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Show THE HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CANDLES By MEUEDITII NICHOLSON Anktr it Mtnt mih cncicr," tttOA BAHtlOX," Ik. lp;rlkl Im W lwMhn1ll (te. I CHAPTER XXIV-Contlnued. 1 ttitnk oii are quite right, sir.; salJ Hates lie threw down the r$ voUcr he held In his hand nnd leaned upon the mine of tho long table that lay on Us side, his ante still bent os Pickering, who stood with his orij coat buttunrnl cI(ms. his derby hat oa the Itoor tiealde him, whero It hM fallen as Hates hauled him Into ttx room , The sound of a measured step, ' somo ono watklnR of n careful fo on a stairway, was qulto distinct. I even remarked the slight stumble that t had noticed before Wo were all so Intent on those iter In tho wall that w were off guard I heard Hate yell warnlogly, and !.arry and Htoddard rushed for t'ickofinf He had drawn a revolver from his overcoat oeket and was auout lo tiro at tno when Hlnddnrd sent the weapon flying through the ntr. "Only n moment now, g ntlswen.'' said Hates, an odd amtto on hi far, lie was looking past mo toward Ike rlrlit en.l nf tha nnmlarfl. TbIO seemed to m In the air n fillBI of nomethlnx Imiiendlm: liven Morgan and his men, halfrouchlnif, ready far a rush at me, hosltsled; and I'lekarlng glanced nervously from one to the other of ua. It was tho calm Ixforc tho storm; In n moment we itwwilil be at each others throats for the final struggle, and yet wo waited. In the 'wall I heard still thn sound of ateps They wero clear to all of us now. We stood thero for what seemed an eter nlty I suppose thn time was reall) not inoro than 30 seconds Inert, wait Ing, whlln 1 felt that something must happen, tho silence, tho waiting, were intolorabto. I grasped my pistol and bent low for a spring at Morgan; snJ every man In tho room was Instaatly on tho alart. All hut Hates lie remained rictd that curious imllo on his blood smeared face, his eyes bent toward the oust ut tha great fireplace back of ma. That look on his faco held, arrtitel numbad me; I followed It. I forgot Morgan: a tacit truce btia us un l I supped back till my eyo fastwed on the broad pansled chlmney-braast at the right of tho hearth, and It thera now that tha sound of footitcps In tho wall was heard again; thn it ceased utterly, tho long panel opined slowly, creaking slightly upoo Its hinges, then down Into the room stepped Marian Devereux. filio wore the dark gown In which I had seen her last, and a cloak was drawn over her shoulders. 8ha laughed as her eyes swept the room. "Ah, gentlemen," she said, shaking her head, as sho viewed our disorder, "what wretcbod housekeepers you arol" Bteps were again hoard In the wall, and aho turned to tho panel, held It open with ono hand and put out the other, watting for some ons who followed fol-lowed her. Thon down Into the room stepped my grandfather, John Marshall fllen-arm! fllen-arm! Ills staff, his cloak, tho silk hat above his shrowd face, nnd his sharp, black eyes were unmistakable He draw a altk handkerchief from the skirts of his frock coat, with a characteristic charac-teristic flourish that I remembered well, and brushed a bit of dust from his ulcovo before looking r.t any of us. Thon his cyea fell upon me "Good morning, Jack," ho said and then gated with mild curiosity about tho room "Ood help usl" It was Morgan, I think, who screamed these words as he bolted for tho broken door, but Stoddard caught and held him "Thank Ood, you'ro hero, sir!" broko forth In Hates' sepulchral voice It seemed to me that t saw all tint happened with a weird, unnatural distinctness, dis-tinctness, as one seos, before a storm, vivid outlines of far headlands that the usual light of day falls to disclose 1 was myself dated and spellbound; but I do not like to think, even now of the effect of my grandfather appearance appear-ance on Arthur l'lckerlng; of the shock that seemed verily to break him In two, so that he staggered, then col lapsed, his bead falling as though to strike his knees l.arry caught him by tha collar and dragged hlin to a seat, whera he huddled, his twitching bands at his throat "Gentlemen." said my grandfather, "you seem to have been enjoying your selves Who Is this person!" He pointed with his stick to the sheriff, who was endeavoring to crawl out from under tho mass of broken crystals "That, sir, Is tho sheriff," answered Hates "A very disorderly man, I must say Jack, what have you been doing to cause the sheriff so much Inconven-lencoT Inconven-lencoT Didn't you know that thst chandelier waa likely to kill Win That thing cost n thousand dollars Oentlemon, you aro expensive visitors Ah, Morgan, and Ferguson, too' Well, well' I thought better of both of you Cood morulas, Stoddard' b'tle w tk for the church militant! d in MMiitrmsn lie InflMMied I irr , , was for one In hi life xlthimt n ullilng to say Mr lh,nman-a friend of the ue ni lalnril Hale I'l-i- t I m sure said the old ra lemnn i .lml the house has a friend ' ei have had enomles enough ' " in'1 I and veil the wreck of the "oni i i iiir The good humor In his l let . ,r.M me, but still I atood In 1 mgi I wonder staring al hint A' I I'irkeiing'" John Marshall i.lrt i i , voice broke with a quiet mini n it I remembered a the pre 'si' i.ilh of something unpleasant W' ihur I'm glad lo find you on tii i i rending the Interest of m est iti- At (he risk of onr lite, too' llflu- V M r ntenarm " milt lo have called me earlier I i il prised that chandelier lm imn-iii And this furniture wasn't ni i i Mi tune changed abruptly He Phi I u the sheriffs deputlea one al or tin uiher wlih his slick There w I r inemhered, alwnya something ItiKln iiung disagreeable nnd final al mi mi gtandralher staff c If ii nut he commanded "Hates, th-iie follows through the wall Mr sioriff If I were you I'd be very mrofiil milord, what I said of this at 'nir 1 -n ii dead man come to llfn iicaln nnd I know a great ileal that I l"l" I know before I died Nothing M'nilotmn Ate r man for life like n I'liilm .y absenro (mm this cheerful and ili nsant world. I recommend you in tr It ' I'll kerlng sat silent, not sure whether wheth-er ho kiw a ghost or real fined nnd IiIihkI and Irry kept cloee In blni, riming off his retrral I think we all eitiirliiuoil thai benlldered feeling of clillilnn who nro caught in mischief b a siiddrn parental visitation M) "I 'Kb 111 Down Into th Room Stepped My Grandfsther. grandfather went about peering at tho books, with a tranquil air that was dls qutotlng. Ha paused suddenly before tho design de-sign for the memorial tablet, which I had made early In my stay at Glen arm House, I had sketched the letter lag with soino care, and pinned It against a shelf for my moro leisurely study of Its phrases Tho old gentleman gentle-man pulled out his glasses and stood with his hands behind his back, read Ing, When bo finished ho walked to whero I atood. "Jackt" ho said, "Jack, my boyl" Ilia voice shook and his hands trembled trem-bled ns bo laid them on my shoulders "Marian," ho turned, seeking her, but the girl had vanished "Just as well," ho said, "This room Is hardly an edifying edi-fying sight for a woman " I heard, for an Instant, a light hurried step la tho wall, Tickerlng, too, heard that faint, full-tlvo full-tlvo sound, and our eyes met at the Instant In-stant It ceased. The thought of her tore my heart, and I felt that Pickering Picker-ing saw and knew and was glad "They have all gone, sir," rejiorted Hates, returning to the room "Now, gentlemeu," began my grandfather, grand-father, aeattng himself, "this little secret se-cret of ralno wss shsred by only two persons. One of those was Hates," lis paused as an eiclamatlon broke from all of us; and ho went on, enjoying our amaiement, 'and the other was Marian Devcroui I had ob served foe years that at a man's death bis property often gets Into the wrong hands, or becomes a bono of conten tlon among lawyers Bomcllmes," and the old gentleman laughed "an executor prove incompetent or dls honest. I waa thoroughly footed In you, Pickering Tho money jou owe mo Is a large sum, and you were so dollghted to bear of my death that ou didn't oven make sure I waa really out of tho way. You were perfectly "lll Ing to accept Hates' oru lor It. and I must say that Hates carried It off splondldly." Pickering rose, tha blood surging again In bis face, and screamed at I Hates, pointing a shaking finger at thu 'man. "Vmi InipoVor, yon perjurerl The law will deal with your ease." To be sure" resumed my grand rather, calmh ' llatra did make falno affidavits about my death, but possl bly-' 'It waa In a Pickwickian aonre, sir said Hi lea graved And In a rlghleima cause,' drclarril my grandfather I assure you. Pick ring, that I hnrw etery Intention of Inking en re of Males Ilia weekly lot iei giving an account of the curium manifestation of ynnr devotion to latks security and peaie were alone worth a goodly sum Hut Hates" The old gentleman wa enjoying bin elf IiiuH) He chuckled now. an I placed hla band on mv shoulder Hates, It was too bad 1 got tho- missive ijf yours all In a bunch waa In a dahablyeh on the Nile an I they don I have rural free delivery in Kgypt Your cablegram called mo home before I had finished rending Hi -letters Hut thank Hod, Jack, ynum alive'" There was real feeling In theo 1 nl word, nnd I think we wero all touched by them "Amrn to that!" cried Hates. "And now. Pickering, lieforo you go I want to show you aomethlng It about this mysterious treasure, that has given you and I hear, the whnla eountryaldo so much concern I m disappointed In you, Jack, that jou couldn't II nd the hiding place I designed de-signed that aa a part of your nrchilet tural education Hale, glvo me a chair." Tho man gravely drew n chair out of thn wreckage nnd placed It iiMin the hearth My grandfather stepped upon It. seised one of the bronse sconce above the mantel nnd gsve il a hnrp turn At the sunn moment, I Hates, upon nmuher chair grasped lha i-onipiinlim hronsa and wrenched It sharply Instantly some inixhanlum creaked In tho great oak chimney breast and thn loog oak panels swung open, dlscloslog n steel door with u combination knob "Gentlemen," nnd my grandfather turned with a quaint touch of humor, and a merry twlnkln In hla bright old o)es "genUemcn, behold tho treasury! treas-ury! It has proved a bettor hiding place than I ever Imagined It would. There's not much here Jack, but enough to keep )oti going for a while," We were all staring, and the old gentleman was uufelgnsdly enjoying our mystification It waa an hour on which he had evidently counted much; It waa tho triumph of his resurrection and home-coming, and ho chuckled as he twirled tho knob In tho stool door. 'I lieu Hates stepped forward and helped him pull the door open, disclosing disclos-ing a narrow steel chest, upright and held In place by heavy bolt clamped Into tho chimney It was filled with packets of paper tied neatly with tape "Jack," said my grandfather, shaking shak-ing his head, "you wouldn't be an architect, and you're not much of an engineer, either, or you'd have seen that that paneling waa heavier than was necessary There' 1100,000 lu first rate securities Hates and I put them thero Just before I went to Vermont Ver-mont to die." "I've sounded those panels a dozen times," I protested. "Of courso you have. ' said my grandfather, "but solid steel behind wood Is safe. I tested It carefully before. be-fore. I left " Ho laughed and rapped tha floor with his swff. and I laughed with hirn. "Hut you found tho Door of Hewllder-ment Hewllder-ment and Pickering's note, and tbat'a something" "No, I didn't even find that Donovan Dono-van deserves tho credit. Hut hovi did you over come to build that tunnel, If you don't mind telling mot" Ho luugbt-i! gleefully (TO UK CONTINUED! |