The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-16
THE GATES OF CHANCE.

the house and the door closed behind
us. Our introducer turned up the gas
in the old-fashiened hall chandelier,
and favored us with perfunctory
stare. New members, ehi" he grunt-
ed, and turned away as though it were
matter of entire Indifference to him.
But Indiman spoke up quickly;
Pardon me-" he began, with the
sweetest suavity. Il was afraid for the
moment that we had got into the
wrong place. This is the deli
cately suggestive pause.
THE Utinam club supplied the
other
Exactly" said Indiman. in most
relieved tone. TT is the Utinam,
Therp," he continued, turning to me.
Now I had not the smallest notion OF
what the Utinam club might be, con-
sequently l. preserved discreet ST.
lence. Indiman addressed himself again
to our ungraeious eicerone. /
"A snug little, box you have here,
Mr.. err"
''Hoyt, sir-Colman Hoyt"
''Ah, yes-of north pole fame. You
are the man" &
WHO has led four expeditions to
reach it, and failed as often. That is,
my title to fame. And also my quail
ficatien for membership in Utinam
club" he added grimly.
"Ah, yeS-the discovery of the pole
A unique and delightful idea in club
dom-eh, Therp? To succeed"
mo, sir; to fail" interrupted Mr..
Hoyt, rudely. What the devil do you
suppose I am doing in this galley? You
must be a very new member of the
Utinam club
ITO tell the truth, Mr.. Hoyt," said
Indiman, with an air of engaging
frankness, Il have never, until this mo-
ment, even heard of the Utinam club.
But for all that 1 am convinced that 1
am about to become a member of it,
and I may say the same for my friend.
Mr.. Thorp. Now, possibly you may be
inclined to assist u.s."
Mr. Hoyt stared Its 3 pity, isn't
it," he remarked reflectively, that our
standard of eligibility doesn't conform
to that of your impudence. Still, /
won't say that it can't be done; this is
a proprietary club. you know. You had
better see DR.. Magnus."
''Dr. Magnus?"
"The proprietor of the Utinam club
Here he comes now"
A slight. gray-haired man of fifty or
thereabouts had entered the hall from
the rear and Immediately came forward
to meet US. His eyes were the eX-
traordinary feature of his face, pierre
nified by the spectacles that he wore.
The lenses of the latter were nearly an
eighth of an inch thick and evidently of
the highest power. Even with their aid
his powers of vision seemed imperfect.
On hearing the few words Of explana
ton vouchsafed by the unamiable Mr..
Hoyt, he drew from his pocket a Sec
ond and third pair of glasses and de-
liberately added both to his original
nnfinai o0IIinJl1pnt / Ennw that I felt
like a fly under microscope in facing
that formidable battery OF lenses But
the scrutiny seemed to satisfy him; he
spoke courteously enough:
step into my Office, gentlemen, and
we will talk the matter over
Mr.. Colman Hoyt had departed with
out further formality, and we followed
our host into the room adjoining the
hall on the right. 1t looked like the
study of a man of science; charts and
globes and plaster of Paris casts were
everywhere, while the far end of the
apartment was occupied by huge,
+. flat-topped table covered with pa
pers, test tubes and glass slides. But
even more remarkable than its con-
tents was the room itself and its sin
gular architectural proportions at once
engaged my attention.
AS / have said. the house occupied
two twenty fve-foot city lots, but the
entrance and hall were at the extreme
right as one looks outward towards the
street. insead of being in the center,
as is usually the case. Consequently,
the room in which we stood (being I'M
divided by any interior partitions) ex-
tended the full width of the house, less
that of the entrance hall-forty feet,
let us say, in round numbers. But its
measurements in the other direction
were barely ten feet, the apartment
presenting the appearance of long,
low and narrow gallery. AT the back
were a row of five windows taking
light from the interior courtyard; in
brief, the house. imposing in its d.
mansions from the street side, was
little more than mask of masonry ex-
tremely ill-adapted for human habita-
ton, or indeed for any purpose. Step
ping to one of the rear windows,
looked out. and then the reason for this
extraordinary construction-or rather
Observation-Disclosures apparent
The lot was of the usual depth of
100 feet, and. being a double one. it
had a width of fifty. A large building
of gray stone occupied the farther end
of this inside space. the erection meas
uring about sixty feet in depth and