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Show THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND ' CANDLES By MEREDITH NICHOLSON Author el "THE MAIN CHANCE," ZELDA DAMERON." Elc. Coiijrlglit wot bj Ikibbt-UerrMI Co. CHAPTER X. An Affair With the Caretaker. I read In tho library until Into, hearing hear-ing tho howl of tho wind outside with satisfaction in tho warmth nnd comfort com-fort of tho' great room. Bates brought in somo sandwiches and a bottlo of nlo at midnight. "If thero's nothing more, blr " "Thnt Is nil, Hates." And ho wont off Bcdntoly to his own quarters. I was restless nnd In no mood for bed, nnd mourned tho lack of variety In my grandfathor's library. I moved about from shelf to shelf, taking down ono book after another, nnd whllo thus engaged enmo upon n Rorlcs of lnrgo volumes extra lllustratod In water colors col-ors of unusual henuty. They occupied n lowor sliolf, nnd I sprawled on tho floor llko n boy with n now picture book in my absorption, piling tho grent volumes about mo. They woro on related subjects portalnlng to tho French chateaux. In tho last volumo I found a sheet of white noto paper no larger than my hand, n forgotten book mark, I assumed, as-sumed, and. half crumpled It In my lingers lin-gers beforo I noticed tho lines of n pencil sketch on 0110 sldo of it. I carried car-ried it to tho tnblo and sprend it out. - It was not tho bit of idlo penciling it had appeared to be at first sight. A scale had evidently been' followed nnd tho lines drawn with a ruler. With such trifles my grandfather had no doubt amused hlmsolf. Thcro wns a long corridor indicated, but of this I could mako nothing. I studied it for several minutes, thinking It might linvo been n tentative sketch of sonio part of tho houso. In turning it about under the candelabrum I saw that In soveral places tho glaze had been rubbed ' from tho paper by an eraser, nnd this piqued my curiosity. I brought a magnifying glass to bear upon tho sketch. Tho drawing had boon mndo with n hard pencil nnd tho eraser had removed tho lend, but a well doflned imprint remained. I was nblo to mnko out tho lottors, N. W. to 0. a reforeneo clearly enough to points of tho compass and n distance. Tho word ravlno was scrawled over a rough outline of n doorwny or opening of somo sort, and then tho phrase: THE DOOIl OF BEWILDERMENT. Now I am rather nn Imaginative person; thnt Is why engineering captured cap-tured my fancy. It was his efforts to mako an architect (a person who quarrels with womon about their kltchon slnkBl) of u boy who wanted to bo an onglneor that caused mo to broak with my grandfather. Fato was busy with my affairs thnt night, for, instead of lighting my plpo with tho llttlo sketch I was strangely lmpolled to study it seriously. I drow for mysolf rough outlines of tho Interior of Olenarm Houso as it had appeared to mo, and then I tried to roconcllo tho little sketch with ov-ory ov-ory part of It. "Tho Door of Howlldorment" was tho charm that hold mo. My curiosity was thoroughly arousod as to tho hidden hid-den comers of tho queor old houso, round which tho wind shrloked tor-mentingly. tor-mentingly. I went to my room, put on my corduroy coat, took a candlo and wont below. Ono o'clock in tho morning is not tho most cheering hour for exploring tho dark recesses of a strango houso, but I had resolvod to havo a look at tho ravlno opening nnd dotermlno, if possiblo, whother it boro any relation to "Tho Door of Ho-wlldonnont." Ho-wlldonnont." All was qulot In tho groat collar; only horo nnd thore nn area window rattled dolorously. I carrlod a tapo-lino tapo-lino with mo and mado measurements of tho length and dopth of tho corridor corri-dor and of tho chambers that woro sot off from it. TI1C80 llgures I entored in my notobook for furthor uso, and sat down on nn ompty nnll keg to reflect. Tho plnco was cortalnly substantial; tho candlo nt my foot burned stendlly with no hint of a draft; but I saw no solution of my problem. I was losing slcop for nothing; my grandfnthor's skotch was moanlngless, nnd I roso and picked up my candlo, yawning. Thon a curious thing happened. Tho candle, whoso thin flamo hnd risen unwaveringly, un-waveringly, sputtered nnd wont out ns n sudden gust swept tho corridor. I had loft nothing opon behind mo, hut somo ono hnd gainod Ingress to tho collar by an opening of which I know nothing. I fnced tho stairway that led up to tho back hall of tho houso when, to my nstonlshmont, stops soundod behind be-hind me, and, turning, I saw n man carrying a lantern coming townrd mo. I marked his caroless step; ho was undoubtedly on familiar ground. Aa I 'watched him he pausod, lifted the lantern lan-tern to n level with his eyes nnd began be-gan sounding tho outor corridor wall with a hammer. Horo, undoubtedly, was my friend Morgan again! Thero was tho samo porlodlclty In tho beat on tho wall that 1 had heard In my own rooms. Ho began ut tho ton and went mothod- 1 u icitlly to tho floor. I loaned agnlnst tho wall whoro I stood nnd watchod tho slow approach of tho lantern. Tho small rovolver with which I had first fired at his flying flguro in tho wood was in my pocket. It was Just na well to havo it out with tho follow now. My chances woro as good as his, though I confess I did not .rollsh tho thought of bolng found dead tho next morning In tho collar of my own houso. It plenscd my humor to lot him approach In this way, unconscious thnt ho was wntchod, until I should thrust my pistol Into his face. His nrms grow tired when ho was about ten feet from mo and ho dropped tho lantern nnd hammer to his side and, sworo under his breath impatiently. Then ho began ngnln with grontor zcnl. As ho enmo nenror I studied his faco in tho lantorn's light with interest. inter-est. His lint was thrust back, and I could sco his Jaw hard set under his blond beard. Ho took n stop nenror, ran his oyes over tho wnll and resumed his tupping, tup-ping, beginning cloao to tho celling. In settling hlmsolf for tho now series of strokes ho swayed townrd mo Bllghtly and I could hear his hard breathing. I wns dollborntlng how best to throw mysolf upon him, but n I wnvorcd ho stopped bncK, sworo nt his 111 luck and flung tho hnmuior to tho ground. "Thanks!" I shouted, lcnplng forward for-ward and snntchlng tho lantorn. "Stnnd Just whoro you nro!" With tho rovolver In my right hand nnd tho lnntern held high in my left, I enjoyed his utter consternation, ns my voiced roared in tho corridor. "It's too bad wo moot under such strnngo clrcumstnnces, Morgnn," I snld. "I'd begun to miss you; but I supposo you've been sleeping in tho dnytlmo to gather strength for your night prowling." ing himself Htholy until his tinkers clasped my throat Tho lantern foil from my hand nnd ono or tho other of uh smnshod it with our feet. A wrestling mntch In thnt dark nolo was not to my liking. I still held onto tho revolver, wnltlng for n chnnco to use It, and moanwhllo ho tried to throw mo, forcing mo baBk against ono Bldo and then unother of tho corridor. cor-ridor. With a quick rush ho flung mo nwny, and in tho sumo second I flred. Tho roar of tho shot in tho nnrrow, corridor was deafening. I flung mysolf my-solf on tho floor, expecting a roturn shot, nnd quickly enough a flash broko upon tho darkness dond ahead, and I roso to my foot, fired ngnln and loapod to tho opostto sldo of tho corridor and crouched there. Wo had adopted tho samo tactics, firing and dodging to avoid tho targot mado by tho flash of our pistols, nnd watching nnd listening listen-ing after tho roar of tho explosions. It was a very protty gamo, but not destined to last long. Ho wns slowly rotrcatlng toward tho end of tho passage pass-age whoro thero was. I romomborcd, a dead wall. His only chnnco, was to crawl through an nrca window I know to bo thcro, nnd this would, I folt sure, glvo him Into my hands. After flvo shots nplcco thoro wns n truco. Tho pungent smoko of tho powder pow-der caused mo to cough, nnd ho laughed. He Flung Me Away and In the Same Second I Fired. "You're a fool," ho growled. Ho was recovering from his fright I know it by tho gleam of his teeth in his yellow beard. His oyes, too, Woro moving restlessly about. Ho undoubtedly undoubt-edly know tho houso bettor than I did, nnd was considering tho best means of escape I did not know what to do with him now that I had him at tho point of n pistol; and in my lgnornnco of his motives nnd my vaguo surmlso as to tho agoncy back of him, I was filled with uncortnlnty. "You needn't hold that thing qulto bo near," ho said, staring nt mo coolly. "I'm Kind It annoys you, Morgnn," I said. "I want you to tell mo how you got In horo." Ho laughed. "I camo In by tho kitchen window, If you must know, I got In boforo your solemn Jack-of-all-trades locked It up, and I walked down to tho ond of .tho passago theio" ho Indicated tho direction with a slight Jork of his head "and slopt until it wns tlmo to go to work." "If you can't Ho bettor than that you needn't try ngaln. Faco about, ifow, and march!" I put now onorgy Into my tono, nnd ho turnod and walked boforo mo down tho corridor .In tho direction from which ho had como. Wo woro, I daro say, n protty pair ho tramping doggedly dog-gedly boforo mo, I following nt his heels with his lantorn and my pistol, "Not so fast," I admonished sharply. sharp-ly. "Excuso mo," ho replied mockingly. Ho wns no common roguo; I folt tho quality In him with n certain admiration ad-miration for his scoundrelly tnlonts. I continued nt his heels, poking tho miizzlo of tho rovolver agnlnst his I hack from tlmo to tlmo to keop him i assured of my prosonce a dovlco that I I was to regrot a second lator. I Whan wo woro, I should Judgo, about ten yards from tho end of tho , corridor, nt thnt momont I prodded him with tho point of tho rovolvor, ho fell backward against mo, threw Ills nrms over his head and grasped mo about tho nock, moanwhllo turn- "Havo you swallowed a bullet, Mr. Olonnrm?" ho called. I could hear his feet scraping on tho cofuent floor; ho wns moving nway from mo, doubtless intending to flro whon ho ronched tho nrea window nnd cscnpo boforo I could reach him. I crept warily after him, ready to flro on tho Instant, but not wishing to throw nwny my last cartridge Ho was now very nenr tho ond of tho corridor. I hoard his feet strlko somo boards that I remomborod lay on tho floor thoro, pnd I wns nervod for n shot and a hnnd-to-hnnd struggle, strug-gle, If it camo to that I was suro that ho sought tho window; win-dow; I heard his hands on tho wall as ho folt for it. Thon a breath of cold air swopt tho passago, and I know that ho must bo drawing himself up to tho oponlng. I flred nnd dropped to tho floor. With tho roar of tho explosion ex-plosion I heard him yell, but tho expected ex-pected roturn shot did not follow. Tho pounding of my heart seemed to mnrk tho pnsslng of hours. I feared my foo was playing somo trick, crcoplng townrd mo, porhnps, to flro at closo rango, or to grapple with mo In tho dnrk. Tho cold air whistled Into tho corridor, and I begnn to fool tho chill of it. Ilolng flred upon Is disagreeable enough, but wnltlng in tho dnrk for tho shot Is Intolorablo. I roso nnd walked, toward tho ond of tho passage. Then his rovolvor Unshod nnd roared directly nhcad, tho llamo of It so near that It blinded mo nnd tho wnd of tho cnrtrldo burnod and stung my cheek. I fell forwnrd dazed and blinded, but shook mysolf together in n momont nnd got upon my foot. Tho draft of air no longor blow Into tho passago. Morgan had takon hlmsolf oft through tho window nnd closed It nftor him. I made suro of this by going to tho window nnd fooling It with my hands. I wont bnck nnd gropod nbout for my candlo, which found without difficulty diffi-culty nnd lighted. I thon returned to tho window to oxamlno tho catch. To my utter astonishment It wns fastened fas-tened with stnplos, driven deop Into tho Bash In such a way that It could not possibly havo boon opened without with-out an oxpondlturo of tlmo nnd labor. My oyes smarted from tho smoko of tho last shot, and my chcok stung whoro tho wnddlng had struck my fnco. I wnB alive, but In my vexation and perplexity not, I foar, wholly grateful for my safety. It was, how-over, how-over, somo consolation to feel suro I hnd winged tho ciuiiny. (TO DE CONTIN' |