The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1913-04-26

pantry-a pie which you hold perforc
In your hands.
THE fact Is that was without th,
price Of food. and, to repeat, wa
beastly hungry"
Poverty and hunger, my lord, ar,
pardonable sins. but gooseberry pas
tries are sacred to Hezekiah. My i'm
pressions of Hezekiah are the pleas
ATTEST, and ! cannot allow you to In
tervene between her and the pie hold
in my hands. II you will accompany
me below will undertake to gain &C
cess to the pie vault, return this pie
to Its proper place and hand you al
the foot Of the ladder an apple pie ir
place of It. dare say It never will be
missed, but from what ! know OF
Hezekiah any trifing with her appe
lite would be crime indictable al
common law"
His lordship seemed treasured, and
we were about to descend by the con-
cealed stair when he arrested me.
"Mr. Ames. you are a gentleman and
possess n generous heart We under.
stand each other perfectly, and as !
have every reason to believe that my
suit is hopeless I ask the loan OF s.
until can confer with my friend. the
British consul ut New York. | shall
sail at once for England"
He stepped down before me into the
dark stairway. and l closed the door
after me and followed him. found
my way to the pie pantry without DIFF
fculty. returned the gooseberry pie to
its proper shelf. chose an apple pie
and gave II. with FIVE dollar note. to
Lord Arrowood.
At the bottom Of the ladder he press.
ed my hand feelingiy and expressed his
gratitude In terms that would have
touched a harder heart than mine.
Then, having closed the coal hole and
hidden the ladder under pile OF wood,
I resumed my pursuit Of the ghost.
lighted my way with candle
through the lost chambers Of the old
house. up the hidden stairway and out
into the fourth floor hall again. The
old stair, found on closer observation.
reached only from the second to the
fourth floor. and below this had been
pieced with lumber carefully preserved
from the earlier house. There was
nothing so strange, after all. about the
hidden stairway. though was con
WINGED that this had been no idea OF
Pepperton's, but that he had merely
obeyed the orders of his eccentric eli
ent. the umbrella and dyspepsia cure
millionaire.
had no sooner let myself through
the secret door into the upper hall than
was aware of disturbance In the
library below heard EXPLANATIONS
from the men. and as ran down to-
ward the third floor Miss Octavla's
voice rose above the tumult.
1--WE must have patience, gentlemen.
Chimneys are subject to moods just
ike human beings. and we are fortu.
nate In having In the house gentle
man who is an expert In such matters"
"If you wait for that man to mend
your chimney you will wait until
doomsday."
So spake John Stewart Dick. taking
his vengeance Of me with my client
and hostess might have forgiven
him. but ! could not forgive Hartley
Virgins.
"He doesn't know any more about
chimneys than the man In the MOON"
my old friend was saying between
coughs.
And then quite Enthusiastically ! smelt
smoke. and bending farther over the
rail and peering down the stair well |
saw smoke pouring from the library
into the hall. II seemed to be In
greater volume tonight than at pre-
vious manifestations. A gray blue
cloud was filling the lower hall and
rising toward me. ran quickly to the
third floor, to the chamber whose fire.
place was served by the library Chin
ney. The lights In the third floor hall
winked out as l opened the door.
heard step behind me somewhere.
but did not trouble about this. The
switch inside the unused guest cham
Der responded readily to my touch, and
On hHeeIhB ny the hearth l IOuuu u
cold as had expected There was alb.
solutely no way Of choking the library
flue ut this point, for. as had estab-
lished earlier, all the fireplaces In this
chimney had their Independent Hues.
The hall outside was still dark, and
l did not try the switch, The pursuit
was better carried on In darkness, and
l had by this time become accustomed
to rapid locomotion through unlighted
passages. leaned over the stair well
and heard EXPLANATIONS of surprise at
the sudden cessation OF the smoke,
which had evidently abated as abrupt
ly as II had begun. The windows and
doors had been opened and the com
pany had returned to the library.
"Quite eXtraordinary-really quite
remarkable" they were saying below.
l heard Cecilia's light laughter as the
odd ways of the chimney were dis
cussed. And as l stood thus peering
down and listening the Swedish maids
blond head appeared below me, bend
ing over the well rail on the second
floor. She, too. was taking note Of
affairs In the library, and as l watch
Oh har sha lifted har head aud har