| Show 04 LJ DAR K 0 V 01 OA 4 W V by ANNA KATHARINE GREF GREEN IN 1014 by dodd head A Cora company pany SYNOPSIS A cu rious crowd 0 f inel the mysterious homo bome of 0 judge ostrander brounty judge anil and eccentric recluse following 01 ol a villel woman who has hag gained rn trance through tile iio rated gates of trio the high double bArt barthers lers surrounding tt atio a vince the woman has disappeared but the JUdge Is in found in a ca cataleptic state atela Ms ills fervent fervant appears in a lying dying condition and prevents tm to ft a see heiret iret door nela beta dies die the judge awakes weeks plaine to him what hike has occurred durin lurann g lila Is seizure belzere Bel zure CHAPTER 11 II continued let mo me hear her description your honor the judge who had withdrawn into the shadow considered for a moment then said bald 1 I cannot describe her features for or she eho was be heavily veiled neither can I 1 describe her figure except to tiny day that she che Is tall and slender but her dress I remember she wore purple not an all old womans comans purple but a soft shade which did not take from her youth south the child did not seem to belong to to her though eho held her bar tightly by tho the land hand in ngo age it appeared to be about six or that was the Impress impression tolf I 1 received before i the sergeant Berg cant who had been watch ing the speaker very closely leaned forward with a hasty inquiring glance expressive of something like ilka consternation was wab the judge fulling falling again into no for the eyes which had gone blank had turned his lil way again and only a disconnected expression which t fell from the judges lips allowed that his mind find been wandering wander lne its tb not the sanio same but another one w 1 1 hats alf air words worda but tho the sergeant I 1 meant to remember them for with their a chanke 1 passed over the judge and his manner which had bid constrained and hurried flurried during his attempt attempted I description became at ofte once wore more natural arid and therefore more p do you think you can find her with euch data A woman 4 dressed lu ili purple leading a little child judge judee I 1 not only feet fed sure that I 1 ran can find her but I 1 think site she Is found already do you remember the old tavern on the rushville Rush villa road I 1 be 4 hove they call it tin an inn ina now or some such fancy name the judge sat eat quick but the ser j geant who dared not peer too closely noticed a sudden constriction in th the 0 fingers of the hand bond with which his host fingered angered a paper pallor cutter lying on the table between them the one where 1 I respect your hesitation judge yes theone run by the man you sen aen fenced A gesture had stopped him I 1 aft Is waited respectfully for the judges ne xi words Y they hey fame came quickly and with stern and solemn emphasis for a hideous and wholly yoked joked crime why do you mention it i 1 wid mid and his tavern lecause He lle cause of something I 1 have lately 4 hf haard rd in its connection you know that 4 the old house has been all made over r since that time and run as ae a place tl of resort for in search of light refreshments the proprietors name la Is yardley we have nothing against him the place Is highly respectable but it harbors a boarder 1 permanent one I 1 believe who has j occasioned no little comment no one has ever seen her face unless it Is the ho landlords land lorde wife its she has baa all her meals served in her room and when site ehe goes out she wears the purple dress drees and purple yell veil youve been talking about perhaps ashes your visitor of cf today I 1 better find out has she a child T to Is she a mother 1 I heard of any child but 4 mrs yardley has seven the judges hand withdrew from tile the table lable and for an instant the room was so no quiet that you could bear some far ott off clock ticking out the minutes then fudge ostrander rose crosb and in a peremptory tone said bald tomorrow after you hear bear from we alln make no move tonight let me tel teel that all your energies are devoted to securing 1 I my privacy vicy the sergeant who had bai sprung to hie fate feet at the same instant as the sadge badge cast a last look about him curiosity burning lit in hla his heart and a sort eort of desperate desire to set get and all he a could out of ills his present opportunity for lio lie felt absolutely sure that he would never bo be allowed to enter this room again but the arrangement of light was such as to hold in shadow nil all but lie ilia central portion of the room with a sigh the sergeant dropped ills his eyes from the walle ails he could barely distin gulab and following judge Ost randers lead passed lith him under the torn folds of the curtain and through the narrow vestibule whose door was wais made of iron into the room where ili ID a stronger blazo blaze of light than they had left MY lay the body of the dead negro a w alting the last rites would the judge pass this body or turn anav from it toward a door leading front the sergeant had bad come 4 in ili at tile the rear but lie he greatly desired to go out front as this would give him po no additional kLow knowledge ledge 0 oi the be house unexpectedly to himself tile judges intentions were lit in the direction of ills his owr bwy wishes ile he was led front and en nn an fashioned old hall dimly ligh lighted tea passed a staircase and two closed doors both of which gave him tho ilia impression Impre aslon of having aeeti shut upon a past it had pleasured no one to revive in many years beyond them was the great front door of colonial style arid and workmanship a ine fine specimen once but greatly disfigured now by the bolts and bars bara which had been added to it in antis faction of the judges ideas fleas of security many years had passed since judge ostrander had played the host but lip he had not lost a sense of hi obligation it was for him to shoot the bolts and lift the bars but lie ho went about it so BO clumsily and with such evident aversion to tile lie task that the alio nerge sergeant atit instinctively sprang to help him film 1 I shall hilss ilela bela at every turn remarked the juke turning with a sad bad smile lis as lie he finally anally pulled the door open this Is an unaccustomed effort for me excuse my awkwardness something in his attitude something in the way he lifted ills his hand to push buck back a fallen lock loa from fr m lila ilia forehead for chead impressed itself upon the ilia sergeants mind tio vividly that ho he always re the judge as aa lie he appeared appe areil to him film at that minute certainly there were hut but fow few nien men like him in the country and none in tits hla owl awit town of a commanding hy by reason of lila life height his file features wore were of a cast to express ills his mental attributes attribute a and enforce attention and tho ilia incongruity between life hta do ing figure fl gure and the apprehensions which lie he displayed lit in these multiplied and extraordinary arrangements for per bonal security was forcible enough to arouse any mans interest the sergeant was so occupied by the mystery of tile roan man and tile the mystery of tile the house that they had passed tile tho first gate which tile the judge had unlocked without much difficulty before lie ho realized that there still remained something of interest for him to sen see and to talk about later tito tho two dark openings on oil either side bide raised ques lions eions which the most unimaginative mind would feed glad to hear explained ere cre the second gate swung open and lie he found himself liln iseK again in the street lie had built up more than ce theory in explanation ot of this reak freak or parallel fences with tile tho strip of gloom between ile he would have hae felt the lie suggestion ot at tho the spot still bill more deeply had it been given him to see the anxious and ties lies stating figure which immediately epou his departure entered this dark maze and with feeling hands bands arid and cautious step wound lie its way from corner to corner comer now stopping abruptly to listen now shrinking from some imaginary presence a shadow among shadows till it stood again between tho ilia gates gales from which it hail had started CHAPTER ill III across the bricie c it was ten 0 clock not later when the judge re reentered entered ills his front door lie he was wae aloin absolutely alone as he had bad never neer been since that night of long ago when with the inner fence corn com pleated and the gates all locked he turned to tits the great negro at ills his side aide and quietly sald said we are done with the lie world hela bela aro ara you satisfied to share this solitude with v me and nil nela bela had replied night arid and lay day your our honor and when you iou are not liere here when you aro at court to boar bar it alone I 1 and now this faithful friend was as dead and it was ats lie he who must beir bear it alone alone how hois could he face ill it lie sought for or no answer nor did ile he allow himself to dwell for one ona minute on the thought there was waa something else he roust must do first do this thin very night it if possible taking down ills his hat from the ilia rack he turned and went ment out again till this time carefully locking the door behind him also the first pate gate hut but he stopped to listen before lifting hla 1 I hand band to the second one A sound of steady breathing accini palled by a few impatient movements came from the other side aide A man was posted there within a root foot of the sato gate noiselessly the judge recoiled and made his way around to the other set get of f gates idere nil all was has quiet enough and sliding quickly out lie cast n R hasty glance up and down tile the lane and seeing nothing amoeo alarming than the back of a second officer loung ing at the lorner corner pulled the gate quietly to and lo IM ked it lie ho was well down the road to conrd ard the he ravine before the turned gurnei the time has now como come for gluing I 1 you a clearer idea of this elp especial ecial judge Oat Ost randers house situated at tile tho juncture of an unimportant road with the main high way had in its rear three dinall houses two of them let and ono one still farther on but on oil the opposite side of the way stood a very old dwelling in which there lived and presumably worked a solitary woman the tole ole and final survivor of a large family beyond was the iha ravine cutting across tho the road and terminating it this ravine merits eoma description it was a picturesque addition to the tuii town through which it cut at the point of greatest activity with the various bridges connecting the residence portion with the lower business streets wo we have nothing to do not but there was a nearer ono one of which tile the demands of this story atory necessitate a clear pr presentation eventa this bridge was called long and spanned the ravine arid and its shallow stream of water not a quarter of a mile below tile the short road or lane we have just seen judge ostrander Oat rander enter between Lle tween it ana an this lane a narrow path ran amid the creeo arid and bushes bordering bar tile tho ravine this path was sel bel dom used but when it was it acted as a short cut to a certain part of the town mostly given over to factories fact orlee indeed the road of which this bridge formed a part was called factory on this account starting from the main highway a half mile or so below ostrander lane it ran diagonally back to the bridge where it received a turn a cast a hasty glance up nind down the lane which sent it south and east cast again toward the tha lower town A high bluff rose at this point which made thu farther side of the ravine much more imposing than the one on oil the near side where the slope was gradual this path arid and even tho the bridge itself were r almost most wholly un lighted unlighted them they were seldom used at night seldom used at any time but it was by this route the judge elected to go into town not for the pleasure of the walk as was very apparent from thu extreme ilin of his manner but from some inward necess necessity ty which drove him on oil against his wils wishes hes possibly 8 agist lite ills secret misgivings lie he tip hp met no one in his short walk down tl alie lane but for or all that ho he paused before entering tho the path just mentioned to glance back and seo see if A lie were b watched or followed wit when en sail led that lio lie was not ho he looked up train from the tha solitary waste where he stool stood to the cheerless heavens and sighed then forward into the mass of impenetrable shadow that lie he must yet traverse arid and shuddered its as many another had shuddered ere beginning this walk for it was near the end of this thin path in full sight of tile the bridge he must cross that ills his friend algernon etheridge Etherl dge had been set upon and murdered so many years before and tile the shadow of this ancient crime still lingered over the spot determined not to stop or to cast one faltering look to right or left lie he hurried hurr leil on oil with ills hla eyes fixed upon tile ground arid and every nerve braced to resist the influence of the place and its undying memories hut but with the striking of hi foot against the he boards of tile the bridge nature wa waa 1 too much for him film and it hla a resolve vanished instead of hast iiii on t lie stopped and having estopi stopped d paused long enough enoi igli to take in all the features fea turca of the scene and any changes which lina inight have wrought lie even forced tits his shrinking eyes to turn and gaze upon the exact spot where hla his beloved al A I 1 gernon had been found with ills sight ices eyes turned to the sky this latter place singular in that it lay open to the op opposite balte bank llinus will ll inui I 1 lie mask anask of buh buch or it lie de it was in immediate proximity to ilie hip arnd of the bridge ho he hail had to crona caroti A it boro bore the name of dark idol low an and d hollow and dark it looked it in the universal gloom hut but tile the power of at its associations wan wait upon him and before tie lie knew it ho he was retracing ills hia steps as 03 though drawn liv a magnet lam ism he could not resist till 1111 he be stood within this hollow and possibly on tile the very foot of bf ground from the mere memory of which lie he had recoiled for years A moment of contemplation a sigh aurb as only escapes the ilia bursting heart in moments of estremo graif or desola alon tind lie ho tore lora tits hla eves eires from the 1 ground to ralso raise them slowly but with deep meaning to which rose from the brow of the hill in stark and curious outline not explainable in itself but clear enough to one who had seen its shape by daylight judge ostrander had bad thus tic on it many times in tire the past and knew just where to look for tile the one remaining chimney and solitary gable of a house struck many years before by lightning and left a grinning shell shelf to mock the eye of all who walked this path or crossed this thin bridge diack black amid blackness with just the contrast of its straight lines to the curve of natural objects about it it commanded the bluff summoning up memories of an evil race cut short in a moment by an outraged providence and judge ostrander marking it found himself muttering aloud as aa he dragged himself slowly away why should time so destructive elsewhere leave one stone atone upon another of this accursed ruin when he be had reached tile the middle of the bridge he stopped short to look back at dark hollow arid and utter a in n a smothered groan which would nouh nt not b bo repressed a name which by all the rights of the spot should have been Alger but w wm not the utter utterance anca ot at thle name naino seemed to startle him for with a shuddering look around lie ha |
