Show F 5 THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CANDLES by MEREDITH NICHOLSON abibile 1 I THE MAIN CHANCE ZELDA DAMERON etc IWA IMA by utrell lo 10 0 CHAPTER ah to be sure you were away christmas carl r amas eie ee when those vandals broke in vates kates merely mentioned it in the last report I 1 got horn him in new lork ork that was all right I 1 as fumed of course that iou had gone off somei somewhere shere to get a little christ mas cheer I 1 dont caie anything about it I 1 but I 1 had followed her 1 I went ment to cincinnati to see her don dont t you un der stand she dared me to conte come it was waa a trick a part of 0 the conspiracy to steal lour our property the old gentleman smiled it v was as an old trick of 0 his to grow calm as other people waxed auar she dated ion ott to come did shel she that Is quite like Il marian artan but you dian didn t havo have to go did you jack of course not ot of course I 1 dian didn t have to go but I 1 stammered etani faltered and ceased memory chiew open opell her portals with a challenge I 1 saw marian on oil the stai stairway at the armstrongs I 1 headid her low soft laughter I 1 felt the mock ery cry of her voice and e ees es I 1 knew again uio the exquisite dell feht of being near her my heart told me well enough why I 1 had followed her jack I 1 in glad I 1 m not burled buried up there in that vermont graveyard with nobody to exercise the right of guar 01 er you ive had bad my mis givings about you I 1 used to think you were a boi hoin n tramp and you disappointed me in turning sour back on architecture the noblest of all professions fes fess lons but this performance of yours youra reany really beats them all dont donl you know that a girl like ilke marian de vereah fall t likely to become the agent of any rascal do you rily nally believe for a minute that she tempted you to follow her so you might forfeit your tights lights to my property but why was she eho tri ing to find those notes of ahls why did she come lack back from cincinnati with his party if aou ou could answer me ill those things mabe id admit that int im a fool picketing I 1 imagine is a pretty plausible fellow where women are con berned for gods god s sake jack dont don t speak of that alil as women I 1 put her in that will of mine just to pique your curiosity knowing that it if there was a penalty on your marrying her you would le be wholly likely to do it for the vay may human beings ale aie made dut aou ou ve mixed it all up now and insulted her in the grossest way possible for a fellow who Is really ft a gentleman and I 1 dont bant ant to logo aou ou I 1 want sou here with alth me met these rich amei leans who go to england to live don dent t appreciate the beauty of their own country this landscape 1 la is mouthy vi 01 thy of the beat that nian man cau can do and I 1 dibut dian t undertake to build a crazy house out here but one that should havo have some dignity and charae charac ter that passage around the ahlm ney la is an ail indulgence jack ill admit it its s a lettle bizarre you see that ch chimney ironey isa t so BO big outside as it la Is in and he be laughed and his knees and my bringing lavorci la lal horeis s liere mas as really to make it easier ealer ea ler to get things tone done in way walt wait till you have seen the may hlay apples blossom ana heard the robin sing in the summer twilight liell help me to finish the house then it you want mant to leave bid you godspeed the feeling in his tone the display of sentiment so at variance sar lance with my illy old notion nollon of him touched me in spite of myself was nas a characteristic nobility and dignity in his plan it was wol thy of him and I 1 haj bal never loved him as now when he be finished this appeal and turned amab aa to the window gazing gating out upon the somber woodland mr donovan Is ready to go sir 81 r announced dates at the door and ve me went into the albi li biary ary where larry and stoddard aard were vaI waiting tIng CHAPTER shorter vistas larry had assembled his bis effects in the library and to my surprise dard apperea with his own band handbag bag I 1 in going to see donovan well on his way said the clergy clergyman wan it its s a pity our party must break brea k up lip exclaimed my grandfather my obligations to mr donovan are ver great and to you ou too stoddard lacks fiends are mine hereafter and when we get new doors rot foi glencairn Gle nairn ouse you yon shall honor me by accept ns ing duplicate leys hero a bates 13 ates asked latry lairy and the man came in respectfully imper lur bably as always and began gather i nalup the bags stop one moment mr chenaro glenarm CH Gl said ald larry before I 1 go I 1 want 0 0 you on the splendid coinage of this man who has hag served you and alid our house bouse with so lmh faithfulness ani an tat baet and awant to tell you some tIlIng else ele that you ably would never learn irom from him donoian dono an thee was a sharp cry in bates voice and he sprang forward i with his bis hantla hands outstretched entreat jut ut larry I arry did not heed him to y u or to him that you should not know him foa ahat he Is let uie die introduce an old friend V walter alter crelghton creighton he was a student at dublin when I 1 was there a poor boy with nobody to help him but I 1 remember him as aa one ot of the best fellows in the world ar for gods gd G d a sake nol no pleaded dates tes he 10 w wag as deeply moved and turned his hia face away from us dut like libe me larry went on he mixed in politics one night la in a riot at dublin a constable was killed no one knew who was waa guilty but a youngster ft as aa suspected the son ot of one ot of the richest and best known men in ireland who hap happened paned to get mixed la in the row to draw attention from the boy crelghton creighton let suspicion attach to hla his own on name and to help the he boys boya case further ber ran away anay I 1 bad not heard from or ot of him until the night I 1 came here and found him the defender of this howe bome dy by god that was no servants Ber trick it was the act of a royal gentleman they cla clasped ped hands and with a new light in fit his face with a new man net nei as though he be resumed as aa a famil lar far garment an old disused person aliby dates bates ethod transfigures trans figures in the twilight a man and a gentleman I 1 think we were all drawn to him I 1 know that a sob clutched my throat and tears filled ailed my ees as aa I 1 grasped his hand but what in the devil did you do it tor for blurted my grandfather excited ly ay tw twilling tiling his glasses dates bates 1 I still call him dates he in elsts on it 10 laughed for the first time lie be thrust his bis hands into hla his pockets and stood at his case one of us I 1 lai lairy ry you yott may remember that I 1 showed EL a fondness for the stage in incur our university lays days when I 1 got to amei lea I 1 had bad little mone and found it necessary to find employment without delay I 1 saw mr glenarie glenarm Glen ariu a advertise 0 46 As my m two friends waved aved farewell to me from the rear platform of their tiala a mood of depression setz d me I 1 had hobt much that day and abat I 1 had gained tuy toy restoration to the regard of the kind old man ot of my own on blood who had appealed tor for my corn com la in celms haid to deny seemed wiling as aa I 1 tramped back over the tee ice perhaps pickering after all was as the real gainer by the days events I 1 tramped on back toward the glen arm shoie and leaving tho the lake halt unconsciously struck into the v A oot beyond tho the dividing wall the melted snow ot of midday mid day waa as now crisp ice that rattled and broke under roy my tread I 1 came out into an open space beyond st agathas agatha a found tile the walk w ana turned toward homo home in the night As I 1 neared the main entrance to the school the door opened and a ft om an canio came out under the over overhanging banging laiu camp she carried a lantern and turned with nith a hand outstretched to some one who followed her with careful steps I 1 ali ah marian cried my grandfather I 1 its ever the task of bouth to light the way for age CHAPTER I 1 and so the light led me he had bad been to see sister theresa esa and marian was walking with him to the gate I 1 saw her quite plainly in the light that fell from the lamp overhead head A long cloak coveted her ber and a fur toque capped het graceful heid my grandfather and his guide were apparently in high spirits and their laughter smote harshly upon me it seemed to shut rue me out to lift a barrier against me the world lay there within tho the radius of that swaying saying light and I 1 hung bung aloof hearing her y fig 1 al V V A I 1 they clasped hands ment rot foi a valet just as a laik I 1 an 8 sered ered it to see what an american gentleman seeking a valet looked like I 1 fell in love with alth mr glenara glenarm Gle narni at sight and I 1 with youl you declared my gi 1 I levei believed sour stoby at all QU ou were too perfect in the part well I 1 greatly mini tho the valet business it helped to hide my identity and I 1 did like the humor and of mi hi glenarm glenara tho the house keeping afeei we came out here gasn wasn t so 0 o pleasant plea sant he looked at his hinds ruefully but this loke joke ot of mr air glenarm glenara s making a will and aid then heu go ing to egypt to see what would hap pei that w mas as too good to miss and when hen the heir arrived I 1 found now op niLles ot of practising practicing amateur theatricals atri cals and pickering s efforts to en list roe me in his scheme tor for finding the money and making me rich gave me still giester opportunities there were times when I 1 was strongly tempt ed to bluit the whole thins thing I 1 got thed of being suspected and ot of play ing ghost in the wall and it mr glen arm badri t got here just as aa he did I 1 should havo have stopped slopped the fight and proclaimed the truth I 1 hope he said turning to me you yon havo have no mo hard bard feelings sir and he be throw threw into the sir air I 1 lust just a touch ot of irony that made ui u i all roar int certainly glad im not lead dead declared my ay grandfather staring at dates bates life Is moie fun than I 1 ever thou thought glat possible bless my iny soul lie he said bald it if it ln t a shame that rates dates can never cook another for or me ue e sent bates batea bade back with my grand fattier father from the boathouse boat house and daid larry and I 1 barted across the ice tho the light co biting of snow enow made walking comparatively easy we strode on BIl silently Littly stoddard leading their plan was as to take an tion alon budta air at the first station biond annandale leave leae it at a town 40 miles billos away and then hurry burry east to an ob place dace in the tha mountains of mary land where a religious order maintained a house studdard Stud lard prom voice and jealous of the very corn com and sympathy between them but the light led me I 1 remembered knitli lah bitt bitterness einess that I 1 had alwil fol lowed her ulie as ochla trail ing in her girlish giace across the snow or as the girl in gray whom I 1 had bad fol followed lomed on that night johiney at christmas Christma 4 eie ee and I 1 followed now the distrust my lily shattered faith my utter loneliness could jot dot weigh against the joy of beating that laugh of 0 hers here breaking on the night I 1 paused to allow the two figures to widen the distance between us its as they traversed the path that curved away toward the chapel I 1 could still bear their voices and see eee the lanstein has flash and disappear I 1 felt an impulse to t turn back or plunge into the wood land but I 1 was carriel on ably the light glimmered and her voice still floated back to me it stole etolo through tho the keen winter dark like a memory of spring and so her voice and the light led me then I 1 heard beard an ail exclamation of dla dis may followed by laughter in which my grandfather joined merrily I 1 oh never mind we were re not afraid I 1 she exclaimed I 1 had bad rounded rounda d the curve in the path where I 1 should haie seen been the light but the dai dat kness was unbroken there was mas silence for a moment in which I 1 drew quite near to th lb rn then my illy grandfathers voice broke out cheerily now I 1 must go back with you A fine pei son you me file to guide an old aarif A foolish virgin indeed with no oil in her amal I 1 please do not ot of out ouise so I 1 in going to see you quite to your awn wn door I 1 dont don t intend to put my hand to the lantern and then turn back bacht this walk isn t what it should DP be said my giand grandfather father me ell 11 have to make a better one in the spring TO RU BD CONTINUED |