The Elbert County tribune., 1907-06-06
CHAPTER x.
An Affair With the caretaker.
Copyright 1906 by Bobbs-nsrrili u


ale at midnight.
III there's nothing more. sir"
THAT is all, Bates" And he went
off sedately to his own quarters.
] was restless and in no mood for
bed, and mourned the lack of variety
In my grandfather's library. l moved
about from shelf to shelf, taking down
one book after another. and while thus
engaged came upon a series OF large
volumes extra illustrated in wafer col
ors of unusual beauty. They occupied
a lower shelf, and l sprawled on the
floor like a boy with new picture
book in my absorption. piling the
great volumes about me. They were
on related subjects pertaining to the
French cnateaux.
In the last volume ! found a sheet
of white note paper no larger than
my hand, forgotten book mark, as
sumed, and half crumpled II in my fin
gers before | noticed the lines of a
pencil sketch on one side of it. i car
ried IL to the table and spread Ii out.
1t was not the bit of idle penciling
1t had appeared to be at first sight. A
the lines drawn with a ruler. With
such trifies my grandfather had no
doubt amused himself. There WIS a
long corridor indicated, but of this |
could make nothing | studied it for
several minutes. thinking 1t might
have been tentative sketch of some
part of the house. In turning it about
under the candelabrum | saw that In
several places the glaze had been
rubbed from the paper by an eraser
and this piqued my curiosity.
brought magnifying glass to bear
upon the sketch. The drawing had
been made with hard pencil and the
eraser had removed the lead, but
well defined imprint remained.
/ was able to make out the letters.
N. w. y to Ca reference clearly
enough to points of the compass and
n distance. The word ravine was
scrawled over a rough outline of a
doorway or opening of some sort, and
then the phrase:
THE DOOR OF BEWILDERMENT.
Now l am rather an imaginative
person; that is why engineering cap
tured my fancy. 1t was his efforts
to make an architect Ia person who
quarrels with women about their
kitchen sinksD of boy who wanted
to be an engineer that caused me to
break with my grandfather. Fate was
busy with my affairs that night, for,
instead of lighting my pipe with the
little sketch ! was strangely impelled
to study 1t seriously.
! drew for myself rough outlines of
the interior of Glenarm House as it
had appeared to me, and then | tried
to reeoncile the little sketch with ev-
cry part of it.
The Door of Bewilderment" was
the charm that held me. My curiosity
was thoroughly aroused as to the hid
den corners of the queer old house.
round which the wind shrieked tor
mentingly. / went to my room, put
on my corduroy coat, took a candle
and went below. One o'clock in the
morning is not the most cheering
hour for exploring the dark recesses
of a strange house, but l had resolved
to have look at the ravine opening
and determine, If possible. whether 1t
bore any relation to The Door of Be
wilderment"
All was quiet in the great cellar;
only here and there an area window
ratified dolorously. | carried a tape
line with me and made measurements
of the length and depth of the corri.
dor and of the chambers that were set
off from it. These figures entered in
my notebook for further use, and sat
down on an empty nail keg to reflect
The place was certainly substantial
the candle at my feet burned steadily
with no hint of a draft; but saw nc
solution of my problem. was losing
sleep for nothing; my grandfather
sketch was meaningless, and l rose
and picked up my candle. yawning.
Then curious thing happened. The
candle, whose thin fame had risen un
waveringly, sputtered and went out as
a sudden gust swept the corridor.
/ had left nothing open behind me
but some one had gained ingress to
the cellar by an opening of which ]
knew nothing.
i faced the stairway that led up tc
tht pdNh nan vi inc houSt NHtl, u
my astonishment, steps sounded be
hind me, and, turning, | saw q mar
carrying a lantern coming toward me
marked his careless step; he was
undoubtedly on familiar ground. As
watched him he paused. lifted the Ian
tern to level with his eyes and be
gan sounding the outer corridor wal
with a hammer.
Here. undoubtedly, was my friend
Morgan-again, There was the same
perfodicity in the beat on the wal
that | had heard in my own rooms
He began at the top and went method