The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson (good ebook reader .TXT) đ
- Author: Meredith Nicholson
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clasped the wire screen of the lantern, held my gaze for
a second. The red tam-oâ-shanter that I had associated
with her youth and beauty was tilted rakishly on one
side of her pretty head. To find her here, seeking, like
a thief in the night, for some means of helping Arthur
Pickering, was the bitterest drop in the cup. I felt as
though I had been struck with a bludgeon.
âI beg your pardon!â she said, and laughed. âThere
doesnât seem to be anything to say, does there? Well,
we do certainly meet under the most unusual, not to say
unconventional, circumstances, Squire Glenarm. Please
go away or turn your back. I want to get out of this
donjon keep.â
She took my hand coolly enough and stepped down
into the passage. Then I broke upon her stormily.
âYou donât seem to understand the gravity of what
you are doing! Donât you know that you are risking
your life in crawling through this house at midnight?
âthat even to serve Arthur Pickering, a life is a pretty
big thing to throw away? Your infatuation for that
blackguard seems to carry you far, Miss Devereux.â
She swung the lantern at armâs length back and forth
so that its rays at every forward motion struck my face
like a blow.
âIt isnât exactly pleasant in this cavern. Unless you
wish to turn me over to the lord high executioner, I will
bid you good night.â
âBut the infamy of thisâof coming in here to spy
upon meâto help my enemyâthe man who is seeking
plunderâdoesnât seem to trouble you.â
âNo, not a particle!â she replied quietly, and then,
with an impudent fling, âOh, no!â She held up the lantern
to look at the wick. âIâm really disappointed to
find that you were a little ahead of me, Squire Glenarm.
I didnât give you credit for so muchâperseverance.
But if you have the notesââ
âThe notes! He told you there were notes, did he?
The coward sent you here to find them, after his other
tools failed him?â
She laughed that low laugh of hers that was like the
bubble of a spring.
[Illustration: âI beg your pardon!â she said, and laughed.]
âOf course no one would dare deny what the great
Squire Glenarm says,â she said witheringly.
âYou canât know what your perfidy means to me,â I
said. âThat night, at the Armstrongsâ, I thrilled at
the sight of you. As you came down the stairway I
thought of you as my good angel, and I belonged to you,
âall my life, the better future that I wished to make
for your sake.â
âPlease donât!â And I felt that my words had
touched her; that there were regret and repentance in
her tone and in the gesture with which she turned from
me.
She hurried down the passage swinging the lantern
at her side, and I followed, so mystified, so angered by
her composure, that I scarcely knew what I did. She
even turned, with pretty courtesy, to hold the light for
me at the crypt stepsâa service that I accepted perforce
and with joyless acquiescence in the irony of it.
I knew that I did not believe in her; her conduct as to
Pickering was utterly indefensibleâI could not forget
that; but the light of her eyes, her tranquil brow, the
sensitive lips, whose mockery stung and pleased in a
breathâby such testimony my doubts were alternately
reinforced and disarmed. Swept by these changing
moods I followed her out into the crypt.
âYou seem to know a good deal about this place, and
I suppose I canât object to your familiarizing yourself
with your own property. And the notesâIâll give myself
the pleasure of handing them to you to-morrow.
You can cancel them and give them to Mr. Pickeringâ
a pretty pledge between you!â
I thrust my hands into my pockets to give an impression
of ease I did not feel.
âYes,â she remarked in a practical tone, âthree hundred
and twenty thousand dollars is no mean sum of
money. Mr. Pickering will undoubtedly be delighted
to have his debts canceledââ
âIn exchange for a life of devotion,â I sneered. âSo
you knew the sumâthe exact amount of these notes.
He hasnât served you well; he should have told you that
we found them to-day.â
âYou are not nice, are you, Squire Glenarm, when you
are cross?â
She was like Olivia now. I felt the utter futility of
attempting to reason with a woman who could become
a child at will. She walked up the steps and out into
the church vestibule. Then before the outer door she
spoke with decision.
âWe part here, if you please! AndâI have not the
slightest intention of trying to explain my errand into
that passage. You have jumped to your own conclusion,
which will have to serve you. I advise you not
to think very much about itâto the exclusion of more
important businessâSquire Glenarm!â
She lifted the lantern to turn out its light, and it
made a glory of her face, but she paused and held it
toward me.
âPardon me! You will need this to light you home.â
âBut you must not cross the park alone!â
âGood night! Please be sure to close the door to the
passage when you go down. You are a dreadfully heedless
person, Squire Glenarm.â
She flung open the outer chapel-door, and ran along
the path toward St. Agathaâs. I watched her in the
starlight until a bend in the path hid her swift-moving
figure.
Down through the passage I hastened, her lantern
lighting my way. At the Door of Bewilderment I closed
the opening, setting up the line of wall as we had left
it in the afternoon, and then I went back to the library,
freshened the fire and brooded before it until Bates came
to relieve me at dawn.
BESIEGED
It was nine oâclock. A thermometer on the terrace
showed the mercury clinging stubbornly to a point above
zero; but the still air was keen and stimulating, and
the sun argued for good cheer in a cloudless sky. We
had swallowed some breakfast, though I believe no one
had manifested an appetite, and we were cheering ourselves
with the idlest talk possible. Stoddard, who had
been to the chapel for his usual seven oâclock service, was
deep in the pocket Greek testament he always carried.
Bates ran in to report a summons at the outer wall,
and Larry and I went together to answer it, sending
Bates to keep watch toward the lake.
Our friend the sheriff, with a deputy, was outside
in a buggy. He stood up and talked to us over the wall.
âYou gents understand that Iâm only doing my duty.
Itâs an unpleasant business, but the court orders me to
eject all trespassers on the premises, and Iâve got to
do it.â
âThe law is being used by an infamous scoundrel to
protect himself. I donât intend to give in. We can
hold out here for three months, if necessary, and I advise
you to keep away and not be made a tool for a man
like Pickering.â
The sheriff listened respectfully, resting his arms on
top of the wall.
âYou ought to understand, Mr. Glenarm, that I ainât
the court; Iâm the sheriff, and itâs not for me to pass
on these questions. Iâve got my orders and Iâve got to
enforce âem, and I hope you will not make it necessary
for me to use violence. The judge said to me, âWe deplore
violence in such cases.â Those were his Honorâs
very words.â
âYou may give his Honor my compliments and tell
him that we are sorry not to see things his way, but
there are points involved in this business that he doesnât
know anything about, and we, unfortunately, have no
time to lay them before him.â
The sheriffâs seeming satisfaction with his position
on the wall and his disposition to parley had begun to
arouse my suspicions, and Larry several times exclaimed
impatiently at the absurdity of discussing my
affairs with a person whom he insisted on calling a constable,
to the sheriffâs evident annoyance. The officer
now turned upon him.
âYou, sirâweâve got our eye on you, and youâd better
come along peaceable. Laurance Donovanâthe description
fits you to a âtâ.â
âYou could buy a nice farm with that reward,
couldnât youââ began Larry, but at that moment Bates
ran toward us calling loudly.
âTheyâre coming across the lake, sir,â he reported,
and instantly the sheriffâs head disappeared, and as we
ran toward the house we heard his horse pounding down
the road toward St. Agathaâs.
âThe law be damned. They donât intend to come in
here by the front door as a matter of law,â said Larry.
âPickeringâs merely using the sheriff to give respectability
to his manoeuvers for those notes and the rest
of it.â
It was no time for a discussion of motives. We ran
across the meadow past the water tower and through the
wood down to the boat-house. Far out on the lake we
saw half a dozen men approaching the Glenarm grounds.
They advanced steadily over the light snow that lay upon
the ice, one man slightly in advance and evidently the
leader.
âItâs Morgan!â exclaimed Bates. âAnd thereâs Ferguson.â
Larry chuckled and slapped his thigh.
âObserve that stocky little devil just behind the leader?
Heâs my friend from Scotland Yard. Lads! this
is really an international affair.â
âBates, go back to the house and call at any sign of
attack,â I ordered. âThe sheriffâs loose somewhere.â
âAnd Pickering is directing his forces from afar,â
remarked Stoddard.
âI count ten men in Morganâs line,â said Larry, âand
the sheriff and his deputy make two more. Thatâs
twelve, not counting Pickering, that we know of on the
other side.â
âWarn them away before they get much nearer,â suggested
Stoddard. âWe donât want to hurt people if
we can help it,ââand at this I went to the end of the
pier. Morgan and his men were now quite near, and
there was no mistaking their intentions. Most of them
carried guns, the others revolvers and long ice-hooks.
âMorgan,â I called, holding up my hands for a truce,
âwe wish you no harm, but if you enter these grounds
you do so at your peril.â
âWeâre all sworn deputy sheriffs,â called the caretaker
smoothly. âWeâve got the law behind us.â
âThat must be why youâre coming in the back way,â
I replied.
The thick-set man whom Larry had identified as the
English detective now came closer and addressed me in
a high key.
âYouâre harboring a bad man, Mr. Glenarm. Youâd
better give him up. The American law supports me,
and youâll get yourself in trouble if you protect that
man. You may not understand, sir, that heâs a very
dangerous character.â
âThanks, Davidson!â called Larry. âYouâd better
keep out of this. You know Iâm a bad man with the
shillalah!â
âThat you are, you blackguard!â yelled the officer,
so spitefully that we all laughed.
I drew back to the boat-house.
âThey are not going to kill anybody if they can help
it,â remarked Stoddard, âany more than we are. Even
deputy sheriffs are not turned loose to do murder, and
the Wabana County Court wouldnât, if it hadnât been
imposed on by Pickering, lend itself to a game like
this.â
âNow weâre in for it,â yelled Larry, and the twelve
men, in close order, came running across the ice toward
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