The Wingham Times, 1915-04-01, Page 7April, I St 1915
1
THE WINGHANI TIMES
u�ll
lees'
(t'41
UN
I/
the Case o
Jennie Brice
By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART
Copyright, 193, by the Bobbs-Merrill Company
Es i�W!:�„�.AFME L
SYNOPSIS
Jennie Brice anti tier husband, LadloY,
quarrel. ;;ho tiisaphc:us from Airs, Pit-
rnan's boarding house during a Pittsbui•gti
flood.
Rare. Pitman tells Holcombe, an amateur
detective, that age believes Ladley has.
8tned Jennie 13rico. r
'Holcombe finds hterhninating evidence
in Ladloy's room. An onyx clod( Is miss-
ing. Mrs' Pitman's InUI'e has been stolen
and broken,
CHAPTER IV.
T was after four when Mr.
Holcombe had finished going
over the room. 1 offered to
make both the gentlemen
some tea, for Mr. Pitman bad been an
Englishman, and 1 had got into the
habit of having a cupful in the after-
noon, with u cracker or a bit of bread,
But they refused. Air. Howell said he
.had promised to meet a lady, and to
bring her through the flooded district
in a boat. He shook hands with me
and smiled at Mr. Holcombe.
"You will have to restrain his en-
thusiasm, Mrs. Pitman," he said. "He
is a bloodhound on the scent. If his
,baying gets on your nerves just send
'for me." He went down the stairs
• .and stepped into the boat. "Remem-
ger, Holcombe," he called, "every well
constituted murder has two things-
-la motive and a corpse. Yon haven't
either,'only a mass of piffling details." -
"If everybody waited until he saw
-'flames instead of relying on the testi-
mony of the smoke, Mi:. Holcombe
..snapped, "what world the fire loss
be?"
Mr. Howell poled his boat to the
:front door and, sitting down, prepared
to row out.
"You are warned, Mrs. Pitman," e -
• called to me. "If he doesn't find a
body_to fit the clews he's quite capable
• of making one to fill the demand." "
"Horn"- said Mr. Holcombe, look-
ing at the slip again. "The tail of
,the 'n' is torn off -evidently only part
of a word. Hornet, Horning, Horner -
r :Mrs. Pitman, will you go with me to
the police station?"
I was more than anxious to go. In
fact, I could not bear the idea of stay-
ing alone in the house, with heaven
only knows what concealed in the
• depths of that muddy flood. I got on
my wraps again, and Mr. Hlolcombe
• rowed me out Peter plunged into the
water to follow and had to be sent
back. He sat on the lower step and
whined. Mr. Holcombe threw him an-
, other piece of liver. but be did not
•touch it.
We rowed to the corner of Robinson
street and Federal -it was before Fed•
oral street was raised above the hood
level -and left the boat in charge of 0
.boy there. And we walked to the po-
lice station. Ou the way Mr. Holcombe
questioned me closely about tbe events
of the morning, and I recalled the iu-
•cident, of the burned pillow slip. Ile
made a note of it at once and grew
. very thoughtful.
He left tae. however. at the police
•station. "I'd rather not appear in this.
Airs. Pitman," he sold apulogctically,
"and 1 think better along my own
lines -not that I have nnything ago1nst
'the police; they've done some splendid
work. But this case takes imngiau-
tion, and the police department deals
with facts. We have no facts yet.
What we need. of course, is to have
'the man detained until we are sure of
our ease."
He lifted his hat and turned away.
and I went slowly op the steps to the
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They do this by acting directly on the
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the bowels instead of allowing it to get
into the blood, and thus causing consti-
pation, jaundice, catarrh of the stomach
and similar troubles.
Mrs. L. M. Ratchford, Peterboro, Ont.,
writes: "Having been troubled for
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eee
Ie
ponce station, "Living, as 7 Tiad, In a
neighborhood where the police, like the
poor, are always with us, and where
the visits of the patrol wagon are one
of those familiar sights that no amount
of repetition enabled any of us to treat
with contempt, I was uncomfortable
until I remembered that my grandfa-
ther had been one of the first mayors
of the city and that, if -the patrol bad
been at my house more than once, the
entire neighborhood would testify that
my boarders were usually orderly.
At the door some one touched me on
the arm. It was Mr. Holcombe again.
"I have been thinking it over," he
said, "and I believe you'd better not
mention the piece of paper that you
found behind the washstand. They
might say the whole thing is a hoax."
"Very well," I agreed, and went in.
The police sergeant in charge knew
me at once, having stopped ,at my
house more than once in flood time for
a cup of hot coffee.
"Sit down, Mrs. -Pitman," he said. "I
suppose you are still making the best
coffee and doughnuts in the city of Al-
legheny? Well, what's the trouble in
your district? Want an injunction
against the river for trespass?"
"The river has brought me a good
bit of trouble," I said. "I'm -I'm wor-
ried, Mr. Sergeant I think a woman
from my house has been murdered, but
I don't know."
"Murdered!" he said, and drew up
his chair. "Tell me about it."
I told him everything, while he sat
back with his eyes half closed and his
fingers beating a tattoo on the arm of
his chair.
When I finished he got up and went
into an inner room. He'came back in
a moment,
"I want you to come in and tell that
to the chief," he said, and led the way.
All told, I repeated my story three
times that afternoon -to the sergeant,
to the chief of pollee and the third
time to both the others and two de-
tectives.
The second time the chief made notes
of what I said.
"Know this man Ladley?" he asked
the others. None of them did, but they
all knew of Jennie Brice and some of
them had seen her in the theater.
"Get the theater,` Tom," the chief
said to one of the detectives.
Luckily what he learned over the
telephone from the _theater corrobor-
ated my story. Jennie Brice was riot
in the cast that week, but should have
reported that morning (Monday) to re -
I Told Him Everything.
hearse the next week's piece. No mes-
sage bttd been received from ger and
a substitute had been put in her place.
The chief hung np the receiver and
turned to me. "You are sure about the
clock, Mrs. Pitman?" be asked. "It
was there when they moved upstairs
to the room?"
"Yes, sir."
"You are certain you will not find it
on the parlor mantel when the water
goes down?"
"'rhe mantels are uncovered now.
It is not there."
"You think Ladley has gone for
gond?"
"Yes, sir."
"He'd be a fool to try to run away,
unless --Graves, you'd better get hold
of the fellow, and keep him until
either the woman is found or the body.
The river is failing. In a couple of
days we will kbow if she is around
the premise's anywhere."
Before 1 left I described Jennie itrlce
for them carefully. Asked what she
t,rubnl,It' wort'. if sh+' had :.sola' away
us per husband said. I had no Idea;
she bad a lot of Ouches, uud drtsst•tl at
good bit, But I recalled that 1 had
seen lying on. the bed the Week and
White dress with the red clilbtr, and
they took that down, as well as the
brown valise.
The chief rose and opened the door
for me himself. "If she ai'tuully left
town at the time you mention." ha
said, "she ought nut to be hard to
find. There are not many trains be-
fore 7 in the morning, and utast of
them are locals."
"And. and if she slid not, it he do
you think site is in the hoose or of -
rho cellar?"
"Nor unless Lndley Is more of :t foul
than I think he is," lie snId. smiling.
"Personally I believe she has gone
away, as he says she did_ But if she
hasn't- Ile probably took the lull
with hint when he said he was getting
utecllt`ittc and dropped it in iht' t•nrrt'nt
somewhere. Rut wt' must go sloe with
all this, 'There's uu use shouting'votf
yet."
"But -the towel:'"
"IIe may have cut himself shaving.
It has been done."
"And the knife?"
IIe shrugged his shoulders good na-
turetlly.
"I've seen a perfectly good knife
spoiled opening a bottle of pickles."
"But the slipper? And the clock?"
"My good woman, enough shoes and
slippers are forgotten in the bottoms
of cupboards year after year In flood
time and are found floating around the
streets to make all the old clothes men
in town happy. 1 have seen almost
everything floating about during one of
these annual floods."
"I dare say you never saw an onyx
clock floating around," I replied a little
sharply. I had no sense of humor that
day. He stopped smiling at once and
stood tugging at his mustache.
"No," he admitted. "An ouyx clock
sinks, that's true. That's a very nice
little point, that onyx clock. He may
be trying to sell it or perhaps"- He
did not finish.
I went back immediately, only stop-
ping at the market to get meat for Mr.
Reynolds' supper. It was after half
past 5. and dusk was coming on. I
got u boat and was rowed directly
home. Peter was not at the foot of the
steps. I paid the boatman and let him
go and turned to go up the stairs.
Some one was speaking -in the hall
above.
I have read somewhere that no two
voices are exactly alike, just as no
two violins ever produce the same
sound. I think it is what they call'
the timbre that is different. I have,
for instance, never heard a voice like.
Mr. Pitman's, although Mr. Harry
Lauder's in a phonograph resembles
it. And voices have always done for
me what odors do for some people, re-
vived forgotten scenes and old mem-
ories. But the memory that the voice
at the head of the stairs brought back
was not very old, altliotigh I had for-
gotten it. I seemed to hear again all
'at once the lapping of the water Sun-
day morning its it began to come in
over the doorsill; the sound of Terry
ripping up the parlor carpet and Mrs.
Ladley;calling me a she devil in the
next room, in reply to this very voice.
But when I got to the top of the
stairs it was only Mr. Howell, who
had brought his visitor to the Hood
district, and on getting her splashed
with the muddy- water had taken her
to my house for a towel and a cake of
soap.
I lighted the lamp in the hall and
Air. Howell introduced the girl. She
was a pretty girl, slim and young, and
she had taken her wetting good
naturedly.
"I know we are intruders, Mrs. PIt-
man," she said, holding out her hand.
"Especially now, when you are in
trouble."
"I have told Miss Harvey a little,"
Mr. Howell said, "and I promised to
show her Peter, but he is not here."
I think I had known it was my sis-
ter's child from the moment I lighted
the lamp. There was something of
Alma in her, not Alma's hardness or
haughtiness, but Alma's dark blue
eyes with black lashes, and Alma's
nose. Alma was always the beauty of
the family. What with the day's ex-
citement
xcitement and Seeing Alma's child like
this, in my house, I felt things going
round and clutched at the stair rail.
Mr. Howell caught me.
"Why, Mrs. Pitman!" he said.
"What's the matter?"
I got myself in hand in a momer
and smiled at the girl.
"Nothing at all," I said. "Indigestion,
most likely. Too much tea the last
day or two and not enough solid food.
I've been too anxious to eat."
Lida -for she was that to me at
once, although I had never seen her
before -Lida was all sympathy and
sweetness. She actually asked me to
go with her to a restaurant And have
a real dinner. I could imagine Alma,
had she known! But I excused myself.
"I have to cogk something for Mr.
Reynolds," I sdid, "and I'm better
now, anyhow, thank you. Mr. Howell,
may I speak to you for a motnent?"
He followed me along the back hall,
which was dusk.
"I have remempered something that
I had forgotten, Mr. Howell," I said.
"On Sunday morning the Ladleys` had
a visitor."
"Yes?"
"They had very few visitors."
"I see."
"I did not see him, but I heard his
voice." Mr. Howell did riot move. hitt
I fancied he drew his breiltb.in t1111e1i•
iy. "it sounded -it was not by arty
chance yon?"
"1? A newspaper 11111 ti. who goes to
heft at 3 0. In. alt Sunday morning,
np trail about at 10!"
"1 dtJn't say what time it WAS," 1
salt sharply.
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what was the matter with me. My
nerves got ::o bad at last that I could
not hold a paler in my hands, to read,
the way t't^y trembled. I gave up
doctoring thinking I could not get better.
11 lady living a few doors from me ad-
vised me to try a bot of Milburn's heart
and Nerve Pills, so to please her I did,
and I am thankful to -day for doing so,
for I am strong, and doing my own work
without help."
Milburn's Heart and Nerve Pills are
50 cents per box, 3 boxes for $1.25; at
all druggists or dealers, or mailed direct
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Co., Limited, Toronto, Ont.
But at that moment Lida called
from the front hall.
. "1 think I hear Peter," she said. "He
is shut in somewhere, whining."
We went forward at once. She was
right. Peter was scratching at the
doer of Mr. Ladley's room, although I
bad left the door closed and Peter in
the hall. I let him out, and he crawl-
ed to' me on. three legs, whimpering.
Mr. Howell bent over him and felt the
fourth.
"Poor little beast!" he sold. "His leg
is broken."
He madeea splint for the dog, and
with Lida helping they put him to bed
In a clothes basket in my upstairs
kitchen. It was easy to see how
things lay with Mr. Howell. Ile wa$
all ayes for her. He made excuses to
touch her hand or her arm, little ca-
ressing touches that made her color
heighten. And -With it all there was a
sort of hopelessness in his manner, as
if he knew bow far the girl was out of
his reach. Knowing Alma and her
pride, I knew better than they how
hopeless it was.
1 was not so sure about Lida. I
wondered if she was in love with the
boy or only in love with love. She
was very young, an I had been. God
help her if, like me, she sacrificed ev-
erything to discover too late that she
was only in love with love.
CHAPTER V,
R. REYNOLDS did not, come
home to dinner at all. The
water had got into the base-
ment at the store, he tele-
phoned, one of the flood gates in a
sewer having leaked, and they were
moving some of the departments to an
upper floor. I had expected to have
him in the house that evening, and
now I was left alone again.
But, as it happened, I was not alone.
Mr. Graves, one of the city detectives,
came at half past 6 and went carefully
over the Ladleys' room. I showed him
rthe towel and the slipper and the bro-
I ken knife and where we had found the
knife blade. He was very noncommit-
tal and left in a half hour, taking the
articles with him in a newspaper.
I At 7 the doorbell rang. I went
down -as far as I could on, the staircase,
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tinct -1 saw a boat outside the door, I
With the boatman and a woman in It.
I called to theta to bring the boat back
along the hall, and 1 had a queer feel-
ing that it ni;tIIt be Airs. Ladley and
that I'd been alukiug a fool of myself
all day for nothing. But it; was not
Alt's. Ladley,
"Is this No. 12?" asked the woman,
as the boat carne back.
"Yes."
"Does Mr. I.adley live here?"
'; "Yes. But he is not here now."
, "Are you Mrs. Pittock?" '
"Pitman, yes."
The boat bumped against the stairs,
and the woman got out. She was as
tall as Mrs. Ladley, and when I saw
her In the light from the upper hall 1
knew her instantly. It was Temple
Hope, the leading woman from the
Liberty theater.
"I would like to talk to you, Mrs.
Pitman," she said. "Where can we
go?"
1 led the way back to my room, and
when she lead followed me in she
turned and shut the door.
"Now, then," she said without any
preliminary, "where is Jennie Brice?"
"1 don't know, Miss Hope," 1 an-
swered.
We looked at each other for a min-
ute, and each of us saw what the other
suspected.
"He has killed her!" she exclaimed.
"She was afraid be would do it, and -
he bas."
"Killed her and thrown her into the
river," I said. "That's what I think,
and he'll go free at that. It seems there
isn't any murder when there isn't any
corpse."
"Nonsense! 1f he has done that the
river will give her up eventually."
"The river doesn't always give them
up," I retorted. "Not in flood time, any -
bow. Or when they are found it is
mouths later, and you can't prove any-
thing." •
She had only a little time, being due
at the theater soon, but she sat down
and told me the story she told after-
ward on the stand:
i She had known Jennie Brice fox
years, they having been together in
the chorus as long before as Nadjy.
"She was married then to a fellow
on the vaudeville circuit," Miss Hope
said. "He left her about that time,
and she took up with Ladley. 1 don't
think they were ever married."
"What!" I said, jumping to my feet,
"and they came to a respectable house
like this! There's never been a breath.
of scandal about this house, Miss Hope,
and if it comes .out I'm ruined."
"Well, perhaps they were married,"
she said. "Anyhow, they were always
quarreling. And when he wasn't play-
ing it was worse. She used. to come
to my hotel and cry her eyes out." •
"I knew you were • friends," I said.
"Almost the last thing she said to me
was about the black and white dress
of hers you were to borrow for the
piece this week."
"Black and white dress! I borrow
one of Jennie Brice's dresses!" ex-
claimed Miss Hope.* "I should think
not I have plenty of my own."
That puzzled me, for she had said
it, that was sure: And then I remem-
bered that I had not seen the dress
in tbe room that day, and I went to
look for it. It was gone. 1 came back
and told Miss• Hope.
"A black and white dress! Did it
have a red collar?" she asked.
"Yes."
• "Then I remember it. 'She wore a
small black hat with a red quill with
that dress. You might look for the
hat"
She followed me back to the room
and stood in the doorway while 1
searched. The hat was gone, too.
"Perhaps, after all, he's telling the
truth," she said thoughtfully. "Her
fur coat Isn't in the closet, is it?"
It was gone. It is strange that all
day I had. never thought of looking
over her clothes and seeing what was
missing. I hadn't known all she had,
of course, but I had seen her all win
ter in her -fur coat and admired it. It
was a striped fur, brown and gray,
and very unusual. But with the coat
missing and a dress and hat gone, it
began to look as if I had been making
a fool of myself and stirring up a
tempest in a teacup. Miss Hope was
ns puzzled as I was.
"Anyhow if he didn't kill ger," she
said, "it isn't because be did not want
to. Only last week she had hysterics
in my dressing room and said he bad
threatened to poison her. It was all
Mr. Bronson, the business manager,
and I could do to quiet her."
She looked at her watch and ex-
rlahued that she was late abd would
have to hurry. I saw her down to her
boat. The river had been falling rapid-
ly, for the last hour or two, and I
heard the boat scrape as it went over
the door sill. I did not know whether
to be glad that the water was going
Rep. ;hoses Neihardt has a bill t
stop farmers or village storekeepers of
Minnesota from sweating,
According to an Italian physiciai,
love causes an intoxication of the ner-
vous centres, producing a disease that,
if not cured, may lead to neurasthenia
and even insanity.
By building the levees with a core of
sand the operations of the burrowing
gopher are held in check.
down. and 1 could live like a Christian
again or to be sorry for feat' of what
we might find in the mud that was al-
ways left.
Peter was lying where I had put
hila, on a folded blanket laid in a
clothes basket. I went back to him
and sat down beside the basket
"Peter!" I said. "Poor old Peter!
Who dict this to you? Who hurt you?"
IIe looked at Inc and whined, as if he
wanted to tell me 1f nilly he could.
"Was it Mr. Ladley?" I asked. And
the poor thing cowered close to his bed
and shivered. 1 wondered: if it had
been he and if it bad why he had come
back. Perhaps he had remembered
the towel. perhaps he would come
again and s! -the night there. I was
' like Peter. 1 coWered and shivered at
• the very thought.
At 0 o'clock I heard a boat 'at the
door. , It had stuck there, and its occu-
pant was scolding furiously at the
boatman, Soon after I heard splash-
ing, and I knew that whoever it was
was wading back to the stairs through
the Leet. apd ii„lialf or,.so water_,gill.
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in the hall. I ran back to my couni
and locked myself in and thea stood
armed with the stove lid lifter in case
it should be Ladley and he should
break the door in.
The steps came np the stairs, and
Peter barked furiously. It seemed
to mo that this was to be my end, kill-
ed like a rat in a trap and thrown out
the window, to float, like my kitchen
chair, into Mollie Maguire's kitchen,
or to be found lying In the ooze of the
yard after the river had gone down.
The steps hesitated at the top of the
stairs and turned back along the hall.
Peter redoubled his noise. He never
barked for Mr. Reynolds or the Lad-
leys. I stood still, hardly able to
breathe. The door was thin and the
lock loose. 'One good blow, and -
The doorknob turned, and I screamed.
I recall that the light turned black and
that is all I do remember until 1 came
to a half hour later and saw Mr. Hol-
combe stooping over tae. The door,
with the lock broken, was standing
open. I tried to move, and then l saw
that my feet were propped up on the
edge of Peter's basket.
"Better leave them up," Mr. Hol -
come said. "It sends the blood back
to the bead. Half the — fool people
in the •world stick a pillow under a
fainting woman's shoulders. How are
you now?"
"All right," I said feebly. "1 thought
you were Mr. Ladley."
He helped me up, and I sat in a
chair and tried to keep my lips from
shaking. And then 1 saw that Mr.
Holcombe bad brought a suit case with
him and bad set it Inside the door.
"Ladley is safe until be gets bail,
anyhow," he said, "They picked him
np as he was boarding a Pennsylvania
train bound east."
"For murder?" 1 asked.
"As a suspicions character," he re-
plied grimly. "That does as well as
anything for :t time." He sat down
opposite me and looked at me intently.
-Mrs. Pitman." he said, "did you
ever bear the story of the horse that
wandered out of a village and could
not be found?"
I shook my head.
"Well, the hest wit of the village
failed to locate the horse. But one
lay the village idiot walked into town
tending the missing animal by the
bridle. When they asked him how he
had done it, he said. "Nell, I just
thought what I'd do if 1 was n horse
and then i went and did it."
"I see," 1 sags. humurlug him.
"You don't see. Now, what are we
trying to do?"
"We're trying to find a body. Do you
Intend to become a corpse?"
He leaned over and tapped on the
table between us. "We are trying to
prove a crime. I Intend for the time
to be a criminal."
He looked so curious, bent forward
and glaring at me from under his
bushy eyebrows, with his shoes on his
knee -for he bad taken them off to
wade to the stairs -and his trousers
lolled to his knees, that I wondered if
he was entirely sane. But Mr. Hol-
combe. eccentric as he might be, was
sane enough.
"Not really a criminal!"
"As really as lies in me. Listen. Mrs.
Pitman. 1 want to put myself in Lad-
ley's place fol' ti day or two, live as he
sired, if I van. 1 am going to sleep in
his room tonight, with your permis-
sion."
I could pot see any reason for objeet-
tug, utthungll I thought it silty and use-
less. I led the way to the front door,
Mr. Iiolcombe following with his shoes
and suit case. 1 lighted a -lamp and
he stood loosing around him,
see you bare been here since we
left this afternoon," he said.
"Twice," I replied, "Plrst with llfr,
()rives, and later" -
Tile Waifs died on my tongue. Some
one had been in the room since my last
visit there.
"He has been here!" I gasped. "I
left the room in tolerable order. Look
at it!"
"When were you here last?"
"At 7:30, or thereabouts."
"Where 'were you between 7:30 and
S:30?"
"In the kitchen with i'eter." I told
him then about the dog and about find-
ing him shut in the room.
The washstand was pulled out. The
sheets of Mr. Ladley's manuscript, usu-
ally an orderly pile, were half on the
floor. The bed coverings bad been
•1 jerked off and flung over the track of a
chair. +o
Peter imprisoned might have moved
the washstand and upset the manu-
script. Peter had never put the bed -
clothing over the chair or broken his
owu
"Humph!" he said. And, getting out
bis notebook. he made nn exact memo-
randum of what 1 had told him and of
the condition of the room. That done,
he turned to me.
"Mrs. Pitman." he said. "I'll thank
you to call me Mr. Ladley for the next
day or so. 1 am an actor out of em-
ployment, forty-one years of age, short,
stout and bald, married to n woman I
would like to be quit of, and 1 am
writing myself a play in which the
Shubert% intend to star me or in which
I intend the Shnberts to star me."
"Very well, Mr. Ladley," I said, try-
ing to enter into the spirit of the thing
and, God knows, seeing 110 humor in it
"Then you'll like your soda from the
icebox?"
"Sofia, .....
ITo;be;c ntinued)
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