June 10, 2025 • 26 mins
When English professor William A. Porter unexpectedly inherits a grand seaside mansion from his late Uncle Horace, his curiosity is piqued by the unexplained circumstances surrounding his uncles death. Along with his wife and niece, he decides to spend the summer in the propertys lodge, renting out the main house. As darkness falls, the quiet seaside neighborhood takes a sinister turn, with strange occurrences and eerie events becoming the norm. At the heart of these mysteries is an ominous red lamp, a subject of local folklore and believed to cast a malevolent spell. Can Professor Porter unravel the truth behind these oddities, or will he himself become a suspect in this webs of mysteries?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section sixteen of The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Reinhardt.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. September sixth,
Halliday is still in town. I can do nothing but
wait here, eating my heart out with anxiety and allowing
my imagination to run away with me. In a thousand ways.
My women folks support me according to their kind. Jane
(00:22):
serves me sweetbreads for luncheon, and Edith sits by giving
me an occasional, almost furtive caress as an evidence of
her faith in me. But Edith is curiously lifeless. That
small but burning flame in her, which we call optimism
for want of a better word, seems definitely quenched. She
is silent and apathetic, and has been so since yesterday.
She seems to resent our having sent in the key
(00:43):
to the diary. If only you hadn't done that, she said,
to day, What else could we do? We have to
get at the bottom of this thing. I don't see
that it has got you anywhere. It is only must
things up what she has in her mind. I do
not know unless, poor child, she has been building a
future on Hell, is solving the crime, and that now
that prospect is gone. She tells me that Star has
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been on guard of the main house quietly for the
two nights Holliday has been in town. But if she
knows any explanation of his presence, she does not give it.
He's afraid to go inside, she said, scornfully. He just
sits all on the terrace and smokes. If anybody said,
boo behind him, me jump into the bay and drown himself.
She has apparently implicit faith in how it is about
it keep me from further indignity. But I am not
(01:25):
so certain. The sound of a car on the highway
sets my post to beating like a riveting machine. At
the arrival of the Morrison truck a few minutes ago,
with some belated buttermilk, I got up in a button
my coat. My place in my little world behind the
drain pipe is neither large nor important, but it is
difficult for me to imagine it without me. Suppose the
worst to happen, said Matthew Arnold, the protly jeweler from Cheapside.
(01:46):
Suppose even yourself to be the victim, ily apadum necessaire,
the great mundane movement would still go on the gravel
walks of your villa would still be rolled, dividends would
still be paid at the bank, omnibuses would still run.
There would be the same to crush at the corner
of Fenchurch Street. This is the sixth. It was on
the fourth, then, a few hours after Holliday had gone
to the city that a taxi stopped here and Greenow
(02:09):
got out. There seemed to me to be a trifle
more than his usual ponderousness in his manner, and a
distinct concentration in the way he looked at me as
I came down the staircase. At the same time, he
was civility itself, and he stated his errand matter effectively.
They had a staff working on the diary, and he
knew I would like to be present when it was finished.
It's a long job, he said, but we split it
into a half dozen parts and not to be ready
(02:30):
by eight or half past. He was six then, and
as our early dinner was almost ready, I asked him
to stay. We ate cheerfully enough, took the seven fifteen
Express from Oakville and were in town and at the
County building at something before ten. I was surprised, but
not startled, to find eventually the sheriff there and three
or four other men, including Hemmingway, the district attorney. Hemingway
held some typed sheets in his hand when we entered,
(02:52):
and was reading them carefully. Halliday was standing by a window,
staring out into the square, and his first indication I
had that anything was wrong with the sprushing on his
face as he turned and saw me. The second was
a polite invitation to Holliday to leave the room, and
his manner of receiving it. I am staying, he said flatly.
If there's any objection to that, I shall advise mister
Porter to make no statement and to answer no questions
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until he can be properly protected. Protected, I asked, protected
from what from this strong arm outfit? Said Halliday, and
surveyed the room with his jaw thrust forward. I am
under arrest, Havingway put down the papers and took off
his glasses. Certainly not, he said, Your young friend is
being slightly dramatic. I know that you want this mystery
solved as much as we do, more since it directly
(03:35):
concerns you. This is not a trap, mister Porter. We
shall ask you some questions, and I hope you will
answer them. That is all, I reserve the right to
interfere in case of any trick. Halliday put in, we
have framed now trick questions. Hemingway said quietly, we want
the facts, that's all. He rang a bell, and a
secretary came in. My mouth was dry, and some one
placed a glass of water before me. From then on,
(03:56):
for four hours I answered questions. At the end of
that time I walked out, still free, although slightly dizzy.
Note Holliday has recently secured a copy of the stenographic
notes of that night. As they would make a small
volume in themselves, I gave here only such portions as
seemed to forward the narrative. Q. Your name please, A
William Allan Porter Q age A forty six. Q. Your
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profession is A I am a professor of English literature
at Blank University. Q. He owned the property at Oakville
known as Twin hollows Ay, I do I inherited it
something more than a year ago, on the death of
my uncle Horace Porter. Q. Had you known that this
property was to come to you on your uncle's death? Ay?
It was always understood between us. He had no other heirs. Q.
(04:42):
Had you any previous acquaintance with mister Bethel, I mean
before I took your house A none, whatever. I never
saw him until he came out to take possession. His
secretary inspected the house and negotiations were carried on through
my attorney. Q. In any of your talks with mister Bethel,
did you gather that he had known mister Horace Porter
previous to his death? A? Never. Qu When you rented
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the house, did you retain any keys to it? Ay?
I have a full set in my possession. Que. You
had access to the house then, Ay, I never used
my keys, if that's what you mean. Qu. On the
night of the twenty sixth of July, mister Bethel's secretary
was attacked outside the kitchen door of the house and
managed to ring the bell there before we fell unconscious.
Just where were you, mister Porter when that bell rang? Ay?
(05:25):
The police have my statement as to that by the
sun dial. Que, Doctor Hayward was on the road in
his car. You were, by the sun dial close to
the house. Yet when he reached you had apparently only
found this boy. Is that correct? Ay? It seems to
me that the question there might be was Hayward on
the main road that night as he says, or nearer
to the house than he admits. Que, you own a boat,
I believe Ay, I inherited one with the property, a sloop. Que.
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Do you sail the boat yourself? Ay? I don't know
one end of it from the other. Qu In your
various conversations with mister Bethel, did he ever mention the
character of the house, that I mean, any curious quality
in the house itself? Ay? He recognized such a quality. Yes. Q.
Did he ever mention a letter written to him by
a mister Cameron here in the city, a member of
the Society for Psychical Research relative to the house? A never,
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But I know of the letter. Cameron sent me word
of it a day or so ago. Que. Are you
a believer in spiritualism? Ay? I never have been. Recently, however,
I note here I caught a warning glance from Halliday
and changed what I had intended to say. Recently, I
have been trying to preserve an open mind on the subject. Q.
Why recently? A. For one thing, mister Bethel had found
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the house. Queer, so had the secretary. Q. On the
day you asked the secretary to luncheon. The intention was
to allow mister Bethel to go through his room. A Bethel,
certainly not. Qu I shall read you This entry from
Gordon's diary reads. Porter asked me to lunch today so
b could go through my room. They left the knife,
but at least they know I have it. Ay, that's
(07:00):
a lie. I asked him to luncheon so Holliday could
search his room. It was Halliday who found the knife.
You can ask him. Qu We'll let that go just now,
and come to the night you were found in the house,
mister Porter, by mister Halliday. Ay. I wasn't found in
the house by mister Halliday. We had started for it together.
The maid and Cochrane had reported a quarrel between mister
Bethel and Gordon, and that Gordon had gone away. You
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must remember that we suspected the boy of being the killer.
I was anxious and went for holiday. Que. What time
did the maid tell you this? Ay? About seven thirty
possibly eight o'clock? Que? And where did you go for
mister Halliday? Ay? It was about eleven. I imagine, que.
What did you do in the interval? Ay? She was
nervous and I took her home. After that we had callers. Que.
(07:46):
Did you see mister Bethel in that interval, Ay, no, Que,
had it occurred to you that Gordon might be going
to see the police? Ay? I never thought of it.
Why should he be going to the police. Que. Did
mister Bethel think of it? Ay? I've told you I
didn't see him. Qu On the night of the murder
in the house at Twin Hollows. What led you to
your discovery of the crime? Ay? My wife heard the
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telephone ring and I went to it. All three buildings
were on one line and the receiver of the main
house was down. I heard a crash and heavy breathing
to the telephone. QU That made you suspicious? Ay, I
have been expecting trouble between mister Bethel and Gordon. Qu
Why did you expect trouble? Ay? I knew they had quarreled.
Mister Bethel had told me that it was he who
had struck Gordon, mistaking him for a burglar, and that
(08:30):
Gordon suspected it. QU. When did he tell you that? Ay?
I don't know, exactly, about three days before the murder,
I think, qu. Can you remember the burden of that conversation? Ah,
very well. He said that he was suspicious of the boy,
that he was weakened, vicious and possibly criminal. He knew
he was going out at night. All the night of
the twenty sixth the July, Gordon was out and he
dragged himself downstairs. When he heard him at the kitchen door,
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he struck him, but he maintained that he had not
tied him. I believe that personally he had one useless hand.
Que Did you ever have any reason to believe that
mister Bethel exaggerated his infirmity? Ay? Exaggerated it? What do
you mean QW? You believe he was as helpless as
he appeared. Ay. I can't imagine a man assuming such
a thing. Qu I, mister porter, you have said that
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the telephone receiver at the main house was down and
you heard enough over it to alarm you. A yes,
qu it rang and you went to it? A yes?
Qu How could it ring if the other receiver was down? Ay?
As a matter of fact, I didn't hear it. My
wife said it had wrung, and to satisfy her, I
went to it. QW. Did the Secretary Gordon ever approach
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you on a matter of money? A money? I don't
understand the question. QW did he ever ask you for
money or intimate that he needed it. Ay. Never he
said something once about giving up his position. QU. Where
was he the night you held the conversation with mister
Bethel relative to him? Ay here in the city, I
believe QW and mister Buel thought he might have gone
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to the police. A. That's the second time you've intimated
that Gordon had something to tell the police. I can't
talk in the dark like this. If anybody wanted to
avoid the police, it was this boy. QUE. I am
going back to the night mister Howdy found you in
the house. A. He didn't find me. We had started
there together. QUE. You say you saw a figure out
the foot of the stairs and fired at it. A.
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I didn't intend to fire. Q. You didn't recognize this figure.
A No, Que, it was not mister Bethel A Bethel No.
He was locked in his room. Q. You say you
are not a spiritualist. A certainly not. Q. You have
never made any experiments in spiritualism. A. I have been
present at one or two seances. Q. When recently A.
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We have held two sittings in the main house within
the last few days. Q. When did you first chair
the symbol of a triangle inside A circle A if
you meet a connection with the crimes. Q. Before that,
you told mister Greenow some time ago that you had
heard of it in some other connection. A. I told
him I had happened on it in an old book
on black magic and told a group of women about it.
(11:05):
It was a purely facetious remark. QUE. Can you account
for its use in connection with these crimes? Ay? I
have no official knowledge that it was used to connection
with the crimes, only with the sheep killing. QUE. But
you know it was so used. Ay. I know that
it was used once from mister GREENO did not find it? Q?
Where was that? A on a train nearer the Morrison
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truck was discovered. I have heard that it was on
Keroway's boat, but I don't know that. I know it
was deliberately put on my car after mister Halliday was hurt. Q.
You say put on the car? Do you mean by
that mister Bethele did it? A Bethel? How could he?
We have thought lately that Gordon was responsible. We found
a piece of his cipher nearby. QU. You have felt
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all along that Gordon was guilty. Ay. I won't say that.
I would say that the burden of the evidence indicated
that he was guilty. Mister Halliday has had considerable doubt
of his guilt. Q. Had you ever considered that it
might be Bethel who? Ay? Never, He couldn't have done it, que,
but if he had had assistance. Ay, are you telling
me that Bethel did kill Gordon? Que? I am telling
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you that somebody killed Gordon, mister Porter. His body was
washed ashore at bass Cove this morning, September seventh. Halladay
has saved me from arrest by giving to the police
the information which she has been gathering on the case
all summer. Has made a quiet gesture which is like him,
and given me back to life, liberty in the pursuit
of literature. He came out last night, and I understand
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is still asleep. He has had very little sleep, poor lad,
for a long time. I myself collapsed this morning, and
Heyward has put me back to bed. Edith, spreading my
coverings neatly before Greeno came up, says, I am now
so thin that you only make a hollow. William. If
it were not for your feet, nobody would know you
were there. It is impossible to record in detail my
conversation this afternoon with greenow covering as it did. More
(12:51):
than an hour. He came in, I thought, slightly uncomfortable
and perhaps a little crustfallen, and I motioned him to
a chair. He sat down and mopped his face with
his handkerchief, and after that stooped and rather deliberately wiped
his shoes with it. Then he straightened and looked at me. Well, professor,
he said, it's a darned queer world. There's no denying it.
The world's all right. It's the people in it who
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messed things up like fleas on a dog, was his
rather abstracted comment. He felt in his pocket with much
the same gesture as on the early visit of his
when he had drawn the triangle within the circle on
the back of an old envelope. Whether the movement was
reminiscent to him as it was to me, I cannot say.
But he glussed at me quickly and then smiled. Sarta
had me gone. You did there for a while, he said,
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but I was getting pretty close to the facts before
this diary came along. Of course, it helped. He had
Gordon's diary in his hand, naturally, he said, fingering the book.
Your young friend's information was valuable on not discounting that
the handprint on the window board, for instance, I'd have
found it sooner or later, but it saved time, and
the young lady too. She's done her bed all right.
I've been hind Kafa, being too well known around here
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and stars a fool. He snapped out this last statement,
and I gathered that he was still smarting under the
knowledge that without Halladay and Edith he would still be nowhere.
It was more or less his defense, of course, he said,
Ever since we got hold of this Diary of Gardens,
one thing's been pretty clear. Bethel wasn't working alone. According
to what I saw of him, it wasn't possible. He
couldn't even have made a getaway without help. The only
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question was who'd helped him. So you picked on me, well,
he said, Riley, you'll have to admit that you've seemed
to go out of your way all sumhere to get
into trouble. As a matter of fact, I didn't pick
on you. It was Gordon. He looked at my clock.
I've only got an hour, he said. Your niece is
sitting on the stairs now holding stopwatch on me. I
can't read you this thing, but I can tell you
what's in it, and believe me, that's plenty. Briefly, then,
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the deciphering of the diary had left me in a
very bad position. When they had finished it. It was
Benchley's idea to arrest me at once they had the
boy's body, the fact they had captured themselves, and I
was within an ace of a charge of murder. But
Halladay had stayed. He seemed to fail that I was
trouble coming. Duino said, he hung around and drove us
all crazy. He insisted that he'd brought the key on
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his right to read the stuff as it came through,
and as it went on he didn't exactly what to do. Finally,
seeing what was in the air, he made a trade
with us. He was won't have you brought in and interrogated,
but on condition that if you weren't hel he'd come
over with something of his own. You get the point,
of course, there's a reward involved, and he'd been holding
out on us a bit. He waved his hand. That's natural.
We don't hold it against him. But the point is
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he made his trade. Coming to my examination, my answers
had apparently impressed Hamingway satisfactorily. On the other hand, added
to the diary's constant suspicion of me was Greeno's own
case against me. He passed over that rather airily. I
wasn't trying to make out a case against you, he said.
As a matter of fact, you couldn't have been the
man who attacked Holliday. You weren't here, naturally, I agreed, gravely.
(15:43):
I wasn't here, of course, if I had been here,
he glisted at me quickly, but went back to the
night of the inquiry. The question was whether to hold
you or not. You may remember having way going out
when it was over, and talking to Holliday outside while
it was then he made the trade. Apparently, the fact
that Gordon had been the victim had not been the
surprise to the police that it had been to me.
For one thing, the microscope had shown one detail which
(16:05):
the detective had not mentioned to me at the time.
Cut between the handle of the knife and the blade
had been a short piece of hair. The microscope showed
this hair not only young and met her readily determined
and the approximate color of Gordon's. It also showed it
liberally coated with pomade. Poor Gordon's listening varnished hair. But
Grino had been inclined at first to think that there
had been two victims instead of one, And in passing on,
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he says, it's not like taking your thumb out of
a bowl of soup. It's bound to leave some sort
of a hole. And there had been no hole. If
Bethel had died and passed on, no one apparently missed him.
As time went on and no queries were received, the
thing began to look ominous, as though Bethel himself had
been hiding away under an assumed name. The idea that
Bethel had had an enemy from whom he was hiding
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and who had found him began to intrude itself. But
he said, with engaging frankness, that had eleminated you, and
you wouldn't be eliminated. You were like some people you've
seen when there's a camera man about. I was getting
in front of the machine and enter the picture. And
the king will not be able to whip a cat,
but I shall be at the tail of it, I quoted.
He looked rather bewildered. Then came the diary, and Gordon
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brought me in unmistakably, and in a way they had
not thought of. Not an enemy but an accomplice. Bethel
hiding there with my connivance, and the two of us,
He the brains, presumably, and I the hand, working out
between us some sinister design which even the boy could
not understand. Whatever it is, Gordon had written shortly after
the Morrison girls disappearance, He has got outside help, and
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he wonders if I am guilty, but he is not
sure of that. He even suspects Bethel in one entry,
of being less helpless than he appeared, and possibly of
working on his own. He abandoned that idea, however, and
there was a time when he suspected Thomas, even a
time when he thought of bringing his suspicions to me,
but Bethel was beginning to be afraid of him. He
thinks Bethel knows he has discovered the boat. He grows
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alarmed and buys a knife. He records that he can
take care of himself, but there is bravado in it.
Later on he finds that he is occasionally stealthily locked
in at night for three or four hours, and he
buys a rope and hides it in his room. After that,
matters move rapidly. He found the gunroom window unlocked on
certain knights and set a watch on it, and on
one such night Bethel tried to kill him. He tried
(18:14):
to kill me last night, he writes in the twenty
seventh of July, and goes on to say that Bethel
couldn't have tied him, and that maybe it was parter.
From that time on he suspected me, and Bethel was
watching him. Nothing is so dramatic in all the diary
as the situation unconsciously revealed between the paralytic and the boy,
each watching the other, the guard up between them while
the servant is in the room, and then down again,
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the boy recklessly mocking the old man, grim and waiting,
and nothing said. The boy goes to the city and
tries to buy a revolver, but there was a new
law in ef fact, and he fails. He has the
knife and has to trust to do that. He thinks
of going to the police while he is in the city.
The reward would be a big thing. He says, I
could go around the world on ten thousand, but his
(18:57):
case isn't complete. He needs the outside man. He suspects me,
but he hasn't the goods on me, and there are
times when he admits the possibility that I may not
be the outside man. One night, he hears the unknown
in the house. There is a reddish glare, and he
sees a figure steal into the den, but it doesn't
look like Parter, and he is more puzzled than ever,
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for Bethel is in his room asleep, and although the
boy camps on the stairs until daylight, he does not
see the figure again. Quote. At daylight examined Dan in
the library, all windows closed and locked. It beats me close. Quote.
It is about this time, too, that he begins to
believe that Bethel is not only watching him, but that
he is expecting trouble from some other source. He tells
Bethel he has seen a figure go into the den
(19:39):
at night, and Bethel shows alarm. He and the other
one have quarreled, he says, and bees afraid of him.
But on the night when he came home to find
Star Holliday and myself in the house, his suspicions be
returned in full force. He decides that Bethel and I
have had a quarrel, and that one of us has
tried to shoot the other, but his knife has been taken.
He steals one from the kitchen and carefully sharpens it.
(20:00):
But he is not so frightened as he has been.
Bethel and I have quarreled, and he can handle the
old man. But matters were rapidly approaching a climax. Bethell
was going to give up the house and let him go.
He seems to have dared Buel to discharge him, and
to have more than hinted at what he suspects. I
can tact for ten thousand, he writes, or keep clant
for twenty. He can take his choice. He has the
(20:23):
upper hand now the other man is no longer in evidence.
They have apparently quarreled, and Bethel was left to bear
the situation alone. The boy lay is various traps, but
no one enters the house. The murder pact is broken,
and the old man sits in his chair and broods.
Black Man is an ugly word, he says, once, not
half so ugly as murder, retorts Gordon, and noticed with
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satisfaction in his diary murder was the last word he
wrote there. But for all his apparent frankness, Greeno's errand
was clearly only to relieve my anxieties concerning myself. He
refused all further information. We can't suspect, all right, he said,
I don't mind saying that, But we haven't a case yet,
and it's touch and go whether we get one. Until
we do, we're not talking. September eighth. Haliday's attitude is
(21:10):
very curious. He is testiturning the extreme. He avoids any
confidential talks with me, and Jane commented on it this morning.
He worries me, she said, And he is worrying Edith.
If you go out now and look, you'll see him
pacing the boat house Verranda, and he has been doing
it for the last hour. I admit that he puzzles me.
It was Greeno's errand so far as I can make
(21:31):
out to relieve my mind as to myself, but to
treat Haliday's case as given to the police as entirely confidential.
It's the outside man we're after, he said, and the
outside man we are going to get. But on my
mentioning my right to know who was under suspicion, he
only repeated what the detective had said. You understand, he said,
there's no case in law yet, no one who did
(21:52):
a thing and pro one who did it are different
things entirely, but they would prove it. He was confident,
so confident indeed, that before he left he inquired to
make and cost of my car. Evidently he has already
mentally banked the reward. On the other hand, certain things
seemed to me still to be far from clear. Halliday,
I understand, passed over to the police the following facts. A.
(22:13):
A copy of the unfinished letter from Horace Porter to
some unknown B. A description of the print of a
hand left on the window board. C. A small illustration
from the book Eugenia Riggs and Her Phenomena and showing
the same hand print. D. A sport statement of the
Livingstons Butler, the nature of which I do not know. E.
An analysis of his own theory of the experiments referred
(22:34):
to in the diary. F. And a letter to Edith
from an anonymous correspondent to be referred to later. G.
The possibility that the two attempts to enter the mainehouse
are due to the fact that in the haste of
the escape something was left there which is both identifying
and incriminating. But so far as I can discover, he
has not told them that from the time the guards
were taken away from the house at night, he was
(22:55):
on watch there. In other words, from shortly after the murder.
He must have known that something incriminating had been left
there when bethelwa his accomplice Gordon's outside man, made their
escape the night the secretary was murdered. He may even
know what it is and where, but he has not
told Greno. Again, there is the fact that a statement
about the Livingston's butler was a portion of the evidence.
He submitted, Surely they are not endeavoring to incriminate Livingstone.
(23:19):
September ninth. It is Holliday's idea to hold another seance,
using Cameron's coming as the excuse for it. I gathered
that he believes that under cover of the seance, another
attempt may be made to secure the incriminating evidence left
in the house. Not that he says so, but his
questions concerning the sounds I heard in the hall during
the second seance put in that direction this herbal order
(23:40):
you speak of, Skipper, he asked, was that before you
heard the movement outside some time before? Yes, but the
odor seemed to be in the room. The sounds were
beyond the door. You don't connect them, then I hadn't
thought about it, but I don't believe I do. Did
you hear any footsteps? I had to consider that. Not footsteps,
There was a scraping along the floor, and the moment
(24:02):
you spoke, this noise ceased. Yes, the whole situation is
baffling in the extreme. I cannot ignore the fact that
the seances were proposed by missus Livingstone, that it was
she who left the hall door unbolted at the second sitting,
or that Livingstone himself was absent that second night, presumably ill.
At the same time, it was Livingstone who indirectly advised
(24:23):
me against the business. Let it alone. He warned me,
let well enough alone. So far as Halliday is concerned,
it is clear that he does not like the idea
of another seance, but feels that it is necessary. He
assures me the police will be on hand inside and
outside the house, but he does not minimize the fact
that there will be a certain risk, and that he
dreads taking Jane and Edith into it. That's like this,
(24:46):
he said to Day, feeling painfully for words. In a sense,
you and I are at the parting of the ways
in this thing. We can let it go and turn
loose on the world, a cruel and deadly idea which
may go on claiming victims indefinitely. He made a small gesture,
or we put him the other side of the scale
all we have in the world, and then he pulled
himself up. There is only possible danger, he said. Unless
(25:08):
things slip, there should be very little same list of
those present as before. There is an unconscious emphasis placed
by Holiday on Heyward and Livingstone. But perhaps I am overwatchful.
I dare say, thus, placed between my duty and my fears,
I shall do my duty. I perceive that either Heyward
or Livingstone is once more to be allowed access to
the house, and under conditions more or less favorable to
(25:30):
what is to be done. But which one later I
have done my duty. I have telephoned Chimeron, and he
will come out tomorrow night, September tenth, howa day has
taken every possible precaution as to to night. As it
has been our accustomed to go over the house before
each seance, and as Kimeron may do this with unusual thoroughness,
it has been decided not to place Greenow and his
(25:50):
officers until after the sitting begins. Howaday has therefore today
connected the bell from that room, which rings in the kitchen,
to a temporary extension in the garage with the buzzer.
When the lights are lowered, he will touch the bell,
and Greeno is then to smuggle his men in through
the kitchen. While though one can say what changes Cameron
may suggest in our previous methods, Halliday imagines he will
ask us at first to proceed as usual. In any event,
(26:13):
I am to sit as near to the switch as possible,
and when Holiday calls for lights, AM to be ready
to turn them on eight thirty. Everything is ready, But
I am concerned about Halliday. Has he some apprehension about
his own safety? To night? He came an hour or
so too early to start with the car for Cameron
and borrowing pennant paper wrote along communication to Hemingway. What
(26:34):
is in it? I do not know, but he took
it with him to mail on his way to the station.
End of mister Porter's journal, end of section sixteen.
Section sixteen of The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Reinhardt.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. September sixth,
Halliday is still in town. I can do nothing but
wait here, eating my heart out with anxiety and allowing
my imagination to run away with me. In a thousand ways.
My women folks support me according to their kind. Jane
(00:22):
serves me sweetbreads for luncheon, and Edith sits by giving
me an occasional, almost furtive caress as an evidence of
her faith in me. But Edith is curiously lifeless. That
small but burning flame in her, which we call optimism
for want of a better word, seems definitely quenched. She
is silent and apathetic, and has been so since yesterday.
She seems to resent our having sent in the key
(00:43):
to the diary. If only you hadn't done that, she said,
to day, What else could we do? We have to
get at the bottom of this thing. I don't see
that it has got you anywhere. It is only must
things up what she has in her mind. I do
not know unless, poor child, she has been building a
future on Hell, is solving the crime, and that now
that prospect is gone. She tells me that Star has
(01:04):
been on guard of the main house quietly for the
two nights Holliday has been in town. But if she
knows any explanation of his presence, she does not give it.
He's afraid to go inside, she said, scornfully. He just
sits all on the terrace and smokes. If anybody said,
boo behind him, me jump into the bay and drown himself.
She has apparently implicit faith in how it is about
it keep me from further indignity. But I am not
(01:25):
so certain. The sound of a car on the highway
sets my post to beating like a riveting machine. At
the arrival of the Morrison truck a few minutes ago,
with some belated buttermilk, I got up in a button
my coat. My place in my little world behind the
drain pipe is neither large nor important, but it is
difficult for me to imagine it without me. Suppose the
worst to happen, said Matthew Arnold, the protly jeweler from Cheapside.
(01:46):
Suppose even yourself to be the victim, ily apadum necessaire,
the great mundane movement would still go on the gravel
walks of your villa would still be rolled, dividends would
still be paid at the bank, omnibuses would still run.
There would be the same to crush at the corner
of Fenchurch Street. This is the sixth. It was on
the fourth, then, a few hours after Holliday had gone
to the city that a taxi stopped here and Greenow
(02:09):
got out. There seemed to me to be a trifle
more than his usual ponderousness in his manner, and a
distinct concentration in the way he looked at me as
I came down the staircase. At the same time, he
was civility itself, and he stated his errand matter effectively.
They had a staff working on the diary, and he
knew I would like to be present when it was finished.
It's a long job, he said, but we split it
into a half dozen parts and not to be ready
(02:30):
by eight or half past. He was six then, and
as our early dinner was almost ready, I asked him
to stay. We ate cheerfully enough, took the seven fifteen
Express from Oakville and were in town and at the
County building at something before ten. I was surprised, but
not startled, to find eventually the sheriff there and three
or four other men, including Hemmingway, the district attorney. Hemingway
held some typed sheets in his hand when we entered,
(02:52):
and was reading them carefully. Halliday was standing by a window,
staring out into the square, and his first indication I
had that anything was wrong with the sprushing on his
face as he turned and saw me. The second was
a polite invitation to Holliday to leave the room, and
his manner of receiving it. I am staying, he said flatly.
If there's any objection to that, I shall advise mister
Porter to make no statement and to answer no questions
(03:14):
until he can be properly protected. Protected, I asked, protected
from what from this strong arm outfit? Said Halliday, and
surveyed the room with his jaw thrust forward. I am
under arrest, Havingway put down the papers and took off
his glasses. Certainly not, he said, Your young friend is
being slightly dramatic. I know that you want this mystery
solved as much as we do, more since it directly
(03:35):
concerns you. This is not a trap, mister Porter. We
shall ask you some questions, and I hope you will
answer them. That is all, I reserve the right to
interfere in case of any trick. Halliday put in, we
have framed now trick questions. Hemingway said quietly, we want
the facts, that's all. He rang a bell, and a
secretary came in. My mouth was dry, and some one
placed a glass of water before me. From then on,
(03:56):
for four hours I answered questions. At the end of
that time I walked out, still free, although slightly dizzy.
Note Holliday has recently secured a copy of the stenographic
notes of that night. As they would make a small
volume in themselves, I gave here only such portions as
seemed to forward the narrative. Q. Your name please, A
William Allan Porter Q age A forty six. Q. Your
(04:20):
profession is A I am a professor of English literature
at Blank University. Q. He owned the property at Oakville
known as Twin hollows Ay, I do I inherited it
something more than a year ago, on the death of
my uncle Horace Porter. Q. Had you known that this
property was to come to you on your uncle's death? Ay?
It was always understood between us. He had no other heirs. Q.
(04:42):
Had you any previous acquaintance with mister Bethel, I mean
before I took your house A none, whatever. I never
saw him until he came out to take possession. His
secretary inspected the house and negotiations were carried on through
my attorney. Q. In any of your talks with mister Bethel,
did you gather that he had known mister Horace Porter
previous to his death? A? Never. Qu When you rented
(05:04):
the house, did you retain any keys to it? Ay?
I have a full set in my possession. Que. You
had access to the house then, Ay, I never used
my keys, if that's what you mean. Qu. On the
night of the twenty sixth of July, mister Bethel's secretary
was attacked outside the kitchen door of the house and
managed to ring the bell there before we fell unconscious.
Just where were you, mister Porter when that bell rang? Ay?
(05:25):
The police have my statement as to that by the
sun dial. Que, Doctor Hayward was on the road in
his car. You were, by the sun dial close to
the house. Yet when he reached you had apparently only
found this boy. Is that correct? Ay? It seems to
me that the question there might be was Hayward on
the main road that night as he says, or nearer
to the house than he admits. Que, you own a boat,
I believe Ay, I inherited one with the property, a sloop. Que.
(05:50):
Do you sail the boat yourself? Ay? I don't know
one end of it from the other. Qu In your
various conversations with mister Bethel, did he ever mention the
character of the house, that I mean, any curious quality
in the house itself? Ay? He recognized such a quality. Yes. Q.
Did he ever mention a letter written to him by
a mister Cameron here in the city, a member of
the Society for Psychical Research relative to the house? A never,
(06:14):
But I know of the letter. Cameron sent me word
of it a day or so ago. Que. Are you
a believer in spiritualism? Ay? I never have been. Recently, however,
I note here I caught a warning glance from Halliday
and changed what I had intended to say. Recently, I
have been trying to preserve an open mind on the subject. Q.
Why recently? A. For one thing, mister Bethel had found
(06:38):
the house. Queer, so had the secretary. Q. On the
day you asked the secretary to luncheon. The intention was
to allow mister Bethel to go through his room. A Bethel,
certainly not. Qu I shall read you This entry from
Gordon's diary reads. Porter asked me to lunch today so
b could go through my room. They left the knife,
but at least they know I have it. Ay, that's
(07:00):
a lie. I asked him to luncheon so Holliday could
search his room. It was Halliday who found the knife.
You can ask him. Qu We'll let that go just now,
and come to the night you were found in the house,
mister Porter, by mister Halliday. Ay. I wasn't found in
the house by mister Halliday. We had started for it together.
The maid and Cochrane had reported a quarrel between mister
Bethel and Gordon, and that Gordon had gone away. You
(07:22):
must remember that we suspected the boy of being the killer.
I was anxious and went for holiday. Que. What time
did the maid tell you this? Ay? About seven thirty
possibly eight o'clock? Que? And where did you go for
mister Halliday? Ay? It was about eleven. I imagine, que.
What did you do in the interval? Ay? She was
nervous and I took her home. After that we had callers. Que.
(07:46):
Did you see mister Bethel in that interval, Ay, no, Que,
had it occurred to you that Gordon might be going
to see the police? Ay? I never thought of it.
Why should he be going to the police. Que. Did
mister Bethel think of it? Ay? I've told you I
didn't see him. Qu On the night of the murder
in the house at Twin Hollows. What led you to
your discovery of the crime? Ay? My wife heard the
(08:08):
telephone ring and I went to it. All three buildings
were on one line and the receiver of the main
house was down. I heard a crash and heavy breathing
to the telephone. QU That made you suspicious? Ay, I
have been expecting trouble between mister Bethel and Gordon. Qu
Why did you expect trouble? Ay? I knew they had quarreled.
Mister Bethel had told me that it was he who
had struck Gordon, mistaking him for a burglar, and that
(08:30):
Gordon suspected it. QU. When did he tell you that? Ay?
I don't know, exactly, about three days before the murder,
I think, qu. Can you remember the burden of that conversation? Ah,
very well. He said that he was suspicious of the boy,
that he was weakened, vicious and possibly criminal. He knew
he was going out at night. All the night of
the twenty sixth the July, Gordon was out and he
dragged himself downstairs. When he heard him at the kitchen door,
(08:53):
he struck him, but he maintained that he had not
tied him. I believe that personally he had one useless hand.
Que Did you ever have any reason to believe that
mister Bethel exaggerated his infirmity? Ay? Exaggerated it? What do
you mean QW? You believe he was as helpless as
he appeared. Ay. I can't imagine a man assuming such
a thing. Qu I, mister porter, you have said that
(09:15):
the telephone receiver at the main house was down and
you heard enough over it to alarm you. A yes,
qu it rang and you went to it? A yes?
Qu How could it ring if the other receiver was down? Ay?
As a matter of fact, I didn't hear it. My
wife said it had wrung, and to satisfy her, I
went to it. QW. Did the Secretary Gordon ever approach
(09:36):
you on a matter of money? A money? I don't
understand the question. QW did he ever ask you for
money or intimate that he needed it. Ay. Never he
said something once about giving up his position. QU. Where
was he the night you held the conversation with mister
Bethel relative to him? Ay here in the city, I
believe QW and mister Buel thought he might have gone
(09:58):
to the police. A. That's the second time you've intimated
that Gordon had something to tell the police. I can't
talk in the dark like this. If anybody wanted to
avoid the police, it was this boy. QUE. I am
going back to the night mister Howdy found you in
the house. A. He didn't find me. We had started
there together. QUE. You say you saw a figure out
the foot of the stairs and fired at it. A.
(10:20):
I didn't intend to fire. Q. You didn't recognize this figure.
A No, Que, it was not mister Bethel A Bethel No.
He was locked in his room. Q. You say you
are not a spiritualist. A certainly not. Q. You have
never made any experiments in spiritualism. A. I have been
present at one or two seances. Q. When recently A.
(10:44):
We have held two sittings in the main house within
the last few days. Q. When did you first chair
the symbol of a triangle inside A circle A if
you meet a connection with the crimes. Q. Before that,
you told mister Greenow some time ago that you had
heard of it in some other connection. A. I told
him I had happened on it in an old book
on black magic and told a group of women about it.
(11:05):
It was a purely facetious remark. QUE. Can you account
for its use in connection with these crimes? Ay? I
have no official knowledge that it was used to connection
with the crimes, only with the sheep killing. QUE. But
you know it was so used. Ay. I know that
it was used once from mister GREENO did not find it? Q?
Where was that? A on a train nearer the Morrison
(11:27):
truck was discovered. I have heard that it was on
Keroway's boat, but I don't know that. I know it
was deliberately put on my car after mister Halliday was hurt. Q.
You say put on the car? Do you mean by
that mister Bethele did it? A Bethel? How could he?
We have thought lately that Gordon was responsible. We found
a piece of his cipher nearby. QU. You have felt
(11:48):
all along that Gordon was guilty. Ay. I won't say that.
I would say that the burden of the evidence indicated
that he was guilty. Mister Halliday has had considerable doubt
of his guilt. Q. Had you ever considered that it
might be Bethel who? Ay? Never, He couldn't have done it, que,
but if he had had assistance. Ay, are you telling
me that Bethel did kill Gordon? Que? I am telling
(12:09):
you that somebody killed Gordon, mister Porter. His body was
washed ashore at bass Cove this morning, September seventh. Halladay
has saved me from arrest by giving to the police
the information which she has been gathering on the case
all summer. Has made a quiet gesture which is like him,
and given me back to life, liberty in the pursuit
of literature. He came out last night, and I understand
(12:30):
is still asleep. He has had very little sleep, poor lad,
for a long time. I myself collapsed this morning, and
Heyward has put me back to bed. Edith, spreading my
coverings neatly before Greeno came up, says, I am now
so thin that you only make a hollow. William. If
it were not for your feet, nobody would know you
were there. It is impossible to record in detail my
conversation this afternoon with greenow covering as it did. More
(12:51):
than an hour. He came in, I thought, slightly uncomfortable
and perhaps a little crustfallen, and I motioned him to
a chair. He sat down and mopped his face with
his handkerchief, and after that stooped and rather deliberately wiped
his shoes with it. Then he straightened and looked at me. Well, professor,
he said, it's a darned queer world. There's no denying it.
The world's all right. It's the people in it who
(13:12):
messed things up like fleas on a dog, was his
rather abstracted comment. He felt in his pocket with much
the same gesture as on the early visit of his
when he had drawn the triangle within the circle on
the back of an old envelope. Whether the movement was
reminiscent to him as it was to me, I cannot say.
But he glussed at me quickly and then smiled. Sarta
had me gone. You did there for a while, he said,
(13:33):
but I was getting pretty close to the facts before
this diary came along. Of course, it helped. He had
Gordon's diary in his hand, naturally, he said, fingering the book.
Your young friend's information was valuable on not discounting that
the handprint on the window board, for instance, I'd have
found it sooner or later, but it saved time, and
the young lady too. She's done her bed all right.
I've been hind Kafa, being too well known around here
(13:53):
and stars a fool. He snapped out this last statement,
and I gathered that he was still smarting under the
knowledge that without Halladay and Edith he would still be nowhere.
It was more or less his defense, of course, he said,
Ever since we got hold of this Diary of Gardens,
one thing's been pretty clear. Bethel wasn't working alone. According
to what I saw of him, it wasn't possible. He
couldn't even have made a getaway without help. The only
(14:16):
question was who'd helped him. So you picked on me, well,
he said, Riley, you'll have to admit that you've seemed
to go out of your way all sumhere to get
into trouble. As a matter of fact, I didn't pick
on you. It was Gordon. He looked at my clock.
I've only got an hour, he said. Your niece is
sitting on the stairs now holding stopwatch on me. I
can't read you this thing, but I can tell you
what's in it, and believe me, that's plenty. Briefly, then,
(14:39):
the deciphering of the diary had left me in a
very bad position. When they had finished it. It was
Benchley's idea to arrest me at once they had the
boy's body, the fact they had captured themselves, and I
was within an ace of a charge of murder. But
Halladay had stayed. He seemed to fail that I was
trouble coming. Duino said, he hung around and drove us
all crazy. He insisted that he'd brought the key on
(15:00):
his right to read the stuff as it came through,
and as it went on he didn't exactly what to do. Finally,
seeing what was in the air, he made a trade
with us. He was won't have you brought in and interrogated,
but on condition that if you weren't hel he'd come
over with something of his own. You get the point,
of course, there's a reward involved, and he'd been holding
out on us a bit. He waved his hand. That's natural.
We don't hold it against him. But the point is
(15:20):
he made his trade. Coming to my examination, my answers
had apparently impressed Hamingway satisfactorily. On the other hand, added
to the diary's constant suspicion of me was Greeno's own
case against me. He passed over that rather airily. I
wasn't trying to make out a case against you, he said.
As a matter of fact, you couldn't have been the
man who attacked Holliday. You weren't here, naturally, I agreed, gravely.
(15:43):
I wasn't here, of course, if I had been here,
he glisted at me quickly, but went back to the
night of the inquiry. The question was whether to hold
you or not. You may remember having way going out
when it was over, and talking to Holliday outside while
it was then he made the trade. Apparently, the fact
that Gordon had been the victim had not been the
surprise to the police that it had been to me.
For one thing, the microscope had shown one detail which
(16:05):
the detective had not mentioned to me at the time.
Cut between the handle of the knife and the blade
had been a short piece of hair. The microscope showed
this hair not only young and met her readily determined
and the approximate color of Gordon's. It also showed it
liberally coated with pomade. Poor Gordon's listening varnished hair. But
Grino had been inclined at first to think that there
had been two victims instead of one, And in passing on,
(16:28):
he says, it's not like taking your thumb out of
a bowl of soup. It's bound to leave some sort
of a hole. And there had been no hole. If
Bethel had died and passed on, no one apparently missed him.
As time went on and no queries were received, the
thing began to look ominous, as though Bethel himself had
been hiding away under an assumed name. The idea that
Bethel had had an enemy from whom he was hiding
(16:49):
and who had found him began to intrude itself. But
he said, with engaging frankness, that had eleminated you, and
you wouldn't be eliminated. You were like some people you've
seen when there's a camera man about. I was getting
in front of the machine and enter the picture. And
the king will not be able to whip a cat,
but I shall be at the tail of it, I quoted.
He looked rather bewildered. Then came the diary, and Gordon
(17:09):
brought me in unmistakably, and in a way they had
not thought of. Not an enemy but an accomplice. Bethel
hiding there with my connivance, and the two of us,
He the brains, presumably, and I the hand, working out
between us some sinister design which even the boy could
not understand. Whatever it is, Gordon had written shortly after
the Morrison girls disappearance, He has got outside help, and
(17:31):
he wonders if I am guilty, but he is not
sure of that. He even suspects Bethel in one entry,
of being less helpless than he appeared, and possibly of
working on his own. He abandoned that idea, however, and
there was a time when he suspected Thomas, even a
time when he thought of bringing his suspicions to me,
but Bethel was beginning to be afraid of him. He
thinks Bethel knows he has discovered the boat. He grows
(17:53):
alarmed and buys a knife. He records that he can
take care of himself, but there is bravado in it.
Later on he finds that he is occasionally stealthily locked
in at night for three or four hours, and he
buys a rope and hides it in his room. After that,
matters move rapidly. He found the gunroom window unlocked on
certain knights and set a watch on it, and on
one such night Bethel tried to kill him. He tried
(18:14):
to kill me last night, he writes in the twenty
seventh of July, and goes on to say that Bethel
couldn't have tied him, and that maybe it was parter.
From that time on he suspected me, and Bethel was
watching him. Nothing is so dramatic in all the diary
as the situation unconsciously revealed between the paralytic and the boy,
each watching the other, the guard up between them while
the servant is in the room, and then down again,
(18:37):
the boy recklessly mocking the old man, grim and waiting,
and nothing said. The boy goes to the city and
tries to buy a revolver, but there was a new
law in ef fact, and he fails. He has the
knife and has to trust to do that. He thinks
of going to the police while he is in the city.
The reward would be a big thing. He says, I
could go around the world on ten thousand, but his
(18:57):
case isn't complete. He needs the outside man. He suspects me,
but he hasn't the goods on me, and there are
times when he admits the possibility that I may not
be the outside man. One night, he hears the unknown
in the house. There is a reddish glare, and he
sees a figure steal into the den, but it doesn't
look like Parter, and he is more puzzled than ever,
(19:18):
for Bethel is in his room asleep, and although the
boy camps on the stairs until daylight, he does not
see the figure again. Quote. At daylight examined Dan in
the library, all windows closed and locked. It beats me close. Quote.
It is about this time, too, that he begins to
believe that Bethel is not only watching him, but that
he is expecting trouble from some other source. He tells
Bethel he has seen a figure go into the den
(19:39):
at night, and Bethel shows alarm. He and the other
one have quarreled, he says, and bees afraid of him.
But on the night when he came home to find
Star Holliday and myself in the house, his suspicions be
returned in full force. He decides that Bethel and I
have had a quarrel, and that one of us has
tried to shoot the other, but his knife has been taken.
He steals one from the kitchen and carefully sharpens it.
(20:00):
But he is not so frightened as he has been.
Bethel and I have quarreled, and he can handle the
old man. But matters were rapidly approaching a climax. Bethell
was going to give up the house and let him go.
He seems to have dared Buel to discharge him, and
to have more than hinted at what he suspects. I
can tact for ten thousand, he writes, or keep clant
for twenty. He can take his choice. He has the
(20:23):
upper hand now the other man is no longer in evidence.
They have apparently quarreled, and Bethel was left to bear
the situation alone. The boy lay is various traps, but
no one enters the house. The murder pact is broken,
and the old man sits in his chair and broods.
Black Man is an ugly word, he says, once, not
half so ugly as murder, retorts Gordon, and noticed with
(20:45):
satisfaction in his diary murder was the last word he
wrote there. But for all his apparent frankness, Greeno's errand
was clearly only to relieve my anxieties concerning myself. He
refused all further information. We can't suspect, all right, he said,
I don't mind saying that, But we haven't a case yet,
and it's touch and go whether we get one. Until
we do, we're not talking. September eighth. Haliday's attitude is
(21:10):
very curious. He is testiturning the extreme. He avoids any
confidential talks with me, and Jane commented on it this morning.
He worries me, she said, And he is worrying Edith.
If you go out now and look, you'll see him
pacing the boat house Verranda, and he has been doing
it for the last hour. I admit that he puzzles me.
It was Greeno's errand so far as I can make
(21:31):
out to relieve my mind as to myself, but to
treat Haliday's case as given to the police as entirely confidential.
It's the outside man we're after, he said, and the
outside man we are going to get. But on my
mentioning my right to know who was under suspicion, he
only repeated what the detective had said. You understand, he said,
there's no case in law yet, no one who did
(21:52):
a thing and pro one who did it are different
things entirely, but they would prove it. He was confident,
so confident indeed, that before he left he inquired to
make and cost of my car. Evidently he has already
mentally banked the reward. On the other hand, certain things
seemed to me still to be far from clear. Halliday,
I understand, passed over to the police the following facts. A.
(22:13):
A copy of the unfinished letter from Horace Porter to
some unknown B. A description of the print of a
hand left on the window board. C. A small illustration
from the book Eugenia Riggs and Her Phenomena and showing
the same hand print. D. A sport statement of the
Livingstons Butler, the nature of which I do not know. E.
An analysis of his own theory of the experiments referred
(22:34):
to in the diary. F. And a letter to Edith
from an anonymous correspondent to be referred to later. G.
The possibility that the two attempts to enter the mainehouse
are due to the fact that in the haste of
the escape something was left there which is both identifying
and incriminating. But so far as I can discover, he
has not told them that from the time the guards
were taken away from the house at night, he was
(22:55):
on watch there. In other words, from shortly after the murder.
He must have known that something incriminating had been left
there when bethelwa his accomplice Gordon's outside man, made their
escape the night the secretary was murdered. He may even
know what it is and where, but he has not
told Greno. Again, there is the fact that a statement
about the Livingston's butler was a portion of the evidence.
He submitted, Surely they are not endeavoring to incriminate Livingstone.
(23:19):
September ninth. It is Holliday's idea to hold another seance,
using Cameron's coming as the excuse for it. I gathered
that he believes that under cover of the seance, another
attempt may be made to secure the incriminating evidence left
in the house. Not that he says so, but his
questions concerning the sounds I heard in the hall during
the second seance put in that direction this herbal order
(23:40):
you speak of, Skipper, he asked, was that before you
heard the movement outside some time before? Yes, but the
odor seemed to be in the room. The sounds were
beyond the door. You don't connect them, then I hadn't
thought about it, but I don't believe I do. Did
you hear any footsteps? I had to consider that. Not footsteps,
There was a scraping along the floor, and the moment
(24:02):
you spoke, this noise ceased. Yes, the whole situation is
baffling in the extreme. I cannot ignore the fact that
the seances were proposed by missus Livingstone, that it was
she who left the hall door unbolted at the second sitting,
or that Livingstone himself was absent that second night, presumably ill.
At the same time, it was Livingstone who indirectly advised
(24:23):
me against the business. Let it alone. He warned me,
let well enough alone. So far as Halliday is concerned,
it is clear that he does not like the idea
of another seance, but feels that it is necessary. He
assures me the police will be on hand inside and
outside the house, but he does not minimize the fact
that there will be a certain risk, and that he
dreads taking Jane and Edith into it. That's like this,
(24:46):
he said to Day, feeling painfully for words. In a sense,
you and I are at the parting of the ways
in this thing. We can let it go and turn
loose on the world, a cruel and deadly idea which
may go on claiming victims indefinitely. He made a small gesture,
or we put him the other side of the scale
all we have in the world, and then he pulled
himself up. There is only possible danger, he said. Unless
(25:08):
things slip, there should be very little same list of
those present as before. There is an unconscious emphasis placed
by Holiday on Heyward and Livingstone. But perhaps I am overwatchful.
I dare say, thus, placed between my duty and my fears,
I shall do my duty. I perceive that either Heyward
or Livingstone is once more to be allowed access to
the house, and under conditions more or less favorable to
(25:30):
what is to be done. But which one later I
have done my duty. I have telephoned Chimeron, and he
will come out tomorrow night, September tenth, howa day has
taken every possible precaution as to to night. As it
has been our accustomed to go over the house before
each seance, and as Kimeron may do this with unusual thoroughness,
it has been decided not to place Greenow and his
(25:50):
officers until after the sitting begins. Howaday has therefore today
connected the bell from that room, which rings in the kitchen,
to a temporary extension in the garage with the buzzer.
When the lights are lowered, he will touch the bell,
and Greeno is then to smuggle his men in through
the kitchen. While though one can say what changes Cameron
may suggest in our previous methods, Halliday imagines he will
ask us at first to proceed as usual. In any event,
(26:13):
I am to sit as near to the switch as possible,
and when Holiday calls for lights, AM to be ready
to turn them on eight thirty. Everything is ready, But
I am concerned about Halliday. Has he some apprehension about
his own safety? To night? He came an hour or
so too early to start with the car for Cameron
and borrowing pennant paper wrote along communication to Hemingway. What
(26:34):
is in it? I do not know, but he took
it with him to mail on his way to the station.
End of mister Porter's journal, end of section sixteen.
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