Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 21, 1922 — page 135: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE GREEN STAIN. able one. It’s impossible to hunt a type- writer with no suspect and no notion of where to look!”’ “Tt would be for an ordinary detective, Penny, but for you—” “ That’s just it, Ziz. An ordinary detec- tive would say, ‘ Pooh, of course we can trace that!’ But I’m not an ordinary de- téctive, and my very knowledge and experi- ence prove to me how baffling, how hope- less, this search is. Sometimes I think Frederick Varian did away with Betty.” ‘“That’s rubbish!” Zizi said calmly. ‘“ But I do think there was some definite reason for Mr. Varian’s attitude toward his daughter.” “No question of her paternity?” “ Good Lord, no! Minna Varian is the best and sweetest woman in the world! But I’ve a glimmer of a notion that I can’t work out yet—” “ Tell me.” “It’s too vague to put into words.” Zizi knit her heavy eyebrows and screwed up her red lips. And then the carpenters came, and the demolition of Headland House began. It was carefully managed; no rooms that the family used were put in disorder, but the kitchen quarters and the cellar were des- perately dug into. “ The kitchen is indicated,”’ Wise said to Dr. Varian. “ For it is clear to my mind that Betty was carried out through it.” “ Through the kitchen?” ‘“‘'Yes; you see, doctor, we must recon- struct the matter like this. Betty came back to the house alone. She came in the front door with her father’s key. Now, she must have been attacked or kidnaped then and there. I mean whoever did it— and we have to assume somebody did do it —was in the house waiting. Well, say he was, for the moment. Then, say Betty put up a fight, which of course she would, then she was carried off through the kitchen by means of the secret passage, which we have got to find! She had the yellow pillow in her hands for some reason—can’t say vw 1at—and she dropped it on the kitchen floor, or maybe the villain used the pillow to stifle the girl’s screams.” “Go on,” said Dr. Varian. 125 “Then owing to the girl’s struggles the String of beads round her neck broke and scattered over the floor.” | “Only part of them.” “Yes; the others stayed with her, or were picked up by the kidnapers.” ‘“* More than one?”’ “T think two. For when Mr. Varian ar- rived upon the scene one of them turned on him and killed him, while there must have been another to hold Betty. It is pos- sible there was only one, but I doubt it.” “And you think the concealed entrance is through the kitchen?” “That, or the cellar. Anyway, there is one, and it must be found! It was used the night Martha was killed, it was used the night North disappeared. Why, man, it must be there, and I must find it!” “True enough, and I hope you will.” “Here’s something, Penny,” Zizi said, appearing suddenly at his elbow. “I’ve found a stain’ on my frock that’s exactly like the one we noticed on Martha’s hand.” “What?” “Yes, a green stain. A long Swish, as of green paint—but it isn’t paint.” Zizi held up a little linen frock that she sometimes wore mornings. On the side, down near the hem, was a green smear, and It was similar in appearance to the strange mark on the hand of the dead girl. “Where'd it come from?” asked Wise. “T don’t know, but it’s the dress I wore when I was exploring the cellar, and it got pretty dirty.” ** Been washed?” ““No, I shook off and brushed off most of the dirt, but this stain stuck, and ea brush off. That’s how I noticed it.” “Coincidence, I’m afraid. Or maybe Martha went down-cellar that night for something.” ‘But what in the cellar would make a mark like that?” ‘““Dunno, Ziz. There’s no green paint down there.” “Tt isn’t paint, Penny,” Zizi persisted. “It doesn’t smell like paint.” ‘What does it smell like?” ‘‘ There’s no odor to it that I can notice. But it’s a clue.” comicloool C©