A. L. BURT COMPANY
Publishers New York
Published by arrangement with Dodd, Mead & Company
Copyright, 1912, by
ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
Copyright, 1909, 1910, by
THE CROWELL PUBLISHING CO.
Copyright, 1910, by
ABBOTT & BRIGGS INC.
Copyright, 1913, by
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
As "Masterpieces of Mystery"
PAGE
I Room Number 3 3
II Midnight in Beauchamp Row 85
III The Ruby and the Caldron 107
IV The Little Steel Coils 149
V The Staircase at Heart's Delight 181
VI The Amethyst Box 209
VII The Grey Lady 311
VIII The Thief 339
IX The House in the Mist 369
"What door is that? You've opened all the others; why do you pass thatone by?"
"Oh, that! That's only Number 3. A mere closet, gentlemen," respondedthe landlord in a pleasant voice. "To be sure, we sometimes use it as asleeping-room when we are hard pushed. Jake, the clerk you saw below,used it last night. But it's not on our regular list. Do you want a peepat it?"
"Most assuredly. As you know, it's our duty to see every room in thishouse, whether it is on your regular list or not."
"All right. I haven't the key of this one with me. But—yes, I have.There, gentlemen!" he cried, unlocking the door and holding it open forthem to look inside. "You see it no more answers the young lady'sdescription than the others do. And I haven't another to show you. Youhave seen all those in front, and this is the last one in the rear.You'll have to believe our story. The old lady never put foot in thistavern."
The two men he addressed peered into the shadowy recesses before them,and one of them, a tall and uncommonly good-looking young man ofstalwart build and unusually earnest manner, stepped softly inside. Hewas a gentleman farmer living near, recently appointed deputy sheriff onaccount[Pg 4] of a recent outbreak of horse-stealing in the neighbourhood.
"I observe," he remarked, after a hurried glance about him, "that thepaper on these walls is not at all like that she describes. She was veryparticular about the paper; said that it was of a muddy pink colour andhad big scrolls on it which seemed to move and crawl about in whirls asyou looked at it. This paper is blue and striped. Otherwise——"