Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-12-02
CHAPTER XII. -(Continued)
Strange Light in the Abandoned
Room.

Slve loneliness made words seem
trivial. Bobby was asking him,
self again where he had stood last
night when he had glimpsed for a
moment the straining trees and the
figure in a mask which he called his
conscience. If he could only prove
that figure substantial Then Ora
ham would have some ground for
suspicion of Paredes and the dancer
Maria. He glanced at Paroles
Could there have been conspiracy
against him in the New York cafe
Did Paroles, in fact, have some de-
vious purpose in remaining in the
Cedars?
The automobile took a sharp
curve in the road. Bobby started
gazing ahead with an interest near
ly hypnotic. The headlights had
caught in their glare the deserted
farmhouse in which he had awaken
ed just before Howells had told him
of his grandfather's death and prac.
ticaily placed him under arrest. In
the white light the frame OF the
house, from which the paint had
flaked, appearing CHASTITY, unreal,
like a structure seen in night
mare from which one recoils with
morbid horror. The light left the
building. As the car tore past,
Bobby could barely make out the
black mass in the midst of the
thicket.
Paroles had observed it. too.
81 daresay," he remarked cas-
ually, the Cedars will become as
deserted as that. 1t is just that it
should, for the entire neighborhood
impresses one as unfriendly to life.
as striving through death to drive
life out
Have you ever seen that house
before?" Bobby asked quickly.
Il have never seen it before. |
do not care ever to see it again"
1t was relief when the forest
thinned and fields stretched, flat
and pleasant, like barriers against
the stunted growth. Bobby stopped
the car in front of one OF group
of houses at a crossroads. He
climbed the steps and rang. Doctor
Groom opened the door himself.
His gigantic, hairy figure was sill
houetted against the light from
within.
What's the matter now?" he
demanded in his gruff voice. For
tunately | hadn't gone to bed, |
was reading some books on psy-
chic manifestations. Who's sick?
Bobby's face must have told him
good deal, for he broke off.
Get your things on" Bobby said,
and | will tell you as we drive
back, for you must come, Howells
has been killed precisely as my
grandfather was"
For a moment Doctor Groom's
bulky frame remained motionless in
the doorway. Instead of the surprise
and horror Bobby had forseen. the
old man expressed only a mute
wonder. He got his hat and coat
and entered the runabout Pare
des made room for him, sitting on
the floor, his feet on the running
board.
Bobby had told all he knew be-
fore they had reached the forest.
The doctor grunted then:
THE wound at the back of the
head was the same as in your
grandfather's case?"
Exactly"
, Then what ~l,t !, good am II Why am
"a formality," Bobby answered.
Katherine thought if we got you
quickly you might do something.
Anyway, she wanted your advice"
The woods closed about them.
Again the lights seemed to push
back a palpable barrier.
81 can't work miracles" the doc
tor was murmuring. 81 can't bring
men back to life. Such a wound
leaves no ground for hope. You'd
better have sent for the police at
once. Hello"
He strained forward, peering
around the windshield.
Funny! Paroles called.
Bobby's eyes were on the road.
What do you seer"
"The house, Bobby" Paroles
cried.
mo one, to my certain knowl-
edge" the doctor said, "has lived in
that house TO ten years. You say it
was empty and falling to pieces
when you woke up there this morn
ing"
Bobby knew what they meant
then, and he reduced the speed Of
the car and looked ahead to the
right. A paid glow sifted through
the trees from the direction of the
deserted house.
Bobby guided the car to the side
of the road, stopped it, and shut
off the engine. At first no one
moved. The thr men stared as
if in the presence of an unaccount-
able phenomenon. Even when
Bobby had extinguished the head
lights the glow failed to brighten.
Its pallid quality persisted. 1t
seemed to radiate from a point
close to the ground.
1T comes from the front of the
house, Bobby murmured.
He, stepped from the automobile
What are you going to do?"
Paroles wanted to know.
Find out who is in that house"
For Bobby had experienced a
quick hope. If there was a man
or woman secreted in the building
the truth as to his own remark
able presence there last night might
not be so far to seek after all. There
was, moreover, something lawiess
about this light escaping from the
place at such an hour. A little
while ago, when Paroles and he had
driven past, the house had been
black. They had remarked its
lonely, abandoned appearance. 1t
had led Paroles to speak of the
neighborhood as the domain of