Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 2 — page 11: what you’re looking at

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

THE ARGOS SATURDAY, JULY 17, 1920 Vol. CXXIHI ( PS Suets ‘ ircumstance a by/ Charles King Van Riper CHAPTER I. MURDER? T was Sunday morning that the woman who lived next door to old Mrs. Spald- ing, in Maple Street, remarked to her husband that she hadn’t seen their neigh- bor for three days. “ That’s strange, isn’t it?” observed the man, who knew that when the weather was fair the little old lady never failed to spend most of her mornings working in the Bpruee around the rose-covered cottage. . “T believe I’ll run over and see if she’s all right,” the wife announced. It was not until the woman had started on her errand that the man remembered that his sleep had been disturbed three nights before by the barking of a dog. He had been so tired that he had not fully wakened, and it had been forgotten in the morning, to be recalled only now that his wife had suggested that possibly Mrs. Spalding was not well. But the barking of a dog—surely nothing like that had hap- pened. The man went on with the reading of his paper. Within three minutes his wife was back. ‘“‘T’m afraid something’s wrong with Mrs. Spalding,” she said breathlessly. 1 ARGOSY. The way the woman looked brought her husband to his feet. “The doors are locked,” she went on, ‘‘ and the shades are all drawn. I listened, and there wasn’t a sound inside the house.” Within twenty minutes a policeman was on his way to investigate. People: from across the street and further along the block had joined the next-door neighbors, and were waiting in front of the little cottage when the policeman arrived. None of them had seen Mrs. Spalding since Thursday morning—in fact, one wo- man, whose husband was a traveling sales- man, said positively Mrs. Spalding hadn’t appeared all day Wednesday. Another neighbor remembered having heard the dog barking Thursday night. But it was the man who lived in the corner house who advanced the speculation to a more exciting pitch. He told of having seen two shabbily dressed men talking on the sidewalk in the shadows beyond the street lamp. Just after the householder noticed them one man turned the corner and started down Maple Street. The citizen saw him pass under the light. Not liking the looks of the men, the man. who lived in the corner house had tele- phoned to the police. 145 NOOK (©