The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson (good ebook reader .TXT) đ
- Author: Meredith Nicholson
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it gave me a pleasant emotion. One of the Sisters I had
seen beyond the wall undoubtedly wrote itâpossibly
Sister Theresa herself. A clever woman, that! Thoroughly
capable of plucking money from guileless old
gentlemen! Poor Olivia! born for freedom, but doomed
to a pent-up existence with a lot of nuns! I resolved to
send her a box of candy sometime, just to annoy her
grim guardians. Then my own affairs claimed attention.
âBates,â I asked, âdo you know what Mr. Glenarm
did with the plans for the house?â
He started slightly. I should not have noticed it if
I had not been keen for his answer.
âNo, sir. I canât put my hand upon them, sir.â
âThatâs all very well, Bates, but you didnât answer
my question. Do you know where they are? Iâll put
my hand on them if you will kindly tell me where
theyâre kept.â
âMr. Glenarm, I fear very much that they have been
destroyed. I tried to find them before you came, to tell
you the whole truth, sir; but they must have been made
âway with.â
âThatâs very interesting, Bates. Will you kindly
tell me whom you suspect of destroying them? The
toast again, please.â
His hand shook as he passed the plate.
âI hardly like to say, sir, when itâs only a suspicion.â
âOf course I shouldnât ask you to incriminate yourself,
but Iâll have to insist on my question. It may
have occurred to you, Bates, that Iâm in a senseâin a
sense, mind youâthe master here.â
âWell, I should say, if you press me, that I fear
Mr. Glenarm, your grandfather, burned the plans when
he left here the last time. I hope you will pardon me,
sir, for seeming to reflect upon him.â
âReflect upon the devil! What was his idea, do you
suppose?â
âI think, sir, if you will pardonââ
âDonât be so fussy!â I snapped. âDamn your pardon,
and go on!â
âHe wanted you to study out the place for yourself,
sir. It was dear to his heart, this house. He set his
heart upon having you enjoy itââ
âI like the wordâgo ahead.â
âAnd I suppose there are things about it that he
wished you to learn for yourself.â
âYou know them, of course, and are watching me to
see when Iâm hot or cold, like kids playing hide the
handkerchief.â
The fellow turned and faced me across the table.
âMr. Glenarm, as I hope God may be merciful to me
in the last judgment, I donât know any more than you
do.â
âYou were here with Mr. Glenarm all the time he was
building the house, but you never saw walls built that
werenât what they appeared to be, or doors made that
didnât lead anywhere.â
I summoned all my irony and contempt for this arraignment.
He lifted his hand, as though making
oath.
âAs God sees me, that is all true. I was here to care
for the dead masterâs comfort and not to spy on him.â
âAnd Morgan, your friend, what about him?â
âI wish I knew, sir.â
âI wish to the devil you did,â I said, and flung out
of the room and into the library.
At eleven oâclock I heard a pounding at the great
front door and Bates came to announce a caller, who
was now audibly knocking the snow from his shoes in
the outer hall.
âThe Reverend Paul Stoddard, sir.â
The chaplain of St. Agathaâs was a big fellow, as I
had remarked on the occasion of his interview with
Olivia Gladys Armstrong by the wall. His light brown
hair was close-cut; his smooth-shaven face was bright
with the freshness of youth. Here was a sturdy young
apostle without frills, but with a vigorous grip that left
my hand tingling. His voice was deep and musicalâa
voice that suggested sincerity and inspired confidence.
âIâm afraid I havenât been neighborly, Mr. Glenarm.
I was called away from home a few days after I heard
of your arrival, and I have just got back. I blew in
yesterday with the snow-storm.â
He folded his arms easily and looked at me with
cheerful directness, as though politely interested in what
manner of man I might be.
âIt was a fine storm; I got a great day out of it,â I
said. âAn Indiana snow-storm is something I have
never experienced before.â
âThis is my second winter. I came out here because
I wished to do some reading, and thought Iâd rather do
it alone than in a university.â
âStudious habits are rather forced on one out here,
I should say. In my own case my course of reading
is all cut out for me.â
He ran his eyes over the room.
âThe Glenarm collection is famousâthe best in the
country, easily. Mr. Glenarm, your grandfather, was
certainly an enthusiast. I met him several times; he
was a trifle hard to meet,ââand the clergyman smiled.
I felt rather uncomfortable, assuming that he probably
knew I was undergoing discipline, and why my
grandfather had so ordained it. The Reverend Paul
Stoddard was so simple, unaffected and manly a fellow
that I shrank from the thought that I must appear to
him an ungrateful blackguard whom my grandfather
had marked with obloquy.
âMy grandfather had his whims; but he was a fine,
generous-hearted old gentleman,â I said.
âYes; in my few interviews with him he surprised
me by the range of his knowledge. He was quite able
to instruct me in certain curious branches of church
history that had appealed to him.â
âYou were here when he built the house, I suppose?â
My visitor laughed cheerfully.
âI was on my side of the barricade for a part of the
time. You know there was a great deal of mystery
about the building of this house. The country-folk
hereabouts canât quite get over it. They have a superstition
that thereâs treasure buried somewhere on the
place. You see, Mr. Glenarm wouldnât employ any local
labor. The work was done by men he brought from
afarânone of them, the villagers say, could speak English.
They were all Greeks or Italians.â
âI have heard something of the kind,â I remarked,
feeling that here was a man who with a little cultivating
might help me to solve some of my riddles.
âYou havenât been on our side of the wall yet? Well,
I promise not to molest your hidden treasure if youâll
be neighborly.â
âI fear thereâs a big joke involved in the hidden
treasure,â I replied. âIâm so busy staying at home to
guard it that I have no time for social recreation.â
He looked at me quickly to see whether I was joking.
His eyes were steady and earnest. The Reverend Paul
Stoddard impressed me more and more agreeably.
There was a suggestion of a quiet strength about him
that drew me to him.
âI suppose every one around here thinks of nothing
but that Iâm at Glenarm to earn my inheritance. My
residence here must look pretty sordid from the outside.â
âMr. Glenarmâs will is a matter of record in the
county, of course. But you are too hard on yourself.
Itâs nobodyâs business if your grandfather wished to
visit his whims on you. I should say, in my own case,
that I donât consider it any of my business what you
are here for. I didnât come over to annoy you or to
pry into your affairs. I get lonely now and then, and
thought Iâd like to establish neighborly relations.â
âThank you; I appreciate your coming very much,â
âand my heart warmed under the manifest kindness
of the man.
âAnd I hopeââhe spoke for the first time with restraint
ââI hope nothing may prevent your knowing
Sister Theresa and Miss Devereux. They are interesting
and charmingâthe only women about here of your
own social status.â
My liking for him abated slightly. He might be a
detective, representing the alternative heir, for all I
knew, and possibly Sister Theresa was a party to the
conspiracy.
âIn time, no doubt, in time, I shall know them,â I
answered evasively.
âOh, quite as you like!ââand he changed the subject.
We talked of many thingsâof outdoor sports,
with which he showed great familiarity, of universities,
of travel and adventure. He was a Columbia man and
had spent two years at Oxford.
âWell,â he exclaimed, âthis has been very pleasant,
but I must run. I have just been over to see Morgan,
the caretaker at the resort village. The poor fellow accidentally
shot himself yesterday, cleaning his gun or
something of that sort, and he has an ugly hole in his
arm that will shut him in for a month or worse. He
gave me an errand to do for him. Heâs a conscientious
fellow and wished me to wire for him to Mr. Pickering
that heâd been hurt, but was attending to his duties.
Pickering owns a cottage over there, and Morgan has
charge of it. You know Pickering, of course?â
I looked my clerical neighbor straight in the eye, a
trifle coldly perhaps. I was wondering why Morgan,
with whom I had enjoyed a duel in my own cellar only
a few hours before, should be reporting his injury to
Arthur Pickering.
âI think I have seen Morgan about here,â I said.
âOh, yes! Heâs a woodsman and a hunterâour Nimrod
of the lake.â
âA good sort, very likely!â
âI dare say. He has sometimes brought me ducks
during the season.â
âTo be sure! They shoot ducks at nightâthese
Hoosier huntersâso I hear!â
He laughed as he shook himself into his greatcoat.
âThatâs possible, though unsportsmanlike. But we
donât have to look a gift mallard in the eye.â
We laughed together. I found that it was easy to
laugh with him.
âBy the way, I forgot to get Pickeringâs address from
Morgan. If you happen to have itââ
âWith pleasure,â I said. âAlexis Building, Broadway,
New York.â
âGood! Thatâs easy to remember,â he said, smiling
and turning up his coat collar. âDonât forget me;
Iâm quartered in a hermitâs cell back of the chapel, and
I believe we can find many matters of interest to talk
about.â
âIâm confident of it,â I said, glad of the sympathy
and cheer that seemed to emanate from his stalwart
figure.
I threw on my overcoat and walked to the gate with
him, and saw him hurry toward the village with long
strides.
I EXPLORE A PASSAGE
âBates!ââI found him busy replenishing the candlesticks
in the libraryâit seemed to me that he was always
poking about with an armful of candlesââthere
are a good many queer things in this world, but I guess
youâre one of the queerest. I donât mind telling you
that there are times when I think you a thoroughly bad
lot, and then again I question my judgment and donât
give you credit for being much more than a doddering
fool.â
He was standing on a ladder beneath the great crystal
chandelier that hung from the center of the ceiling,
and looked down upon me with that patient injury
that is so appealing in a dogâin, say, the eyes of an
Irish setter, when you accidentally step on his tail.
That look is heartbreaking in a setter, but, seen in a
man, it arouses the direst homicidal feelings of which
I am capable.
âYes, Mr. Glenarm,â he replied humbly.
âNow, I want you to grasp this idea that Iâm going
to dig into
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