Show lasiw las mw the ILM blue 1 k circle N Q Q K 2 by xa ELIZABETH JORDAN x x Y X 0 by the th century co service MADAME incapacitated mentally by beshock shOck as a result of experiences perien ces during the world war renshaw makes a proposition to david campbell wealthy elderly man of leisure that for or a year he assume responsibility for him renshaw practically buy him doctor stanley lifelong life long friend of campbells indorses endorses Indor ses the proposition which campbell with some natural misgivings accepts the arrangement Is that the young man become an inmate of the campbell household with the nominal duty of secretary renshaw meets meats verity campbells Camp bellu granddaughter and gets the impression that she does no like him jenks jenka the butler renshaw also ale feels Is ID distinctly hostile renshaw ham haa a feeling that the servants ser vanta are a spying on him jenks warns him that there are queer things going on in the house that night he Is disturbed by the appearance on the wall of his room of a small email blue circle of light mysterious noises in the tha corridor ou outside belde telde his door causo him to investigate but he discovers nothing unusual lite his employer asks him to ignore anything he be does not understand CHAPTER III continued 7 renshaw henshaw hesitated everything had been so BO normal so human so reassuring this morning that the experience of the previous night the noise of that crawling thing in the corridor already like a dream still this if ever was the time to speak nothing of importance lie he said slowly merely some soine unusual noises in the hall unusual noises what kind or of noises why rather ns if a very heavy weight were heing being dragged along that kind of thing renshaw spoke unwillingly lie he felt and looked rather foolish perhaps something was campbell was himself again smiling his charmingly whimsical smile theres a lot of work to be done in this house possibly a trunk wits was being moved but it was midnight camphell campbell raised his eyebrows then he be laughed im afraid were magnifying trifles he said good but ill say this much before we ve drop the subject we have no reason to fear anything that Is in the house and personally I 1 dont believe we have anything to fear from outside dut but if you should at any time seo see suspicious looking individuals lurking around in the grounds or on the road let me know he broke off with it a grimace it sounds like melodrama rania it but the fact Is I 1 suppose weve got to keep our eyes open very well sir our understanding Is that nothing unusual I 1 observe inside the house is to be reported but that if I 1 see anything suggestive outside I 1 am to tell you about it Is that right I 1 yes I 1 think so I 1 dont see how anything understood he decided more briskly and opening the door passed ali through rough left alone renshaw swung the typewriter up to the be top of the desk turned the ancill key dint held it in place there und and resolutely reso lutey attacked his mall mail it was good to have real work to do and to know that he could do it IL it was good to feel that he was earning his way A mild surprise awaited him at noon lie he entered the tit dining room a few minutes after the lie summons of the luncheon bell and found not only campbell verty verity and mrs pardee at the table but a strange woman settled seated tit at the lie right of the host she wai was a gracious and even majestic woman with a figure of the late forties the snowwhite snow white cintr of severity seventy and a dark face and s brilliant eyes that might have been thirty five she blie graciously inclined her head when the young man was presented but did not speak renshaw Kens liaw bowed and took his place lu in equal silence this it appeared was madame whose passage to europe on the twenty second lie had bad just engaged he immediately decided that she was in some way a figure in the mystery to which campbell and stanley had referred she looked looted the part parl the most moat casual fiance at hershower her showed that she die had bad been and possibly was still till undergoing der going a severe nerv nervous ous strain abe started uncontrollably at the lightest sounds bounds her brilliant eyes held a look of anxiety that at changed to fear benr studying her ono one thought of diplomacy and in of spies of nihilisms nihilists NUIl lists of all the rest of the horde that make for action and movement in modern fiction and drama it was almost a relief to rest his eye on verity though his dislike of her had bad increased since their morning encounter but at least there was no mystery about her she was discussing a new opera with madame hooes let lef music seemed a passion common to thun them both at Ren shaws left mrs pardee poured liar her inevitable plaintive monologue into tile the young mans ear its all wrong site she was saying and ive told my brother so from them the first whatever happens he cant say any that hut I 1 warned him but always the way with davy I 1 never knew him to see anything that was coining until it come came though ive spent my abole life one ohe might say showing him the handwriting on the wall renshaw pricked up his ears this sounded more interesting than most of mrs airs pardeep Par dees talk ile he had lost her introductory sentences in his interest in this superb foreigner across the table able but another moment revealed the fact that mrs pardeep Par dees topic was the sugar shortage age that followed the end of the war her idea of meeting the sho abor toge tage it appeared was to fill the cellars of ker with barrels of sugar there was space in the sto storeroom for an enormous supply renshaw bent his head with grove grave attention but lie he ceased to hear her ile he had returned to his bis own thoughts which when they had their way with him swung him baal to the words of jenks queer things happen in the old house sir air it if you hear anything odd ile he set his teeth for some reason his mood of peace of acceptance of complacent outlook hod had changed again ile he was conscious of an intense and increasing sense of uneasiness on an uneasiness that almost took the lie form of a dread of the coming coining night chapter IV tha thing back in tile the study renshaw Rens liaw hurled himself into his work the pile of finished letters lettera nt at his bis side steadily bunted mounted and renshaw poring over ills his notes or back bent above the typewriter recalled campbells Comp combined combined instructions and confidences with a touch of the lie newborn new born appreciation he had felt in tile the hour of receiving them As ench each letter was typewritten bo be settled back in ME chair to read it and after ten or fifteen minutes of this he made a gratifying discovery those letters following campbells orders but written in Ren shaws words were not perfunctory affairs they were short businesslike and to th the 0 p point allt but without exception they were worded exactly as campbell and not renshaw would have worded them whether they consisted of two typewritten lines or twelve they held the essence of the personality of david campbell taking this in renshaw puckered his lips in a noiseless whistle and then very slowly and stiffly grinned the thing he be had find done had bad been done by that part of his brain which lie he had not used for two years the alie achievement was clever really artistic he wondered whether campbell would appreciate pre preci clate ate it and even eten before the thought had shaped itself knew that he would no one would appreciate it more promptly or fully fallt than Cc nobell with the finis finished lied letters in bis hands he went to the living room it was almost ten time and lie expected to find lite he old raan there before the fire fird ile he was not disappointed campbell was not alone however and as renshaw Rens linw took in the slender figure of verity perched on the arm of her grandfathers big chair the he eyes of the secretary narrowed ue he was absurdly annoyed by the presence ence of miss campbell ula his momentary self died as he crossed the room 1 I beg your pardon sir air he be said raid stiffly but would you ion like to glance over these letters before I 1 nall mall them or shall I 1 campbell extended ills his hand 1 I will look at them lie quickly perhaps it would be better to leave thein with me half an hour his last words trailed into an indistinct murmur ule his eyes were already running down donn the letter that topped the he pile walt wait a moment please he added hart lite chauffeur takes the mall mail to wainly at five perhaps Perli apa we cau rush these through better drink your tea while I 1 look over them verity my dear please ring for jenks he was reading as he spoke now he be handed his granddaughter two of the letters she took them with an air of surprise ran her eyes down the typewritten lines and ambled and you said bald boj dIc dictate I 1 she lie teased j 1 I cant I 1 campbell wis w is running over some rome ot 4 the remaining lett letters hastily but wit with h obvious interest once or twice he smiled a little five minutes later he handed banded verity another letter it was the longest in the collection filling two thirds of abage with eyebrows raised and add a little twist of tile the lips that was oddly like her grandfathers she read it and handed it back As sho elio did so she glanced at renshaw but lie was unconscious of the look ills dark face wore its most somber bomber expression pres slon he was a closed and shuttered habitation of which his bis soul had bad drawn down the blinds campbell Cain handed banded him the mass of letters all right he said we con can catch the mall mail very comfortably perhaps you would like to drive over to the station with hart though of course theres no need of IL it but you might like the air and to see a bit of the country why not have hart drive you around for an hour or a sc before dinner thank yon clr eli perhaps I 1 will renshaw ranshaw was turning to leave the room when the old mans voice stopped him a very interesting thing youve done he said nodding toward the letters the other did not pretend to alaun der stand they wrote themselves lie said 1 I realize till I 1 rend read them that I 1 had been impersonating you it if you would rattier rather have tile me do them more formally campbell shook his hend head its an amazingly clover clever pl of work lie he said im quite convinced that I 1 dictated every one of them done exactly the way I 1 should have done them if I 1 could 1 when the door lind closed behind tho the new secretary campbell crossed the tha tips of ills his thin old fingers and past them into the fire theres a man mail inside that fellow he said slowly ue shows allows it in hla his work ile he does doea not show allow it anywhere else verity unkindly observed my first impression of him Is deepening every hour hes uncanny ile he makes me think of a ghost who alio hates his job of being a ghost site she shivered a little dont anik about him bleil I 1 she begged Rens linw ills letters signed and sealed went to the hie garnge in search of linart lie ho found him testing the engine of a four sent seat roadster the chauffeur was about the ago age of james he had sleek brown hair and tho thin lipped unsmiling mouth that seem ed characteristic of the servants in tile the campbell menage ile he canie forward at once to receive the young mans message messi ige and his thin unsmiling face held a look of respectful readiness my name Is renshaw said the newcomer yes air hart art saluted with n finger to hi his semis bare bara head bead the salute had bad a saml DI military quality ive a lot of letters to go out and mr campbell suggests that I 1 drive to tile the station with you when youre ren ready dy very good sir air I 1 will be at the door in five minutes certainly the campbell servants were well trained danber dinber that night was cheerful almost gay madame had thrown off the air of strain renshaw had observed in her during their previous meeting and was putting her social gifts through their paces these gifts were unusual she was a really charming woman traveled sophisticated tolerant humorous and understanding she seemed to know everybody it was plain that she had moved in high places but though she talked well always and brilliantly at times she resolutely confined herself to impersonal topics her talk was the talk of lie he visitor to many lands landa when they hey returned to the living room verity verify sang again accompanied by the foreigner whose familiarity with the piano wee close and sympathetic by the lie fire david campbell and his sister listened and dozed and renshaw in his corner near the instrument ment felt again the untangling of verve knots otili the dep inner content this girls voice bad given him bun from the farst it was madame who finally y broke up tip tile the circle with a vague murmur about letters to be written renshaw accompanied her to the door and held beld it open she passed through with an inclination of the head but its as she reached the threshold the sa a lute ended in a quick forward jerk of command that motioned him into the hall he followed her closing the door of the living room as he be left it who in madame and what does doe she he want of renshaw this superb and mysterious foreign woman TO BE CONTINUED |