Show V if V T V V I 1 I 1 r E what the vasy pray nu horase a hid the mystery of a haunted mansion W N 11 service chyrl copyright ht by wyndham Wyid ham martyn B martyn A A A A A I 1 k L A A A A I 1 A THE STORY wito n allanby has purchased a country place the gray house near pine plains idles Se lenos a former tenant warns him that the house to la under a curse curre further alarming details adelm are impressed upon adolt adolf hanbys secretary ecret ary by a man who claims to have been chauffeur for or sir stanford seymour former occupant of the place the gllnn bys by tough laugh oft off the warnings but they are shocked when they hear that the caretaker of the house a man named kerr ha been mysteriously m murdered murdered hanby consults hie wend friend pelham the family starts tot tor the new home appleton a clerk of douglas and smith the agents from whom hanby bought the gray house explains to Pe pelham lliam that a dang dangerous ercus pond near the house in which several children nave been drowned has hae since been filled in but he urges pelham todis to dissuade sunde hanby from occupying the gray house hanav and junior learn that the caretaker was waa known to the police as red chapin and had a bad record hanby considers leslie barron barren long an admirer of cella celia to jolts jolli the house parta tirs mrs hanby allanby declares she likes the house kelliam becomes aa a memoir 0 it of the household with the title of bou house e detective over the tel telephone ephon hanby to Is warned by aa a woman not to subject his family to the dangers of tile the gray house leslie barron barren arrives making four able bodied members of the hanby household t CHAPTER V 4 during dining the weeks before the han ban hs abts could occupy the gray house were no more unpleasant roes sv es or telephonic communications to ti disturb them only one person roi fad interested himself sufficiently to call up hanny hanby at his office rite hie volee voice proclaimed itself as be imigine to a natine so indistinctly that hanby was not sure ow tier 11 ll wits wa bayles vales bailey or kniley when he tried to make sure which the voice replied with no effect bantly nought he pot it intel in the conversa conversation 1 ani culling colling you up said the to congratulate you on your pur purchase ehase of the gray house you recall that we wd met some tt time me ago of al the metropolitan club tiothy heinl v remembered lunching at this ali lant club and being intro i daepo to in several influential men chank you sup he said cordially you know the house very well I 1 looked over it re bently with the intention of ing it hut the accommodation was in sufficient As you perhaps know I 1 bought a larger place at westbury assuredly this was a metropolitan politan club thirty rooms were not enough for him 1 I want to ask you a special favor tile the voice went on oil 1 I 1 am deeply interested te to in ornithology I 1 have hae even contributed to the literature of the subject one of the reasons why I 1 considered the gray house was that it offers a natural sanctuary for birds there was a lalie lake there which wes wee tilled filled in not long ions oko ago and Is now covered with dense creepers and lingering flowering shrubs innumerable ards tle take shelter there little birds I 1 ngeun immune fron from their winged en emles unit and from man I 1 beg bea of you to preserve this retreat inviolate our rarer birds are dying out in an alarming 1 I what exactly do you want me to dol do hanby as ached 1 ed 1 I 1 want you to do nothing leve leqve the place to the songsters song A bird sanctuary Is not unsightly to io me it Is beautiful what offer till nil ere are five ocies acres out of two hundred you will lie rew reworded aided by seeing some of our most exquisite song bards tile the un li cnown iio ornithologist reeled off a list if names mimes that hull m made ade his hearer bearer dizzy Ill purple urple finch vesper esper iw song sparrow nuthatch chickadee oven bird junco snowflake phoebe bobo bob link indle bunting rose grost grosbeak leak kinglet wren and others its a flue fine ides said eald mr air hnnry warmly im glad fluri you told me I 1 was just going to have the place cleared out bemuse I 1 thought it was useless I 1 love birds myself sell and ancl im all fur for preserving them I 1 1 I wits was told that hint you were a type of elonen sir mr hanby the voice sold said 1 I hope to rio do myself the honor of calling upon you onon imon goodby good by Is I 1 now who the devil was iff it tian by asaei himself lie he spoke of the bird sanctuary at din dinner tier ills family was vats kits a beautiful idea wild diali anu 1 I was going to put d n sunken rosf roser garden there but aut we anve heaps ot other places why 10 lo do birds go there tir tim ilanay asked Bec nuRr they get food and wilter water there tits hia had 11 alt tin it the lie cheres rh eres ti spring bill keeles tile hie sli lindl bubes alive nn afat l flouris littig klith bet bertles mill ich ff 1 wll brulls tind mid tr pies grow ihrke in boll 1 av that hull H hl s wile mia s glnn ansho isi n fl or bayliss or bulley bailey soni ething like that tie seemed to think that I 1 ought to remember him film ties lies going to cull call on us lies probably a multi tim im going to in put pill you on your honor tint riot to sit hv bv that sanctuary and snipe those trusting warblers warb lers and orioles tim hanbys second son tind had a shotgun and a smilia rifle and a pas slon sion tor for using them A struggle went on in him 1 I 1 pro promise inIse lie ile said tims parents knew that mis chlorous its is tile the boy was lie he would keep his word lie he solaced himself with tile the thought triou tit that there were many rabbits to ile he had not to men anen lion don crows hawkes hawke and buts bats we are afe to regard ourselves as gaut aluna of the birds who trust us I 1 look to tile the house detective to en force these rules aye aye chief 1 said bill pel pei ham 1 I 1 like tre the idea ot of a house being a sanctuary allanby went on once within its walls and outside worries nial may not introduce the gray house bouse sanctuary a place sacred to happl halml happiness Is not a vice as they used to regard it when my grand parents were young its a tiling thing listen to the crane talking gil I 1 bellu scoffed crane he said the Frank crane bird she laughed id rather be ba that thana than a mocking bird her father countered walt wait till we get up there mes enfante and ill undertake old decrepit and pol though I 1 may be to beat you at almost every sport there la Is ten tits golf swimming and equit equitation ution when were you on a hot borso so junior demanded toung foung hanby had a wholesome re for or his father as an opponent at tennis or golf but he ha had never imagined him as setting out our to witch the world with noble horsemanship know my son replied hanby that like nil all great americans I 1 was reared on a farm your granda it homestead bordered the beautiful stream after which I 1 am named kf I 1 f there are any of the old timers left in that district ask them what sort of a seat ahad t had on horseback and you will find that I 1 rode in many a pony race ere I 1 was tims age the next aest thing to hear bear la Is that mother rode over the jumps at the garden show said junior your mother rode discreetly on a side saddle years a ago go in cleveland said dina and she Is going to do ll it again junior said bill kelliam Pe lliam never think you can put over anything on those parents of yours it cant be done it la Is my turn to state that in my days of affluence I 1 kept a saddle horse at Dur lands with these kind hut but firm words the juvenile members of the hanby clan relapsed into sulky silence convinced against their will that after all they the were not the absolute it IL 1 I wish my family faintly was like this remarked leslie barron barren we do nothing but quarrel at every mc rhonl al the main reason im going to new haven I 1 believe happiness is I 1 catching I 1 feel a different here you dont mean you feel actually here cella asked absolutely he answered family faintly friends aill cella cried look at a happy man and then lien won der what he tonics looks like when hes sod sad I 1 les flushed a little 1 I feel happy inside he be pad ald defending himself lie ili smiled last tuesday after 1 I 1 iliin sure noon junior said saw hes happy let I 1 ilm alm alone celia shut apt sold les site she lets me alone too loo much as it Is up there at ai pine plains cella told him lona will be your constant com coin ti pun anion ion lona Lon awas was the sirteen year old girl at al boarding school not this adle aluie dina remarked lona wants to KU go to europe v with iab three other girls and one of the reach ers and were going to let her go looka cella cried ilia his dully daily so smile ile I 1 and poor lono lonn simply ships him tie he has ahna driven her abroad and now tie he laughs at the havoc be lias has wrought Is 4 0 0 0 when built at tile the end ot of the eighteenth century tile the gray house had been n u square mansion of stone to in twenty acres of meadow latia land with a five foot wall succeeding ten ants had and enlarged it to Us its present size and find aind acquired ewt hundred acres acre more of meadow meado w and woodland ivy virginia creeper wistaria sturla wi and trumpet vine fought for its walls giving it a softness of outline of which its builder could not have dr pinned very strongly built its exterior was in perfect condition war hod had passed it hy by tind and time had bad treated it gently before the lanoys moved into it a careful renovation of the interior had given it a new nev mid and dignified beauty the grounds had been molded to the new owners desires the had moved from a duplex apartment into a satisfying toome bome dina breathed a sigh ot of content 1 I have always wanted just such a place as this she said squeezing het hei husbands hand you never told we me so hii he replied 1 I thought it was the unattainable said dina lets go through ever single room together its a home for our children and cellas celias children and the tho children of cellas celias children its adorable I 1 I 1 know the hall ball was ai as big as this she added pausing in a lofty apartment thirty nearly ns as wide this according to the plans surely 1 I 1 hod had it altered hanby tier her incidentally I 1 had to reduce our thirty rooms to twenty eight lant this a whale of a place for or dances dif ices eagerly he pointed out the great open fireplace the oue flue goes right up op through the center of the house a valuable feature no heat Is lost as it would be it if the shift shaft were on tild the outside 1 dina alna moved toward it over the green marble mantelpiece was some tiling thing carved in old english letters THE SANCTUARY CLUB rules rule no member shall do or say any thins thing of which another member tits approves no member shall disapprove 01 ol what any other member says or does gets ern em coming and going I 1 0 laughed hanby great idea it t now for room for bills special benefit ne he tan can trim any amateur that holds a cue dina looked from her own windows down on the tangled thatch of bush bramble nud and flower that was sacred to the birds theres a scar scarlet leit tanager she cried look hit the th beautiful thing I 1 from another window the glittering lake inke could be seen As she looked cella celia les and junior in bathing kit raced toward it tiro tim was else where bent on staying slaying rabbits then their wits 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 ot those happy functions at which every one talks vivaciously and no one troubles to listen exclamation points ended every sentence les leg smiled openly opeal and the house detective was off duty dut my aly jobs a sinecure said bill pel pei ham hain 1 I really had no right to take taht it t after accepting the honor of beier hoit ho man in chief to dina your work begins tomorrow urn mire canby told him 1 I 1 want you to sur vey a place for a sunken rose par gar den ill set the alarm for daybreak hi tl said he was up very early next morning only tim thus rifle in hand band equaled him blin tim was after the early rabbit unit ami the unheeding squirrel pelham hou decided on a location for the ron gierden when cella celia stopped befogs him to labor that we love wo we hsi betimes and go to it with delight he quoted cella celia sat eat down on a grassy bank TO BE CONTINUED |