that shop was next a photographer's,
below the carousel ?”
George repeated the directions and added:
“You haven't told me anything so I take it that the rest
of you haven't made much progress, but I’ve done what
Phil planted me here to do. If there is nothing more in my
line tell him to 'phone me and I'll pull up stakes tonight and
be on the job at the office in the morning ready for the
next move.”
“Very well.” Rex lifted the flap of the curtain for
Ethel to precede him and added: “Phil is taking hold
better than I thought he could, but that letter is only the
least puzzling feature about this case. Our task is to find
the writer and protect our client from him, of course, but
to do that we've got to discover against his will what
Sneed is holding back from us, and from something that
Phil learned yesterday I am afraid there may be a grave
question of ethics involved.”
“Ethics be hanged " George ejaculated. “If the old
man has given anybody as rotten a deal as the letter de-
clared and we find out who it is we can protect him, if
we're bound to, and still not put his victim into his hands.
Remember, we decided when we started the ‘Shadowers’
that in a case which involved right and wrong we'd hold
court ourselves over the guilty one and acquit or condemn
him by majority vote. But let's catch our cat first and
skin him afterwards.-Now go along, Rex, for I'm losing
business and heaven knows what Ethel may be up to "
Ethel was standing demurely by the entrance, however,


124 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
and as they passed through the gates together the voice of
Zadkiel the Great rose again behind them in stentorian
tones.
Phil saw them and backing the taxi down he waited
until they had taken their seats and then asked briefly:
“Where to?”
Rex gave him the address they had obtained from
George, and Phil was turning to mount to his place behind
the wheel when a small hand shot out and clutched his
arril.
“Look!” Ethel whispered in a sharp little hiss. “There
he is now—the man with that office across the hall!”
Phil gave one quick glance over his shoulder at the tall
figure elbowing his way through the knot of people at the
gates of Joyland, and then springing into his seat he swung
the car around and started off down Surf Avenue at as
swift a pace as he dared, nor halted until he reached the
corner where the huge carousel stood. Then once more
he stepped down and opened the side door.
“That was him, all right!” he announced excitedly with
a fine disregard for grammar. “How'd you spot him so
quick, Ethel?”
“I guess because we were just talking about him; I
mean, Mr. Roper was,” she responded. “He followed
him down here yesterday.—But Mr. Powell can tell you
better than I can.”
Rex explained and added:
“I hope he didn't see us just now, or realize that we
saw him, for it might frighten him off and there can be


RED JIM'S DAUGHTER 125
only one reason why he returned to Joyland today; he's
going to chance it that George won't recognize him and
go in ostensibly to consult Zadkiel the Great.”
“We'll get hold of George later and find out, but now
let us see what Cap and Jen can tell us.” Phil stood aside
for them to alight. “Listen to the spiel I hand them and
then you can both play up. That must be the store there,
with the jim-crack souvenirs in front.”
The little shop was almost crowded out between the
photographer's studio and the wide, rifle-laden counter
of the shooting gallery, but it had been freshly painted a
glistening white and the bright colors of the cheap wares
on display made a brave showing. Two or three people
had paused to look them over, but no one was in the little
shop as they entered except a pleasant-faced woman who
sat in an oddly huddled attitude behind the narrow show-
case.
“Good-afternoon, ma'am. Is this Mrs. Gillen?” Phil
stepped forward, removing his cap as he spoke. “You
don't know me but you and your husband are friends of
a friend of mine and I'm looking for him to put some good
business his way. Can this gentleman and young lady and
I talk to you somewhere privately for a few minutes?”
She hesitated and a little flush of color came into her
cheeks.
“I’m Mrs. Gillen,” she admitted at last. “But my hus-
band's gone to the city today to lay in some new stock and
there's nobody else to wait on the customers. If you'll


126 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
tell me who you're lookin’ for maybe I can help you with-
out leaving the front of the shop here.”
With a glance at his companions Phil stepped forward
and leaning over the counter he said in a low, hurried tone:
“I’m trying to find an old pal of mine who I knew five
or six years ago under the name of Arthur Wicks. I don't
want to speak too loud for I heard he got in trouble later,
and it isn't necessary for the folks I’ve got with me to
know that, see, Mrs. Gillen? He was always talking to
me about “Cap' and Jen’ and what good friends they was
of his, and that's how I came to look you up, for I’ve got
the chance of his life for him.”
The woman eyed him keenly for a moment and a
friendly smile broke over her face, but she shook her head.
“You’ve got our names right, but we never knew any-
body called Arthur Wicks. What kind of trouble did he
get into and what was he like?”
“He was railroaded.” Phil's voice had sunk to a
whisper. “That's why I thought likely he wasn't travel-
ing under his own name, but you'll know the fellow I mean
when I tell you something... I guess I'm not giving his
confidence away, for if you are the good friend he said,
he must have told you about it himself. He had invented
a mechanical stunt that would have put half the conces-
sions down here out of business. It was a kind of a swing.
—Now do you know?”
She was still smiling, but her eyes had not left his face
and now they narrowed slightly and she caught her breath.


RED JIM'S DAUGHTER 127,
“‘A swing?’” she repeated. “We meet so many show
folks with new ideas—”
“This was a sure-fire thing, though, only he couldn't get
anybody to put up the money and it was the dream of his
life. Now I've got this man ready to back him and the
girl will do an exhibition act with it next season all over
the map, and I can't find hide nor hair of Art! There'd
be something in it for me and maybe a slice for you folks,
too, if you could help to bring them together. Art was
about twenty-five, I guess, when I knew him; he had sandy
hair and freckles and a cough, and he was a dreamy kind
of a guy, for all he was a wizard at mechanics.” Phil
paused and straightened with an air of disappointment.
“It's funny about your name, ma'am, but there must be
some mistake for I see you don't know him, after all.”
He turned as though to go, but Mrs. Gillen reached out
a hand to detain him.
“Maybe I do, but—could you tell me what he was going
to call that invention of his if he could have found any-
body to back him?”
She had spoken a trifle more loudly than Phil and before
the latter could reply Rex advanced.
“I beg your pardon, but this young man has naturally
told me all about his friend's invention since I want to
finance it. He called it the ‘Super-swing', did he not?”
Phil's start of surprise was not assumed but he retained
presence of mind enough to reply respectfully:
“Yes, sir.” Then he turned again to the woman. “Mrs.
Gillen, this is Mr. Powell. He set me up in business with


128 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
my own taxi, that's outside, and he wants to make this
young lady, Miss Jepson, famous as a star performer on
the Super-swing. I'm just telling you this to show you we
are on the level in wanting to find my friend, for I know
inventors have got to be careful that nobody steals their
stunts.”
The last trace of suspicion had vanished from Mrs.
Gillen's smile and she responded heartily:
“I’m sure you folks are on the level and I'll be right
glad if you can find Al—I mean, Art—for there ought to
be a fortune in that Super-swing. He was superintending
the building of a roller coaster at an amusement park
where my husband and I was playing once. That's how
we met him, and he was forever telling us about the
Swing, but we ain't up in machinery and we didn't under-
stand how he meant to work it. It sounded great, though
How long is it since you lost track of him?”
“I know where he was three or four years ago, but he
isn't there now and nobody seems to know what has be-
come of him.” Phil drooped one eyelid significantly and
Mrs. Gillen remarked:
“That's the worst of folks in the show business; you
never know where they are from one year to another.
I'm sorry I can't help you, but I've been sick for a long
time and I don't see hardly any of our old friends. It is
five years since we saw or heard of—of the young man
you're speaking about.”
There was sincerity and honest regret in her tone and
Phil’s face fell.


RED JIM'S DAUGHTER 129
“But maybe you know some other friends of his who
might be able to tell us where to locate him?” he suggested.
“It seems a pity, with the chance now for him to put over
this invention of his, that he can't be found.”
“Yes, it does,” Mrs. Gillen assented. “I’d help you with
all my heart if I only could.—There's—there's just one—”
She paused and Rex urged her on.
“Who, Mrs. Gillen? I assure you that if you can direct
us to any friends of the young man I shall be grateful for
I am deeply interested in that invention of his and if it
is really practicable I stand ready to finance it.”
The woman hesitated and at length turned again to Phil.
“Did you ever hear him speak of—of a girl he knew
named “Peterson’?” she asked.
Impetuously Ethel started forward.
“‘Peterson’?” she repeated. “Is she a little bit older
than me, with red hair and kind of pretty?”
“Yes. Do you know Carrie?” Mrs. Gillen looked her
surprise. “We haven't heard anything about her, either,
in five years, not since we went on a long tour in Canada,
but we supposed she and—and your friend would have
been married a good while ago. They was just crazy about
each other and Carrie was the serious kind of a girl who
cares deep. Couldn't she tell you where he was?”
“I don't know her, I only saw her once,” Ethel stam-
mered and Phil interposed hastily:
“You don't know of anybody else who might help us to
locate him?”
“No. If Carrie can't tell you, there isn't anyone else


130 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
among our old friends that I can think of who would know
where he is now.” Mrs. Gillen shook her head again re-
gretfully. “It’s too bad, for I’d give anything to help him
get his start at last.”
Reiterating their disappointment they took their leave
of her and returned to the taxi, where as she seated her-
self Ethel was the first to break the silence.
“I’m sorry I butted in like that, but when she said
‘Peterson' I just couldn't help it! Maybe you knew all the
time, Mr. Howe–?”
“I didn't!” Phil interrupted jubilantly. “It was the
greatest stroke of luck in the world that you caught a
glimpse of that girl yesterday, Ethel! The Gull never so
much as mentioned her or any other sweetheart to me,
but it accounts for his intimacy with ‘Red Jim' Peterson
when they met up the river.”
“Aren't you forgetting George, and that possible client
of his, the man across the hall from us?” Rex asked as
Phil drove with increasing speed past the entrance gates
of Joyland.
“Not for a minute!” replied the self-appointed chauf-
feur over his shoulder. “I’m going to beat it back to town
as fast as this old bus can go, and drop you and Ethel at
the office. If there was anything doing with that guy
George will report by phone and you can tell him for me
to kill old Zadkiel and rejoin us as quick as possible for
I may have other work for him to do.—Now look out for
speed cops behind; I'm going to let her out!”
The renovated taxi slipped gradually into such a pace


RED JIM'S DAUGHTER 131
as never in its former hacking days could it have attained,
and although its driver narrowly escaped arrest more than
once he succeeded in landing his breathless passengers be-
fore the doors of the Bolingbroke Building in an incredibly
short space of time. Then putting up the car Phil hastened
to his room over in the tenement quarter of the city near
the river, where he changed into the rougher garments
more befitting his present errand.
If Jen Gillen knew the present whereabouts of “Red
Jim” Peterson and his daughter and,-becoming suspicious
after the departure of her late visitors as to their good
faith, might communicate with the girl whom the Gull
had loved, Phil knew that he would gain no help from
that quarter. In spite of all the other leads which had
arisen in the strange mystery he and the other Shadowers
were investigating he clung tenaciously to the first inspira-
tion that had come to him with the sight of the Gull's
convict number pencilled on the corner of that envelope.
He and he alone could have installed the safe in the apart-
ment of the eccentric millionaire and not until he was
found could the authorship of the threatening letter be
ascertained.
His own nocturnal prowlings of the past two nights in
the haunts of yeggs who had been his former companions
had yielded no information, save that upon his release from
prison the Gull had dropped completely from sight, and
now on the girl Carrie Peterson alone depended the last
hope of locating him.
With his cap pulled low over his eyes Phil slouched


132 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
aboard a southbound car, alighting well down toward the
battery and made his way riverward, to the address of the
shabby, ramshackle, little shop which served as a cloak for
Red Jim's smuggling activities.
He found it without much difficulty and at a first glance
his heart sank. The shutters before the windows on both
the first and second floors were fastened tight, the dingy
sign had disappeared, and he knew even before his re-
peated knocking on the shop door and the squalid entrance
beside it that Red Jim and his daughter were gone. It
mattered little whether they had taken alarm at the mes-
sage brought from headquarters by the plainclothes man
on the previous day or had heeded a hasty warning from
the cripple at Coney Island; they had disappeared and
with them had vanished also the last hope of finding the
Gull!


CHAPTER X
BLOCKED TRAILS
For half an hour or more after the departure of Rex
and Ethel, Zadkiel the Great did a rushing business as one
visitor followed another into his booth. It was after the
third of these had emerged that he caught sight of a tall,
bronzed, broad-shouldered figure loitering about near the
entrance to the Midget Theatre, pretending a vast interest
in the lurid lithographs of the little people, but with a self-
consciousness in his attitude which betrayed the bare
simulation of his pose.
He turned with a quick side-glance as Zadkiel's barker
began the familiar spiel, but the latter did not falter in his
signsong exhortation nor did his eyes rest except for a
fleeting moment in impersonal appraisal upon the man in
the background. When he had finished he disappeared
once more into the booth followed by a sheepishly grinning
youth and the watcher turned again to his contemplation
of the lithographs, squaring his shoulders in relief.
Each time that a client emerged from the booth and the
barker reappeared for another speech he observed without
seeming to do so that the stranger had approached nearer
and nearer until at length when he followed a grimly
skeptical matron from behind the fantastically figured cur-
tains and commenced his oft-repeated: “Come in and
133


134 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
learn what the stars foretell!” the stranger advanced and
tapped him resolutely on the shoulder.
“I listened to you the last time you pulled that, Old-
timer! Let's see what your astrologer can tell me!”
“Right this way, sir. Step in and take a seat and I will
prepare Zadkiel for your coming. Only two bits and your
money back if you're not satisfied.”
George led the way and the stranger followed heedless
of the titters and guffaws which arose from the group be-
hind him. He waited patiently in the stuffy little ante-
room twirling his hat between his knees, but the assumed
joviality died from his face, to be replaced by a frown
of puzzled anxiety, and when a tall, white-bearded figure
in flowing robes parted the inner curtains and motioned
him to a low seat before the table upon which charts were
spread he took his place with embarrassed reluctance.
“The day of the week in which you first entered upon
this life, young sir; and that twelfth part of a calendar
year known as a revolution of Luna, the month. I must
know what stars were in juxtaposition—?” Zadkiel began
in soft, deep, throaty tone, but the other interrupted
bruskly. -
“I don't want my horoscope. I know enough about my
own character and the past. Who are my friends and
enemies, what are my lucky years? Can your stars tell
me that?”
“The stars do not lie,” George repeated in an assump-
tion of dignified reproof from the depths of his hoary,
spirit-gummed beard. The red glow which suffused the


BLOCKED TRAILS 135
booth deepened slowly in intensity until the stars in the
map of the heavens upon the wall gleamed with a silvery
lustre. “I, their interpreter, do not ask the date of your
birth, but the day of the week and month. Without my
knowledge of these the stars cannot travel backward
through the years to the places they held when you drew
your first breath.”
He had spoken in just the right vein of thinly disguised
boredom with which the charlatan would half-heartedly
repeat a formula intended to convince the skeptic, and
his client, assured at length that he had not been recog-
nized, nodded in good-natured capitulation.
“I was born on a Thursday in June,” he remarked in-
dulgently and then added in sudden amazement: “What
the devil—l”
The tiny, lustrous stars upon the map had begun to
move, slowly at first and then quickening until they were
mere whirling pinpoints of light. Then gradually their
motion was retarded and they settled into a complete re-
arrangement upon the map. The contrivance had been
operated much after the manner of an electric baseball
score board, but the effect was momentarily impressive in
its weird surroundings, and George spoke quickly before
the spell was broken, muttering a sort of incantation which
for sheer inaccuracy alone would have mentally floored
any bona fide astronomer. Then taking up a wand he
pointed to first one and another of the miniature stars and
his tone changed.
“Mars and Venus !—You ask for friends and enemies,


BLOCKED TRAILS 137
you are. But help will come, help not from them but from
new friends. You will attain your object, deceit will be
crushed, difficulties will fall away, success will crown your
efforts! This is your lucky year, the luckiest of your life,
but be not distrustful of new friends during the next revo-
lution of Luna. If they desire your confidence give it
freely, not matter in what guise they come. You have
fought against the machinations of your enemies—see,
Mars was near but not in the ascendant—fighting cannot
avail. Guile must meet guile, craft meet craft, before
justice is done!” George paused to draw breath and observe
the effect of his broad hint. The young man was frowning,
but there was no trace of suspicion in the eyes he turned
slowly upon the pseudo-astrologer.
“I’ll be lucky, will I?” There was incredulous bitterness
in his tone. “It will have to come soon and fast, then l’”
“In the next revolution of Luna,” George assured him
solemnly. If this doubting Thomas were indeed a possible,
prospective client for the Shadowers he meant to nail him
while the nailing was easy and he forced his mind rapidly
back over what he could remember of the circular letters
which Rex had sent out broadcast, watching the other's
face narrowly the while. “Whatever has for the time de-
stroyed your peace of mind, whether you have been sub-
ject to blackmail or placed in a false light by your enemy;
whether your personal safety or that of someone near to
you has been endangered, or something of great value has
been taken from you—” He paused once more for the
young man's hat had fallen from his suddenly relaxed


138 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
hands and he groped to recover it, so that for an instant
his face was hidden from George. Then he rose slowly.
“Guess I’ve had the worth of my two bits, all right.”
He laughed awkwardly, but his tones were shaken. “All
this is going to happen to me within the next month?”
“All this and more!”. George responded for good
measure. “Venus was nearer than Mars at your birth.
There is love, great love in store—!”
“That's enoughl” the young man cried sharply. “This
is all bunk, of course, but you're too good for a Coney
Island sideshow. I guess you know what you're here for,
though.”
“To read the message of the stars for those who would
hear!” George replied, still strictly in character, as with a
touch of his hand on a concealed spring beneath the chart
table the points of light upon the board winked out one
by one. “Remember, young sir, help is yours if you but
seek it, success if you have faith, love and riches in this
your luckiest year!—Come again, the stars may have more
to reveal to you!”
The young man nodded, clapped down a coin upon the
chart and turning, stumbled blindly through the gloom of
the shrouded booth and out into the glaring sunlight once
more, elbowing his way straight for the great gates of Joy-
land, while Zadkiel tore the beard from his face and picked
up the coin from the table. It was a twenty-dollar gold
piece.
Half an hour later in a stuffy telephone booth not far
from the gates of the amusement park, the late Zadkiel,


BLOCKED TRAILS 139
fuming in exasperation, succeeded at length in getting
Ethel on the wire and after a moment Rex's voice replied
to him.
“Sa-ay!” wailed George. “That is one Gehenna of an
office we are running, if somebody can't be left there to
take calls! I've been wilting in this booth for the last
twenty minutes! What on earth took you so long to get
back, and where—?”
“Steady there, Georgel We made a record run in from
Coney, and I think that we already know your message,”
Rex responded with a chuckle. “The Great Zadkiel had
a visitor after we left, hadn't he?”
“You saw him, then? I thought he must have been
hanging around somewhere, but I don't want to go into
details over the 'phone about that conversation, except that
Ethel rang the bell. That's a prospect across the hall and
I flatter myself that I nursed it along in fine style; didn't
know I had it in me to come back into my old form so
quickly, by gum !” George's usually lugubrious tones had
lifted in pride. “My work down here is finished as far as
I can see, and unless Phil has something more for me up
his sleeve—?”
“He hasn't, now that our friend fell for your spiel, ex-
cept to close up for good and get back here as soon as you
can. When can you make it?” -
“I’ll shut up shop and be with you as soon as a car can
bring me,” George replied, adding before he hung up the
receiver: “I don't want to interfere in our young friend's
management of this case by offering suggestions, but in


140 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
order to make sure of the next one I wouldn't exactly dis-
courage the occupant of that office across the hall if he
should appear and make advances before I get there.”
The occupant of the other office was at that moment
ascending in the elevator, and for once oblivious to the
close proximity of a member of the organization opposite.
Clifford Nichols, who stood at his elbow, cast more than
one curiously appraising glance at him as the car shot
upward. but the young man was buried in thoughts which
were evidently not pleasant ones, for his brow was con-
tracted and the muscles on either side of his square jaw
were flexed ominously as he gazed straight before him.
Alighting first he strode to his own office door, unlocked
it and slammed it fairly in the face of the handwriting
expert. The latter stood for a moment or two listening,
but nothing broke the sound of firm, rapid footsteps pacing
steadily back and forth within, save once when a chair
was kicked over.
Cliff smiled to himself and proceeded to the offices of
the Shadowers, where beside Rex and Ethel he found
Henry in possession.
“I’ve had rather a curious interview with the gentle-
manly blackguard who runs the sanitarium at Shoreville,”
he announced. “Where's Phil?”
“Gone off on some trail of his own,” replied Rex. “He
didn't take us into his confidence, but I fancy it is on a
lead which Ethel and a certain lady at Coney Island gave
him.”
“‘Jen’?” asked Cliff quickly and added: “Does any-


BLOCKED TRAILS 141
body know what has gotten into our friend in the office
across the corridor? I came up in the elevator with him
just now and he seemed so worked up about something
that he didn't even see me. He's locked in over there now,
tramping up and down and kicking chairs out of his way!”
“I think I can understand that, too.” Rex Smiled.
“Don’t worry, he is probably just trying to make up his
mind about something if a report that has just come in
from another source may be believed, but even though he
appears to be interested in us, there are no indications that
it is because of this case.—Henry, did you look up those
files today of which Phil spoke?” -
Henry nodded, his rotund face for once very serious,
although it had lost the weary lines of the previous eve-
ning, and the shadow of grim memories revived by his
visit within prison walls had vanished from his eyes.
“I found the lawyers for the defense in that case we
were discussing,” he responded. “Cliff doesn't know any-
thing about the Gull yet, does he? There is a young ex-
con known among his associates as “The Gull' in whom
Phil is interested, Cliff, and I’ve been looking up the
records of his case. He must have been in funds or some-
body put the money up for him, for when he was arrested
old John W. Hustis was retained to defend him.”
“‘Hustis'?” repeated Rex, meditatively. “I’ve heard of
him, of course. He was never a notable legal light but
he has won several hard-fought battles and he's no
shyster. There must have been a pretty strong case against


142 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
the Gull or else influence was brought to bear from
higher up.”
“That is exactly what Hustis claims” Henry declared.
“I read the testimony in the files and remembering what
the trusty told me yesterday, and the warden's non-
committal attitude, it looks the same way to me. Hustis
retired last year, but I ran him to earth at his home out
in Jersey and when he found I was acting for an old friend
of the Gull, who was trying to locate him, he talked will-
ingly enough, although he has no more idea where his
former client is now than we have. The complainant in
the case was a member of Hustis' own fraternity, a
wealthy corporation lawyer named Ellsworth Hodge, who
claimed—”
“‘Hodge!’” Cliff exploded. “Good Lord, do you know
who he is?”
“Who doesn't?” Rex shrugged. “He is employed by
some of the biggest Wall Street interests and he has the
reputation for being brilliant but not over scrupulous.”
“He happens to be Sneed's personal attorney!” Cliff
announced and in the face of the wordless amazement of
his two companions he added: “It’s a fact. Luce found
out yesterday at the Burlingame that the only caller Sneed
has received in the last few years was his lawyer, a man
named ‘Hodge'. No wonder Phil is interested in the
Gull!”
“It does look as though the trails were narrowing at
last,” Henry said slowly. “Though how Phil—?”
A sharp rap on the panel leading from the outer office


BLOCKED TRAILS 143
interrupted him and they turned as it slid aside and Phil
himself appeared, still in his attire as a waterfront tough.
His merry face was clouded and depressed, but it lightened
at sight of their excited ones and he asked eagerly:
“What's doing?”
“Nothing, except that the charge against the Gull which
sent him up the river was brought by a man who turns
out to be Sneed's only discoverable confidant with the
possible exception of his two servants;–his lawyer,
Hodge,” Rex replied.
“I knew it! I was sure we'd find the connection some-
where!” Phil's discouragement vanished as he threw him-
self into a chair and drew his cigarette case from his
pocket. “The poor kid was railroaded, after all!—Henry,
did you get the dope about his trial?”
Henry repeated what he had previously told the others
and added:
“Hustis didn't mention Sneed to me nor was his name
brought into the trial, and if he really was behind a
crooked prosecution nobody could have known it except
Hodge himself. His standing and influence would account
not only for the Gull being put away, even if he was in-
nocent, but for his being pardoned later when there came
danger of the trial being reopened. Hodge testified—and
proved by a number of witnesses, that he had heard of
Arthur Wicks, or the Gull, from a man who had formerly
worked with him in a factory where safes were manu-
factured, as a young fellow who was an expert in his line,
but a weak character who had fallen into bad company.


144 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
A prominent client of Hodge had died and his private
safe deposit vault could not be opened by any of the so-
called experts employed until the attorney finally recalled
what he had heard of the Gull, hunted him up and engaged
him for the job. He opened the vault without any trouble,
Hodge employed him satisfactorily in one or two other
cases, became interested in him and sure he had reformed,
and at last gave him a steady position in his own office.”
“Did he assert that he did this from motives of philan-
thropy?” Rex asked drily. “Ellsworth Hodge was never
noted for charity, that I ever heard.”
“Sounds like a fishy sort of admission for a corporation
lawyer to make, that he found a yegg useful in his busi-
ness!” Phil exclaimed.
“He had a cleverer excuse than that; he wanted to re-
cover some bonds of tremendous value which had been
stolen from a trust company whose advisory attorney he
was, and he thought the robbery had been pulled off by
some former associates of the Gull. He hoped if he could
influence that ‘erring youth'—that was his very expression
on the stand,-for good, that the Gull would snitch on his
pals and help to get the bonds back. All this, as I say,
was proved to the satisfaction of the jury, but then Hodge
claimed that he, his private secretary and a confidential
clerk—both of whom he produced in court to substantiate
him, had discovered the Gull in the act of attempting to
rob the safe in his own office, and had reluctantly con-
cluded that the young man's case was hopeless and for the
protection of society he should be placed behind bars.”


BLOCKED TRAILS 145
“Gr-rgh! I’ve heard that sort of talk beforel The
hypocrite!” Phil cried wrathfully. “The
poor kid hadn't a chance to get off, of course, but what
defense did this Hustis try to put up?—An alibif”
Henry shook his head.
“Couldn't be done, for the Gull was apparently caught
red-handed, but Hustis claims that his side of the story
was the actual truth; moreover that he himself has not
been able to get a decent case since through Hodge's
enmity, and was practically forced to retire. However
that may be, he put the Gull on the stand in his own de-
fense, and although the poor boy must have naturally
done the best he could for himself and told his story as
straight as he knew how, his appearance and manner were
against him as well as the record of the crowd he had
travelled with. That I know from the old newspaper ac-
counts of the trial which I read this morning. The Gull
said he had taken the position offered by Hodge because
he honestly wanted to run straight; didn't know why
Hodge had given him a chance but was grateful to him
for it, and thought right up to the minute when they ran
the bulls in on him that the lawyer was a regular guy.
It seems when the office closed that afternoon Wicks went
back to his boarding place as usual, had his dinner and
about nine o'clock went out for a walk. He testified that
he thought somebody was following him but couldn't be
sure; that just as he reached the house again Hodge's
secretary—the same man who had appeared as one of the
witnesses against him—came up behind him in a great


146 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
hurry and said Mr. Hodge needed some important papers
that night which were in the office safe, and couldn't get
down there himself as he was tied up in a conference, but
wanted Wicks to get them for him and bring them up to
his house. Wicks swore that the secretary told him the
combination of the safe and as he had his own keys to the
office and had been down there several times before on
errands after regular hours the night man let him in with-
out question. It is a building like this one, that keeps open
until eleven o'clock, and Wicks had opened the safe and
was reaching for the papers when the secretary and Hodge
himself jumped him, and the confidential clerk called in
the bulls.”
“And what explanation did Hodge and his men have
for being there so opportunely?” asked Cliff.
“The two employees were accompanying him to an im-
portant conference and they had stopped off at the office
for the very documents which the Gull claimed he had been
sent for,” Henry explained. “That showed the devilish
ingenuity of the frame-up. It was a likely story for poor
Wicks to try to make a jury to take stock in, wasn't it,
that an experienced lawyer would send his private secre-
tary to entrust the combination of his safe to an incipient
yegg!”
“There is a flaw there, though,” Cliff said quickly. “It
is clear that the judge must have been fixed and the jury
a hand-picked one. If the Gull was so clever that he
could open safes where experts had failed, why would
so astute a person as this Hodge have trusted him with


BLOCKED TRAILS 147
keys to the office and made it possible for him to be given
unquestioned ingress to the building after hours?”
“I thought one of you would spot that.” Henry nodded.
“Hustis played it up strong during the defense, but
Hodge's comeback was that he had become convinced of
the Gull's complete reformation and never dreamed that
he would sink so low as to rob his benefactor; that as a
matter of fact his discovery had been the result of mere
accident. The Gull was convicted and went up for a ten-
year stretch. You know that, but who do you think never
stopped working for him all the time, both during the trial
and the years which followed until the ear of the Governor
himself was reached 2–A woman!”
He sat back to observe the effect of his bombshell, but
Cliff alone showed surprise, although Phil brought his fist
down on the desk in exasperation.
“Carrie Peterson' I've let her slip through my fingers
by a matter of hours! That means another setback; an-
other blocked traill”
“Well, I have some news for you in a general way, but
it may be useful,” Cliff remarked consolingly. “That
sanitarium at Shoreville is quite a pretentious affair, but
if I am any judge it is nothing more or less than an illegal
jail de luxe for people who can't very well be done away
with yet whose estates are coveted by others. For this
afternoon's purpose I was the only relative of a rich old
maiden aunt, who was undoubtedly imcompetent to man-
age her financial affairs, but I desired to avoid if possible
the notoriety and social scandal of having a commission


148 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
appointed to inquire into her sanity. Doctor Winton is a
benevolent, unctous old goat with white side-whiskers and
crooked eyes, and he was sympathetic but reserved, even
when I described some of my aunt's eccentricities. The
mention of Sneed's name startled him at first but I man-
aged to reassure him and we soon got down to terms,
although he was clever enough throughout not to intimate
by the quiver of an eyelash that there was the slightest
irregularity in the proceeding. I gave him a generous
check in advance—which, by the way, he will find some
little difficulty in putting through his bank!—and when he
had sufficiently thawed under its influence I ventured to
ask him if there was no hope for the recovery of the
patient who was the object of Sneed's solicitude. What
do you think he replied? That eminent physicians and
psycho-analysts had declared the case a hopeless one, but
he himself could not express an opinion as the patient
had not yet arrived.”
The others looked at each other and then Rex observed:
“I wonder if he told the truth?”
“That wasn't the point which impressed me particu-
larly; it was the exceeding care with which he worded his
reply. I've repeated it to you verbatim. Does anything
about it strike you as being rather curious?”
Before any of them could speak the entrance panel was
once more pushed aside, this time without ceremony, and
George Roper's long, sanctimonious countenance, in com-
ical incongruity with his showman's attire, appeared in
the aperture.


BLOCKED TRAILS 149
“Peace be unto you, children of earth!” he pronounced
solemnly as he closed the panel behind him and then
thrusting his thumbs into the armholes of his ornate waist-
coat he grinned upon them. “Our bird is back in his
office over the way, I see, thinking over the dope the stars
handed to him this afternoon, through my interpretation.
Oh, boy, but Zadkiel did himself proud, if I do say it!”
“Sit down, you absurd mountebank, and tell us about
it.” Rex smiled in spite of himself. “So you think he is
a prospective client but a bit chary about giving us his
confidence, eh?”
“He will in time, though.” George produced a long,
black cigar. “He came, of course, to size me up and find
out if he could what game a member of a 'private corpora-
tion of gentlemen', as you called us in your prospectus,
Rex, was trying to put over as a Coney Island sideshow
fake. When once he was sure that I didn't recognize him
as our neighbor it was easy to get him going, even though
he knew it was the bunk. He's a regular guy but as candid
as an open-faced watch, and I pumped him dryer than a
well in a drought.”
He told in detail of the episode and then summed up:
“There's one main guy who's stacked the cards on him,
you see, and he must have been the class and used home-
made paper at that for our little playmate is out to get him
and get him good. There's robbery in it and a woman,
too, for when I spoke of blackmail, calumny and danger
to himself he never turned a hair, but the bare mention
of a menace hanging over someone dear to him, and of
something of great value which had been stolen, knocked


150 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
him all to pieces and when I promised him success in love
he broke up the show;-said I was too good for Coney
and that he'd had his money's worth. He beat it, but first
he clapped this down on my table and none of you need
try to declare yourselves in on it. I regard it as a personal
tribute.”
Producing the twenty-dollar gold piece he exhibited it
with pride and Cliff remarked musingly:
“It is an odd coincidence that we should run into a case
almost parallel with some points in our present one, isn't
it?”
“Whadda you mean, “parallel’?” Phil demanded. “There's
no anonymous letter business—”
“If you had studied that letter as long and arduously
as I have, my dear fellow, you might recall that the writer
of it complained of a grievance not unlike the trouble of
our friend across the hall, if George has diagnosed his
case properly. He, too, threatened vengeance because of
something of great value which had been stolen from him
and declared that he would come to claim it.—But it is
nearly eight o'clock and I suggest that we adjourn—?”
At that moment the telephone on Rex's table shrilled
and watching him, the others saw his face change sud-
denly as after a brief acknowledgment of his identity he
listened in silence and then hung up the receiver.
“That was Luce,” he announced. “Something has hap-
pened up in Sneed's apartments; the old waiter who serves
them both brought the news with the dinner tray, although
Luce hasn't dug the details out of him yet. It looks as
though matters were coming to a head at last.”


CHAPTER XI
PHINEAS SNEED COMES ACROSS
66 IRST I had better tell you that hunting a needle in
a haystack would be a sinecure to picking out the
writer of that anonymous letter from among the people,
guests and employees, who have either been at the
hotel longer than Sneed himself, or were there five years
ago and have returned lately,” Lucian Baynes declared. It
was early the next morning and he had arrived at the office
fresh and immaculate to the point of fastidiousness, to find
that the other five Shadowers, worn and weary from a con-
ference which had lasted until the dawn, had preceded him.
Even Ethel had yawned as widely as her small, red mouth
would permit as she greeted him, for the others had for-
gotten her in the heat of their discussion until, the pro-
tracted session at length adjourned, they had filed out to
discover her still at her post, but asleep with her golden
head pillowed on her desk.
“You have the lists of those who have actually been at
the Burlingame as long as Sneed, though, haven't you?”
Phil asked.
“Here they are; as you can see, they take in the majority
of both guests and employees. All of them have access to
the hotel stationery and any one of them, given a motive,
could have written that letter.—But about last night.” Luce
151


152 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
settled back in his chair. “The first I knew that anything
unusual was going on in our client's apartments was when
Albert came for my dinner tray and the old chap was
muttering to himself and so agitated that he could scarcely
gather the dishes together. I asked him what was wrong
and although he was reluctant to tell me at first, saying
it was a rule of the house that the employees must not
gossip about the guests, he finally admitted that Mr. Sneed
had ‘had a sort of fit'. I told him to bring me some fresh
coffee—which gave me a chance to telephone to you,
and when he returned with it I offered him a bracer from
my flask. That loosened his tongue a bit and I managed
to gather that there had been rather a scene when he
served Sneed's dinner. Our client had been in a towering
rage about something when he appeared with the tray and
old Robert had seemed half dead from fear of him, while
even Jane was pale and 'all of a tremble'. It was she who
admitted Albert to the apartment and Sneed turned on him
as soon as he saw him with some wild sort of accusations
which the waiter couldn't make head nor tail of, to use
his own expression. In the midst of a violent tirade Sneed
had fallen back into a chair frothing at the mouth and see-
ing that Robert was useless Albert had started downstairs
to report the matter to the management so that a physician
could be called in, but Jane had stopped him and told him
that if he said anything about it to anyone it would mean
his own dismissal from service. It was plain that the poor
old chap didn't know what he ought to do, but I told him


154 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
talk among the help employed by the hotel.” Luce paused
and added: “I see you've guessed it; it was Jane.”
“Gone during the night,” Rex repeated meditatively
“From my brief observation of her on Saturday I should
not have fancied her the type to run away from anything,
and it is evident from the waiter's story that she was the
only one of that ill-assorted trio last night to keep a level
head whatever the situation was which had arisen. Could
Sneed have sent her somewhere to get her out of the way
for a time?”
“Isn't it rather more likely that he dismissed her in
temper?” George suggested. “Aren't we making too much
of this possibly trifling domestic scene?”
Cliff opened his lips to voice an opinion and Henry
hitched forward in his chair when all at once the buzzer
sounded softly but insistently and with a warning glance
about at the others Rex touched the spring concealed be-
neath the edge of the table at his place. Instantly Ethel's
clear tones came to them raised in brisk inquiry.
“What is your name, please? I'll see if the head of the
firm is—”
“Confound the girl!” Sneed's unmistakable high-
pitched voice exclaimed irascibly. “I want to see Powell
at once! What does my name matter?”
“Nothing to me, I am sure, sir!” It was evident that
Ethel's nerves were a trifle on edge that morning, though
her tone was sweetly deferential. “I have instructions not
to announce anyone unless the name is given, so if you
don't care to do that—?” -


PHINEAS SNEED COMES ACROSS 155
“I’m Mr. Sneed; Phineas D. Sneed! And I warn you,
young woman, that I shall report you for insolenceſ”
“Yes, sir.” Ethel still spoke quietly but she clipped her
words with a certain precision which made Henry chuckle
audibly. A moment later the telephone rang and she an-
nounced through that medium: “Mr. Phineas D. Sneed
would like very much to speak to Mr. Powell if he is dis-
engaged.” -
“Show Mr. Sneed in, Ethel,” Rex responded and turned
quickly to the rest. “Luce, you and Henry go into your
own rooms and listen in from there! He needn't know
you as one of us yet, and he has never seen Henry.”
Lucian obeyed and Henry had barely squeezed himself
through the aperture leading to his laboratory when the
other panel opened and Ethel, with her head held high
and a bright little spot of color in either cheek ushered in
the weazened almost ridiculously dapper form of their
fuming client.
“Good morning, gentlemen.” He glanced half-sus-
piciously about him with his small, feverishly glittering
eyes and then placing his hat and stick upon the table he
accepted the chair which Rex drew forward. “I would
have sent for you to come to me, but the matter is one
that I prefer to discuss outside the hotel.”
If Phil had thought him looking badly when he had
called upon their client on Sunday afternoon, the change
was now startlingly obvious. His pallid face was waxen and
a bluish tinge had settled about the thin lips, while between
sentences he caught his breath sharply. On their first in-


156 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
terview he had appeared more aged than his years, due
seemingly to his foppish attempts to create an opposite
impression, but now it was almost as though an animated
mummy had thrust itself upon them, bringing with it a
chill as of the tomb. An uncanny sense of repulsion seized
upon them, but Rex replied in even tones:
“You have news for us, Mr. Sneed? Or is it that you
have come to tell us something which you forgot to men-
tion on Saturday when you promised to be utterly frank
with us?”
Sneed started slightly and his deeply sunken eyes
fastened themselves upon his interrogator.
“I am here, sir, because it has become vitally necessary
for me to disclose certain facts which I withheld at my
own discretion during our first interview. I placed the
anonymous letter which I had received into your hands
and commissioned you only to find the author of it and
turn him over to me, giving you all the information pos-
sible without baring a most painful matter that I have
been at great odds to keep secret for years. I admit my
mistake, I should have seen the writing on the wall, for
now the letter has faded into insignificance beside a greater
trouble which has descended upon me.—Gentlemen, when
I told you that I did not know who wrote that letter I
spoke the truth, for the writing itself is utterly unfamiliar
to me, but I do know at whose instance it was written and
to what it refers.”
“You ought tol" Phil blazed out, unable to control him-


158 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“We were unaware that you had any children, Mr.
Sneed,” Rex remarked at last.
“So is the world.” The old man's voice was a mere
whisper. “I have a daughter, however, unhappy child!
You noticed the peculiar arrangement of my rooms, and
no doubt inferred that I had the apartment so built through
an exaggerated fear lest someone break in and rob me; it
did not occur to you that it might be to prevent the escape
of a maniac who, although she might at any moment be-
come dangerously violent, was still dear to me and whom I
would not place under restraint in an institution while
there remained a spark of hope that her reason could be
restored?”
“Great Scott!” Phil ejaculated, and then catching him-
self up he added slowly: “But you've given your
daughter's case up as hopeless just lately, haven't you, Mr.
Sneed?”
“I have, sir, but unfortunately I did not act quickly
enough. Last night she escaped from my apartments!”
“Alone? Unaided?” Rex demanded sharply. “Your
two servants formed a sort of bodyguard for her, did they
not? How did she manage to elude them and who could
have aided her? If you have kept her sequestered for five
years—?”
“The scoundrel who caused that letter to be written l’”
Sneed's voice broke in shrilly upon him. Then he
clenched his hands until the gloves strained over his gaunt
knuckles, and went on more calmly:—“Eva—my daughter
—has been at schools abroad, first Switzerland, then


PHINEAS SNEED COMES ACROSS 159
England, since my wife died years ago. Her mind became
affected when she was about seventeen and she has been
subject to recurring periods of dementia ever since, but in
those early days they were so mild in form that they would
have passed for mere moodiness. She was permitted
during a brief vacation to visit at the home of a school
friend and there she met and became infatuated with the
man of whom I speak. He is an adventurer, a thorough-
going blackguard, and he had doubtless learned that my
daughter would come into a large fortune some day. He
had the effrontery to write to me and ask for my daughter
in marriage and I hurried to England, investigated and
broke up the affair.”
“Just a minute, Mr. Sneed.” George spoke in a sooth-
ing sympathetic tone. “When did this occur?”
“Five years and a half ago, when Eva was nineteen. It
was immediately afterward that her dementia assumed an
active form and I was obliged to place her in a nursing
home, a sort of private hospital, until I could return and
make arrangements for her personal care over here. It
was then that I leased the entire top floor of the Bur-
lingame where I had already been residing for some years
and had it built over to suit my new requirements. I was
sure that Robert and Jane would be faithful to me. I
went back to England and brought my unfortunate
daughter home.—But we are wasting time, gentlemen! All
this can be explained afterward—!”
“We must know everything before we can begin to
search for your daughter,” Rex announced firmly. “You


PHINEAS SNEED COMES ACROSS 161
“There are no premonitory symptoms; Eva may be
calm and rational at one moment and the next wildly
hysterical, the dementia taking the familiar form of dis-
trust and fear, with delusions of horrible shapes about
her, and she struggles in terror with creatures born only
of her poor, crazed brain. It is sometimes necessary to
restrain her lest she do herself harm and Jane is strong
and capable, but always gentle and patient with her. These
attacks have been recurring more and more frequently of
late, the hallucinations taking a wilder and more danger-
ous form, dangerous to herself and others.” Sneed
paused and then turning abruptly to Phil he asked: “How
did you know that I had given my daughter's case up as
hopeless?”
“Where did you go a week ago last Sunday, Mr. Sneed?”
Phil countered with unexpected finesse. “It was at the
time when you thought an attempt was made to rob your
safe, do you remember? You told us that you had
motored out of town to look at some property.”
Sneed's lips curled back over his suspiciously white,
even teeth and he clawed at the arms of his chair.
“So you have been prying into my affairs! I thought
as much when you called on me and were so insistent
about learning where I had gone!” His voice cracked.
“You were not engaged to investigate me, but the author
of that letter! What have you done to find him? At this
very instant my daughter may be in his hands!—If you
must know, I went to make arrangements for her care at
a private sanitarium in the country, but you seem to have


162 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
already ferreted that out. We are wasting time in mere
quibbling—!”
“Then suppose you give us the exact details of what
happened last night?” Rex put in, adding suavely: “When
did you first learn of your daughter's escape, and how
long afterward did Jane, too, disappear?”
“You know that?” Sneed seemed for a moment to shrink
visibly before their eyes. “There is someone in the hotel
spying upon my household?”
“There is someone in the hotel also who is connected
with the author of that anonymous letter, Mr. Sneed, for
it was written upon the stationery supplied by the manage-
ment of the Burlingame,” retorted Rex.
“Can it be possible!” gasped the old man. “You are
sure of this?”
“We have proved it, and it is a part of our duty to pro-
tect our clients,” Rex returned coldly. “You have not
answered my questions, Mr. Sneed.”
“About my daughter's escape?” He passed his hand
over his veined forehead as though striving to collect his
thoughts, but it appeared to George's watchful gaze that
beneath that screening gesture his eyes darted from face
to face in keen questioning. “You know that the rooms
of my apartment are built on four sides of a square, roof-
less court, and I told you it was for the purpose of ventila-
tion but in reality that court is a sort of patio or garden
for my daughter's use, that in her sane moments she
might have air and exercise. Since her last—and worst—
attack of dementia two weeks ago she has been more


PHINEAS SNEED COMES ACROSS 163
tractable and seemingly normal than for some time past
and she spent nearly all of yesterday afternoon out on
her roof-garden. Jane took tea to her there at about five
o'clock and when she went to remove the tray Eva was
apparently asleep in her chair. As chronic insomnia is
one of the afflictions incident to her condition Jane for-
bore to awaken her until dinner time and when she went
again to the garden my daughter had vanished 1 A
minutely thorough search of the apartment failed to re-
veal her and the door of the reception room as well as
that at the foot of the stairs in my private hall, which is
the only means of communication with the lower part of
the hotel, had neither of them been tampered with.-Gen-
tlemen, I have nothing left to conceal now, and my only
desire is to give you any assistance that lies in my power
to further your search. My daughter's disappearance and
the manner of it are an absolute mystery to me!”
“You were at home?”
“I have not left my apartments since Sunday evening,
when I returned from dining with an acquaintance, until I
came to you an hour ago.”
George coughed slightly and Rex exchanged glances
with him and then leaned back in his chair.
“Mr. Sneed, did you yourself see your daughter out
in the roof-garden yesterday afternoon?” George took
up the inquiry.
“No. There are only two doors leading to it, one from
the kitchen in the left wall and the other in the north wall,
from the servants' sitting-room. Eva's own bedroom is


164 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
just back of the library, where I took you to see my safe,
and in order to reach the roof-garden she has to pass
through her dressing-room which immediately adjoins the
kitchen. Do I make myself clear?”
“Perfectly, but we will have to see the apartment and
the arrangement of the rooms for ourselves before we can
undertake our search,” George replied. “When did you
see your daughter last?”
Sneed hesitated for a fraction of a minute and then
spoke hurriedly as though to cover the momentary pause.
“On Sunday morning. I omitted my usual daily visit
with her yesterday because I had feared my presence
might excite her and bring on another attack of her
trouble, for on Sunday she had been insistent that I permit
her to take a drive, a request which I was, of course,
compelled to refuse. I heard her voice, though, out in
the garden when Jane took the tea-tray to her. I had
followed Robert from my own private apartment into the
servants’ sitting-room for a moment to give him some
trivial instructions.—But surely you cannot suspect that
Jane—”
“She, too, left later without her husband's ostensible
knowledge or yours, did she not, Mr. Sneed?” interrupted
George.
“She was not in her room this morning and discreet in-
quiries about the hotel failed to find anyone who had seen
her,” the old man admitted. “Personally it is my firm
belief that she has gone to search for my daughter, per-
haps on some clue which Eva may have let fall in a mo-


PHINEAS SNEED COMES ACROSS 165
I
ment of delirium. Jane reproached herself bitterly last
night for negligence, but she was in no way to blame for
my daughter's escape.”
“Did anyone enter or leave your apartment from five
o'clock until your daughter's disappearance was dis-
covered?”
“No one to my knowledge.” Again there came that
odd hesitation in Sneed's voice. “Do not forget, though,
that my safe was tampered with in broad daylight only
a little over a week ago. That has nothing to do with
this affair, as I assured you, and I was uneasy about it
merely because it showed that the defenses with which I
had surrounded my daughter were not as impregnable as
I had thought. If anyone could enter and leave my apart-
ment unmolested and unseen I feared that Eva, with the
cunning of the insane, might sometime contrive to run
away.”
“I wonder, then, that you did not caution your servants
to keep a more careful watch over her,” George remarked.
“You forget that Eva has been so well lately. I did
not dream that in a lucid moment she would attempt to
escape from my care, nor that this man or any agents of
his could reach her even if he knew where she was; re-
member, I thought until that letter came on Saturday that
he was dead.” Sneed rose. “Gentlemen, I can tell you
anything more that you wish to know while I am showing
you over the apartment and if you must see it before you
begin your search, in heaven's name let us lose no more
time!”


166 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Mr. Sneed is right,” Rex remarked, raising his voice
a trifle that the unseen listeners might take their cue. “We
will all four of us accompany him now and you can de-
cide later, Phil, what part each of us shall assume in the
search.”
George, Cliff and Phil preceded him with their client
and he delayed for a moment to leave a few instructions
with Ethel for Henry and Lucian, so it happened that the
others had already reached the elevator when he emerged
into the main corridor. The door in the opposite office
was ajar and its occupant stood on the threshold gazing
after the quartette so intently that he did not observe
Rex, nor note the curiously inquiring glance which rested
for an instant upon himself. His eyes seemed fastened
upon George's unconscious back with an expression of
such utter ferocity mingled with pain as a man might wear
who had plumbed the nethermost depths and Rex paused.
At that moment the young man wheeled and met his gaze,
then retreated hastily and the office door was closed in
his face.


CHAPTER XII
THE MAN IN THE CASE
On reaching the Burlingame Sneed conducted the four
Shadowers up to his own apartments, admitting them with
his keys, and they caught no glimpse of Robert as they
passed to the right of the reception room through their
client's bed and dressing rooms to the comfortable sitting-
room he had provided for the servants.
There they came upon the old man seated with his head
in his hands and although he rose with instant respect at
their entrance he regarded them with lack-lustre eyes
which seemed to hold no sign of recognition in their
apathetic gaze. His bald head nodded more tremulously
than ever and his bent, palsied form shook so that he ap-
peared scarcely able to stand.
“Has Jane returned, Robert?” Sneed demanded.
“No, sir. There's been—nothing, sir. No word.” His
voice had sunk to a hoarse whisper and he spoke in little
gasps.
Without a second question Sneed opened a door in the
south side of the wall and led the way out into the brilliant
sunshine of the quadrangle. It was paved with concrete
but masses of flowering plants in boxes and tubs stood all
about, their groupings intersecting with little winding
sanded paths in a passable imitation of a garden. A per-
167


168 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
gola was built out from the farther side and beneath it a
low wicker chair and tea table, the former heaped with
gay-colored cushions, gave a feminine touch to the scene.
“I endeavoured to omit nothing for my poor daughter's
comfort during her brief periods of sanity.” Sneed's
high, thin tones took on an almost tearful note. “I would
have purchased a dog or cat as a pet for her but I feared
that in some sudden moment of violence she might attempt
to strangle it and it would turn and injure her.”
“Isn't that an empty bird cage hanging over the tea
table?” asked Cliff, who stood nearest to him.
Sneed nodded.
“It contained a Hartz Mountain canary, a rare songster,
and I thought it might cheer her up, but she opened the
door and set it free, and Jane found it dead in the path;
it had dashed its life out against the walls.”
Rex, who had been talking in an undertone to Phil just
behind them, came up in time to hear the last sentence
and he glanced up at the walls. They were at least fifteen
feet high and of a somber brick which the thick vines
trained against it tried vainly to conceal. Nothing showed
above but the square of blue sky and none of the windows
of the taller buildings which surrounded the Burlingame
could look down into it.
“We will hope that your daughter will not meet the
same fate as her bird,” he observed gravely.
Sneed darted a quick glance at him but before he could
speak Phil broke in.
“Does that door lead to the kitchen?” He was pointing


THE MAN IN THE CASE 169
to a small door in the center of the east wall and Sneed
started towards it.
“Yes. My daughter's rooms open from it to the south
and Jane's and Robert's to the north-But where is Mr.
Roper?”
As if in answer to the question George appeared at that
moment in the doorway leading to the servants’ sitting-
room and Rex remarked:
“He probably lingered for a moment to talk to Robert.
Since your daughter's apartment has already been thor-
oughly searched we will only glance superficially about it
and then proceed to business. I personally shall want a
further talk with you, Mr. Sneed, before we take any
active steps.”
Sneed glanced quickly at him once more but made no
comment as he opened the door and ushered them into
the kitchen. It was a spacious room with a skylight, but
no windows, and Rex noted that the door to the left,
leading into the servants' sleeping quarters, was heavily
bolted and padlocked. Their client followed his gaze.
“We found it necessary that that door should be made
capable of being securely fastened on both sides, for once
in a violent spell Eva managed to escape from Jane and
ran almost around the hollow square formed by the con-
necting rooms,” he explained. “There are similar bolts
on the door leading from the sittingroom to the quad-
rangle—”
“I thought you told us that the only means of communica-
tion with the rest of the hotel was that door at the foot of


170 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
the stairs in your private hall, Mr. Sneed!” Phil turned
suddenly. “Isn't that a dumbwaiter in the corner over
there?”
As he spoke he gestured toward the corner just to the
right of the door by which they had entered. A square
casing of woodwork jutted out into the room, with the
familiar small door cut into it waisthigh.
“Oh, that only goes to the floor below,” Sneed replied.
“The waiter brings my trays up from the restaurant in
the elevator and then hoists them up the extra flight on
this, coming up himself by way of my private stairs after
Robert has admitted him, to serve me. It opens into a sort
of pantry on the floor below, which in turn adjoins the
linen room. The door is so small that I doubt if my
daughter could have squeezed through it, slender as she
is, and she certainly would not have been able to lower
herself in the dumbwaiter, but I had already thought of
that as a possible means of communication and guarded
against it. If you will look closely at the handle you will
see a small lock in it and the key to it never leaves Jane's
person. She unlocks it when the trays come up and re-
locks it after Robert has removed them. It is only in his
occasional absence that a hotel waiter ever enters my
apartment.”
Phil examined the lock and then with a shrug he fol-
lowed the others who had passed into the boudoir ad-
joining. A sparklingly white bathroom opened from it
to the left, at the eastern side of the building and a
spacious, triangular clothes closet cut off the corner


THE MAN IN THE CASE 171
obliquely to the right, while directly facing them through
a doorway in the opposite wall appeared the outlines of a
gracefully carved white-and-gold bed.
Sneed himself opened the closet door, displaying
quantities of filmy tea-gowns and negligee garments sus-
pended by hangers from a center pole, and rows of small
satin slippers on shelves. A delicate perfume stole out
upon the air and a feeling of intrusion caused Rex and
Cliff to stand aside, but Phil was attacked by no such
refinement of sensibility. He swept the silky garments
away until he had bared the two sides of the triangle which
met in a point at the rear, but there would not have been
space even for a child to conceal itself and he retreated,
closing the door.
“Are those all the clothes your daughter had?” he de-
manded. “What if there had been a fire?”
“That emergency was provided for from the first,”
Sneed replied jerkily, his fingers toying with the black
ribbon suspended from his gold-rimmed pince-nez as
though they could never remain still. “Jane has a long,
dark cloak and a heavily-veiled motor hat, together with
a pair of heavy shoes put away in her closet for my
daughter's use should it be necessary to remove her with-
out warning, but that occasion has never arisen. Eva has
required no other attire than that which you have seen
and I spared no expense to please her in her lucid intervals
with the pretty things which all girls like. This is her
bedroom, and beyond it is a narrow storeroom, the win-
dows in the farther wall of which face the side street as


172 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
do those of the library, for we are now at the south-
eastern corner of the building.”
“Do you mean that the library is just back of that wall
there?” They, together with George who had followed
them, had passed into the bedroom and Phil pointed to
the left. “Then the triangular space in which your safe
is built must meet one side of that three-cornered clothes
closet in there.”
“It does, I believe, and this fire-place is back to back
with the one in the library, only there I burn real logs and
these are for gas, with a stop-cock which Eva could not
turn.” Sneed swept the room with a nervous gesture. “I
tried to make it all as attractive and luxurious as I could
for her in her sad affliction, and I think you will admit,
gentlemen, that nowhere is there a suggestion of-er—
restraint.”
The bedroom and boudoir were windowless but provided
as had been the kitchen with huge skylights in the ceiling,
and dainty lamps stood all about. The furnishings were
simple but charming, and the soft blues and pinks of the
upholstery and draperies lent a cheerful, girlish note. It
was as he had said; nowhere was there a hint that for
five years this invitingly appointed apartment had been
used as a forcible retreat for one of unsound mind.
They retraced their steps to the kitchen and after a
glance into the sleeping quarters of Jane and Robert, pro-
ceeded on around the square to the reception room once
more. From there Sneed led the way through his huge
livingroom into the library and sank into a chair, gesturing


THE MAN IN THE CASE 173
toward others which stood about. His waxen pallor had
taken on a greyish hue and the shrivelled features and
weazened body appeared more mummy-like than ever.
“You see, it is as inexplicable as I told you!” he ex-
claimed. “There is no way in which my daughter could
have escaped or been abducted, yet she is gone! I realize
the almost insurmountable difficulties before you, gentle-
men, but you are my one hope! Eva must be restored to
me, but the search for her must be conducted as secretly
as possible; I cannot endure the thought of notoriety and
scandal, the thought that after all the years of conceal-
ment it should be known that Phineas Dilworth Sneed was
the father of an insane child!—Of course, I am thinking
first of her own safety and protection from the scoundrel
of whom I told you, and you have seen with what care
and affection I have surrounded her, but to have the sad
truth come out now would be a crowning blow !”
“We'll come to that man in a minute, Mr. Sneed.” Phil
took the floor determinedly. “There are one or two other
things I want to ask you about first. You said awhile
back that the hotel waiter never entered your apartment
when Robert was here to serve you, but he's been bringing
your meals up pretty regularly lately when Robert was
home, hasn't he? He did last night, anyway, and this
morning—”
“You saw Robert a few minutes ago!” Sneed retorted.
“Did you think he was in any state to wait upon me? He
has been utterly useless since that letter came on Saturday,
and frequently before that when his doddering ways got


THE MAN IN THE CASE 175
communicate with me in a day or two at most. What
did Robert tell you, Mr. Roper?”
Sneed turned suddenly to George and the latter eyed
him steadily but blandly as he replied:
“Substantially the same as you have told us as far as
your daughter's disappearance is concerned, Mr. Sneed,
only he did not mention the idea of any man in the case,
of course. In regard to Jane, he said that even after you
had retired to your room they had talked until far into
the night and he had fallen asleep exhausted at last, be-
lieving that she, too, had gone to bed. She did not wake
him as usual this morning and he found that her bed had
not been slept in, and her bag and some clothes were gone.
She had left no word for him and the shock coming on
top of the trouble about your daughter seem to have
prostrated him so that I could get no further details from
him. He doesn't appear to have the least idea where his
wife has gone nor why. Personally, I think he is too
crushed to realize the situation as yet.”
He had spoken as much for the benefit of his associates
as to satisfy their client's curiosity, and now Rex leaned
forward in his chair.
“Mr. Sneed, you said that you had a photograph of
your daughter taken when she was a very young girl. A
glimpse of it will be of more value to us than any amount
of description. Will you show it to us, please?”
“If you will excuse me.” He bowed with old-fashioned
courtesy which had been lacking during their first inter-
view and left the room. They heard his footsteps crossing


176 FTHEI. OPENS THE DOOR
the reception hall and then the sound of a closing door.
After a moment of silence Phil demanded in a subdued
tone :
“What do you fellows think of all this, anyway?”
“I think that Mr. Sneed would very much like to know
what we think of it, too!” George replied quickly. “He
is sincere enough in wanting us to find the girl for him,
and what details he has told us of her disappearance must
be the truth as far as it goes, but whether it is the whole
truth or not remains to be seen. There's one question
in my mind, though; why does he keep remarking on his
kindness to his daughter and pointing out the things he
has done for her comfort? What should he care about
our approval of his line of conduct for? Is he trying to
acquit himself in advance of any accusation of harshness
which she may bring against him when we find her? Why
is he playing safe?”
Phil shrugged.
“We’re only hearing his side of the story now,” he
remarked. “I know one thing. I'm not going to mention
the Gull or the lies Sneed has told us about that safe of
his just yet, but before this case is finished I am going to
sift that whole affair to the bottom.”
“Hush" warned Rex as the door in the distance was
heard to reopen and the queer, mincing footsteps of their
client approached. He entered and placed in Rex's hands
a small photograph. It was only a mounted snapshot,
faded and slightly light-struck, of a young girl in a field
of goldenrod, with an old farmhouse and windmill behind


THE MAN IN THE CASE 177
her and in the far background a hill with a curiously
shaped rock formation jutting out from it. The girl was
bareheaded and the delicate oval of her face upturned in
the sun showed features that while not strictly beautiful,
held nevertheless a subtly appealing charm. The hair
rolled back in soft waves from a broad, high forehead,
the nose was small and straight, and the parted, smiling
lips above the pointed, cleft chin were exquisitely curved.
The eyes, however, held the attention above all else.
Big and soft and rimmed with long, curling lashes they
seemed to look straight into those of Rex with a world
of meaning in their steady, compelling gaze, as though
they bore a message, and he searched their depths in vain
for any foreshadowing of the mental cloud which was to
darken the coming years.
Passing the little photograph along to his associates,
Rex observed:
“As you say, there is nothing particularly distinctive
about your daughter's appearance, Mr. Sneed, or was not
at the time that picture was taken. By the way, when
was this?”
“Ten years ago when she was fifteen, on the occasion
of her last visit to this country before I was obliged to
bring her home, a mental wreck. It was during her vaca-
tion when I had taken her from a school in Switzerland
and just before I entered her in one in England, and she
spent it with an old nurse of hers, since dead, whom she
loved devotedly.”
“I think that with your permission we will take this


178 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
with us to show to our alienist.” Rex ignored the look of
startled questioning from their client and added: “Now,
Mr. Sneed, we should like to hear about the man in the
case. He was an adventurer, you say, yet he must at
least have been able to pass for a gentleman. Your
daughter was young, unsophisticated, impressionable, but
she does not look like the type of girl to have been at-
tracted by any man obviously not of her own class.”
“He was well-educated, if that is what you mean, and
he managed to worm his way into good society on the
other side,” Sneed admitted reluctantly. “I suppose he
would appear to be as much of a gentleman of the modern
school as the average man one meets, and naturally he
had assumed a certain charm of manner; that was his
stock in trade.”
“Beside desiring to marry your daughter for her money,
as you say, what had he done which made him impossible
as a son-in-law. Was he a swindler, a crook? Had he any
standing in the business or professional world?” Rex
pursued.
“He professed to be a mining engineer, and I never
heard of his doing anything actually criminal, but he had
been mixed up in the deals of more than one shady com-
pany and was a wanderer on the face of the globe, without
a penny to bless himself with !” Sneed's voice was rising
again to an irascible squeak. “He was broadshouldered
and square-jawed and swaggering, just the type to catch
the romantic fancy of a mere chit of a girl! The
Scoundrel !”


THE MAN IN THE CASE 179
“What was his nationality?”
“He claimed to be an American.”
“Look here!” Phil had been growing more and more
restive during the course of the interrogation and now he
broke in irrepressibly. “What is the man's name, Mr.
Sneed?”
“Just a minute.” Rex spoke quietly but a sudden gleam
had come into his eyes which his associates knew. “Had
you known this man before your daughter met him?”
“I—er—yes.” Sneed stammered in surprise. “That is,
I had met him casually in connection with the exploitation
of some mining stock over here. But what made you
think—?”
“You once showed him your collection of weapons, or
at least told him about them, didn't you?”
Sneed seemed to shrink yet more deeply into his chair
and his small eyes narrowed to mere slits in his wrinkled
face.
“I did, yes.” His voice quavered. “I don't see how
you knew it nor what bearing this has on the affair—l”
“You will in a moment, Mr. Sneed. You tell us that
you broke up the attachment between this man and your
daughter, and arranged for him to be offered a propo-
sition which would take him out of England. A year or
two later you learned that he was supposed to have died.
That news wasn't wholly unexpected, was it?”
“What do you mean?” The old man half rose from
his chair and then fell back again.
“It wasn't exactly a healthy country that you sent him


180 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
to, was it? The climate isn't particularly salubrious for
white men, especially for those from temperate or cool
countries.” *
“I didn't send him He went of his own free will!”
Sneed's tones rose to a thin scream. “Lots of young
Englishmen go out there every year and mortgage their
souls to get there, on a bare chance of fortune!—But what
do you know about it, sir?”
“The place where this alluring proposition was situated
was Africa, was it not?” Rex paid no attention to the
other's question and the old man's staring eyes gave
answer enough to his. He added slowly: “The man's
name, Mr. Sneed, was Gerald Raeburn!”


THE SECOND THREAT 183
“Holy cat!” Phil exclaimed. “The guy across the
hall!—Say, you're nearest; tell this fellow to drive like—
oh, we're here!”
They piled out of the taxi, tossed a double fare to the
chauffeur and dived into the Bolingbroke building, but the
elevator cages were empty and as they stood waiting for
a car to descend George moaned:
“If only I had had an inkling of this yesterday! I could
have laid on that message from the stars so thick that he
would have bolted straight for our office instead of his
own. He couldn't have had a hand personally in abduct-
ing Sneed's daughter or helping her to escape, though, for
he was here in his office at the time she disappeared. We're
a fine lot of sleuths! Here the man we have been looking
for was right under our noses all the time!”
“How do you know he was?” Cliff demanded. “He
might have dictated that letter but he didn't write it, and
Phil's excitement about this person called the ‘Gull' set
us all off in quite other directions.”
“I don't care!” Phil declared doggedly. “You’ll find
before we're through that the Gull had a whole lot more
to do with this case than you think now!”
The descent of the elevator put an end to the argument
and they mounted to their own floor in a silence which was
pregnant with strained suspense.
Alighting, they waited until the elevator had disappeared
from view and then made their way down the corridor to
the still unlettered office opposite their own suite. To
their surprise they saw that the door was slightly ajar and


184 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
when no sound came from within Phil whispered to
George:
“Go ahead and knock. You're the only one of us who
has talked with him.”
George rapped firmly but no response came and after a
glance at the others he pushed the door open. Save for
some blank papers littering the floor the office was empty.
“Stung!” Phil wailed, while the rest stood speechless
with astonishment and dismay. “First ‘Red' Peterson's
girl and now this guy! He made a quick getaway in the
last hour, furniture and all! You fellows go into our own
place and wait for me; I’m going down to have a talk with
the superintendent!”
He shot off toward the elevators and the others after a
final glance around the empty office of their late neighbor
went slowly to their own.
“Did you notice that the man across the hall has gone?”
Ethel greeted them as they entered. “I heard some bump-
ing and banging going on out there and opened the door
just in time to see a couple of men carting off his desk
and chairs; that's all he had in there.”
“We saw that the office was empty as we passed.” Rex
spoke with assumed carelessness, but after George and
Cliff had joined the wildly impatient Luce and Henry in
the council room he lingered for a moment. “You didn't
see the fellow himself, did you?”
“Sure I did " she affirmed. “He was standing in the
doorway watching the second-hand men—”
“Gracious, child! How do you know they were?” Rex


THE SECOND THREAT 185
asked, amused in spite of the anxiety of the moment.
“He might have been sending his stuff to storage—”
“Did you ever hear of a storage man giving you money
to let him take your things away?” Ethel demanded im-
perturbably. “That's what the old gink with the whiskers
did; gave the man who had the office a couple of bills off
of a roll that would choke a tunnel and then he and the
other second-hand guy went away leaving the man still
standing there. I felt awful sorry for him.”
“Why ?”
“I guess he must've failed before he started, whatever
business it was he tried to horn in on, for he looked kind
of sad and angry, too, like somebody had double-crossed
him. He'd ought to have had some pal around to slap him
on the back and tell him to buck up, but he sort of did
that for himself after a minute or two. He stood turning
his hat over and over in his hands and looking down at it,
and then all at once he straightened and put his shoulders
back and started off for the elevator without even stopping
to shut the door behind him.”
“Did he see you?”
“He didn't see anything except just what he was think-
ing about but he wasn't walking in his sleep; he stepped
out like he'd made up his mind and knew where he was
going and what he was after.” She shrugged and then
asked with a change of tone: “Is that old grasshopper
who was here and called me 'young woman’ the guy we're
working now?”


186 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Yes, Ethel,” Rex responded gravely although his eyes
still twinkled. “We’re handling his case now.”
Her small chin was lifted ever so slightly.
“He said he was going to report me for insolence be-
cause I wouldn't send him in without getting his name
first. Gee, it isn't such a pretty one, Mr. Powell, but that
he can keep it to himself and welcome, for all of me! I
hope you get him and get him good!”
With a nod and smile Rex slid the panel aside and
entered the hexagonal inner office where he found Henry
and Luce listening raptly to George's description of what
had taken place during their visit to Sneed. Cliff sat
a little apart studying the photograph of the missing girl.
“There doesn't appear to be any sign of insanity in
that face, do you think?” Rex asked with a gesture toward
the slip of cardboard. “Has Henry seen it?”
“You wouldn't expect even a real alienist to get any-
thing from that snapshot, would you?” Henry retorted.
“It's clear, though, if it is faded and it will come in handy
as a means of identification when we find the girl.”
“I wasn't looking at her for the moment but at the old
house and the hill behind it,” Cliff spoke absently. “Do
you see that rock jutting out from it shaped like the head
of an animal? There is something familiar about that
view and I fancy I must have seen it a long time ago.—But
I head that you pulled off some big stuff, Rex, and doped
out the name of thc villain who has run off with Sneed's
daughter!”
Rex commenced a modest disclaimer when the panel


THE SECOND THREAT 187
was thrust violently aside and Phil strode in, to fling him-
self into a chair.
“That guy across the hall called himself “Raynor' and
said he was a mining promoter,” he announced. “He’d
taken the office for a year, but this morning just after we
left he went out and came back with cash to pay the full
term of his lease, and a couple of men in tow to take away
the few sticks of furniture he had put in. He was pleasant
spoken enough, but the superintendent wasn't sorry to see
him go, for he thought it was funny that Raynor had no
callers and made no move to have a phone installed; he
was afraid he might try to run some fake scheme or con.
game. Raynor told him that he was suddenly called West
again, but the superintendent thinks that his mining com-
pany, whatever it was, has failed.”
“So does Ethel,” Rex remarked. “If you think he is the
man we are after, Phil, that makes three missing persons
whom we must find; Eva Sneed, Jane and Raeburn.”
Phil nodded.
“I didn't realize what I was wishing on myself when I
asked you fellows to let me handle this case, but I'm not
going to welch now. You made a pretty close guess the
other day, Rex, when you said that if old Sneed kept a
harem he couldn't guard it more carefully. It wasn't a
harem, though, just one poor, loony girl!—And say,
there's something else I can't get through my head; you
told Jen Gillen down at Coney yesterday that the Gull
called his invention the ‘Super-swing'. How did you
know?”


188 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“You said so yourself, the minute you laid eyes on
Sneed's safe!—By the way, are you going to let that end
of your investigation drop—those convict numbers, I
mean, that were on the corner of the envelope?”
“Not by a long shot! The Gull or someone acting for
him is mixed up in this affair, but the first thing is to find
Raeburn and the girl.” Phil shook his head. “I’m up a
tree about that guy; unless he's on to our working for
Sneed and is playing a part, his manner this morning cer-
tainly didn't show that he was as happy as he'd ought to
be if he had got the girl and knew she was safe, but may-
be he thought she was really sane and now she's gone sud-
denly cuckoo on his hands! His making a getaway this
morning looks funny—”
“Not to me,” George interrupted. “He wasn't watching
us on account of our connection with the case, because he
took that office before Sneed ever called us in and he'd
heard of us, remember, through one of our circulars which
a friend of his had received. It is my opinion that he
meant to give us a stall and engage us on his own behalf
to find Sneed's daughter for him.”
“Then why did he go—”
“I can answer that, if George's hypothesis is correct,”
Rex interrupted. “When we left the office with Sneed
this morning you two and Cliff walked ahead to the ele-
vator and I followed behind. Raynor, as he called himself,
stood in his doorway and I thought it was George at whom
he was looking but I see now that it must have been Sneed.
He had the same expression on his face that my engineer


190 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
could have beaten it. If a girl who's half dippy managed
it we ought to be able to dope out how she worked it; I'll
bet another woman could, they can always get on to each
other's curves, somehow. Ethel's a little queen, but we
couldn't very well plant her in the hotel as a guest the
way we did Luce. She can be up-stage for a few minutes
at a time but somebody'd get her goat and she'd come back
with a line of Third Avenue repartee and it would be all
off-Besides, I want Henry to take a room there. He
could pass for a Southerner who had heard of the Bur-
lingame from one of the F. F. Vs. Got a southern accent,
Henry?”
“Ah have, suh !” Henry responded with dignity. “I made
a right long visit to Atlanta, Geo'giah once, though Ah
saw vely little of that fair city, suh!”
“You’ll do!” George grinned and then his face sobered
as a fresh thought came to him. “Say, couldn't Henry
have come North to have a little visit with his niece and
take her to the Burlingame for a stay? She can play a
brisk young business woman to the life.”
Phil looked at Rex, who nodded.
“It might work,” the former said slowly. “Let’s call
her in and put it up to her. She ought to be tickled to
death at the chance to live at a swell hotel like that for a
few days.”
But Ethel was not at all enthusiastic at the prospect,
for strictly personal reasons.
“I’d do anything to help your game along, whatever it
is,” she protested. “I was respectful to that horrid old


THE SECOND THREAT 191
man this morning because it's part of my job here in this
office, but if he should lamp me in that hotel and give me
any more of his lip—!”
“He won’t, Ethel,” Rex promised. “There's a young
lady who is a-a sort of invalid missing from his apart-
ment. No one in the hotel except his own servants knows
that she was ever there and we want to find out if possible
how she got out and who helped her. She's his daughter.”
Ethel's eyes and mouth opened wide.
“Why didn't anybody know?” Her quick mind flew
to the truth. “What’s the matter with her? Is she a nut?”
“Just a little weak in the upper story, my dear,” Henry
explained. “If she should return and you run into her
you needn't be afraid of her—”
“Huh ! Four men couldn't handle my dad when he was
on a regular jag and going strong, but I could make him
eat out of my hand! I guess I'm not scared of any skirt,
no matter how batty she isl” Ethel announced in fine scorn.
It was the first time in their association that she had re-
ferred to her antecedents, but the Shadowers forebore to
make her conscious of her revelation by glancing at each
other. “I don't get on to this game any more than I did
the other but if you'll give me the dope on it and tell the
old guy to lay off of me, I'll go right along with—with
Uncle Henry.”
Rex told her as many of the details as he thought
prudent, coaching her in the part she was about to play
and added diplomatically:
“Phil—Mr. Howe–will get Sneed out of the way and


192 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
give you an opportunity to examine Miss Sneed's rooms
thoroughly and the little roof court or garden where she
was last seen yesterday afternoon. If you can just put
yourself in that girl's place and imagine that you were
locked up there for a long time, during part of which you
were conscious and realized everything while the rest was
like a horrible dream—”
“I’d get out,” Ethel interrupted briefly. “I’d beat it if
I had to claw the walls down, and I guess what that girl
did I can do, whether she had somebody to help her or
not. Are we going there right now, Uncle Henry?”
“That’s the stuff!” Phil chuckled. “I’ll fix it for Sneed
to come here this afternoon and his old manservant will
let you in his apartment. Get a room for Ethel as near
the entrance to Sneed's private hall and stairway as you
can, Henry, and then you hang around the lobby and
smoking-room and mix in. We'll do the rest.—George,
did you get anything more out of old Robert than you
told us there in front of Sneed himself P”
“Not very much for he was too dazed from the shock
of his wife's desertion. He hasn't any delusion that she
has gone to search for the missing girl nor does he seem
to have figured out where she may be. As a matter of
fact, he didn't speak as though he thought she were
coming back. It's easy to see that she has done the think-
ing for both of them all these years, and whatever emotion
he showed because of her departure was not grief so
much as downright fear.” George tilted his chair back and
gazed ruminatively at the ceiling. “The old fellow is


194 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
it is the same writing and on the same paper, but it wasn't
mailed at all. Robert found it in the lower hall just now
at the foot of the private staircase where someone had
pushed it under the door, and the ink was scarcely dry
upon it!”


CHAPTER XIV
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS
HEN Phineas Sneed in a state of mind that bor-
dered on frenzy, presented himself at the office of
the Shadowers at the appointed time he found only Clifford
waiting to receive him.
“What does this mean?” he sputtered. “Where is
Powell? Where are the others? Here I received a most
astounding communication from the scoundrel who is
persecuting me, and—”
“All the other members of our firm are actively engaged
in the search for your daughter,” Clifford explained
patiently. “They thought that of more importance even
than another threatening note to you, Mr. Sneed. You
have brought it with you, of course?”
“But Powell put me off this morning! They should all
have seen this at once!” the old man fumed as he fumbled
in his pocket with a shaking hand.
“Whatever it contains, it was left to me to take care of,
as the handwriting expert of our association, and I have
been out until now on a special mission connected with
your case,” Cliff retorted with dignity as he took the en-
velope which the other extended. Drawing from it a
single sheet of paper, he read aloud:—
195


196 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“‘PHINEAS SNEED.
This is your last warning. You
cannot stop my purpose, and the men you have hired will
find themselves in trouble if they try to interfere with
me, for nothing on earth can keep from me what is mine.
I will give you twenty-four hours to make up your mind
and if you decide to restore what you have robbed me of,
have the shades of all your windows rolled up to the top
on Wednesday, when further instructions will follow. If
you do not I shall act.'”
“What am I to do?” Sneed's walking stick clattered to
the floor and he sank into a chair. “How can he have
discovered that I consulted you? The blackguard dares
to dictate terms to me, Nichols, he gives me twenty-four
hours! The situation is drastic, hideous!”
Cliff raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Surely not more so than when your daughter dis-
appeared,” he observed. “It's either a very clever bluff on
his part to throw us off the track and gain time if your
daughter has already joined him, or else he is actually as
ignorant of her whereabouts as you are, in which case the
situation is indeed drastic—for her. Your personal safety
at least has not been literally threatened, but for a girl of
unsound mind to be wandering alone in a strange city—!”
“She could not have gotten far in such attire, a tea-
gown and satin slippers!” Sneed made a contemptuous
gesture. “She has had help of some sort and where could
it have come from but from him? You and your asso-


TWENTY-FOUR HOURS 197
ciates learned the man's identity without my telling you;
why haven't you taken steps before now to prevent this
outrage?”
But Cliff had produced the first letter and was com-
paring the two, apparently oblivious to the other's tirade.
“The paper is identical and the handwriting, too, unless
this is a more clever forgery than I have ever seen before,”
he remarked. “Someone had pushed it under the entrance
door of your apartment, where Robert found it, I believe?”
“Yes. The ink was still fresh upon it and the envelope
damp where it had been sealed when he brought it to me!”
“When was this?”
“At about twelve, just before I telephoned to the head
of your firm. I sent for some of the hotel stationery and
compared it myself " Sneed was clutching at the arms
of his chair and his small eyes fairly glittered. “Who is
the spy at the Burlingame?”
“Mr. Sneed, just how much of your private affairs do
Robert and Jane know?” Cliff asked. “Have you speci-
mens of their handwriting with you, by any chance?”
“Great heavens!” the old man exclaimed. “Surely you
cannot suspect them! They are both faithful. I’ve seen
to that, I’ve bound them to me with the strongest tie in the
World !”
“Money?” Cliff shrugged. “What if Raeburn has out-
bid you? We know that he has a good thing on now and
is in the way to making a fortune.”
Sneed shook his head and the ghost of a sly smile
hovered for an instant about his thin, bloodless lips.


198 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“It is a stronger tie even than money, Mr. Nichols,” he
retorted, but checked himself, and once more he com-
menced searching his pockets. “As a matter of fact, I
think I may have a list here made out by Jane a day or
two ago of some little things to be purchased for my
daughter, and as for Robert, he is so palsied that he has
been unable to write a line for a year or two.—Here is
the list.”
Cliff ran his eye rapidly down the short column of items
of toilet articles and food delicacies written in a bold,
decisive hand, and then returned it to his client.
“Jane is out of it, but are you positive that Robert is
incapable of guiding a pen? The woman disappeared
only a few hours after your daughter and she may have
concocted this whole scheme months ago, waiting only for
a propitious moment to carry it out and force you to pay
ransom. Her husband is old and weak and if she
dominated him, compelled or persuaded him to go into
this plot with her and write the letters at her dictation—?”
“Stuff and nonsense!” Sneed smote his chair sharply.
“Don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes by inventing this
wild theory to gain time! I tell you they knew nothing of
Raeburn and if my daughter has raved Jane was too well
aware of her condition to pay any attention. No one
could have dictated those letters but Raeburn himself and
he would never have approached my servants!”
Cliff started to reply but the telephone in the outer
office rang, and excusing himself he went to it, carefully
closing the panel behind him.


TWENTY-FOUR HOURS 199
“Is this Mr. Nichols?” Ethel's voice, primly modulated
but trembling slightly from excitement came to his ears.
“This is Miss Jepson. My uncle, Doctor Carter, wished
me to call you up and ask you to-to string out that con-
ference you are having as long as possible. He—he can't
connect yet with the people he wants to see. Do you
understand?”
“Yes, Miss Jepson.” Cliff smiled to himself. “Tell the
doctor that his friend will wait here in my office at least
an hour longer.”
Cutting short her murmured thanks he hung up the
receiver and rejoined his client, wondering the while what
lead Henry could have chanced upon which Sneed's pres-
ence in the hotel would interfere with his following up.
It could not have been found in the latter's apartment for
Henry had been carefully instructed to confine his opera-
tions to the lounging rooms and the acquaintances he
might make there.
Sneed had risen and was pacing the floor with short,
jerky steps, but turned at his re-entrance.
“What am I to do?” he demanded for the second time.
“You people have had three days in which to find Raeburn
and force him to cease his persecution, but you have done
nothing! You have twenty-four hours left and if you
fail now he will carry out his threat, for I know the
scoundrel well enough to be convinced that he means
what he says”
“You forget that we were working in the dark, Mr.
Sneed,” Cliff observed quietly. “Had you been frank


TWENTY-FOUR HOURS 201
hapless “Gull' and his lawyer's assertion that he had been
framed, but he checked the impulse to put the thought
into speech.
“I am insinuating nothing, Mr. Sneed,” he responded
noncommitally. “You have seriously hampered our efforts
on your behalf by your previous reticence, and now you
tell me that it lies within Raeburn's power to ruin you in
other ways unconnected with your daughter. In the event
that we do not succeed in finding him before the twenty-
four hours have passed, we must be prepared to circum-
vent him. I would suggest that you direct Robert to leave
all your window shades up tomorrow and then wait for
the further instructions which he promises; whether or
not your daughter is in his hands already, it can do no
harm to temporize with him. What is the nature of the
power which he holds over you to ruin you?”
“It-it is a private issue of a financial nature connected
with my former operations in Wall Street,” Sneed stam-
mered. “I told you that prior to my daughter's unfortunate
meeting with Raeburn I had known him casually in con-
nection with a deal in mining stock here. The ring with
which he was affiliated defied me and I broke it up. My
methods were legal enough, but Raeburn had learned
certain details which, if he chose to lay them before the
members of that ring would cause a-a far-reaching
scandal. He knew it and that was why he dared to aspire
to my daughter's hand, and why I thought it advisable
to have that South African proposition put up to him.


202 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
Do you understand now, Mr. Nichols? I have been per-
fectly frank with you—”
“Not entirely, Mr. Sneed.” The voice which interrupted
came from behind them and both turned to find Phil stand-
ing in the aperture leading to the outer office. “I hurried
back, hoping to catch you here, for there is a question or
two that I should like to ask you.”
“You have news for me, Mr. Howe?” the old man cried
eagerly. “You have located my daughter?”
“Not yet.” Phil shook his head and reached for the
letter which Cliff silently held out to him. “So it has
come to a showdown, has it?” He commented as he read.
“So much the better.—Let's see the envelope. Humph!
No numbers on it this time!”
“‘Numbers?’” repeated Sneed, his thin voice rising once
more. “Do you mean those about which you asked me
when you called on Sunday?”
“Yes. You see, we knew what they meant even if you
did not. O-four-two-six was the prison number of a con-
vict who had formerly been in your employ.”
“A convict—in my employ—l Impossible!” Sneed ex-
claimed, but he moistened his lips with his tongue and one
hand fumbled at his withered throat as though his collar
were suddenly constricting him. “Robert and Jane are
the only two—”
“I am referring now to the man who installed the safe
in your apartment, Mr. Sneed.” There was a savagely re-
sentful note in Phil's tone, but he conquered it and went
on coldly: “The only thing you invented about that was


TWENTY-FOUR HOURS 203
the story you told us of the “Frenchman' who built it
for you.”
“What do you mean—?” Sneed attempted to bluster,
but his reedy voice died in his throat.
“We knew the minute we laid eyes on that safe who the
real inventor was 1” Phil pursued, heedless of a cautioning
glance from Cliff. “Only one man in the world had
worked out that system of leverage and control, and he
meant it for a different purpose. How did you get hold
of Arthur Wicks in the first place, Mr. Sneed, and what
part had you—?”
“You may not know that the young man later got into
trouble and was sent to prison for a term of years.” Cliff
broke in swiftly in suave explanation which yet held a
warning for his indiscreet associate. “The fact that an
attempt was made to enter your safe, of which he alone
had the secret, within a few days of your receipt of the
first anonymous letter, and that while it was supposedly
written at Raeburn's instigation, Arthur Wick's prison
number was marked upon the envelope argued a connection
between the two for which no coincidence could account.”
“That is impossible!” Sneed caught his breath and for
an instant a look of sheer terror gleamed in his eyes. “I
was astonished when the young man turned out to be a
criminal, for I had thought him as honest as he was clever,
but one can never tell when the half-cracked brain of an
inventor will take a crooked turn. I heard of the case, of
course, and that was why I dissembled when you persisted
in asking me about my safe for I did not wish you to fly


204 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
off at a tangent and waste precious time since I already
knew who was responsible for the letter, and that there
could be no collusion between Raeburn, adventurer as he
is, and a wretched convict!”
“I cannot yet comprehend why you did not at least tell
us Raeburn's name,” Cliff remarked hastily as he saw
signs of renewed storm in Phil's face. “You must have
realized that we would learn it eventually when we dis-
covered him.”
“I could not do so without entering into explanations
which would have involved my daughter, and I hoped to
take him off your hands before you found that he was
anything but a dangerous crank.” A dull flush had
mounted to their client's brow. “I would have striven to
the last to keep the knowledge of her infirmity even from
you, gentlemen; to keep the fact that I had such a daughter
a secret from all the world. I cannot understand about
those numbers having been written upon the envelope, but
it must have been mere accident, coincidence, even though
it seems almost impossible. Are you sure—sure that the
numbers are the same?”
He added the question with an eager anxiety that was
ill-concealed, but Phil returned in a hard voice:
“Absolutely. There's no mistake about it, Mr. Sneed,
and the percentage against those four figures on the en-
velope forming Wicks' prison number just by accident is
too great to be thought of for a minute. Now I want to
know without any more beating about the bush how you
came across him and all that you can tell me about him.”


206 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“What do you mean, Robert? What sort of a ship and
what was she doing on board?”
“An ocean liner, sir. Jane was a stewardess and a fine
figure of a woman, younger than me by nearly twenty
years. She could have done better for herself, but I had
a little money laid by and Jane was always one to look out
for the future.”
“Then she didn't make you spend your savings?”
“No, sir. It's all banked in her name, every penny
of it.”
“How much have you saved, Robert, and where is it
banked?” George put the question in an off-hand manner,
but he watched the old man's face narrowly and saw the
quick look of belated caution which passed over it before
it settled once more into a dazed, expressionless mask.
“I don't know, sir. It was two or three thousand—I
forget just how much—that I turned over to Jane when I
married her, and I’ve been giving her my wages, regular
as clock-work, ever since. We must have a good bit laid
by, but I don't know what bank she put it in; I did know,
but she'd get a notion to change about and my memory
isn't as good as it was.”
“How long have you been married?”
“A long time, sir. Fifteen years and more, and I was
getting on in years then; past fifty.”
“What was your wife's name?”
“Anthony, sir. Jane Anthony, though I haven't thought
of it in many a day.” His faded eyes blinked and he
added quaveringly: “I sha'n't hardly know what to do


TWENTY-FOUR HOURS 207
now she's gone, nor how to manage, for she was the
masterful kind and long ago I learned to leave everything
in her hands.”
“Then you don't think she's coming back?” George
seized upon the advantage. “Why do you think she has
left you, Robert?”
“I couldn't say, sir. Of course, she might come back
any time.” His voice had steadied, but he spoke apatheti-
cally as though he entertained small hope of such a
possibility.
“Do you think she went away because Mr. Sneed's
daughter had escaped from her care?”
“I don't know, sir; she didn't say. She didn't tell me
anything.” He picked tremblingly at the black cloth which
covered his sharp, old knees. “We were talking nearly
all night about the young lady and wondering where she
could have got to, and in the morning Jane was gone.”
“What did Miss Sneed wear when you saw her passing
through the kitchen yesterday on her way out to the
quadrangle?”
“I didn't notice, sir. It was one of those light, lacey
dresses of hers, blue, I think—and she had a kind of a
scarf over her shoulders. Jane could have told you better
than me; it was she took care of the young lady, I only
obeyed Mr. Sneed's orders.”
It was the old refrain of that morning's interview and
Robert repeated it almost mechanically, his dull eyes fixed
on space.
“And it was by Mr. Sneed's orders that you and your


TWENTY-FOUR HOURS 209
when I gave her that one from the morning's mail she
said: “Why, it's from Carrie!' before ever she opened the
envelope. When she read it she just clapped her lips
together and said never another word but stuck the letter
in the front of her dress, and I saw her tearing it to bits
in the kitchen a little later.”
“Didn't you ask her what was in it?” demanded George,
exasperation for once dominating his tones, but the old
man shook his head.
“It would have done no good, sir. When Jane got that
look on her face you might as well have talked to a stone
image! I—I fooled her, though ! I've not had time to put
them together yet, but I saved some of the pieces after she
tore up the letter!” His eyes crinkled at the corners and
a sly, senile cackle issued from his lips. “Jane's a smart
one, but it isn't the first time I've got the best of her!”
“You’re nobody's fool, Robert!” George chuckled as
though in enjoyment of the joke and added confidentially:
“You go and get the pieces and we'll put them together
ourselves! Two heads are better than one, you know, and
we'll find out what that Peterson girl wrote that your wife
wouldn't tell you!”
Robert's eyes darted to a small, plain desk in the corner
and he braced his hands on the arms of his chair to rise.
Then slowly the mirthful look died out of his face and he
sank back again, shaking his head.
“I—I lost the pieces, sir; I was just hunting for them
when you came.” He spoke in a hurried, tremulous tone.


210 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“In the excitement this morning after I found Jane was
gone I forgot where I put them yesterday.”
“Never mind.” George raised his head suddenly.
“What was that? Didn't you hear a bell ringing some-
where?”
This time the old man started from his chair as though
galvanized.
“I didn't, sir, but I’m getting hard of hearing. Maybe
it's Mr. Sneed come home—l”
Without another word he shambled from the room and
when he returned a few minutes later after a fruitless quest
he found his questioner standingly idly by the desk.
“I don't understand it, sir.” He shook his head.
“There's nobody here, that is, not in Mr. Sneed's own
apartments.”
“I must have been mistaken,” George observed genially,
moving so as to keep himself between Robert's line of
vision and the rifled desk. “Will you get my hat and stick
please? I must hurry back to the office now, but you won't
forget to let us know the minute your wife returns?”
“No, sir.” Robert's tone was listless once more as he
turned to lead the way. “I won't forget if—if Jane comes
back.”


CHAPTER XV
THE OPEN WIRE
66 HAT do you think of it?” It was an hour later
and, Sneed having departed, George, together
with Phil and Cliff were bending over some torn frag-
ments of paper spread out on the desk in the latter's study.
“It's worse than one of those kid puzzles " Phil
grumbled. “Jane sure made a thorough job of it when
she tore up the letter! There's hardly a word left whole
and none of the edges seem to match so that it will read
like sense. Why didn't the old fool get it all while he was
about it!”
“Wait a bit, Phil.” Cliff was patiently moving the pieces
about to try to fit them together. “Here's something, any-
way.—'arks are after Da', and the line just below it is:
“hop in a hurry. Co-.”
“Do you call that sense?” snorted Phil. “The words
are torn off at each end—l”
“Exactly!” Cliff interrupted. “None of the other pieces
seem to fit on either side, but knowing that the girl lived
with her father we can assume that ‘Da-’ means 'Dad',
and ‘Co-' starting a sentence might very well be ‘Come'.
This would take care of that side.”
“It sounds good,” Phil admitted grudgingly. “But there
haven't been any arks since Noah, and who is going to
211


212 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
‘hop in a hurry'? Not Jane, from the flash I got of her!”
“Put an ‘n’ before “arks' and an 's' before ‘hop', and
you'll find that the narks are after Dad, and they've had to
shut up shop in a hurry.”
“‘Narks,’” Phil repeated. “That's what the Gull used
to call a dick or plainclothes bull! It's English, isn't it?”
“In certain circles,” Cliff responded as he fitted two
more fragments deftly together and then frowned. “Here
is another bit:-'tage on Shady La—' and then underneath,
—oney, no risk for y—’.”
“Good Lord, that's plain enough " George broke in.
“Red Jim and his daughter have vamoosed to the country
somewhere, ‘Shady Lake' or ‘Shady Lane', and it must be
near the suburbs or they couldn't expect Jane to come to
them. That's what they want, you see; the girl is putting
up some sort of a proposition to her. The second line
must read: ‘money, no risk for you'.”
“Jane was a stewardess on a liner and Red Jim did a
stretch for smuggling!” Phil exclaimed, bringing his hand
down so smartly on the desk top that the bits of paper
fluttered. “She must have been in on the game with them,
and what is more if she was Carrie's friend and Carrie
was the Gull's girl, it is easy to figure out how he happened
to go to Sneed with his invention, though the old guy
wouldn’t tell us himself l’”
“You faced him with that lie about the dying French-
man who installed the safe for him?” George asked
quickly.
“Only a little while before you came back.” Phil nodded.


THE OPEN WIRE 213
“He admitted the truth but insisted that the Gull came to
him of his own accord, having heard of him as a retired
millionaire, to induce him to finance the Super-swing, but
Sneed had seen the possibilities of the invention being
turned to his own account and had given the Gull a large
sum to install the safe. I thought, of course, that crook
of a lawyer, Hodge, had sent the Gull to the old man for
the job, but he may have heard of him through Jane.—
What have you got there?”
George had picked up two of the torn pieces of paper
idly while he listened and now he held the jagged edges
together in triumph.
“Listen to this:–'unch of spark', and ‘old Schramek
on’. The message is about a bunch of sparklers! There
must be some class to your friend Red Jim if he's taken
to diamond smuggling!”
“And Schramek is the cleverest fence in the business;
does a regular trade with a crooked crowd over in
Amsterdam " Cliff exclaimed. “This is all mighty inter-
esting, but it isn't getting you fellows any closer to locating
Jane. If she has beaten it away because Sneed's daughter
escaped she would be too wise to take refuge with people
who thought they were wanted themselves, especially if she
has ever been mixed up in their game.—Hello! Here's a
piece of the envelope. See the corner of the stamp,
and—?”
“And the postmark!” Phil seized upon. “‘K-e-r-s" in
the half circle above, then ‘p.m.’ and beloy is “Y.” The
date doesn't show but it must have been mailed on Sunday


214 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
evening since Jane got it yesterday morning. It's up to
George to hunt down that widow he told us about—Ferris
was her name, wasn't it?—and try to get a line on Jane,
but I'm off to Yonkers to look up a cottage on Shady
Lane!”
At approximately the moment of his precipitate de-
parture Gideon Ormsby and the millionaire thread manu-
facturer, Waldo Palliser, were seated together in the
corner of the smoking-room of an exclusive uptown hotel
deep in a discussion of the stock market, when a slight,
aristocratic-looking man appeared in the doorway and
stood for a moment stroking his small, blond mustache and
gazing somewhat irresolutely about him.
“By Jove, there's that chap Ballantyne!” exclaimed
Ormsby. “Saw him dining the other night with old
Phineas Sneed. Let's have him over; interesting sort of
fellow, Wally, you'll like him.”
In answer to the cordially beckoning hand Lucian gave
a well-bred start and then after an obviously puzzled
moment allowed an expression of pleased recognition to
steal over his face as he came forward, not too quickly,
and bowed.
“How do you do, Mr. Ormsby? Fancy your remember-
ing me!” He shook hands and, acknowledging the intro-
duction to Palliser which followed, he seated himself in
the chair Ormsby drew forward. “I thought I saw you
last Sunday evening dining with an engineer named


THE OPEN WIRE 215
Holton, who is known to me by reputation, and another
chap, but I was not sure.”
“And you were with Mr. Sneed.” Ormsby laughed.
“Has he succeeded in interesting you in that collection of
his? Palliser has been telling me about it.”
“The-er—weapons?” Luce smiled deprecatingly. “He
has a Renaissance dagger and one or two examples of
workmanship of a later period that are really worth while,
but I fancy he values the rest more from the rather grue-
some histories connected with them than from any other
standpoint. The collection is unique in its way, but our
discussion at dinner was a sordid one; I had asked his
advice about a new mining stock which is being put on
the market very soon. I hear it is rather a good thing.”
“New company?” Palliser pricked up his ears.
“Yes. A friend of mine knows the young engineer who
is back of the organization, a chap named Raymond or
Raynor,” Luce explained artlessly.
“Raeburn. I know him.” Palliser nodded. “Told you
and that friend of yours, Randolph Pinckney, last Satur-
day out at the country club that Raeburn stands to clean
up on this, Gid.—What did Sneed think about it, Mr.
Ballantyne, if that isn't an indiscreet question?”
“Not at all!” Luce drew out his cigarette case and
proffered it. “As a matter of fact I do not believe that
Mr. Sneed has been keeping in touch with the market
lately. He appeared to have heard no rumors of this
new company and advised me rather strongly against what
> -->
he termed ‘wildcat propositions'.


THE OPEN WIRE 217
Raeburn fell out a few years ago. It is a wonder he didn't
mention it, Mr. Ballantyne, for he is a good hater!”
“I know Mr. Sneed very slightly.” Luce dropped his
cigarette into the ash-tray at his side. “Our acquaintance-
ship was based primarily on our mutual interest in curios,
although I must confess that my taste runs more to objects
of art and beauty.—By the way, Mr. Ormsby, did your
aunt ever recover her ruby cross?”
He turned in bland inquiry to Gideon, nor betrayed by
the flicker of an eyelash the whimsical remembrance which
had flashed across his mind, that the very cigarette case
which he had proffered a few minutes before had been
purchased from part of the proceeds of that bauble's
discreet sale.
“Never. It served her right for not depositing it with
the purser!” Gideon Ormsby laughed. “Not leaving us,
Mr. Ballantyne?”
“I must, I am afraid.” Luce spoke with just the right
shade of regret as he rose. “Like you, Mr. Palliser, my
friend was probably unable to locate Mr. Raeburn, and I
have an appointment. Please convey my respects to your
aunt, Mr. Ormsby, and tell her I am deeply sorry about
her ruby cross.”
He took his leave of them and walked unhurriedly from
the smoking-room, but once out of their range of vision in
the lobby he hastened from the hotel and jumped into
the first taxi.
“The Belmonde, quick!” he directed and then leaned
back as the cab started and careened around the corner.


THE OPEN WIRE 219
bits of information, either of which may lead to results.
I hadn't just arrived when you saw me turning away from
the desk; I went back to leave a note with the clerk for
Raeburn should he return, but I’ve been doing a little in-
vestigating in my own way for the last half-hour. He
told the cab starter to have the taxi take him to the Grand
Central Station when he left, but I found the chauffeur
who drove it and he says Raeburn changed his mind and
had himself rushed to the Pennsylvania instead. He had
so much hand luggage with him that it took two porters
there to carry it and some of it was so unusual in appear-
ance that they may be able to remember him.”
“You’ll probably find that unusual luggage of his in the
check-room of the station,” Luce remarked sagely. “There
isn't much of a lead in that, for unless he has Sneed's
daughter hidden somewhere in the suburbs there is no
likelihood of his leaving town. The chances are that he
walked out again five minutes after he got there, and dis-
appeared in the crowd.”
“Perhaps.” Rex smiled and went on: “It is worth
trying out, anyway, and I think I'll take the same taxi
over to the station now, on a chance that the chauffeur
might be table to pick out one of the porters.”
“How did you make out with Holten the engineer?”
asked Luce. “It was he who gave you Raeburn's address
here, wasn't it?”
“Yes. He wouldn't talk much, but it appears that he
nursed Raeburn through a pretty bad attack of fever down
in Africa a couple of years ago and I am under the im-


220 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
pression that in his delirium our young friend babbled a
lot more than he realizes now. He railed against some
man who was his bitter enemy but he evidently didn't
mention a name for I read between the lines that Holten
hasn't any idea it was Sneed. I asked him if he had ever
heard of insanity in Raeburn's family and he was surprised
into blurting out that Raeburn had raved now and then
about someone going mad. Holten is not a cad and he
shut up like a clam when he realized that he was giving
away another man's secrets, so I changed the subject
quickly.” Rex paused and added: “It is all corroborative,
you see, but the odd part of it is that Holten likes him,
and he seems to be a rather keen judge of human nature.
Raeburn must be a pretty slick article in spite of George's
opinion.”
Luce rose reluctantly.
“Well, I’ve drawn a blank, at any rate,” he said gloomily.
“I’d better get back to the office and see if Phil has any-
thing on for me.”
“You haven’t heard the second bit of information I
picked up.” Rex darted a quizzical glance at his com-
panion. “There is a henna-haired goddess at the telephone
exchange to your left as you come in the main entrance
here who is inclined to say more than ‘Number, please?”
and ‘Busy" if you give her half a chance, and I shouldn't
wonder if she is hungry at dinner-time, like any other
healthy young woman.”
“Heavens, Rex!” Luce protested feebly as they moved


THE OPEN WIRE 221
off together toward the lobby. “I’m neither a college boy
now, nor an old rounder—!”
“Not if you could get a line on Raeburn?” Rex inter-
rupted slyly. “He had some rather curious phone calls
this morning, I imagine. I didn't inquire too closely into
the matter for I thought I would try the young lady out if
I ran into an impasse at the station, but we can save time
if we each follow a lead. Go and ask for a long distance
call, jolly her along, get her some roses at the flower stand
and take her out to dinner. Don't mention Raeburn until
you have a promising little flirtation well started, and I
think you may learn something interesting.”
“All right, I suppose I must take her on.” There was
resignation in Luce's tone, but he added firmly: “I warn
you, though, that if she parks her gum under the table or
smears herself with a lip stick in public I shall leave her
flat l”
However, Miss Mabel Kerrigan was guilty of neither of
these social solecisms. Her rather full lips required no
artificial coloring and her round, blue eyes appraised Luce
in frank but friendly fashion when, an unsuccessful effort
to connect with a wholly fictitious person in Kansas City
having paved the way to acquaintanceship, he proffered
his roses and his invitation to dine.
“My, they've got longer stems than those that come for
that there movie actress on the tenth floor!” she exclaimed
as she buried her nose in the mass of fragrant blooms.
“You don't care what you do with your money, do you?
They're just grand!”


222 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Then you will take pity on a lonesome stranger and
come and dine with me, won't you?” Luce urged, his
artistic soul shuddering at the spectacle of that mahogany-
red hair in juxtaposition with the purplish-crimson petals.
“When I'm home they call me—er—Lawrence, and I'm
warranted not to bite.”
“I’m proof against hydrophobia!” she laughed. “Just
lead little Mabel Kerrigan where there's good jazz dance
music and the eats won't poison her, and she'll be ready
at seven, Lawrence.—Twenty cents, Madam! There are
two charges on that call!”
At half-past eight in the most garish of Broadway
restaurants Miss Kerrigan sat back in her chair with a
sigh of repletion and Luce gazed at her in admiring awe.
Never outside a zoo could he have thought to encounter
such an appetite, and between courses she had led him de-
terminedly through the tottering, wriggling intricacies of
the Chicago with an energy which left him limp and dizzy.
“Don’t let's dance any more just now. I'm too full,” she
declared naively, to his infinite relief. Then with a glance
at the wilted rag which had once been his immaculate
collar she added commiseratingly: “I don't guess the new
steps have reached Boston yet.” -
“‘Boston?’” he repeated wonderingly, off guard.
Miss Kerrigan smiled.
“It's the only burg on this side of the map where that
there fake British accent is hand-cultivated.—Now, don’t
get sore, Lawrence—!”


THE OPEN WIRE 223
“I’m not. I’m admiring you, Mabel.” Luce spoke
truly. “You have very discerning ears.”
“At the Belmonde we get ’em from every state in the
Union and you soon learn to tell.” She tossed her head
sagely. “I got fooled once when I first went to work there
by an English Lord, a blond, pink-faced, fine-looking
feller. He had me going so that I charged up his long
distance till I wised myself up that there was something
queer about the conversations, even for the nobility, and
I put a crimp in that little graft. The management got
stung worse than I did when he beat it owing a six weeks
bill and it turned out he was just a con. man.—You meet
up with some funny propositions in a big hotel.”
“I should think you must.” Luce was searching his
mind for an opening for the real business of the evening.
“I fancy some of the most commonplace looking people
you see are up to the most extraordinary games and it
must be rare sport to listen in.-Oh, don't be angry,
Mabel. Everybody does that, I know; it's part of the
game.”
“But I don't!” she protested indignantly, then dimpled.
“At least, not often, only when I get kind of interested
in somebody and see that something is happening to them.
It's no harm, for they never know. There's a feller left
the hotel all of a sudden today—”
She checked herself but Luce was looking out over the
jiggling figures on the dance floor, and after a full minute
he asked idly:
“What about the chap P Did he do the management, too?”


224 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“I should say not! He was a regular feller, big and
breezy and on the level, but he had a look in his eyes like
a little boy who'd been punished for something he hadn't
done. I noticed it when he first came two weeks ago and
I says to myselſ: ‘that there guy has got a secret sorrow!'
I'm no Elinor Glyn, but you learn things at the switch-
board sometimes that folks wouldn't hang out on the line
Monday mornings, and what I hear over the wire between
kicks against the service would make any love story read
like an almanac. This here ſeller was always polite and
kind of shy, but he didn't lamp me no more than if I was
part of the 'phone company's installation and I made up
my mind some girl must have give him a rotten throw. I
noticed after two or three days that somebody rang him
up pretty regular every evening, I was night operator
that week, and if they was late he wouldn't stay in his
room but come down and hang around my desk to wait.
I got to wondering about it and finally I listened in, but
it was only an old man talking, so I didn't bother any more.
This here old man,—he spoke respectful, like he was an
employee—kept calling up, though, and every day I saw
that there young feller getting more gloomy-looking and
sore, too, till his eyes just seemed to burn me up! If it
hadn't been for the set of his jaw and the swing of his
shoulders I’d have been almost afraid the chambermaid
would 'phone down some morning that she couldn't get
no answer and for the house detective to come and break
in the door!”
“Suicide?” Luce arched his eyebrows and spoke in a


226 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
wouldn't be surprise if it was The old man was kind of
upset, too, and he says: “Oh, sir, do you think it's safe?”
Nine-forty laughed like he didn't care and says: ‘It’s him
or me', only he says “he or I—now. I’ll give him till
tomorrow night, and then I'll settle the score!"—Honest
it was as good as one of these here crook plays, only nine-
forty isn't no crook! The old man repeats slow and real
faint over the wire, like he was talking to himself:
“Tomorrow night'. Nine-forty says: “Meet me in twenty
minutes, same place as before. This time we won't send it
through the mails, we'll plant it right at his door. You're
with me to the finish?” The old man says kind of solemn:
‘And beyond, sir!” Nine-forty says: ‘I knew it, old
scout! In twenty minutes'. Then he rung off. I remem-
ber every word like it was rubber-stamped on my mind
and I'll tell the world that the way I plugged in wrong
numbers for the next hour or two was a caution' You
can bet I’m going to watch the papers day after tomorrow
and see if anybody gets blown up!”
“And this young man has left the hotel for good?” Luce
asked. “What time did that conversation take place, do
you remember?”
“I looked,” Miss Kerrigan replied briefly. “It was just
past ten. I watched the lobby and saw him go out right
away. He was back in an hour, but he 'phoned down to
the desk for his bill, and said he had been suddenly called
away but would be back next week, -I listened in again,_
and within half an hour he was gone. Funny, isn't it?—
My Gawd! Look at the time, and me living in Flatbush!”


CHAPTER XVI
THE SHADOWERS LOSE A CLIENT
66 OU betcha I’ve got something to report!” Henry
spoke with marked emphasis in response to Rex's
query. It was early the following morning and the latter
had been discussing the latest phases of the case with Luce
and Cliff when the medical expert of the organization put
in an appearance. There was an excited gleam in his eye
and a harassed look upon his broad, usually placid coun-
tenance. “I haven't felt much sympathy for our client until
now, but by George, I pity him! No wonder it took padded
walls and a strong-arm Lizzie to look after that daughter
of his, crazy or not!”
“What's the matter?” asked Cliff.
Henry plumped down into a chair and ran his handker-
chief over the dome-like expanse of his bald head.
“Ethel is the matter!” he groaned. “Am I or am I not
in charge of that girl?”
“Why? What has she done?” Luce smiled. “I suppose
you are nominally in charge of her, but—”
“Aha!” Henry exploded with unconscious but fervent
melodrama. “‘But !’ You said it! She's taken the bit
in her teeth, that's what, and right from the start, too!
The next time she needs an uncle, somebody else will be
the goat!”
227


228 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Well, she is there to conduct an independent investiga-
tion, you know,” Rex remarked defensively.
“She's doing it!” Henry produced a cigar and bit off
the end with unnecessary vigor. “She's making medicine,
all right!”
“Has she discovered anything?” Cliff demanded. “She
hasn't reported since she 'phoned your message to us
yesterday.”
“My message!” exclaimed Henry, the flaming match
poised in air. “What the devil do you mean? I didn't
send you any message!”
“You didn't get her to 'phone me yesterday afternoon
just a few minutes after Sneed arrived, to tell me to hold
him here as long as I could?” insisted Cliff.
“I didn't give a whoop where Sneed was 1–Ouch!”
Henry dropped the match and regarded his thumb and
forefinger tenderly. “Did she have the nerve to 'phone
you in my name?”
“She said her, uncle, Doctor Carter, had asked her to
do so.”
“That's how I’m registered. Great snakes! What will
she do next?”
“What has she done so far?” Rex demanded with a
shade of impatience in his tone.
“Oh, nothing! Nothing at all!” Henry laughed bitterly.
“Just made me a laughing-stock around the hotel, that's
all ! Rube uncle used as a fall guy by wisenheimer niece!
She's burned herself, too, and she won't tell me how, or
come up to my sitting-room and let me dress it for her—!”


230 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
ranged for us both to have the same room waiter that
he has, too. It is lucky I did, or I couldn't have got on
to the fact that Ethel has something up her sleeve quite
so quick. After we had registered and were settled we
had lunch together in the main dining-room and then I
fooled around the lobby all the afternoon, as you told me
to, while she went up to Sneed's apartment. When dinner-
time came and she didn't make any effort to communicate
with me I telephoned to her room but she said she wasn't
feeling well and would have her dinner upstairs. I asked
her iſ she would come to my sitting-room afterward but
she said 'no', and I knew from her tone that she was up
to some mischief. I decided to have my own dinner up in
my suite so that I could get acquainted with the room
waiter and question him, and when I opened up on him
his face was a study!”
“I found him an inscrutable old chap and I suspect he
is rather more shrewd than that subservient manner of his
would indicate,” Luce observed. “I hope you were
guarded in your questioning, Henry.”
“I merely asked him if he had served my niece, men-
tioning her room number, and if she had had everything
she required, and he replied that he thought so. His tone
was respectful enough but it was emphatic, and he handed
me the two chits she had signed, one for tea and the other
for dinner. She'd had a regular feast at tea-time—no
wonder she said she didn't feel well afterwards!—but at
dinner she had sampled every course on the menu, never-
theless!”


THE SHADOWERS LOSE A CLIENT 231
“She is not going to let anything get by her, is she?”
Cliff laughed and then his face sobered. “But when did
she burn herself?”
“Some time during the afternoon. The first I heard of
it was from the waiter when I handed those signed
restaurant cards back to him; he remarked that he hoped
the young lady's hands would be better in the morning,”
Henry responded. “He’s an old busybody, if you ask me!
He dawdled about as if he expected I was going to ask
him about that but I wasn't letting on it was news to me.
As soon as I got rid of him, though, I 'phoned to her room
again but she laughed it off and said it was nothing, that
she would tell me about it in the morning. She didn't,
however. It was the same old thing, breakfast in her
room, but she 'phoned that she would meet me in the
lobby in half an hour. When she did she was dressed
for the street but both her hands were bandaged and she
calmly gave me to understand that I was to mind my own
business! I realized then that was why she met me in
the lobby instead of coming to my sitting-room, so that
she would have me at a disadvantage and I couldn't in-
sist on her going into details. The publicity didn't feaze
her, though, or hinder her from asking baldly for the two
hundred for"a few little things she needed'!”
“She must have burned herself accidentally some way in
Sneed's kitchen, and she probably didn't care to appear in
the main dining-room with bandaged hands, or else, like
you, she wanted an opportunity to sound the room waiter,”
Rex hazarded. “I cannot understand about Ethel's need


232 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
of money, however; I gave her a hundred yesterday for
expenses on the case and it should have been more than
enough for incidentals, unless she has taken it on herself
to bribe someone. She assured me that she had all the
clothes she would require for a stay of a few days at the
hotel.—Did you make any acquaintances yourself among
the guests?”
“Only a couple of gouty old codgers and neither of them
seemed to know Sneed. I didn't want to seem too curious
about him, but I smoked a cigar after breakfast with the
retired head of a life insurance company that carries
Sneed's policy. I am going to play billiards with him this
afternoon and see what information I can pick up from
that source.” Henry dropped the stub of his cigar in the
ash-tray and heaved himself out of his chair. “I’d better be
getting back to the hotel now, for I’m going to waylay that
young woman when she returns from that shopping ex-
pedition of hers and make her come clean. Is there any
news from Phil?”
“Not since yesterday when he started for Yonkers, still
on the trail of that red-haired girl of the Gull's,” Cliff
returned. “She is a friend of that missing servant Jane,
it seems, so Phil isn't shooting so wide of the mark, after
all, in his determination to locate her. Tell Ethel to report
when she has an opportunity.”
Henry had scarcely taken his departure when George
entered. An added lugubriousness seemed to ride upon
his long face and he shook his head gloomily in response
to Rex's eager questions.


THE SHADOWERS LOSE A CLIENT 233
“I’ve seen Mrs. Ferris, the widow of a ship's steward
whom Robert said was his wife's oldest friend, and I have
some news but it won't take us very far. She's a stout,
comfortable, jolly-looking old dame about sixty but she
wasn't any too easy in her mind when she found out my
errand. I told her I came on behalf of Robert, to urge her
to use her influence to induce his wife to return to him.
At first she pretended to know nothing of Jane, but finally
admitted that she had come to her early yesterday morning
to leave a package for which she said she would send;
that she was going away. The Ferris woman refused to
show me the package and in my capacity as Robert's
emissary I couldn't very well insist, but I made sure of one
thing; she has never heard of the existence of Sneed's
daughter, nor of Carrie Peterson.” George paused and
added: “It was last night that I saw the Ferris woman
and this morning I have been making the rounds of the
steamship offices, to see if any of them signed on a
stewardess yesterday for the passenger service, but
although I didn't meet with any success, it is my opinion
that Jane has left the country, for fear of being mixed up
with the Peterson gang.”
“Unless she has joined them,” Cliff said meditatively.
“I wonder if Phil has located any ‘Shady Lane' near
Yonkers?”
At that moment Phil in his own taxi was cruising slowly
about the roads which branched off from the highways
leading to and from that picturesque little town. Inquiries
had failed to elicit any information concerning a Shady


THE SHADOWERS LOSE A CLIENT 235
chose the broadest thoroughfare leading due north and
drove along it for an hour or more at the top speed of
which his taxi was capable, watching for signposts at each
intersecting lane or right of way.
It was well past noon when after hurtling through
several villages and narrowly escaping the vengeance of
more than one irate constable he came to a small road-
house of the humbler sort and stopped for sandwiches and
coffee.
“‘Shady Lane?’” The sleepy-looking proprietor
scratched his head reflectively. “There's an old cow path
leadin' off the main road up past Miner's farm a piece,
that a land improvement company wanted to call Shady
Lane when they took Mud Pond and tried to sell bungalow
lots around it to city folks, but the suckers didn't bite.”
“Are there any houses on this cow path?” Phil asked.
“Only one little shack of a place with a chicken run and
a strip of garden. Fam’ly named Peters lived there a
couple of years back, but it's been empty since.—Want
some more coffee?”
Phil declined hastily and paying his bill he obtained more
specific directions to the “cow path” and started again
upon his way. Miner's farm was easily located and half a
mile beyond it he came to a narrow, grass-grown, deeply
rutted road which branched off abruptly to the left. It was
bordered by maples and through them he could see the
dingy clapboard roof of a little white cottage.
Without hesitation he turned off into the lane and drove
up to the sagging gate, where he alighted and strode up


236 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
the weed-choked path to the door. Repeated knocking
failed to bring any response, but the cracked shade at one
of the windows moved slightly and whistling in cheerful
nonchalance Phil rounded the house to the back door.
There in the act of hastily closing it he came face to face
with a tall, red-haired girl whose great eyes glowered
sullenly at him like living coals.
“I’m a friend; has Jane come?” he asked quickly. Then
as the girl obviously hesitated he added: “This is on the
level. Your father Red Jim knows me. Tell him Nifty
Phil is here, will you?”
“What do you want? Who sent you to us?” The girl's
tones were low and surprisingly musical although her ex-
pression did not lighten nor did she by the slightest gesture
bid him welcome.
“No one sent me, but Jane Frost got your letter and
beat it Monday night. Before she left, though, she told
me where I could find your father.” Phil paused and then
spoke in a tone of boyish candor. “I—I only got out my-
self a month or two ago and I’ve got a soft thing that's as
safe as a church 1 I wanted to find an old pal who was
pardoned two years ago and though he's only a kid he was
a friend of Red Jim's.”
“Did this Jane Frost show you any letter from me?”
There was the sound of cautious footsteps in the kitchen
behind her, but the girl did not turn.
“No. I just happened to mention that I was trying to
find Red Jim and she said she'd had a letter from his
daughter only that morning.” Phil lied glibly. “I couldn't


238 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
Red Jim nodded slowly.
“She was fair gone on him and she's not got over his
death yet.”
“‘Death !’” There was no need of simulation now. “I
knew he was railroaded through old Sneed that he built
the safe for, and that some woman worked to get him free,
but none of the old crowd I’ve been able to dig up know
that he croaked ' When—?”
“Three months after he got out. We brought him here
to this shack and Carrie nursed him till the end, but he
was too far gone with the con.” Red Jim brought his
great hand down on his knee with a thumping whack.
“It was hard, for they’d have made a fine pair, Phil, and
I doubt she'll ever look at another man.”
“Gee! The Gull gone!” There was genuine regret in
Phil's tone. “It’s tough on her, all right; tough any way
you look at it! He might have done big things some day.—
I wonder why Sneed had him framed after he turned his
invention over to him, though different from the way he'd
planned to apply it? He couldn't have done it to keep
his mouth shut, for the Gull had plenty of time before his
trial and after, to slip the details on to anyone else if he'd
wanted to. What was the game?”
“I never knew, rightly.” Red Jim shook his head. “I
got an idea that old Sneed thought the Gull had learned
too much about his affairs, whatever they were, but there
was something queer about that safe, too. The Gull
wouldn't speak of it before, but just at the last he tried to
tell me something. It was too late then, though.”


THE SHADOWERS LOSE A CLIENT 239
“Wlel,” Phil rose. “This is a staggerer for me, Jim.
I'm dead sorry I mentioned him to your girl, but how was
I to know?—I had a nice little thing on for him that no-
body else would ever be able to handle so I’ll have to pass
it up. I’ll get on back to town now, but if you ever want
me, look me up here.”
He scribbled on a bit of paper the address of the room
which for professional purposes he occupied in the tene-
ment quarter of the city, and handed it to his host as he
took leave of him. The girl Carrie was not in evidence,
but as he backed his taxi to turn in the narrow lane he
caught a glimpse of a tall, slim figure clad in faded blue
standing rigidly beneath one of the trees in the gnarled
old orchard, and Phil's thoughts wandered for the mo-
ment from the investigation on hand back to that somber
gray house up the river and the Gull with his flash of
genius, warped though it might have been, and his dreams
which never came true.
It was just past seven when his taxi drew up before the
Bolingbroke Building and he ascended to the suite occupied
by the Shadowers to find Rex, Cliff, Luce and George
standing about the table in the inner office with a curiously
shocked expression stamped upon all their faces.
“What is it?” Phil demanded. “What has happened?”
Rex, whose hand still rested upon the hook of the tele-
phone receiver, turned slowly and spoke in a repressed
yet shaken tone.
“The Shadowers have lost a client. Phineas Sneed is
dead!—Murdered l’”


*—AND GAIN A NEW ONE 241
remembrance of the previous evening's talk with Mabel
Kerrigan. “If the girl at the switchboard was listening
in and heard about the murder the whole management will
be up there and perhaps the authorities, too!”
They maintained a discreet silence in the elevator, but
when all five had crowded into one taxi and it started
across town Rex glanced quickly at Phil and remarked:
“It's early to speculate, of course, but I wonder if this
could be the work of the Gull or someone acting for him?”
“The Gull died three months after he was pardoned,”
Phil returned quietly. “The only person who keeps his
memory alive has no thought of revenge and besides is
provided with an alibi that couldn't be shaken.”
“Then you found Red Jim and his daughter?” George
demanded.
“I’ve found out what became of the Gull and that is all
I was after.” There was a warning note of reserve in the
young ex-yegg's tones which caused George to meet Rex's
eyes in a significant glance. Both recalled in a swift flash
the condition which Phil had made when he joined the
Shadowers: that he would drop any investigation which
led him upon the trail of those of his former profession
who had been his pals. Red Jim and his daughter were
implicated in a diamond smuggling trick and while they
were presumably wanted by the police Phil would loyally
keep whatever discoveries he had made to himself.
“Well, it isn't important now, is it?” Rex shrugged.
“Our status in this case from now on is problematic, to
say the least, since we have lost our client. I don't know


242 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
how you boys feel about it but it has become a personal
matter with me, for, whether we disliked the old man or
not, he had put himself in our hands and it was up to us
to protect him. I look upon it as a moral duty to find his
murderer.”
The others nodded gravely in confirmation but little
more was said until they reached the hotel. It was evi-
dent that no word of the tragedy had leaked through to
the management although the clerk looked his amazement
at the sight of the erstwhile guest “Mr. Ballantyne” in the
company of men who had been brought thither by Sneed's
manservant four days before.
Ascending in the elevator they found the entrance door
which led to Sneed's private hall swinging ajar and were
about to pass through when Henry appeared around the
corner of the corridor and halted in blank amazement.
“You’d better come with us; there's something wrong!”
Rex explained in a hurried undertone.
“You don't mean foul play!” Henry's jaw dropped.
“What has brought you all here? What have you heard?”
Rex responded briefly with a repetition of the 'phone mes-
sage and when they had crowded up the stairs and saw that
the heavily carved door leading into the reception room also
stood open, he stopped the others and called sharply:
“Robert I"
No answer came and his voice seemed to echo back
almost mockingly from the great, silent rooms. He called
again and again without result and then Phil stepped for-
ward determinedly.


—AND GAIN A NEW ONE 243
“I’m going in and see for myself what has happened ſ”
he declared. “Maybe Robert can't hear, but—!”
Leaving his sentence unfinished he strode ahead and the
others followed through the reception room to the huge
corner living-room. In the waning light which came
through the bare, unshaded windows they saw that two of
the heavy chairs had been overturned, a rug rumpled and
kicked aside and on the polished floor in an oddly distorted
attitude like some fantastic doll lay the small, shrivelled
form of their late client.
Henry advanced but before he could touch it Rex
exclaimed:
“Wait! We can't afford to get ourselves into trouble
over this and court the slightest suspicion that we are im-
plicated in what has taken place, or it will be the end of
the Shadowers!—Luce, go to the telephone which you will
find in the library there and call down to the office. Don't
give details but ask that the proprietor come up here at
once.”
Luce started for the library but halted on the threshold
with a low ejaculation. The next instant he had sprung
forward.
“Here is old Robert! He must have had a stroke or
something! Come and help me to lift him, one of you!”
Crumpled in a heap beside the table from over the edge
of which the receiver of the telephone hung suspended
lay the old manservant. George and Cliff raised the limp
form and bore it to a couch. A waxen pallor with a
slightly bluish tinge had settled upon the relaxed features


—AND GAIN A NEW ONE 245
“If it was murder, in the strictest sense of the word,”
Rex interrupted from the doorway. He held in his hand
a slender foil of finely tempered steel. “I trod upon this
just now over near the davenport, but it's mate lies under
Sneed's fingers. Unless it was placed there after he fell,
it looks to me as though a desperate duel had taken place
and the old man's adversary got off scot free, for Sneed's
foil has no stains upon it. But look at this!”
The tip of the foil was tinged with red and smudges
extended part way up the blade as he held it out for their
inspection.
Luce shuddered.
“I saw that the old man had been stabbed through the
throat!” he murmured, and then his eyes darted swiftly
to the still figure on the couch. “Do you suppose it could
have been Robert himself?—That there was no intruder
here?”
Henry shook his head decidedly.
“He would not have had the strength for such a blow
and he was too decrepit to fight. Sneed was active and
wiry, you know, and old Robert almost ten years older
than he.—Good Lord, what's that?”
A sharp click followed by a subdued whirring sound
had broken in upon him and they turned in time to see a
section of the walnut panelling which met to form the
corner in the wall near the fireplace recede a few inches
and then rise smoothly behind the upper part as the safe
projected itself into the room and stopped with a thud.


246 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“So that's the invention!” Luce stared. “Who started
it working?”
“I did.” Phil turned from before one of the bookcases.
“But you haven't been anywhere near it—!”
“I didn't have to be. You forget that I know the secret
of the mechanism.” He advanced to the safe and added
over his shoulder. “I’ll explain it to you fellows after-
wards. I thought we had better see what was in here
before the proprietor comes and I'll have to work fast for
I've got to dope out the combination.”
“That's a good idea,” commended Rex. “I don't see
what's keeping him, though, if he is around the hotel.”
“What are you going to tell him, anyway?” asked Cliff.
“I am going to introduce ourselves under our true guise
as the Shadowers,” Rex smiled slightly. “I will explain
how we came to be here and give him what details I think
will be good for him. If I am not mistaken he may make
us a proposition on his own account. That is why I didn't
want Sneed's body touched until his arrival.”
“And here he comes now!” George announced suddenly.
“Let’s meet him in the living-room so as to give Phil a
chance with the safe.”
Heavy footsteps were hurriedly ascending the private
staircase and a moment later a portentous cough sounded
from the reception-room doorway.
“Did Mr. Sneed wish to see me?—Someone telephoned
down—?”
“Come in, sir. You are the proprietor?” Rex stepped
forward and confronted a portly, dignified looking man in


248 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“We are the Shadowers, a corporation of private in-
vestigators. This will explain our methods and purpose
to you more concisely that I could at the moment, Mr.
Ridgeway.”
Rex produced one of the circular announcements of
their firm and the proprietor read it in a bewildered
fashion.
“Private detectives!” His tone was shocked as though
the bare mention of the words was a profanation to the
sacred precincts of the hotel. “But how do you come to
be here, and what were these two—er—gentlemen doing
registered under assumed names?”
“We were called in by Mr. Sneed on Saturday to in-
vestigate a certain matter for him, and Mr. Baynes and
later Doctor Corliss and a female assistant were installed
here in the line of duty,” responded Rex. “We may not
break faith with our client even though he is dead, but it
is only right that you should know he had received two
threatening, anonymous letters from a bitter and ruthless
enemy; robbery was not the motive for this murder, it was
revenge.”
“But—but Mr. Sneed has been practically a recluse for
years!” stammered Ridgeway. “How can that be possible?”
“Mr. Sneed had been ruthless also in his time and made
many personal enemies,” Rex returned. “One of them in
particular, the author of those letters, believed he had
been so deeply injured that nothing but our client's death
would make reparation. Mr. Sneed did not wish him
apprehended because of the scandal which would ensue,


—AND GAIN A NEW ONE 249
but left it to us to find his enemy and turn him from his
course. However, Mr. Sneed did not take us sufficiently
into his confidence until it was too late for our efforts to
be of avail. Had he been frank with us from the be-
ginning this tragedy might never have occurred.”
“Where is his servant?” Ridgeway demanded suddenly.
“His housekeeper left without notice a day or two ago,
I understand, but the old man should be about.”
“He is.” Rex's tone was grim as the whirring sound
came to them again followed by a metallic clang, and Phil
appeared in the library doorway. “Robert discovered his
employer's body and fell dead himself from heart disease
superinduced by shock as he was telephoning to us. This
occurred not half an hour ago and we came at once, find-
ing the situation as you see it. Our investigation has
brought to light one point which is important to you and
your interests, Mr. Ridgeway; our client's enemy has an
ally or accomplice here at the Burlingame.”
“Here?” The proprietor sank down weakly in the
nearest chair. “Mr. Sneed has lived alone with his
servants for years, associating with no one and receiving
no visitors except occasionally his attorney, Mr. Hodge.—
Good heavens, Mr. Hodge must be notified, and the police,
too !”
He started up but Rex waved him back.
“We will attend to it for you, Mr. Ridgeway. A few
minutes more or less will make no difference. I suppose
the notoriety incidental to the publication of the murder
will affect your business here unfavorably?”


—AND GAIN A NEW ONE 251
even aided most materially in suppressing the whole un-
fortunate affair. Our former client is dead and we cannot
help him now by publicly exposing the man who caused
his death, nor can any good purpose be achieved by the
announcement that such a hideous affair has taken place
within the four walls of the Burlingame.”
Hamilton Ridgeway who had been listening with a
growing eagerness of attention started once more from his
chair.
“Am I to understand, gentlemen, that it might be pos-
sible for you to-er—avert the disaster which is hanging
over me?” he cried. “But we-we would be accessories
after the fact to murder! If the truth were ever
known—!”
“Not murder; justifiable homicide in self-defense,” Rex
reminded him. “We are a completely equipped organiza-
tion with every means at our command to suppress all
evidence of what has taken place and supply other evidence
later which will satisfactorily account for Mr. Sneed's
death abroad.”
Ridgeway's face flushed deeply and he held out both
hands as he exclaimed in a shaking voice:
“Then do this for me, gentlemen, and whatever sum
you require for your services down to the last cent at my
disposal shall be yours. I—I am of course shocked and
grieved at Mr. Sneed's death, but, as you say, no good
can come of making the manner of it public now, and the
disgrace and ruin of the Burlingame after all these honored
years would be more than I could endure! Then, too, I


252 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
must know the identity of the accomplice who you tell me
is here. Gentlemen, may I ask that you will accept me as
your client? I take the risk of possible exposure with
you, I ask no questions as to how you propose to suppress
this unfortunate affair—”
“It would be wiser for your own protection that we do
not go into details, Mr. Ridgeway,” Rex interrupted while
his associates gazed at him in stupefaction. “Our terms
can be agreed upon later. You have merely to leave us
here in charge tonight and when the usual room waiter
comes tomorrow morning with Mr. Sneed's breakfast he
will find the upper and lower entrance doors open, Robert
dead in his bed from heart disease and evidence that Mr.
Sneed himself has gone upon a journey. There will be no
indication that a crime or even a disturbance has taken
place; you can have Robert's body removed quietly to
an undertaking establishment and assume the funeral ex-
penses until such time as Mr. Sneed may return. Do you
understand?”
“I must confess that I do not. It sounds like sheer
magic to me, but you inspire me with confidence and hope.”
Ridgeway extended his hand. “Do you wish any especial
arrangements made to facilitate your departure with the—
er—evidence?”
“Only that the freight elevator and tradesmen's entrance
to the hotel be at our disposal from ten o'clock until mid-
night, and the watchmen kept from that part of the build-
ing. It is agreed?”


CHAPTER XVIII
CONSPIRATORS
6&T TOLD you I felt it a moral duty to find Sneed's
murderer but I did not add that I meant to turn him
over to the police,” Rex replied to Henry's question.
“What I proposed to the proprietor here is far from im-
possible of accomplishment, it serves a laudable purpose
in suppressing a scandal, and gives us an opportunity to
pursue our own investigation unhindered. We failed to
protect Sneed but I have a theory about his death which,
if I can verify it, will prove that we were not guilty of
negligence. I feel that we are responsible, however, for
that demented daughter of his, of whose existence it is
evident that Ridgeway never heard, and we ought to as-
sure ourselves that she is safe.”
“That's so.” George nodded. “If Raeburn killed the
old man he at least gave him a chance for his life, even
though the fight was an unequal one. He'll naturally be
waiting for the storm to burst and when it doesn't sheer
curiosity will make him show his hand in some way and
perhaps enable us to locate him.”
“And I suppose it is going to be a simple matter to spirit
a dead body away in this man's town " Phil exclaimed.
“What are we going to do with Sneed after we get him?”
“Henry succeeded in spiriting another body away once
254


CONSPIRATORS 255
without any difficulty, if you remember,” Rex observed.
“You can bring your taxi to the tradesmen's entrance just
after ten o'clock and Henry can depart with a small trunk.
I noticed one in Smeed's dressing-room when we passed
through it yesterday afternoon to examine his daughter's
apartments and I think we can get him into it without
any trouble before rigor mortis sets in. Henry can rush
it to his laboratory and embalm the body; it is lucky for
us that he was an undertaker's assistant as a boy!”
“I thought I would be the goat in this, somewhere!”
Henry mourned. “I don't say we mightn't get away with
it so far, but what then? I don't particularly fancy having
him around—!”
“Oh, after that it will be up to Cliff and George,” re-
sponded Rex.
“Me!” Cliff exclaimed. “I’m a handwriting expert,
not a magician!”
“And I am afraid I am not psychic enough to make a
material body vanish into thin air,” George remarked.
“What's the idea?”
“Merely that Cliff should be able to manufacture a very
creditable death certificate and George can make arrange-
ments for his poor old uncle's burial in some obscure
country cemetery, say in Jersey. You can fake any reason
you like, George, for your uncle's desire to be interred in
that particular spot, and you are plausible enough to get
away with it in a rural community.”
“There's just one little detail you appear to have over-
looked, Rex,” Luce drawled. “The superintendent and


256 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
employees of the Bolingbroke are accustomed to our ec-
centricities in the manner of conducting our business, but
won't even they look askance at a coffin being brought in
and out?”
“Not after the advent of that mummy case I had in-
stalled in George's seance room,” Rex retorted. “We can
easily disguise the coffin so that they will think it is an-
other one and it can be removed in an ordinary express
wagon to some cheap little undertaking establishment in
Newark or Hoboken. What do you say?—I suppose I
should have consulted you boys about this before I sprang
it, but there wasn't time. After all, this was Phil's case—.”
“That's all right; I'll be generous!” Phil exclaimed
hastily. “The Gull is dead but his convict number was
scribbled on the envelope of that anonymous letter of
Raeburn's. That's the part of this investigation which
still has me going, and I mean to have a heart-to-heart
talk with that guy when we get him!”
“Why did you wink when you said Sneed had left no
will in the safe?” George asked suddenly.
“Because it isn't there any longer. I’ve got it in my
pocket, or rather, two of them, and there's something
funny about them but they will keep till later.” Phil
patted his pocket as he spoke and added: “But what shall
we do with Ethel? Won't she be looking for her Uncle
Henry?”
“Good Lord!” Henry started up in dismay. “She's
been waiting all this time for me to take her to dinner!”
“You’d better go and get her and bring her here,” Rex


CONSPIRATORS 257
suggested. “We'll keep her out in the reception room, of
course, but she will have to be told what has happened.
You can take her down to dinner then and afterward she
may pack and go home. There is nothing for her to do
here any longer and we will need her at the office in the
morning.”
But Ethel unexpectedly presented difficulties to this ar-
rangement when she shortly appeared in tow of Henry.
He had told her of the deaths of Sneed and his old servant
and her face was subdued but by no means as shocked
as they had anticipated.
“So they got him, did they?” she commented and to
Rex's horror there seemed to be something very like satis-
faction in her tone. “Uncle Henry says we are working
for the proprietor now.”
“Yes, in a way,” Rex responded. “What we are really
looking for is to find out how that young lady, Sneed's
daughter, got out of here and who helped her. You
haven't made any report to us since you came, Ethel; did
you find out anything when you examined her rooms
yesterday afternoon?”
“I didn't report because I wasn't ready, Mr. Powell,”
Ethel said briefly without seeming to have heard the ques-
tion. “I ain't—I’m not ready yet. Uncle Henry tells me
I am to go home tonight but I’d like to stay till tomorrow,
if it's all right. Couldn't I? Oh, I’ve just got to stay!”
The little cry broke from her in unconcealed eagerness
and George remarked drily:


258 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“It looks as though Henry were right, and our little
friend here has taken the bit in her teeth !”
“Ethel, if you have found out anything it is your duty
to tell us,” Rex admonished her earnestly. “That is what
we sent you here for, you know. We have trusted you—”
“I know!” she interrupted quickly. “That is just why
I want to stay a little longer. I don't know where the
young lady is, but I have a kind of an idea who might have
helped her. If I have to go away now they'll never speak
and you couldn't prove anything. Do you see?”
“Who is it?” Phil cried. “Who helped her to get away?”
But Ethel's small chin was thrust suddenly forward in
a way that they recognized and she replied with an air of
finality:
“It is only a hunch that I’ve got and maybe it's wrong.
Please don't think I am trying to be smart but I know that
if I can't make them speak, nobody can. It would only
spoil everything if even Mr. Powell butted in now. You
sent me here to find out something; please, can't I stay
and do it? I'll leave right after breakfast tomorrow and
be at the office on time.”
Phil shrugged and Rex replied slowly.
“It seems reasonable enough, Ethel, only I am sorry
you will not confide in us, my dear. Do you think it is
quite fair?”
An odd little smile twisted the corners of the girl's lips
for an instant, but she spoke seriously enough.
“Yes, I do, Mr. Powell. If I was to say anything now
you'd think I was crazy, too.—When you do find the young


260 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Never mind. Ethel will tell us everything tomorrow,
I am sure. If you'll just take her to dinner now—?”
“Oh, please!” She gave a little shudder of repulsion.
“How could anybody want dinner, thinking of-of what's
in there! If you will just let me go back to my room I'll
order a cup of tea and—and you won't hear anything more
from me tonight, but I'll promise faithfully to come to the
office tomorrow morning!”
With this they were forced to be content but a little
silence fell for a moment after she had taken her departure.
It was broken by an impatient question from Henry.
“Well, what do you think of her?”
“Perhaps we should have compelled her to tell us what
she knows or suspects,” Rex said reluctantly. “If she has
any real information we are at too serious a crisis to trust
to the judgment of an inexperienced girl, but I have an
uncomfortable conviction that if we attempt to coerce her
and force her confidence she is quite capable of retaliating
by drawing upon her rather too vivid imagination.”
“Stuffing us with rank lies.” Luce nodded. “That is
what I think, too. It was best to let her have her own
way and she will probably come through tomorrow. In
the meantime, we'd better get ahead with this grisly busi-
ness, but I will admit that I am curious about that safe.”
“I am, myself.” Henry rose. “Let us dispose of poor
Robert first, though. One of you help me carry him to
his room and I will fix him as he must be found in the
morning.”
Robert's body was borne from the library and Sneed's


266 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
think there can have been any hitch so far or George
would have got in touch with us. By now he must have
left the body at the undertaker's in Hoboken and be well
on his way to that little village, what is it called?”
“Greenvale,” Cliff replied. “Say, how about those two
wills you found in the safe last night, Phil? You said
there was something funny about them.”
“I have them here.” Phil drew two large folded sheets
of paper from his pocket and spread them out upon the
table. “The first one, you see, is dated four years ago and
it looks to me to be a regular, legal document, properly
signed and witnessed and all. It doesn't even mention his
daughter but after those small bequests to Robert and Jane
and a few to some charities and museums all the rest of
his estate is left to his lawyer, Ellsworth Hodge. Don't
you see something kind of funny about that when you
take the date into consideration?”
Henry nodded slowly.
“Just about the time of the Gull's trial and conviction,
wasn't it? That was probably a part of Hodge's price
theside what he must have gotten from Sneed at the time.”
“That is what it looks like to me.” Phil pushed forward
the other paper. “Sneed meant to double-cross him,
though, even in death. They must have been a precious
pair! This will is dated just two days later and judging
from the signature on the first and from some memoranda
I found, I think it is in Sneed's own handwriting. He
was careful to draw it up in the same form as the other,
but he has left more to both Robert and Jane and the rest


THE EMPTY BOX 267
to charities, with never a word of Hodge or his daughter,
either. What I can't get through my head is why he didn't
destroy the first will after he drew up the second?”
“That ought to be easily explained,” Rex observed. “He
kept the first in order to let Hodge see it from time to
time when he called and make him confident that it was
the only one in existence. The witnesses of course are
different in each will.”
“Yes.” Cliff was examining them painstakingly under
a magnifying glass. “Those on the first, Warren Hunter
and Ceoffrey Cole, are probably law clerks in Hodge's own
office. I would know that type of hand anywhere, but the
writing in the other two signatures is straggling and il-
literate although childishly plain.”
“‘Dennis McGill and John Bailey’,” Luce read over his
shoulder. “Servants, probably, employees of the hotel.
Unless he made separate provision for his daughter and set
aside a sum for her support and care, we'll have a fight
with Hodge, when we find her, to prevent his having him-
self appointed as her guardian and then gobbling up all
that the courts might allow for her maintenance if the will
were broken in the poor creature's favor. I take it that it
goes without saying we are agreed to accept her as a sort
of moral responsibility?”
“If Raeburn hasn't beaten us to it,” Rex amended.
“From what I have heard of him from men whom I would
believe to be keen judges of character, if he ever really
cared for her he will protect her in her unfortunate
condition.”


268 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“Which means that you think that second anonymous
letter he presumably dictated was a mere bluff?” Cliff
raised his eyebrows. “I don't. I think he had no more
idea at that time where the girl was than we have now.
If she managed somehow to escape unaided from the Bur-
lingame, do you realize the percentage against her ever
turning up again except in the morgue?”
“I went there yesterday morning,” Phil confessed. “And
I made the rounds of the hospitals, too, but no word has
come to the address I left that she has been brought in. If
Ethel cannot help us it looks as though we were pretty
badly stumped.”
“Then I–I'm afraid you are " The clear, girlish voice
sounded somewhat ruefully behind them and turning they
beheld Ethel standing in the panel space which led to the
outer office. She was dressed in a cheaply vivid though
clever counterfeit of the season's latest mode but her small
face was pale and drawn, her eyes deeply circled and the
smile with which she favored them was a somewhat un-
certain one. “Excuse me for walking in on you like this.
I knocked and knocked but nobody heard me.”
“Put that package down and take this chair, Ethel.”
Rex drew one forward as he spoke. “Does that remark
you made when you entered mean that you have found out
nothing that will help us, after all?”
She put the large, shapeless brown paper package which
she was carrying on the table and seated herself on the
edge of the chair.
“No, I–I haven't done anything to help.” Her eyes


THE EMPTY BOX 269
were downcast as she replied: “I made an awful mistake,
so it was just as well that I didn't tell you last evening
what I thought. I was sure somebody had helped the
young lady and that I knew who it was, but they hadn't
at all! I hated to come and tell you that I had been a
failure, but I promised.”
“Well, my dear, we have none of us done any better in
that direction than you have,” Henry said consolingly.
“Did you give up your room at the Burlingame?”
She shook her head.
“No, I didn't. I came to ask you if I couldn't stay just
a little longer; say, till tomorrow? There's a chance yet
that I can make good—”
“Not unless you come absolutely clean with us, Ethel.”
There was a note of sternness in Rex's tones which the
girl had never heard before from him and a deep flush dyed
her cheeks. “You are like a soldier now, under orders.
If you don't tell us what you are doing you may spoil our
game for us.”
“But I haven't done anything, really ſ” Her eyes opened
wide. “I just didn't want to tell you how silly I’d been 1
There's a–a young lady in the room across the hall from
mine who seemed to be acting strange from the first sight
I got of her through her opened door the afternoon Doctor
Corliss and I went to the hotel. That's why I had my
meals upstairs, so I could leave my own door a little open
and watch her. If I had told Doctor Corliss he might have
hung around, too, and made her and the other one
suspicious.”
p.


270 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“What other one?” demanded Henry.
“The stout, oldish woman with her, that I took to be
a kind of a nurse.” Ethel looked down at her hands, still
bandaged beneath the large gloves, and wiggled her fingers
experimentally. “I managed to get acquainted with that
one the first evening but I couldn't get anything out of her.
I would have sounded the chambermaid about them yes-
terday morning but she did up my room and left while I
was out shopping. Last night after I saw you in Mr.
Sneed's apartment I came down and got talking to that
nurse again and she told me that her patient was just
getting over an operation and they had to keep her under
the influence of dope most of the time. Of course, I
thought that was just a-a story, but this morning I asked
the chambermaid about it and she said it was true and that
the lady had been there for five years.”
“Do you mean to say you thought the young lady,
Sneed's daughter—would have been crazy enough to try
to hide herself away in the same hotel, within a stone's
throw of her father's door?” Luce expostulated half in-
credulously.
“Yes, and I didn't think it would prove that she was
crazy, either,” Ethel retorted. “If she had the nerve for
it and could stay out of sight it came to me that it was
the last place in the world anyone would have looked for
her. But it wasn't the same young lady, after all. If I’d
had a picture of her or knew what she looked like I
wouldn't have wasted these two days.”


THE EMPTY BOX 271
“We have a picture, a little snapshot which Sneed gave
us himself,” Henry exclaimed. “Where is it, Cliff?”
“On the table in my study,” Cliff responded absently.
He had bent again to a perusal of the two wills. “Go and
look at it, Ethel.”
When she had picked up her package and departed Luce
glanced significantly at their leader.
“Do you remember what we said last night? We've
crowded Ethel and she has-to put it mildly—resorted to
subterfuge. I don't believe there is a word of truth in that
story about the doped lady!”
“We could verify it if it were worth while, I suppose,”
Henry suggested. “It sounds fishy to me, too, that she
would not have remained in yesterday morning until she
had had an opportunity to cultivate the chambermaid.
Her type always talks to the servants and that would have
been her first move if she had really wanted information
concerning anybody on that floor. I'll get at the truth
about one thing, though. I am going to make her let me
bandage her hands before she leaves the office again, and
tell me how she burned herself.”
“She's a long time, isn't she? That picture is right out
in plain sight on my desk.” Cliff looked up. “Are you
going to let her back to the Burlingame, Rex”
Before Rex could reply Ethel re-entered with the snap-
shot in her hand.
“This isn't a bit like that lady across the hall from me.”
She caught herself up and added hastily: “What a funny
shaped rock that is sticking out of the hill back of the


272 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
house! It looks like a wolf's head, doesn't it? I saw a
stuffed one, once.”
“By Jove, that's what it is 1" Cliff exclaimed. “It’s
Wolf's Head Rock, up in the Catskills; I thought I'd seen
it before ! That was taken when his daughter was visiting
her old nurse, Sneed said.”
“Ethel, I want you to come into the laboratory and let
me bandage your hands for you.” Henry rose.
“Oh, no, I—it's almost well now, thank you!” Ethel
dropped the picture and put both hands behind her as she
backed away. “I—they don't need to be bandaged any
more.”
“Ethel, you will do as Doctor Corliss wishes!” Rex
ordered peremptorily. “How did you burn yourself, any-
way?”
“It was up in Mr. Sneed's apartment that afternoon you
sent me to look through his daughter's rooms,” Ethel re-
plied with obvious reluctance. “The old manservant had
left a pot boiling over on the kitchen stove and as I passed
through there I stopped to lift it off, and the handle was
hot and some of of the soup that was in the pot spilled
out on me. It's real good of Doctor Corliss but I don't
need any fresh bandages—”
Still protesting, she nevertheless followed the pseudo-
physician into his laboratory, and the panel closed behind
them.
“Do you know, Sneed's hand would be one of the easi-
est to imitate of any I have seen in ages?” Cliff folded the
two wills and placed them, together with the little snap-


THE EMPTY BOX 273
shot, in his pocket. “By Jove! That rascally lawyer
doesn’t know about this second will; what if I were to in-
troduce a still later one and give him his choice of the two
to submit for probate? This is of course in the event that
we locate Sneed's daughter, and no other provision has
been made for her. In a new will I could cut out the
legacies to the servants and to charity, give Hodge just
enough to interest him and bequeath the remainder of the
estate to the daughter, naming some trust company to ad-
minister it for her. It seems a lot like trying to play the
god in the machine, I admit, but what do you say?”
“It is a splendid idea if you can carry it out,” Rex
commended. “However, we must.find the girl first. From
the moment when George rejoins us we will have to
reorganize our whole investigation, won’t we, Phil? You
are still our leader, you know.”
“Well, if I am you can hear me yelling for help right
now !” Phil returned. “We haven't located that accom-
plice yet who had access to the hotel stationery and slipped
the second letter under the door, and we haven't a line on
where Raeburn dropped off the face of the earth—”
“I think I have,” Rex interrupted quietly. “I traced him
to the Pennsylvania Station the night before last and
found where he'd doubled on his tracks. Yesterday after-
noon I did a little further trailing and although I can't
promise anything definite now I honestly think it is worth
following up.”
“Go to it, then " Phil invited. “Henry and you, Luce,


THE EMPTY BOX 275
“‘Flayed l’ But what on earth could she have been
doing to strip the skin from her hands?”
Luce shrugged again.
“Ethel is a plucky little thing and she will probably tell
us in her own good time. She is apparently none the
worse for her experience, whatever it was.-Before you
start out on the trail of Raeburn again, Rex, suppose we
have a look at that dispatch box we brought from Sneed's
safe last night? I don't believe Phil will have much dif-
ficulty in opening it. Where is it, anyway?”
“It's in my study; I’ll get it.” Cliff rose and left the
room, to return bearing the black tin box which he placed
on the table before them.
“There doesn't seem to be anything in it,” he remarked.
“Oh, yes, there is. I distinctly heard some papers rustle
inside it when I took it from the safe.” Rex picked up
the box and shook it as he spoke, and a look of almost
comic amazement spread over his face. “Why, I believe
you are right, but I could have sworn—!”
Phil approached with a slender, highly tempered tool
steel instrument and as he inserted it in the tiny lock he
smiled grimly.
“Somebody has been before us, all right! This lock has
been picked and there are fine scratches all around it!”
“Impossible—!” Rex was beginning and then suddenly
checked himself. Could it have been Ethel? She had been
alone in the room with that box but a few minutes before,
and it was the only time it had been out of his immediate
possession since he removed it from the dead man's safe.


276 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
Every instinct within him cried out against the possibility
but cold logic forced it upon him and in a storm of con-
flicting emotions he heard the lid of the box fall back and
Phil's exclamation:
“Empty!”


CHAPTER XX
“IT WAS NOT I l’”
HE sky was overcast and a chill drizzle of rain had
commenced to fall as a spare, gray-haired man carry-
ing a violin case and a shabby, old-fashioned valise rounded
the corner of a quiet street in a section of the city which
a generation or two ago had been residential. The houses
which faced each other across the broken pavement were
uniform in appearance, each with its yellowing grass-plot
in front and straggling vines of wisteria and ivy clamber-
ing over the wrought-iron balconies and up the faded
brick surface of the walls as though vainly striving to
conceal the evidences of deterioration.
Some of the houses were boarded up but most of them
displayed in a lower front window a card announcing that
rooms were to be let and it was before one of the latter
midway in the block, that the elderly stranger halted for a
moment and then proceeding up the walk he ascended the
steps and rang the bell.
There was a certain air of distinction about him despite
his threadbare attire, and his springing step belied the age
to which his silvery hair attested, but his voice was
tremulous and scarcely above a whisper as he addressed
the slatternly maid who at length opened the door.
“I have come to take the room—the room on the top
277


278 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
floor which I saw yesterday. Is Mrs. Connelly at home?”
“No, but it's all right. You can go up; I've got it fixed
ready against your coming.” The woman had admitted
him to the hall but stood blocking the staircase with her
angular figure and, comprehending, the newcomer put
down the violin case and valise and reached for a thin,
worn wallet. From it he extracted two bills which he
handed to her, together with a quarter which he produced
from another pocket.
“Here is the rent for a week and a little change for you
for your trouble.” He spoke with old-fashioned courtesy
and the woman stared. “I am sure I shall be quite com-
fortable.”
“Thanks, sir.” She stepped aside as he picked up his
meager baggage once more and added: “The missus said
I was to remind you that there wasn't to be no fid—playin'
after ten at night and the gas in your room works on a
meter.”
“I shall remember,” he replied. “You need not bother
to come all the way up these stairs; I know the way.”
The woman stared open-mouthed until he had rounded
the landing on the second floor, then shaking her head she
returned to her kitchen while he proceeded to the top floor.
Entering the hall room at the back he carefully closed and
locked the door behind him and depositing his burden on
the narrow bed he took careful stock of his surroundings.
In addition to the bed, the room contained merely a rickety
chair and bureau upon which stood a cracked pitcher and
bowl, with a row of hooks beneath a shelf from which a


“IT WAS NOT I” 279
greasy, chintz curtain hung. Its single window looked out
upon a dreary expanse of back yards with their inevitable
litter of refuse and network of clothes-lines and as he
opened it a sharp, autumnal swirl of wind drove a spatter
of rain in upon him. A narrow iron balcony ran from his
window to the two in the larger room which took up the
remaining space across the rear of the house and from an
opening in the center a rusty ladder was suspended to the
fire-escape below.
Drawing from his coat pocket a flat, oblong mirror, not
unlike a traveller's shaving glass, the elderly man crept out
on the window sill with infinite caution and keeping close
to the wall he advanced a step or two toward the other
windows. There he halted and reaching forward he thrust
the mirror quickly into the iron scroll-work which topped
the balcony rail in a position whence it reflected a partial
view of the interior of the room next his.
A quick, virile step sounded within and the elderly man
drew back, closing the window and pulling down the
tattered shade. Next he dropped a coin in the meter by
the door, lighted the flaring gas jet and opened the violin
case. The instrument he took from it was thicker than
the ordinary violin and the sound holes, instead of being
the familiar 's' shape, were round, displaying an arrange-
ment of some mechanical contrivance inside; but the
strings twanged resonantly as he thrummed and tight-
ened the pegs, and gave forth clear iſ slightly tremulous
tones when he drew the bow across them.
Resting the instrument upright against the bed's foot he


280 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
turned a small, extra peg half concealed in the scroll and
instantly there stole out upon the air the plaintive, melo-
dious strains of an old-fashioned love song. The vibrations
and tonal quality were as true as though a living hand were
wielding the bow, and the footsteps in the next room
ceased abruptly.
After listening for a moment the elderly man nodded
as though satisfied and turned to his valise. From it he
took first a screw driver, a light hammer with a padded
head, an auger and some nails. These he laid upon the
bureau top and then produced a second mirror, oval and
with a jointed metal arm, and lastly a funnel-shaped object
like a small megaphone. Under cover of the wailing, long-
drawn notes of the violin he affixed the mirror to the
window casing with soft strokes of the hammer in such
a manner that the arm could be turned to bring the mirror
to any desired angle. Then thrusting aside the curtain
beneath the shelf he cautiously commenced to bore with
the auger in the thin wall which separated his room from
the next. When he had made a hole sufficiently large he
inserted the mouthpiece of the megaphone-like instrument
and dropping the curtain he switched off the music of the
violin, turned out the gas and raised the window shade
Once Inore.
With the cessation of the melody the footsteps in the
next room recommenced once more, sounding with start-
ling clearness through the instrument which the new ar-
rival had installed in the wall, but he seemed oblivious to
them as he stood patiently turning the mirror this way and


“IT WAS NOT I” 283
Slower, heavier footsteps were mounting and in the door-
way appeared an elderly figure clad in respectable black.
His frame was massive despite the bent shoulders and his
features rugged and clean-cut, but his eyes were burning
with feverish brightness and the straight lips were pressed
so tightly together that they trembled.
“Shut the door, Albert, and sit down.” The young man
spoke peremptorily, but his tone had softened as though
with affection. “What news have you brought? You are
late.”
“I know. I couldn't manage to come before.” The
visitor's voice was low and deep as the maid had said, and
if he had added “sir” to his reply it could not have been
more unmistakably deferential, albeit he spoke with a cer-
tain reserve as he seated himself in the armchair. “He
has gone.”
“Gone!” the young man exclaimed sharply. “How do
you know?”
“They're saying about the hotel that he is making a
trip out West, but he was there yesterday morning, and
all day the shades were up at the windows.” There was a
significant note in the last words and the other said im-
patiently:
“I know that! I was watching.—But why didn't you
meet me last night? I found a message saying that you
would come here this morning when I got back after wait-
ing till nearly midnight. You're keeping something back
from me! What is it?”


284 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
“There were some strange men there last evening; the
same ones the manservant brought on Saturday.” |
“I’ve got their number; they're private detectives but
we have nothing to fear from them!” The young man
spoke with quick contempt. “Go on!”
“The proprietor was with them on the top floor for an
hour, and he's not been himself since. I saw him after
he'd left them and again this morning and he looked as
though he were seeing ghosts. That's—that's not all; the
manservant was found dead in his bed this morning.”
“‘Dead!’” repeated the young man, and his reflected
face stared from the mirror next door into that of the man
who watched like a mask of blank horror. “Dead! Did
you see the body?”
“No. I could not get in. The house physician said it
was heart disease and I understand the body has been
removed to an undertaking establishment. I shall inquire
the address and go to see for myself.”
“Why? What do you want to look at him for?” The
question was blurted out as though without the young
man's conscious volition and the visitor raised his head, for
the first time staring the other down.
“Because I want to be sure that it is the servant and |
not the master,” he responded in low but firm tones.
“There were two there yesterday; now one is dead and one
has gone, but which is which? No one appears to know
but the proprietor.”
“Nonsense!” The young man thrust his hands deep in
his pockets and turned to pace up and down once more
––


“IT WAS NOT I” 285
but there was a manifest uneasiness in his tone. “Why
would the proprietor stoop to such a purposeless deception?
There's the house physician, too; he must have identified
the body and he wouldn't be issuing any false death cer-
tificates! What would be the good?”
“It would save the hotel from notoriety that would ruin
it in—in case there had been foul play.”
“So that is what you have been getting at l” He laughed
in a short, ugly fashion. “You’re afraid we've been
cheated, eh? God knows there is no one on earth who has
greater cause to wish harm to that old wretch than I and
yet his death would be the hardest blow that could fall on
me now.”
“Maybe it wouldn't be; maybe it would bring to light
things that couldn't be found out while he was alive to
prevent it.” The old man was bending forward in his
chair with his huge rheumatic hands clutching his knees.
“You know what he has done to you but how do you know
that he mightn't have done as bad or worse to someone
else? How do you know there mightn't be others who had
cause to hate him enough to kill him?”
“Look here, do you know anything that you haven't told
me?” The young man had wheeled suddenly upon his
companion. “Do you know there has been foul play and
that it is—f"
“Not likely!” The visitor sank back in his chair and a
little of the burning intensity faded from his eyes. “It
was just an idea that came to me. It seems a bit queer,


286 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
the manservant dying like that, and as for the other one
going away—”
“Running away, you mean Again there came that
bitter, contemptuous laugh. “I suppose that is what those
counsellors he has called in have advised him to do; give
the signal to gain time and then beat it!—Well it only
means hitting the trail again till I find him and this time
there'll be no half measures! I'll get the truth out of
him if I have to wring his scrawny old neck!”
The visitor bent sidewise to pick up his hat which he
had deposited on the floor and when he straightened and
looked up at his companion once more he shook his head
doubtfully.
“How will you go about it? Besides, he may come back.
I know it's hard, but wouldn't it be best to wait until we
see what happens here? Maybe I can get into those rooms
of his now that they are empty and let you in to look
about—”
“Wait! That is all that I have done for weeks and
months and years!” The young man raised his clenched
hands above his head. Then they fell helplessly at his
sides and he added in a dull, spiritless tone. “But you're
right; I haven't a starting point now. I should have
stopped to think of the possibility that he might run away
but when I discovered that he had anticipated a certain
move of mine, even though he did not know that I con-
templated it, I saw red 1 I suppose there is nothing that I
can do now except to lie low and wait until he returns, as
11,
-


“IT WAS NOT I” 289
death was a natural one and the diagnosis of heart disease
was correct. Phineas Sneed was murdered l’”
“Murdered " Raeburn found his voice in a strangling
gasp. “It was not Iſ” -
“I know that it was not,” Rex returned quietly. “Our
purpose is at one with yours now, Mr. Raeburn. Shall we
sit down and try to understand each other?”


ETHEL TAKES A VACATION 291
know, whoever he isl" Cliff retorted. “What Rex said
about self-defense is on the level and we'd all have to tes-
tify to the evidence that a duel had taken place. You're
running this show and I should think you would take a
sort of pride in carrying on to the finish.”
“I’m going to find out who croaked Sneed, all right, if
I can do it without dirty work, but if I can't I'm willing to
quit!” Phil's eyes were ominously bright and he was about
to amplify his remarks when the panel behind him opened
and George appeared.
“What are you two arguing about?” he asked, dropping
his damp hat uncermoniously on Cliff's scattered papers
and depositing his lanky frame in the nearest chair. “Lord,
but I have had a day of it!”
“Did you get away with the formalities safely? Was
the death certificate accepted without question?” demanded
Cliff anxiously.
“Absolutely. Tomorrow I shall remove my poor uncle's
remains from the undertaker's to their last resting place.
I don't mind telling you though, my brethren, that I had
some squeamish moments!” George passed a capacious
handkerchief over his face and emerged from it to ask
suddenly: “But what is on the mind of our honorary
member? I see she is at her desk again in the outer office,
but she looks as though she had been caught in somebody's
jam closet and the stolen sweets had not agreed with her.”
“You remember the despatch box we took from Sneed's
safe last night?” Cliff spoke in a cautious understone.
“She is the only one of us who was alone with it for a


292 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
minute, and immediately afterward we discovered that its
lock had been picked and the contents taken. Added to
that she lied about the injury to her hands and a few other
little details of her stay at the Burlingame. She doesn’t
know yet that we are on about the despatch box but Rex
is going to have it out with her and if she refuses to come
clean and tell us why she has tried to double-cross us the
Shadowers will be looking about for another secretary.
She's a nice kid and I warned Rex that she was too young
and impressionable to take into our confidence, but he
wouldn’t listen.”
“Too bad!” George shook his head. “She might have
made mistakes but I would have banked on her loyalty!—
Where is Rex, anyway?”
“He’s been out since morning on some trail he picked
up yesterday, that he thinks may lead to Raeburn, and
Henry and Luce are back at the hotel in their former roles
to see if they can get any clue to Sneed's daughter. Phil
has still got the Gull's prison number on the brain and I am
practicing our late client's handwriting.” Cliff moved the
rain-spattered hat ostentatiously as he spoke. “Ridgeway
has been literally hanging on the telephone all day to learn
if he is safely out of the woods, and I might conclude that
altogether a pleasant time has been had by all!”
“Somehow, I can't believe that Ethel has turned
crooked!” Phil ignored Cliff's flippancy. “Whatever she
thinks of the rest of us, Rex is a sort of god in her eyes
and she wouldn't sell him out for all the money in the
world!”


ETHEL TAKES A VACATION 293
“I don't say that she would sell any of us out but she's
an obstinate little—!” Cliff broke off to add in a hasty
whisper: “There's someone in Rex's consulting room
Do you suppose Luce or Henry—?”
He had no time to complete the query for a light tap
sounded on the panel and the next moment it was pushed
aside to reveal Rex himself.
“I hoped you had returned, George!” There was a note
of repressed excitement in his tones. “Come in, all three
of you. I want to present to you our new client!”
Phil and George crowded unceremoniously through the
narrow space and Cliff followed in a more dignified man-
ner, but at sight of the figure standing by the table the
trio halted in common amazement.
“Raeburn'" Phil exclaimed when he could find his
voice.
“Did you say ‘client’?” Cliff turned with slightly raised
eyebrows to Rex, but George smiled broadly.
“So you have decided to take the advice of the great
Zadkiel?”
“I have been persuaded.” Their erstwhile neighbor
from across the corridor bowed gravely. “Gentlemen, I
am in your hands. Had I consulted you when I first
learned that your organization existed much that has hap-
pened in the last few days might have been averted, but
I have lived through an experience which taught me to
trust no one.”
“I gathered that from your admissions to Zadkiel—”
George began but Phil interrupted him.


ETHEL TAKES A VACATION 295
you or our organization being successful in our search for
Miss Sneed, but co-operating we cannot fail!”
He had unconsciously called into play all the power of
mental suggestion which in the past had rendered his
seances so popular, fraudulent though their aim then had
been, and his resonant voice rang with a sure conviction.
Raeburn's haggard face lightened as he seated himself,
then he shook his head.
“I’m afraid I can tell you little of the past two weeks
that you do not know already, and nothing which has any
bearing on Miss Sneed's escape. I dictated the anonymous
letters; I confess that freely, and a friend of mine wrote
them. This friend is located temporarily at the Bur-
lingame, as you have surmised, but further than that I shall
give you no information concerning him until I have seen
and talked with him. He has acted throughout solely in
my interests, with a loyalty which two years ago I would
not have believed a human being capable of !” He paused
and then added hesitatingly: “You have heard Sneed's
story; perhaps it would be as well for you to hear mine.”
“We know much of it now, for we were able to read
between the lines while we were listening to Sneed, even
before we knew that you were on the level,” George re-
marked. “I believe you met Miss Sneed at a house party
in England while she was visiting a school friend during
vacation?”
“Yes.” Raeburn flushed. “A man doesn't find it easy
to bear his innermost thoughts and emotions to others,
but I loved Eva Sneed almost at first sight, I think, and


296 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
she cared for me. I know that, and nothing, not even
these years of separation and mental anguish could have
changed her! That faith is all that has kept me from
going mad myself! I had met her father previously here
in New York through a financial deal, and although I
liked neither his business methods nor his personality I
did not dream what a treacherous, despicable creature he
was at heart, nor the depths of depravity of which he was
capable! I wrote to him, asking permission to marry his
daughter. I was in a financial position to take care of
her in comfort and even some luxury, with big promises
ahead. Sneed replied in a noncommittal but cordially
pleasant manner and followed by the next steamer.
“For a month or two he temporized; Eva was too young,
a mere schoolgirl, and my future was not yet firmly enough
established for me to assume responsibilities; we could
both afford to wait for awhile and be sure of our own
minds. It sounded reasonable and he interposed no ob-
jection to our seeing as much of each other as we wished,
but instead threw his home open to me and made me a
favored guest. Gad, what a credulous, trusting fool I
was 1” He struck his palm with his clenched fist. “My
liking for the man did not increase, but the thought never
once occurred to me that he could be secretly working
against me, bringing all his wealth and influence to bear on
ruining me! Even when my prospects mysteriously failed
and my small capital was swept away I did not suspect
that he was at the bottom of it! His sympathy was so
ready, his suggestions for the future so soundly based 1


ETHEL TAKES A VACATION 299
strength failed and a fresh attack laid me low for months.
I made my way back to England at last and so few people
even recognized me that I was able to make inquiries about
Sneed and his daughter without arousing undue suspicion.
He had taken her back to America with him; that was all
I was able to learn for a long time and then another victim
of Sneed's duplicity crossed my path. He was a physician,
once reputable but now a hopeless drunkard and from him
I dragged the truth that Eva had never been insane, but
he had been bribed with the unfulfilled promise of a sani-
tarium of his own, to make the way smooth for her to be
adjudged incompetent! In an unguarded moment Sneed
had told him that if ever a certain undesirable lover of his
daughter reappeared on the scene to claim her openly he
would crush him again as he had once before and place
her in an asylum from which she could never be taken I
“You see now, gentlemen, how my hands were tied and
why I could not openly go to the authorities and demand
her release. I could not prove her sanity. I was still a
mere penniless adventurer while he was a man who had
been prominent in the financial life of the country for a
generation. I returned to America but did not reveal my-
self to him, for an erroneous report of my death had gone
out from Africa and I preferred to have him believe it
until I could strike.
“Then luck came my way at last; this Western propo-
sition loomed on the horizon and I got in on the ground
floor. In a few months I was rich even for these times of
colossal fortunes and two weeks ago I came back de-


300 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
termined at last to claim my own. While out West I had
made a firm friend in whom I was forced to believe in
spite of my past experience. I had confided in him to a
certain extent and he returned a few weeks ahead of me.
He installed himself where Sneed lived—it was easy
enough to locate him—and the first of the anonymous
letters was sent.
“In the meantime I had heard of your organization and
almost decided to put myself in your hands but the demon
of distrust which Sneed's damnable persecution had planted
in my consciousness held me back and I took that office
across the hall so that I could watch you and try to satisfy
myself that you were on the level.”
“You had nothing to do with the attempt made a week
ago last Sunday to break into Sneed's safe?” Phil could
contain himself no longer.
“I did not even know that he possessed such a safe
until your colleague here told me about it an hour ago,”
Raeburn responded. “I obtained as complete a list as I
could of the private establishments for the insane in and
near the city and made the rounds in the intervals when
I was not spying upon you, but I was not as diplomatic in
my inquiries as I should have been, I am afraid, and I
could obtain no information. I trailed this gentleman—”
Raeburn gestured toward Phil, “but the result only
tended to increase my doubt and distrust. The next day
I followed you, sir, to Coney Island.”
“I know it but you didn't bite until Monday, and by
that time we knew that you were taking a personal interest


ETHEL TAKES A VACATION 303
and Phil can then be deciding on our next move to find
Miss Sneed.”
Raeburn rose.
“I’ll be glad to tell you anything I can, of course, and
I appreciate how you gentlemen have accepted my version
of this whole hideous affair. I confess that this latest
development has swept the ground completely from be-
neath my feet and if it were not for my newfound con-
fidence in you I should feel that Eva Sneed were lost to
me forever!”
He followed Cliff into the latter’s office and when the
panel had slipped back securely into place Phil cried in a
low tone which trembled with excitement:
“Who is this friend of his That is what we've got to
find out, and we've got to prevent his communicating with
him until we do!”
“That's it, exactly,” Rex replied. “I not only Heard that
conversation; I had the next room to Raeburn's and I
rigged up a contrivance of mirrors which enabled me to
see what was going on in there. When I see that friend
of his again I shall know him.”
“It is my opinion that you won't have to look far!”
George observed. “I will go to the Burlingame with you
now, and with the help of Luce or Henry we ought to be
able to satisfy ourselves as to the identity of Raeburn's
friend. I have a plan which I would like to put in opera-
tion then, and I think it will simplify one phase of our
investigation.”
“What was that?” Phil started as a subdued thud came


304 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
to their ears. “It sounded like the entrance door slam-
ming!—Raeburn couldn't have gotten suspicious of our
good faith and beaten it, could he?”
Without reply Rex strode to the panel leading to the
outer office and thrust it aside. Ethel's chair was empty
but placed conspicuously upon her desk was a large en-
velope addressed to himself in a rounded, childishly un-
formed hand.
Taking it up he returned with it to the consulting room
and broke the seal. George and Phil watched his face
darken as he read and finally he crumpled the letter in his
hand with a gesture of utter despondency.
“Ethel has left us.” There was infinite pain in his
voice. “Perhaps I should use her own words and say that
she has given herself a vacation without pay for an in-
definite period. I had better read the letter to you.” He
smoothed it our and read:
“‘Dear Mr. Powell:
I heard what Mr. Nichols and Mr. Howe
told Mr. Roper just now. I could not help it because
they left that little spring under the desk open so that
every word came out to me and I just could not stand
it. I know you think I am crooked and yellow and
that I have double-crossed you, and you are going to
send me away if I don't tell you why I took the papers
out of that tin bor. I can't tell you, not now, and I
am not going to wait to be sent away. I have taken a
vacation without pay and I don't know when I will be
back. It just kills me to have you think what you do


ETHEL TAKES A VACATION 305
of me and when I can prove to you different maybe I
will ask you to give me my job again. I thought I
acted right but I made a mistake and you won't hear
from me till I have made up for it. Thank you for
all you have done for me.
ETHEL.’”


THE DEBT THAT WAS PAID 307
minably every minute drags itself out? Any action would
be better than this!”
George moved slightly in his chair. A sound, faint but
but unmistakable, had reached him and he replied in a
loud, firm tone:
“That was where you made a mistake, Mr. Raeburn.
You should have thought of that before you allowed your
passion to run away with you!”
“My passion " The other stared. “What on earth are
you talking about? What do you mean?”
“I mean that you should have remembered your sole
hope of locating the girl was through her father, and when
you killed him—!”
“‘I killed him l’” Raeburn started from his chair.
“Have you gone mad, Roper? You know I had nothing
to do with his death, that it was the most unfortunate thing
which could have happened at this stage of the game!
What are you driving at?”
“The truth!” George rose suddenly and towered over
the other man. “There is no use in beating about the bush
any longer. We know that you killed Sneed; we have
known it from the first and only waited to make sure. I
don't say that we have not a certain amount of sympathy
for you, from your point of view, but unfortunately the
law deals only with facts and murder is a pretty ugly fact
to face. You watched Sneed's windows yesterday, you
saw the shades were up and that he was ready to parley
with you at last. You bribed his old servant to let you in
to his apartment, you faced Sneed and demanded what


308 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
he had so fraudulently kept from you all these years. He
defied you, he laughed at you and in a moment of un-
governable fury you snatched a foil from the brace upon
the wall and ran him through the throat! When you saw
what you had done you took down the other foil and
slipped it beneath his dying hand so as to make it appear
that a sort of duel had taken place and you escaped, as
you thought, scot free, but we have the goods on you now
and you'll go to the chair!”
His voice had risen more and more dramatically and he
fairly thundered the denunciation, before which Raeburn
stood for a moment dazed and silent. Then he found his
voice.
“You are a contemptible lot of fakers!” he cried. “I
can understand your game, now, and I was a crass idiot to
fall for you after all I had seen! You are determined to
make out a case against someone and you don't care who
is the goat! You know I never entered Sneed's rooms in
my life—!”
“Can you prove it?” George sneered. “What is your
alibiP Stranger in the city—walking the streets alone for
hours—don't even know what streets—! Pah! How do
you think that would go before any jury? We've got an
open-and-shut case against you, I tell you! You're the
only enemy Sneed had, the only person who had—or
thought he had—cause to kill him, and you'll go the route
for it!”
“No!” A deep but muffled cry came from somewhere
in the partition beside them and the next moment the


THE DEBT THAT WAS PAID 309
panel was crashed from its groove and a figure sprang
through the aperture. It was that of an elderly man clad
in the conventional dress clothes of formal service, massive
depite his bent shoulders, and he flung out his huge,
gnarled hands before him. “Mr. Raeburn didn't kill
Sneed! I killed him! I had waited too long to be cheated
at last!”
“Albert!” gasped Raeburn and fell back again in his
chair. The five other members of the Shadowers were
filing through the panel space with Phil at their head and
it was he who demanded in a ringing tone:
“What were you to the Gull? To Arthur Wicks?”
“His father!” The old man's hands fell to his side and
for a moment he bowed his head. Then he raised it de-
fiantly and his rugged, clean-cut features took on a rapt
look of yearning affection. “His real name was Albert,
after me; Albert Waller. He was all that I had in this
world and a genius, they said. He would have done great
things, but that man—this beast!—got his invention from
him and then railroaded him to prison, to his death, so
that he might not give to anyone else the fruit of his
brain l’”
“But, Albert, I never knew l” Raeburn's tone was
husky. “Why did you not tell me? I thought that you
and Sneed were strangers—?”
“So we were, sir! You've warned me not to call you
that, but it can't matter now. I never laid eyes on him
till I went to the Burlingame as a waiter a month ago! I
was in England, butler to Lord Granby, when my boy was


310 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
arrested and he was too proud to let me know. I found
out afterwards that he wrote a lot of letters, dating them
ahead, and gave them to–to someone he could trust to mail
them to me, and all the while he was lying innocent in
prison, with the damp and loneliness and injustice of it
eating his life away, these letters would come telling me
how fine he was doing and how he hoped to have me with
him some day! Two years ago there came word that he
was going on a journey, and then nothing more. A bit
over a year ago his Lordship died and there were many
changes, the house being let to them I couldn't abide, so I
gave notice and came to America to surprise my boy. But
there wasn't any such place as the address he had given,
and the only way I knew of to find him was through some-
body he had mentioned in his letters. That—that person
tried to keep the truth from me, but my boy was dead and
I soon learned it for myself.
“It didn't come to me then to take the life of the man
who had killed my boy as surely as though he had put a
bullet through him. I was just crushed with the weight
of it all, for he seemed too big and powerful for me to
touch and there didn't seem to be anything left for me to
do but to die and be with my boy! I should have, I fancy,
but one day by accident I met one of Lord Granby's old
friends, a gentleman who had come to America and was
on his way to the West to look into some mining interests,
and he took me along as butler and general valet for his
party. I was taken ill out there, though, and they had to
return without me, and then someone stole my money


312 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
face to face with Sneed in the hotel the whispers that I’d
heard to kill him had kept getting louder and louder till
I couldn't hardly hear anything else. He'd never give
up his daughter to you while there was life in him, but as
I told you this morning in your lodgings, maybe his death
would bring out things that would never be known while
he was alive to prevent it. I meant that the solicitors would
have to produce his daughter, sir, or at least tell where she
was.” Albert Waller seemed to have forgotten the ex-
istence of the others who were grouped about him and
talked only to Raeburn, as though anxious to explain his
point of view to the man who had been his benefactor, and
the Shadowers wisely held their peace. “I meant that
last night should end it, and I planned that when I went
up with the menu for his dinner order I would kill him,
and old Robert, too, if he tried to stand in my path. But
luck was with me, for an hour before dinner I saw Robert
leave the hotel and knew that Sneed would be alone in his
rooms for the first time and my chance had come. When
I rang the bell he came down and opened his private door
himself and I pretended I had a message for him. He
took me back up into his livingroom, me with my serviette
draped over my arm and my pistol held beneath it! It was
only when I looked at all those swords and knives hung
on the wall, though I'd been seeing them every day for
weeks, that the idea came to me to make him fight for it.
Boy and man, I'd fenced with his Lordship for forty
years and more, and for all his wickedness, Sneed looked


THE DEBT THAT WAS PAID 313
such a puny, weazened creature standing there before me
that it seemed a bit more like fair play.
“I told him who I was and what I’d come for, and he
began running around the room and squealing like a rat
caught in a trap till I was all but sick with disgust at the
sight! Keeping him covered with my pistol I got down
those foils from the wall and thrust one of them into his
hand. He saw then that there was no escape and he came
at me with a rush while I was pocketing the pistol but I
parried and the bout was on. For all his years he was as
light and quick on his feet as a cat, and then he was fight-
ing for his life and knew it, but I had the science over him
even though I was crippled with rheumatism. There
wasn't a doubt of the outcome, not from the start, but I
played with him for a bit because just behind him as he
danced about, sobbing and lunging at me, I could see my boy
smiling and nodding as if 'twas a rare game we were play-
ing, that other old man and me!”
He paused to wipe the perspiration from his brow and
Luce and Cliff shuddered as Raeburn did at the grim,
fantastic picture conjured up by Albert Waller's simple
recital.
“'Twas soon over and I got him in the throat with the
tip of my foil; a pretty stroke, and clean, if I do say it!
I threw the blade from me and stood watching until he'd
stopped wriggling and squirming, and all the while I could
hear Albert calling out to me: “Well played, Dad!', as
he used to when he was just a little shaver.”
The old man reeled slightly, reaching out for support,


THE DEBT THAT WAS PAID 317
shaken and his fierce old eyes dimmed. “I cannot thank-
I cannot say—l”
“You needn't try!” Phil cried gruffly. “You put a foil
in that guy's hand and gave him a chance for his life,
didn't you? I'm damned if it isn't more than I would
have done in your place!”
“Good-by, Albert. You'll hear from me, too, in the
morning.” Impulsively Raeburn extended his hand. “Per-
haps you have saved me from myself! Who knows 7"
The old man looked into his eyes for a moment, then
grasped his hand in silence. In silence, too, he bowed to
the Shadowers and turned to the door.


ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR 319
broad daylight in the heart of the city! What is the
answer?”
“Obviously, that your premises are wrong somewhere,
my dear fellow,” Luce drawled. “Miss Sneed must have
had money and a change of attire, she must have had help
from some source. These are not the days of magic,
though I will admit that her escape from her father's
apartment would alone savor of that art. She is in hiding
with the connivance of someone, we may depend upon that,
and it is my opinion that only with the announcement of
Sneed's death will she come forward, if—?”
He halted abruptly, leaving his sentence unfinished, but
Raeburn understood.
“If she is really sane, you were going to say, weren't
you, Mr. Baynes?” he asked. “I know that you are none
of you quite prepared to credit that part of my story and
I have no means at hand to prove it to you but I am firmly
convinced that it is a fact. One would think that Sneed
must have been mad himself to have allowed his unfounded
hatred of me to carry him to such lengths merely in order
to prevent my marriage to his daughter, when so many
other parents have broken up affairs between their chil-
dren and unwelcome suitors without resorting to medieval
methods. Eva had a very gentle character, but with the
strength of will which sometimes underlies an apparently
yielding disposition, and if her mind has become affected
during these last five years she must have been subjected
to unspeakable torture! Mr. Powell's summing up of the
situation is correct as far as we know and yet Mr. Baynes'


324 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
r
on you about not being Sneed's daughter at all, if she
hadn't these papers to prove it?”
Henry was silent, but Raeburn cried out once more:
“For God's sake, if you know where she is now, take
me to her! I can't stand this suspense much longer! If
you have found her again, tell me!”
“I am telling you all I can, sir,” Ethel replied meekly.
“I found her last week in the linen room at the hotel, right
near that private entrance to Sneed's apartment. That
was Tuesday afternoon and she had been hiding there for
more than twenty-four hours, without any food or any-
thing! At first I was going to call Uncle—Doctor Corliss,
but she begged so hard for me to just listen to her that I
couldn't refuse. I smuggled her into my room and ordered
up tea for her and everything else on the bill-of-fare,
hiding her in the closet when the waiter came. Then she
told me about—about Mr. Raeburn, and what she'd been
through for five years, and I tell you I wouldn't have given
her up to Mr. Sneed again if I had had to kill him myself
to prevent it!
“I kept her there in my room and gave her some things
of mine to wear, so that if anyone should catch a glimpse
of her they would think maybe it was me, and I hid her
in the closet again and sent for the chambermaid. She is
a nice girl even if she ain't—isn't over-bright, and I asked
her if she could get a position in the hotel for a maid who
used to work for me. You see, it came to me that the best
place I could hide the young lady would be right there in


330 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
but a streak of white ran across her dark, wavy hair from
temple to crown and her eyes were shadowed with the
memory of infinite pain as she held her wasted arms out
before her.
“Gerald ! I knew that you would come to me some day
like this!”
As a man in a dream Raeburn moved toward her and
then with a great cry he caught her in his arms.
“Eva!—Eva, my own!”


CHAPTER XXIV
THE REWARD OF A DOUBLE CROSS
66 HAT I want to know is: how did you do it!”
There was respectful admiration in Phil's tones
as he gazed at Ethel, who, forgiven and reinstated, sat with
the six Shadowers gathered about her in the consulting
room the afternoon of the next day. “I was supposed to be
handling this case but you have taken the wind out of
my sails!”
Ethel dimpled.
“Well, I was looking for some way into that dumbwaiter
shaft, you see,” she explained. “It had to be in that side
of the closet wall that backed up against it so I opened the
door, but I couldn't see any sign of a crack. Then I looked
at the floor and I saw that there was a little square of
lighter wood set in toward the back and I tried to pry it
loose. When I couldn't, I stood on it just as hard as I
could, and I had the surprise of my life, for the whole two
walls which met in a sort of point at the back seemed to
just fold over and the lower part slid under the upper one
leaving a space at each side. In one of them I noticed what
looked like the back of a safe but the other opened as I
thought into the dumbwaiter shaft and I found that the
dumbwaiter itself was up over my head. I didn't stop to
331


334 ETHEL OPENS THE DOOR
ground going up all around like the side of a wall! I
didn't start till Friday morning and it was afternoon when
I got there. Nobody had ever heard of Wolf's Head Rock,
so I stayed that night at a kind of a boarding-house and
the next day I got on the train again and rode to another
place. I don't remember the name of it but there was a
big waterfall there, and they told me that Wolf's Head
Rock was eleven miles back over the mountains. If you
count the straight up and down part I’ll say it was nearer
eleven hundred' I found a man with a team of horses
whose legs bowed out in front to take me there, and then
I had to hunt out that house with the windmill. It's all
tumbled down now, with weeds growing up all around and
the windows broken, but there was Miss Adair fast asleep
on the back doorstep !
“It seems she'd got there by another way the day before,
and finding her old nurse gone and the place deserted, had
just dropped in her tracks! If I was Mr. Raeburn I'd tie
a lunchbox to her whenever she goes out, for she's got
the worst habit of hiding herself away where there's no
food of anybody I ever saw I took her back with me
to the place with the waterfall but she was too weak to
travel that night so we had to stay there until yesterday
morning.—Now what I want to know is: who fixed the
wall of the closet in Sneed's apartment like that?”
“The man who built the safe for him,” responded Phil
soberly. “I motored out into the country a little way this
morning to have another talk with some friends of mine
there who used to know him. He told a certain lady just


THE REWARD OF A DOUBLE CROSS 335
a short time before he died about installing that mechanism
in the two walls of the closet so as to provide a way of
getting in and out by means of the dumbwaiter shaft, so
I am afraid he was a little deeper in with a crooked crowd
than his father will ever know. He must have planned to
come back and rob the safe, thinking naturally that Sneed
meant to keep something of great value there if he went to
all that trouble and expense to guard it, but Sneed had
him sent away before he could put his plan into execution.”
“And all the time the only thing he wanted to keep in
there where nobody could ever find it was that box of
papers!” Ethel commented. “I wonder why he didn't tear
them up or burn them and have done with it!”
“Possibily because he thought he might need them some
day to prove the ownership of his ward's property,” Rex
suggested. “His will was in the safe, too, you know.”
“Yes.” Cliff coughed warningly. “I—I have it here.
It leaves a hundred thousand dollars to his attorney Ells-
worth Hodge and all the rest to his ward, Miss Adair.”
“Gee, I wouldn't have believed it after the way he
treated her l’’ Ethel's forehead wrinkled. “How is the
lawyer going to put it through all the red tape when he
doesn't even know that Sneed is dead?”
“But he is,” George said reassuringly. “A steamer on
Lake Michigan, outward bound from Chicago, was
wrecked yesterday with all on board, as you can read in
this morning's newspapers, and Sneed was a passenger.
It will take a little time and trouble to verify the fact that
he was, of course, but an attorney won't find it difficult,