Show the gray awn house hid the mystery of a haunted mansion W N service copyright by wyndham martyn by martyn THE STORY haiton hanby has purchased a country place the gray house nr pin plains miss belenis i onner tenant warns him that the bou I 1 under cure further alarming details are im dresek pa adolt hanby secretary ecret ary by a man who bilms to have been chauffeur for clr stanford seymour former oo 00 cupani of the place the linn by laugh oft the warnings but they re shocked when they hear that the caretaker of the gray house man named kerr ha been inister louly murdered hanby consults hl friend pel hafel the family starts tor the new home appleton a clerk of dougla and smith the agents rom whom tranby bought the gray bouse explains to pellam that a dangerous pond near the house in which several children hit been drowned has since been baled in but he urges pel ham to dissuade tranby from occupying the gray house hanby tad junior learn that the care taker nas known to the police ti red and had a bad record hanby considers askins leslie barren long an admirer 0 cella to join the bouse parta arg hanby declares she likes the bouse pelham becomes a mem or of the household with the official title of bouse detective over abe telephone hanby Is warned by a woman not to nub eject his family to the dangers of the gray bouse leslie carron making four able bodied members of the household CHAPTER V during the weeks before the uan bys could occupy alie gray house there were no more unpleasant mes gages or telephonic communications to disturb them only one person tad interested himself sufficiently to call up at his office the voice proclaimed itself as belonging to a name so indistinctly enunciated that hanby was not sure it was bayles vales bailey or valley when he tried to make sure alch the voice replied with no clarifying effect thought he might gp it later in the conversation 1 l am culling yon up said the stranger to congratulate you on your purchase 0 the gray bouse you pay recall that we met some time ago at the metropolitan club hanhy remembered lunching at this distinguished club and being introduced to several influential men thank you he said cordially ion know the house very nell I 1 looked over it re bently with the intention of tog it but abe accommodation was in As you perhaps know 1 bought a larger place at westbury assuredly this was a metropolitan club member 1 thirty rooms were not enough for hlex 1 I want to ask you a special favor the voice went on 1 I am deeply in te rested in ornithology I 1 have even contributed to the literature of abe object one of the reasons why 1 considered the gray house was that it offers a natural sanctuary for birds there was a jake there which acs filled in not long ago and Is now covered with dense creepers and flowering shrubs innumerable birds atle shelter there little birds 1 Bean Immune from their winged en diles and from man I 1 beg of you to preserve this retreat inviolate our rarer birds are dying out in an fashion hat exactly do you want me to dor hanby asked 1 I want you to do nothing leave ane place to the songsters song A bird Is not to me it U beautiful what after all are five res out of two hundred you will rewarded by seeing some of our lost exquisite song birds the un mown ornithologist reeled oft a list 0 names thai made his hearer dizzy purple finch vesper sparrow song sparrow nuthatch chickadee oven ard junco snowflake phoebe bobo k bunting roae breasted grosbeak Eros beak kinglet wren and others its a fine idea said mr canby anity i m glad you told me I 1 Ms just going to have the place cleared out because I 1 thought it was aless 1 love birds myself and am ln tor preserving them 1 I was told that you were a high W of citizen sir canby the voice d gratefully 1 I hope to do myself e honor of calling upon you soon good by 1 now who the devil was it han f asked himself emoke of the bird sanctuary at ner uia family was enthusiastic 11 a beautiful idea eald dina 1 M going to put a sunken rose den here but we have heaps of other places hy do birds go there ilni sony asked because they acet food and water anere uia father and refreshed bis enry on the u g eliat ane shrubs and hag and wes aud otan r wild brulls and ber fow there in n w U y nent thy aia P lyie lyiel l w alke ahn or y ethling I 1 colht e to that ought to remember him lies going to tall on us lies probably a millionaire tim m going to put you on your honor alf not to by that sanctuary and snipe those trusting warblers warb lers and orioles tim dannys second son had a shotgun and a cm ill rifle and a pas slon for using them A struggle went on in him 1 I promise he said tim a parents knew that mis as the boy was he would keep his word ue solaced with the thou feht that there were many to be had not to men alon crows hawks and bata we are to regard ourselves as guardians of the birds who trust ns I 1 look to the house detective to en force those rules aye aye chief 1 said bill pel ham 1 I like the idea of a house being a sanctuary hanby went on once within its walls and outside worries may not introduce the gray house sanctuary a place sacred to happl happiness Is not a vice as they used to regard it when my arand parents were young its a sacred thing listen to the crane talking 1 calla scolded crane he said the bird she laughed id rather br that than a mocking bird her father countered walt till ne get up there mes enfante and undertake old decrepit and pol though 1 may be to beat you at almost every sport there Is ten als swimming and when were you on a horse junior demanded young hanby had a wholesome re for bis father as an opponent at tennis or golf but he had never imagined him as setting out to witch the world with noble horsemanship know my son replied onnby that like all great americans I 1 was reared on a farm your grandea ailers homestead bordered the brantl tul stream after which I 1 am named if there are any of the old timers left in that district ask them what sort of a scat I 1 had on horseback and you will find that 1 rode in many a pony race ere I 1 was tims age the next thing to bear Is that mother rode over the jumps at the garden show said junior your mother rode discreetly on a side saddle years ago in cleveland said alna and she Is going to do it again junior said bill pelham never think you can put over anything on those parents of yours it cant be done it Is my turn to state that in my days of affluence I 1 kept a saddle horse at Dur lands with these kind hut firm words the juvenile members of the hanby clan relapsed into sulky silence convinced against their will that after all they were not the absolute it 1 I wish my family was like this remarked leslie barren we do nothing but quarrel at every meal that s the main reason I 1 m going back to haven I 1 believe happiness I 1 catching I 1 a different abeln here you dont mean you feel actually happy here cella asked absolutely he answered Iam lly friends all I 1 cella cried 1 I ook nt a happy man and then won der what he looks like when bes sad I 1 les flushed a little 1 I feel happy inside he said defending himself he smiled last tuesday after noon junior said 1 I saw him sure hes happy let him alone cella shut cupl said les slie lets me alone too much as it Is up there at line plains cella told him lena will b constant corn lon a was the sixteen year old girl now at boarding school not abla time alna remarked lona wants to go to europe with three other girls and one of the teach ere and were going to let her go looka cella cried ahls dally smile t and poor lona simply wor ships him he has driven her abroad and now he laughs at the havoc be has wrought I 1 when built at the end of the eighteenth century the gray house had been a square mansion of stone in twenty acres of meadow land with a five foot wall succeeding ten ants had enlarged it to its present size and had acquired two hundred acres more of meadow and woodland ivy virginia creeper wistaria and trumpet vine fought for its walls giving t a softness of outline of its builder could not have dreamed very strongly built its exterior was in perfect condition war had passed it by and time had treated it gently before the moved into it a careful renovation of the interior had given it a new and dignified beauty the grounds had been molded to the new owners desires the hanbys had moved from a duplex apartment into a satisfying home atna breathed a sigh of content 1 I have always wanted just such a place ns this she said squeezing her husbands band you never told me so he replied reproachfully 1 I thought it was the unattainable sald alna lets go through every single room together it s a home tor our children and cella s children and the children of cellas children its adorable I 1 1 know the hall wa as big as this she added pausing in a lofty apartment thirty feet long and nearly as wide this accord ing to the plans surely 1 I had it altered canby told her incidentally 1 had to reduce our thirty rooms to twenty eight lant this a whale of a place for dances eagerly he pointed out the great open fireplace the flue goes right up through the center of the bouse that s a valuable feature no heat Is lost as it would be if the shaft were on the outside alna moved toward it over the green marble mantelpiece was some thing carved in old letters THE SANCTUARY CLUB rules no member shall do or say any thing of which another member als approves no member shall disapprove of what any other member says or does gets cm coming and going F laughed canby great idea ll 11 now tor the billiard room tor bills special benefit ne can trim any amateur that holds a cue alna looked from her own windows down on the tangled thatch of bush bramble and flower that was sacred to the birds there s a scarlet tanager she arld look nil the beautiful thing 1 from another window the glittering lake could be seen As she looked cella les and junior in bathing kit raced toward it tim was elsewhere bent on slaying rabbits there was not a hint in the whole place of the tragedies which had happened within its bounds summer bragged on every tree the first dinner was one of those happy functions at which every one talks vivaciously and no one troubles to listen exclamation points ended every sentence les smiled openly and the house detective was off duty my job s a sinecure said bill pel ham 1 I really bad no right to take it after accepting the honor of being hoe man in chief to alna your work begins tomo now mrs allanby told him I 1 want you to sur vey a place tor a sunken rose gar den set the alarm tor daybreak dav break he said ue was up very early next morning only tim rifle tn hand equaled him tiro was after the early rabbit and the unheeding pelham had decided on a location for the rose garden when cella stopped before him to labor that we love we betimes and go to it with delight he quoted cella sat down on a grassy bank TO BE CONTINUED |