| Show aliat ae G icay THE STORY allton hanby has purchased country place the gray house near pine plains ulas ft former tenant warns him that the house 1 under a curse further alarming details are impressed upon adek hanby secretary by a man who claims to have been chauffeur or sir stanford seymour former occupant of the place the llan bys laugh off the warnings but they are shocked when they hear that the caretaker of the ariy house a man named kerr has been mysteriously murdered hanby consults bis friend pelham the family starts the new home appleton a clerk cf douglas and smith the agents from whom hanby bought the gray house urges pellam to dissuade hanby from occupying the gray house pelham becomes a member of the household A phone call from a man who declares he Is an old acquaintance of hanby s urges him to preserve a part of the grounds as a bird sanctuary the hanbys take possession of the gray bouse A stranger introducing himself as frederick appleton calls at the gray house and Is welcomed because of Us interest in bird life hanby engages appleton as bis agent the mystery Is explained out of a job after the loan of his position with hanby becomes embittered against him as the author of its misfortunes and plans revenge CHAPTER VII continued 13 he turned away and made tor the bird sanctuary the wire netting about it he climbed nimbi v and then unheeding thorns and brambles be crept like the hunted thing he was to its black center suddenly be stepped into nothingness lie felt himself falling then came a blow and he was no more aware of time and space when tim hanby intent on add ing a white owl to his collection had carefully aimed his twenty two at the creature as H sat on an elm branch he had not been prepared for the ei tra ordinary intervention that saved its life As his finger caressed the trigger there came a bloodcurdling scream and some large animal mad sprung from the base of the tree tim felt that it was no disgrace to flee am mediately nanby had not been near his for two months an hours dictation cleared up his correspondence and he went to the hardware club for luncheon hello douglas I 1 he said stopping at the table where an elderly gray haired man was sitting 1 I called you up this morning but you were busy glad to see you douglas replied heartily ive missed you it like to be a landed proprietor the best life in the world hanby deila redl but a darned sight more to do than I 1 thought why did you recommend me to buy those farms A sound investment they 11 be wanted for a country club some day how are your improvements colln along they are finished thanks to your admirable appleton douglas bow could you let a jewel of a roan like that go there was a curious smile on th heavily lined face of the real estate man so appleton has been up there again has he inquired douglas again what do you roean the gray house holds some lar fascination for him that s what i I 1 mean you ask why I 1 let him go you call him a jewel I 1 did that tor more thin thirty years and yet you refused to raise his pay and stuck some jackanapes over him I 1 thought you were a better business man than that tell me just what be said doug ins returned he listened to hanby in silence now heir me he resumed 1 I anred appleton I 1 refuse to raise his pay and I 1 put nobody over i him i you fired appleton douglas you cast have been crazy 1 what for ostensibly because he was drunk and impertinent appleton why he never drinks 1 I 1 another reason was because he had deliberately misled me as to his family life yet a third was because he had manipulated accounts I 1 don t mean that be took money from me 1 mean that he bad robbed peter to pay paul 1 mean specifically that for years he had been charging kotlier clients for the money be used to ef feet repairs on the house on my house douglas nodded for years he has been interested your bouse for the last ten years anyway another thing southard called me up a month or so ago to sk why 1 allowed a man like apu with a lovely family to buy a house where people died from bad drains for the last few years appleton App teton has kept clients from buying that bouse you ask why I 1 cant explain ash appleton I 1 did and was told to go to h L the appleton I 1 mean Is a man of plump smiling and married to an invalid to whom he Is devoted lie calls himself darby and bis wife joan that a my appleton too I 1 took lt apon myself to see her there iwas another illusion gone she Is tan invalid but as to being devoted ba tell her openly he wishes ahe taic mystery of a haunted mansion by wyndham marcyn W N V copyright by wyndham martyn were dead so that be could marry the younger woman be runs around with allanby put his hands to his head this Is too he murmured 1 bad him ID my house or a month 1 I had him for more thin thirty beirs up to the time he met this musical comedy person she ant tie forty now he was a good w he takes the woman out to dance halts he has money saved but bes spending it 1 have he n so utterly in any one his wife who Is religious thinks hes possessed of a devil end maybe shen right she says he ha any amount of money I 1 bad ahli nooks exam ined and he embezzled one cent all he has done ts to divert money from other houses to the up keep and repair of the one yon re in you ve no lick corning ue saved you money what was be doing for you explained ue told douglas what his improvements had been their cost and the time in which were executed the real estate man made calculations on the back of q menn card fortunately hanav bad exact particulars as to dimensions here 8 another puzzle I 1 said to complex the work an fn that time he must have worked miny more men than you paid for I 1 know prices and labor scales in new york state it amounts to this he went up to yon to act the very job yon pressed on him why search me hanhy search mel another thing be must have paid tor extra work men out of bis own pocket so that he could get the work done by a tain time agnan you may search mel hanby frowned he may have wanted the worL roen off the premises for some purpose ot bis own what purpose douglas asked how should I 1 know by the way did you ever deny permission to a former tenant a miss nos to go back and dig something ap from the garden 1 I denied her right to do some ex cavat ton appleton told me she was a maniac who wanted to bomb the place 1 turned it over to him any thing in what he said canby told him of the affair ot miss and her pets 1 I don t mind admitting that appleton has destroyed a lot of my falta in mankind douglas said presently he wpc the one man I 1 would have wagered my soul on as being aqua re and white eer see the woman that was how it all came out I 1 ran out of gs near vineola UI neola and had to go to a very third rate roadhouse there was appleton in a neat tux edo doing fancy steps with a good ex actress 1 looked at him very hard 1 believe it was be douglas laughed a little he had jhb d d insolence to that if I 1 annoyed bis lady friend by making baby eyes at her bed knock my block ol 01 next morning be dlan t try to make excuses lie bad a bang over and be told me much of what he had onie aled since or thereabouts it appeared that be had al ways bated me and envied me my good luck douglas grew almost r retable no more about appleton or IU chonge my mablel allanby did not get back to the gray bouse until late ue said a few words to the younger people and then asked alna and bill to come to the library tie had a great day he an bounced incidentally I 1 hae ails covered that my judgment of character Is no better let s say than bill s and me a house detective I 1 bill cried our reason totters 1 wove all been deceived hut les les cried alna oh uia you re joking I 1 that boy alna light of my life said uan by if there Is a more thoroughgoing old hellion than ur frederick darby appleton let me learn his dishonored ame mme I 1 ve seen his joan this afternoon and I 1 know what im talking about listen 1 begin ft ath vi hat douglas told me and then come to my interview with that poor crippled old woman it seems impossible I 1 commented atna at the end of her husband narrative 1 begin to suspect myself rill murmured appleton I 1 it took me that way when I 1 first heard it but it cannot be doubted he came here to get the opportunity to be jn and near this bouse and to see what was going on oe has nl nays been coming and going I 1 ve heard something that may bear on it a little I 1 got it from mrs appleton her brother ans a very rich man but he speculated and died in ty there were a few beirs when it looked as if she was going to be his heiress he fress and appleton was coln to use the legacy to buy the gray house and make it a fash lonne and house ne fald there a fortune in it fishing golf shimming ev ery thing that was needed for a rest rient lal hotel perhaps roadhouse ant just what he meant but that was mrs appleton s term but if her brother deed in pov eriv where would he get the money to buy this place bill asked 1 dont know I 1 adroit that it solve the question why be should still be interested n 11 there Is no sol atlon as far as 1 see and yet we know that something Is going on here or something Is planned to go on and that we stand in the way and they want to remove us I 1 won der if we ought to consult the police 1 and get all kinds of notoriety 1 ob eill dont think of att has happened not even a tramp D n it said hanby im a lm pie type if I 1 like people 1 trust them absolutely 1 go the limit for them and they can have everything I 1 ve got this gives me pause what ever that means ue put his hand on bis arm come and dance with me Oell tati ere t challenge BID to mortal combat 1 not a care in the world 1 said cella a little later witching her parents and talking intermittently tc les by should they have he an come to that why should ou have any cares life bores me the girl dawned yawned 1 I talked aile that in the begin nang ot cay sophomore year it used to make quite a hit you ve forgot ten to al what Is life I 1 always did that les che snapped 1 I hate youl your ap perceptions are nebulous a new one I 1 admit be said ill ose if to others girls why not if you wont have me 1 must try ay luck somewhere else yon have an attenuated soul sub stance les feed it with affection it will ex the main trouble with you Is that yon surprise me in any way I 1 know all your mental reactions ton never jump off the road I 1 could surprise you les and a good mind to cella paused perhaps I 1 ought to tell yoa the whole romantic affair leslie barron looked at her frown ing the word romantic spelled danger let the clutch in be commanded ton are not the only man here she said last night when you were playing pool with bill I 1 went out to the swimming pool it was midnight I 1 went out to pick some asphodel that A romantic blossom to be found in most gardens of verse les I 1 met a most adorable godlike man ie looked at roe like a wild faun and then disappeared in a cloud of star dit there was something harder and more resolute about leslie than cella had ever seen before she had an uneasy impression that there were depths in bis nature as yet un plumbed by her but ahe would not tell him so don t be rough ehe said and took her hand away from bis dent scowl at me so godlike strangers who disappear in star dust interest me he said slowly I 1 d tike to break hla d d neck I 1 but you ahe answered he Is much more splendid than you are ton admit talking to him the young mans tone annoyed cella 1 I admit nothing 1 accuse you of talking to him persisted les whose voice was husky af course if you listened cac said airily why should I 1 deny it TO BE CONTINUED |
