The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1914-01-02


gotten this apocryphal footnote to
history.
Certain 1t is, at any rate, If 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 ennui as effectively as
IL the rotation of the earth upon it's
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
advanced within his field of vision.
and 1t was much easier to follow him
tinued to watch him, albeit but hazily
conscious OF the fact, because his
thoughts were occupied with matters
OF vastly more Importance to himcelf
That is to say, at the time he fancied
they were Of more Importance; subse-
quently his opinions on this score I'M
derwent a decided change.
Only a few seconds later, In truth,
he regretted that he had not given the
man more of his attention--sufficient
at least, to recall something OF his.
appearance. But even at that, he
never dreamed how nearly the cpl.
sode affected himself at the moment.
nor did he have any premonition OF the
extraordinary events that were to en-
sue in the immediate future.
The man was walking with certain
hating, indefinite slowness, the while
he studied the house numbers, as If
In search of a particular one.
All at once he stopped stock-still.
Van Vechten, as 1t CHANGED. failed to
observe this, for his eyelids, heavy
with loss Of sleep, chose this precise
second to curtain the scene. Nothing
had yet occurred to prick his curiosity.
His lids dropped only for an instant.
to be sure; but within that brief space
the strange mans bearing had sud
denly altered. He had thrown of his
irresolution, and had gone quickly up
the steps Of the house directly oppo-
site. Van Vechten opened his eyes
only just In time to see him disap-
pearing through the doorway, and the
door itself swing shut.
The Silent House! The House of
Mystery! The house wherein nobody
had even been seen to enter!
There was no mistaking the fact
that Van Vechten was galvanized into
an alertness which, had 1t been almost
anybody else under the same condi-
tions, would have amounted to excite
ment.
"Say!" he demanded Of himself un.
der lis breath. rs this pipe-dream?
Or did somebody really go into that
house?" And after a reflective pause:
mo, wasn't asleep" he deliberate
ly settled the unwonted occurrence in
his mind; Il saw the chap coming
along the walk. Let's see-what did
he look like? What was he doing?
What the dickens does 1t mean. any
howf"
There was nothing or nobody to an
swer these puzzled inquiries. He was
convinced that he had remained
awake, although drifting along the Dor
derland of slumber, because he dis
tinctly recalled having heard the clock
in the hall strike nine. He glanced at
his watch. Yes. only nine. So he
could not have been asleep, even for
second.
All of which may seem a ridiculous
ly trivial matter to be the occasion of
SO much concern; but anybody ac-
quainted with the circumstances
would not have thought so.
To begin with, there was something
positively repellent In the very appear
ance of the house across the way.
Even the number on the fanlight-by
pure accident, 1913, for 1t was an old,
old number and not the true one ut
all--was doubly and reiteratively un-
inviting to persons owning supersti-
tious weaknesses. And who of us, to
some extent, does not? Erected in the
days when high, narrow brownstone
fronts were accepted as the hallmark
of aGluence. 1t still successfully re-
sisted the encroachments of improve
ment which otherwise modernized and
beautified the thoroughfare.
At the time the Powhatan Club
moved into its new quarters Number
1913 was vacant, and had remained so
up to something like three months
prior to the opening of this story;
that is to say, not quite two years.
How long previously to that II had
stood empty no club member could
say. During all the period within their
knowledge its begrimed facade had
been an eyesore and an object OF exc.
Grafton; somber and brooding, II was a
sort of memento mort to the idlers
behind the big plate glass windows OF
the lounging-room, silent but per-
t,otuaI rehuka m fha folly ~ thair