HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Times, 1915-03-18, Page 7El IN 11116
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M,Ir:h 18th 1915
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TH7, WINGHAM TIMES
the Case 0
Jennie Brice
kit
By MARY ROBERTS RIN[IIART
Copyright, 1913. by the Bobbs-Merrill Company
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PROLOGUE.
Was Jennie Brice murdered?
If size were murdered, who was
guilty of the foul deed?
If she were not done away
.with by an assassin, what became
,of her?
Whence did she disappear?
' These and a few other inter-
esting questions are raised at
once in this very clever tale of
mystery written by a woman
who is not only an `adept at
writing fiction of this charac-
ter, but the possessor of a style
that chains the interest by its
clearness and directness and
wins by its rich humor.
w
CHAPTER I.
E have just had another flood,
bad enough, but only a foot
or two of water on the first
floor. Yesterday we got the
mud shoveled out of the cellar and
found Peter, the spaniel that Mr. Lad -
ley left when he "went away." The
'flood, and the fact that it was Mr.
tLadley's dog whose body was found
half buried in the basement fruit
closet, brought back to me the strange
ev rats of the other flood five years
when the water reached more
!than half way to the second story,
and brought with it, to some, mystery
..and sudden death, and to me the worst
!case of "shingles" I have ever seen.
My name is Pitman—in this narra-
-tive. It is not really Pitman, but that
'does well enough. I belong to an old
,Pittsburgh family. I was born on
Penn avenue, when that was the best
.part of town, and I lived, until I was
iflfteen, very close to what is now the
Pittsburgh club. It was a dwelling
the , I have forgotten who lived there
:ll at time.
' was a girl in '77, during the rail -
•Toad riots, and I recall our driving
in the family carriage over to one
• sof the Allegheny hills, and seeing the
yards burning, and a great noise of
:Ishooting from across the river. It
lovas the next year that I ran away
,Brom school to marry Mr. Pitman, and
.1 have not known my family since.
.We were never reconciled, although I
.,came back to Pittsburgh after twenty
years of wandering. Mr. Pitman was
dead; the old city called me. and f
came.
I had a hundred dollars or so, nod
I took a house in lower Allegheny,
;svbere, because they are partly inun-
, dated every spring. the rents are cheap,
:and I' kept boarders. My house wits
:always orderly and clenu. and although
• the neighborhood hail a bad nature. a
;good many theatrical people stopped
{with me. Five minutes ,terns iLt•
• bridge and they were In the I beater
.district. Allegheny at that time, I be
lieve, was still an Independent t-!I,v
.But since then it has aii.e, it,ell' with
Pittsburgh; it is now the nevi 11 stile of
.the city.
1 was glad to get hark. I curl;ed
'hard, but I made ins rent and my liv-
ing and a little over. Now and Ihon
•.on summer evenings I went to oft' or
the parks and. sitting Ian a bent Ii,
watched the childrwi rho ht, around
:.and, looked. at my sister's hour,', closed
for the summer. It Is n eer% tarso
-house. Her butler en'•e h ril his wife
'boarding with nu --n ' „t' iii a
•avoteau.
1lflas Troubled With
Nervous: Prostration,
Many people although they know of
-nervous prostration do not know what
the 'symptoms are. The principal ones
.are, a. feeling of fright when in crowded
places, a dread of being alone, fear of
being in a confined place, a horror of
*society, a dread of things falling from
.atbove, fright at travelling on railroad
trains, and disturbed, and restless, un-
-refreshing sleep, often troubled with
*earns.
Mrs. George Lee, VictoriaHarbor,
,Ont., writes: "I am writing to tell you
:of the experience I have had with Mil -
burn's Heart and Nerve Pills. I was so
nervous i could not do my own work,
I did not want to see any one, or would I
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three years, and my heart was so bad it
made me tremble all over. I took three
boxes of your pills, and I never was better
than I am now. I weigh 20 pounds
'Shore than I ever did."
Milburn's Heart and Nerve Pills are
ZOc per box, 3 boxes for $1.25, at all
dealers, or mailed direct oft • t"t=eelpt of
'Trice by The T. Milburn Co., Limited,
oronto, Oat,
It is curious to recall that at that
time, five years ago, I had never seen
my niece, Lida Harvey, and then to
think that only the day before yester-
day she came in her automobile as far
as she dared and then sat there, wav-
ing to me, while the police patrol •
brought across in a skiff a basket of
provisions she had sent me.
I wonder what she' would have
thought had she known that the elder-
ly woman in a calico wrapper, with
an old overcoat over it and a pair of
rubber boots, was her full aunt.
The flood and the sight of Lida both
brought back the case -of Tennie Brice,
for even then Lida and Mr. Howell
Were interested in each other.
This is April. The flood of 1907 was
earlier, in March, It had been a long
hard winter, with ice gorges in all the
upper valley. Then in early March
there came a thaw. The gorges broke
up and began to come down, filling the
rivers with crushing, grinding ice.
There are three rivers at Pittsburgh,
the Allegheny and the Monongahela
uniting there at the point to form the
Ohio. And all three were covered with
broken ice, logs and all sorts of debris
from the upper valleys.
A warning was sent out from the
weather bureau, and I got my carpets
ready to lift that morning. That was
on the 4th of March, a Sunday. Mr.
Ladley and his wife, Jennie Brice. had
the parlor bedroom and the room ,be-
hind it. Mrs. Ladley, or Miss Brice, as
she preferred to be known, had a small
part at a local theater that kept a per-
manent company. Her husband was
in that business, too, but he had noth-
lug to do. It was the wife who paid
the bills, and a lot of quarreling they
did about it.
I knocked at the door at 10 o'clock,
and M r. Ladley opened it. He was a'
short elan, rather stout and getting
bald. and be always had, a, cigarette.
Even yet the parlor carpet smells of
then(.
—What do you want?" he asked
sharply. holding the door open about
en inch
"The water's calitlag up very fast,
Mr I.ndley." I said. "It's tip to the
swinging shelf in the cellar now. I'd
like to lake rap the carpet and move the
Nano:
•'t:nun' hack in an hour or so," he
snapped and tried to close the door.
Rut I had got my toe in the crack.
"I'll have to • have the piano moved,
Mr. Ladley," I said. "You'd better put
off what you are doing."
I thought he 1,its probably writing.
He spent most of the day writing,
• What do you want?" he asked
sharply.
using the washstand as a desk, and it
kept me busy with oxalic acid ticking
Ink spots out of the splasher and the
towels. Ile was writing a play and
hiked a lot' about the'Shubencts having
promised to star him In it when it was
finished.
"11—!" he said, and, turning, spoke
to somebody in the room.
"We can go into the hack room," I
heard him say, and he closed the door.
When be opened it agaih the roam was
empty. I called in Terry, the Irish•
malt, who does odd.. jpbs: tort tug' now
and then, and we both get to work at
bird tnaksi In the carpet, Terry working
by't>* window and I by the door into
the back parlor, which the Ladleys
used as, a bedroom.
That was' how I happened to hear
what i afterward told' the police.
Some one—a man, but not hIr. Lad-
le„—was talking. Mrs. _Gulley. broke
In: "I won't do it:" site atiu i iizr; ,,
"Why should I help him? Ile doesn't
help me. IIe loafs here all day, smok-
ing and sleeping, and sits up all night,
drinking and keeping me awake."
The voice went on again, us if in re-
ply to this, and I heard rt rattle of
glasses, as if they were (touring
drinks. They always had whisky. even
when they were behind with their
hoard.
"That's all very wtdl." Mrs. Lnriley
said. I could always hear her, she
having a Iheatrleal s''rt of video -.on:
that carries, "lint tv ::t oho ;t the
prying she de -ll that r•. :!Ie
"flush. for In Mr.
Lntiley. and after !:t t t iu
tvhi•;1
Even with v i ;t
the pith' i could no; .1t.., :t glut:.
l'Itr ua n c•tir e ,just l l:, .• to move the
piano, and by the itrie '.t•e had tni:e)I
it and the ft11•nitnrp t:j'.; tirr: i; -c water
wit.; oyez. e: the kitchen i'n.if rat's rt'rrp-
lir: forward into the II:uII I Iain never
:,est the river come l: ;'r incl. sly
Neon the yata! :;1, n1 tl.t I oa ire,
ail :it (,.,ii .,:lt"... ,.. the peliee
1t•:1 • en Ila' it"rl 't'.pet.. .tt:a 1
a is u.•!,alta a:'"alit( I';i:.I:ca' ln"tts,
Lrkill iii' !,i+•[ilte'' as tLe n'ut:s,
i 1v:t:; fa,t bits- to 'i -e trisui, the Lad -
:pew visiles• was and he had rout. whe n
I ,•pl)e::itiered l:`.la
taut I'he I,:ellrts
!:"tl( the ,eeulltl t'rou't I':'nal tvlileh
:ut empty. and \lt ke•Are'ds. who
,v:rs 10 the silk department in at store
teross the river, had the room just
I:eland.
I (ant up a coal stove in a back roes(
next the bathroom and ivatinged to
cook the dinner there. I was washing
op the dishes when ML'. Reynolds
tante M. As it was Sunday lie was In
his slippers and bad the colored sup-
plement of a morning paper in his
hand.
"What's the matter with the Lad-
leys?" he asked. "I can't rend for
their quarreling."
"Booze, probably," I said. "When
you've lived in the flood district its
long as I have, Mr. Reynolds, you'll
know that the rising of the river is It
signal for every man in the vicinity
to stop work and get full. The fuller
the .river the fuller the mull: popula-
tion."
"Then this flood will likely make 'em
drink themselves to death!" he said.
"It's a lulu,"
"It's the neighborhood's annual de-
bauch. The women are busy in the
cellars, or they'd get full too. I hope,
since It's come this far, it will come
farther, so the landlord will have to
paper the parlor."
That was at 3 o'clock. At 4 Mr. Lad.
ley went down the stairs, and I heard
him getting into a skiff in the lower
hall. There were boats going back and
forth all the time carrying crowds of
curious people and taking the flood suf-
ferers to the corner grocery, where
they were lowering groceries in a bas-
ket on a rope from an upper window.
I had been making tea when I heard
Mr. Ladley go out. I fixed a tray with
a cup of it and some crackers and took
it to their door. I bad never liked
Mrs. Ladley, but it was chilly in the
house with the gas shut off and the
lower floor full of ice water. And it is
hard enough to keep boarders In the
flood district.
She did not answer to my knocks, so
I opened the door and went in. She
wits at the window, looking after him,
and the brown valise that figured ,in
the case later was opened on the floor.
Over the foot of the bed was the black
and white dress with the red collar.
When I spoke to her she turned
around quickly. She was a tall wo-
man, about twenty-eight, with very
white teeth and yellow hair, which she
parted a little to one side and drew
down over her ears. She had a sullen
face and large well shaped hands, with
her nails long and very pointed.
"The 'she devil' has brought you
some tea,' 1 said "Where shall she
put it?"
"'She devil!'" she repeated, raising
her eyebrows. "It's a very thoughtful
she devil. Who called you that?"
But with the sight of the valise and
the fear that they might be leaving I
thought it best not to quarrel, . She
had left the window and, going to her
dressing table, had picked up her nail
file. •
"Never mind," I said., "I hope you
are not going away. These floods don't
last, and they're a benefit. Plenty of
the people around here rely on 'em
every year to wash out their cellars."
"No, I'm not going • away," she re-
plied lazily. "I'm taking that dress to
Miss Hope at the theater. She is going
to wear it in 'Charlie's Aunt' next
week. She hasn't half enough of a
wardrobe to play leads in stook. Look
Art this thumb nail, broken to the
quick!"
If' I, had only looked to see which
thumb it was! But 1 was putting the
tea tray on the washstand and moving
Mr. Ladley's papers to find room for it
Peter, the spaniel; begged for a lump
of sugar, and I gave it to him.
"Where is Mr. Ladley?" I asked.
"Gone out to see the river."
"I hope he'll be careful. There's a
drowning or two every year in these
floods."
"Then I hope lie won't" she said
calmly. "Do you know what ,I was do-
ing when you came in? I was looking
after •his boat and hoping It hada hole
In it."
"You won't feel that way tomorrow,
Mrs. Ledle,V." I protested, shocked.
"You're just nervous and put Out.
Most men have their ugly times.
Many a time I wished Mr. Pitman was
gone—until he went. lbhen I'd. have
given a good bit to have hint, back
again,"
She was standing In front of the
dresser, fixing her hair over her ears.
She turned and looked at me over her
shoulder.
"Probably Mr. Pitman was a mad,"
she said. "My husband Is a fiend, a
(tel -1 -" _
War News
Affected Her.
Many people who have been reading
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especially those who have relatives at
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C:at it is impossible for them to sleep.
The r-rves have become unstrung and
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I have recommended them to many of
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Milburn's Heart and Nerve Pills are
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dealers, or mailed direct on receipt of
price by The T. Milburn Co., Limited,
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Well, a good many women have said
that to me at different times. But just
let me say such a thing to them, or re-
peat their own words to them the next
day, and they would fly at me in a
fury. So I said nothing and put the
cream into her tea.
I never saw her again.
* * * * * * *
There is not much sleeping done in
the flood district during a spring flood.
The gas was shut off and I gave Mr.
Reynolds'and the Ladleys each a lamp.
I sat in the back room that I had made
into a temporary kitchen with a
candle and with a bedquilt around my
shoulders. The water rose fast in the
lower hall, but by midnight at the
seventh step it stopped rising and
stood still. I always have a skiff during
the flood season, and as the water rose
I tied it to one spindle of the stair-
case after another.
I made myself a cup of tea and at
1 o'clock I stretched out on a sofa for
a few hours' sleep. I thick I had been
sleeping only an hour or so when some
one touched me on the shoulder and I
started up. It was Mr. Reynolds,
partly dressed.
"Some one has been in the house.
Mrs. Pitman." he said. ',They went
away just now in the boat."
"Perhaps it was Peter," I suggested.
"That dog is always wandering around
at night"
"Not unless Peter can row a boat"
said Mr. Reynolds dryly.
I got up, being already full dressed,
and 'caking the candle a went to the
staircase. I noticed that it was a min-
ute or so after 2 o'clock as we left the
room. The boat was gone, not untied,
but cut loose. The end of the rope was
still fastened to the stair rail. I sat
down on the stairs and looked at Mr.
Reynolds.
"It's gone!" I said. "If the house
catches fire we'll have to drown,"
"It's rather curious when you con-
sider it" We both spoke softly not to
disturb the Ladleys. "I've been awake
and I heard no boat come in. And yet
if no one came in a boat and came
from the street they would have had to
swim in."
I felt queer and creepy. The street
door was open, of course, and the
lights going beyond. It gave me a
strange feeling to sit there in the
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Mrs. Mavetta ccruppo carried 27,000
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China is running short of window
glass, The war in Europe is to blame.
(As his daily pay the Egyptian soldier
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I, Dried orange and lemon peel make.
a good substitute for kindling wood.
Children Cry
FOR FLETCHER'S
CASTORlA.
darkness on the stairs, with the arch
of the front door like the entrance to a
cavern, and see now and then a chunk
of ice slide into view, turn around in
the eddy and bliss 00 It was bitter
cold, too, and the wind was rising.
"I'll go through tate house," said Mr.
Reynolds. 'Intere's ltkcly nothing
worse the 'natter than some drunken
mill hand ou a vacation while the
mills are under waater. But I'd better
j,'wl:IIe .,, .
left me, stud 1 sat there alone in
the darkness. I had a presentiment of
something wrong, but 1 tried to think
it wasTonly discomfort and the cold.
1 The water, driven in by the wind,
swirled at my feet. And something
dark floated in and lodged on the step
below. I reached down and touched it.
It was a dead kitten. I had never
known a dead eat fu bring me any-
thing but bail luck, anti here was one
washed in at my very feet.
• CHAPTER II.
R. REYNOLDS came back soon
and reported the house quiet
and in order.
"Put I found Peter shut up
in one of the third floor rooms," he
said. "DId you put hint there?"
I had not and said so, but as the dog
went everywhere and the door might
have blown shut we did not attach
much importance to that at the time.
Well, the skiff was gone, and. there
was no use worrying about it until
morning. I went back to the sofa to
keep warm, but I left my candle light-
ed and my door open. I did not sleep.
The dead cat was on my mind, and as
if it were not bad enough to have it
washed in at my feet about 4 in the
morning Peter, prowling uneasily, dis-
covered it and brought it in and put it
on my couch, Wet and stiff, poor little
thing!.
I looked at the clock. It was a quar-
ter after 4, and except for the occa-
sional crunch of one ice cake hitting
another in the yard, everything was
quiet. Anti then I heard the stealthy
sound of oars in the lower ball,
I am not a brave woman. I lay
there, hoping Mr. Reynolds would hear
and open his door. But he was sleep-
ing soundly. Peter snarled and ran out
into the hall, and the next moment I
heard Mr. Ladley speaking. "Down,
Peter," he said. "Down. Go and lie
down."
I took my candle and went out into
the hall. Mr. Ladley was stooping over
the boat, 'trying to tie it to the stair-
case. The rope was short, having been
cut, and he was having trouble. Per-
haps it was the candle light, but he
looked ghost white and haggard.
"I borrowed your boat, Mrs. Pit-
man," he said, civilly enough. "Mrs.
Ladley was not well, and I—I went to
the drug store."
"You've been more than two hours
going to the drug store," I said.
He muttered something about not
finding any open at first and went into
r 6 Awaa:�,
"I borrowed,your boat, Mrs. Pitman."
his room. He closed and locked the
door behind him rind, although Peter
whined and scratched, he did not let
him in.
He looked so agitated that I thought
I bad been harsh and perhaps she was
really iii. I knocked at the door and
asked if I could do anything. But he
only called "No!" curtly through the
door and asked me to take that in-
fernal dog away.
I I went back to bed and tried to
sleep, for the water had dropped an
inch or so on the stairs, rind I knew
the danger was over. Peter came, shiv-
ering, at dews) rind got on to the sofa
with me. I put an end of the quilt over
him, and he stopped shivering after a
time and went to sleep,
I The dog was company. -I lay there,
wide awake, thinking about Mr. Pit-
man's death, and how 1 had cone by
degrees to be keeping a cheap board-
ing house in the flood district and to
having to take impudence from every.
body who chose to rent a room from
me add to being called a she devil,
Prom that I got to thinking again
about the Ladleys and how she had
said he was a fiend' and to doubting
about his having gone out for Medi.
cine for her, 1 dozed off again at day-
light, and being worn out I slept
heavily.
At 7' o'clock Mr. Iteyneldh carne tb
the door, dressed' for the store. He
was a tall man of about fifty, neat and
Orderly in his habits, and ha always
rtlaienibered that' I had Seen. better
does ',and treated Ma eat' a lady.
"Never mind about breakfast for me
th1. mornfn , Mrs, Pttmalt ,", he *ft
r
Children Cry r> s'ietcki er1s
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D„^r'rllote`f,. 1"i ss'e";tziu sir:! , u ? a.sir ra'tp els
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`fill get Tt rrip r: cti?ee iit dill tufty
end of the bridge. I'll take the boat
and send it back with Terry."
He turned and went along the hall
and down to the boat. I heard him
push off from the stairs with an oar
and row out into the street. Peter
followed him to the stairs.
At a quarter after 7 Mr. Ladley came
out and called to me: "Just bring in a
1 cup of coffee and some toast." he said.
"Enough for one." -
He went back and slammed his door
and I made his coffee. I steeped a
cap or tea for Mrs. Ladley at the same
time., He opened the door just wide
enough for the tray and took it with-
, out so much as a "thank you." He
' bad a cigarette in his mouth as usual
and 1 could see a fire in the grate and
smell something like scorching cloth.
"I hope Mrs. Ladley is better," I
said, getting my foot in the crack of
the door so be could not quite close it.
it smelled to me as if he had acciden-
tally set fire to something with his
cigarette and I tried to see into the
room.
"What about Mrs. Ladley?" he snap-
ped. •
"You said she was ill last night."
"Oh, yes! Well, she wasn't very sick.
She's better."
"Shall I bring her some tea?"
"Take your foot away!" he ordered.
"No. She doesn't want tea. She's not
here."
"Not here!"
"Good heavens!" be snarled. "Is her
going away anything to make such a
fuss about'? The Lord knows I'd be
glad to get out of this infernal pig wal-
low myself."
"If you mean my house"— I began.
But be had pulled himself together
and was more polite when be answer-
ed: "I mean the neighborhood. Your
house is all that could be desired for
the money. If we do not hate linen
sheets and double cream we are paying
muslin and milk prices."
Either my nose was growing accus-
tomed to the odor or it was dying
away. I took try foot away from the
door. "When did Mrs. Ladley leave?"
I asked.
"This morning, very early. I rowed.
her to Federal street."
"You couldn't have had much sleep."
I said dryly, for he looked horrible.
There were lines around his eyes,
which were red, and his lips looked dry
and cracked.
"She's not in the piece this week at
the theater," he said, licking his lips
and looking past ore. not at me. "She'll
be back by Saturday."
I did not believe him. I do not think
be imagined that 1 did. He shut the
door in my face, and it caught poor Pe-
ter by the nose. The dog ran off howl-
ing, but although Mr. Ladley had been
as fond of the animal as it was in his
nature to be rend of anything, he paid
no attention. As 1 started down the
hall after him I saw what Peter bad
been carrying—a slipper of Mrs. Lad-
ley's. It was soaked with water. Evi-
dently Peter had found it floating at
the foot of the stairs.
Although the idea of murder had not
entered my head at that time, the stip-
per gave me it turn. I picked it up
and looked at it, a black one with it
beaded toe, short in the vamp and high
heeled, the seat most nitres .t'it wear.
Then I went hack and knock*, I at the
door or the front room again,
"What the devil do you want nJw?"
he called from beyond the dour.
"Here's a slipper of Airs L„dtey's,”
h said. "Peter found it floating in the
lower hail."
He opened the door wide and let
me in. The room was in t'.J rable or
der, much betthr than when , rs. Lad -
ley was abont. He gat:oa3 le slip-
per. but he did ant do 01411
think I'
IfS
......-..:,_fit
"I've seeti.'iier wear it a hundred
41,
times,"
"Well, she'll never wear it again."
And then, dieing me stare, he added:
"It's ruined -With the water. Throw it
out. And, by the way, I'm sorry, but
I set fire to one of the pillow slips:
. dropped asleep, and my cigarette did
the rest. Just put it on the bill."
He pointed to the bed. One of the
pillows had no slip, and the ticking
cover had a scorch or two on it. I
went over and looked at it.
"The pillow will bare to be paid for.
too, Mr. Ladley," I said. "And there's
a sign nailed on the door that forbids
smoking in bed. If you are going to
set fire to things I shall have to charge
extra."
"Really!" he jeered, looking at the
with his cold, fishy eyes. "Is there
any sign on the door saying that board-
ers are charged extra for seven feet of
filthy river in the bedrooms?"
I was never a,match for him, and I
make it a principle never to bandy
words with my boarders. 1 took the
pillow and the slipper and went out.
The telephone was ringing on the stair
landing. It was the theater, -asking
for Miss Brice.
"She has gone away," I said.
"What do yon mean? Moved away?"
"Gone for a few days' vacation," 1
replied. "She isn't playing this week,
is she?"
"Wait a moment" said the voice.
ti o be continded) \
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