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Show STQRV ll THE HOUSE OF I A THOUSAND CANDLES Ur MEKCUITII NICHOLSON Aiib l "TIIC MI1 ClltSCt.' 2tlM IHMII01" It. iwMtlfbl IM 1 HublM-Mtiill C CHAPTEI1 XVIII. Continued. 'Mr (llenarm Mr (lleiinrin," lie ox-rlalinml ox-rlalinml in lnokxn wIiIkt. "It Is lis leu sir " "What liae ou done, what linshnv lieneHl' I ileinnmluil IId put his IihihI in tils heail unccp tnlnly HnO kbsw1 as thougli tr)lnK to nattier his wlu He was evliluntl) ilaseil liy whatever liiiil occurrml, anil 1 sprang nninil ami )ielHMl him to a couch He would not lie ilown Inn mt up. Marin nml ! I in lila hand over his head It was rapidly Kniwln liahler. and I saw n imrple nnd Mark slroak acrni his tvinplH where a tiliidaeon of some sort had struck lilm "What doea I Ills mean, Hales? Who lias been In lliu house-' "It was mirly this morning," ho fab tcrwl. "aliout two o'clock, I hoard noises In I lip loner nrt of tho house. 1 came down, thinking likely It was 5 ou, and remembering that uil had hefii sick ycstirdii) " "V, (to on ',' Tho thought of my truancy was no balm lo m conscience Just thou. "As I came Into the hall, iuiw lights In the library. As ou weren't down last night the room hadn't lieen lighted at all I heard steps, hud some one tapping with n hammer " "Yea. a hammer Oo on'" It was, then, the snme old story' Tho wnr had been carried openly Into tho house, but Hates Just why should any one connected with the ronsplrncy Injure llntes, who stood so near to Pickering. Its leader Tho fellow was undoubtedly hurt. there was no mistaking mis-taking tho wound on his heid He spoko with n lmlnful dimculty that was not nssiimiHl, I felt Increasingly sure, as ho went on "I saw a man pulling out tho books nnd tapping Ihu Insldo of the shelves Ho was working ery fast And tho next thine I know he let In nnnther man through one of the cnicmcnts, tho ono thorn Hint still stands a llttla open " Ho flinched ns ho turned slightly to Indlcato It, nnd Ills facd twitched with' pain, ' "Novor mind that; tell tho rest of your story." "Tlicn I ran ;ti, grabbed pno of tho big candelaVpv from tho table, and went for tho nearest man, They were about to begin on tho chimney lireait It was Mr. Cllcnnnn's prldo In all tho houno, nnd Hint accounts fur my being thero ln front of tho llreplaco They rather got tho best of me' sir" "Clearly. I seo they did You had s hand to-hand tight with them, and Doing Do-ing two to ono" "No, thero wero two of us, don't jou understand, two of us! There was nnnther man who enma running Is from somewhere, nnd ho took sldri with mo. I thought at first it was you, sir. Tho robbers thought so, ton for ono of them oiled, 'drcat flod Glen-n Glen-n nil's coma back!' Just llko that Hut It wasn't ou, sir, but milto nnotber person." "That's n good story so far, anil then what happened?" "I don't remember much moro, except ex-cept Hint soma ono soused mo with water that helped my head consider-abl), consider-abl), and thn next UilUfT I know I wn staring across tho tnblc, thoro at ou" "Who worn theso men, Hates? Spesk up quickly!" My tono was peremptory. Hero was, t felt, n crucial moment In our relations. rela-tions. "Well," ho began, deliberately, "I dislike to mako charges against a fcl low man, but I strongly suspect ono of tho men of being" "Yost Tell tho whole troth or It will bo tho worse for jou" "I ory much fenr one of them was I'erguson, the gnrdinor over Ihe way. I'm dlwippolnted lu him, sir" "Very good; nnd now for the othsr one." "I didn't get my ejeis on him I had closed with 1'erguson and we were having ijuttu n lively time of It when tho other one cauin In, then the man who enmn to my help mixed us all up, ho was a very lively person -anil what became of I'erguson and tho rest of It I ilon't know " Thero was food for thought In what ho said Ho had taken punishim-nt la defense of my property, tho ciaik on Ills head wns uniknlnblu, and 1 ould not abuia him or uuostlon his veracity with any grnco, not, at least, without tlmo for Investigation and study However, How-ever, I ventured to ask him one question: ques-tion: "If jou wero guessing, shouhlnt jou think It qulto likely that Morgan was tho othor man?" Ho met my gnzo squarely "I think It wholly possible Mr Clenarm," ho replied nt once "And tho mi who helped jou who In tho dovll was he?" "Illcss mo, I don't know, sir' lis disappeared I'd llko mightily to ses him again " "Humph! Now ou'd bolter do something some-thing for your hcadi I'll summon ths village doctor If jou nay so" "No, thank you, sir I'll take care of It in) self," 2'ry , ,, krl,p quPl ahoy " I' i in. tillon It or ilia , '? rl -. ' lie rose stag- gen ' n wenkni-ss but , mi "' it ninntel lulf In l h ' ,nsi rmted his , nrii "i i, ,,,( i,w., ,H lii'j ' o,t with a sorl i'' lp i Ii s c ilium tho III"! " I hi IhHM ,ind pail r in nihil,, t ud all I'M '" ' v '"" v and srai from ' thyl" Hi. .Hi) light bad In crsaw i ii i. ii i,ivoe wrought by the nli-i i inn, R fnr uppBreM The urn m. !- i,l made sorry msss ,t n , ,, and ( th0R,t Hates Up ,, iu,, M J,, ewed the1 wreck "It w.'iilil luve Imh a blow to Mr tllanami i r,m lu hi, n,rto his ptlil.- .ii-lle .ii-lle went ...it u.vvn.-d the kitchen, and I ran upstniia to my lrall room I curst .1 (hi toll) that had led me to leave my window ,,N,ii for undoubted Jy Morwii nnd his new ally, at Ag-nlhas Ag-nlhas gnrd. tier had taken advantage of It t" cnt r I In- hniiae Quite likely too, Ihey had uliM-rvcd my depsrlitiv fur Cincinnati nnd this would undoubted!) un-doubted!) he Kininiiinlented to l'leker Ing. I Ihri-w .iK-n in) door and slart e.1 back with an exclamation of ninsiemont A strangi-r utinul at my chiffonier, betwean two windows, calml) shaving lilmstlf Ho wna clnd In a Imth gown my own, I unw with fury ml he hummed noftl) to ntinaelf aa he seised tho brush and applied lather deftly tU hll upppf p Without turning he addressd me. quite coolly and casunll), as though lila'Mng Uiero was tlio most natural tblng In Ihe world flood morning Mr (llennrm! Itnlh er damaging evidence, Hint coatume. I nnd again I'm sure there's a big atak" In It Tlio tint that Hikcrlng Is risk Ing no much to find what a snpposeil lo In- hidden here Is pretty lair evl U-iii .- that sunn-thing's juried on tbo 1 1.' i , I'nsslhly but tt-0) re giving you n llvd) bo)eoli N.iw whin-lnlhedevl lin. von broil ' ' Well ' I In-Kin nnd hesltnlod I had not nientlonVri Marian Doteroiix nnd this did not seem the time for con fldencea of that sort He took a cigarette from hla h :ket and lighted It dellberalely. llah' tboae women! tinder Ihi terms of your excellent grandfathers .will oii have thrown away all our rights It looks lo me. as a memlx-r of thn Irish bar In bail standing, aa though you had delivered yourself up to the enemy, so far aa Ihe legal alt on Hon Is concerned How does It strike you" 'It It's known that I ran aw a) for a night, of course" My lad. don't deceive yourself Kver)lHly round hero will know It lie fore night You run off. left your win dim open Inviting!), and two gentle men who medltatm! breaking In found that Ihey needn't take the trouble One came lu through your own room, noting, of course, your absence, let In Ills friend below, and tore up the place logreltttbly." 'Vol. but lmw did ou get here If you don't mind lolling " "It's a short sior) That Utile chap from Hcotlatul Yard, who nnno)cd me so much lu New York and drove mo to Mexico -for whleli may ho dwell forever In Her) torment has never given up I shook him n(T. though, nt Indianapolis throe days aao I tmght n ticket for I'ltlslmrg with him nt my i IIhiw I aupiHiso he thought the chase was growing tame and thai the farther east ho could arreat me Hie nearer I "Mr aienarml Mr. Olenarm!" He Cxclalmed In Droken Whlipers. "It Is Dates, Sir." lupposn It's tho custom In tho country for genllumen In evening clothes to (0 out by tlio window nnd return by tho door. You might think tho othor say round pnfernblo" "l.nrryl" I shouted. "Jack I" "Kick Hint door shut nnd lock It," bo cunitnnnde.l, In n shnrp, Severn tono list I reuiciuhcriil well, nnd Just now telcomed In him "How, wh) nnd when?" "Novor mind about mo I'm hero ttrown tho enem) off for n fuw dn)s, nil you may confess jour own sins hst, while I climb Into my nrmor fray pardon the Infonnnllty " Ho selxed n brmun and begun work tton n pair of trousers to which mud 11 brlnrn clung tenaciously Ills cunt ttd lint la) on ,1 chnlr, they, too, ch thn womo for rough usage. Thero wns never -my use In refusing to oboy I,nrr)'a orders, and ns lie gut lain his clothes I gave lilm In as few nrils ns possible Ihe chief Incidents that hud marked m) sin) ul (ileunrm lisuose He conllii'iod dressing with tarn, helping hlniKoir to a ahlrt nnd cstlnr from my chiffonier nml chooalog with unfnlllng o)o tlio U-it tie In my asllectlou Now nnd then ho asked a taxation torsol), or, again ho laughed or swore dire I) In (laeltc Whim I asd concluded the slor) of l'lckerlng's visit, nnd of the conversation L over-kssrd, over-kssrd, between the executor and Hates Is the church iorch, Ijirry wlieelnd Mind with tho scarf half tied Jn hla Mtors and surveed mo cotnmlsurat-lafly cotnmlsurat-lafly "And yuu didn't rush them both on U Sot and hnvo it out?" "No I was too much taken aback lor one thing" "I daro say you were'" "And for another I didn't think the Ui ripe, I'm going to bent that fcl few, Larry, but I want lilm to show till band fully befoio wo coino to a imusli up. I know ns much about tj Iioubo and Its socrots as ho does iMt's ono consolation Soinotlines I dos't believe there's n shilling here, ' should ho to n llrlllsli consul nnd tidewater. tide-water. 1 went ahead of lilm Into tlio station and nut to tho l'lttsburg sleeper I dropped my hag Into my section, If that's what they call It In our atrocious American language, looked out and snw him coming utong tho platform Just then the en' began to move they wero shunting It about tu attach a sleepor that had been brought In from 1iuUvlllo. nnd my carriage, or whatever you cnll It, went skimming out of tho sheds Into u )ard where everything seeiuel to ho most noisy and complex. I dropped on In tbo dark just before they began lo haul the carriage bnck A long train of empty goods wngonr fn Ight ears' was Just pulling on. and I threw my bag into a wiigou mid climbed after It. Wu kept going fin several hours, until I was thoroughl) lost, then I took advantage ad-vantage of a slop at u place that seemed to be tho end of terrestrial things, got out and started across country I expressed my hag to ou tho other dav from a limn Hint ro- Jolced lu tho cheering mime of Ko-kouio, Ko-kouio, Just to get rid of It I walked Into Anuiiiiilale late but night, found this medieval marvel through Ihe kindness kind-ness of tlio station inuHter and was riHonnoltorlng with my usual caution when I saw a gentleman romantically entering through Ihe open w'ndow" lirry paused flight a fresh cigarette. cigar-ette. "You alwavs did havo a way of arriving ar-riving oppoitiinely, (lo on!" (TO UK CO.VTINUKU) |