The Mystery of the Sycamore

But in the late afternoon a severe storm set in. The wind rose rapidly and gained great velocity while the rain fell steadily and hard. Curtis Keefe arrived, very wet indeed, th...

“Oh, you know as well as I do. You’re just leading me on! Well, he coached her, all right, and she got scared before the performance came off and that’s why she ran away.”

A general air of vague foreboding hung over the Wheeler household. Mrs. Wheeler tried to rally from the shock of the inexplicable bugle call, but though she was bright and cheer...

For Samuel Appleby to pay a visit to Daniel Wheeler was of itself an astounding occurrence. The two men had not seen each other since the day, fifteen years ago, when Governor A...

Although the portions of the house and grounds that were used by Wheeler included the most attractive spots, yet there were many forbidden places that were a real temptation to...

Curtis Keefe, engaged in this daily performance, slit the envelopes neatly and laid the letters down in three piles. These divisions represented matters known to be of no great...

Late the same evening the Wheeler family and their guests were gathered in the living-room. Much had been done in the past few hours. The family doctor had been there, the medic...

“Knew it must be—looked for it—saw it,” returned the boy, nonchalantly, and then, hearing a short, sharp whistle, he looked up at the house to see Fleming Stone regarding him fr...

Adjoining the bedroom of Samuel Appleby at Sycamore Ridge was a small sitting-room, also at his disposal. Here, later that same evening he sat in confab with his two assistants.

How Maida did it, she scarcely knew herself, but she forced a smile, and even when Samuel Appleby gave her a warning glance at parting she bravely responded to his farewell word...

“And so, you want to get into the game!” Keefe smiled at him. “You’re very young, my boy, to think such crude methods would get over, even with such muffs as those two booby sle...

“I came, Mr. Wheeler,” he said, “to offer you my services. I express no opinion as to who killed Mr. Appleby, but I do know that his son is going to use every means to discover...

Samuel Appleby, determined to discover the murderer of his father and convinced that it was none of the Wheeler family, had brought Fleming Stone, the detective, to investigate...

“Maida, it cannot be. I shall never let you marry Mr. Keefe when I know how you love Jeffrey.” Sara Wheeler spoke quietly, but her agonized face and tear-filled eyes told of her...

While his logical brain could see no possible way to look save toward one of the three Wheelers, yet his soul revolted at the thought that any one of them was the criminal.

“When I come back,” he said, “I may bring a real detective, and—I may not. I want to think this thing over first—and, though I may be a queer Dick, I’m not sure I want the slaye...

“Come with me or not, as you choose,” he said; “but I’m going to tell Stone. A secret like that must be divulged—in the interests of law and justice and——”

Fulton’s face took on a perplexed look and he said: “No, we didn’t—and it’s a queer thing. It must have been started by some one purposely, for there’s no way it could have come...