United labor bulletin., 1913-11-08
BOOK |.
The Silent House.
CHAPTER !.
Number 1918.

Number 1313
As Rudolph Van vechten entered
The outer doorway OF his club. the
handsome mission clock in the hall
was Ginning the three-quarter hour
after eight
The young mans thin. sensitive lips
assumed a rueful curve and his brow
gathered in a scowl.
Fifteen minutes yet until nile," he
muttered in a tone OF complaint. star
ing hard at the dial. Whatever !
shall do until night the gods alone
know Plague on such rotten luck!"
And having thus given audible ex-
preston of his feelings, he dismissed
the temporary irritation with re
signed shrug and sauntered listlessly
into the luxurious but deserted loung
ing-room overlooking the street. where
he dropped heavily into a huge. bill
lowy leather chair which stood facing
one of the windows. He Immediately
discovered that the chair was insuffer-
ably hot. and bounding TO his feet.
glared round for an attendant
None was to be seen: so he showed
the stuffy chair away-it was 'too
heavy to kick-and jerked a cooler
and more inviting willow one into its
place. wherein he once more seated
himself
Somebody ought to kick me for
having come here" he feelIngly re-
marked. Then he turned again to his
incipient contemplation of the hot
empty street
Van vechten might have told you,
II he had paused to analyze his feel
ings respecting the Powhatan. that his
attachment to his club was based upon
some sort of sentiment. His slender
modishly attired figure. and his finely
chiseled. high-bred features (Which
were much paler than they should
have beenl were by no means strange
to their present rich and elegant sur
roundinEa- In point of fact. no mem
ber OF the Powhatan more assiduouEiy
ayailed himself OF the clubs exclusive
privileges than did he. Among the
small coterie OF his intimates and
friends. and the much longer list OF
acquaintances who would have liked
20 share the closer relationship. no
body ever thought OF calling for him at
his own handsomely appointed bache-
lor apartments in the Kenmore until
the PowhatRn Club had first been
tried. and even then not before noon.
Because. prior to that hour. all at
tempts 20 communicate with him so
invariably had been frustrated by his
diplomatic valet. Barnicle that every
body had long since learned that he
was not in the habit of rising before
twelve O'Clock.
Ia
ance was to the astonished and dis
comfted club attendant lin season..
II was ssociated-reluctantly as the
fact must be admitted-only with late
hours. the poker or bridge table. and
n multitude OF cocktails whose num-
Der was known by no man save that
miracle OF divination. the Powhatan's s
steward. He carefully indexed and
preserved all the checks which Van
vechten 80 promptly forgot.
Without spending too much time.
or trying to interpret too many words.
let us endeayor to make the situation
clear. for 1t was all very strange. the
manner in which the commonplace sit
uation described interlaced with what
Immediately followed.
Here-and this Ia the point to be
brought to the front and borne In mind
was n concurrence of time. place and
individual which had never happened
before. and in sall likelihood would
never happen again, but which wore
every outward aspect of one of those
rare and inexplicable tricks on the
part of Fate. as rare and mysterious
as mushrooms. freakishly coutrived to
land some poor mortal plump in the
midst OF troublesome predicament
like Napoleon's star at Waterloo. Mer-
curry blazed at midday on that mem
orable occasion, II you have not for
gotten this apocryphal footnote to
history.
Certain II is. at any rate. II Van
Vechten had been anywhere else at
this particular hour on this particular
Sunday morning, he would have
missed witnessing an incident which
presently was to jar him from the
lethargy of his cnnui as effectively as
II the rotation of the earth upon Its
axis were suddenly to be reversed
And the incident, but one of start
ling series. was not long in coming
Again from the hall fioated the state
ly. melodious chime.
Nine o'clock.
With the first dulcet note. Van Vech-
tens regard fell idly upon man who
was passing along the farther side
OF the street.-the first human being he
had seen since taking up his position
at the window. He was not at all in
terested in the man, who was entirely
unknown to him: but the stranger had