, 1908-02-13

may give me breakfast at seven-thirty;
luncheon at one-thirty and dinner ut
seven"
Those we're my late masters hours,
sir"
Very well. And I'll eat anything
you please, except mutton broth. meat
pie and AIMED strawberries. Straw
berries in tins. Bates, are not we'll cal
culated to lift the spirit of man"
Il quite agree with you, sir. II you
will pardon my opinion"
And the bills"
They are provided for by Mr.. Pick
ering. He sends me an allowance for
the household expenses"
so you are to report to him, are
you, as heretofore?"
blew out a match with which / had
lighted a cigar and watched the smok-
ing end %lntently.
Il believe that's the idea, sir"
It is not pleasant to be under com
pulsion,-to feel your freedom cur.
tailed, to be conscious of espionage.
| arose without a word and went into
the hall.
You may like to have the keys
said Bates, following me. There's two
for the gates in the outer wall and one
for the St. Agatha's gate: they're
marked. as you see. And here's the
hall door key and the boa house key
that you asked for last night"
After an hour spent in unpacking
wen out into the grounds. | thought
it well to wire Pickering of my arrival,
and l set out for Annandale to send
him a telegram.
| found the gate through which we
had entered the grounds the night be-
fore without difficulty, and started of
in an amiable state of mind. Iy per-
plexity over the mysterious lot was
passing away under the benign in
iuences of blue sky n warm sun
shine. A few farm folk passed me in
the highway and saluted me in the
fashion of the country. inspecting my
kpickerbockers at the same time with
frank disapproval. When | reached
the lake | gazed out upon its quiet
waters with satisfaction. At the foot
Of Annandale's main street was a
dock where several small steam craft
and a number Of catboats were being
dismantled for the winter. AS / passed
a man approached the dock in a skif,
at a quick pace, then turned and eyed
me with rustic directness.
Good morning." said. ANY ducks
about"
He paused. nodded and fell into step
with me.
"No,-not enough to pay for the
trouble"
I'm sorry for that. I'd hoped to
pick up a few"
81 guess you're a stranger in these
parts" he remarked, cycling me again,
my knickerbockers no doubt mark.
ing me al an alien.
Quite so. My name is Glenarm,
and I've Just come"
81 thought you might be him. We've
rather been expecting you here in the
village. I'm John Morgan. caretake,
Of the resorters' houses up the lake"
"a suppose you all knew my grand.
'2ther h~ereabnuts."
We'll. yes. YOU might say as we
did. or you might say as we didn't. He
wasn't just the sort that you got next
TO in a hurry. He kept pretty mu.a
to himself. He built a wall there to
keep us out. but he needn't have trou-
bled himself. We're not the kind
around here to NEEDLE, and you nay
be sure the summer people never both
cred him"
There was a o. of resentment in
his voice. and fastened to say:
I'm sure you're mistaken about the
purposes of that wall. My grandfather
was a student of architecture 1t was
a hobby of his. The house and wall
We're in the line of his experiments,
INT to please his whims. hope the
people Of the village won't hold any
hard feelings against his memory az