The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-13

At the turning in from the high ay
 smoky lantern was set upon the wall
 to prevent their missing the way | He's afeared we might tramp on the
 grass,' said young Barber, the driv- CT.
 | The doctor leaned from the. buggy as
 they crept toward the house, seized | with a sense of the weird loneliness | that hung over it. The boy, speak
 ing in low and somewhat awed tone,
 told him that Altenburg, since his wife
 ran away and left him, lived almost | alone. a deaf old housekeeper who did | all the indoor work, and a French
 Canadian, who slept in the barn and
 attended to out-of-door affairs, mak-
 ing up the household. It was evidence | of the care with which the village i looked after everybody's business that
 so much information could be had of such a household. Still it was con- | ceivable that if so fearful an accident had happened, there would be some
 unusual stir about the place, which serted. The boy felt the oppression
 and ceased his chatter.
 They were almost on to the house | | light from a candle sin an uncurtained | window. The boy whispered that it | was a window. of the kitchen. "Find shelter for the horse and l then come sto the kitchen,' said the doctor, as he stepped gingerly on to i the slippery doorstep. T can't tell l how long I'll be here.''
 He gave a rap with the old iron knocker, merely to signal his pres ence. for without waiting an answer, he pushed open the door and stepped into the kitchen. The door had not been closely shut, for a narrow wedge of seet lay along the floor and glisten- ed in the light of the feeble candle, which f1ared and threatened to go out before the sudden blast from the open ing door.
 Closing the door Grimbleshaw turn ed to study the situation holding the candle high above his head for that purpose. The room was dim and cav ernous, with a great gaping fireplace filling half the opposite side. The fur nishings were of the plainest, and so few as to give a still more empty look to the vast space. The carefully heap ed up ashes of the fireplace showed that the fire had been covered for the night.
 Under an instinct for. warmth and dryness the doctor crossed the room and raked open the ashes. Then, from meager pile by the chimney side he drew some pieces of pitch pine and stick or two of hickory. and in mo- ment or two had blaze that lighted
 
 able part of the gloom.
 Young Barber came stamping in and reported the barn locked. He had tied the horse in the shed and blank eted him.
 Thar hain't another light nowhar," he averred. 'SThey must be a-tendin' 1 that feller iii the dark"
 Grimbleshaw lighted second can dle- and opened the door leading to the main part of the house. The room he entered was even more scantily fur nished than the kitchen. It ran from side to side of the house. The floor was bare, save for a strip of rag car- pet that stretched diagonally to a door, beyond the great chimney, which open ed apparently to the front entryway. There was an old-fashioned secretary between the two front windows and half dozen cheap chairs. Besides these articles and and the shades to the windows, there was no pretense of furniture. On the wall, at the side of the secretary, and looking strangely out of place in such surroundings, was the telephone.
 Grimbleshaw's foot struck something that rolled off the carpet and rattled sharply over the bare floor. making hideous noise amid the intense silence that prevailed-, He held his light low and saw a battered tin candlestick, in which, by the grease that had gutter ed down the side, was held the end of a common dip. The odor of greasy smoke was still perceptible. /
 A drop of something fell from the stick as he raised it and spattered on his boot. A glance showed the stick covered with blood from a pool on the floor, into which it had rolled.
 Startled as Grimbleshaw was, he re- tained presence of mind to realize that sight of the blood would terrify the lad and it came to him that there might be that here to which he would want a witness. So he set down the stick and went on toward the hall door. As he opened this a sharp blast of wintry air struck his face, and on the threshold of the opened outer door he saw the figure of a man, but whether he was going out or coming in he could not tell. The man turned at the gleam of the candle and called out in a strangely melodious voice, which he apparently tried to make gruff: Hello, thought you were all dead! I've been pounding at this door for week. I want to see Judith Cal den."
 Judith Caldenr' He repeated the name with a start. 'tCome in and shut that door, or my candle'1 go out! Judith Calden doesn't live here. This is John A1tenburgs.'
 That's right said the man, who paid no heed to the warning, but kept in the shadow of the door frame. ''Old John Altenburg's"
 Just then a sharper blast eXtinguish- ed the light which Grimbleshaw had been trying to hold so that he could see the others face.