CHAPTER XVIII
A HOLE IN THE WALL
My taking the detective out to Sunnyside raised an unexpected storm ofprotest from Gertrude and Halsey. I was not prepared for it, and Iscarcely knew how to account for it. To me Mr. Jamieson was far lessformidable under my eyes where I knew what he was doing, than he was ofin the city, twisting circumstances and motives to suit himself andlearning what he wished to know, about events at Sunnyside, in someoccult way. I was glad enough to have him there, when excitementsbegan to come thick and fast.
A new element was about to enter into affairs: Monday, or Tuesday atthe latest, would find Doctor Walker back in his green and white housein the village, and Louise's attitude to him in the immediate futurewould signify Halsey's happiness or wretchedness, as it might turn out.Then, too, the return of her mother would mean, of course, that shewould have to leave us, and I had become greatly attached to her.
From the day Mr. Jamieson came to Sunnyside there was a subtle changein Gertrude's manner to me. It was elusive, difficult to analyze, butit was there. She was no longer frank with me, although I think heraffection never wavered. At the time I laid the change to the factthat I had forbidden all communication with John Bailey, and hadrefused to acknowledge any engagement between the two. Gertrude spentmuch of her time wandering through the grounds, or taking longcross-country walks. Halsey played golf at the Country Club day afterday, and after Louise left, as she did the following week, Mr. Jamiesonand I were much together. He played a fair game of cribbage, but hecheated at solitaire.
The night the detective arrived, Saturday, I had a talk with him.
I told him of the experience Louise Armstrong had had the night before,on the circular staircase, and about the man who had so frightenedRosie on the drive. I saw that he thought the information wasimportant, and to my suggestion that we put an additional lock on theeast wing door he opposed a strong negative.
"I think it probable," he said, "that our visitor will be back again,and the thing to do is to leave things exactly as they are, to avoidrousing suspicion. Then I can watch for at least a part of each nightand probably Mr. Innes will help us out. I would say as little toThomas as possible. The old man knows more than he is willing toadmit."
I suggested that Alex, the gardener, would probably be willing to help,and Mr. Jamieson undertook to make the arrangement. For one night,however, Mr. Jamieson preferred to watch alone. Apparently nothingoccurred. The detective sat in absolute darkness on the lower step ofthe stairs, dozing, he said afterwards, now and then. Nothing couldpass him in either direction, and the door in the morning remained assecurely fastened as it had been the night before. And yet one of themost inexplicable occurrences of the whole affair took place that verynight.
Liddy came to my room on Sunday morning with a face as long as themoral law. She laid out my things as usual, but I missed her customarygarrulousness. I was not regaled with the new cook's extravagance asto eggs, and she even forbore to mention "that Jamieson," on whosearrival she had looked with silent disfavor.
"What's the matter, Liddy?" I asked at last. "Didn't you sleep lastnight?"
"No, ma'm," she said stiffly.
"Did you have two cups of coffee at your dinner?" I inquired.
"No, ma'm," indignantly.
I sat up and almost upset my hot water--I always take a cup of hotwater with a pinch of salt, before I get up. It tones the stomach.
"Liddy Allen," I said, "stop combing that switch and tell me what iswrong with you."
Liddy heaved a sigh.
"Girl and woman," she said, "I've been with you twenty-five years, MissRachel, through good temper and bad--" the idea! and what I have takenfrom her in the way of sulks!--"but I guess I can't stand it anylonger. My trunk's packed."
"Who packed it?" I asked, expecting from her tone to be told she hadwakened to find it done by some ghostly hand.
"I did; Miss Rachel, you won't believe me when I tell you this house ishaunted. Who was it fell down the clothes chute? Who was it scaredMiss Louise almost into her grave?"
"I'm doing my best to find out," I said. "What in the world are youdriving at?" She drew a long breath.
"There is a hole in the trunk-room wall, dug out since last night.It's big enough to put your head in, and the plaster's all over theplace."
"Nonsense!" I said. "Plaster is always falling."
But Liddy clenched that.
"Just ask Alex," she said. "When he put the new cook's trunk therelast night the wall was as smooth as this. This morning it's dug out,and there's plaster on the cook's trunk. Miss Rachel, you can get adozen detectives and put one on every stair in the house, and you'llnever catch anything. There's some things you can't handcuff."
Liddy was right. As soon as I could, I went up to the trunk-room,which was directly over my bedroom. The plan of the upper story of thehouse was like that of the second floor, in the main. One end,however, over the east wing, had been left only roughly finished, theintention having been to convert it into a ball-room at some futuretime. The maids' rooms, trunk-room, and various store-rooms, includinga large airy linen-room, opened from a long corridor, like that on thesecond floor. And in the trunk-room, as Liddy had said, was a freshbreak in the plaster.
Not only in the plaster, but through the lathing, the apertureextended. I reached into the opening, and three feet away, perhaps, Icould touch the bricks of the partition wall. For some reason, thearchitect, in building the house, had left a space there that struckme, even in the surprise of the discovery, as an excellent place for aconflagration to gain headway.
"You are sure the hole was not here yesterday?" I asked Liddy, whoseexpression was a mixture of satisfaction and alarm. In answer shepointed to the new cook's trunk--that necessary adjunct of themigratory domestic. The top was covered with fine white plaster, aswas the floor. But there were no large pieces of mortar lyingaround--no bits of lathing. When I mentioned this to Liddy she merelyraised her eyebrows. Being quite confident that the gap was of unholyorigin, she did not concern herself with such trifles as a bit ofmortar and lath. No doubt they were even then heaped neatly on agravestone in the Casanova churchyard!
I brought Mr. Jamieson up to see the hole in the wall, directly afterbreakfast. His expression was very odd when he looked at it, and thefirst thing he did was to try to discover what object, if any, such ahole could have. He got a piece of candle, and by enlarging theaperture a little was able to examine what lay beyond. The result wasnil. The trunk-room, although heated by steam heat, like the rest ofthe house, boasted of a fireplace and mantel as well. The opening hadbeen made between the flue and the outer wall of the house. There wasrevealed, however, on inspection, only the brick of the chimney on oneside and the outer wall of the house on the other; in depth the spaceextended only to the flooring. The breach had been made about fourfeet from the floor, and inside were all the missing bits of plaster.It had been a methodical ghost.
It was very much of a disappointment. I had expected a secret room, atthe very least, and I think even Mr. Jamieson had fancied he might atlast have a clue to the mystery. There was evidently nothing more tobe discovered: Liddy reported that everything was serene among theservants, and that none of them had been disturbed by the noise. Themaddening thing, however, was that the nightly visitor had evidentlymore than one way of gaining access to the house, and we madearrangements to redouble our vigilance as to windows and doors thatnight.
Halsey was inclined to pooh-pooh the whole affair. He said a break inthe plaster might have occurred months ago and gone unnoticed, and thatthe dust had probably been stirred up the day before. After all, wehad to let it go at that, but we put in an uncomfortable Sunday.Gertrude went to church, and Halsey took a long walk in the morning.Louise was able to sit up, and she allowed Halsey and Liddy to assisther down-stairs late in the afternoon. The east veranda was shady,green with vines and palms, cheerful with cushions and lounging chairs.We put Louise in a stea
mer chair, and she sat there passively enough,her hands clasped in her lap.
We were very silent. Halsey sat on the rail with a pipe, openlywatching Louise, as she looked broodingly across the valley to thehills. There was something baffling in the girl's eyes; and graduallyHalsey's boyish features lost their glow at seeing her about again, andsettled into grim lines. He was like his father just then.
We sat until late afternoon, Halsey growing more and more moody.Shortly before six, he got up and went into the house, and in a fewminutes he came out and called me to the telephone. It was AnnaWhitcomb, in town, and she kept me for twenty minutes, telling me thechildren had had the measles, and how Madame Sweeny had botched her newgown.
When I finished, Liddy was behind me, her mouth a thin line.
"I wish you would try to look cheerful, Liddy," I groaned, "your facewould sour milk." But Liddy seldom replied to my gibes. She folded herlips a little tighter.
"He called her up," she said oracularly, "he called her up, and askedher to keep you at the telephone, so he could talk to Miss Louise. ATHANKLESS CHILD IS SHARPER THAN A SERPENT'S TOOTH."
"Nonsense!" I said bruskly. "I might have known enough to leave them.It's a long time since you and I were in love, Liddy, and--we forget."
Liddy sniffed.
"No man ever made a fool of me," she replied virtuously.
"Well, something did," I retorted.
The Circular Staircase Page 18
