RUN TO COVER
IN stunned silence the little group eyed Detective Ferguson and
his prisoner. Slowly the latter rose from his hands and knees, the
handcuffs clinking musically as he knocked against Ferguson’s left
wrist to which he was secured.
“Easy,” cautioned Ferguson, and the revolver in his right hand menaced
the murderer. “You’ll get no chance to escape now, Jim,” with emphasis,
then with reluctant admiration as he scanned Turner’s good-looking
effeminate features and his slight trim figure in its woman’s costume.
“Say, but you are a pretty girl. I never once suspected you, never.”
“And I’d have kept you fooled,” retorted Turner, “except for you,”
addressing Judith. “You were one too many for me with those cursed
unseen ears,” and he cast a look of baffled fury at her fan. “I thought
you were practically dead to the world when I disconnected that blamed
earphone and blindfolded you.”
“You put too much confidence in your own cleverness,” Judith responded.
“It would have been wiser if you and your confederate had ransacked
Father’s safe in silence, instead of discussing your desperate need, on
account of Austin’s murder, of getting away--and thus giving me a clew
to your identity.”
“Who is your confederate?” demanded Ferguson. A scowl was his only
answer. “Oh, well, you’ll talk more later,” with significant emphasis,
“in the Death House.”
Turner’s face was distorted with rage. “To think I’ll have to swing for
that hound, Austin Hale!” he stormed. “He welshed on every one, the
yellow dog.”
“What was your motive for killing him?” asked Robert Hale, recovering
from his stupefied surprise at the course of events.
Turner looked at him in silence for a minute, then at the others in the
library. Their concentrated regard fanned his inordinate vanity and--in
spite of Ferguson’s words, the Death House seemed remote.
“Why did I kill Austin Hale? Because he penetrated my disguise.” He
paused, then continued more rapidly. “It must have been shortly before
midnight when I was going to bed--every one else had retired and I
could hear Anna and the cook snoring in their rooms,”--Anna’s face
was a study as she glared at the man she had known as “Maud”--“and I
supposed I had locked my bedroom door. I was shaving--had to do it at
dead of night,” he interpolated, “when in the glass I saw the hall
door open a little way and Austin Hale peered into the room. I was too
paralyzed to turn round and he stared at my reflection in the glass,
then, collecting himself, he softly closed the door and silently stole
away.”
No one cared to break the silence as Turner ceased speaking, a second
more and he had resumed his statement.
“I wiped the shaving lather off my face, straightened my wig and crept
down the hall. I heard Austin moving about in his room and I went back,
but I could not stay there. I don’t know now what brought Austin to my
door at that hour, unless he wanted me to aid him in seeing Miss Polly
Davis, but he had raised the devil in me. It wouldn’t take him long to
establish my identity and then would follow exposure, and that meant,
with my record, doing fully fifteen years in the penitentiary.”
“Better that than swinging for murder,” commented Ferguson dryly.
“Not as I felt then,” retorted Turner. “My brain was on fire as I
stole downstairs and trailed him to the library. On the way I saw Mr.
John Hale’s sword cane in the umbrella stand. I’d seen him open it
once or twice to show to Miss Polly.” Ferguson shot a look at Polly
and John Hale. They had drawn close to each other and stood listening
breathlessly to Turner’s story.
“So some one beside your brother knew about your sword cane, Mr. Hale,”
Ferguson remarked with a quizzical smile, and John Hale nodded.
“Go ahead, Turner,” he said, and the prisoner, with a resentful glare
at Detective Ferguson, again addressed them, confining his remarks
almost exclusively to Judith.
“I knew how to work the spring of the sword cane, for I had played
with it several times when Mr. John left it behind, and so I picked up
the cane on Tuesday night and stole into the dining room.” In spite of
himself, Turner’s voice was not quite steady. It quivered and deepened
as he lived over again the events of that fateful night.
“I intended to peek through the portières into the library, for not
hearing a sound in there puzzled me. The portières were parted a wee
bit and I made out Miss Judith sitting at the far end before the
fireplace with her back partly turned toward me. Then”--his voice
changed, holding a note of horror--“Austin Hale loomed up before me,
right under the sidelight. I could have touched his shirt-bosom,
instead--My God! I lunged and the sword cane struck home.”
“I heard Austin fall,” Turner resumed after a tense pause, “and
instinctively tiptoed to the pantry and crouched there in the dark. I
heard you come in, Major, and Miss Judith call to you. Then after what
seemed an interminable time I crept out into the central hall, found it
deserted, and replaced the cane in the umbrella stand.”
“Didn’t you go at all into the library?” demanded Robert Hale harshly.
“Yes, after Miss Polly had been there.” He cast a vicious look in the
girl’s direction. “I heard some one sobbing in the library as I started
to leave the pantry and peeked in again in time to see you wringing
your hands over Austin’s body--you are a weak sister to sob over the
man who threatened you with exposure.”
“You--” John Hale started forward, but Major Richards’ tall figure
blocked him. “Get out of my way, I’ll throttle that fellow.”
“Not here, you won’t,” interposed Ferguson. “Keep quiet, Mr. Hale,
until Turner completes his confession.”
“Tell him to speak more respectfully of Miss Davis--or not mention her
at all,” thundered John Hale.
“What happened next?” demanded his brother. “Shut up, John,” and he
waved him back. “What did Miss Davis do next, Turner?”
“Cleared out,” succinctly, “first taking a look at the sword cane
standing so innocently in the umbrella stand.” Turner’s chuckle was
unpleasant. “That left the coast clear for me and I slipped into the
library. There the open safe attracted me,” with a side-long glance at
Hale. “I had picked up my rubber gloves, used in my house work, when
in the pantry and I put ’em on. The open safe was too good a chance
to overlook, but I only had time to grab a few bonds and a memorandum
which Austin had been looking at”--a gasp escaped Mrs. Hale--“then I
beat it up the back stairs to my room, for I heard some one coming
down. I guess it was you, Major.”
“It was,” acknowledged Richards. He cast a hesitating look at Judith
before continuing. “I did lose my way, as I have already stated, when
walking home, and I entered the front door just in time to catch
Judith as she fainted. I immediately carried her upstairs and laid
her on the couch in our boudoir. I had some cognac there and quickly
revived her.” He paused for a second. “The reading lamp was burning in
the boudoir and I concluded that Judith had come downstairs feeling
faint and in search of some medicine which, I recalled, had been left
in the library. When she revived, she said nothing to me about having
gone downstairs, and when I asked her if she needed her medicine, she
replied that she did.”
“Please wait, Joe,” Judith interrupted him quickly. “I was
dazed--completely unnerved. In fact I had at the time no recollection
of fainting in the hall. I thought, until you questioned me the other
night, that you had found me unconscious in the boudoir, so I never
mentioned that after Mother and Uncle John left for the French Embassy
I went down into the library to read and wait for you, Joe.”
“Your silence confused me, puzzled me,” Richards confessed. “In
fact--well, you will understand when I tell you that a gold locket fell
out of your belt when I unloosened it. As I picked up the locket and
placed it by your side on the couch I saw that a gold link fastened to
its ring had been forced apart. A few minutes later I went into the
library and discovered Austin lying dead on the floor.” He turned to
Mrs. Hale. “In stating that I did not know Austin, I told the truth,
but I had seen a photograph of him that morning on Judith’s dressing
table and the photograph bore his autograph. I was horrified at finding
his dead body, and that horror was intensified when, on bending closer,
I discovered that a link in his watch chain was bent and twisted--and
the link attached to the locket tucked in Judith’s belt had come
unmistakably from that chain.”
“Merciful heavens!” Judith gazed at him in horror. “Then you thought--”
“The obvious,” responded Richards. “Your mother had told me that there
had been a boy and girl affair between you, that they confidently
expected an engagement on your return from Japan--”
“Mother!” Mrs. Hale quailed under Judith’s anger.
“Upon my soul, Judith, you need not take that tone with me,” she
objected. “The first intimation we had of your marriage to Joe was a
cable announcing it. A nice way to treat parents who had indulged every
whim.”
“Need we go into that again, Mother?” protested Judith.
“No; but I was hurt, deeply hurt, and I did not take kindly to having
a son-in-law thrust on us.”
“And so you took it out on him by repeating a lot of nonsense,”
exclaimed her husband indignantly. “Well, Richards, I suppose you
concluded that Judith and Austin quarreled and she had stabbed him, and
reached the hall in a fainting condition just as you entered the house?”
“Exactly, sir; Judith’s silence about Austin--for that she had seen him
either dead or alive was proved by her possession of the locket, led me
to fear a frightful tragedy,” admitted Richards. “In my agony of mind I
did the only thing that occurred to me, I took the watch and chain out
of Austin’s vest pocket before sending for the coroner, for I knew it
was a clew the police would trace to the bitter end.”
“But why did you send the watch to Jennings?” asked Hale. “It was
courting discovery.”
“As it turned out, yes; but my idea was that if the chain was repaired
no one would suspect a locket had been wrenched from it,” explained
Richards. “Then it would not have mattered where the watch was found.”
Hale shook his head. “You laid yourself open to grave suspicion,” he
said. “I now understand your actions and your constrained manner,
but--” He stopped. “I missed a playing card out of my solitaire pack
several days ago, a Knave of Hearts, to be exact, on which I had
scratched the combination of my safe.”
“Robert!” The ejaculation came from Mrs. Hale and her husband turned to
her testily.
“I am troubled with amnesia,” he said. “It is just a touch, but I am
sensitive about having it known or suspected, and so occasionally I jot
down figures and numbers. I play solitaire so continuously that I am
never without the safe-combination; but on Friday I missed the card and
the next day asked Maud, or shall we say Jim Turner,”--and he indicated
the pseudo-maid--“if she had seen the card. She brought it to me later,
stating that she had found it on your dresser, Richards, and it led me
to believe that you had a hand in Austin’s murder.”
“Is that why you put a dictograph in our boudoir?” asked Richards.
“Yes,” Hale admitted. “I went to the Burroughs Agency, explained my
suspicions, and they installed it.”
Polly Davis broke her long silence. “I heard you talking to Mr.
Burroughs,” she explained. “I went to the detective agency to ask them
to undertake an investigation for me, but your presence, Mr. Hale,
frightened me away.” She paused and looked at Judith and her father.
“From having seen you on the stairs Tuesday night, Mr. Hale, I began to
suspect that you might have killed Austin. I knew that you and he had
often quarreled in the past--”
“How about John’s scenes with his stepson?” inquired Hale dryly, and
Polly changed color, but she ignored his question as she went bravely
on.
“Your offer to increase my salary and your unsolicited loan, Judith,
increased my suspicion,” she stated. “I thought that you were trying to
bribe me. Then your threat about the locket--”
“What was in the locket?” asked Richards and his father-in-law
simultaneously.
Polly looked swiftly at John Hale and then away. She was deadly white.
“Last week,” she began, “I had a letter from Austin in which he said
that rumors had reached him of my infatuation for”--she stammered, then
went bravely on--“for his stepfather, that if I permitted John to make
love to me he would show him a letter I had written. It was a piece of
sheer folly, but”--her voice trembled--“the letter was compromising.
Austin stated that he kept the letter in a locket I had given him and
would bring them both to Washington.”
“What followed?” asked Mrs. Hale, more absorbed in Polly’s tale than in
all else.
“I wrote Austin that I did not fear his threat and broke our
engagement.” The girl paused. “I have already told you that Austin
wired he would be here Tuesday night. I heard that Mrs. Hale and John
were going to the French Embassy, I knew that Mr. Hale was ill in bed,
and so I came here that night on impulse, trusting to chance to see
Austin alone and persuade him to destroy the letter. The murderer,” she
shuddered, “has testified that I entered the house after he had killed
Austin.” She turned abruptly to Judith. “What was your object in taking
the locket?”
“My desire to shield you,” Judith answered. “Austin wrote me at the
same time he did you, telling of the existence of such a letter, and
that he carried it in a locket to have it in instant readiness. I had
no idea that he would be here Tuesday night, and when I found his body
as I started to leave the library, I jumped to the conclusion, Polly,
that you had killed him and in terror had run away without securing the
locket.”
“Would it not have been easier for you to have taken the watch and
chain as well?” asked Richards.
“I feared that if the watch were missing search would be made for it,”
she explained. “Whereas, if only Polly and I knew about the locket it
would not be missed. I had Polly’s shears in my sewing bag, having
picked them up when in Father’s den early Tuesday afternoon. I dropped
them after securing the locket, and afterwards came down into the
library to get them and found Joe talking to Coroner Penfield and Mr.
Ferguson.”
“Polly,”--Robert Hale’s sudden pronouncement of her name made the girl
start nervously--“why did you supply Austin with the combination of my
safe?”
“I did not give it to him,” she denied indignantly.
“Indeed? Then why did you write this cryptic message, ‘Saw
Austin-10-t-b-53-76c,’ over and over on a page of copied manuscript?”
and Hale held out the sheet he had shown his brother earlier that day.
Polly stared at it. “My mind was far from my work,” she stammered. “I
wrote mechanically on the typewriter any silly sentences that came into
my head. I did know your safe-combination, for you had me write it
down for you once and the figures dwelt in my memory; but indeed I did
not repeat them to Austin.”
“You did not need to,” broke in Mrs. Hale. “I had Austin once open
the safe for me, Robert, in your absence. I needed my jewelry, and I
supposed he remembered the combination or--”
“Or jotted it down for future use,” Turner interrupted her brusquely.
“I found a soiled bit of paper with several numbers torn off on
Austin’s bureau when I slipped in his bedroom on my way to bed. He must
have refreshed his memory before going down to the library by studying
the paper.”
“What was he searching for in the safe?” asked Hale.
“I know,” volunteered Mrs. Hale. She stared anywhere but at her
husband. “Austin had very wheedling ways, and sometimes when he was
hard pressed for money, he persuaded me to lend it to him.”
“Agatha!”
“I know, Robert, it was foolish.” Mrs. Hale’s voice trembled with
a suspicion of tears. “The sum finally totaled four thousand seven
hundred and eighty-two dollars.”
“Good Lord!” and Hale eyed her in dismay.
“I had his memorandum of his indebtedness,” she went on, paying no
attention to her husband. “I wrote reminding him of it, and that I
had placed it in your safe intending to show it to you, Robert--”
Hale groaned dismally and his wife burst into tears. “I dared not ask
outright about the memorandum as I feared it might be suspected that
Austin and I had quarreled over it.”
Judith broke in upon any reproaches her father might have made.
“It was to solve Austin’s reason for opening your safe, Father, that
caused me to search it this afternoon in hopes of finding a clew,” she
said.
“Where did you get the combination?”
“From your playing card,” she explained. “I knew your absent-minded
habits and recalled seeing some pin scratches on the Knave of Hearts
which, by the way, I picked up in this library Friday night and later
placed on top of my husband’s pack, thinking, as the back of the cards
were similar, it belonged to him. So this afternoon after Dr. McLane
left I could not rest, the card recurred to me, and I searched my
husband’s pack. Not finding it, I went to your den and discovered it
among your papers. I had just opened the safe when Maud”--catching
herself up--“that man, blindfolded me.”
“And what induced you to tempt providence again, Turner?” demanded
Ferguson turning to his prisoner. “You might have escaped detection but
for that.”
“Perhaps,” was the sullen answer. “I knew Mr. Hale had deposited
negotiable bonds and a large sum of money there over Sunday--”
Judith interrupted him with an exclamation. “Did you steal my Valve
bonds on Tuesday night?”
Turner nodded. “It was all I did get.” His bitter chuckle was brief.
“I was well scared after the murder but I dared not bolt for fear of
centering suspicion upon me, and then I had no money. I nosed around
everywhere looking for something I could steal to raise ready cash. I
was afraid to dispose of Miss Judith’s bonds because it might have been
traced to me. In my search I found Miss Polly had brought some bonds in
an envelope and when she was with Mrs. Hale I sneaked it out.”
“You did?” Polly looked at him in round-eyed surprise. “But I found the
bonds there.”
“Sure you did,” again Turner chuckled, “but they weren’t _your_
Valve bonds, but Miss Judith’s. I noticed they were the same, so I
substituted hers in your envelope, knowing that I could sell yours
without danger of the numbers’ being traced to Austin’s murder.”
“But--but,” Polly turned in perplexity to Richards. “Then the Valve
bonds I asked you to sell for me Friday afternoon were Judith’s?”
“Yes, evidently,” Richards addressed Frank Latimer. “I gave Miss Polly
my check for her bonds before going to your brokerage office where I
sold the bonds to you and put up the cash to cover my margins with
you.” Before the stockbroker could answer him, Richards looked at Polly
searchingly. “Tell us, Miss Polly, how you contrived to steal the
jewelry out of Judith’s bedroom last night when she and I were sitting
in the boudoir--the only entrance to the inner room?”
The girl was slow in answering. “After Judith left me last night, I was
desperate,” she admitted finally. “I feared the locket would be used
to entangle me in the murder, if not convict me of the crime, and I
decided to steal it at all costs. I took all your jewelry--which, by
the way, has been mailed back to you registered post, Judith--thinking
that the theft would then be attributed to an ordinary sneak thief.
As to how I passed you unobserved in entering your bedroom”--for the
first time Polly smiled--“some scientific detectives would describe
it as a case of psychological invisibility, where the physical eye
sees, but the brain fails to record the eye’s message, but”--again she
smiled--“you and Major Richards were so absorbed in each other that you
never noticed me when I slipped through the boudoir and out again.”
A rich color suffused Judith’s cheeks. “Did the locket contain your
letter, Polly?” she asked. “Or was Austin’s threat an idle one?
I”--with a quick proud lift of her head--“never examined the locket.”
Polly opened her hand bag to which she had clung ever since entering
the library, and took out the locket. She held it up that all might see
the slightly raised lettering of the word “Mizpah,” then without a word
she pressed a spring and from the locket took a many folded thin sheet
of note paper. She spread it open and laid it in John Hale’s hand.
“This is a letter of a foolish, indiscreet girl, longing for a little
attention, a little of this world’s fun,” she said soberly. “I was
caught by the dross, and it was not until I grew to know you, John,
that I found pure gold.”
John Hale looked at her and then at the letter.
“Austin telephoned me from New York to meet him here on Tuesday at
midnight and to say nothing to any one of his expected arrival,” he
stated. “He intimated that he had an important disclosure to make about
you. I left Agatha at the French Embassy, and I had just reached the
corner when I saw you, Polly, dash down the steps and go up the street.
I started to overtake you, then turned back. I could not make up my
mind to face Austin then, for I knew I would kill him,” John’s hands
clenched and unclenched spasmodically. “Finally, I returned to the
Embassy for Agatha and when we walked in here I was confronted with
Austin’s dead body. I imagined you had seen him, Polly, and goaded by
threats had stabbed him, for I recognized the shears as ones I had seen
on your desk in Robert’s den.”
John stopped speaking and looked down at the letter still clutched in
his extended hand, then striding swiftly to the fireplace he threw the
unread letter on the blazing wood. As it ignited and flared into a
blaze, he turned with outstretched hands to Polly who had watched him
in an agony of suspense.
“Polly,” he began, and his voice quivered with emotion, “will you take
me, for better, for worse?”
Polly’s eyes were blinded with tears, but winking them away, she looked
bravely up at him.
“Will _you_ take a repentant, adoring fool?” she asked, and John Hale’s
low cry of happiness found echo in her heart as, regardless of the
others, he slipped his arm about her and led her from the library.
Mrs. Hale watched the lovers disappear, and with mixed feelings,
searched hastily for a dry handkerchief. But all she dragged to light
out of her bag was a half sheet of note paper.
“Bless me!” she exclaimed. “Here’s that note from Austin to me saying
he was going to San Francisco--what did you do with the last page, my
dear?” turning to Judith.
“The last page?” echoed Judith; she looked as puzzled as she felt, and
Jim Turner answered the question for her.
“I found that paper in Austin’s bedroom, also,” he volunteered. “It
was just the half-sheet. Why he brought it with him I don’t know, but
anyway I thought it a good plant and slipped the page in the pocket
of Miss Judith’s electric, knowing some one would find it.” He turned
to Mrs. Hale who had moved a trifle nearer. “I have your memorandum
of Austin’s indebtedness to you; I kept it for blackmailing purposes,
but”--he stopped abruptly, conscious that his voice was a bit shaky.
“How’d you happen to disguise yourself as a woman?” asked Ferguson.
“I used to play in amateur theatricals, and on account of my small
size, effeminate appearance and voice was generally cast for a girl’s
part,” Turner explained. “I had to lay low after that Shield’s
affair--it meant fifteen years in the ‘pen’ if caught. Well,”--with
his free hand he dashed away the moisture which had gathered on his
forehead and felt his closely shaven head--“I’d rather be hung than
endure a living death. Come on, Ferguson,” and without a backward
glance he departed in charge of the detective.
Mrs. Hale dropped down on the divan and her expression caused her
husband to hurry to her side.
“Are you going to faint, Agatha?” he asked anxiously.
She looked at him vacantly before answering.
“I don’t know,” she said, “how I shall ever get over having my
confidential maid turn out to be a man,” and a burst of tears relieved
her overcharged feelings.
Richards left husband and wife together and turned to speak to Judith,
only to find her gone. A look in the dining room showed that she was
not there, and racing upstairs two steps at a time, he dashed into
their boudoir. Judith turned from the fireplace and looked at him
inquiringly.
“Judith,” his pent-up worship of her spoke in eye and voice, “what can
I say to you, my darling, my best beloved? Your faith, your loyalty--”
“Are surpassed by yours,” she answered softly, “dear heart of mine.”
Popular Copyright Novels
_AT MODERATE PRICES_
Ask Your Dealer for a Complete List of A. L. Burt Company’s Popular
Copyright Fiction
=Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.= By A. Conan Doyle.
=Affinities, and Other Stories.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=After House, The.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Against the Winds.= By Kate Jordan.
=Ailsa Paige.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Also Ran.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.
=Amateur Gentleman, The.= By Jeffery Farnol.
=Anderson Crow, Detective.= By George Barr McCutcheon.
=Anna, the Adventuress.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Anne’s House of Dreams.= By L. M. Montgomery.
=Anybody But Anne.= By Carolyn Wells.
=Are All Men Alike, and The Lost Titian.= By Arthur Stringer.
=Around Old Chester.= By Margaret Deland.
=Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist.= By John T. McIntyre.
=Ashton-Kirk, Investigator.= By John T. McIntyre.
=Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent.= By John T. McIntyre.
=Ashton-Kirk, Special Detective.= By John T. McIntyre.
=Athalie.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=At the Mercy of Tiberius.= By Augusta Evans Wilson.
=Auction Block, The.= By Rex Beach.
=Aunt Jane of Kentucky.= By Eliza C. Hall.
=Awakening of Helena Richie.= By Margaret Deland.
=Bab: a Sub-Deb.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Bambi.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke.
=Barbarians.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Bar 20.= By Clarence E. Mulford.
=Bar 20 Days.= By Clarence E. Mulford.
=Barrier, The.= By Rex Beach.
=Bars of Iron, The.= By Ethel M. Dell.
=Beasts of Tarzan, The.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs.
=Beckoning Roads.= By Jeanne Judson.
=Belonging.= By Olive Wadsley.
=Beloved Traitor, The.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Beloved Vagabond, The.= By Wm. J. Locke.
=Beltane the Smith.= By Jeffery Farnol.
=Betrayal, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Beulah.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans.
=Beyond the Frontier.= By Randall Parrish.
=Big Timber.= By Bertrand W. Sinclair.
=Black Bartlemy’s Treasure.= By Jeffery Farnol.
=Black Is White.= By George Barr McCutcheon.
=Blacksheep! Blacksheep!.= By Meredith Nicholson.
=Blind Man’s Eyes, The.= By Wm. Mac Harg and Edwin Balmer.
=Boardwalk, The.= By Margaret Widdemer.
=Bob Hampton of Placer.= By Randall Parrish.
=Bob, Son of Battle.= By Alfred Olivant.
=Box With Broken Seals, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Boy With Wings, The.= By Berta Ruck.
=Brandon of the Engineers.= By Harold Bindloss.
=Bridge of Kisses, The.= By Berta Ruck.
=Broad Highway, The.= By Jeffery Farnol.
=Broadway Bab.= By Johnston McCulley.
=Brown Study, The.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Bruce of the Circle A.= By Harold Titus.
=Buccaneer Farmer, The.= By Harold Bindloss.
=Buck Peters, Ranchman.= By Clarence E. Mulford.
=Builders, The.= By Ellen Glasgow.
=Business of Life, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Cab of the Sleeping Horse, The.= By John Reed Scott.
=Cabbages and Kings.= By O. Henry.
=Cabin Fever.= By B. M. Bower.
=Calling of Dan Matthews, The.= By Harold Bell Wright.
=Cape Cod Stories.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Cap’n Abe, Storekeeper.= By James A. Cooper.
=Cap’n Dan’s Daughter.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Cap’n Erl.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Cap’n Jonah’s Fortune.= By James A. Cooper.
=Cap’n Warren’s Wards.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Chinese Label, The.= By J. Frank Davis.
=Christine of the Young Heart.= By Louise Breintenbach Clancy.
=Cinderella Jane.= By Marjorie B. Cooke.
=Cinema Murder, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=City of Masks, The.= By George Barr McCutcheon.
=Cleek of Scotland Yard.= By T. W. Hanshew.
=Cleek, The Man of Forty Faces.= By Thomas W. Hanshew.
=Cleek’s Government Cases.= By Thomas W. Hanshew.
=Clipped Wings.= By Rupert Hughes.
=Clutch of Circumstance, The.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke.
=Coast of Adventure, The.= By Harold Bindloss.
=Come-Back, The.= By Carolyn Wells.
=Coming of Cassidy, The.= By Clarence E. Mulford.
=Coming of the Law, The.= By Charles A. Seltzer.
=Comrades of Peril.= By Randall Parrish.
=Conquest of Canaan, The.= By Booth Tarkington.
=Conspirators, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Contraband.= By Randall Parrish.
=Cottage of Delight, The.= By Will N. Harben.
=Court of Inquiry, A.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Cricket, The.= By Marjorie Benton Cooke.
=Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.= By Rex Beach.
=Crimson Tide, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Cross Currents.= By Author of “Pollyanna.”
=Cross Pull, The.= By Hal. G. Evarts.
=Cry in the Wilderness, A.= By Mary E. Waller.
=Cry of Youth, A.= By Cynthia Lombardi.
=Cup of Fury, The.= By Rupert Hughes.
=Curious Quest, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Danger and Other Stories.= By A. Conan Doyle.
=Dark Hollow, The.= By Anna Katharine Green.
=Dark Star, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Daughter Pays, The.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.
=Day of Days, The.= By Louis Joseph Vance.
=Depot Master, The.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Destroying Angel, The.= By Louis Joseph Vance.
=Devil’s Own, The.= By Randall Parrish.
=Devil’s Paw, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Disturbing Charm, The.= By Berta Ruck.
=Door of Dread, The.= By Arthur Stringer.
=Dope.= By Sax Rohmer.
=Double Traitor, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Duds.= By Henry C. Rowland.
=Empty Pockets.= By Rupert Hughes.
=Erskine Dale, Pioneer.= By John Fox, Jr.
=Everyman’s Land.= By C. N. & A. M. Williamson.
=Extricating Obadiah.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Eyes of the Blind, The.= By Arthur Somers Roche.
=Eyes of the World, The.= By Harold Bell Wright.
=Fairfax and His Pride.= By Marie Van Vorst.
=Felix O’Day.= By F. Hopkinson Smith.
=54-40 or Fight.= By Emerson Hough.
=Fighting Chance, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Fighting Fool, The.= By Dane Coolidge.
=Fighting Shepherdess, The.= By Caroline Lockhart.
=Financier, The.= By Theodore Dreiser.
=Find the Woman.= By Arthur Somers Roche.
=First Sir Percy, The.= By The Baroness Orczy.
=Flame, The.= By Olive Wadsley.
=For Better, for Worse.= By W. B. Maxwell.
=Forbidden Trail, The.= By Honoré Willsie.
=Forfeit, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Fortieth Door, The.= By Mary Hastings Bradley.
=Four Million, The.= By O. Henry.
=From Now On.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Fur Bringers, The.= By Hulbert Footner.
=Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Get Your Man.= By Ethel and James Dorrance.
=Girl in the Mirror, The.= By Elizabeth Jordan.
=Girl of O. K. Valley, The.= By Robert Watson.
=Girl of the Blue Ridge, A.= By Payne Erskine.
=Girl from Keller’s, The.= By Harold Bindloss.
=Girl Philippa, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Girls at His Billet, The.= By Berta Ruck.
=Glory Rides the Range.= By Ethel and James Dorrance.
=Gloved Hand, The.= By Burton E. Stevenson.
=God’s Country and the Woman.= By James Oliver Curwood.
=God’s Good Man.= By Marie Corelli.
=Going Some.= By Rex Beach.
=Gold Girl, The.= By James B. Hendryx.
=Golden Scorpion, The.= By Sax Rohmer.
=Golden Slipper, The.= By Anna Katharine Green.
=Golden Woman, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Good References.= By E. J. Rath.
=Gorgeous Girl, The.= By Nalbro Bartley.
=Gray Angels, The.= By Nalbro Bartley.
=Great Impersonation, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Greater Love Hath No Man.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Green Eyes of Bast, The.= By Sax Rohmer.
=Greyfriars Bobby.= By Eleanor Atkinson.
=Gun Brand, The.= By James B. Hendryx.
=Hand of Fu-Manchu, The.= By Sax Rohmer.
=Happy House.= By Baroness Von Hutten.
=Harbor Road, The.= By Sara Ware Bassett.
=Havoc.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Heart of the Desert, The.= By Honoré Willsie.
=Heart of the Hills, The.= By John Fox, Jr.
=Heart of the Sunset.= By Rex Beach.
=Heart of Thunder Mountain, The.= By Edfrid A. Bingham.
=Heart of Unaga, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Hidden Children, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Hidden Trails.= By William Patterson White.
=Highflyers, The.= By Clarence B. Kelland.
=Hillman, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Hills of Refuge, The.= By Will N. Harben.
=His Last Bow.= By A. Conan Doyle.
=His Official Fiancee.= By Berta Ruck.
=Honor of the Big Snows.= By James Oliver Curwood.
=Hopalong Cassidy.= By Clarence E. Mulford.
=Hound from the North, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=House of the Whispering Pines, The.= By Anna Katharine Green.
=Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker.= By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D.
=Humoresque.= By Fannie Hurst.
=I Conquered.= By Harold Titus.
=Illustrious Prince, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=In Another Girl’s Shoes.= By Berta Ruck.
=Indifference of Juliet, The.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Inez.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans.
=Infelice.= By Augusta Evans Wilson.
=Initials Only.= By Anna Katharine Green.
=Inner Law, The.= By Will N. Harben.
=Innocent.= By Marie Corelli.
=In Red and Gold.= By Samuel Merwin.
=Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.= By Sax Rohmer.
=In the Brooding Wild.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Intriguers, The.= By William Le Queux.
=Iron Furrow, The.= By George C. Shedd.
=Iron Trail, The.= By Rex Beach.
=Iron Woman, The.= By Margaret Deland.
=Ishmael.= (Ill.) By Mrs. Southworth.
=Island of Surprise.= By Cyrus Townsend Brady.
=I Spy.= By Natalie Sumner Lincoln.
=It Pays to Smile.= By Nina Wilcox Putnam.
=I’ve Married Marjorie.= By Margaret Widdemer.
=Jean of the Lazy A.= By B. M. Bower.
=Jeanne of the Marshes.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Jennie Gerhardt.= By Theodore Dreiser.
=Johnny Nelson.= By Clarence E. Mulford.
=Judgment House, The.= By Gilbert Parker.
=Keeper of the Door, The.= By Ethel M. Dell.
=Keith of the Border.= By Randall Parrish.
=Kent Knowles: Quahaug.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Kingdom of the Blind, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=King Spruce.= By Holman Day.
=Knave of Diamonds, The.= By Ethel M. Dell.
=La Chance Mine Mystery, The.= By S. Carleton.
=Lady Doc, The.= By Caroline Lockhart.
=Land-Girl’s Love Story, A.= By Berta Ruck.
=Land of Strong Men, The.= By A. M. Chisholm.
=Last Straw, The.= By Harold Titus.
=Last Trail, The.= By Zane Grey.
=Laughing Bill Hyde.= By Rex Beach.
=Laughing Girl, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Law Breakers, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Law of the Gun, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=League of the Scarlet Pimpernel.= By Baroness Orczy.
=Lifted Veil, The.= By Basil King.
=Lighted Way, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Lin McLean.= By Owen Wister.
=Little Moment of Happiness, The.= By Clarence Budington Kelland.
=Lion’s Mouse, The.= By C. N. & A. M. Williamson.
=Lonesome Land.= By B. M. Bower.
=Lone Wolf, The.= By Louis Joseph Vance.
=Lonely Stronghold, The.= By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds.
=Long Live the King.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Lost Ambassador.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Lost Prince, The.= By Frances Hodgson Burnett.
=Lydia of the Pines.= By Honorè Willsie.
=Lynch Lawyers.= By William Patterson White.
=Macaria.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans.
=Maid of the Forest, The.= By Randall Parrish.
=Maid of Mirabelle, The.= By Eliot H. Robinson.
=Maid of the Whispering Hills, The.= By Vingie E. Roe.
=Major, The.= By Ralph Connor.
=Maker of History, A.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Malefactor, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Man from Bar 20, The.= By Clarence E. Mulford.
=Man from Bitter Roots, The.= By Caroline Lockhart.
=Man from Tall Timber, The.= By Thomas K. Holmes.
=Man in the Jury Box, The.= By Robert Orr Chipperfield.
=Man-Killers, The.= By Dane Coolidge.
=Man Proposes.= By Eliot H. Robinson, author of “Smiles.”
=Man Trail, The.= By Henry Oyen.
=Man Who Couldn’t Sleep, The.= By Arthur Stringer.
=Marqueray’s Duel.= By Anthony Pryde.
=Mary ’Gusta.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Mary Wollaston.= By Henry Kitchell Webster.
=Mason of Bar X Ranch.= By E. Bennett.
=Master Christian, The.= By Marie Corelli.
=Master Mummer, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.= By A. Conan Doyle.
=Men Who Wrought, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Midnight of the Ranges.= By George Gilbert.
=Mischief Maker, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Missioner, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Miss Million’s Maid.= By Berta Ruck.
=Money Master, The.= By Gilbert Parker.
=Money Moon, The.= By Jeffery Farnol.
=Moonlit Way, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=More Tish.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Mountain Girl, The.= By Payne Erskine.
=Mr. Bingle.= By George Barr McCutcheon.
=Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Mr. Pratt.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Mr. Pratt’s Patients.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Mr. Wu.= By Louise Jordan Miln.
=Mrs. Balfame.= By Gertrude Atherton.
=Mrs. Red Pepper.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=My Lady of the North.= By Randall Parrish.
=My Lady of the South.= By Randall Parrish.
=Mystery of the Hasty Arrow, The.= By Anna K. Green.
=Mystery of the Silver Dagger, The.= By Randall Parrish.
=Mystery of the 13th Floor, The.= By Lee Thayer.
=Nameless Man, The.= By Natalie Sumner Lincoln.
=Ne’er-Do-Well, The.= By Rex Beach.
=Net, The.= By Rex Beach.
=New Clarion.= By Will N. Harben.
=Night Horseman, The.= By Max Brand.
=Night Operator, The.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Night Riders, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=North of the Law.= By Samuel Alexander White.
=One Way Trail, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Outlaw, The.= By Jackson Gregory.
=Owner of the Lazy D.= By William Patterson White.
=Painted Meadows.= By Sophie Kerr.
=Palmetto.= By Stella G. S. Perry.
=Paradise Bend.= By William Patterson White.
=Pardners.= By Rex Beach.
=Parrot & Co.= By Harold MacGrath.
=Partners of the Night.= By Leroy Scott.
=Partners of the Tide.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Passionate Pilgrim, The.= By Samuel Merwin.
=Patricia Brent, Spinster.= By Anonymous.
=Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail, The.= By Ralph Connor.
=Paul Anthony, Christian.= By Hiram W. Hayes.
=Pawns Count, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Peacemakers, The.= By Hiram W. Hayes.
=Peddler, The.= By Henry C. Rowland.
=People’s Man, A.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Peter Ruff and the Double Four.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Poor Man’s Rock.= By Bertrand Sinclair.
=Poor Wise Man, A.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Portygee, The.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Possession.= By Olive Wadsley.
=Postmaster, The.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Prairie Flowers.= By James B. Hendryx.
=Prairie Mother, The.= By Arthur Stringer.
=Prairie Wife, The.= By Arthur Stringer.
=Pretender, The.= By Robert W. Service.
=Price of the Prairie, The.= By Margaret Hill McCarter.
=Prince of Sinners, A.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Promise, The.= By J. B. Hendryx.
=Quest of the Sacred Slipper, The.= By Sax Rohmer.
=Rainbow’s End, The.= By Rex Beach.
=Rainbow Valley.= By L. M. Montgomery.
=Ranch at the Wolverine, The.= By B. M. Bower.
=Ranching for Sylvia.= By Harold Bindloss.
=Ransom.= By Arthur Somers Roche.
=Real Life.= By Henry Kitchell Webster.
=Reclaimers, The.= By Margaret Hill McCarter.
=Re-Creation of Brian Kent, The.= By Harold Bell Wright.
=Red and Black.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Red Mist, The.= By Randall Parrish.
=Red Pepper Burns.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Red Pepper’s Patients.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Red Seal, The.= By Natalie Sumner Lincoln.
=Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary, The.= By Anne Warner.
=Restless Sex, The.= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.= By Sax Rohmer.
=Return of Tarzan, The.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs.
=Riddle of the Frozen Flame, The.= By M. E. and T. W. Hanshew.
=Riddle of Night, The.= By Thomas W. Hanshew.
=Riddle of the Purple Emperor, The.= By T. W. and M. E. Hanshew.
=Rider of the King Log, The.= By Holman Day.
=Rim of the Desert, The.= By Ada Woodruff Anderson.
=Rise of Roscoe Paine, The.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Rising Tide, The.= By Margaret Deland.
=Rocks of Valpré, The.= By Ethel M. Dell.
=Room Number 3.= By Anna Katharine Green.
=Rose in the Ring, The.= By George Barr McCutcheon.
=Round the Corner in Gay Street.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=St. Elmo.= (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans.
=Second Choice.= By Will N. Harben.
=Second Latchkey, The.= By C. N. & A. M. Williamson.
=Second Violin, The.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Secret of the Reef, The.= By Harold Bindloss.
=Secret of Sarek, The.= By Maurice Leblanc.
=See-Saw, The.= By Sophie Kerr.
=Self-Raised.= (Ill.) By Mrs. Southworth.
=Shavings.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=Sheik, The.= By E. M. Hull.
=Shepherd of the Hills, The.= By Harold Bell Wright.
=Sheriff of Dyke Hole, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Sheriff of Silver Bow, The.= By Berton Braley.
=Sherry.= By George Barr McCutcheon.
=Side of the Angels, The.= By Basil King.
=Sight Unseen and The Confession.= By Mary Robert Rinehart.
=Silver Horde, The.= By Rex Beach.
=Sin That Was His, The.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Sixty-first Second, The.= By Owen Johnson.
=Slayer of Souls, The.= By Robert W. Chambers
=Son of His Father, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Son of Tarzan, The.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs.
=Speckled Bird, A.= By Augusta Evans Wilson.
=Spirit of the Border, The.= (New Edition.) By Zane Grey.
=Spoilers, The.= By Rex Beach.
=Steele of the Royal Mounted.= By James Oliver Curwood.
=Still Jim.= By Honoré Willsie.
=Story of Foss River Ranch, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Story of Marco, The.= By Eleanor H. Porter.
=Strange Case of Cavendish, The.= By Randall Parrish.
=Strawberry Acres.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Sudden Jim.= By Clarence B. Kelland.
=Sweethearts Unmet.= By Berta Ruck.
=Tales of Secret Egypt.= By Sax Rohmer.
=Tales of Sherlock Holmes.= By A. Conan Doyle.
=Talitha Cumi.= By Annie J. Holland.
=Taming of Zenas Henry, The.= By Sara Ware Bassett.
=Tarzan of the Apes.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs.
=Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar.= By Edgar Rice Burroughs.
=Tempting of Tavemake, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Tess of the D’Urbervilles.= By Thomas Hardy.
=Texan, The.= By James B. Hendryx.
=Thankful’s Inheritance.= By Joseph C. Lincoln.
=That Affair Next Door.= By Anna Katharine Green.
=That Printer of Udell’s.= By Harold Bell Wright.
=Their Yesterdays.= By Harold Bell Wright.
=Thieves’ Wit.= By Hulbert Footner.
=Thirteenth Commandment, The.= By Rupert Hughes.
=Three Eyes, The.= By Maurice Leblanc.
=Three of Hearts, The.= By Berta Ruck.
=Three Strings, The.= By Natalie Sumner Lincoln.
=Tiger’s Coat, The.= By Elizabeth Dejeans.
=Tish.= By Mary Roberts Rinehart.
=Tobias O’ the Light.= By James A. Cooper.
=Trail of the Axe, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Trail to Yesterday, The.= By Charles A. Seltzer.
=Trailin’.= By Max Brand.
=Trap, The.= By Maximilian Foster.
=Treasure of Heaven, The.= By Marie Corelli.
=Triple Mystery, The.= By Adele Luehrmann.
=Triumph, The.= By Will N. Harben.
=Triumph of John Kars, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=T. Tembarom.= By Frances Hodgson Burnett.
=Turn of the Tide.= By Author of “Pollyanna.”
=Turnstile of Night, The.= By William Allison.
=Twenty-fourth of June, The.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Twins of Suffering Creek, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Two-Gun Man, The.= By Charles A. Seltzer.
=Under Handicap.= By Jackson Gregory.
=Under the Country Sky.= By Grace S. Richmond.
=Underwood Mystery, The.= By Charles J. Dutton.
=Uneasy Street.= By Arthur Somers Roche.
=Unpardonable Sin, The.= By Major Rupert Hughes.
=Untamed, The.= By Max Brand.
=Up from Slavery.= By Booker T. Washington.
=Valiants of Virginia, The.= By Hallie Ermine Rives.
=Valley of Fear, The.= By Sir A. Conan Doyle.
=Valley of the Sun, The.= By William M. McCoy.
=Vanguards of the Plains.= By Margaret Hill McCarter.
=Vanished Messenger, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=Vashti.= By Augusta Evans Wilson.
=Virtuous Wives.= By Owen Johnson.
=Voice of the Pack, The.= By Edson Marshall.
=Waif-o’-the-Sea.= By Cyrus Townsend Brady.
=Wall Between, The.= By Sara Ware Bassett.
=Wall of Men, A.= By Margaret H. McCarter.
=Watchers of the Plains, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Way Home, The.= By Basil King.
=Way of an Eagle, The.= By E. M. Dell.
=Way of the Strong, The.= By Ridgwell Cullum.
=Way of These Women, The.= By E. Phillips Oppenheim.
=We Can’t Have Everything.= By Major Rupert Hughes.
=Weavers, The.= By Gilbert Parker.
=West Wind Drift.= By George Barr McCutcheon.
=When a Man’s a Man.= By Harold Bell Wright.
=Where the Trail Divides.= By Will Lillibridge.
=Where There’s a Will.= By Mary R. Rinehart.
=White Moll, The.= By Frank L. Packard.
=Who Goes There?= By Robert W. Chambers.
=Why Not.= By Margaret Widdemer.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
On page 11, dectective has been changed to detective.
On page 115, con’t has been changed to don’t.
On page 224, dictagraph has been changed to dictograph.
In the list of the publisher’s catalog, the following changes have
been made:
“Cabbage and Kings” became “Cabbages and Kings”;
“Erskine Dale Pioneer” became “Erskine Dale, Pioneer”;
“Honorè Willsie” became “Honoré Willsie”.
All other spelling and hyphenation has been left as typeset.
Minor silent changes have been make conform to standard punctuation
usage.