The Columbus journal., 1888-07-25

i OIL, WQll0 ne QOSplCdOly pIoSScQ IL upon
me, with q freedom which surprised me. Il
was this, l imagined, which led him to talk,
in q Dragging and boastful tone not habitual
to him, Of the wealth which had rewarded
the labor Of his earlier years, and of sundry
past achievements of industry n applica-
ton of which he had never before made men
ton. The more he drank the faster he
talked, and I was not surprised when his
self laudation took another and more Of
| fensive form, and he began to enlarge upon
his own strength Of mind n purpose as
opposed to the weakness and mental deficiency
OF those with whom he came in contact. 1t
would have been the easiest thing in the
world to pick q quarrel with him, hut / was
sincerely grateful to him for one thing, and
tor another / was satisfied he had taken more
han was good for him. l was not sorry,
however, when as 10 O'Clock ~struck-the
olitary game of cribbage, for which the
ong monologue to which he had treated me
oCsly-he suggested that / should retire early
and make a long night of it.
You look as if you had not slept for a
week" he added complementary, land NY
pipe is good enough company for me-better
than most: You'll find everything ready for
You upstairs"
heard and obeyed, and that night l slept
like a top, SO soundly, indeed, that when the
old servant came to call me in the morning
| was only awakened to the fact of his
presence by an agitated appeal to me to
arouse myself. The scared expression of the
mans face, and the concern and trepidation
to which it bore evidence, effectualiy re-
called my scattered senses, and l sprang up
in bed eagerly demanding what was smiSs.
The MASTER" he gasped out; "what Las
come to the master! He is not in his room
he has not slept in it. He is nowhere in the
~house-nowhere about the place. What can
have come to himF"
His wife was close at his heels, echoing the
inquiry with a look in her face not less
which there mingled a strange suspicious
ness, which even in the shock of thu an
nouncement which had Just been made to
mo l could not but mark and resent. INV
i'm heavens name should l known I de-
manded angrily. SLOW long is it since you
missed him, and where have you looked for
him: He was having a pipe in the dining
room when l came up last night.
You must have seen him later than that. He
went round with you last thing, l suppose,
as he did the night before-as l understand
him he always did"
Not always If he gets any sleep in the
daytime worth speaking of, he won't GO up
at his usual time. He'll 60 round by himself
then later on, but do my duty by the house
and by him Just the same. / did it last
night. l saw to the doors and shutters rs
usual, and | put up the chain n bolted and
barred the hail door, could not have slep:
in my bed else-and this morning l found the
chain down and the bolts drawn. Lisa here
would have had me go straight to the police
to set them to find him, but l thought there
might have been something in his talk last
night might put us on the track. I've been
with him these forty years and I've never
seen him as l saw him last night. He is not
used to strangers, and he is too old to change
his ways. He was wandering about yester-
day, and talking to himself-Lisa heard him,
and If any harm has come to him its the
worry and excitement will nave done it" the
old man wound up viciously.
Before l went to the police, l would send
to your masters other house." 1 said
my mind as 1 listened to him very
wildly the half veiled taunts and
ieers to which l had been subjected the
night before, and, with the recollection Of
them, there flashed upon it the possibility
that, wrathful and disappointed at my fail
ure, he had resolved to face the mystery.
prepared, however, for the effect Of the suS-
gestion upon the ola couple. They stood, as
it were, transfxed, exchanging a look full of
terror and apprehension
The other house!' they murmured. Gone
to the other house!"
The woman was the first to recover herself.
81 don't believe you, master! You're trying
to brighten US. Don't listen to hlm, Jan. He
knows better than that Mynheer Andrew has
gone there, and so do We"
1T is there l shall 60 to look for him, at
any rate,"I replied. "As to you, you can
please yourselves, so long as You leave me to
turn out and get into my clothes"
made no long business Of my toilet, being,
as may be supposed, anything but easy or
happy in my mind. Rather to my surprise, af-
ter the tone she had adopted to me upstairs, 1
found Lisa waiting below to insist upon my
swallowing some hot coffee before l left the
house, and to tell me that Jan had preceded
me to the Cedars.
Il was hasty just now," she said, and l
ask your pardon, but l would sooner nave
found the master dead in his bed than that
he should be where you say he is. Better
dead in his right minds thousand times
better-than alive with us here, out Of it:
ana out Of it he will ha' been before ever he
went to the old house. You don't know
there's nobody knows but us three-there are
those that have seen, but they don't under
stand. l tell you l would sooner l never saw
him a~gain-though God knows how it would
he with us without him-than that he should
he found So"
1t was with this comforting assurance that
l set forth. There was no time for thought;
what was required of me was action, and l
Gid not let the grass grow under m feet. l
met the old Dutchman just outside the gate
board Of Ny Won noc4arn,,n Ell, n,
- -. &c NAM Iuete. ne
me- o "o 'o' q W
81 am not satisfied ,o.r1 said at .h,u
No. Ia sat;ssaJ "n,;i Snon = s. .ha
house. Won can come h,cl With ma "r nnt
as you like"
lie did come back with me-, though that he
thought me headstrong, If not MORE and that
his opinion was shared by the Minchins, was
evident enough. What strange intuition
possessed me l do not know, but what had
been at first no more than an idea had grown
into a conviction. l felt sure l should find
my host In the room l had myself occupied
the previous night. In vain did they try to
persuade Inc that even had Mr.. Van Decker
mann been insane enough to let himself ipto
the house at midnight in midwinter, his en-
try could not have been made without arous-
ing them. l was bent upon taking my own
way, and they had no alternative but to fol-
low me.
At the door of the room l paused and list
ened. l could hear nothing, l was about
10 open it-when, as l laid my hand upon it,
/ was arrested by the sound of a low, pro
lonsed laugh proceeding from within. 1t
was succeeded by a sharp cry behind me, and
an exclamation in his native tonpua fiji Of