Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-07-05
Over the Telsphens

always filled but the hour was
rather late for breakfast and the
half a dozen people that were in the
room seemed lost, among the several
hundred tables. The head waiter
greeted me with smile. steering
me over TO a small table by the
large bay windows. The order was
taken at once. and after glance
around the room, turned and gaz-
ed out OF the window.
Below me was she sea. with the
long stretch OF beach. beach that
ended at Point Judith. many miles
away. Though ii was July, the sand
looked cold under the hazy sky. AS
a rule. on a clear day one could see
Block Island, with its white sand
cliffs standing high above the water
twenty miles away. But this morn
ing 1t was hidden by fog, fog
that stood only a few miles out at
sea. The water was beginning TO
roughen under the rising wind, and
the fog promised 10 envelop the land
in a little while. Not only was the
sky haZy, but il promised rain. AL
ready a few fishing boats were run
ming 10 cover before the coming
storm, the sound of the exhaust of
their engines coming family to my
ears through the closed windows. 1t
did not promise to be the finest kind
of day for the wedding, which
had brought BARLEY and me down
from the city the night before.
Weddings were. as a rule. more or
less out of our line. But the
daughter of an old friend of Bart
leys was TO be married. and he had
insisted on his being present. Still,
l have the idea. that invitation of
Frank Rice's was not the only thing
Watch Hill. Not only would his
coming please his friend. but it
| would give BARLEY a few days by
the sea and an opportunity TO play
| some golf on the fine course at the
| hill.
Though Frank Rice was much
| older than BARLEY, yet the two men
were warm friends. Perhaps it was
their mutual love for books that
| drew them together. Not that Rice
| loved books for themselves. as Bart
/ ly did Books to BARLEY were
! something that opened up all of the
| past life of man. Rice, on the other
| hand. spent part of his great wealth
| in gathering together one of the fin
| est libraries in the country. A
| library filled with rare~ editions and
! manuscripts. and which he en-
! 1oyed only because heEiked to have
1 il said, it was one of the three best
Libraries in the land. AS to the con-
I tents Of his library l am afraid he
4 knew little about them himself
\ But Rice was one of the most low
| able men | have ever met. Wealthy,
/ Yet his wealth had not been made
by grinding down the poor. His
4 shipping line went back to the War
! IN 1877, and was known, the world
! over. SO far as l know, he was the
! first shipowner, and about the only
one that instituted profit sharing
4 among his seamen. Sailors con-
! sidered it an honor to work for him.
I and he knew the names of almost all
4 the men on his ships. In all. a
Kindly old man, who loved children,
dogs and horses, in the order nam
1 cd His wife had been dead for
, some years, and a daughter and a
4 nephew were all the family he had.
| And it was the daughters wedding
I we were to attend at noon.
Inc waiter at length returned with
/ my order, and | turned from gazing
out OF the window, to my breakfast
/ i-Nen in the short time | had been
/ az the table the fog Crept in. a
I heavy. damp fog that chung close TO
i the ground and blotted the sea from
/ slsht. When | rose to go to nv
room, the first drops of rain were
dashing against the windows.
When | reached the second floor
o. the motel, and opened the door
OF our rooms. | found that not only
vas hartley seated in a chair. with
the usual book in his hand. but he
was already dressed for the we'd
4 ding, Though it was not vet ton. bo
was wearing his black cutaway and
7 q dark tie. He smiled as | closed
\ the door. jnked little about the
/ early hour that I took my breakfast.
7 then went back to his book. I road
(. through the morning paper. then
/ leaned back In the chair for the
frst smoke Of the day, glancing at
1 BARLEY as ! lighted my pipe. His
DOOR, no doubt, was one Of the
/ many items he collected. dealing
/ with the unknown life and manners
! OF the past. Once or twice. as his
( long, nervous fingers turned the
4 pages. a smile came over his face.
! once he threw back his head soy
erai moments In deep thought. #
was at this point that I smiled n
4 little to myself. at the thought that
4 came to me. Perhap BARLEY would
/ have been considered the best
known criminal investigator in the
7 country. ct 1t was a hard thing to
! believe, unless YOU knew him well.
/ His fine head, the hair touched with
gray; the expressive eyes. the long
! nervous fingers all told of the many
/ hundred years of breeding that was
in his family line. In a crowd he
( might have been taken for a profess
sional man of the highest type, but
never for what he was.
Il One glance would have told the
student, the cultured man Of books.
But glance would have told also.
that he loved the open air and did
not neglect the outdoor life for his
. books.
/ All at once. with a little laugh. he
! dropped his book on the arm Of the
! chair. There was a quizzical smile
on has face. as he turned to me.
DO YOU think, Pelt. a man could
! walk up the stairs of his house into
I an attic, which was the only room
4 he could have entered-an attic
1 without A single window or anv
means Of exit except by walking
I down the stairs again into ethe room
filled with people-do you think he
/ could go up to this room and vanish
/ forever. no trace OF him ever being
4 found ?"
Not knowing just what he meant.
| ventured, 1T looks flshy." My an
swer made him laugh and he ex-
, planned:
1 Yes, it does. Yet here is a little
4 book / got from France the other
/ day. It's an account of what hap
rened to Jean Richer in 1856. or
rather an attempt to discover what
happened. He invited fifteen Of his
+ friends to his little house one night
and went up in his attic to get
/ something he wished to show them.