Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-04-29
The
Abandoned
Room
By WADSWORTH CAMP
AUTHOR OF
THE HOUSE OF FEAR"
WARS DARK FRAME" ETC.
CHAPTER ".

Tf," Graham was saying you
really want to help Bobby, there Is
something you can do. VIII you come
downstairs with me for a moment7
I'd like to suggest one or TWO Things
before the police arrive
without hesitation Paroles follow
ed Graham down the stairs.
Katherine turned Immediately TO
Bobby, her eyes eager, full OF the
tense determination that had die
tated her plan in the library.
Now, Bobby" she whispered,
And there's no time to waste, They
may be here any minute. won't
see you go. but I'll be back at once
20 guard you against Paroles II he
slips UP again"
She walked across the hall and
disa ppeared in the newer corridor.
Without witness he faced the Old
corridor, and with the attempt d.
rec,ly ahead his rcpugnance achieV-
ed a new power. The black en-
trance with it's scarcely dared MEM
cries reminded him that what he
was about 10 DO was directed against
more than human law, was an out
rage against the dead man. He had
to remind himself of the steely pur-
pose with which HOwells had mark
ed him as the murderer; and the
mans power persisted after death.
In such a contest he was justified.
He took the candle from the table.
Thru the stair-well the murmur Of
Graham's voice, occasionally inter-
rupted by Grooms heavy tones or
the Iangu!d accents Vi FarsdSS, drift
ed encouragingly. Trying TO crush
his premonitlonS, Bobby entered the
corridor. Instead OF illuminating the
marrow Passage the candle seemed
half smothered by its blackness. For
the first time in his memory Bobby
faced the entrance of the sinister
room alone. He pushed open the
broken door. He paused on the
threshold. 1t impressed MIN as not
unnatural that he should experience
such misgivings. They sprang not
alone from the fact that within
twenty four hours two men had died
uaaccountably within these faded
walls. Nor did the evidence point
ing to his own unconscious guilt
wholly account for them. At the
bottom of everything was the fact
that from his earliest childhood he
| had looked upon the room as con-
secrated to death; had consequently
feared it; had, ne recalled, always
! hurried past the disused corridor
| leading in its direction.
Thru its wide spaces the light OF
the candle scarcely penetrated. Nc
| more than an indefinite radiance
thrust back che obscurity and out
lined the bed. He could barely see
the stark, black form outstretched
| there.
| The dim, vast room, as he ad-
vanced, imposed upon him sense OF
isolation. Katherine in the upper
hall, the others downstairs, whose
voices no longer reached him, seem
| ed all at once far away. He stood
in a place lonelier and more remote
/ than the piece OF woods where he
had momntarily opened his eyes last
night; and, instead OF the strainine
trees and the figure in the black
mask which he had called his con-
science, he had for motion and COM
partnership only the swaying OF the
curtains in the breeze from the oper
window and the dark, PROSTATE thing
whose face as he went closer wal
like a white rnask-a mask with G
fixed and malevolent sheer.
The wind caught the flame of the
candle. making it flicker. Tenuou!
shadows commenced to dance across
the walls. He paused with tight
en!ng throat, for the form on tn,
bed seemed moving, too, with 81!
and scarcely perceptible gestures
Then he understood. 1t was the eff
feet Of the shaking candle, and h
forced himself to go on, but a sens
Of multiple companionship accom-
panied him-a sense Of a shapeless
soundless companionship that pro
jected an idea of a steady regard
There swept thru his mind process
sion of figures in quaint dress an,