MURDER By An
ARISTOCRAT
Mignon
O.
Eberhart
Thai day, which was Thurs
day, July 7, I spent in his
room or cut on the small bal
cony. He slept most of the
day, and I watched the vari
ous comings and goings of the
household and thought of his
incredible suggestion —state
ment, in fact—that someone
iti the family had tried to
murder him. I decided against
ft. It was true that the acci
dent had certain peculiar as
pects, but none of them wa:
exactly convincing. It occur
red to me, too, that it was a
little odd that Hilary hud not
asked a single question about
the accident; he had not
asked how it happened, or
when it happened, or with
what revolver, or didn’t Bay
ard know it was loaded, or
made any of the obvious com
ment1:. Hut Miss Adel a nod al
ready told him of the affair
and, at any rate, it was a tri
via! matter
The small balcony over
looked the rose gardens and
part of the lawn and as I
lounged in the lo''c> steamer
chair with which it was
equipped I caught various
glimpses of the household. A
trellis ran up to the balcony,
And the vines were laden
with roses, and the whole
place was almost unbearably
fragrant. To this day when I
smell sun-warmed roses I
think of the Thatcher case—
which is, when I come to
think of it, i»- rather strange
anomaly.
Janice, slim and very love
ly in pale green dimity with
the sunlight on her warm dark
hair, worked in the garden
for some time, digging around
the tall gladioluses, which
were beginning to bloom,
with competent, ungloved
hands and directing, with a
certain cool efficiency which
I liked, a man who appeared
to be a sort of gardener and
handy-man and whose name
I later found was Higby Once
Adela, followed by an old and
too well fed bird dog, joined
lus1 ''md the two talked for
SC5P2 tost: in what I thought
was i agitated man
ner.
And once during the morn
ing the yellow roadster again
sped up tbe drive. There were
two occupants this time, a
woman whom I surmised to
be the Evelyn I hud heard
mentioned, Hilary’s wife, and
* young man They too talked
to Janice for some time, and
I had an opportunity to ob
serve them lengthily, if not
very closely. Evelyn was a tall,
remarkably handsome wom
An of around 40, with smooth
gold hair done in a simple
knot on her neck, a brown
face, a fine profile, and eyes
that I found later were very
dark blue. She too had a look
of race; the well poised sim
plicity of manner, innately
dignified yet simple and gra
cious and direct, which char
acterized the other Thatcher
women. I found myself em
ploying that ill-used and out
dated aristocrat again; it was
the only word to describe the
Thatchers.
Tire young man who accom
panied her and who lingered
to talk to Janice when Evelyn
Thatcher went into the house,
bore such a striking resem
blance to Evelyn that I
thought at first he might be
her son. As I looked closer,
however, I saw that he was
too old for that, and came to
what was also a correct con
clusion, that he was her
brother. Later I knew his
name was Allen—Allen Carick
—and that he was on a visit
in the Hilary Thatcher house
hold up on the hill. If I had
guessed what an important
part he was to play in the
strange and terrible drama
that was even then, unknown
to me, unfolding, I would have
paid more attention to him.
As it was I only noted him
casually, although it did strike
me that once when Janice
Traffic Officer Granted
2-Year Leave of Absence
Lynn. Mas;.—(UP)—Traffic Offi
cer Cornelius P. Donovan has been
pentad a two-year leave of ab
sence from the Lyn.: police force,
following his election to the Mass
achusetts House of Representa
tives.
In addition to being a meniDer
the bar, Donovan is an accom
plished trumpet playe.r, amateur
actor, and was the only Lynn po
1 erman to discard the mechan
scratched her hand on a thorn
of the roses she was then
i cutting, he caught her hand
and examined the scratch
with rather more anxiety
than the occasion demanded.
And I was quite sure a bit of
color came into Janice’s face,
though it may have been due
only to the heat of the sun.
Dave Thatcher — who, of
course, was Janice's husband
and younger brother to Adela
and Hilary—did not appear
at either lunch or dinner. At
lunch I heard Emmeline tell
Miss Adela that he had gone
to the cemetery, which some
how increased the little mys
tery that was beginning to
surround him. Especially
when something Janice said
told me that the cemetery re
ferred to was the family bu
rial plot and only a quarter
of a mile or so from the house.
Not exactly an all-hay pil
grimage
And I must not forget Em
meline, who brought fresh
linen to my patient’s room
about noon. She was a dark,
tall, unbelievably spare wom
an with iron-gray hair
combed tightly back with old
fashioned side combs and a
way of watching your mouth
instead of your eyes which
was quite comprehensible in
view of her deafness but was
not exactly nice. Not nice
either was a curious way she
had of twisting and working
her hands, rasping her fing
ers eagerly and constantly
against her palms, while oth
erwise standing rigidly still.
She asked Bayard how he
felt in the oddly harsh and
infectionless voice of the very
deaf, nodded briefly as he
shouted “Better,” gave me an
extremely sharp look, and
left, looking from the back i
rather like a remarkably tall
black clothespin with a cap
on its head.
It was altogether, so far as i
I knew, a drowsy, pleasant j
day. The doctor paid us a
brief visit shortly after lunch; I
Bayard had got over his gar- :
rulous spell and lapsed into
a taciturn silence, and I
napped in the steamer chair
on the balcony most of the
lazy, warm afternoon.
Hilary came in for a mo- j
ment after dinner, but made
my patient only the briefest
call; it began to rain about
9:30 and at 10 I prepared my
patient for the night and. at I
his curt request, locked the
door to the hall and settled
myself again on the chaise
longue. I felt decidedly re
sentful about that: He didn’t
need night care at all, and I
I had anticipated an undis- !
turbed rest in the cool bed
room next door.
But after more years of
nursing than I care to ac- ;
knowledge I have grown ac
customed to the whims cf my
patients. I made myself as |
comfortable as might be
among the chintz-covered pil
lows. I had turned out all the
lights in the bedroom and
the adjoining bathroom, my
patient appeared to be sound
asleep, and the house, quiet
all day, had sunk into a
heavier, more poignant si
lence. Almost, I thought
drowsily to myself, as if it
were holding its breath.
The balcony window was
j open, and I could hear the
soft sound of the falling rain,
and the sweet fragrance of
roses filled the room. Through
the misty darkness I could
| see the outline of the win
dow, a long, faintly lighter
rectangle. From some water
spout rain dripped with sooth
i ing, dully beating monotony,
j An ideal night for sleep.
But I couldn’t sleep.
I turned and twisted. I took
| off my cap, and the hairpins
out of my hair, but the
cushion under my head was
just as hard. I was too cool
i and fumbled for and drew
i over my feet a soft eiderdown.
I was too warm and tossed it
I ical whistle to direct traffic by
! whistline with his mouth.
Waitress Hitch-Hiked
To New York Stage
Eau Claire, Wis. — <UP> —
! Hitch-hiking from a restaurant
| counter in Eau Claire to New York
| vaudeville is a record to be proud
I of. Miss Idella Alvestad. 20, for
: mer waitress here, told her friends
when she returned for a visit.
Miss Alvestad said she hitch
j hiked to New York and within
i three days of her arrival was
off again. I was thirsty and
tiptoed to the bathroom tam
ing on the lancet with care
so as not to wake my patient,
but the drink did not satisfy
j me. I tried counting sheep, I
l tried making my vision a
blank. I tried thinking of the
virtues of my family, as some
one advised me to do as a cure
for insomnia. The latter ex
pedient was almost my lin
ing. My accumulating rage
reached a small climax with
the thought of my cousin’s
gift to me last Christmas—six
pairs 01 gray woolen bed
socks, knitted and inexpres
sibly spinsterish—and I found
myself farther from sleep than
ever. 1 became calmer, how
ever, thinking of some of the
more entertaining surgical op
erations at which I had as
sisted, and was pleasantly
drifting off to sleep at last
when a clock somewhere
downstairs struck 12 in a deep
muffled boom and roused me.
and I stared at the window
again and listened to the rain.
It was some time after that
that I became gradually aware
that the balcony window was
no longer a perfect rectangle,
faintly lighter than the room.
I had not heard a sound, but
there was certainly a blacker
shadow in it.
I was sitting upright, lean
ing forward, straining my
eyes and ears. It seemed to
me the shadow' moved and
that I heard a faint sound.
Someone was outside on the
balcony, cautiously attempt
ing to enter the room.
All Bayard’s hints and out
right statements swept with
a rush back into my con-_
sciousness. W h o was out
there? V/hy was he trying to
enter the room in so furtive
a fashion?
My heart was pounding so
furiously that I felt sure the
thing at the window must
hear it. The door to the hall
w'as much farther from me
than the window and was
locked. If I screamed, would I
succeed in rousing the sleep
ing house before I myself
could be silenced? Was I to
sit there as if frozen and let
my patient be murdered? Was
I
There W'as another faint
sound from the window', and
then a pause, as if the in
truder were listening agaijx
to be sure no one had dis-’
covered his presence. Through
the breathless silence came
the soft beating of the rain
and the overpowering sweet
scent of the rain-wet roses.
It was then that I knocked
the lamp off the table.
I did not do it purposely. I
was trying to get to my feet,
fumbling blindly for support
with my eyes fixed on the
shadow at the window. The
lamp went over with a dull
crash on the thick rug and
the bulb in it smashed and
there was a sort of scrambling
noise on the balcony. The
shadow was gone.
“What’s that? Nurse: miss
Keate! What’s the matter?”
It was my patient, of course.
“N-nothing,” I said shak
ily. “Nothing.”
“What was that noise?” His
voice grew sharper as he grew
wide awake. “Turn on the
light. What was that noise?”
My trained instinct for pro
tecting my patient’s rest as
serted itself.
“Nothing,” I said more
quietly. “I put out my hand
and accidentally knocked the
lamp off the table. The bulb
in it broke. That’s all.”
“Oh,” he said, and after a
thoughtful moment repeated
in a less doubtful way, “Oh.”
And after all, how could I
be certain it was anything
else? It could so easily be some
deceiving play of lights and
shadows on the rain-drenched
balcony. And windows have
been known to creak before
now.
It was then, however, that
, I made a mistake. Instead of
going to the window, watch
ing and listening for any sign
j of a retreating figure, I went
to the bathroom, turned on
a small light, and left the
| door into the bedroom ajar.
My patient, drowsy with the
opiate Dr. Bouligny had or
billed at the RKO Palace as a
i trick roller skater.
“I was just sitting in the crowd
watching the show, when a man
In a roller skating act asked if
j anyone in the crowd wanted to go
for a ride.’ said Miss Alvestad.
“Nobody knew me in New York,
! so I thought I'd go up just lor
S the fun of it. They gave me quite
; a whirl and everybody clapped
The manager of the act offered
i me a job. I used to do a few tricks
: cn skates at a rink here in Eau
! Claire, you know.”
Miss Alvestad came bv rail
dered for tile night, had gone
back *o .sleep at once, so the
light did not disturb him, and
I felt infinitely safer and
more normai. I am not as a
rule airaid of the night.
But it is not surprising that
I stili did not sleep, and I
think it was around 2 o'clock
that a second attempt was
made to enter Bayard That
cher's room. It came this time
from inside the house, and I
was first aware of it when 1
heard some faint sound of
motion in the hall and then
Ihe barest click of the latch.
The door was, of course, still
locked, and I cannot describe
my feelings when I sat there
in the soft light watching
that polished doorknob turn
and twist. Finally I walked
quietly to the door and bent
my head to listen, and I’m
sure I heard a kind of pant
ing sound—like a dog on a
hot day.
This time the desperate
courage of extreme terror
moved me. I clutched for the
key and turned it in the lock,
although I don’t know what I
intended to do. But my fing
ers shook and were clumsy,
and the key stuck, and it was
a long 10 seconds before I
managed to get the door open.
There was nothing there.
A dim night light burned in
the empty hall. Its rows of
closed doors and the shin
ing stairs descending into
blackness told me nothing.
Or—no! Had not iny eyes
caught some motion there
along the opposite wall? But
there was nothing— Ah, the
mirror!
It hung at an angle opposite
me so that it reflected to my
point of vision the wall and
doors on a line with my own
door but toward the front of
the house. And one of those
doors was moving. Moving
slowly and stealthily, but
moving.
There was no light in the
room beyond. But I was sure
that in the narrowing black
aperture there was a face, a
pair of eyes. Someone watch
ing me, witnessing my terror
—some pair of eyes I could
not see actually meeting
mine in the mirror.
It was an extraordinarily
terrifying moment. But the
door closed finally, and re
mained closed, while I stood
as if rooted to the spot. I have
always felt it a distinct credit
to my nerves that I retained
the presence of mind to step
into the hall, count, and find
it was the second door from
the windows.
Probably I would not have
had that presence of mind
if I had known that while
my eyes had been riveted on
the reflection of that closing
door I was under observation
from an entirely unsuspected
quarter. Only when I turned
from counting the doors did
I discover that a man had
come silently from somewhere
—up the stairs, 1 supposed—
and stood on the landing of
the stairs watching me with
languid, half-closed eyes.
I very nearly screamed. I
would have screamed had not
my throat been suddenly par
alyzed. For a moment that
seemed at least 10 we stood
there, I with my hand on the
door of mj patient’s room,
ready to flee inside, and he
clinging to the railing of the
stairs.
He was a young man,
around 30. with more than a
faint resemblance to Bayard
Thatcher about his nose and
forehead: his chin, however,
was undecided, his mouth
pale and a little loose, and
his eyes heavy lidded and
languid. Gradually my fear
subsided. This must be the
mysterious Dave Thatcher of
whom they had spoken—
Janice’s husband.
(TO BE CONTINUED I
Not So Sure.
From The Wheel
Lawyer: Are you positive that
the prisoner is the man who stole
ycur car?
Witness: I was until you cross
evamined me. Now I’m not sure
whether I ever had a car at all.
Coach George E Keogan has a
winning percentage of .768 in his
nine years of basketball at Notra
Dame.
when she visited her family here.
Farmer Aimed at Hog,
But Shot Huns-'If
Poplar Bluff. Mo. — (UP> — The
• old farm chores of vhog killing’
has been listed by W. B. Croslen
farmer, as a dangerous occupa
tion. He is in a hospital recover
. ing from a shot through his foot
Croslen aimed at a hog to be
butchered when his dog leaped ir
front of the hog. He lowered the
gun suddenly and the shot
through bis toot.
APARTMENTS
(DO YEARS OLD
Austin. Tex -- ;UP> — Imagine
trying to rent an apartment dwell
ing in the. Texas Panhandle six
centuries ago K but such could
have been done, providing one had
I the means of paying for it and the
language by which to make known
the want.
I
loo, anei renunv cne auuve,
one mignt have gone shopping,
purchased exquisite beads, brace
lets. and necklaces of she!!, trans
ported from the Pacific coast.
For according to archaeological
discoveries made by Floyd V. titu
der. of Amarillo, a virile and rela
tively advanced iace dwelt along
the Canadian River Valley, from
what is now the New Mexico line
to the Oklahoma line. These peo
ple lived in an advanced commu
nal slate of municipal life and
their agriculture knew the benefits
of experimentation.
Two large colonies of these peo
ple have been found. One is lo
cated 45 miles northeast oi Amarillo,
contains 29 rooms, and is 160 feet
long and 50 feel wide. Another
contains 33 rooms.
Scientists believe these people
were distinct from the Pueblo In
dians farther west and that they
originated in the Mississippi Val
ley, or some eastern area. Their
disappcai ance may have been due
to starvation irom drought, which
made them again nomadic. ' thej
may have been driven from their
civilization by warring Indian.*
and amalgamated with other In*
dians of the Southv .-,t.
Vassar Students Want
Nothing But the Truth
Foil Worth. Tex. — (UP) — i
John A Lomax. Austin, collectoi
of cowboy ballads, has found that
Vassar students are satisfied witfc
nothing but the whole truth.
When he visited Vassar, a com
mittee of young women called or
him before his formal appearance
he related while visiting here. "We
hear you have two lectures, ont
for mixed audiences and one for
men only,” they told him.
“We demand the 'men only' lec
ture.”
Lomax declined to say which
lecture he gave.
International Road
Work to Continue
Los Angeles —(UP)— Continuea
construction of the Internationa)
Pacific highway link between
Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Argen
tine. has been assured on the ba
sis of word received here from!
Filiberlo Gomez. Governor oi the
State of Mexico, Mexico.
Governor Gomez, in his mes
sage, declared that during 1933
the states of Sonora. Sinaloa and
Jalisco will continue, the road
work witli the aid of a federaJ
subsidy if 15,000 pesos monthly.
Last of Indian
Tribe Asks Pension
Trenton. N. J. —(UP)— The last,
of the once powerful Kickapoo
Indians. Chief Red Cloud, has
asked Governor Moore of New
Jersey to intercede with the fed
eral government to he can receive
a pension.
Clad in his sachem's bonnet of
wild turkey feathers, the aged
chief appealed to the New Jcrspy
executive for aid.
His tribe is now extinct, he. is
penniless and alone, and said ho
must have money to ease his dy*
ing days.
Heady for Heaven.
Prom L’Hlustre, Lausanne.
Doctor: As I was saying, you are
Just coming around. I'm Doctor
Peter, and I think—why, what is
thp matter?
Patipnt: You gave me such a
shock for a moment. I thought you
said you were Saint Peter.
Just Two Weeks.
Knoxville, Term.—It sure didn’t
take Mr. and Mrs. Simpson long to
decide that they weren't for each
other. Just two weeks after they
were married Mrs Simpson filed a
divorce suit in domestic relations
court.
JUST IN CASE OF SICKNESS.
Last fall to stay wan hunger's pangs,
Starvation e’en to rout.
A group of friends in conclave met
And made—some sauerkraut.
We sliced the cabbage crisp and fin#
And pounded in the salt.
Until the big container's size
Brought us at length to halt.
We sat it down in cellar dim;
It manufactured .iuiee,
And when six weeks had rolled
around.
’Twas ready then for use.
We’ve had it fried with pork chops
brown
And baked with spare ribs sweet;
And either way its mighty good—
A fodder fine to eat.
Why yearn for three inch porter
house.
Or quail or fresh brook trout?
Well regulated homes today.
Have kegs of sauerkraut.
—Sam Pag#
Austrian Engineers
Claim New Invention
Washington — <UP> — Engineers
in Austria claim to have invented
a type of "Zig-Zag" steel grating
road, costing about 15 cents a
square foot and needing no main
tenance for 20 years.
Engineers also claim, according
to the Commerce Department,
that a crew of six to eight work
ers can lay at the rate of one yard
of steel grating on a 'JO-foot road
In five minutes.
THE CHEERFUL CHERU5
««—^ — ■"■■■■■hii« ■ ——wmmrnmmmm
I envy Natures jure
technique
In p^intin§ eech nev
cfty.
5he mekes such perfect ;
works or B-rt
In such ^
ctrtless
wsy. 0.
CAPITAL’S BIG FAMILIES
i
I
■While most big families are usually
found in the small towns and on
funis the Diet riot of Columbia boasts
of many big families. According to
the census bureau, of the total of
120,554 families living in the Nation's
Capital 365 have more than 12 mem
bers. 309 have 11, and 629 have 10.
Coining down the scale, there are
1.079 families in Washington with
nine members; 2.(1,”.4 with eight;
3,574 Willi seven; 0,644 wilh six; 11,
"53 wltii five; 10,542 with four; 26,
422 with three, and 30,509 with two.
There are more than 16.500 persons
in the District who dwell alone.
STOPPED-UP
M)STRJLSi
To open the nostrilaand
promote clear breathing
use Mentholatum
night and morning.
MENTHOLATUM
That to Be Considered
If you don't know a great deal, you
have fewer problems.
WHEN SHES h£
UPSET SUFFERS
Constipation Drove
■ i-\k/i I made her feel cross, head
rlCl W11 CJ achy, half-alive. Now she
ha3 a lovable disposition, new pep and vitality.
Ileed Nal ure’s warning: Sluttish bowels invari
ably result in poisonous waste* ravaging your ay»
tem—often the direct cause of headaches, diz
ziness, colds, complexion troubles. NATURE'S
REMEDY—the mild, all-vegetable laxative—
safely stimulates the entire eliminative tract—
strengthens, regulates the bowels for normal,
natural function
ing (let a 25c box j«ljTIwT||fc^
druggist's.1, y°Uf
IM r
TUfvVS tion. heartbunv OnlyJjjL
Trouble With Ideas
“New ideas can be good or bad
just the same as old ones.”
Are You Nervous?
Women and Girls do not Need
to Suffer So
Mrs. Chas. Zieske
of R. R. 1, Rhodes.
Iowa, says: “Three
years ago I suffered
a nervous breakdown,
was in bed 2'/i
months. Finally I got
strong enough to
walk around a little
and that was about
all. I took one bottle of Dr. Pierce s
Favorite Prescription and saw results
at once, so continued and it did won
ders for me. When 1 began using it I
weighed 95 pounds. Three months ai
terward I tipped the scales at 108."
Writ* Dr. Pierce'* Clinic, Buffalo. !N. Y .
r Have to Get Up 1
I at Night ? 1
Deal Promptly with Bladder
Irregularities
Are you bothered with blad
der irregularities; burning,
scanty or too frequent passage
and getting up at night? Heed
promptly these symptoms.
They may warn of some dis
ordered kidney or blidder con
dition. Users everywhere rely
on Doan’s Pills. Recommended
50 years. Sold everywhere.
A Diuretic
for the
Kidnavc