Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-02-04

in itself was enough to rouse a decent
woman's suspicious.
She was so amazed at this that she
stepped back and attempted to address
the stranger. But before she had got
much further than a timid and hest
tating Madam" the woman, reused
into action possibly by her interior
Of impotence If not rebuke, and NOV
ing resolutely towards the gate Miss
Weeks had so indiscreetly left IN
guarded, pushed it open and disap-
peared within, dragging the little child
after her.
'And she's in there still?"
81 haven't seen her come OUT
Then what's the matter with your"
called a burly, high-strung woman,
stepping hastily from the group and
laying her hand upon the gate still
standing temptingIy ajar. tits no
time for nonsense" she announced, as
she pushed It open and stepped
promptly in, followed by the motley
group of men and women who, if they
lacked courage to lead, certainly
showed willingness to follow.
One glance and they felt their cour-
age rewarded.
Rumor, which so often deceives,
proved itself correct in this case. A
second gate confronted them exactly
like the first, even to the point of
being held open by a pebble placed
against the post And q second fence,
also! built upon the same pattern as
the one they had just passed through;
the two forming double barrier as
mysterious to contemplate in fact as
it had ever been in fancy. n gazing
at these fences and the canyonlike
walk stretching between them the
band Of curious invaders forgot their
prime errand for a moment
But whatever the mysteries of the
place, a greater one awaited them be-
yond, and presently realizing this, they
burst with one accord through the Sec
ond gate into the mass of greenery
which, either from neglect or inten-
ton, masked this side of the Ostrander
homestead.
Never before had they beheId so law
less a growth or a house so completely
lost amid vines and shrubbery. Two
solemn fir trees, which were all that
remained of an oId-time and famous
group, kept guard over the untended
lawn, adding their suggestion of age
and brooding melancholy to the air
Of desolation infesting the whole place
One might be approaching a tomb, for
all token that appeared Of human pres
ence. Even sound was lacking. 1t
was like a painted scene-a dream of
human extinction.
1nstinCtiVely the women faltered and
the men drew back; then the very
silence caused a sudden reaction, and
with one simultaneous rush they made
for the only entrance they saw and
burst without further ceremony into
the house.
A common hall and common fur
nishings confronted them. More they
could not gather; for blocked as the
doorway was by their crowding fig
ures, the little light which sifted in
over their heads was not enough to
show up details. Hating with one &C
cord in what seemed to be the middle
Of the uncarpeted floor, they waited
for some indication Of clear passage
way to the great room where the judge
would undoubtedly be found in CONVEX
sation with his strange guest.
The woman of the hard voice and
self-satisfied demeanor who had start
ed them upon this adventure was still
ahead; but even she quailed when she
found herself face to face with q
heavy curtain instead Of a yielding
door.
Look at this!" she whispered, push
ing the curtain inward with a quick
movement.
SunshineI A stream of it, dazzling
/ them almost to blindness and sending
them, one and all, pellmell back upon
each otheri However dismal the ap-
proach, here all was in brilliant light
with every evidence before them of
busy life.
The room was not only filed, but
crammed, with furniture. This was
the first thing they noticed; then, as
their blinking eyes became accus-
toned TO the glare and to the unex-
| pected confusion of tables and chairs
and screens and standing receptacles
| for books and pamphlets and boxes
labeled and padlocked, they beheld
something else.
The judge was there, but in what a
condition.
From the end Of the forty-foot room
| his seated figure confronted them, ST.
| lent, staring and unmoving. With
clenched fingers gripping the arms of
| his great chair and head held forward,
| he looked like one frozen at the mo-
ment of doom, such the expression of
features usually so noble, and now
! almost unrecognizabIe were it not for
/ the snow white Of his locks and his
unmistakable brow.
! Frozen! Not an eyelash quivered,
nor was there any perceptible move
ment in his sturdy chest. His eyes
we're on their eyes, but he saw no one;
and down upon his head and over his
whole form the sunshine poured from
a large window let into the ceiling di-
rectly above him, lighting up the
! strained and unnatural aspect of his
| remarkable countenance and bringing
/ into sharp prominence the common
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