Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-05-17
CHAPTER ".

THE LOCKED DOOR.

! depression had so uIy;trrlOus and init
mate q connection with his powers of To-
comOtiOn that when anything troubled
him very mrch he was apt to content
himself with the ordinary rate of prog
ress. This afternoon his footsteps Jagged
ON every stair. He looked at his latch
| key abstractedly for several minutes be-
fore he placed it III the lock, and when
he did finally perform this operation it
was with Il savage thrust, as though he
wanted to stab the door. ItAwas not
quite dark when the key turned and he
went in.
"AhI' said DIR. Lamar from his chair
by the bedside in the windowless alcove
room, looking ont between the looped
curtains az the artist entered You are
here at last! am glad you have come.
DR.. Bently has just been down from the
hospital. He is almost as much interest
ed III the case as your worthy sister, and
I don't be surprised if you see me carried
away by the same craze. He says he
thinks there's a slight change i'll the pa
tient ; mental condition
Does that mean good asked the
artist.
His sister answered quickly:
OF course!
''Oh, possibly" substituted the eau
tious physician. You must not let your
wishes dictate your conclusions SO large
", Miss Maxey You will make very
probable disappointment much more
keen by so doing. Now. l don't always
say what l think, you know, but you are
my friends, and cannot feel like II pro-
fesSiUnal man i'll this hrIsc, and must
tell You that this ca:,c Is developing some
of the most remarkable mental phenom-
era l ever met with. Whether they
are symptoms of 4 curious brain disease
or simply "reminiscences of the normal
mental condition of the patient, l am
unable at present To decide. DR.. Bently
is Is much in the dark as myself, and
when Dr. Bcntly hesitates in case of
this kind it is of little use to inquire
further We have been making some in
tercSting experiments in your absence.
And that reminds me that Miss MaSey
said you went out for specific purpose.
Have they learned anything? What about
the letter they found on the beach yes
terday:'
"Learnedr' echoed Maxey impatient
" rs his sister helped him off with his
coat, after which it appeared that both
his hair and his necktie were in n terri
bic state. Learned! What could you
expect of such an exasperating affair as
this: Is there anything about it like any
thing else you ever heard of? Does any
body concerned i'll it do anything that q
rational being would expect him to do?
Not u bit of it. Mark my word, now, If
the thing ever does come out, it Will be
Just what nobody thought it was. But
may be shot if 1 believe we arc ever go
in:s to know any more about it than we
do at present. Our only hope is that the
girl will get we'll enough to tell US, and
she wont. know very well she Won't -
"But the letter, Julian" urged his
siat.r Surely the letter -
The letter." echoed the cXasperated
Maxvy. The letter is just like every
timing cl>u-:l mystery. The letter leads
iu.,t where the footsteps i'll the snow did
-uowhyrc.
But oven they gave us a hint Of the
direction the 1iend went, " said the sis
ter. "Oh, l think they are acting terri
bly, stupid i'll this affair! If could get
out ROW, 1 believe 1 could do some
thing
Il believe you could do wonders, Of
course, - returned Maxey little spite
fully, for he was still suffering the keen
ness of his disappointment. But l
would like to be informed, for instance,
what you would do in this case?"
DO? would hunt up that Mrs. Hap
good who wrote that letter if l had to
question every man, woman and child
in the city to do so.
''Of course you would, and so would
anybody That is just what the police
did do. Only they were sane enough to
look in the directory instead of attempt
ing the catechising. Why, they had a
gentleman in conversation with Mrs.
Hapgood before the letter had been in
their hands an hour.
Then there is such Il person. cried
the doctor and Miss Maxey together.
"Oh, yes, there is, but she never
heard of or saw the letter before, and,
what is more, she is not acquainted with
any Annette and has not a single friend
or foe to her knowledge missing or tc
whom such a letter could be written Oh
such an accident possible. And as this
Mrs. Hapgood is very worthy and re
spectacle old lady indeed, it is no use
to say she would lie about such an af
fair. Nou see, l couldn't believe it sec
ondhand, and | have been to see hel
myself, and that's the result "
Maxcy flung his gloves modify OIL
the center table and dropped himself
with disguised expression into an easy
chair, which his sister had wheeled il
front Of the CRATE.
How very strangev' cried Mis-
Maxey.
well, ism { it in perfect keeping with
all the rest? l was so exasperated t.
think it should turn ont in that way
| that l hardly spoke to the old lady civ
| lily. l know her, or rather know of her
| too She's n sort of an amateur artist
and I've met her before. She was quit
upset and distressed at the idea tina
anybody should think of connecting he
| name with what she called that shocking
affair and cried out, oh, they won
put my name in the papers, will they?
| ! showed her the letter, and she let In
| see some specimens of her handwriting
There was no sort of similarity between
them. Shes a we'll meaning old soul a
ever lived, and I'm sorry disturbed her
! That's all But it's terribly exasperat
ing"
But, Julian, dear" pleaded his sis
ter, there must be some mistake. Their
must be some other Mrs. Hapgood
"Oh, without doubt, dozens of Mrs
Agatha G. Hapgoodsl Why, there ism
a Hapgood family in Somerset and neve
has been, and the old lady assures m
that there isn't another Agatha G. t.
her knowledge in existence. "
"At any rate" Ellen insisted, wv
have learned one thing beyond doubt
We know the poor girls name. In goot
time we shall know everything. Annett
will get well, am sure of it"
| But Maxey did not want to be cum