 CHAPTER VII THE HOUSE AT THE GRANBY CROSSROADS Why Mr Blake should take a journey at all at this time, and why of all places in the world he should choose such an insignificant town as Putney for his destination, was of course the mystery upon which I brooded during the entire distance. But when somewhere near five in the afternoon I stepped from the cars onto the platform at Putney station, only to hear Mr Blake making enquiries in regard to a certain stage running between that town and a still smaller village further east. I own I was not only surprised, but well-nigh non-plussed, especially as he seemed greatly disappointed to hear that it only ran once a day and then for an earlier train in the morning. You will have to wait till tomorrow, I fear, said the ticket agent, unless the landlord of the hotel, Down Yonder, can harness you up a team. There is a funeral out west today, and I did not wait to hear more, but hurried down to the hotel he had pointed out, and hunting up the landlord inquired if for love or money he could get me any sort of a conveyance for Melville that afternoon. He assured me it would be impossible, the livery stable, as well as his own being entirely empty. Such a thing don't happen here once in five years, said he to me. But the old codger who is dead, though a queer dick, was a noted personage in these parts, and not a man, woman or child, who could find a horse, mule or donkey, but what availed himself of the privilege. Even the doctor's find mare was pressed into service, though she halts on one leg and stops to get her breath half a dozen times, in going up one short hill. You will have to wait for the stage, sir. But I am in a hurry, said I, as I saw Mr Blake enter. I have business in Melville tonight, and I would pay anything in reason to get there. But the landlord only shook his head, and drawing back with an air of an abused man, I took up my stand in the doorway, where I could hear the same colloquy entered into with Mr Blake, with the same unsatisfactory termination. He did not take it quite as calmly as I did, though he was of too reserved a nature to display much emotion over anything. The prospect of a long tedious evening spent in a country hotel seemed almost undurable to him, but he finally succumbed to the force of circumstances, as indeed he seemed obliged to do. And partaking of such refreshment as the rather poorly managed hotel afforded, retired without ceremony to his room, from which he did not emerge again till next morning. In all this he had somehow managed not to give his name, and by means of some inquiries I succeeded in making that evening I found his person was unknown in the town. By a little management I secured the next room to his, by which arrangement I succeeded in passing a sleepless night. Mr Blake spending most of the wee small hours in pacing the floor of his room, with an unremitting regularity that had anything but a soothing effect upon my nerves. Early the next morning we took the stage, he sitting on the back seat, and I in front with the driver. There were other passengers, but I noticed he never spoke to any of them, nor through or the long drive did he once look up from the corner, where he had ensconced himself. It was twelve o'clock when we reached the end of the route, a small town of somewhat less than the usual pretensions of mountain villages. So insignificant indeed, that I found it more and more difficult to imagine what the wealthy ex-congressmen could find in such a spot as this, to make amends for a journey of such length and discomfort, when to my increasing wonder I heard him give orders for a horse to be settled and brought round to the indoor, directly after dinner. This was the move I had not expected, and it threw me a little aback, for although I had thus far managed to hold myself so aloof from Mr Blake. Even while keeping him under my eye, that no suspicion of my interest in his movements had as yet been awakened, how could I thus for the third time follow his order with one precisely similar, without attracting an attention that would be fatal to my plans. Yet to let him ride off alone now would be to drop the trail at the very moment the scent became of importance. The landlord a bustling, wiry little man, all nervousness and questions unwittingly helped me at this crisis. Are you going on to Perry, sir? Inquired he of that gentleman. I have been expecting a man along these three days bound for Perry. I am that man I broke in, stepping forward with some appearance of asperity, and I hope you won't keep me waiting. A horse as soon as dinner is over. Do you hear? I am two days late now, and won't stand any nonsense. And to escape the questions sure to follow, I strode into the dining room with a half fierce, half sullen countenance that effectually precluded all advances. During the meal I saw Mr Blake's eye roam more than once towards my face, but I did not return his gaze, or notice him in any way, hurrying through my dinner and mounting the first horse brought around as if time were my only consideration. But once on the road I took the first opportunity to draw rain and wait. Suddenly remembering that I had not heard, Mr Blake give any intimation of the direction he intended taking. A few minutes revealed to me his elegant form well mounted, and showing two perfection in his closely buttoned coat, slowly approaching up the road. Taking advantage of a rise in the ground, I lingered till he was almost upon me, when I canted quickly on, fearing to arouse his apprehensions if I allowed him to pass me on a road so solitary as that which now stretched out before us. A move provocative of much embarrassment to me, as I did not turn my head for the same reason, anxious as I was to keep him in sight. The roads dividing before me at length gave me my first opportunity to pause and look back. He was some fifty paces behind. Waiting till he came up, I vowed with the surely courtesy I thought in keeping with the character I had assumed, and asked if he knew which road led towards Perry, saying I had come off in such haste, I had forgotten to inquire my way. He returned my bow, pointed towards the left hand road, and saying, I know this does not, calmly took it. Now here was a dilemma. If in face of this curt response I proceeded to follow him, my hand was revealed at once, yet the circumstances would admit of no other course. I determined to compromise matters by pretending to take the right hand road till he was out of sight, when I would return and follow him swiftly upon the left. Accordingly I reigned my horse to the right, and for some fifteen minutes galloped slowly away towards the north, but another fifteen saw me facing the west, and riding with the force and fury of which I had not thought the old mare they had given me capable, till I put her to the test. It was not long before I saw my fine gentleman trotting in front of me up a long but gentle slope that rose in the distance, and slackening my own reign I withdrew into the forest at the side of the road, till he had passed at summit and disappeared, when I again galloped forward. And thus we went on for an hour. Over the most uneven country I ever traversed, he always won hill ahead, when suddenly, by what instinct I cannot determine, I felt myself approaching the end, and hastening to the top of the ascent upon which I was then laboring, looked down into the shallow valley, spread out before me. What a sight met my eyes if I had been intent on anything less practical than the movements of the solitary horsemen below. Hills on hills piled about a verdant basin in which depths nestled a scanty collection of houses. In number so small they could be told upon the fingers of the right hand, but which notwithstanding lent an undescribable aspect of comfort to this remote region of hill and forest. But the vision of Mr Blake, pausing halfway down the slope before me, examining, yes, examining, a pistol which he held in his hand, soon put an end to all ideas of romance. Somewhat alarmed I reigned back, but his action had evidently no connection with me, for he did not once glance behind him, but kept his eye on the road, which I now observed, took a short turn towards a house of so weird and ominous an appearance that I scarcely marbled at his precaution. Situated on a level track of land at the crossing of three roads, its spacious front, rude and unpainted as it was, presented every appearance of an inn, but from its moss-grown chimneys no smoke arose, nor could I detect any sign of life in its shuttlest windows and closed doors, across which shivered the dark shadow of the one gaunt and age pine that stood like a guard beside its tumbled-down porch. Mr Blake seemed to have been struck by the same fact concerning its loneliness, for hurriedly replacing his pistol in his breast pocket, he rode slowly forward. I instantly conceived the plan of striking across the belt of underbrush that separated me from this old dwelling, and by taking my stand opposite its front, intercept a view of Mr Blake as he approached. Hastefully dismounting, therefore, I led my horse into the bushes and tied her to a tree, proceeding to carry out my plan on foot. I was so far successful as to arrive at the further edge of the wood, which was thick enough to conceal my presence without being too dense to obstruct my vision, just as Mr Blake passed on his way to this solitary dwelling. He was looking very anxious, but determined. Turning my eyes from him, I took another glance at the house, which by this movement I had brought directly before me. It was even more deserted looking than I had thought, its unpainted front with its double row of blank windows meeting your gaze without a response, while the huge old pine with half its limbs dismantled of foliage rattled its old bones against its sides and moaned in its age fashion like the solitary retainer of a dead race. I own I felt the cold shivers creep down my back as that creaking sound struck my ears, though as the day was chill with an east wind, I daresay it was more the effect of my sudden cessation from exercise than of any superstitious awe I felt. Mr Blake seemed to labour under no such impressions. Riding up to the front door, he knocked without dismounting on its dismal panels with his riding whip. No response was heard. Knitting his brows impatiently, he tried the latch. The door was locked. Hastily running his eye over the face of the building, he drew rain and proceeded to ride around the house, which he could easily do owing to the absence of every obstruction in the way of fence or shrubbery. Finding no means of entrance, he returned again to the front door, which he shook with an impatient hand that, however produced, no impression upon the trusty lock, and recognising, doubtless, the futility of his endeavours, he drew back and merely pausing to give one other look at its deserted front, turned his horse's head and to my great amazement proceeded with somber man and clouded brow to retake the road to Melville. This old inn or decayed homestead was then the object of his lengthened and tedious journey, his ancient house rotting away among the black hills of Vermont, the born towards which his steps had been tending for these past two days. I could not understand it. Rapidly emerging from the spot where I had secreted myself, I, in my turn, made a circuit of the house. If happily I should discover some loophole of entrance, which had escaped his attention, but every door and window was securely barred, and I was about to follow his example and leave the spot, when I saw two or three children advancing towards me from the crossroads, gaily swinging their skill books. I noticed they hesitated and huddled together as they approached and saw me, but not heeding this I accosted them with a pleasant word or so, then pointing over my shoulder to the house behind, asked who lived there. Instantly their already pale faces grew paler. Why, cried one, a boy, don't you know, that is where the two wicked men lived who stole the money out of the Rutland bank. They were put in prison, but they got away and returned. Here the other, a little girl, plucked him by the sleeve with such a fright, that he himself took alarm and just giving me one quick stare out of his wide eyes, grasped his companion by the hand and took to his heels. As for myself, I stood brooded to the ground in my astonishment. This blank, sleepy old house, the home of the notorious shoemakers, after whom half of the detectives of the country were searching, I could scarcely credit my own ears. True, I now remembered they had come from these carts. Still, turning round, I eyed the house once more. How altered it looked to me! What a murderous aspect it bore! And how dismally secret were the tight shut windows and closely fastened doors, on one of which a rude cross, strong in red chalk, met the eye with a mysterious significance. Even the old pine had acquired the villainous air of the uncanny repositor of secrets, too dreadful to reveal, as it groaned and murmured to itself in the keen east wind. Dark deeds and foul wrong seemed written all over the fearful place, from the long strings of black moss that clung to the worm-eaten eaves, to the worn stone with its great blotch of something. Could it have been blood that served as a threshold to the door? Suddenly, with the quickness of lightning, the thought flashed across me. What could Mr Blake, the aristocratic representative of New York's oldest family, have wanted in this nest of infamy? What errand of hope, fear, despair, avarance or revenge could have brought this superior gentleman with his refined tastes and proudly reticent manners? So many miles from home, to the forsaken den of a brace of hardy villains whose name for two years now had stood as the type of all that was bold, bad and lawless, and for whom during the last six weeks the prison had yawned and the gallows hungered. Contemplation brought no reply and shocked at my own thoughts. I put the question by for the steadier brains than mine, and instead of trying further to solve it, cast it out how I was to gain inference into this deserted building. Full to enter it, I was more than ever determined, now that I had heard to whom it had once belonged. Examining, with a glance, the several roads that branched off in every direction from where I stood, I found them all equally deserted. Even the skilled children had disappeared in some one of the four or five houses scattered in the remote distance. If I was willing to enter upon any daring exploit, there was no one to observe or interrupt. I resolved to make the attempt with which my mind was full. This was to climb the old tree, and from one of the two or three branches that brushed against the house, gain entrance at an open garret window that stared at me from amid the pine's dark needles. Taking off my coat with a sigh over the immaculate condition of my new cashmere trousers, I bent my energies to the task. A difficult one you will say for a city lad, but thanks to fortune I was not brought up in New York and know how to climb trees with the best. With little more than a scratch or so, I reached the window of which I have spoken, and after a moment spent in regaining my breath, gave one spring and accomplished my purpose. I alighted upon a heap of broken glass in a large bare room. An ominous chill at once struck to my heart. Though I am anything but a sensitive man as far as physical impressions are concerned, there was something in the hollow echo that arose from the full blank walls about me as my feet alighted on that rough, uncarpeted floor that struck a vague chill through my blood, and I actually hesitated for the moment whether to pursue the investigations I had promised myself or beat a hasty retreat. A glance at the huge distorted limbs swaying across the square at the open window decided me. It was easy to enter by means of that unsteady support, but it would be extremely unsafe to venture forth in that way. If I prized life and limb, I must seek some other method of aggress. I at once put my apprehensions in my pocket and entered upon my self-imposed task. A single glance was sufficient to exhaust the resources of the empty garret in which I found myself. Two or three old chairs piled in one corner, a rusty stove or so, a heap of tattered and decaying clothing were all that met my gaze. Taking my way, then, at once to the ladder, whose narrow ends projecting above a hole in the garret floor, seemed to proffer the means of reaching the rooms below. I proceeded to descend into what to my excited imagination looked like a gulf of darkness. It proved, however, to be nothing more nor less than an unlighted hall of small dimensions, with a staircase at one end and a door at the other, which upon opening I found myself in a large square room whose immense four-posted bedstead entirely denuded of its usual accompaniments of bed and bolster. At once struck my eye, and for a moment held it and chained. There were other articles in the room, a disused bureau, a rocking chair, even a table, but nothing had such a ghostly look as that antique bedstead with its curtains of calico tied back over its naked framework, like rags draped from the bare bones of a skeleton. Passing hurriedly by, I tried a closet door or so, finding little, however, to reward my search and eager to be done with what was every moment becoming more and more drearism. I hastened across the floor to the front of the house, where I found another hall and a row of rooms that, while not entirely stripped of furniture, were yet sufficiently barren to offer little encouragement to my curiosity. One only, a small but not uncomfortable apartment, showed any signs of having been occupied within a reasonable length of time, and as I paused before its hastily spread bed, thrown together as only a man would do it, and wondering why the room was so dark, looked up and saw that the window was entirely covered by an old shawl and a couple of heavy coats that had been hastily nailed across it. I own, I felt my hand go to my breast pocket, almost as if I expected to see the wild faces of the dreaded shoemakers start up all aglare from one of the dim corners before me. Rushing to the window, I tore down with one sweep of my arm, both coat and shawl, and with a start discovered that the window still possessed its draperies in the shape of a pair of discoloured and tattered curtains tied with ribbons that must once had been brilliant and cheery of colour. Nor was this the only sign in the room of a bygone presence that had possessed a taste for something beyond the mere necessities of life. On the grim costly papered wall hung more than one picture, cut from pictorial newspapers to be sure, but each and every one, if I may be called a judge of such matters, possessing some quality of expression to commend it to a certain order of taste. They were all strong pictures, vivid faces of men and women in daring positions, a hunter holding back a jaguar from his throat, a soldier protecting his comrade from the stroke, and most striking of all, a woman listen as she was powerful, starting aghast and horror-stricken from what? I could not tell. A rough hand had stripped the remainder of the picture from the wall. A bit of candle and a half sheet of a newspaper lay on the floor. I picked up the paper. It was a Rutland herald and bore the date of two days before. As I read, I realized what I had done. If these daring robbers were not at this very moment in the house, they had been there, and that within two or three days. The broken panes of glass in the garret above were now explained. I was not the first one who had climbed that creaking pine tree this fall. Something like a sensible thread of a very possible danger now seized hold of me. If I had stumbled upon these strangely sub-tile, yet devilishly bold creatures in their secret lair, the pistol I carried was not going to save me. Shut in like a fox in a hole. I had little to hope for. If they once made their appearance at the stairhead all came upon me from any of the dim halls of the crazy old dwelling, which I now began to find altogether too large for my comfort. Stealing cautiously forth from the room in which I had found so much to disconcert me, I crept towards the front staircase and listened. All was deathly quiet. The old pine tree moaned and twisted without, and from time to time the wind came sweeping down the chimney with an unearthly shrieking sound that was weirdly in keeping with the place. But within and below all was still as the tomb, and though in no ways reassured I determined to descend and have the suspense over at once. I did so, pistol in hand and ears stretched to their utmost to catch the slightest rustle. But no sound came to disturb me, nor did I meet on the slower floor the sign of any other presence in the house but my own. Passing hastily through what appeared to be a sort of rude parlor, I stepped into the kitchen and tried one of the windows. Finding I could easily lift it from the inside, I drew my breath with ease for the first time since I had alighted among the broken glass above and turning back deliberately opened the door of the kitchen stove and looked in. As I half expected I found a pile of partly charred rags showing where the wretches had burned their prison clothing and proceeding further picked up from the ashes a ring which whether or not they were conscious of having attempted to destroy in this way I cannot say but which I thankfully put in my pocket against the day it might be required as proof. Discerning nothing more in that quarter inviting interest I asked myself if I had nerve to descend into the cellar. Finally concluding that that was more than could be expected from any man in my position I gave one look of farewell to the damp and desolate wolves about me then with a breath of relief jumped from the kitchen window again into the light and air of day. As I did so I could swear I heard a door within that old house swing on its hinges and softly close with the thrill I recognised the fact that it came from the cellar. My thoughts on the road back to Melville were many and conflicting chief above them all however rose the comfortable conclusion that in the pursuit of one mysterious affair I had stumbled as is often the case upon the clue to another of yet greater importance and by so doing got a start that might yet redound greatly to my advantage for the reward offered for the recapture of the shoemakers was large and the possibility of my being the one to put the authorities upon their track certainly appeared after this day's developments open at least to a very reasonable hope at all events I determined not to let the grass grow under my feet till I had informed the superintendent of what I had seen and heard that day in the old haunt of these two escaped convicts arrived at the public house in Melville and learning that Mr Blake had safely returned there an hour before I drew the landlord to one side and asked what he could tell me about that old house at the two noted robbers shoemaker I had passed on my way back among the hills well now replied he this is curious here I've just been answering the gentleman upstairs a heap of questions concerning that self same old place and now you come along with another batch of them just as if that rickety old den was the only spot of interest we had in these parts perhaps that may be the truth I laughed just now when the papers are full of these roads anything concerning them must be of superior interest of course and I pressed him again to give me a history of the house and the two thieves who had inhabited it well draw he take much we know about them yet after all it may be a trifle too much for their next someday time was when nobody thought a special ill of them beyond a suspicion or so there being somewhat mean about money that was when they kept an in there but when the robbery at the Rutland bank was so clearly traced to them more than one man about here started up and said as how they had always suspected them shoemakers of being villains and even hinted at something worse than robbery but nothing beyond that one rascality has yet been proved against them and for that they were sent to jail for 20 years as you know two months ago they escaped and that is the last known event a precious set to they are the father being only so much the greater rogue than the son as he is years older and the end when was that closed just after their arrest hasn't it been open since only once when a brace of detectives came up from Troy to investigate as they called it who has the key ah that's more than I can tell you I did not ask how my questions differed from those of Mr Blake nor indeed touch upon that point in any way I was chiefly anxious now to return to New York without delay so paying my bill I thank the landlord and without waiting for the stage remounted my horse and proceeded at once to Putney where I was fortunate enough to catch the evening train by five o'clock next morning I was in New York where I proceeded to carry out my program by hastening at once to headquarters and reporting my suspicions regarding the whereabouts of the shoemakers the information was received with interest and I had the satisfaction of seeing two men dispatched north that very day with orders to procure the arrest of the two notable villains wherever found end of chapter seven chapter eight of a strange disappearance this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a strange disappearance by Anna Catherine Green chapter eight a word overheard that evening I had a talk with Fanny over the area gate she came out when she saw me approach with her eyes staring in her whole form in a flutter oh she cried such things as I've heard this day well said I what let me hear too she put her hand on her heart I never was so frightened whispered she I thought I should have fainted right away to hear that elegant lady use such a word as crime what elegant lady interrupted I don't begin in the middle of your story that's a good girl I want to hear it all well said she calming down a little Mrs. Daniels had a visitor today a lady she was dressed oh now I interrupted for the second time you can leave that out tell me what her name was and let the folder rolls go her name exclaimed the girl with some sharpness how should I know her name she didn't come to see me how did she look then you saw her I suppose and wasn't that what I was telling you when you stopped me she looked like a queen that she did as grand a lady as I ever see in her velvet dress sweeping over the floor and her diamonds as big as was she a dark woman I asked her hair was black and so were her eyes if that is what you mean and was she very tall and proud looking the girl nodded you know her whispered she no said I not exactly but I think I can tell who she is and so she called today on Mrs. Daniels did she yes but I guess she knew master would be home before she got away come said I tell me all about it I'm getting impatient and ain't I telling you said she it was about three o'clock this afternoon the time I go upstairs to dress so I just hangs about in the hall a little bit near the parlor door and I hear her gossiping with Mrs. Daniels almost as if she was an old friend and Mrs. Daniels answering her mighty stiffly and as if she wasn't glad to see her at all but the lady didn't seem to mind and went on talking as sweet as honey and when they came out you would have thought she loved the old woman like a sister to see her look into her face and say something about knowing how busy she was but that it would give her so much pleasure if she would come someday to see her and talk over old times but Mrs. Daniels wasn't pleased a bit and showed plain enough she didn't like the lady fine as she was in her ways she was going to answer her to but just then the front door opened and Mr. Blake with his satchel in his hand came into the house and how he did start to be sure when he saw them though he tried to say something polite which she didn't seem to take to at all for after muttering something about not expecting to see him she put her hand on the knob and was going right out but he stopped her and they went into the parlor together while Mrs. Daniels stood staring after them like one mad her hand held out with his bag and umbrella in it as stiff as a stutter in the central park she didn't stand so long though but came running down the hall as if she was bewitched I was dreadful flustered for though I was hid behind the wall that juts out there by the back stairs I was afraid she would see me and chain me before Mr. Blake but she passed right by and never looked up there is something dreadful mysterious in this thought I and I just made up my mind to stay where I was till Mr. Blake and the lady should come out again from the parlor I didn't have to wait very long in a few minutes the door opened and they stepped out he ahead and she coming after I thought this was queer he is always so dreadful polite in his ways but I thought it was a deal queerer when I saw him go up the front stairs she hurrying after looking I cannot tell you how but awful troubled and anxious I should say they went into that room of his he calls his studio and though I knew it might cost me my place if I was found out I couldn't help following and listening at the keyhole and what did you hear I asked for she pause to take breath well the first thing I heard was a cry of pleasure from her and the words you keep that always before you you cannot dislike me then as much as you pretend I don't know what she meant nor what he did but he stepped across the room and I heard her cry out this time as if she was hurt as well as awful surprised and he talked and talked and I couldn't catch a word he spoke so low and by and by she saw just a little and I got scared and would have run away but she cried out with a kind of shriek oh don't say anymore to think that crime should come into our family the proudest in the land how could you home and how could you yes the girl went on flushing in her excitement till she was as red as the cherry ribbons in her cap those were the very word she used to think that crime should come into our family the proudest one in the land and she called him by his first name and asked him how he could do it and what did Mr. Blake say returned I a little taken aback myself at this result of my efforts with Fanny oh I didn't wait to hear I didn't wait for anything if folks was going to talk about such things as that I thought I'd better be anywhere than listening at the keyhole I went right upstairs I can tell you and whom have you told of what you heard in the half dozen hours that have gone by nobody how could you think so mean of me when I promised and it is not necessary to go any further into this portion of the interview the contest in Murak possessed to its fullest extent the present fine ladies taste for bric-a-brac so much had I learned in my inquiries concerning her remembering this I took the bold resolution of profiting by this weakness of hers to gain admission to her presence she being the only one sharing Mr. Blake's mysterious secret borrowing a valuable antique from a friend of mine at that time in the business I made my appearance the very next day at her apartments and sending in an urgent request to see madame by the trim negroes who answered my summons waited in some doubt for her reply it came all too soon madame was ill and could see no one I was not however to be baffled by one rebuff handing the basket I held to the girl I urged her to take it in show her mistress what it contained saying it was a rare article which might never again come her way the girl complied though with a doubtful shake of the head which was anything but encouraging her incredulity however must have been speedily rebuked for she almost immediately returned without the basket saying madame would see me my first thoughts upon entering the grandlady's presence was that the girl had been mistaken for I found the countess walking the floor in an abstracted way drawing a letter she had evidently but just completed by shaking it to and fro with an unsteady hand the plaque I had brought lying neglected on the table but at sight of my respectful form standing with bent head in the doorway she hurriedly thrust the letter into a book and took up the plaque as she did so I marked her well and almost started at the change I observed in her since that evening at the academy it was not only that she was dressed in some sort of loose disheveled that was in eminent contrast to the sweeping silks and satins in which I had hitherto beheld her adorned or that she was laboring under some physical disability that robbed her dark cheek of the bloom that was its chiefest charm the change I observed went deeper than that it was more as if a light had been extinguished in her countenance it was the same woman I had beheld standing like a glowing column of will and strength before the melancholy form of Mr. Blake but with the will and strength gone and with them all the glow she no longer hopes thought I and already I felt repaid for my trouble this is a very pretty article you've brought me said she was something of the unrestrained love of art which she undoubtedly possessed showing itself through all her langer where did it come from and what recommendations have you to prove it is an honest sale you offer me none returned I ignoring with a reassuring smile the first question except that I should not be afraid if all the police in New York knew I was here with this fine plaque for sale she gave a shrug of her proud shoulder that bespoke the French Countess and softly ran her finger around the edge of the plaque I don't need anything more of this kind said she languidly besides and she said it down with a fretful air I'm in no mood to buy this afternoon then shortly what do you ask for it I named a fabulous price she started and cast me a keen glance you would better take it to someone else I have no money to throw away with a hesitating hand I lifted the plaque towards the basket I would very much like to sell it to you said I perhaps just then a ladies fluttering voice rose from the room beyond inquiring for the Countess and hurriedly taking the plaque from my hand with an impulsive oh there's Amy she passed into the adjoining apartment leaving the door open behind her I saw a quick interchange of greetings between her and a fashionably dressed lady then they withdrew to one side with the ornament I had brought evidently consulting in regard to its merits now is my time the book in which she had placed the letter she had been writing lay on the table right before me not two inches from my hand I had only to throw back the cover and my curiosity would be satisfied taking advantage of a moment when their backs were both turned I pressed open the book with a careful hand and with one eye on them and one eye on the sheet before me managed to read these words my dearest Cecilia I have tried in vain to match the sample you sent me at Stuart's Arnold's and McCreery's if you still insist upon making up the dress in the way you propose I will see what madame du devant can do for us though I cannot but advise you to alter your plans and make the darker shade of velvet do I went to the Kerry reception last night and met Lulu Chittenden she has actually grown old but was as lively as ever she created a great stir in Paris when she was there but a husband who comes home two o'clock in the morning with bleary eyes and empty pockets is not conducive to the preservation of a woman's beauty how she manages to retain her spirits I cannot imagine you ask me news of cousin Holman I meet him occasionally and he looks well but has grown into the most somber man you ever saw in regard to certain hopes of which you have sometimes made mention let me assure you that they are no longer practicable he has done what here the conversation ceased in the other room the Countess made a movement of advance and I close the book with an inward groan over my ill luck it is very pretty said she with a weary air but as I remarked before I am not in the buying mood if you will take half you mention I may consider the subject but pardon me madam I interrupted being in no wise anxious to leave the plaque behind me I have been considering the matter and I hold to my original price Mr. Blake of Second Avenue may give it to me if you do not Mr. Blake she eyed me suspiciously do you sell to him I sell to any one I can replied I and as he has an art aside for such things her brows knitted and she turned away I do not want it said she sell it to whom you please I took up the plaque and left the room end of chapter eight chapter nine of a strange disappearance this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Nicole Carl St. Louis Missouri February 2008 a strange disappearance by Anna Catherine Green chapter nine a few golden hairs when a few days from that I made my appearance before Mr. Grice it was to find him looking somewhat sober those schoonmackers said he are making a deal of trouble it seems they escaped the fellows up north and are now somewhere in this city but where an expressive gesture finished the sentence is that so exclaimed I then we are sure to nab them given time in a pair of low restless German thieves I will wager anything our hands will be upon them before the month is over I only hope when we do come across them it will not be to find their betters too much mixed up with their devilish practices and I related to him what Fanny had told me a few evenings before the coil is tightening he said what the end will be I don't know crime said she I wish I knew in what blind hole of the earth that girl we are after lies hidden as if an answer to this wish the door opened and one of our men came in with a letter in his hand ha exclaimed Mr. Grice after he had perused it look at that I took the letter from his hand and read the dead body of a girl such as you describe was found in the East River off 50th Street this morning from appearance has been dead some time have telegraphed to police headquarters for orders should you wish to see body before it is removed to the morgue or otherwise disturbed please hasten to peer 48 E. R. Graham come said I let's go and see for ourselves if it should be the one the dinner party proposed by Mr. Blake for tonight may have its interruptions he remarked I do not wish to make my story any longer than it's necessary but I must say that when in an hour or so later I stood with Mr. Grice before the unconscious form of that poor drown girl I felt an unusual degree of awe stealing over me there was so much mystery connected with this affair and the parties implicated were of such standing and repute I almost dreaded to see the covering removed from her face lest I should behold what I could not have told if I tried a trim made body enough cried the official in charge as Mr. Grice lifted the end of a cloth that enveloped her and threw it back pity the features are not better preserved no need for us to see the features exclaimed I pointing to the locks of golden red hair that hung entangled masses about her the hair is enough she is not the one and I turned aside asking myself if it was relief I felt to my surprise Mr. Grice did not follow tall thin white face black eyes I heard him whisper to himself it is a pity the features are not better preserved but said I taking him by the arm Fanny spoke particularly of her hair being black while this girls could heavens I suddenly ejaculated as I looked again at the prostrate form before me yellow hair or black this is the girl I saw him speaking to that day in brim street I remember her clothes if nothing more and opening my pocket book I took out the morsel of cloth I had plucked that day from the ash barrel lifted up two discolored rags that hung about the body and compared the two the pattern texture and color were the same well said Mr. Grice pointing to certain contusions like marks from the blow of some heavy instrument on the head and bared arms of the girl before us he will have to answer me one question anyhow and that is who this poor creature is who lies here the victim of treachery or despair and turning to the official he asked if there were any other signs of violence on the body the answer came deliberately yes she has evidently been battered to death Mr. Grice's lips closed with grim decision a most brutal murder said he and lifting up the cloth with a hand that visibly trembled he softly covered her face well said I as we slowly paced back up the pier there is one thing certain she is not the one who disappeared from Mr. Blake's house I am not so sure of that how said I you believe Fanny lied when she gave that description of the missing girl upon which we have gone till now Mr. Grice smiled and turned back back into the official behind us let me have that description said he which I distributed among the harbor police some days ago for the identification of a certain corpse I was on the lookout for man opened his coat and drew out a printed paper which at Mr. Grice's word he put into my hand it ran as follows look out for the body of a young girl tall well shaped but then a fair complexion and golden hair with a peculiar bright and beautiful color and when found a point me at once G I don't understand began I but Mr. Grice tapping me on the arm said in his most deliberate tones next time you examine a room in which anything of a mysterious nature has occurred look under the bureau and if you find a comb there with several long golden hairs tangled in it be very sure before you draw any definite conclusions that your fannies know what they are talking about when they declare the girl who used that comb had black hair on her head end of chapter nine chapter ten of a strange disappearance this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org a strange disappearance by Anna Catherine Green chapter ten the secret of Mr. Blake's studio Mr. Blake is at dinner so with company but I will call him if you say so no return to Mr. Grice show us into some room where we can be comfortable and we will wait till he has finished the servant bowed and stepping forward down the hall opened the door of a small and cozy room heavily hung with crimson curtains I will let him know that you are here said he and vanished towards the dining room I doubt if Mr. Blake will enjoy the latter half of his bill of fare as much as the first said I drawing up one of the luxurious armchairs to the side of my principal I wonder if he will break away from his guests and come in here no if I am not mistaken we shall find Mr. Blake a man of nerve not a muscle of his face will show that he is disturbed well said I I dread it Mr. Grice looked about on the gorgeous walls and the rich old fashioned furniture that surrounded him and smiled one of his grimmest smiles well you may said he the next instant a servant stood in the doorway bearing to our great astonishment a tray while set with the canter and glasses Mr. Blake's compliments gentlemen said he setting it down on the table before us he hopes that you will make yourselves at home and he will see you as soon as possible the of Mr. Grice when the servant had gone would have done your soul good also the look he cast at the pretty Dresden shepherdess on the mental piece as I reached out my hand toward the decanter somehow it made me draw back I think we had better leave his wine alone said he and for half an hour we sat there the wine untouched between us listening alternately to the sound of speech making and laughter that came from the dining room and the solemn ticking of the clock as it counted out the seconds on the mental piece then the guests came in from the table filing before us past the open door on their way to the parlours they were all gentlemen of course Mr. Blake never invited ladies to his house and gentlemen of well known repute the dinner had been given in honor of a certain celebrated statesman and the character of his guests was in keeping with that of one thus complimented as they went by us gaily indulging in the jokes and light banter with which such men season a social dinner I saw Mr. Grice's face grow sober by many a shade and when in the midst of it all we heard the voice of Mr. Blake rise in that courteous and measured tone for which it is distinguished I saw him reach forward and grasp his cane within uneasiness I had never seen displayed by him before but when sometime later the guests having departed the dignified host advanced with some apology to where we were I never beheld a firmer look on Mr. Grice's face then that with which he rose and confronted him Mr. Blake's own had not more character in it you have called at a rather inauspicious time Mr. Grice said the latter glancing at the card which he held in his hand what may your business be something to do with politics I suppose I surveyed the man in amazement was this great politician stooping to act apart or had he forgotten our physiognomies as completely as appeared our business is not politics replied Mr. Grice but fully is important may I request the doors be closed I thought Mr. Blake look surprised but he immediately stepped to the door and shut it then coming back he looked at Mr. Grice more closely and a change took place in his manner I think I have seen you before said he Mr. Grice bound with just the suspicion of a smile I have had the honor of consulting you before in this very house observed he a look of full recognition passed over the dignified countenance of the man before us I remember said he shrugging his shoulders in the old way you are interested in some servant girl or other who ran away from this house a week or so ago have you found her this with no apparent concern we think we have rejoined Mr. Grice with some solemnity the river gives up at prey now and then Mr. Blake still only that look of natural surprise indeed you do not mean to say she has drowned herself I am sorry for that a girl who had once lived in my house what trouble could she have had to drive her to such an act Mr. Grice advanced a step nearer the gentleman that is what we have come here to learn said he with a deliberation that yet was not lacking in respect due to a man so universally esteemed as Mr. Blake you who have seen her so lately ought to be able to throw some light upon the subject at least Mr. he glanced at the card Mr. Grice excuse me I believe I told you when you were here before that I had no remembrance of this girl at all that if such a person was in my house I did not know it and that all questions put to me on that subject would be so much labor thrown away Mr. Grice bowed I remember said he I was not alluding to any connection you may have had with the girl in this house but to the interview you were seen to have with her on the corner of broom street some days ago you had such an interview did you not a flush deep as it was sudden swept over Mr. Blake's usually unmoved cheek you were transgressing sir said he and stopped though a man of intense personal pride he had but little of that quality called temper or perhaps if he had thought it unwise to display it on this occasion I saw and spoke to a girl on the corner of that street some days ago he went on more mildly but that she was the one who lived here I neither knew at that time nor feel willing to believe now without positive proof then in a deep ringing tone of the stateliness of which it would be impossible to describe he inquired have the city authorities presumed to put a spy on my movements that the fact of my speaking to a poor forsaken creature on the corner of the street should be not only noted but remembered Mr. Blake observed Mr. Grice and I declare I was proud of my superior at that moment no man who is a true citizen and a Christian should object to have his steps followed when by his own thoughtlessness perhaps he has incurred a suspicion which demands it and do you mean to say that I have been followed inquired he clinching his hand and looking steadily but with a blanching cheek first at Mr. Grice then at me it was indispensable quote that functionary gently the outraged gentleman riveted his gaze upon me in town and out of town demanded he I let Mr. Grice reply it is known that you have lately sought to visit the show and Makas said he Mr. Blake drew a deep breath cast his eyes about the handsome apartment in which we were let them rest for a moment upon a portrait that graced one side of the wall and which was I have since learned a picture of his father and slowly drew forward a chair let me hear what your suspicions are said he I noticed Mr. Grice colored at this he had evidently been met in a different way from what he expected excuse me said he I do not say I have any suspicions my errand is simply to notify you of the death of the girl you were seen to speak with and to ask whether or not you can give us any information that can aid us in the matter before the coroner you know I have not if I have been as closely followed as you say you must know why I spoke to that girl and others why I went to the house of the show and Makas and do you know he said and the inquired Mr. Grice was not the man to answer such a question as that he I the rich signet ring that adorned the hand of the gentleman before him and suavely smiled I am ready to listen to any explanations said he Mr. Blake's haughty countenance became almost stern you consider you have a right to demand them let me hear why well said Mr. Grice with a change of tone you shall unprofessional as it is I will tell you why I a member of the police force dare enter the house of such a man as you are and put him the questions I have concerning his domestic affairs Mr. Blake imagine yourself in a detective's office a woman comes in the housekeeper of a respected citizen and informs us that a girl employed by her as a seamstress has disappeared in a very unaccountable way from her master's house the night before in fact been abducted as she thinks from certain evidences through the window her manner is agitated her appeal for assistance urgent though she acknowledges no relationship to the girl or expresses any a special cause for her interest beyond that of common humanity she must be found she declares and hints that any some necessary will be forthcoming though from what source after her own pittance is expended she does not state when asked if her master has no interest in the matter she changes color and puts us off he never noticed his servants left all such concerns to her etc but chose fear when a proposition is made to consult him next imagine yourself with the detectives in that gentleman's house you enter the girl's room what is the first thing you observe why that it is not only one of the best in the house but that it is conspicuous for its comforts if not its elegancies more than that that there are books of poetry and history lying around showing that the woman who inhabited it was above her station a fact which the housekeeper is presently brought to acknowledge you notice also that the wild surmise of her abduction by means of the window has some ground and appearance though the fact that she went with entire unwillingness is not made so apparent the housekeeper however insists in a way that must have some special knowledge of the girl's character or circumstances to back it that she never went without compulsion a statement which the torn curtains and the track of blood over the roof of the extension would seem to emphasize a few other facts are made known first a pin knife is picked up from the grass plot in the yard beneath showing with what instrument the wound was inflicted whose drippings made those marks of blood alluded to it was a pearl handle knife belonging to the writing desk found open on her table and its frail and dainty character proved indisputably that it was employed by the girl herself and that against manifest enemies no man being likely to snatch up any such puny weapon for the purpose of either offense or defense that these enemies were to and were both men was insisted upon by mrs. daniels who overheard their voices the night before mr. blake such facts as these arouse curiosity especially when the master of the house being introduced upon the scene he fails to manifest common human interest while his housekeeper betrays in every involuntary gesture and expression she makes use of her horror if not her fear of his presence and her relief at his departure yes he exclaimed unheeding the sudden look here cast him by mr. blake and curiosity begets inquiry and inquiry elucidated further facts such as these that the mysterious master of the house was in his garden at the hour of the girl's departure was even looking through the bars of the gate when she having evidently escaped from her captors came back with every apparent desire to re-enter her home but seeing him betrayed an unreasonable amount of fear and fled back even into the very arms of the men she had endeavored to avoid did you speak sir asked mr. grice suddenly stopping with a sly look at his left boot tip mr. blake shook his head no said he shortly go on but that last remark of mr. grice had evidently made its impression inquiry revealed also two or three other interesting facts first that this gentleman qualified though he was to shine in lady society never obtruded himself there but employed his leisure time instead in walking the lower streets of the city where he was seen more than once conversing with certain poor girls at street corners and in blind alleys the last one he talked with believed from her characteristics to be the same one that was abducted from his house hold there said mr. blake with some authority in his tone there you are mistaken that is impossible ah and why the girl you allude to had bright golden hair something with which the woman who lived in my house did not possess indeed i thought you had never noticed the woman who sold for you sir did not know how she looked i should have noticed her if she had had such hair as the girl you speak of mr. grice smiled and opened his pocket book there is a sample of her hair sir said he taking out a thin strand of brilliant hair and showing it to the gentleman before him bright you see and golden is that of the unfortunate creature you talked with the other night mr. blake stooped forward and lifted it with a hand that visibly trembled where did you get this he asked at last clenching it to his breast with sudden passion from out of the comb which the girl had been using the night before the imperious man flung it hastily from him we waste our time said he looking mr. grice intently in the face all that you have said does not account for your presence here nor the tone you have used while addressing me what are you keeping back i am not a man to be trifled with mr. grice rose to his feet you are right said he and he gave a short glance in my direction all that i have said would not perhaps justify me in this intrusion if he looked again towards me do you wish me to continue he asked mr. blake's intent to look deepened i see no reason why you should not utter the whole said he a good story loses nothing by being told to the end you wish to say something about my journey to the schoonmacher's house i suppose mr. grice gravely shook his head what you can let such a mystery as that go without a word i am not here to discuss mysteries that have no connection with the sewing girl and whose cause i am interested then said mr. blake turning for the first time upon my superior with all the dignified composure for which he was imminent it is no longer necessary for us to prolong this interview i have allowed nay encouraged you to state in the plainest terms what it was you had or imagined you had against me knowing that my actions of late seen by those who did not possess the key to them must have seen a little peculiar but when you say you have no interest in any mystery disconnected with the girl who has lived the last few months in my house i can with assurance say that it is time we quitted this unprofitable conversation as nothing which i have lately done said or thought here or elsewhere has in any way had even the remotest bearing upon that individual she having been a stranger to me while in my house and quite forgotten by me after her unaccountable departure hence mr. grice's hand which had been stretched out towards the hitherto untouched decanter before him suddenly dropped you deny then said he all connection between yourself and the woman lady or sewing girl who occupied that room above our heads for eleven months previous to the sunday morning i first had the honor to make your acquaintance i am not in the habit of repeating my assertions said mr. blake was some severity even when they relate to a less disagreeable matter than the one under discussion mr. grice bowed and slowly reached out for his hat i had never seen him so disturbed i am sorry he began and stopped fingering his hat brim nervously suddenly he laid his hat back and drew up his form into as near a semblance of dignity as its portliness would allow mr. blake said he i have too much respect for the man i believed you to be when i entered this house tonight to go with the things unsaid which is lying at present like a dead weight upon my lips i dare not leave you to the consequence of my silence for duty will compel me to speak someday and in some presence where you may not have the opportunity which you can have here to explain yourself with satisfaction mr. blake i cannot believe you when you say the girl who lived in this house was a stranger to you mr. blake drew his proud form up in a disdain that was only held in check by the very evident honesty of the man before him you are courageous at least said he i regret you are not equally discriminating and raising mr. grice's hat he placed it in his hand pardon me said that gentleman i would like to justify myself before i go not with words he proceeded as the other folded his arms with a sarcastic bow i am done with words action accomplishes the rest mr. blake i believe you consider me an honest officer and a reliable man will you accompany me to your private room for a moment there is something there which may convince you i was neither playing the fool nor the bravado when i uttered the phrase i did an instant ago i expected to hear the haughty master of the house refuse a request so peculiar but he only bowed though in a surprised way that showed his curiosity if no more was aroused my room and company are at your disposal said he but you will find nothing there to justify you in your assertions let me at least make the effort entreated my superior mr. blake smiling bitterly immediately led the way to the door the man may come he remarked carelessly as mr. grice waved his hand in my direction your justification if not mine may need witnesses rejoiced at the permission for my curiosity was by this time raised to fever pitch i at once followed not without anxiety the assured poise of mr. blake's head seemed to argue that the confidence betrayed by my superior might receive a shock and i felt that it would be a serious blow to his pride to fail now but once within the room above my doubts speedily fled there was that in mr. grice's face which anyone acquainted with him could not easily mistake whatever might be the mysterious something which the room contained it was evidently sufficient in his eyes to justify his whole conduct now sir said mr. blake turning upon my superior with his sternest expression the room and its contents are before you what have you to say for yourself mr. grice equally stern if not equally composed cast one of his inscrutable glances round the apartment and without a word stepped before the picture that was as i have said the only ornamentation of the otherwise bare and unattractive room i thought mr. blake looked surprised but his face was not one that lightly expressed emotion a portrait of my cousin the countess de maroc said he with a certain dryness of tone hard to interpret mr. grice bowed and for a moment stood looking with a strange lack of interest at the proudly brilliant face of the painting before him then to our great amazement stepped forward and with a quick gesture turned the picture rapidly to the wall when gracious heavens what a vision started out before us from the reverse side of that painted canvas no luxurious brunette countenance now steeped in pride and linger but a face let me see if i can describe it but no it was one of those faces that are indescribable you draw your breath as you view it you feel as if you had had an electric shock but as for knowing 10 minutes later whether the eyes that so enthralled you were blue or black or the locks that clustered halo like about a forehead almost awful in its expression of weird unfathomable power were brown or red you could not nor would you pretend to say it was the character of the countenance itself that impressed you you did not even know if this woman who might have been anything wonderful or grand you have ever read of were beautiful or not you did not care it was as if you had been gazing on a tranquil evening sky and a lightning flash had suddenly startled you is the lightning beautiful who asks but i know from what presently transpired that the face was ivory pale in complexion the eyes deeply dark and the hair strange and uncanny combination of a bright and peculiar golden hue you dare came forth in strange broken tones from mr blake's lips i instantly turned towards him he was gazing with a look that was half indignant half menacing at the silent detective who with eyes drooped and finger directed towards the picture seemed to be waiting for him to finish i do not understand an audacity that allows you to to was this the haughty gentleman we had known this hesitating troubled man with bloodless lips and trembling hands i declare my desire to justify myself said my principle with a respectful bow this is my justification do you note the color of the woman's hair whose portrait hangs with its face turned to the wall in your room is it like or unlike that of the strand you held in your hand a few moments ago a strand taken as i swear hair by hair from the comb of the poor creature who occupied the room above but that is not all he continued as mr blake fell a trifle back just observe the dress in which this woman is painted blue silk you see dark and rich a wide collar cunningly executed you can almost trace the pattern a brooch then roses in the hand do you see now come with me upstairs too much startled to speak mr blake haughty aristocrat as he was turned like a little child and followed the detective who with an assured step and unembarrassed mean led the way into the deserted room above you accuse me of insulting you when i expressed disbelief at your assertion that there was no connection between you and the girl emily said mr grice as he lit the gas and unlocked that famous bureau drawer will you do so any longer in face of these and drawing off the towel that lay uppermost he revealed the neatly folded dress wide collar brooch and faded roses that lay beneath mrs daniels assures us these articles belonged to the sewing woman emily were brought here by her dare you say that they are not the ones reproduced in the portrait below mr blake uttering a cry sank on his knees before the drawer my god my god was his only reply what are these suddenly he rose his whole form quivering his eyes burning where is mrs daniels he cried hastily advancing and pulling the bell i must see her at once send the housekeeper here he ordered as fanny smiling demurely made her appearance at the door mrs daniels is out return the girl went out as soon as ever you got up from dinner sir gone out at this hour yes sir she goes out very often nowadays sir her master frowned send her to me as soon as she returns he commanded and dismissed the girl i don't know what to make of this he now said in a strange tone approaching again and touching the contents of that open bureau drawer with a look in which longing and doubt seemed in some way to be strangely commingled i cannot explain the presence of these articles in this room but if you will come below i will see what i can do to make other matters intelligible to you disagreeable as it is for me to take anyone into my confidence affairs have gone too far for me to hope any longer to preserve secrecy as to my private concerns end of chapter 10 chapter 11 of the strange disappearance this is a libyvox recording all libyvox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libyvox.org the strange disappearance by anna katherin green chapter 11 gentlemen said he has he ushered as once more into his studio you have presumed and not without reason i should say to infer that the original of this portrait and the woman who has so long occupied the position of sewing woman in my health are one and the same you will no longer retain that opinion when i inform you that this picture strange as it may appear to you is the likeness of my wife wife we both were astonished as i take it but it was my voice which spoke we were ignorant you ever had a wife no doubt continued our hosts smiling bitterly said at least has evaded the knowledge even of the detectives then with a return to his naturally cautious manner she was never acknowledged by me as my wife nor have we ever lived together but if priestly benediction can make a man and woman one that woman as you see here there is my awful wife rising he softly turned the lovely potent face back to the wall leaving us once more confronted by the dark and glowing countenance of his cousin i am not called upon said he to go any further with you than this i've told you what no man till this hour has ever heard from my lips and it should serve to extonuate me from any unjust suspicions you may have entertained but to one of my temperament secret scandal and the gossip it engenders is only less painful than open a teriety if i leave the subject here a thousand conjectures will at once cease upon you and my name if not hers will become before i know it the football of gossip if not of worse and deeper suspicion than has yet assailed me gentlemen i take you to be honest man husbands perhaps and fathers proud too in your way and jealous of your own reputation and that of those with whom you are connected if i succeed in convincing you that my movements of late have been totally disconnected with the girl whose cause you profess solely to be interested in may i count upon your silence as regards those actions and the real motive that led to them you may count upon my discretion as regards all matters that do not come under the scope of police duty return mr. grice i haven't much time for gossip and your man here oh he's safe where it profits him to be very well then i shall count upon you and with the knitted brows and clenched hands of a proudly reticent man who perhaps for the first time in his life finds himself forced to reveal his inner nature to the world he began his story in these words difficult as it is for me to introduce into a relation like this the name of my father i shall be obliged to do so in order to make my conduct at a momentous crisis of my life intelligible to you my father then was a man of strong will and a few but determined prejudices resolved that i should sustain the reputation of the family for wealth and respectability he gave me to understand from my earliest years that as long as i preserved my manhood from reproach i had only to make my wishes known to have them immediately gratified while if i crossed his will either by indulging in dissipation or engaging in pursuits unworthy of my name i no longer need expect the favor of his countenance or the assistance of his purse when therefore at a certain period of my life i found that the charms of my cousin evelyn were making rather too strong an impression upon my fancy for a secured peace of mind i first inquired how such a union would affect my father and learning that it would be indirect opposition to his views cast about in my mind what i should do to overcome my passion travel suggested itself and i took a trip to europe but the sight of new faces only awakened in me comparisons anything but detrimental to the beauty of her who was at that time my standard of feminine loveliness nature and the sports connected with the wildlife for my next resort i went overland to california roamed the orange groves of florida and proved the wildernesses of canada in our northern states it was during these last excursions that an event occurred which has exercised the most material influence upon my fate though at the time it seemed to me no more than a matter of a day i just returned from canada and was resting in tolerable enjoyment of a beautiful autumn at lake george when a letter reached me from a friend then watering in the vicinity urging me to join him in a certain small town in vermont where trout streams abounded and what is not so often the case under the circumstances fishes were few being in a somewhat reckless mood i at once wrote a consent and before another day was over started for the remote village when this letter was postmarked i found it by no means easy of access situated in the midst of hills some 20 miles or so distant from any railroad i discovered that in order to reach it a long ride in a stagecoach was necessary followed by a somewhat shorter journey on horseback not being acquainted with the route i timed my connections wrong so that when evening came i found myself riding over a strange road in the darkest night i had ever known as if this was not enough my horse suddenly began to limp and presently became so lame i found it impossible to urge her beyond a slow walk it was therefore with no ordinary satisfaction that i presently beheld a lighted building in the distance which as i approach resolved itself into an inn stopping in front of the house which was close against a chill night air i called out lustily for someone to take my horse whereupon the door opened and a man appeared on the threshold with a lantern in his hand i at once made my wishes known receiving in turn a summit gruff well it is a nasty night it will be nastier before it's over an opinion instantly endorsed by a sudden soup of wind that rushed by that moment slamming the door behind him an awakening over my head a legibious croning as if from the twisting boughs of some old tree that was almost threatening in its character he had better go in said he the rain will come next i at once leaped from my horse and pushing open the door with main strength entered the house another man met me on the threshold who merely pointing over his shoulder to a lighted room in his rear passed out without a word to help this somewhat younger man who had first appeared in putting up my horse i at once accepted his silent invitation and stepped into the room before me instantly i found myself confronted by the rather starting vision of a young girl of a unique and haunting style of beauty who rising at my approach now stood with her eyes on my face and her hands resting on the deal table before which she had been sitting in an attitude expressive of mingled surprise and alarm to see a woman in that place was not so strange but such a woman even in the first casual glance i gave her i at once acknowledged to myself her extraordinary power not the slightest of reform the pallor of accountants or the fairness of the locks of golden red hair that fell in two long braids over her bosom could for a moment counteract the effect of her dark glance or the vivid almost unearthly force of her expression it was as if you saw a flame up starting before you waving tremendously here and there but burning in resistiveness in its white heat i took off my hat with deference a shoulder passed over her but she made no effort to return my acknowledgement as we cast our eyes dilating with horror down some horrible pit whose verge we suddenly find ourselves she allowed her gaze for a moment to dwell upon my face then with a sudden lifting of her hand pointed towards the door as if to beat me depart when it swung open with that shrill rushing of wind that involuntarily awakes a shoulder within you and the two men entered and came stamping up to my side instantly her hand sunk not feebly as with fear but calmly as if at the bidding of her will and without waiting for them to speak she turned away and quietly left the room as the door closed upon her i noticed that she wore a calico frock and that her face did not own one perfect feature go after lutra and told her to make up the bed in the northwest room said the elder of the two in deep guttural tones and mistakenly german in their accent to the other who stood shaking the wet of his coat into the leaping flames of a small wood fire that burned on the hearse before us all she'll do without my bothering was a sudden return i'm wet through the elder man a large powerfully framed fellow of some 50 years or so frowned he was an evil frown and the younger one seemed to feel it he immediately tossed his coat onto each hair and left the room boys are so obstruous nowadays remarked his companion to me with what he evidently intended for a conciliatory nod in my time they were broke in did what they were told and asked no questions i smiled to myself at his calling the broad-shouldered six footer who had just left us a boy but merely remarking he is your son is he not she did myself before the place which shot up a tongue of white flame at my approach that irresistibly recalled to my fancy the appearance of the girl who had gone out a moment before oh yes he is my son and that girl you saw here was my daughter i kept this in and they helped me but it is a slow way to live i can tell you travel on this road to slim i should think likely i returned remembering the half dozen or so hills up which i had clambered since i took to my horse how far are we from pentonville oh two or three miles he replied but in a hurried kind of way not far in the daytime but a regular journey in a night like this yes said i as the house shook under a fresh gust it is fortunate i have a place in which to put up he glanced down at my baggage which consisted of a small handbag an overcoat and a fishing pole with something like a gleam of disappointment going fishing he asked yes i returned good trout up those streams and plenty of them he went on going alone i did not have like his opportunity but considering i had nothing better to do replied as effably as possible no i expect to meet a friend in pentonville who will accompany me his hand went to his beard in a thoughtful attitude and he cast me what with my increased experience of the world i should now consider a sinister glance then you are expected said he not considering this worth reply i stretched out my feet to the blades and began to warm them for i felt chilled through been on the road long he now asked cleansing at the blue flannel suit i wore all summer i returned i again thought he looked disappointed from troi or new york he went on with the vague endeavor to appear good naturally offhand new york a big place that he continued i was there once lots of money stored away in them big buildings down in wall street i assented and he drew a chair up to my side a proceeding that was interrupted however by the re-entrance of his son who without any apology crowded into the other side of the fireplace in a way to sandwich me between them not fencing this arrangement which i however imputed to ignorance i drew back and asked if my room was ready it seemed it was not and unpleasantly as it promised i felt forced to receipt myself and join in if not support the conversation that followed a half hour passed away during which the wind increased till it almost amounted to a gale spurts of rain dashed against the windows with a sharp crackling sound that suggested hail while ever and anon a distant roll as the rousing thunder rumbled away among the hills in a longer and reverberating peel that made me feel glad to be housed even under the roof of these rude and uncooking creatures suddenly the conversation turned upon the time and time pieces whined in a low even tone i heard murmured behind me the gentleman's room is ready and turning i saw standing in the doorway the slight figure of the young girl whose appearance had previously so impressed me i immediately arose then i will proceed to it at once said i taking up my traps and advancing towards her do not be alarmed if you hear cricks and cracklings all over the house observe the landlord as i departed the windows are loose and the doors ill-fitting in such a storm as this they make noise enough to keep an army awake the house is safe enough though and if you don't mind noise oh i don't mind noise rejoined i feeling at that moment tired enough to fall into a dose on the staircase i shall sleep never fear and without further ado follow the girl upstairs into a large clumpsily furnished room whose enormous bed draped with heavy curtains at once attracted my attention oh i cannot sleep under those things remarked i with a gesture towards the dismal draperies which to me were another name for suffocation with a single arm sweep she threw them back is there anything more i can do for you asked she glancing hastily about the room i thanked her and said no at which she at once departed with a look of still determination upon her countenance that i found it hard to explain left alone in that large bare and dimly lighted room with the wind shrieking in the chimney and the powerful limbs of some huge tree beating against the walls without with a heavy third inexpressibly mournful i found to my surprise and something like this may that the sleepiness which had hit her to oppressed me had in some unaccountable way entirely fled in vain i contemplated the bed comfortable enough now in its appearance that the stifling curtains were withdrawn no temptation to invade it came to arouse me from the chair into which i had thrown myself it was as if i felt myself on the dispel of some invisible influence that like the eye of a basilisk held me in chains i remember turning my head towards a certain quarter of the wall as if i have expected to encounter there the bewildering glance of a serpent yet far from being apprehensive of any danger i only wondered over the weakness of mine that made such fancies possible an extra loud swirl of the foliage without accompanied by a quick vibration of the house aroused me at last if i was to lose the sense of this furious storm carrying over my head i must caught sleep at once rising i drew off my coat and loosened my vest and was about to throw it off when i bethought me of a certain wallet it contained going to the door in some unconscious impulse of precaution i suppose i locked myself in and then drawing out my wallet took from it a roll of pills which i put into a small side pocket returning the wallet to its whole place why i did this i can scarcely say as i have before intimated i was under no special apprehension i was at that time anything but a suspicious man and the manner and appearance of the man below struck me as unpleasantly disagreeable but nothing more but i not only did what i have related but allowed the lamp to remain lighted lying down finally in my clothes an almost unprecedented act on my part warranted however as i said to myself by the fury of the gale which at that time seemed as if it would tumble the roof over our heads how long i lay listening to the creakings and groanings of the rickety old house i cannot say nor how long i remained in the dose which finally ceased me as i became accustomed to the sounds around and over me enough that before the storm had passed its height i woke as if at the touch of a hand and leaping with a bound out of the bed be held to my incredible amazement the alert nervous form of litter standing before me she had my coat in her hand and it was her touch that had evidently awakened me i want you to put this on said she in a low thrilling tone totally new in my experience and come with me the house is unsafe for you to remain in here i would crack some trembles another blast like that and we shall be ruthless she was smoothing towards the door which to my amazement stood ajar but my hesitation stopped her won't you come she whispered turning her face towards me with the look of such potent determination i followed in spite of myself i dare not let you stay here your blood will be upon my head you exaggerate i replied shrinking back with a longing look at the comfortable bed i had just left this old houses are always strong it will take many such gusts that you hear to overturn it i assure you i exaggerate she returned with a look of scorn impossible to describe hark she said hear that i did hear and i must acknowledge that it seemed as if we were about to be swept from our foundations yes said i but it is a fearful night to be out in i shall go with you said she in that case i began with an ill-advised attempt at gallantry which she cut short with a gesture here is your hat remark she and here is your bag the fishing pole must remain she cannot carry it but i expostulated hush said she with her ear turned towards the depths of the staircase at the top of which we stood my father and brother will think i should do that it is folly to leave the shelter of a roof for the uncertainties of the road on such a night as this but you must not heed them i tell you shelter this night is dangerous and that the only safety to be found is on the stormy highway and without waiting for my reply she passed rapidly downstairs pushed open the door at the bottom and stepped at once into the room we had left an hour or so before what was there in that room that for the first time struck an ominous chill as of a distant peril through my veins nothing at first sight everything at the second the fire which had not been allowed to die out still burned brightly on the ruddy hearthstone but it was not that which awakened my apprehension nor was it's allowed ticking clock on the mantelpiece with its hand pointing silently to the hour of eleven nor yet the heavy quiet of this scantily furnished room with its one lamp burning on the deal table against the side of the wall it was the sight of those two powerful men drawn up in green silence the one against the door leading to the front hall the other against that opening to the kitchen a glance at Lutra standing solid and in dismayed at my sight however instantly reassured me with that wheel exercise in my favor i could not but win to whatever it was that menaced me slinging my back over my shoulder i made a move towards the door and the silent figure of my host but with a quick outwitching of her hand she drew me back stand still said she carl she went on turning her face towards the more sullen but less intent countenance of her brother opened the door and let this gentleman pass he finds the house unsafe in such a gale and desires to leave it at once she continued as her brother settled himself more determinedly against the lock i don't often ask favors the man is so fooled at once to go out in a night like this close the fellow with a dugout move and so are you to encourage it i think too much of your health to allow it she did not seem to hear when you opened the door she went on not advancing a step from the fire before which she had placed herself and me no i won't was a brutal reply it's been locked for the night and it's not me nor one like me that will open it with a sudden whitening of her already pale face she turned towards her father he was not even looking at her someone must open the house said she glancing back at her brother this gentleman purposes to leave and his swim must be humored would you unlocks that door or shall i an angry snarl interrupted her her father had bounded from the door where he stood and was striding hastily towards her in my apprehension i put up my arm for a shield for he looked ready to murder her but i let her drop again as i caught her glance which was like white flame undisturbed by the least breeze of personal terror you will stop there said she pointing to a spot a few feet from where she stood another step and i'll let that for which i have heard you declare you would peril your very soul fall into the heart of the flames and drawing from her breast a roll of pills she stretched him out above the fire before which he was standing you broke from the gray bearded lips of the old man but he stopped where he was eyeing those bills as if fascinated i am not a girl of many words as you know continued she in a lofty tone inexpressibly commanding you might strangle me you may kill me it matters little but this gentleman leaves the house this night or i destroyed the money with a gesture you again broke from those gray-ring lips but the old man did not move not so the younger with a rush he left his post and in another instant would have had his powerful arms about her slender form only that i met him halfway with a blow that laid him on the floor at her feet she said nothing but one of the pills immediately left her hand and fluttered into the fire where it instantly shriveled into nothing with the yell of a mad beast wounded in his most vulnerable spot the old man before us stamped with his heel upon the floor stop cry tea and going rapidly to the front door he opened it there shriek tea if you will be fools go and may the lightning blast you but first give me the money come from the door said she reaching out her left hand for the lantern hanging at the side of the fireplace and let Carl light this and kick himself out of the way it was all done in less time than i can tell it the old man had stepped from the door the younger one had lit the lantern and we were in readiness to depart now do you proceed said she to me i will follow no said i you will go together but the money growled the heavy voice of my host over my shoulder i will give it to you on my return said the girl end of chapter 11 recorded by winna hathaway in fadfield doors carolina