Shadow in the House

On one side at least, the dinner party had been marked by a sort of ebullient reticence. Landis and Elsa had returned two days since from their honeymoon and were still feeling...

In the rococo reception-room its recent owner still held the center of the stage, that dominance now one of arresting tragedy rather than of personality. He lay flat on his back...

In the brightly lighted reception-room the local policeman had helped himself to a chair, a delicate, gilded affair that looked too small and spindling to support his generous b...

Dead silence greeted this unenlightening statement. Brent’s face was a battleground of doubt and annoyance. Landis decided from the look in the elderly lawyer’s eye that he had...

When Graham returned with Miss Mount and introduced them to her, Landis rose and acknowledged the honor with his most pleasant manner. Brent and Bernard got more slowly to their...

Here was the type of case to arouse every man-hunting instinct in the subtle old detective. Bernard was subtle, far more subtle than his brusque, sometimes overbearing methods s...

There were no front stairs to the third floor, Miss Mount explained. She led the way to the other end of the hall, toward Anita’s room. Here a door on the right admitted them to...

“Sometimes it is sheer absent-mindedness,” explained Miss Mount, compressing her lips. “He may go to his room and start dressing for dinner, forget what he is doing and find him...

Instead of replying to this veiled and rather insolent defense, Bernard chose to hold his peace. He remained hunched down in his chair and resumed his unwavering stare at the bu...

“Sergeant Forbes,” said Landis, “we are questioning the household one by one. I believe it would be a good idea, after we finish with each, if he or she stayed at this end of th...

A few more questions indicated that Helen had no further useful knowledge to impart. Landis took her to the library and went to the kitchen, returning with James Harley, the cha...

When Stimson had resumed his seat at the end of the library, Landis recalled the policeman from the reception-room and set him on guard over the Japanese bow and arrows and over...

Allen rose at once and followed him to the drawing-room, sat down with a slight smile and eyed the two detectives inquiringly. They studied him in silence for a few seconds as t...

Landis walked to the hanging Japanese gongs and tapped a scale on their inverted bowls, his touch soft and funereal to suit the occasion. The door of Isabelle Harrison’s bedroom...

While the expert examined the armor and then the door for finger-prints, Landis went into the hall and once again sounded the gong. Miss Mount appeared as promptly as before. He...

Landis and Bernard were rather worse than disgusted. To date it was a case almost without a clue, except the small, blurred finger-prints on the door. Now those were gone. It wa...

He left one large globe to light the main hall, a standard lamp switched on in the library for the policeman on guard there and a ceiling light at the head of the stairs. At the...

“When I got home tonight,” began Anita slowly, “I could see that Fred was mad because I’d been flirting with Hobart. As soon as I got to my room Isabelle came in and yelped abou...

After breakfast next morning the coroner came to the house for Harrison’s body. Landis had a talk with him in the library, promising him a set of photographs in time for the inq...

Physically stunned by surprise, the two detectives stared at Stimson’s lean, dark face, while, with the swiftness of a dream, their trained mentalities passed the whole case in...

Bernard agreed and they walked to the end of the library. Armor, bow and quiver were exactly as they had found them when they first returned. They passed on through the lateral...

When they reached the lower hall, Bernard went to the library door and looked in. At the far end the faithful sergeant stood on guard. Otherwise the room was deserted.

“I’ve a lot more respect for Miss Mount and the servants in this house than I have for the family!” he laughed. “Personally, I’m inclined to believe Stimson! I think he’s glad s...

They were received in the dining-room, where family and guests were still assembled, with a mixture of curiosity and barely civil reserve. Miss Mount saw formally to their wants...

Landis, who rather prided himself upon his habitual serenity during the course of an investigation, found himself exasperated to a degree that made it increasingly difficult to...

“And now to business,” he said. “With your permission, Landis, I propose to have a full confession from Graham. I think I know most of the details but we want a confession.”

With one twitch on a bit of black thread, Graham had made his confession, his atonement and his escape from the law. A few moments later Landis descended to the library, telepho...