The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 1 — page 39: what you’re looking at

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

THANKS TO” THE--3.— R, T. Momentarily, the effect upon James Bowen, M.D., was not unlike an actual blow. For a little, he had fancied that his new policy of push and punch and erabbing what came within reach was likely to carry him farther than the old methods. Instead, it had landed him in a deserted mansion and—or it couldn’t be - a deserted mansion, because there was a butler, and Miss Catterson had come here to see some one! And then, on the other hand, it must be a deserted mansion; the girl had merely entered it and, for all he knew to the contrary, had gone into thin air. The butler had served him an indifferent din- ner, and apparently had followed her out to nowhere by the fourth dimension route! Or perhaps—Dr. Bowen stared back at the incontestably genuine electric lights and took a firm grip on his wits! Taking too much for granted,.it really seemed fhat he had made.a considerable ass of himself. His part, in here at two in the morning, was not to stand there forming hypotheses that led nowhere; his job was to find out just what had become of Helen Catterson. Whatever the circumstances, one does not roam through a strange, possibly oc- cupied, dwelling alone at such an hour. He would have to have help and approval in the shape of a conventional, uniformed policeman, and although it might take time and patience to lay the situation before that individual, the quicker Dr. Bowen secured his help the better. He peered about with eyes grown decidedly keener, and marched straight for the front door*of the inexplicable home. There was a heavy chain, which he re- membered the butler putting up again after he had entered; there was a bolt, too, and Dr. Bowen undid both of them swiftly and reached down for the big key he also remembered. It was absent. He gazed at the empty keyhole for an instant, pushed back the spring latch, and turned the knob. The door remained quite as ee closed as before! 29 Dr. Bowen, crouching, examined the crack of the door, and rose again quite suddenly and looked back of him. There was no mistake about that absent key, at any rate; it had been removed delib- erately, leaving a thick brass bolt that would have taken twenty minutes to cut with a hack-saw, between himself and the outer world! Two or three minutes, the gentleman from Hallas remained as he was. There seemed no use in mincing matters: they had locked him in, had had him locked in doubtless since the moment of his first entrance, because the butler had spent some seconds fumbling over the door after admitting him. And who were “ they,” and where were they now, and, ever most important, what had they done to Helen? Dr. Bowen, decidedly the whiter, set his teeth and walked down the hall to the -dark doorway of the dining-room. His course was settled now. For a beginning, he would search the house from top to bottom, roof and cellar included if neces- sary; after that, if his horrible suspicion of the home’s present complete emptiness was justified, he would break out one of the windows and get to the police, and then—he struck a match ooked for the wall-push. He jabbed it, and turned warily to the dining-room, flooded now with light. It was perfectly empty. From the table the cloth had vanished and all other signs of his meal. He gazed at it for a moment and strode on; and this place, with the little stairs running down into blackness, was the pantry, and likewise unoccupied. Later, very likely, he would have to investigate the below-stairs gloom; first he would cover the main floor. Dr. Bowen, therefore, moved into the corridor, and, match over head, walked through the pitchy doorway on the other side. The push-button this time was almost under his hand, and further electric radiance flashed upon the place. Dr. Jim, set of countenance, smiled abruptly! This was their library, and COMMICLOOOKS com