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MONDAY. APRIL 6.
The Case of Jenny Brice
' I
/'t ; /
PROLOGUE.
• Was Jennie Brioe murdered?
• If she were murdered, who was
guilty of the foal deed ?
If she were not done away
with by an assassin, what became
of her?
Whence did she disappear?
These and a few other inter
esting questions are raised at
once in this very clever tale of
mystery written by a woman
who is not only an adept at
writing fiction of this charac
ter, but the possessor of a style
that chains the interest by its
clearness and directness and
wins by its rich humor.
CHAPTER I.
BE have Just had another flood,
bad enough, hut only a foot
or two of water on the first
floor. Yesterday we got the
rud shoveled out of the cellar and
found Peter, the spaniel that Mr. Lad
ley left when he "went away.” The
flood, and the fact that it was Mr.
Ladle/’s dog whose body was found
half burled in the basement fruit
closet, brought back to me the strange
events of the other flood five years
ago, when the water reached more
than half way to the second story,
aud brought with It, to some, mystery
and sudden death, and to me the worst
case of “shingles” I have ever seen.
My name is Pitman—in this narra
tive. It is not really Pitman, but that
does well enough. I belong to an old
Pittsburgh fumily. I was born on
Penn avenue, when thntMvas the best
part of town, and I liveC until I was
fifteen, very close to what Is now the
Pittsburgh club. It was a dwelling
then; I have forgotten who lived there
at that time.
I was a girl in ’77, during the rail
road riots, and I recall our driving
in the family carriage over to one
of the Allegheny hills, nnd seeing the
yards burning, and a great noise of
shooting from across the river. It
was the next year that I ran away
from school to marry Mr. Pitman, and
I have not known my family stuce.
Wq were never reconciled, although I
came back to Pittsburgh after twenty
yearn or wandering. Mr. Pitman was
dead; tie oid citv called me. and I
came.
I had a hundred dollars or so, and
I took a bouse in lower Allegheny,
where, because they are partly inun
dated every spring, the rents are cheap,
and I kept boarders. My house was
always orderly and clean, and although
the neighborhood had a bad name, a
good many theatrical people stopped
with me. Five minutes across the
bridge and they were in the theater
district. Allegheny at that time, I be
lieve, was still an Independent city.
But since then it has allied itself with
I’lttsburgh; It is now the north side of
the city.
I was glad to get back. ' I worked
bard, but I made my rent and my liv
ing aud a little over. Now and then
on summer evenings I went to one of
the parks and. sitting on a bench,
watched the children playing around
and looked at my sister’s house, closed
for the summer. It is a very large
house. Her butler once had bis wife
boarding with me—a very nice little
woman.
It Is curious to recall that at that
time, five years ago. I had never seen
my niece, Lida Harvey, and then to
think that only the day before yester
day she came in her automobile as far
as she dared and then sat there, wav
ing to me. while the police patrol
brought across in a skiff a basket of
provisions she had sent me.
I wonder what she would have
thought had she known that the elder
ly woman in a calico wrapper, with
an old overcoat over it and a pair of
rubt>er hoofs, was her full aunt.
The flood and the sight of I-lda both
brought back the case of Jennie Brice,
for* even then Lida and Mr. Howell
were interested In each Other.
. This is April. The flood of 1907 was
earlier. In March. It hud been a lon*
hard winter, with lee corses In nil tin
upper vnlley. Then In early March
there entne n thaw. The gorges broke
up and began to come down, Ailing tin
rivers with crushing, grinding Ice.
There are three rivers at Pittsburgh
the Allegheny nnd the Monongahoh
uniting there at the point to form tin
Ohio. And all three were covered will
broken Ice, logs nnd all sorts of debrh
from the tipper valleys.
A warning was sent out from tin
weather bureau, and l got my carpet*
ready to lift that morning. Thnt wa
on the 4th of March. a Sunday. M:
Ladley nnd his wife, Jennie Brice, had
the parlor bedroom and the room !><■
hind It. Mrs. Ladley. or Miss Brice, a
she preferred to lie known, hud a smal
part nt a local theater that kept a pet
munent company. Her husband wn
In that business, too, but he had noth
lng to do. It wns the wife who pah
the hills, and a lot of quarreling they
did about It.
I knocked nt the door at 10 o'clock
and Mr. Ladley opened it. He was t.
abort ntnn, rather stout and getting
bald, and he always had a cigarette
Even yet the parlor carpet smells ol
them.
“What do you want?" he askeii
sharply, holding the door open about
an inch.
“The water's coming up very fast
Mr. Ladley,” I said. “It’s up to tin
swinging shelf In the cellar now. I'.
like to take up the carpet and move tin
piano.”
“Tome back In an hour or so." I
snapped nnd tried to close the c!i •
Blit I had got my toe in the crack.
“I'll have to have the piano moved
Mr. Ladley,” 1 said. "You’d tietter pu
off what you are doiug.”
X thought he wns probably writing
He spent most of the day writing
* \
“What do you want?” ha asked
sharply.
using the washstand as a desk, and ii
kept me busy with oxalic acid takin;
Ink spots out of the splasher and the
towels. He was writing a play and
talked a lot about the Shuberts having
promised to star him In it when it wa
finished.
“H-—I" he snid. and, turning, spoke
to somebody in the- room.
"We can go into the back room," I
heard him say, and he closed the door.
When he opened it again the room was
empty. I called in Terry, the Irish
man who does odd jobs for me now
and then, and we both got to work a:
the tacks in the carpet, Terry working
by the window and I by the door lntc
the back parlor, which the Ladley:
used as a bedroom.
That was how I happened to beat
what I nfterward told the police
Some one- a man, but not Mr. I.ad
ley—was talking. Mrs. Ladley brokt
in: “I won’t do It!" she said flatly
“Why should I help him? Ho doesn'i
help me. He loafs here all day, stunk
ing and sleeping, and sits up ail night
drinking and keeping me awake."
The voice went on again, as if in re
ply to this, and I heard a rattle o'
glasses, as if they were pouring
drinks. They always had whisky, ever
when they were behind with theli
board.
“That's all very well,” Mrs. Ladley
said. I could always hear her, she
having a theatrical sort of voice—one
that carries. “But what about the
prying she devil that runs the house?"
"Hush, for God’s sake!” broke in Mr
Ladley, and nfter thnt they spoke in
whispers. Even with my ear ngainst
the panel I could not catch a word.
The men came just then to move the
piano, and by the time we had taken
It and the furniture upstairs the water
was over the kitchen floor and creep
Ing forward into the hall. I had never
seen the river come up so fast By
noon the yard was full of floating Ice
ami at 3 that afternoon the police
,-skiff was on the front streets, and I
was wading around Ja rubber boots
By Mary Roberts Rinehart
taking the pictures off the walls.
I was too busy to see who the Lad
leys’ visitor wns nnd ho had gone when
I remembered him again. The I.adle.vs
took the second story front, which
wns empty, and Mr. Bcyuolds, who
was In the silk department In a store
across the river, had the room Just
behind.
1 put up a coal stove lu a back room
next the bathroom and managed to
cook the dinner there. I was washing
up the dishes when Mr. Iteynobls
came In. As it was Sunday he was In
his slippers and had the colored sup
plement of a morning paper in his
band.
“What's the matter with the Lad
leys?" he asked. “I can't read for
their quarreling."
“Booze. probably," 1 said. “When
you’ve lived In the flood district as
long as I have, Mr. Heynolds, you'll
know that the rising of the river is a
signal for every man In the vicinity
to stop work and get full. The fuller
the river the fuller the male popula
tion.”
“Then this flood will likely make ’em
drink themselves to death!" he said.
"It's n lulu."
“It's the neighborhood's annual de
bauch. The women are busy in the
cellars, or they'd get full too. I hope,
since It's come this far. it will come
farther, so the landlord will have to
paper the parlor."
That pasat 3 o'clock. At ■* Mr. Lad
ley went down the stairs, and I heard
him getting into a skiff In the lower
hall. There were boats going buck and
forth all the time carrying crowds of
curious people and taking the flood suf
ferers to the corner grocery, where
they were lowering groceries In a bas
ket on a rope from nn upper window.
I hnd been Blinking tea when I heard
Mr. Ijidlev go out. I fixed a tray with
a cup of it and some crackers and took
It to their door. 1 had never liked
Mrs. Ijidley, but it w-as chilly In the
house with the gas shut off and the
lower floor full of lee water. And it is
hard enough to keep boarders In the
flood district.
She did not answer to my knocks, so
I opened the door and went in. She
was at the window, looking after him
and the brown valise that figured In
the case Inter was opened on the floor.
Over the foot of the bed wns the black
and white dress with the red collar.
When I spoke to her she turner
around quickly. She was n tall wo
man, about twenty-eight, with very
white teeth and yellow hair, which sic
parted a little to one side and drew
down over her ears. She had a stiller
face Hnd large well shaped hands, wit!,
her nails long and very pointed.
"The ‘she devil' has brought yot:
some tea," I said. “Where shall sin
put it?"
“‘She devil!"’ she repeated, raising
her eyebrows. “It’s a very thought fit;
ahe devil. Who called you that?"
But with the sight of the valise and
the fear that they might be leaving 1
thought. It best not to quarrel. She
had left the window and, going to her
dressing table, hnd picked up her nail
file.
“Never mind," I said. “I hope you
are not going away. These floods don't
last, and they're n benefit. Plenty of
the people around here rely on ’em
every year to wash out their cellars."
“No, I'm not going away,” she re
plied lazily. “I’m taking that dress to
Miss Hope at the theater. She is going
to wear It in ‘Charlie’s Aunt’ next
week. She hasn’t half enough of n
wardrobe to play lends In stock. Look
at this thumb nail, broken to the
quick!”
If I had only looked to see which
thumb it was! But I was putting the
tea tray on the washstand and moving
Mr. Ladley’s papers to find room for it
Peter, the spaniel, begged for a lump
of sugar, ttnd I gave it. to him.
"Where is Mr. Ladley?" I asked.
“Gone out to see the river."
"I hope he'll be careful. There’s a
drowning or two every year in these
floods.”
“Then I hope he won’t,” she said
calmly. "Do you know what 1 was do
ing when you came In? I was looking
after his boat and hoping It had a hole
In it.”
"You won’t feel that way tomorrow,
Mrs. Ludley,” I protested, shocked.
•‘You’re Just nervous and put out.
Most men have their ugly times.
Many a time I wished Mr. Pitman was
gone—until he went. Then I’d have
given a good hit to have him back
again.”
She was standing in front of the
dresser, fixing her hair over her ears.
Hhe turned and looked at me over her
shoulder.
“Probably Mr. Pitman was a man,”
she said. “My husband Is a fiend, a
devil.”
Well, a good many women have said
that to me at different times. But Just
let me say such a thing to them, or re
peat their own words to tbern the next
day, and they would fly at me in a
fury. So I said nothing and put the
cream into her tea.
I never saw her again.
There is not much sleeping done in
the flood distrlet during a spring flood
The gas was shot off and I gave Mr.
Reynolds and the Lad leys each a lamp.
I gat in the back room that I had made
THE AUGUSTA HERALD, AUGUSTA. GA.
Into a temporary kitchen with a
candle nnd with n bedqullt around my
shqulder*. The water rose fast In the
lowhr hall, but by midnight at the
seventh step it stopped rising nnd
stood still. I always have a skiff during
the flood season, nnd as the water rose
I tied It to one spindle of the stair
case nfter another.
I made tnyself a cup of tea and at
1 o'clock I stretched out on a sofa for
a few hours' sleep. I think I had been
sleeping only an hour or so when some
one touched nte on the shoulder and l
started up. It was Mr. lteynolds.
partly dressed.
“Some one has been In the house,
Mrs. Pitman,” he said. “They went
away Just now in the bont."
"Perhaps It was Peter," I suggested.
“That dog it always wandering around
at night"
"Net unless Peter can row a boat,”
said Mr. Reynolds dryly.
I got up, being already full dressed,
and taking the candle we went to the
staircase. 1 noticed that it was a min
ute or so after !i o’clock ns we left the
roem. The boat was gone, not untied,
but cut loose. The end of the rope was
still fastened to the stair rail. I sat
down on the stairs and looked at Mr.
Reynolds.
“U'h gone!” I said. "If the house
catches fire we'll have to drown."
“It’s rather curious when you con
sider It.” We botli spoke softly not to
disturb the Ladley*. “I’ve been awake
and I heard no bont come in. And yet
If no one came in a boat and came
from the street they would have had to
swim In."
I felt queer nnd creepy. The street
door was open, of course, and the
lights going beyoud. It gave me a
strange feeling to sit there In the
darkness on the stairs, with the arch
of the front door like the entrance to a
cavern, and see now and then a chunk
of ice slide into view, turn around in
the eddy and “pass on. It was bitter
cold, too, and the wind was rising.
‘Til go through the house,” said Mr.
Reynolds. "There’s likely nothing
worse the matter than some drunken
mill hand on a vacation while the
mills are under water. But I'd better
look.”
He left me, and I sat there alone in
the darkness. I had h presentiment of
something wrong, but I tried to think
It was only discomfort and the cold.
The water, driven in by the wind,
swirled nt my feet. And something
dnrk floated In and lodged on the step
below. I reached down anil touched It.
It was a dead kitten. I had never
known a dead cat to bring me any
thing hut bad luck, and here waa oue
washed in at ray very feet.
CHAPTER 11.
f"a aIB REYNOLDS came hack soon
| [VI | and reported the house quiet
and in order.
“But I found Peter shut up
In one of the third floor rooms,” he
said. “Did you put hint there?”
I had not nnd said so, but as the dog
went everywhere and the door might
have blown shut we did not attach
much Importance to thnt at the time.
Well, (lie skiff was gone, and there
was no use worrying about it until
morning. I went back sofa to
keep warm, but I left my candle light
ed and my door open. I did not sleep
The dead cat was on my mlucUand as
If it were not bad enough to have It
washed In at my feet about 4 in the
morning I’eter. prowling uneasily, dls
covered it and brought it in and put It
on my couch, wet and stiff, poor little
thing!
I looked at the clock. It was a quar
ter after 4. and except for tfie occu
slonnl crunch of one Ice cake hitting
another In the yard, everything was
quiet. And (lien I heard the stealthy
sound of oars in the lower hall.
I am not a brave woman. I lay
there, hoping Mr. Reynolds would hear
and open his door. But he was sleep
lng soundly. Peter snarled and ran out
Into the ball, and the next moment I
beard Mr. Ladley apeaklng. “Down,
Peter." he said. “Down. Go and lie
down.”
I took my candle and went out into
the hall. Mr. Ladley was stooping over
the boat, trying to tie It to the stair
case. The rope was short, having been
cut, and he was having trouble. Per
haps It was the candle light, but he
looked ghost white and haggard.
"I borrowed your boat, Mrs. Pit
man,” he said, civilly enough. "Mrs.
Ladley was not well, and I I went to
the drug store.”
“You’ve been more than two hours
going to the drug store,” I said.
He muttered something about not
finding any open at first and went Into
his room, lie closed and locked the
door behind hltn and, although I’eter
whined and scratched, he did not let
him in.
He looked so agitated that I thought
I had been harsh and perhaps she was
really ill. I knocked at the door nnd
asked if I could do anything. But he
only called "No!” curtly through the
door and asked me to take that In
fernal dog away.
I went back to bed and tried to
sleep, for the water had dropped an
Inch or so on the stairs, nnd I knew
the danger was over. Peter eame, shiv
ering. at dawn and got on to the sofa
with me. I put an epd of the quilt over
him. nnd he stopped shivering after a
time and went to sleep.
The dog wns company. I lay there,
wide awake, thinking about Mr. Plt
ntau'a death, and how I had come by
degrees to be keeping a cheap board
ing house in the flood district nnd to
having to tnke impudence from every
body who chose to rent n room from
me and to being called a site devil.
From that I got to thinking agnlu
about, the Ist die.vs and how she Imd
said he wns a (tend and to doubting
about his having gone out for tnedi
cine for her. I dozed off again at day
light, and being worn out I slept
heavily.
At 7 o’clock Mr. Reynolds came to
the door, dressed for the store. He
was a tall man of nbont fifty, neat and
orderly In his habits, nnd he always
remembered that I Imd seen better
days and treated me ns a Indy.
“Never mind about breakfast for me
this morning. Mrs. Pitman." he said.
"I’ll get a cup of coffee nt the other
end of the bridge. I’ll take the boat
and send It Imok with Terry.”
He turned and went along the ball
and down to the boat. I heard him
push off front the stairs w-lth an our
and row out into the street. Peter
followed him to the stalip.
At a quarter nfter 7 Mr. Ladley came
out nnd called to me: ".hist bring lu a
cup of coffeb and some toast.’’ ho snld.
“Enough for one.”
He went back and slammed his door
and I made Ills coffee. I steeped a
cup of tea for Mrs. Ladley at the same
time. He opened the door Just wide
enough for the trny nnd look It with
out so much as h "thank you." lie
had a cigarette in his mouth as usual
and I could see a tire In the grate anil
smell something like scorching cloth.
"I hope Mrs. Ladley Is better," 1
said, getting my foot In the crack of
the door so he could not quite close It.
It smelled to me as If he had nccldcn
tally set fire to something with bis
cigarette and I tried to sue into the
room.
“What about Mrs. Ladley?" he snap
ped.
“You said she was 111 last night.”
“Oh, yes! Well, sne wasn't very sick.
She’s better.”
“Shall I bring her some tea?"
“Take your foot away!" he ordered.
"No. She doesn't want tea. She’s not
here"
"Not here!”
“Good heuvens!’’ he snarled. "Is her
going away anything to make such a
fuss about? The lxird knows I'd be
glad to get out of this Infernal pig wal
low myself.”
“If you mean my house"— I began.
But. he hnd pulled himself together
and was more polite when he answer
ed: “I mean the neighborhood. Your
house is all that could be desired for
the money. If we do not have linen
sheets and double cream we are puytng
muslin and milk prices.”
Either my nose was growing accus
turned to the odor or it wns dying
away. I took twy foot away from the
door. "When did Mrs. Isrdley leave?"
I asked.-
"This morning, very early. I rowed
hhr to Federal street.”
"You couldn't have had much sleep,"
I said dryly, for he looked horrible.
There were lines around his eyeH,
which were red, and his lips looked dry
and cracked.
"She's not in the piece tills week at
the theater,” he said, licking his lips
and looking past me, not at me. “She’ll
be back by Saturday.”
I did not believe him. Ido not think
he Imagined that I did. He shut, the
door in my face, nnd It caught poor Pe
ter by the nose. The dog ran off howl
lng, but although Mr. Ladley had been
aa fond of the animal as It was In his
nature to be fond of anything, lie paid
no attention. As I stHrlod down the
hall after hint I saw what Peter had
been carrying a slipper of Mrs. Lad
ley's, it was soaked with water. Evl
dently I’eter hud found it floating at
the foot of the stairs.
Although the Idea of murder hnd not
entered my fiend at that time, the slip
per gave me a turn. I picked It up
and looked at it, a black one with a
headed toe, short in the vamp and high
heeled, the sort most actresses wear.
Then I went back and knocked at the
door of the front room again.
‘‘What, the devil do you want now?”
he called from beyond the door.
"Here’s a slipper of Mrs. Ladley’s,”
I said. "Peter found It floating In the
lower hall.”
He opened the door wide and let
me lu. The room was In tolerable or
der, much better than when Mrs. Lad
ley was about. He looked at the slip
per, but be did not touch It. "I don’t
think that Is hers," he said.
“I’ve seen her wear it a hundred
times.”
"Well, she’ll never wear It again.”
And then, seeing me stare, he added:
"It's ruined with the water. Throw It
out And, by the way, I'm sorry, but
I set. tire to one of the pillow slips;
dropped asleep, and my cigarette did
the rest. Just put It on the bill."
He pointed to the bed. One of the
pillows had no slip, and the ticking
cover had a scorch or two on It. 1
went
To Be Continued Tomorrow
Your Easter Needs
In Coat Suits, One Piece
Dresses and Shirt Waists,
SeoaraLe Skirts, Petti
coats, and all classes of
Muslin Underwear Sup
plied at Much Reduced
Prices.
Yes, though new, we are offering them at
tremendous reductions, ft’s really a lug East
er display and you are specially invited to in
spect them. Pleaso note these quotations of
reduced prices:
$22.50 HUITS, at $ 15 95
$25.00 HITfTW, at $19.95
$27.50 SUITS, at ~ ~, $131,75
$20,00 SUITS, at $23.50
$25,00 SUITS, at $25.00
SIO.OO SUITS, at $29.95
Soft, pretty dr-esses, spick, span, freshly
now, in the best styles of the moment. The
colors, too, are beautiful, materials the very
latest Crepe de Chines, Canton Crepes, Crepe
Meteors, Taffetas, Ratines, Crepes, Linens and
Voiles. Every one beautifully fashioned, with
puffs, ruffles, panniers and bustle effects, with
the daintiest imaginable trimmings. See how
the prices for this sale are lowered:
$7.50 PRESSES, at .$4.98
SIO,OO DRESSES, at $7.50
$12.50 PRESSES, at SIO.OO
$15.00 DRESSES, at $12.50
$20.00 DRESSES, at >. . . ... $15.00
$25.00 DRESSES, at $20.00
$20.00 DRESSES, at $23.50
• $25.00 DRESSES, at $25.00
WiseDryGoodsGo.
FIVE