Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 21, 1922 — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

126 “So’s the yellow pillow, so are the scat- tered beads, so was the footprint of cellar dust on the library floor, but they’re all blind clues. They lead nowhere.” “Penny Wise! What ails you? I never knew you so ready to lie down on a job!” “No, Zizi, not that. It’s only that I can see how futile and useless all these clues are. We've got to get some bigger evidence. In fact, we can do nothing till we find the way the criminal got in and out of this house. Don’t tease me, Zizi; I never was so put about!” “You must be, when you revert to your old-fashioned phrases!” The girl laughed at him, but there was deepest sympathy in her dark eyes, afd an affectionate, brooding glance told of her anxiety for him. The carpenters found nothing. They proved beyond all possible doubt that there was no secret passage between the interior of Headland House and the outer world, that there could be none, for every inch of space was investigated and accounted for. “There’s no way to get into that house except through its two doors or its win- dows,” the master carpenter declared, and the men who were watching knew he spoke the truth. “Tt proves,” Granniss said, looking up from the plans to the actual walls, “ it’s all just as this drawing shows it.” “Jt certainly is,” agreed Dr. Varian. “ There’s no missing bit.” “No,” said Wise, thoughtfully, ‘“ there isn’t. And, at least, the carpenters have proved that there is no secret passage built into this house. Yet there is one. I will find it.” For the first time his words seemed to be spoken with his own conviction of their truth. His voice had a new ring, his eyes a new brightness, and he seemed suddenly alert and powerful mentally, where before his hearers had thought him lacking in energy. “You've thought of a new way to go about it?” asked Granniss. “T have! It may not work, but I’ve a new idea, at least. Zizi, let me see that stained dress of yours again.” Obediently Zizi brought her frock with the stain still on its hem. Wise looked ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. at it closely, sniffed it carefully, and gave it back, saying: “If you want to remove that stain, dear, just wash it with soap and water. It ll come off then. Now, I’m going down to the village and I may not be back for tunch- eon. Don’t wait for me.” “Do you think he really has a new theory, or is he just stalling for time?” Dr. ‘Varian asked when Wise had left. “Oh, he’s off on a new tack,” she said, and.her eyes shone. “I know him so well, you see, I’m sure he has a new idea and a good one. I’ve never seen him so cast down and so baffled as he has been over this case, but now that his whole demeanor is changed he has a fresh start, I know, and he’ll win out yet! I never doubted his success from the beginning, but the last two days he has been at low ebb.” ‘“‘T have to go back to Boston this after- noon,”’ Dr. Varian went on, “ but I'll be up again in a few days. Meantime, keep me informed, Rodney, of anything new that transpires.” Down in the little village of Headland Harbor, Pennington Wise went first to see Claire Blackwood. She seemed to know more about Law- rence North than any one else did, yet even she knew next to nothing. ‘“ No,” she told the detective, ‘“ the police haven’t found out anything definite about him yet. Why don’t you take up the search for him, Mr. Wise?” ‘“Pve all I can do searching for Betty Varian,” he returned with a smile. “I’m not employed to hunt up North, and I am to find Miss Varian. But surely the police can get on the track of him. A man like that can’t drop out of existence.” ‘“That’s just what he’s done, though,” said Claire. “ Do you know, Mr. Wise, I believe Lawrence North is a bigger man than we supposed. I mean a more impor- tant one than he himself admitted. I think he was up here incognito.” “You mean that North is not his real name?”’ ‘“T don’t know about that, but I mean that he wanted a rest or wanted to get away from everybody who knew him—and so he came up here to be by himself. How else COMmiclboo SS C©