The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-09-12

recently Inhabited.
There were NO steps to the door. It
opened on the ground level, with a cracked
board serving as both porch and footmat.
The signs Of attempted preservation were
what gave the place its ominous air. A de-
serted farm house gone to utter ruin in that
lonely spot would have been mysterious and
perhaps q little ghostly, but there would
have been no menace In its grip on the
imagination. There was . menace In the
steel shutters Of the old Grigsby house. and
in the fact that the path to the door was
kept clear.
Up this path Hicks carried Pauline Be-
fore he lifted her in his arms he tested her
bonds, SO that by no chance might she tear
the handkerchief from his face. He did not
know that Pauline was too terrified to con-
ceive the simplest plan Of action. Com
pared with the fear that possessed her now
the torturing suspense OF the balloon night
seemed like peace and safety.
Hicks held her with one arm while with
the other he produced a key and unlocked
the low door. Swinging heavy on strong
hinges, 1t opened into a narrow hall. mil
of disuse. Paper had once been pasted over
the upholstered boards of the wall. but most
Of 1t had been torn OF or drenched away
by intruding rains, and the dry shreds lay
in a heap of other rubbish at the foot OF
the stairs.
Hicks carried Pauline up tho stairs. which
groaned and bent under his steps. He
pushed open a door at the top. The room
within was dark because OF the suffered
window. There was only one window.
There was q broken chair. table. a cot. q
washstand, with pitcher and bowl, and .
small oil lamp set in bracket on the wall.
These were the only furnishings.
Hicks let Pauline sink upon the cot. He
fastened to light the lamp. using the same
match for q cigarette. He seemed spurred
by q desire to get away-as II the totter-
ing, grimy walls held memories too grim for
even his hardened soul. He tested the shut
foSpa ~ fha min wvhi e11 kaA nm
the outside. He stepped back to the cot
and cut Pauline's bonds. He removed the
bandage from her lips. As she fell back
in a half swoon he hurried through the door,
closed and locked it and went down the
stairs. -~s
Half way down he stopped abruptly. stood
for moment listening, then fastened on,
dropping his cigarette over the bannfster.
He did not see where It fell. He did not
care. His only aim was to get QUITO get
away.
Hicks had been afraid. He had heard a
sound as he came down the stairs that
turned his fear to terror. It was the distant
grumble OF an automobile horn.
He locked the door and sped down the
bramble-walled path to the runabout He
had left It in the middle OF the road, and
SO as he leaped in and started again it left
no swerve of its wheel ruts toward the old
Grigsby house.
It was five miles to the nearest town. but
Hicks made it In twenty minutes. and with
out hearing again the threatening auto
mobile horn. He got his runabout slowed
in a garage and fastened to telephone to
Owen.
For half an hour Owen had bean locked in
the library Of the Marvin house. The events
Of the early afternoon. the failure Of his
best-la3d plans, tho suspense Of waiting the
result Of Hicks's final move, had made him
q nervous wreck. He had lighted dozen
cigars and thrown them away. As many
times he had picked mp the telephone. only
Der. At last he had taken out the thin
tube of light pills. had drawn the shades,
switched on the electric lights, and cat
down to wait tor the haltpeace that NOR