The Washington herald., 1921-04-17
Two Men in the Dark; and
What Happened When
One Switched on the Light

One Switched on the Light
-HE rain was not Of the kind which
drizzles q suggestion of tame sad
q ness: 1t came on at nightfall with
a rush Of cold autumn wind and covered
the city with the wall and violence of
Wild tragic forecast. Perhaps there was
in IL also the laughter. the hysterical
laughter Of the gods Of Fate.
Uptown there is q certain apartment
building; the owners of 1t have asked
that its name be withheld. Reason
enough! The place is most respectable:
even more-some apartments there rent
for twelve thousand q year.
At o'clock . taxicab. skidding over
the black asphalt, came. to stop before
this magnificent cliff dwellers' structure
and stood painting. and steaming In the
downpour. No one behind the lighted
windows above could hear It because the
wind and .raia and swirl and howl of
the storm from the sea. bringing its
clamor of hitherto untold secrets from
the Atlantic. drowned the humping of
its engines
A man in a gray tweed storm coat and
wearing a black derby with q square
top paid the taxicab driver through the
window and made run through the
deluge for the front door. He did not
open that door at once. but peered in
through the plate -glass-perhaps to see
whether or not the uniformed elevator
boy was sitting under the palms in the
marble lobby. While he stared from the
darkness and the rain beat down upon
him the taxicab rounded the next corner
and was gone. The man turned nervous
ly, as II he had suddenly felt eyes upon
the places and times when at least one
pair of human eyes-and often the par
ticular, fateful pair-do not see. And
now, fateful or not, there was a chance.
Across the street, under the overhanging
dripping lower branches of a park tree.
but almost indistinguishable through the
diagonals and the flowing wells of rain
and darkness, the man at the door saw
a human figure.
He drew his head down into the collar
of his coat. offended turtle, and.
opening the door into the vacant lobby,
made his way to the apartment formerly
occupied by a specialist in brain surgery
who went to France with q certain
medical unit in 1915, having moved out
all of his things and directed certain
we'll known real estate agents to sub
lease for the balance of his term.
That the man who entered on this
night was the sublessee appeared prob
able. 1t was evident that he had been
in and out often enough. Without touch
ing the electric switches he reached for
q cigar from the, half emptied box on
the hall stand, and though the whole
apartment was as dark as the inside of
shutterless camera, his fingers. moved
accurately. He felt along the wall, across
the tapestry that hung invisible there,
and entered the living room where the
rain dripped from the rough tweed and
from the rim Of his peculiar hat onto
the polished floor. He went across the
room to a screen made of old Spanish
embossed leather and behind its protec-
tiOns he lit his cigar with a short, quick
tiny flare of a match and drew a deep
Inhalation Of the smoke A violent spell
of coughing resulted. but the man did
not care about that; there was no one
else in the apartment aud the doors and
window glass were luxuriously heavy
and almost sound proof.
Indeed. the man spoke aloud when his
cough ceased. He said, That's the third
time"
Immediately. as II his remarks were
connected in some way with the figure
he had seen, he went to the front win
dows and, parting the heavy curtains q
little, he stared out into the rain.
The storm still walled its threats, its
warnings, its dead mems tales, and the
rain and darkness outside were mixed
like a thick black batter. Suddenly an
other taxicab, turning the corner a block
or two away, with its radiant eyes
threw a thin, milky light along the tree
tops. whipped and tVisted, twisted, stag
gered and thrashed in the wind like a
motley lot of drunken soldiers. The
figure, which had been sinking in their
shelter the sidewalk, had gone.
The man within, however. was not at
ease; drawing of his overcoat and hat.
he threw them away from him onto an
expensive rug. The DEVIL said he.
There was long pause of silence, as
If the man was meditating, but then. as
II he had called to one who waited a
summons, there came the tinkle of fall
ing glass in the rear of the apartment.
Afterward all was still again except for
. new sound--the sound of the storm. as
II 1t had found its way through some
aperture. Its roar had been reduced to
whispers, but they were whisperS of the
sea OF dismal wastes, of the unsealed
lips of those who have died by violence.
The voices rose in shrieks, suggestive of
the blasts Of wind and the wet swashed
night And into the heavy warm air of
the apartment laden with its mixed odors
of stale and fresh cigar smoke there ran
riyulets and tiny streams of colder air,
smelling of the salt of the sea, wet,
cold. salty. like sips of iced clam juice.
The man stopped his tall, graceful fig-
ure and became a reptile. alert in the
face of danger. apprehensive of some in
vader who, under cover of the noise of
the storm. had made an entrance into
the rear of the building. The lessee of
the $4,000 year nat, with his face
twisted into an ugly grin. crawied and
squirmed snakelike along the wall
crouched behind a leather chair. fat with
luxurious upholstery, and there he watt
ad like n nnisnnniia Liza I'd In