The Washington herald., 1914-12-27


forgive and 70 come back to the old
fealty, as the business was dwindhng'
the fortune wasting. and ruin was every
day drawing nearer AfterWard, how
ever, Mr.. Cleek, we heard that Sir Har-
mon Blench had gone in his yacht to
America weeks before. and that mis-
house was shut up and empty"
who told you thatr'
"SIr Harmon's lodgekeeper. He wrote
to say that he had heard our friend Mr.
Scarlet was boasting everywhere that ne
had spent the night there In company
with Sir Harmon. and he wrote TO tell US
that II was impossible"
And had Mr.. Scarlet been boastins
that, as charged?''
mot that we ever heard. sir. or-I
beg pardon-did you speak,?
''FishP' repeated Cleek. pinehing up
his chin. VERY bad fish-they smellr
Then he twisted round on his heel walk
ed to the window. and. standing there
with his feet slightly apart and MS
hands loosely cIasped behind him, looked
thoughtfuIIy out into the gathering au-
tunnal darkness.
After a minute or so he again turned
and looked back at Arthur Spencer.
And now about this absurd summer
saulting' business?' he inquired abrupt
w. when and how did that come into
the affair? Was 1t Immediately after
his reputed evening with Sir Harmon
Blench or at a more remote periodg
''Oh. it was a long time after that
weeks and weeks after. We had begun
to think that the fancy-or whatever II
was-had faded entirely from his mind
when that occurred. He was always
whimsical. full Of wild notions and alb
surd ideas. Mr.. CIeek. Indeed, at one
time he took an odd dislike to blue-the
color in which the upper passage md
all the rooms opening upon II, his own
included, were painted and papered-
and insisted on having them done in
pink and gray; pink walls and gray
patchwork, because he said IT was more
restful to the eye and nerves, and he
shouldn't see Ernests shadow so often
darkening the tInts Of the blue. OF
course, such a change would run into a
lot of money and We couldn't AFFORD IL;
but when he asserted his intention to
pay for the paint and paper himself, we
could no longer object. We let him
have his way, and an awful mess he
made of it. It quite broke my sisters s
heart to see how hideous he had made
the pretty hall and rooms by his un-
skilled efforts
His efforts, Did he paint and paper
the place himself, them"
Il. but he had one of his extra dotty
periods on. and il was no use. Said that
he was thinking out a new process to
make gray paint bubble and pink paper
shrek IL thieves got into the house. and
he wouldn't have any outsiders watching
him work and seeing how it was man.
aged. Poor old chap! He may have
been a marvel as a chemist, Mr.. Cleek.
but as a painter and paperhanger he was
something appalling! Wait until you
see the place. He laid the paint on in
streaks and daubs that would have made
a saint weep, and the paper is one mass
OF bubbles and wrinkles everywhere II
had been up about a month. and we were
wondering what turn his next mad whim
would take, when. without hint or warn
ing. ii came on. and took the most amaz-
ing form of ducking his head to the floor
and summersaulting like a tumbling
DOLL
Poor old chap said CIeek sympa-
theticalIy. His mental balance was
quite gone at last. Them
Yes, quite. A fortnight ago this mad
mania eliminated in the mysterious
thing of which you have heard. II was
a bright moonlit night. and very warm:
my brother, my sister, and I were sit
ting on the veranda watching him tum-
BILE about on the boarded floor Of II,
when all Of a moment he sprang erect,
threw up both arms, shouted out, 'Blench
wants TO know. does he. Ernie. my boy?
Well, he shall know. This is the trick
of II. He'll get il when he can do this
Then, to our amaZement and fright, he
rushed across the bit of open in front
of the house made headIong toward the
woodland OF which have spoken. then
suddenly stopped. turned a summer
sault before our very eyes. and vanished
completely
"Humph! Shall be right in hazardinG
the guess that he fell into some hole or
pitfall. Mr.. Spencer. and that when you
reached the spot there was no trace Of
him.
Quite right. Mr.. Cleek. In the shadow
cast by the trees he may not have no.
ticed II. but at the time he made that
summersault he was within a foot OF
the brink OF that ravine to which l have
already alluded and at whose bottJ we
originally found him. II was down that
he must have plunged with the first turn
there can be no other explanation of
his vanishment possible-but although
We ran TO the place as fast as we could.
and my brother and l descended the
shelving side and searched everywhere.
We could find no trace OF him. He had
absolutely disappeared"
"neTe does the TdNlne OeEln ana enO
Is It. very long,"
Yes: about a mile and three-quarters.
II commences a little below the plateau
upon which our house Is situated: II ends
at the slate quarry on the road leading
to Castle Blench.''
"Hum-m-m. rather fancied some-
thing OF that sort. Did it occur to you
to go to Castle Blench and make in
quiries?"
Not in the beginning Katherine
thought OF that the next morning. and
We went then, of course
And saw the lodgekeeper. no doubt.
who told you the same old story as be-
fore: Sir Harmon was in America; the
place was shut up and nobody had called
there-nobOdy could without his knowl-
edge"
Yes; that is exactly what happened.
He was not there, nor did he appear to
be anywhere else. We secured the coun-
try for miles about, inquired at every
house, questioned everybody-the result
was the same; he had not been seen.
Such was the state of affairs when last
night, after a two weeks absence, he as
suddenly reappeared, Mr.. Cleek. It was
Just as We were putting out the lights
and going to bed that my sister. hearing
a scraping sound at the front door. shot
back the bolt, opened II, and almost fell
over him He was kneeling on the
veranda within half a foot of the door
sill-not much changed in outward ap-
pearance from what he was when he
left US so mysteriously, but horribly
changed otherwise. as we came to dis
cover later. for his hearing seemed to
be wholly impaired, and he was not only
in the last stages of honelesa iuohecilif1y