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BY 8. S. VAN DINE. } Green Murder Cas |i > SYNOPSIS. Philo Vance, interested in solving nyateries, becomes interested in the 8 ene, Murders when District Attorney arkham is called in after o tatal "ehootin of Julla Greene and ne woundin, da, her sister. Tobias Greene's wi ot together with five chil- dren, Julia, Chester, Sibella, Rex nd Ada, ive in the old Greene mansion. To- ce inve tigations result in a blank wall, and the world is again horrified when another murder is committed. CHAPTER X. Shortly after Doctor Von Blon's de- parture two other men from the Homi- cide Bureau arrived, and the next two Yours were spent in interrogating the members of the household. But no- body except Sibella admitted even hearing the shot. Mrs. Greene was mot questioned. When Miss Craven, the nurse, who slept on the third floor, was sent in to her, she reported that ihe old lady was cleeping soundly; and the Sergeant decided not to disturb her. Nor was Ada awakened; accord- ing to the nurse, the girl had been asleep since nine o'clock, Rex Greene, however, when inter- viewed, contributed one vague and, as it seemed, contradictory bit of evi- dence. He had been lying awake, he said, at the time the snowfall ceased, which was a little after eleven. Then, ekout ten minutes later, he had im- agined he head a faint shuffling moise in the hall and the sound of a dour losing softly. He had thought wothing of it, and only realled it when pressed by Heath. A quarter of an hour afterward he had looked at his watch. It was then twenty-five min- utes past eleven; and very soon after that he had fallen asleep. "The only queer thing about his story," commented Heath, "is the time. Jf he's telling the tale straight, he heard this noise and tke door shutting twenty minutes or so before the shot was fired. And nobody in the house was up at that time. I tried to shake him on the question of the exact hour, but he stuck to it like a leech. I com- pared him watch with mine, and it was O0.K. Anyhow, there's nothing much to the story, The wind mighta blown a door shut, or he mighta heard a noise out in the street and thought ® was in the hall." [T "Nevertheless, Sergeant," put in Vance, "if I were you I'd file Rex's story away for future meditation. Somehow it appeals to me." Heath looked up sharply and was about to ask a question; but he chang- e. his mind and said merely: "It's filed." Then he finished his report 10 Markham. After interrogating the occupants of the Louse he had gone back to the Bureau, leaving his men on guard, and set the machinery of his office in operation. He had returned to the Greene mansion early that morning, and vas now waiting for the Medical Examiner, the finger-print experts, wid the official phetographer. He had given orders for the servants to re- main in their quarters, and had in- structed Sproot to serve breakfast to all the members of the family in their OWN rooms. "This. thing's going to take work, sir," he concluded. "And it's going to be touchy going, too." Markham nodded gravely, and glanced toward Vance, whose eyés were resting moodily on an old oil- painting of Tobias Greene. i -- Eat this fine cheese food oftener! (TRIPLE PLUS) Ro wonder millions love Kraft "Does this new development help co- ordinate any of your former impres- sions?" he asked. "It at least sulsrantiates the feeling I Lad that this old house reeks with a ceadly poison," Vance replied. "This thing is like a witches' sabbath." Me gave Markham a humorous smile, "I'm beginning to think your task is going to take on the nature of exorcising devils," ~ Markham grunted. "I'll leave the magic potions to you. . Sergeant, suppose we take a look at the body before 'he Medical Ex- aminer gets hece.' Heath led he way without a word. When we .ieached the head of the stairs he took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door of Chester's room. The e'ectric lights were still burning--sickly yellow disks in the gray daylight which filtered in from the windows above the river. The room, long and narrow, coa- tained an anachronistic assortment of furniture. Jt was a typical man's apartment, with an air of comfortable untidiness. Newspapers and spoits magazines cluttered the table and desk; ash-trays were everywhere; an open cellaret-stood in one corner; and a collection of golf clubs lay on the tapestried Chesterfield. The bed, I no- ticed, had not been slept in. In the centre of the room, beneath an old-fashioned cut-glass chandelier, was a Chippendale "kneehole" desk, beside which stood a sleepy-hollow clair. It was in this chair that the body of Chester Greene, clad in dress- ing-gown and slippers, reclined. He was slumped a little forward, the head turned slightly back and resting against the tufted upholstery. The light from the chandelier cast a spec- tial illumination on his face; and the sight of it laid a spell of horror on me. The eyes, normally prominent, now .eemed to be protruding from their sockets in a stare of unutterable amazement; and the sagging chin and flabby parted lips intensified this look of terrified wonder. features intently. "Would you say, Sergeant," he ack- ed, without looking up, "that Chester and Julia saw the same thing as they passed from this world?" Heath coughed uneasily. "Well," he admitted, 'something surprised them, and that's a fact." "Surprised them! Sergeant, you should thank your Maker that yon are not cursed with an imagination. The whole truth of this fiendish busi- ness lies in those bulbous eyes and that gaping mouth. Unlike Ada, both Julia und Chester saw the thing that men- aced them; and it left them stunnad and aghast." "Well, we can't get any information outa them." Heath's practicality as vsual was uppermost. "Not oral information, certainly." "Come, come, Vance. Be tangible." Markham spoke with acerbity. "What's in your mind?" "Pon my word, I don't know. It's too vague," He leaned over and pick- e. up a small book from the flcor just b.neath where the dead man's hand hung over the arm of the chair. "Ches- ter apparently was immersed in liter- ture at the time of his taking off." He opened the book casually. " 'Hydro- therapy and Constipation.' Yes, Ches- ter was just the kind to worry about | his colon. Some one probably told him that intestinal stasis interferred with the proper stance. He's no doubt c.earing the asphodel from the Elys- ian fields at the present moment pre- parat'ry to laying out a golf course." He became suddenly serious. "You see what this book means, Markham? Chester was sitting here reading when the murderer came in. Yet he did not so much as rise or call out. Furthermore, he let the intruder stand directly in front of him. He did not even lay down his book, but sat Lack in his chair relaxed. Why? Be- cause the murderer was some one Chester knew-- and trusted! And when the gun vas suddenly brought forth and pointed at his neart, he was too astounded to move. And in that second of bewilderment and unbelief the trigger way pulled and the bullet entéred his heart." Markham nedded slowly, in Jeep perplexity, and Heath studied the atti- tude of the dead man more cloeely. "That's a geod theory," the Ser- geantconceded finally. "Yes, he musta ls the bird get right on top of him "without suspecting anything. Same like Julia did." - "Exactly, Sergeant. The two mur- ders constitute a most suggestive par- allel." ; "Still and all, there's one point you're overlooking." Heath's brow was roughened in a troublad frow~. "Chester's door righta been unlocked Jast night, seeing 'as he hadn't gone to bed, and so this person coulda walked undressed and in Vance was stulying the dead man's' in without any trouble. But Julis, Alo lights, and Jim' ed her queen- ly bed. "Thén ceme a tap on the door --perhaps a tap she recognized. She , put on the lights, opened the og and again 1epaired to her bed warmth while she held paxley with her visitor. Maybe--who knows? --the visitor sat on the edge of the bed during the call. Then suddenly * that Julia had disrobed, dried off]! How One Man S: Saved His! Life With 2 Pinch of tabwat. the visitor produced the revolver and fired, and made a hurried exit, forget- ting to switch the lights off. Such a theory--thaugh I don't insist on the details--would square neatly with my idea regarding Chester's caller." "It may've been like you say," ad- 1 tted Heath dubiously. "But why all the hocus-pocus when it came to shoot- ing Ada? That job was done in the dark." "The rationalistic philosophers tell us, Sergeant--that there's a reason fer everything, but that the finite mind is woefully restrictea." CHAPTER XI. Heath made no reply. He stood in the centr. of the room running his eye over the various objects and pieces of furniture. Presently he stepped to the clothes-closet, pulled open the door, and tarred on a pendant electric light just inside. As he stood gloomily peering at the closet' contents there was a sound of heavy footsteps in the hall and Snitkin appcared in the open door. Heath turned and, without giv- irg his assistant time to speak, asked gruffly: "How did you 1)ake out with those footprints?" "Got all the dope here." Spitkin crossed to the Sergeant, and held out a long Manila envelope. "There wasn't no trouble in checkirg the measure- ments and cutting the patterns. But they're not going to be a hell of a lot of good,- I'm thinking. There's ten million guys more or less in this coun- try who coulda made 'em." Heat! had opened the envelope and drawn forth a thin white cardboard pattern which looked like an inner sole of a shoe. "It v:asn't no pigmy who made this print," he remarked. "That's the catch in it," explained Sritkin. "The size don't mean no- thing much, for it air't a shoe track. Those footprints were made by ga- lo&hes, 4nd there's no telling how much bigger they were than the guy's foot 'They mighta been worn over a shue anywheres from a size eight to a size ten, and with a width anywheres from an A toa D." 'cath nodded with obvious disap- pointment. (To be continued.) I The Grand Canyon The ground ends abruptly. You find yourself looking over the Edge of the World, gazing on a beauty that makes imagination reel. Twisted, convulsed, titanically er oded masses of rock; reds, pinks oranges, yellows, b'ues, violets, pur- ples,--all the colors of the spectrum, rise out of a vast abyss, filled with & gauzy haze of palest mauve. Over all is a deep biouding silence, =o solemn and awe-inspiring that ome feels like an intruder and instinctively treads softly, Such a silence must have brooded over the new-made world in the dawn of time. As one gazes eatranced, it seems to be a vision, nct of the everyday world we know, but of a strange wild planet in a strange universe that is still being forged by its maker. The eye refuses to find a seale to measuve these vast depths and distances. There seems to be something so stupendous, go overpowering and unearthly about it all, that one can only sit stunned and listen in the vast silence. To "the jon of his silver wedding, » man invited some friends to dinner. The guests were seated When it was discovered that two of those invited had not arrived. "Quickly the host rose from the head of the table, crept from the room, and the dinner p d in his . . + not one sugested that he sh return to the table." This apparent breach of courtesy i. explained by Sir Charles -Igglesden in his fascinating took "Those Super- stitions." The host had realized that his party numbered thirteen--the ill- futed number--and to relieve his guests' anxiety he gently effaced him- sf. The late Lord Roberts had no su:h fears, and used to boast that just be- fore the Afhan War twelve officers and himself, braving superstition, dined together. Eleven years after- wards they were all still alive. "EVIL WOULD BEFALL" Those who believe in this supersti- tion will recall the curious fact that t.e late President Doumer, whose tragic end has shocked the world, was the thirteenth President of the French Republic--elected on May 13th, and died thirteen hours after the dastard- ly attack of the fanatic. Sir Charles Igglesden traces the prejudice aainst thirteen people sit- ting down at the same table to the Last Supper, when Judas Iscariot, the traitor, was the thirteenth man. Why do we superstitiously throw salt over our shoulder to prevent bad luck, if we spill it? The writer tells us that it may originate from the fact that salt was used in reliious services and, because of this, received special recognition. To eat salt with anyone spelt immunity from danger. An Arab bandit had captured a prisoner and, as he could not pay ransom, he was to be executed. The captive, looking eagerly for a charce to escape, saw selt on the table, ready for the ban- dit's meal. He rushed forward, seized a pinch of salt and thrust it into his mouth. He was saved! "Let him go," commanded the ban- dit chief. "Evil would befall us if he died at our hands." To see two magpies is lucky--but to see one is not. Long ago the kiliing of a magpie was supposed "to bring down the wrath of heaven," for the 'magpie was a sacred bird, "supposed to represent the creation of day and night." 1d across a superstilious woman, with two fingers crossed, agitatedly hurry- irg along a London street towards a dog fancier's shop. The moment she saw a puppy sleeping in the window she unclasped her fingers with a sigh of infinite relief. To see a dog is 10 break the spell, and thereby avert the evil result of walking under a ladder! The author was salmon fishing in a Scottish loch and was just going to cast the line with the rod held in his left hand. The ghi'lie hastily asked him if he were left-handed. When he replied that he wasn't he begged him to change the rod to the 'other hand or there would be "no luck" that day. Dr. W. G. Grace, Sir Charles says, always declared that if his name in the batting list was opposite an even number he could make no runs. The untimely end of those men who explored Tutankhamen's Tomb--sev- eral workmen wkose names were never revealed also didd--Sir Charies Three Pearlies the No un K of it. "hese Nit One day Sir Charles Igglesden came' pa Whatever doubts and anxieties I may have had about the inconvenience of the Beggs' high wagon for a person of Mrs. Blackett's age and shortness, they were happily overcome by the aid of a chair and her own valiant spirit. Mrs. Todd hestowed great care upon seating us as if we were taking passage by boat, but she finally pro- nounced we were properly trimmed. When we had gone only a little way up the hill she remembered that she had left the house door wide open, though the large key was safe in her pocket. I offered to run back but my offer was met with lofty scorn, and we lightly dismissed the matter from our minds, until two or three miles farther on we met the doctor, and Mrs. Todd asked htm to stop and ask the nearest neighbor to step over and close the door if the dust seemed to blow in the afternoon. We had just passed a piece of wood- land that shaded the road, and come out to some open fields beyond, when Mrs, Todd suCdenly reined in the horse as if somebody had stood on the roadside and stopped her. She even gave that quick, reassuring nod of her head which was usually made to ang- wer a bow, out I discovered that she was looking eagerly at a tall ash-tree that grew just nside the field fence. "I, thought it was goin' to do well," she said complacently as we went on again. "Last time I was up this way that tree was kind of drooping and discouraged. Grown trees act that way sometimes, same 's folks; then they'll put right to it and strike their Along a Country Road roots off into new ground and start all over again with real good cour: age." "There's sometimes a good hearty tree growin' right out of the bare rock, out o' some crack that just holds the roots"; she went on to say, "right on the pitch o' one o' them bare, stony hills where you can't seem to see a wheel-barrowful o' good earth In a place, but that tree'll keep a green top in the driest summer. You lay your ear down to the ground an' you'll hear a little stream runnin'." The woods stood close to the road on the right; on the left were narrow flelds and pastures where there were as many acres of spruces and pines as there were acres of bay and juniper and hutkleberry, with a little tuft be tween. When I thought how we were in the heart of the inland country, we reached the top of a hill, and suddenly there lay spread out before us a won- derful great view of well-cleared fields that swept down to the wide water of a bay. Beyond this were distant shores like another country in the mid-day haze which half hid the hills beyond, and the far-away pale blue mountains on the northern horizon. There was a schooner with all sails set coming down the bay from a white village that was sprinkled . on the shore, and there were many lifeboats flitting about. It was a noble land- gcape, and my eyes, which bad grown uged to the narrow inspection of a shaded roadside, could hardly take it in--~From "The Country of the Point ed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett. attributes to fumes of poisonous gas with which the Egyptians permeated the atmosphere when they sealed up the tombs as a protection to their sacred dead. Crushed snails are still given in nany villages to children suffering from whooping cough. One Kentish woman told the author that she had given minced mice to all her family-- to keep the Evil One away. She boast thy children. In Wales if you have a toothache it can be cured by putting your stock- ing on the opposite foot to the usual one! A nutmeg carried in the purse is a safeguard against almost any dis- order! One day a Sussex 'woman engaged a new maid. Just before five o'clock next morning she heard voices under her bedroom window. The maid had arrived, with her wooden box carried by her father. The mistress said she woul® come down and let the girl in. "Qh, you musn't do that, ma'am," came the voice from below. "I'll wait out here and sit on the box until after twelve o'clock"--and she did! If sie had one in before then disaster would have fallen on her employers and her- self, so she averred. WHEN SATAN ROARED,' If we spring-clean later than May it is unlucky! If we drink hot water when we go to bed we must never leave any in the glass or jug. The reason, according to the servant whom the writer questioned, is that boiled water will not freeze, and the devil might want it to and it would vex his Satanic Majesty to be thwarted! So it's safer to leave nune in at all. We must not open an umbrella in- doors or disaster follows, or give a bootlace to a friend unless he gives ns the broken one in return! Birthdays do not escape supersti- tion. Seven is a lucky number. If the *| date of birth is divisible by seven then you will be the luckiest person on earth. The seventh child of a séventh child has second sight, and can fore- tell the future. Sir Charles traces the reason the horseshoe is an emblem of good luck | to the 'egend of St. Dunstan and the devil. "The saint was a blacksmith, and one day his Satanic Majesty pre sented himself and asked t6 have his ed she had brought up seventeen heal- | | harmless, washed in, but ff I '| aquatic wind and maintained od and posture, 1 became an object of suspicion. This was the first of 'many radical differences which I was to find between the worid of dry land and that of the under water; on land, to move is to arouse fear among the wild- creatures, bere 1°did it by remaining still 1 walked, or half-walked, balt- floated, toward the cliffs. The rocks were almost bare in this bay, like those between tides, tudes of lesser aquatic creatures were concealed beneath them. The water was quiet, and between surges was often perfectly clear, so that ¥ could see plainly the cliffs, rising high in the air above that narrow straigh line which marked the divi- sion between the two kingdoms. I went as far as my hose tether would permit, and reached a boulder om which, the day before, at low tide, cool air of the upper world. Turning back, 1 saw I had become a Pled Piper of sorts, leading & host of fish which followed in my train. The sun was out now in full strength and unknown to me, could hold my eyes from the marvel of distance. fifty feet in every direction, but for all 1 could tell it might have been fifty feet, or fifty miles. The sun's rays filtered down as though through the most marvellous cathedral ever imagined -- intangible, oblique rays which the eye coud perceive, but no lip describe. . With distance, thede be- came more and more luminous, more wondrously brilliant, until rocks died away in a veritable purple glory, No sunset, no mist on distant mountains that I have seen, could compare with this. One had to sit quietly and ab- sorb these beauties before one could T ber to be an ichthvologist, -- Daunghter--*"I wish Jack to think only of me." Mother--"1 would pot distract his thoughts too much from busi- ness, my dear; remember you'll smeed a great many expensive things." FARISh a Ra Airway Beacons Automatic A device that will ture on airway beacons automatically whenever it gets dark bas been developed. i i must wean baby to a bottle ou are anxious to know if he will el use Eagle Brand fi rotect him from digestive troubles. Eagle Brand has proved safe and reliable for seventy-five years. Babies Brow and thrive on it. Write Jor 'Baby Welfare," using coupon The Borden Co. Limited, Toronto, Ont. Gentlemen: Please send me free" copy of entitled "Baby Welfare." EAGLE BRAND Ee -. AAS Household oil must is do 3 things, say experts Household oils that merely lubri- cate do only half the job, say lubrica- tion experts. Locks and hinges, sew- ing machines, electric fans, vacuum hoof shoed . . . St. Dunst: "| ed his visitor and went to work npn his hoof and deliberately gave him such pain he roared for mercy. Before releasing him, St. Dunstan exacted a promise that he would never 'enter 3 place where he saw: a horseshoe dis- | played." son had a horseshoe on th Vi The horseshoe rust be hung right} and way up--or the luck "falls out." Nel-| 8, lawn mowers, washers--all hold devices are ly gaths rite dirt and rust When not in ser- William Beebe, in "The Arcturus Ad- venture." ee EL RIAN Economics at Home Father comes up from the furnace, where he has been invigorating the bituminous coal industry, and joins the children at the table. They set te work to solve the prob- lem of disposing of surplus food pro- ducts by increasing the consumer de- mand. Upon hearing them, the cook emer- ges from the kitchen where up to that time she had been subject to technicad unemployment. The children ask for syrup om the cakes, and father says there should be a large stock in the warehouse; but the cook replies that there hag been a brisk movement in the com- modity since the last inventory was taken and there is no longer any om the shelves. Father however, points to an over production of sugar, and offess to ex- change it for some of little Johnny's surplus butter. Mother now comes down the stairs, and tells father not to forget to ear- mark some gold for her before he leaves the house, as she has numerous obligations to be met at once. Father reminds her of her previous indebtedness and explains to her that it she wises to enjoy confidence she should make a serious effort to bal- ance her budget. She replies that her finances are in a critical condition and she is on thé brink of bankruptcy, so father does not press her further, but advances her valuable credits and also grants her a moratorium. Little Mary asks for another griddle cake, as she is facing starvation. Mother réplies that this is strange as there is an over-supply of griddle cakes, and that obviously the trouble lies with the distribution. Father says that little Mary is une duly alarmed, that the kitchen is well when confidence is restored. And with that father picks up his hat, mother places a number of orders for father to negotiate, thus stimulat- ing seasonal buying, and he rushes off to assist in increasing the net operat- ing .income for the railways for the corresponding period of last year-- Baltimore Evening Sun. Dr. Pusey's Maxims : Life is for action, not for question. ng. and the multi' 1 had sat comfortably in the clear, ' My range of vision was perhaps fundamentally sound, and all will be fourth quarter, as compared with the - Tho his are wasted, unless turned