Mcallen Daily Press

Paul Comstock, young architect, and his wife Serena are forced by financial difficulties to leave New York and make their home with his mother on her farm-estate in Vermont. She's a grim old woman who rules the members of her household with a rod of iron. These include Paul's sister Estelle, his brother Chadwick, and his meek little aunt, Miss Leona Peasley. He settles down contentedly enough, but Serena becomes increasingly unhappy under her mother-in-law's domination. Moreover, she is dismayed to see Paul becoming more and more like his mother. When two friends of hers and Paul's, Alan Leighton and his sister Helen, arrive for an over-night visit, she impulsively begs Alan to take her away with them. Paul overhears her and makes a scene. Meanwhile, his mother has gone upstairs to give Helen a sedative, for the girl has been feeling ill. Mrs. Comstock suddenly returns to the drawing room, hurls a little green bottle into the fireplace, and announces dramatically that it contains arsenic which some one substituted for her sedative.

CHAPTER X

PAUL knelt beside the hearth, investigating the liquid that had spilled from the shattered green bottle.

"Looks like arsenic, all right but

"It is arsenic," said his mother decisively. "Fortunately, I found out in time. Otherwise, not only I but our guest, Miss Leighton, would have died mysteriously during the night."

"Look here, Mother," said Estelle. "I've got a right to know what you're talking about. You asked who did your room today and I said I did. Were you trying to suggest that I put the bottle in your room--that I tried to poison you?"

Miss Peasley put out a hand toward her niece. "Oh, no, darling! I'm sure Mateel didn't mean that!"

"Tell us what happened, Mother," said Chad. "How and where did you discover the bottle?"

Mrs. Comstock's eyes swept over the little group in the room--her children, her sister, Serena and Alan.

"Very well. All of you except Mr. Leighton know that beside my bed is a little cabinet in which I keep my medicines. For the past year, I have been forced to resort to sedatives in order to sleep. The one I usually take is a liquid in a small green bottle identical with the bottle I just threw into the fireplace.

"Tonight, when I decided it would be wise to give Miss Leighton a sedative, I went to my room and took that bottle from the exact spot where my sedative always stands in my bedside cabinet. I returned to Miss Leighton and was about to pour a spoonful of the liquid into a glass of water, when I noticed it was different in color from my medicine. I examined it more closely and am sure it was arsenic. Do you blame me for questioning this rather sinister occurrence?"

"Sounds queer, all right," said Paul. "But are you sure the other bottle isn't in the cabinet, too? Pushed back out of sight?"

"No - I looked most carefully. There is no other similar bottle there. The one I found was my medicine bottle, but its contents had been changed. Don't try to tell me I simply made a mistake in bottles because, naturally, I didn't keep arsenic in my cabinet! Some one else put it there!"

"You may be mistaken in thinking it was arsenic," said Paul. "I think you're making a bit of a fool of yourself, Mother. After all, why should any one do such a thing?"

She looked at him and said deliberately. "Because some one in this house wanted to murder me."

Miss Peasley gasped. "Oh Mateel don't say such a thing! It's not so! You must be mistaken!"

"You will all oblige me," said Mrs. Comstock coldly. "by not using the word mistake again. There was no mistake. Since I have no way of discovering who my ill-wisher is, I must take a suspicious attitude toward all of you. I am under no illusions as to the way the members of my family feel toward me. And I have no doubt that my servants also feel themselves abused.

"But let me give you one word of warning before we drop this most distasteful subject. If any one contemplates another attempt upon my life, bear in mind that I am no longer unprepared. There is a weapon that can be employed in my behalf and, taking warning from this night's incident, I shall make haste to use it. And now shall we have a little bridge?"

BEDTIME had at last come after a nightmarish evening. Serena, on her way to her own room, stopped in the guest room where Helen had been placed. She found her friend sleeping peacefully. As she tiptoed about the room hanging up scattered clothing, her mind was filled with the dreadful accusation Mrs. Comstock had made. Murder! She shuddered. It just couldn't be possible that any one in the house had contemplated such a thing! How could Mrs. Comstock be so sure that the bottle she found contained arsenic? She must be mistaken. It was probably something harmless that had been placed in her medicine chest by accident. And perhaps her bottle of sedative had been misplaced in the same way. Such a mix-up could easily happen. Leaving the room, Serena met Alan at the head of the stairs. "How is Helen?" he asked. "Asleep. Good." He shot a swift glance up and down the hall then said under his breath, "Did you mean what you said about coming away with us tomorrow? You must! I don't see how you've stood" He broke off as Paul's voice was heard in the lower hall. "Well, good night Mother. I don't suppose we'll do much sleeping in this heat but I'm all in." Mrs. Comstock answered. "Perhaps the storm will break before long and give us some relief. Good night my son." Paul came on up the stairs. Just as he reached the landing the door of Estelle opened, and Advent darted out. There was a furtive look about the servant as she hurried past Serena and Alan, then disappeared down the service stairway. Paul stared after her. "Now what has she been up to?"

"I hope Estelle's not ill," said Serena. She went and tapped on her sister-in-law door. "Estelle, are you all right?" There was a moment's pause. Then Estelle in a red satin dressing gown, opened the door. "Why shouldn't I be all right?" she asked insolently.

"Serena saw Advent leaving your room and was afraid you might be ill," said Paul.

"Tell your wife to mind her own business!" Estelle snapped. She slammed her door.

Paul shrugged. "This heat has got everybody, I guess." He paused, looked at Alan, then added gruffly, "Sorry I cut loose the way I did earlier this evening."

"Forget it," said Alan. To Serena, Paul said nothing. And she knew that, though he had apologized to Alan, he would not apologize to her. No--he would not let her off until he had wrung from her an explanation of the incident he had witnessed on the porch. She knew him of old. She led the way into their room and flung herself wearily onto the bed face downward. Paul walked over to a window lit a cigarette and remained there without speaking. The room was alive with unspoken accusation.

(To be continued) (The characters in this serial are fictitious) Copyright, 1942, by Arcadia House, Inc.