Show t L THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CANDLES JSSS iiT 11 T i i By MEREDITH NICHOLSON 1IIir 01 Tilt bAMtItUIt MAIK CIIAKCE lit ZELDA loP tight 1m hT lol > t UerrlU Co CHAPTER IContinued I I had no Intention of allowing him lee that I was Irritated I drew out cigarette caso and passed It across table After you Theyro made quite dally < for me In Madrid tern forget that I never use tobacco lay form You always did miss a good deal of joy of living I observed throwing smoking match into his waster er basket to his obvious annoy a Well Im tho bad boy of tho books but Im really sorry my iltanco ba1l a string lied to It Im ut out of money I suppOSO you nt advanco mo a few thousands 1 lilY expectation Xot a cent ho declared with quite lecessary vigor and I laughed n remembering that In my old ilsement of him generosity had been represented In large figures i not In keeping with your grand ers wishes that I should do so 1 must have spent a good bit of iejr In your tiger hunting exploits added J I have spent all I had I replied ably Thank God Im not a clam seen the world and paid for it and Ii ik nothing of you You undoubt y share my grandfathers idea of that Im a wild man who cant still or lead an orderly decent life Im going to give you a terrible I appointment Whats tho size oft of-t estate TCkerlng i eyed meuneasily I e jfht and began playing with a y ell I never liked Pickerings s ds they were thick and white and cm ter kept than I like to see a mans er ds dsfear fear I Its going to bo disappointing his trustcompany boxes here I been able to find only about ten sand dollars worth of securities te sibly quite possibly wo wero all 1 eked In thQ amount of his fortune er Theresa wheedled large sums 711 of him and he spent as you will a small fortune on tho house at andalo without finishing It It nt a cheap proposition and In its a alshed condition It Is practically cless You must know that Mr i arm gave away a great deal of > ey In his lifetime Moreover ho i Wished your father You know t be leftIt was not a small for 9 ias those things aro reckoned V was restless under this recital My ers estate had been of respectable and I had dissipated the whole of J My conscience pricked me as I lied an Item of 10000 that I had t somewhere grandlyon an ex i lion that I led with considerable D6 faction to myself at least 1 ugh tho Sudan But Pickerings ds amazed moet Ir mo-et me understand you I saiB Ing tor ard him My grandfather ctI1 supposed to be rich and yet you me you find little property Sister resa got money from him to help sl la school How much was that S try thousand dollars It was an o account His books show tho ales al-es but ho took no notes iL nd that claim is worth m ils good as against her indlvldu But she contends = es go on Ild 1 struck the right ngto He was 4 fed by my persistence and his ape ap-e at discomfort pleased mo f to refuses to pay Sho says Mr ami made her a gift of the money I bats possible isnt it He was er making rifts to churches > ls and + cologlcal somlnarlns str a sort at weakness with him + ell pass that If you get this ey t11 state Is worth 00000 plus I valuu of thin land out the at b rdnv and Glenarm Hous is i it b I ial her ern have mo m was he first lightness he had ii i cud It put mo on guard I should like an Idea of its value e an unfinished house Is worth l thine G nd out there Is worth from 100 > 0 an acre Theres an oven him f acres Ill be glad to have your c1C1 alsomont of tho house when you in I here umll1 You flatter my Judgment d ° flop The loose stuff there is u How much s 9 all In tho library Your grand a rs weakness was architecture c I remember I I Interposed re Ipi g my stormy interviews with is Marshall Glenarm over my e of a profession 0 his last years he turned moro kp morn to his books He placed out xe What Is I suppOSO tho finest col I Ilet 5a of books relating to archltoc Cue to bo found In this country That uE his chief hobby after church af m as you may remember and lie It hard But ho derived a great ref 101 satisfaction from his studies iced Jlghod again it was easier to BOS 1 ban to cry over tho situation art t i1 ipposo ho wanted mo to sit downed down-ed surrounded by works on archl 5 r Ie with tho Idea that a study of j tho subject t ouU bo my only resource The scheme Is eminently GUnarmlan And au 1 get Is a worthless house a hundred acres of land 10000 and a doubtful claim against a Protestant nun who hoodwinked my grandfather Into selling up a school for her Hlcss i you heart man so far as m > Inherli i tauco Is concerned It would have been i i I money in my pocket to have stayed iii Africa I i Thats about the size of It But the personal property Is all I mine anything Units loose on tho place Perhaps my grandfather planted I plant-ed old plate mid government bonds just to pique the curiosity of his heirs successors and assigns It would be In keeping I had walked to the window and looked out across the city As I turned suddenly I found Pickerings eye bent upon mo with curious intentness I had never liked his eyes they wero I too steady When a man always mcbts I your gaze tranquilly and readily it is I Just as well to bo wary of him Yes no doubt you will find tho place literally packed with treasure ho said and laughed When you find anything you might wire me I He stalled 1 the Idea seemed to give him pleasure Are you sure theres nothing else I asked No substitute no codicil If you know of anything of the kind Its your duty to produce It We havo I exhausted the possibilities Ill admit that the provisions of the will are unusual un-usual your grandfather was a peculiar pecu-liar man In many respects but ho was thoroughly sane and his faculties were all sound to the last Ho treated mo a lot better than I deserved I said with a heartache that I had not known often In my irresponsible irre-sponsible life but I could not afford to show feeling before Arthur Pickering Picker-ing I picked up the copy or the will and examined It It was undoubtedly authentic I au-thentic it bolo tho certificate of tho I was silent after this looking out toward the sea that had called mo since my earliest dreams of thQ world that lay beyond It Its a poor stake Glennrm remarked re-marked Pickering consolingly and 1 wheeled upon him 1 sup oat yin think It 11 i poor stake I sup o h yon cant see a ythlng in that old mills lf biumtl his money but I drnt core a curso wont my In hui Italic j Is I outer obeyed auy of grandfathers wishes In his lifetime life-time but now that this dead his last wish Is mandatory Im going out there to spend a year if I dlo for it Do you got my Idea 1 Humph You always woro a stormy petrel he sneered 1 fancy It will bo safer to keep our most agreeable agree-able acquaintance on a strictly business busi-ness basis If you accept tho terms of tho will Of course I accept them Do you think I nm going to make a row refuse re-fuse to fulfill that old mans last wish I I gave him enough trouble in his life without disappointing him In his grave I suppose youd like to havo mo fight the will but Im going to disappoint I dis-appoint you Ho said nothing but played with his pencil I had never disliked him so heartily he was so smug and comfortable comfort-able His olllco breathed tho very spirit of prosperity I wished to finish my business and got away I suppose tho region out there has a high death rate Hows tho malaria ma-laria Not alarmingly prevalent I understand under-stand Theres a summer resort over on one sldo of Lake Annandale Tho place Is really supposed to bo wholesome whole-some I dont believe your grandfather i grand-father had homicide In mind In sending send-ing you there No ho probably thought tho rustication rusti-cation would make a man of me Must I do my own victualing I suppose Ill bo allowed to cat Bates can cook for you Hell sup 7 n tri f ri 1 r t r i l j Il I I Jt utllUtl gnat i I yl T L I Found Pickerings Eyes Bent Upon Me With Curious Intentness cleric of Wabana county Indiana The witnesses wero Thomas Bates and Arthur Pickering Who Is Bates I asKed pointing to tho mans signature One of your grandfathers discoveries discov-eries lies In charge of the house out there and a trustworthy fellow Hes a fair cook among other things I dont know where Mr Glenarm got Bates but ho had every confidence In him The man was with him at tho end A picture of my grandfather dyeing alone with a servant while I his only kinsman wandered In strange lands was not ono that I could contemplate with much satisfaction My grandfather grand-father had been an odd little figure of a man who always wore a long black coat silk hat and carried a curious silverheaded staff and said puzzllfig things at which everybody was afraid either to laugh or to cry The thought of him touched mo now I was glad to feel that his money had never been a luro to mo it did not matter whether his estate was great or small could at least easo my conscience by obeying obey-ing tho behest of tho old man whose namo I boro and whose Interest in tho finer things of life and art had given him an undeniable distinction I should like to know something of Mr Glouarms last days I said abruptly ab-ruptly Ho wished to visit tho village whoro ho was born and Bates his companion and servant went to Vermont with him Ho died quite suddenly and was burled beside his father In the old village vil-lage cemetery I saw nlm last early In the summer I was away from home and old not know of his death until it was all over Bates came to report it to me and to sign tho necessary neces-sary papers In probating the will It had to bo dono in tho placo of the decedents de-cedents residence and we went together to-gether to Wabana Use seat of tho county In which Annan Mo lies ply tho necessities Ill Instruct him to obey your orders I assume youll not have many guestlIn factho studied the back of his hand intently while that Isnt stipulated I doubt whether it was your grandfathers Idea that you should surround yourself With boisterous companions I I supplied tho words in my cheerfullost tone No my conduct shall be exemplary ex-emplary Mr Pickering I added with affable Irony Ho picked up a single sheet of thin typewritten paper and passed it across the table It was a formal acquiescence acquies-cence in the provisions of the will Pickering had prepared it in advanco of my coming and this assumption that I would accept tho terms Irritated me Assumptions as to what I should do under given conditions had always annoyed mo and accounted in a largo measure for my proneness to surprise and disappoint people Pickering summoned sum-moned a clerk to witness my slgna i I I ture How soon shall you take possession posses-sion ho asked I havo to make a I note of it I shall start for Indiana tomorrow tomor-row I answered As I rose to go Pickering said It will be sufficient if you drop moa mo-a line say once a month to let mo know you aro there The postofllce is Annandalo f I suppose I might file a supply of I postal cards In the village and arrange i for tho mailing of ono every month It might bo dono that way ho answered an-swered evenly Wo may perhaps meet again if I I dont dlo of starvation or ennui Good i by TO UK CONTINUED |