Show V T OA I 1 C C C 1 I d ac 10 1 C IA I idiocies JAL A U A S P ev I 1 SYNOPSIS arcurious A burlou crowd of neighbors th bort invade the he mysterious home horn of judge ostrander Ott rander county jude judge and eccentric relue recluse ivi tul lowing a veiled woman who ha has aind entrance through the gates eat of the high double barrier barriers surrounding the tilaco 0 abe lie woman oman has ha disappeared but the adae ij Is found in a cataleptic state T the judge u dge awake silos nak k explain t to him hirm wt has occurred during his nl set leisure kufs lie its secretly dt deovers overs the whereabouts of the veiled woman ahe prove proves to be the widow of a man tr tried led before tho th judge and electrocuted tor for murder year years before her iler daughter is I 1 engaged to the ju audne u dge a son on from whom he is I 1 estranged alrand but t the murder I 1 between the loen rho plan plans to clear clea rs h her or husband inen I 1 or v an I 1 asks rk the kov ludde ds e a aid alone in her room Lt leborah borah llis read reads lh the newspaper r clipping clippings telli nir the tile story 0 or tt murder 0 1 algernon by john tit ovall la dark hollow twelve year years at before the judge and mr stra scoville n ewt t at spencer t roily olly and she he shown how him how on the day of the murder she he maw aw the hadow shadow of a man whittling a tick stick and a long pt avd ca cap the judee engages her nor and I 1 I 1 or rr daug daughter hp ter bout eleuther addge er to live with him in hi his mysterious home deborah and nil her lawyer billack so to the police I lee at tiit a t ion lon and soo e th the s a tick used to 1 murder d er I 1 etheridge Uhe the ridge bno discover a broken knife blade point embedded mt add in it deborah aitel It euther go to live with the budr CHAPTER VIII continued already had ahe she stepped several timea times to her daughters daughter a room and looked in orly to meet reuthers unquiet eye turned toward hers la in alent inquiry was her own uneasiness in was the child determined to share her viollt she would unit alt a little lo longer iger this time and se e their rooms vere over he parlor and thu far removed as possible poa aible from the judges judge a den in tr t r own which was front bhe she felt at perfect ease and it na as without any fear ot of disturbing either him or reuther that she finally raised her window and al lowed the cool wind to soothe her heated cheeka the moon emerged from scurrying ecurry InK cloude clouda as she he quietly watched the scene perched as ehe she as iq ig a window overlooking the lane eha she hd had but to ift har eyes from the double fence that symbol of ead sad se ec buslon to light on the trees rising 11 abare that ablo able ravine black with me morlea eho she felt strangely like forgetting WOOL beyond how it stood out on the baudi it had never seemed to stand out more the bifurcated mass of dismal ruin from aich inen in en had bad turned their eyes buea many year years now bowl dut but the moon loved tt it caressed tt it dallied with it lighting up its toppling chimney and errity staring gable spencer spencers folly I 1 aall ell tt it had bad been that and spencers den of dissipation tool toot there were great lebut tales ta but it was as not of these she was thinking but of the night of storm tot ot the greatest storm of which any record remained in shelby when the wind nind tore down branches and toppled down chimneys when cattle were smitten in the field and men on the high highway and the bluff towering overhead flared into flame and the house which aich was its glory was smitten apart by the sc bolt as by a titan sword and alicd zed like a beacon to the eky sky thia this was as long before nhe she herself had bad come io to shelby but ehe she had been told the story so often that it wae was quite vivid to her the family had been gone for month and so no pity mingled with the excitement not till the following day did the awful nature of tho the event break in KB its full horror upon the town among the ruins in a closet which the flames games I bad iad ad pared spared they foint hunched bunched up in one ono corner the body of at a man in whose seared throat a wound appeared which had not rot been made by lightning or fire Spen cerl spencer himself returned they knew not how bow to die of thil self inflicted cound in the dark corner comer of hie hit grand but neglected dwelling dwell lne but as the be continued to survey it the clouda clouds came trooping up once more and the vision was wiped out and with it alt all memories save those of a nearer trouble a more pressing ne us et withdrawing troa from the window she he crept again to reuthers He uthera room and peered carefully in innocence wai asleep at last lighting a candle and shielding is with her bard she I 1 he ol 01 abed long and earnestly at reuthers Reut Reu herf theer acet sweet face yes the she was right borrow was elway the four te astas ct of her darlings youth if reuther wai to be saved hop must come soon with a sob end and a prayer the mo mother ber left the room and locking herself into her own cat sat down at last to face the new perplexity ahe he 0 o enigma which had boms roms ora into her life I 1 it had fo tooted jovies in natural sequence equen ce from a proposal made by be the judge that some attention should be given his long neglected rooms lie had ald ld on lofre ig from the breakfast table the words are more or less important 1 I am really sorry to trouble you mrs scoville but if it you have time this rooming morning will yoa clean up my study before I 1 leaver leave the th carriage carr Is to ordered tor for halt pait past nine the task was onn she had long de ored 11 to tuL giving reuther mil rest ot at the work to dc de she prese appeared lip eared before him with pal pall b bloum a and nd a pile of fresh linen noth ing more commonplace coald be imag ined 1 but to her if it not lo 10 him 1 underlay this pedal special act of ordinary housewifery a possible enlightenment on a subject which had bad held the whole community in a tato state of curiosity curlo elty tor for years she was as going to enter the room which bad had been barred from public eight by poor delae belas dying body the grea great t room before her presented a bare floor whereas on her first violt visit it had been very cecen decently aly if it not carefully covered by a huge carpit rug the judge judges chair which had once looked immovable bad had been dragged forward into ucb such a position that be he could keep hie his own eye on the bedroom door manifestly she eb was as not to be allowed to pursue her duties un watched certainly she he had to take more than one look at the eatery day implements she carried carrie d to retain that balance of judgment whish should prevent her from becoming the dup of h her er own expectation expectations 1 I do not expect sou to clean up here as thoroughly as you have your own oun room rooms upstairs ho he remarked as ehe she passed him and nita scoville he called out as ebe she lipped slipped through the doorway leave the door open and keep away ae as much as possible from the side of the room where I 1 have nailed up the curtain I 1 had rather not have that touched not touch tho the curtal nl why that aa as tue one thing in the room she wanted anted to touch for in it she not only taw the carpet which bad had been taken up from the floor but a possible screen behind which anything might lurk even his redoubtable secret 1 I here Is no window I 1 she observed looking back at tho judge no was his short reply slow she he set down her pall one thing was as settled it was belas cot she saw before her a cot without any sheets these had been left behind in the dead negros negro s room and the judge had bad been sleeping just aa as had feared wrapped la in a rug and with uncovered ared pillow this pillow waa was his big aal it had not been brought down dow n ith the bed she hastily slipped a cover on it and without calling any further attention to her act began to make up the bed conscious Cons cloua that the papers he made a feint of reading ere hut but a cover for hie his watchfulness she moved about la in a matter ct cf fact way and did not spare him the clouds of dust presently rose before her broom out but the judge waa wag impervious to discomfort lie ile coughed and shook his big head but di did not an inch before she had begun to put things la in order the clock truck the half bal hour thour oh ohl I 1 she brosted pro pr osted ted with a plead ing glance bis big ay im not half halt done theres another day to follow he remarked rising and taking a key from his poteet pot et the act expressed hie his flats alst s and be he was proceeding to carry out her thing things when a quick eliding noise from the wall she was passing drew her attention and caused her to spring orward forward in an involuntary effort to catch a picture which had tipped slipped its cord and wae was falling failing to the floor A shout about from the judge of stand aside let me cornel comet reached her too late bhe she bad grasped and lifted tho the picture and seen nut but first let me explain thia this picture ae as not like die the others hanging about it vias as a yelled veiled one from some motive of precaution or ciarac te desire for concealment on an the part ot of the judge it had been closely wrapped about in heavy brown paper before being bung and in the tor ter which ensued between the falling picture and th the e spear sp e a r 0 ot f a an n I 1 image m age landing standing on the table underneath this pap paper er bad had received a ht through which deborah had been giten a glimpse of the canvas beneath the shock of what she he sta would have havo annert ed a leu less courageous woman it acus a highly finished portrait of oliver in bis big youth with a broad band it lt black painted directly across the eyes la in recalling this startling moment deborah wondered on dered as touch much at her own aplomb as at that cf judge ostrander hot not only bd boul she ha succeeded in 11 all II recognition of at what had thus been discovered discor ered to her hut but had carrle cattle her power powers of self elt cepres slon eo 90 far as to offer aid with good grace too to islet him la to ro hanging nging the picture uro this perfection of acting had its tall fall reward with equal composure he excused her troa from tb the a task and adding bomb expression of 0 reg regret ret at his well known care lewner in cot not looking better after his effects 1 bowed her from the room with only a light slight increase of ot his usual courteous courte oue reserve serre re hut aren ec ll saat L aad with it certain what gag ni fleance the incident acquired in her mind and what n tone long lice of terrors it brought in its it it no casual act wa this defacing of a sons son well weil lored loved tea features tums it had a a dark and meaning it had played its heavy in his big long torment tormenta a gallay ga llly er ot what it wa was to answer this question fac face this new view of oliver and tk th A V t 1 tilt 1 1 11 bearing trig it bad en on lue tue relations lone be is had hoped to establish betheen him and reuther that ehe she had waited halted for the house to he be client silent and her child asleep unhappy mother juet just as ehe she saw something like a prospect ot of releasing her long dead husband from the odium of A an unjust sentence een tence to be shaken by this new doubt a an to the etory story nd character r ot of the man for whose hose union with her beloved child ehe she was so 10 anxiously anilou sly struggling there has as a room on this upper floor into which neither she nor rea ther had even i she bad once looked in but that was all tonight because ehe could not sleep because she must not think she sha was resolved to enter it olivers roomi left as he pe had left it years what might it not tell ot of a past con berning which ehe she longed to bo be reassured the father had laid no restrictions upon her tn in giving her this floor for her use rights which he ignored she could afford to appropriate dressing sufficiently for warmth she lit a candle put out the light in her own room and started down the ball hall to this long closed room A smother of dust an odor of decay a lack of all order in the rooms arrangements and furnishings even a general disarray hallowed if it not affected by time for all thie thle shu wa wait prepared but not for the wild wll contu elon slon the inconceivable litter and all the other signs she aw saw her of a boys mad packing and reckless de laiture lar ture there was an inner door and this some impulse drove her to open A small closet stood revealed empty but for one article when she saw this article she gave a great gasp then she be uttered a low pshaw and with a shrug of the shoulders drew back and flung to the door but she opened it again she had tn in one cannot live in hideous doubt without an effort to allay it bh sh must look at that small black article again look at it with candle in band hand see tor for herself that her tears fears were with out foundation that a shadow bad had made the outline on the wall which she returned to the closet rud ond slowly reluctantly reopened the door before her on the wall hung a cap ca it was as no shadow which gave it that look like her husbands husband a the broad peak was there she had not been mistaken it nas as the duplicate of the one she bad had picked up in the attic 0 5 i it was a highly finished portrait of oliver in HIS youth the claymore ian fan when hen atiat tt at inn was simply a tavern then eho she lund herself looking into a drawer hah drawn out and filled with all sorts of heterogeneous ar tides ealing wax a roll of 0 pine pins a penholder a knife a knifel why should ehe she recoil again at that noth ing could be more ordinary than to find a knife in the desk drawer of a young kanj man I 1 the fact was not worth a thought ye before she knew it her finger fingers were creeping towards this knife bad picked it up from among the other scattered articles bad closed upon it let it drop again only to seize hold bold of it yet more determinedly and ory o ry it 11 straight to the light the kue kuve waa was lying open on her palm and atom one of qt the blades the aud bad been nipped jutt just enough ot of it to match waa was she he mad she thought so for A tb then eho the wd dora down do ra the knife close against the cap and contemplated tem plated them both tor for more minute minutes than she he ever reckoned tho the candle fluttering Cutter low in its bocket socket routed her at last from her ab str action catching up the two clr r tides which had so enthralled her the restored the one to tle tl closet the other to the drawer and with swift but allent step regained her own room where she burled her head in her pillow weeping and praying until the morning 1 light breaking in upon her grief awoke her to the obligation obligations of 0 her ber position lun ami and the net eItY of hence silence concerning all the experience experiences of this night CHAPTER IX unwelcome truth silence yes silence was ties the one and C tny refuge rema remaining inin 9 to deborah yet alter after a few day days the rong ong tant el which tt it entailed en ate mo like hk a canker into her peace and tin un which c g sou nd d derminer lei der mined a astren gih reu e aldays lift aye considered con eldered I 1 pall pallor or and ther began to no notice it he her was wa she to look grave he the judge and in to forced to complain of a cold enough to ac sc this thin ehe she was truthful of feverish count for her alternations the impulse and deadly lassitude trouble she he bad suppressed reseed was hav ing ita its quiet revenge could wes there no medium course she he not learn where oliver had bad been of that old time murder on the night and neighbor miss bliss beeks was a near bliss weeke weeks 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