Graham guardian., 1913-08-08
n,ntrv-, ME which ron hold nsft6rce

/
tries are sacred to Hezekiah. My i'm
| pressions OF Hezekish are the pleas
ATTEST. and ] cannot allow you to In
tervene between her and the pie hold
IN my hands If you will accompany
me below will undertake to gain ac-
cess to the pie vault, return this pie
60 It's proper place and hand you at
the foot Of the ladder an apple pie in
place Of 1t. dare say 1t never will be
missed. but from what know OF
Hezekiah any trifiing with her appe-
tite would be crime indictable at
common law"
His lordship seemed reassured, and
we were about to descend by the con.
cealed stair when he arrested me.
"Mr. Ames, you are gentleman and
possess generous heart. We under:
stand each other perfectly, and as
have every reason to believe that my
suit is hopeless ask the loan OF $5
until can confer with my friend, the
British consul at New York. shah
sail at once for England"
He stepped down before me into the
dark stairway. and | closed the door
after me and followed him. found
my way to the pie pantry without diff
Gculty, returned the gooseberry pie to
its proper shelf, chose an apple pie
and gave 1t, with fve dollar note, to
Lord Arrowood,
AT the bottom OF the ladder he press.
ed my hand feelingly and expressed his
gratitude Ia terms that would have
touched a harder heart than mine,
Then, having closed the coal hole and
hidden the ladder under pile OF wood,
| resumed my pursuit of the ghost.
l lighted my way with q 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 door, md 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
yinced that this had been no idea OF
pepperton's. but that he had merely
obeyed the orders Of his eccentric ell
cnt. the umbrella and dyspepsia cure
millionaire.
had no sooner let myself through
the secret door into the upper hall than
I was aware of a disturbance In the
library below heard exclamations
from the men. and as ran down to,
ward the third floor Miss Octavia's
voice rose above the tumult.
ave must have patience, gentlemen
Chimneys are subject to moods Just
like 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 J 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 /
greater volume tonight than at pre-
vious manifestations. gray blue
cloud was filing the lower ball 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 Hoor hall
! winked out as / opened the door. ]
heard a step behind me somewhere.
/ but did not trouble about this The
switch inside the unused guest cham.
ber responded readily to my touch. and
on kneeling by the hearth ! found 1t
cold as had expected. There was abb
solutely no way of choking the library
fue at this point, for. as had estab-
lshed earlier. all the fireplaces in this
chimney had their independent fues.
The hall outside was still dark. and
did not try the switch. The pursuit
was better carried on in darkness. and
I had by this time become accustomed
10 rapid locomotion through unlighted
passages. leaned over the stair well
and heard ordinations Of surprise at
the sudden cessation of the smoke,
which had evidently abated as abrupt
" ms II had begun. The windows aud
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 / 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 watch
ed her she lifted her head and her
eyes met mine. Then while we still
stared at each other the second floor
lights went out with familiar abrupt
ness, aud as craned my neck to peer
into the blackness above me expe
rienced once more that ghostly pass
ing as of some tight, unearthly thing
across my face reached for 1t Wild
ly with my hands, but It seemed to be
caught AWAY from me, and then MS
fought the air madly II brushed my
cheek again. have no words to de
scribe the strange effect of that touch