Williams news., 1915-04-22


 stepped back and attempted to address the stranger. But before she had got much further than a timid and hesi- tating Madam" the woman, reused into action possibly by her interfer- ence, made a quick gesture suggestive of impatience if not rebuke, and nov ing resolutely towards the gate Miss Weeks had so indiscreetly left un- guarded, pushed it open and disap- peared within, dragging the little child after her.
 And she's in there still?"
 q haven't seen her come out"
 Then what's the matter with you?" called a burly, high-strung woman. stepping hastily from the group and laying her hand upon the gate still standing temptingly ajar Its 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 a second fence, also! built upon the same pattern as the one they had just passed through; the two forming a doutAe barrier as mysterious to contemplate in fact as it had ever been in fancy. In 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- tion, masked this side of the Ostrander homestead. -D ifrs sS
 Never before had they beheld SO law lost amid vines and shrubbery. Two solemn fir trees, which were all that remained of an. old-time and famous group, kept guard over the untended lawn, adding their suggestion of age and breeding melancholy to the air of desolation infesting thu whole place One might be approaching tomb, for all token that appeared of human pres- ence. Even sound was lacking. It was like a painted scene-a dream of human extinction.
 lnstinctively the women faltered and the men drew back; then the very silence caused 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; foS blocked as the doorway was by their crowding fig lures, the little light which sifted in oyer their heads was not enough to show up details. Halting with one ac- 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 conver- sation with his strange guest. $. "A. ..
 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 a heavy curtain instead of a ie'ding 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 other! However dismal the ap- proach, here all was in brilliant light with every evidence before them of busy life.
 The room was not only filled. but the first thing they noticed; then, as their blinking eyes became accus- toned to the glare and to the unex- pected confusion of tables, ahd 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, si- 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 unrecognizable 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 were on their eyes, but he saw no one;