The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1915-11-04
CHAPTER I.
The House of Mystery,

"or eager. anxious. hesitating people?
ihis Is Judge Ostrander's place, and
anyone who knows Shelby or the gos.
sip Of It's suburbs knows that this
mouse OF his has not opened its doors
TO any outsider man or woman, Tor
over dozen years; nor have his gates
peen seen In all that time to cape at
"anyone's instance or to stand Enclosed
70 public intrusion. The seclusion
sought was absolute. The men and
women who passed and rerassed this
corner many times day were as igno-
rant aa the townspeople in general Of
"hat lay behind the gray. monotonous
exterior of the weatherbeaten boards
tney so frequently brushed against
Inc mouse was there. of course-they
LII knew the house, or did once-but
there were rumors Of another fence, q
second barrier, standing few feet in
'slde the first and similar to 1t in all
respects. even to the gates which cor.
responded exactly with these outer
and visible ones and probably we're
just az fully provided with bolts and
bars
AND now! in the freshness of this
summer morning, without warning or
any seeming reason for the change,
the strict habit Of years has been
broken into and this gate of gates Is
not only standing unlocked before
thelr eyes, but a woman-a stranger
TO the town as her very act shows
mas peen seen to enter thereto en-
ter. but rot come out; which means
that she must still he inside, and DOS.
slpiy IN the very presence Of the
Judge
Where Is Bella? Why does he allow
MS errands-But it was Bella, or so
they have been told, who left this
4. gate ajar he, the awe and
terror or the town. the enormous. re.
doubtabie, close-mouthed negro, trust.
ed as man is seldom trusted. and
talthlul TO his trust, yes, up to this
very hour, as all must acknowledge.
In spite OF every temptation (and they
mad been many and alluring) to dis
close the secret of this home of which
he was not the least interesting fac
tor What has made him thus sud.
denly careless, he who has never been
careless before? Money? A brbe
from the woman who had entered
there?
What else was there to believe?
There stood the gate with the pebble
holding 1t away from the post; and
here stood half the neighborhood in
q fascination which had for it's motif
the knowledge that they, themselves
lf they had courage enough, might 20
In, just as this woman had gone in.
and see-why, what she Is seeing
now-the unknown. unguessed reason
for all these mysteries-the hidden
treasure or the hidden sorrow which
would explain why he, their first citi.
zen, the respected, even revered Judge
of their highest court should make use
of such precautions and show such un-
varying determination to bar out all
comers from the place he called his
home.
1t had not always been SO. Within
the memory Of many there 1t had been
an abode OF cheer and good fellowship.
Not few Of the men and women now
hesitating before its portals could
boast OF meals taken at the Judges
ample board, and of evenings spent in
animated conversation in the great
room where he kept his books and did
his writing
But that was before his son left him
In so unaccountable manner; be-
fore-yes, all were agreed on this
point-before that other bitter ordeal
OF his middle age, the trial and con-
demnation Of the man who had way.
laid and murdered his best friend
Though the effect Of these combined
sorrows had not seemed to be immedi
ate Gone month had seen both).
though a half-ycar had elapsed before
all sociability was lost in extreme self
absorption, and a full one before he
took down the picket fence which had
hitherto been considered a sufficient
protection to his simple grounds. and
put up these boards which had so com.
pletely isolated him from the rest of
the world 1T was evident enough to
the friends who recalled his look and
step as he walked the streets with AL.
gernon Etheridge on one side and his
brilliant, ever-successful son on the
other, that the change now observable
In him was due to the violent sunder.
ang Of these two ties. Grief slowly
settled inso confirmed melancholy, and
melancholy into eccentricities.
Judge Ostvander' was recluse of
the most uncompromising type: but he
was such for only half his time. From
ten in the morning till five in the after.
noon he came and went like any other
citizen, fulfilling his judicial duties
with the same scrupulous care as for.
nd al fPo
deed. he showed at times, and often
when 1t was least expected, mellow.
n3ss OF temper quite foreign to him in
his early days. The admiration
awakened by his fine appearance on