Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-05-12
AND HERE 1T CONTINUES
Newcomers
TIE REMAINED for son

LIE REMAINED for some time in
L the shadow by the fringe Of the
wood, crouching down and watching
and asking himself who it could be that
had arrived during his absence. One
thing at least was clear. that the new
comers did not wish to keep their pres
ence secret. for there was not a win
dow where lights did not show brightly.
and in the dark night on the dark hill
side the place showed NJ like a beacon.
But, in spite of all this illumination.
there was no other sign of occupation.
no sound of any sort. no figures show
ing at the lighted windows or passing
In or out at the doors Solitary aud
quiet the house shonc against the sur
rounding darkness as before it had hid
den in the night and seemed no less
aloof, no less impenctraby secret.
Very slowly. very cautiously. Keith
crept forward till he came to the hedge
surrounding the garden. He knew now
where there was a gap in this hedge
little farther along, aud he found it
and crept through and lay in the shelter
OF the hedge on its inner side.
From every window and from the
open door the light poured out in
beams that fell across the lawn and
garden in long streams of bright ilIum-
ination, but in between these rays the
night still remained intense and black.
For a few minutes Keith waited. but
all was very quiet: no sound came from
the house, no one appeared to move
within it. 1t seemed as silent and de-
serted now in its glowing illumination
as ever it had done before. and along
the dark patches that lay between the
rays coming from each window Keith
made his way slowly up to it.
The first window he came to was that
Of the kitchen, and very cautiously he
drew near and peeped through. All
within appeared to him to be exactly
as when he and Esme had departed.
except for the fact that the lamp on
the table was now alight and burning
brightly. But nothing else seemed to
have been touched: he remembered two
knives lying on the table that he had
put down there that morning, and the
plates and cups were still on the
dresser as TREY had left them after
! washing up.
For a long time he waited there.
watching and listening. and hearing and
seeing nothing. He drew away at last
and went round to the front and looked
In at the drawing room window. There.
too, all was as it had been when they
had gone, except that the tall lamp
near the piano was lighted and burning
brightly. Nothing in the room seemed
to have been touched The big arm
chair stood where he had pushed it back
on rising from it. Esmp's music Vas
still open on the piano. 1t was rs
though whoever had been there had
been content to light the lamps and
depart again, leaving them burning.
and this seemed to Keith strange and
even terrifying thing.
He wondered whether to enter the
. house and examine it and pxtinguish
these lamps that for no apparent rea
son flooded every room with their use
less and haunting light. He almost de
cided to do so. and he went on a little
and saw through the open door into the
empty hall. where the big swinging
lamp glowed brightly. He went on
farther to the dining room windows.
and when he looked through them he
saw that there was within, seated at
the table, a tall handsome man of about
his own size and age, with a glass in
one hand and bottle of whisky in the
other, and drinking the raw spirit with
sort of sullen and desperate reso-
luton.
The light from the lamp shone full
upon him and showed his regular. we'll
formed features of almost feminine
delicacy and beauty. his soft curly hair
and dropping silken mustache, and his
pale and desperate expression,
He scarcely moved while Keith
watched him he never once looked up
but with his eyes fixed moodily on the
table and his hands clasping bottle and
glass he, like an automaton recently
set going, poured out more spirit and
drank it off and lapsed again instantly
into his former condition of immobility.
OF all the strange sights Mat he had
seen of late this seemed to Keith the
strangest. Who could he be who, hav-
ing come to this remote and secret
place, and having lighted every lamp
in il SO that it blazed afar like a
beacon, now sat in the night made like
day and seemed resolved in sullPn de
spair to drink himself into insensibility ?
While Keith thus in the night with
out watched and wondered, and while
within the lighted room the stranger
with his dreadful and mechanic regu
larity poured whisky down his throat
there became audible all at once another
sound5 that of a soft and light tread
In the hall without. The door handle
turned and Keith drew back a little,
afraid all at once, for there came rush
ing back into his mind a memory OF
how the woman nursing Esfhe had de
clared that the door had opened and
the devil himself peeped in at her.
And it seemed to him that this spec
tacle Of the solitary and silent stranger
drinking in gloom and despair through
the night was one fiend might wei
wish TO witness.
But when the door lad opened there
came in, doubtfully and with hesitation
very tall and lovely woman with q
rale oval face showing features of elias
sic regularity and a form of almost
rsrfeet grace. She was very dark
With magnificent masses Of dark haiI
c,,iied about her head and dark, hand
.no1pe eyes. and al present she seemed
~ rrr&t alarm and distress. for brr
yee'1 ~ couirE and sqipx in zreal