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reen Murder Case ji BY 8. 8S. VAN DINE. SYNOPSIS, Philo Vance, friend of John F. X. Markham, District = Attorney, becomes interested in the Greene Murder Case. Julia Greene js killed and Ada, her lounger sister, 1; wounded. Old Tobias reene"s widow, together with five chil- €ren, Julia, Chester, Sibella, Rex and Ada, an adopted daughter, live in the old Greene mansion, The burglar theory is repudiated by Vance who questions Chester Greene, discovering that an old .32-calibre revolver is taken from Ches- fer's bedroom. Sibella is cross-examined, then Ada. Sibella accuses Ada of com- mitting the crime. CHAPTER VIII.-- (€ont'd.) "Pm afraid you didr't learn mueh," Dr. Von Blon remarked almost apol.- getically. "It's most unfortunate Ada didn't get a look at her assailant." He addressed himself to Heath. "Did you, by the way, look in the dining- xoom wall-safe to make sure nothing was missing? You know, there's one there behind the big niello over the mantel." "One of the first places we inspect. ed." The Sergeant'. voice was a pit disdainful. "And that reminds me, Doc: I want to send a man up in tha morning to look for finger-prints in Miss Ada's room." Von Blon agreed amiably, and held out his hand to Markham, "And if there's any way I can be of service to you or the police," he added pleasantly, "please call on me. Ill be only too glad to help. 1 don't see just what I can do, but one never knows." Markham thanked nim, and we de- scended to the lower hall. Sproot was waiting to help us with our coats, and a moment later we were in the Dis- trict Attorney's car ploughing one way through the snowdrifts, It was nearly five o'clock when we reached the Criminal Courts Build- ing. Swacker had lit the old bronze- and-china chandelier of Markham's private office, and.an atmosphere of eerie gloom pervaded the room. "Not a nice family, Markham old dear," sighed Vance, Tying back in one of the deep leather-upholstered chairs. "Decidedly not a nite family. A fam- ily run to seed, its old vigor vitiated." "Your observations might be high- ly absorbing to the social historian," grumbled Markham, with an undis- guised show of irritability; "but 1 can't say they're particularly edify- ing, or even relevant in the preseut circumstances." "I wouldn't be too positive on that point," Vance returned easily. tion. . . . Really, sumed a y'know"--he humorous of social justice ard were exterminated. cinatin' problem--most fascinatin'." "I regret I can't share your enthusi- Markham spoke with "The crime strikes me as And if it badn't been for your interference I'd |' have sent Chester Greene on his way this morning with some tactful plati- intercede, with your cryptic innuendoes and mysterious head-waggings; and I fool- asm for it." asperity. t did and commonplace. tudes. But you had to healthful food..... and body-building vitamins, Tt concentrated #8 the most highly 'source of highest quality protein » For a balanced diet, in- endo Kraft cheese with every | meal, "In fact, I submit, for your earnest and profound consideration, the tempera- ments and internal relationships of the Greene clan, as pointers upon the dark road of the present invastiga- as- tone--"it's a most fortunate that you and the Ser- geant are so obsessed with the idea that sort of thing; for society woild be much bet- ter off if such families as the Greenes Still, it's a fas- ishly yet myself be drawn into it. Well, I trust you had an enjoyable afternoon. As for myself, I have three hours' accumulated work before me His complaint was an' obvious sug- gestion that we take ourselves off; but Vance showed no intention of going. 'Oh, I shan't depart just yet," he announced, with a bantering smile. in your present state of grievous error. You need guidance, Markham; and I've quite made up my mind to pour out my flutterin' heart to you and the Sergeant." Markham frowned. He understood Vance so well that he knew the others levity was only superficial--that, in- ious purpose. And the experience o a long, intimate friendship had taught him that Vance's actions--however unreasonable they might appear-- were never the result of an idle whim. "Very well," he acquiesced. "But I'd be grateful for an economy of words," Vance sighed mournfully. "Your attitude is so typical of the spirit of breathless speed existing in this restless day." He fixed an in- quisitive gaze on Heath. "Tell me, Sergeant; you saw the body of Julia Greene, didn't you?" "Sure, I saw it." "Was her position in the bed a na- tural one?" "How do 1 know how she generally laid in bed?' Heath was restive and in bad humor. "She was half sitting up, with a coupla pillows under her shoulders, and the covers pulled up." "Nothing unusual about her atti tude?" "Not that I could see. There hadu't been a struggle, if that's what you mean." "And her hands; were they outside or under the covers?" Heath looked up mildly astoniched. "They were outside. And, now that you mention it, they had a tight ho'd on the spread." "Clutching it, in fact?" "Well, yes." Vance leaned forward quickly. "And her face, Sergeant? Had she been shot in her sleep?" "It didn't look that way. Her eyes were wide open, staring straight ahead." "Her eyes were open and staring," repeated Vance, a note of eagerness coming into his voice. "What would you say her expression indicated? Fear? Horror? Surprise?" Heath regarded Vance shrewdly. "Well, it mighta been any one of 'em. Her mouth was open, like as if she was surprised at something. "And she was clutching the spread with both hands." Vance's look drift- ed into space. Then slowly he rose and walked the length of the office and back, his head down. He halted in front of the District Attorney's desk, and leaned over, resting both hands on the back of a chair. CHAPTER 1X, "Listen, Markham. There's somc- thing terrible and unthinkable going cn in that house, No haphazard ua- known assassin came in by the front door last night and shot down those two women, The crime was planned--- thought out. Some one lay in wait-- some one who knew his way about, knew where the light-switches were, knew when every one was asleep, knew when the servants had retired-- knew just when and how to strike the blow. Some deep, awful motive lies behind that crime. There are depths beneath depths in what happened last night--obscure fetid chambers of the human soul. Black hatreds, unnatui- al desires, hideous impulses, obscene ambitions are at the bottom of it; and you are only playing into the murder- er's hands when you sit back and re- fuse to see its significance." His voice had a curious hushed quality and it was difficult to believe that this was the habitually debonair and cynical Vance. "That house is polluted, Markham. It's crumbling in decay--not material decay, perhaps, but a putrefaction far more terrible, The very heart and essence of that old house is rotting away. And all the inmates are rot- ting with it, disintegrating in spirit and mind and character. They've been polluted by the very atmosphere they've created. This crime, which you take so lightly, was inevitable in such a setting. I only wonder it was not more terrible, more vile. It marked one of the third stages of the general dissolution of that abnormal establish- ment." He paused, and extended his hand in a hopeless gesture. "Think of the situation. That old, lonely, spacious house, exuding the musty atmosphere of dead genera- tions, faded inside and out, run down, dingy, filled with ghosts of another day, standing there in its ill-kept grounds, lapped by the dirty waters of "I couldn't bring myself to leave youy, deed, it cloaked some particularly ser-| Grace Chun, Chinese girl, is the outstanding member of the Uni- versity of Hawaii's rifle team. She often gets a perfect 100. And competes by telegraph with Americon students. such was old Tobias Greene's perveri- ed idealism. And they've lived there, day in and day out, in that mouldy miasma of antiquity--unfit to meet the conditions of any alternative, too weak or too cowardly to strike out alone; held by an undermining secur- ity and a corrupting ease; growing to hate the very sight of one another, becoming bitter, spiteful, jealcus, vi- cious, wearing .down each other's nerves to the raw; consumed with re- sentment, aflame with hate, thinking evil--complaining, fighting, snarling. . . « Then, at'last, the breaking-point --+the logical, ineluctable figuration of all this self-feeding, ingrewing hat- red." "All of that is easy to understand," agreed Markham. "But, after all, your conclusion is wholly theoretic, not to say literary. By what tangible links do you connect last night's shooting with the admittedly abnor- mal situation at the Greene mansion." "There are no tangible links--that's the h.rror of it. But the pointers are there, however shadowy. I began to sense them the minute 1 entered the house; and all this afternoon I wes reaching for them blindly. But they eluded me at every turn. It was like a house of mazes and false passages and trapdoors and reeking oubliettes: nu- thing normal, nothing sane--a house in a nightmare, peopled by strange, abnormal creatures, each reflecting the subtle, monstrous horror that broke forth last night and went prowling about the old hallways. Didn't you sense it? Didn't you see the vague shape of this abomination continually flash out and disappear as we talked to these people and watched them battling against their own hideous thoughts and suspi- ciong?" Markham moved uneasily and straightened a pile of papers before him. Vance's unwonted gravity had affected him. "I understand perfectly what you mean," he said. "But I don't see that your impressions bring ug any nearer to a new theory of the crime. The Greene mansion is unhealthy--gthat's granted--and so, no doubt, are the people in it, But I'm afraid you've been over-susceptible to its atmos- phere. You talk as if last night's crime were comparable to the poison- ing orgies of the Borgias." (To be continued.) rep RESERVES. Mrs. Suburbs looked worn out and unhappy. She had abviously been hav- ing a tiring day. "What have you been doing to get like this?" her husband asked. "I've been round to all the servant agencies in the district tying to find maids," she replied. "Were you successful?" he asked. "Yes," she replied, brightening a little. "In engaged three." "Three?" he echoed, aghast. "Bat, my dear, you must be out of your mind. Br | "No, dear," she sighed. "I'm quite all right. You see, one 'comes to- morrow, one on the tenth and an- other on the sixteenth." "No, but then, sir, I've caddying five years." the river. . . And then think six ill-sorted, restless, unhealthy. be- of those! fot fellow-drivers. ents the women involved naturally | have no damage: charge 8 . | possibly borne out by By ALBERT EDWARD WIGGAM University of Pennylvanla, with the ald of Helen M. Gardner. Results of earlier investigations, which 'were first reviewed by Viteles and bis agsistant. For stance, figures from the District © Columbia for 1927 showed that. wo- men, constituting 15 percent of the cent of the non-fatal accidents only a little over two fatal accidents, In a study of 1000 fatal accidents show- ed that whereas women held 20 per- cent of the driving licenses, they were responsible for less. than five percent of these fatalities, Among similar studies, one from Connecti- of the licenses were held by women, but they had less than ten percent of the accidents. = Of such figures Professor Viteles says: "First, the evidence fails to include a comparison of accidents per mile of driving. It Is safe to assume that the average mwmber of miles covered by male operators is considerably in excess of the aver- age covered by women. Second, it seems probable that 7on the whole men operate unde, more unsatisfac- tory driving conditions than do wo- men. A greater proportion drive in heavier traffic and jn stormy weath- er. Third, only male drivers oper- ate trucks and other heavy vehicles. Fourth, it js possible that the me- chanical condition of machines driv- en by women is, on the average, bet- ter than those driven by men. It seems true that second-hand cars are more often bought and operated by men." Clearly, then, conclusions drawn from the type of investigation previ- ously quoted are bound to be worth- less, If you find that 100 men drivers kill ten people and 100 wo- men kiM five, you are no wiser than before. If the men drive 1000 miles to every 100 miles driven by the wo- men, the women have only 1/10 as many chances to kill a person. It js just by such loose thinking that practically "all popular notions arise and cost humanity so much id life, property, and happiness. Dr. Viteles and Miss Gardner were fortunate in having available very exact data on a large grouv of men and women taxicab-drivers in a large eastern city, covering a year of operation. The women may have been slightly favored by the fact that only new cabs were issued to them. The men may have been slightly favored by the fact that the Wo- men did not drive at night. It is a popular. notion that city driving at night is more hazaiaous than day driving, but the investigators found the higher accident rate during the day, though the night accidents were more serious. The women were also given the éasier districts, and had a great deal of additional train- ing after being hired. The total number of miles driven by the men was 28,431,719, Their total number of accidents was 7311 This means they had practically one accident for every 4000 miles. The women drove a fotal of 348, 979 miles. They had 268 accid>nts, or One accident for every 1303 miles. Since the men had to drive 4000 miles to have an accident, you can geo that when women are driving many accidents per $1000. for damages resulting from male and female accidents. favorably than the men. over twice as much. of the investigators, "these fon 'that women, ousness, cause vehicle operated by them. rtion of Actiaents Morris S. Biteles, Assistant Profes-| sor of Industrial Poychology seemed highly favorable to women, | licensed operators, bad only six per-| cut for 1927 showed that 20. percent under approximately the same COD- Another comparison 'of great in. terest wag the relative cost in Siaiue e This part of the investigation was not so conclusive because the figures cov- ered only one month; but the com-| parison. 1s extremely suggestive and in it the women came off much more The re- sult showed that the cost of aceid- ents per thousand Tiles Was 3288 women and $5.77 for men, re In the words last named results suggest that the .accl- dents in which women are involved are on the whole less serious than those in which men are involved. This is in favor of a common opin- through over-cauti- cidents on the part In such aceid- the the x s toll The surpassing charm of Finland lies in hér lakeland scenery. ft is un'que and incomparable. Nowhere water been so inextricably interwoven with one another. owhere else do we find such endless variety in the com: 'binations and contrasts of land and water, trees, rocks, and skies. Tae ramifications of the lakes, the indenta- tions of the land, the multiplicity of islands are almost inconceivable. They 'are the respair of the geographer, as the stars in the Milky Way must be the despair of the astronomer. . , . The voyager on the Saima Lake is in the position of one who cannot see the wood for the trees. He :annut see the lake for thé islands. It seems as if onc were sailing up a broad river with numerous creeks and tributaries. The banks on either side are so close that the pebbles on the shore and the flowers and ferns among the trees can be distinguished. The tinkle of cow- bells and the voices of haymakers float sweetly over the water. Mile after mile the vessel proceeds, threading its way through the winding channels, and never an open leke view is to Le seen. One must examine a large scale map in order to realize that this is indeed the great Saima, ind that what seem to be the river banks are but innumerable small islands. The further north we:go the more numerous the. islands becomey the more fantastic their shapes, their winding bays, thzir straggling capes, promontories, and peninsulas, It 1s present generation of men drivers. The extent to which thig is the re- sult of relative inexperience in driv- ing, or of a gex-determined differ- ence in susceptibility to accidents in traffic, cannot be finally determined from the present data, The fact, however, that a sampling of women suffer more accidents than a some: what similar sampling of 'men is clearly established." I' think this investigation does establish clearly that women have as few accidents as they have, not because they are superior drivers, but because they usually drive ma- chines in better repair, do not drive in all sortg of rough weather, and do not drive buses, trucks and heavy machines. Consequently in gross state statistics they show up far more favorably than they deserve. But put the same number of women drivers on the highway as men in the same types of machines, and it is safe to assume that women are at least twice as likely as men to cause accidents, Women in general undergo much less stringent sleetcion than these particular taxicab drivers. The same may be sald of men, But this study certainly suggests that women should not only be more carefully selected than they are, but should also be more carefully trained than ditions with the same kind of ma-| men, before they are allowed to ching it ig about three times as dan- | drive. gerous to ride with a woman as with er rae. Sree a man at the wheel. . . . These investigations also calcu Six Known Vitamins : lated the ratio of male and female : 00 - collecte a me HI a bad 5.06] Six vitamins have been discovered accidents for every $1000, whereas and labeled. Probably there are at the men had 1.44 ~ accidents for least three more. A list of the known every $1000, which means that the | vitamins, with their properties, fol: women had nearly 8% times as lows: Vitamin A.--Without this fat-soluble factor, animals fail to grow; sterility results; xerophthalmia, a disease of the eye, is produced; resistance to bac- terial infection is lowered, especially to that associated with colds, pneu- monia and afflictions of the regpiratory apparatus. The vitamin is found in fish-liver and animalliver oils, butter and egg-yolk fat and many vegetables. * Vitamin B.--This is called the antl neuritic vitamin, In England it is de signated as Bl. Lack of it results in loss of appetite and weight, in nervous: lytic seizures. 'The vitamin is some. times designated by the letter F. It is vegetables, yeast, egg-yolk, kidneys, brains and sweetbreads, Vitamin B2 is the British designation for our Vita- min G. & Ah) scurvy preventive. It ig contained in vegetables. ~~ * else in Europe have woodlands and| i 'upon but ever as seems to open up. It would be i ness and irritability and even in para-| found in cereals, nuts, seeds, many | Vitamin O.--This is thé famous] ent to say they sible to fird the fairway through thi 'abyrinth were it not carefully mark- ed out by beacors. Always theres in sight 'some whitewashed cairn of stones or mark upon the cliff by which the helmsman steers. At times the channel is so narrow that it has to be completely staked off by long white poles. . . . As the sun sinks still lower a tender radiance invests tke: scene. flushes a delicate rose-léaf pink, with faint wisps of opal cloud floating in it. The forest has not lost its colors, but the tones have been softened, the greens have become olive, the shadows Lave become fainter. Everything is Clear and distinet, but the whole land- scape seems to have become as impal- pable as a dream. It ig as if at any moment & ripple might pass through the scene, and it would suddenly crumple up and vanish away. The waters lie spread like a sheet of opal: escent giass. So still are they that one can see the ripple caused by an insect's wings. The tranquil calm of the Northern simmer night settles aowr upon the carth, The only sounds that break the silence are th: rattle of the screw and: the wash of the steamer rushing along the island shores.--A Maccallum ~~ Seott, in "Through Finland." _ ; / longer used by American biochémists, Vitamin G.--Thig'is known in Eng- land as B2.: A deficienc; of this vita- min results in soreness of the eyes and mouth and in a disease much like pellagra. Eggs, milk, yeast and some other foods contain this vitamin. If Rocking-Chairs Stop In amber stormlight creaks a rock- ing-chair That beats upon the midnight floor; and there Its scratching noise fills silence of a room Where toys still strew the floor with broken gloom, 2 Dust being where the hands of chil- dren were, . . - Despair bas squeezed and wedged bones; it's said. She froze till something snapped in- side her head; Her. mangled thoughts hands, her pain tangles in her hair, eyes, clothes , . . "She is insane" -- Who would not be that cannot leave the dead? --Jsobel Stone, in the Poetry World. misuse her Now No "just as good" lowers. The field of houseHold lub- 'rication is mo exception. = Unfor- tunately, the general public doesn't always appreciate the difference be- tween the real thing and the "just as good"~--but household experts do. general household lubrication should 'protec well ag lubri- 3in-One costs. ; patiad hn Jake; they are splashed. Tony men 1 The sky They know an oil intended for | does withholding | Baker Eady. ordinary, ol); but Jess to use, If you | s a a throns a starry 'midst long gras . « A" potent, warm, and not happily composed into one pleasant . sense and are but a frame to a tower | --but the sky is suddenl; cloudless. 1 suppose , that ivy has the same graceful ways on all old masonry, yet 1 have caught myself.remembering, as | it it were unique, that perfect ancient' ivy that makes an arcade of greem. along the wall of Godstow nunnery. And in the same way, above all others 1 remember the pollard willows that lean this way and that along the Ox ford streams--like prehistoric sgulp~ ture in winter, but in summer a grees eave and full of voices,, Never have { seen sunsets like those which make Wytham Wood and Marley Wood great * purple clouds, and the clouds overhea more solid than they. How pleasa are Cherwell and Evenlode, and those angry little waters at Berry Hinksey!i When I see the rain a White cloud and Shotover Hill a grey cloud; I seemy never before to have geen the sweets ness of rain. : ; October is nowhere so much itself as among the Hinksey elms, The trees, whether they stand alone or in socie ties, are most perfect in autumn. Some. thing in the soil, or climate, preserves their farewell hues as in a protracted sunset. Looking at them at nightfall, . it is bard. to believe that they have ' been amidst ten thousand sunsets and remained the same; for they ponder great matters, and not only in. the autumn, but in May, when the silence is startled' by the gurgling laughter of the hen cuckoo. When spring comes into the land, 1 remember a mulberry, that suspended its. white blossom, among black boughs, over a shining Jawn at the edge of the city; and the bells that in March or April seemed to te in league with spring, as we heard them from the fields, And how well a conversation would grow and blossom, between Headington and Wheatley or Osney. and Eaton!--From "Oxford," Painted by John Fulleyloye, Described by Edward Thomas. ¢ Back to Work Rest is a means, ngt an end. We rest that we may work and work better.' The test of a holiday is in what it does for us in the way of reinvigoration and inspiration for the work that waits. July and August are to... many thousands '- vacation months, and September calls them back to work, It ought to be a welcome call to everyone. Nothing. worge could happen to us than have no work to do--to have a vacation all the time. We need work to devalop our powers. It' is by action tba we grow, Skill in any departmen of life is the ' result of practice. Tagks may seem irksome, but every one is an opportunity, and bears a gift of God for us which we can only get by accepting it and doing it. To shrink from the duties which come to us in our common calling, how- ever dull and wearisome they may be, is not only indolence and cow- ardice, it is also robbing our own lives 'of many helpful and uplifting influences, ; We should come back to work, therefore, after a holiday, with ar. { dour and enthusiasm, We should " +} have the inspiration of gratitude--a ° rest from heavy tasks certainly 1s something to be thankful for. Our vacation, if it has been spent in a sensible way, has. refilled our drain ed fountains of vitality, giviog ns new strength for the work. befere ns. --Dr. J. R, Miller, red GIVING 3 "The more we give to others, the more we are increased'--Lao-Tze, * rw "That alone belongs to you which you have bestowed.'--Vamuna, : LE ew es ' "He gives twice Jy'--Syrus. Cc LS ; " J "Giving does not jmpoverish us in | the service of our Maker, n who gives quick gs that bathes |the sweeping branches of thorn and and three spires of Oxford, like clouds a : ek --dr id : rer : Gems from Life's Scrap-book a an pil ess Por ? . : enrich, uste-Mary.