













THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE


By

MARY ROBERTS RINEHART



CONTENTS

       I  I TAKE A COUNTRY HOUSE
      II  A LINK CUFF-BUTTON
     III  MR. JOHN BAILEY APPEARS
      IV  WHERE IS HALSEY?
       V  GERTRUDE'S ENGAGEMENT
      VI  IN THE EAST CORRIDOR
     VII  A SPRAINED ANKLE
    VIII  THE OTHER HALF OF THE LINE
      IX  JUST LIKE A GIRL
       X  THE TRADERS BANK
      XI  HALSEY MAKES A CAPTURE
     XII  ONE MYSTERY FOR ANOTHER
    XIII  LOUISE
     XIV  AN EGG-NOG AND A TELEGRAM
      XV  LIDDY GIVES THE ALARM
     XVI  IN THE EARLY MORNING
    XVII  A HINT OF SCANDAL
   XVIII  A HOLE IN THE WALL
     XIX  CONCERNING THOMAS
      XX  DOCTOR WALKER'S WARNING
     XXI  FOURTEEN ELM STREET
    XXII  A LADDER OUT OF PLACE
   XXIII  WHILE THE STABLES BURNED
    XXIV  FLINDERS
     XXV  A VISIT FROM LOUISE
    XXVI  HALSEY'S DISAPPEARANCE
   XXVII  WHO IS NINA CARRINGTON?
  XXVIII  A TRAMP AND THE TOOTHACHE
    XXIX  A SCRAP OF PAPER
     XXX  WHEN CHURCHYARDS YAWN
    XXXI  BETWEEN TWO FIREPLACES
   XXXII  ANNE WATSON'S STORY
  XXXIII  AT THE FOOT OF THE STAIRS
   XXXIV  THE ODDS AND ENDS




THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE



CHAPTER I

I TAKE A COUNTRY HOUSE

This is the story of how a middle-aged spinster lost her mind, deserted
her domestic gods in the city, took a furnished house for the summer
out of town, and found herself involved in one of those mysterious
crimes that keep our newspapers and detective agencies happy and
prosperous.  For twenty years I had been perfectly comfortable; for
twenty years I had had the window-boxes filled in the spring, the
carpets lifted, the awnings put up and the furniture covered with brown
linen; for as many summers I had said good-by to my friends, and, after
watching their perspiring hegira, had settled down to a delicious quiet
in town, where the mail comes three times a day, and the water supply
does not depend on a tank on the roof.

And then--the madness seized me.  When I look back over the months I
spent at Sunnyside, I wonder that I survived at all.  As it is, I show
the wear and tear of my harrowing experiences.  I have turned very
gray--Liddy reminded me of it, only yesterday, by saying that a little
bluing in the