Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-05-29
By Elizabeth Jordan
90 by The Century Col

|
Campbell revealed the fact that he
had not been as drowsy as he had
seemed.
MADAME Hvoeslef told you just
now that she wanted you to go into
/ town tomorrow, didn't she?"
Eyes, SIR"
"You won't mlnd?"
"No, sir; Of course not. Why
should TT
"Pd hate 1t like the DEVIL" Camp
bell cheerfully admitted. "a visit to
town knocks me out for month. The
Internal noise alone Is nightmare.
But of course that's nothing to a
young chap like you"
He had forgotten or was deliberate
ly ignoring the young chaps admitted
lack of nerve fitness, and in either
case Renshaw was grateful.
| He included Miss Campbell in his
farewell as he was leaving the room,
but she seemed to have forgotten his
presence. She was trying a new song
in an undertone and did not raise her
| eyes from the notes. But the music
| of her wonderful voice followed him
into the hall, and he still seemed to
hear 1t as he went upstairs.
He entered his room with warning
sense of comfort. The lights were lit,
a fire blazed In the big fireplace, the
sheets of his bed had been folded
back. It was not yet eleven o'clock.
He would read for half an hour and
then he hoped, have good nights
Sleep.
| Soon he began to feel drowsy and
he turned off the reading lamp, but
he could still see distinctly In the
| f1re-lit room.
The house was very quiet. His sub
| conscious mind dallied with memories
of the day-bits of Campbell's con-
| fidences, We-wee's baby hands, the
watchfulness of James the footman,
the hushed, throaty voice Of Madame
Hvoeslef-
1t was at this instant that he again
observed the blue circle. 1t had ap-
peared as suddenly as on the night
before, but in a different spot on the
same wall. For few moments he
watched 1t, his eyes narrowing with
an interest he had not felt the night
before. Tomorrow he must look
around and find the source Of that re-
| Election. In the meantime, he would
| once more compose himself for slum-
| Der.
He may have slept half an hour
| before he heard the first sound in the
| outer hall. 1t was an unmistakable
| sound-the sound Of a very heavy
| body falling He sat up with jerk
and muttered oath that held more
impatience than alarm. It perfectly
expressed his feelings. He had, in
| deed, been so treasured by Campbell's
words that morning that 1t was diff
cult to feel any emotion but annoy
ance at this untimely interruption to
sleep.
But the noise in the hall would not
! be ignored. The thing that was max
ing 1t had begun to move, to crawl
along, t. pant heavily. Renshaw
pursed his lips and raised his eye
brows. In the gloom Of his room he
could plainly see the transom above
his door, but no reflected CLEAN came
through it. The lights in the hall had
been turned out. Even If he rose and
| opened the door, he could not clearly
see what was in the hall. And it
was none Of his business, anyway. His
mind chung to that fact. 1t was none
of his business! Anything that hap
pened in the hall He didn't need to
get up. He didn't want to get up.
In fact, the notion of getting up was
rather horrible. Therefore, Of course,
he must get up. Convalescence, he
was beginning to discover, meant do
ing Immediately anything and all
things one particularly did not desire
| to do.
He rose quietly, and without switch
| ing on light went noiselessly to the
door opening into the hall and grasped
| the knob. His intention was to open
| that door with quick jerk and thus
| surprise the thing that was moving
outside. But, though he unconscious
ly braced himself as he seized the
KNOB, Cnc QOOr Qlu uOI yIelu ne Ca
erted all his strength. The door held
fast He drew back and stared at
it. 1t had not yielded, for the best
and simplest Of reasons. 1t was
locked-and locked from the outside
He had opened his windows before
he went to bed. The cold night air
blowing in upon his pajama-clad fig
| ure reminded him that the reflections
which seemed his sole recourse could
| be INDUCED in more comfortably in
bed than out of 1t. He went back to
bed. There seemed nothing else to
do. His room, he had already OBJ
served, did not include the convenience
Of a bella rather striking omission,
by the way. He listened.
The thing itself was coming nearer,
was very near his door, was now at
the door itself. There, for moment,
1t lay motionless, though he contin-
ued to hear the painting breaths. 1t
suggested a sick animal, very large
and very sick animal. All right. If
it wanted to pant at his door, let 1t
| pant.
~ Il T. -