Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-03-02
(Continued from last week.


my hand a forgotten book mark ] as
sumed, and half crumpled it in my fin
gers before | noticed the lines Of a
pencil sketch on one side Of it. ear
ried ii to the table and spread II out
1t was not the bit Of idle pencilIng
At had appeared 10 be at first sight.
scale had evidently been followed and
the lines drawn with a ruler With
such trifies my grandfather had no
doubt amused himself There was a
long corridor indicated but of this /
could make nothing ] studied it for
several minutes, thinking it might
have been a 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 a magnifying glass TO bear
upon the sketch. The drawing had
been made with a hard pencil and the
eraser had removed the lead. but
well defined imprint remained.
| was able to make out the letters.
enough to points of tile compass and
a distance The word rayine was
scrawled over a rough outline of
doorway or opening of some sort. and
then the phrase:
THE DOOR OF BEWILDERMENT
Now | am rather an imaginative
person: that is why engineering cap
&s.rA Fnt . xasaa u tie ..fq,
to make an architect Ga person who
quarrels with women about their
kitchen sinks,) of d 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
10 study it seriously.
drew for myself rough outlines OF
the interior of Glenarm House as it
had appeared TO me, and then | tried
TO reconcile 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 had resolved
to have look at the ravine opening
g 49, II. -
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 tape
line with me and made measurements
of the length and depth of the eorri-
dor and of the chambers that were set
on 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 draft; but | saw no
solution of my problem. I was losing
sleep for nothing: my grandfather's
sketch was meaningless, and | rose
and picked up my candle yawning.
Then curious thing happened. The
candle. whose thin fame had risen I'M
waveringly, sputtered and went out as
a sudden gust swept the corridor
l had left nothing open behind me,
but some one had gained ingress to
the cellar by an opening of which |
knew nothing
! faced the stairway that led up to
the back hall of the house when, to
my establishment. steps sounded be-
hind me, and. turning, | saw a man
carrying a lantern coming toward me.
I marked his careless step; he was
undoubtedly on familiar ground AS
watched him he paused, lifted the Ian
tern to a level with his eyes and be-
gan sounding the outer corridor wall
with hammer.
Here, undoubtedly, was my friend
Morgan-again! There was the same
periodicity in the beat on the wall
that | had heard In my own rooms.
He began at the top and went method
ically to the floor leaned against
the wall where | stood and watched
/ the slow approach Of the lantern. The
small revolver with which | had first
fired at his flying figure in the wood
was in my pocket. Ii was just as
well 10 have ii out with the fellow
now. My chances were as good as
his, though | confess | did not relish
the thought of being found dead the
next morning in the cellar of my own
house. II pleased my humor to let him
approach in this way, unconscious that
he was watched. until I should thrust
my pistol into his face
His arms grew tired when he was
about ten feet from me and he
dropped the lantern and hammer to
his side and swore under his breath
impatiently.
Then he began again with greater
zeal. AS he came nearer studied his
face in the lanterns light with inter