Charles Aldarondo Charles Franks and the Online Distributed ProofreadingTeamIllustration What are you doing up hereQUILLS WINDOWBY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEONFRONTISPIECE BYC ALLAN GILBERTCONTENTSCHAPTER    I THE FORBIDDEN ROCK   II THE STORY THE OLD MAN TOLD  III COURTNEY THANE   IV DOWDS TAVERN    V TRESPASS   VI CHARLIE WEBSTER ENTERTAINS  VII COURTNEY APPEARS IN PUBLIC VIII ALIX THE THIRD   IX A MIDOCTOBER DAY    X THE CHIMNEY CORNER   XI THANE VISITS TWO HOUSES  XII WORDS AND LETTERS XIII THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL  XIV SUSPICION   XV THE FACE AT THE WINDOW  XVI ROSABEL XVII SHADOWSXVIII MR GILFILLAN IS PUZZLED  XIX BRINGING UP THE PAST   XX THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ROSABEL VICK  XXI OUT OF THE NIGHT XXII THE THROWER OF STONESXXIII A MESSAGE AND ITS ANSWER XXIV AT QUILLS WINDOWQUILLS WINDOWCHAPTER ITHE FORBIDDEN ROCKA young man and an old one sat in the shade of the willows besidethe wide still river The glare of a hot August sun failed topenetrate the shelter in which they idled out upon the slowglidingriver it beat relentlessly creating a pale thin vapour thatclung close to the shimmering surface and dazzled the eye with anevershifting glaze The air was lifeless sultry stifling not aleaf not a twig in the tall drooping willows moved unless stirredby the passage of some vagrant birdThe older man sat on the ground his back against the trunk of atree that grew so near to the edge that it seemed on the point oftoppling over to shatter the smooth green mirror below Some of itssturdy exposed roots reached down from the bank into the waterwhere they caught and held the drift from upstreamreeds andtwigs and matted grassa dirty sickly mass that swished lazilyon the flank of the slowmoving currentThe water here in the shade was deep and clear and limpid contrastingsharply with the steelwhite surface out beyondThe young man occupied a decrepit camp stool placed convenientlyagainst the trunk of another tree hard by A discarded bamboo rodlay beside him on the bank the hook and line hopelessly tangledin the drift below He smoked cigarettesHis companion held a wellchewed black cigar in the viselike cornerof his mouth His hook and line were far out in the placid wateran ordinary cork serving as a bob from which his dreary unwaveringgaze seldom shiftedI guess theyre through bitin for today he remarked after along unbroken silenceHow many have we got inquired the other languidlyBetween us weve got twentyfour Thats a fairsized mess Sunfishdont make much of a showing unless you get a barrel of emGood eating though mused the young manFried in butter supplemented the other What time is itHalfpast nineWell thats just about what Id figured Ive been fishin inthis hole for something like forty years off and on and Ivefound out that these here sunfish get through breakfast at exactlyeighteen minutes past nine I always allow about ten minutes leewayin case one or two of em might have been out late the night beforeor somethingbut as a general thing theyre pretty doggonedprompt for breakfast Specially in August Even a fish is lazy inAugust Look at that fishworm By gosh its BOILED That showsyou how hot the water isHe removed the worm from the hook and slowly began to twist thepole in the more or less perfunctory process of winding up theline The young man looked on disinterestedlyAint you going to untangle that line inquired the old manjerking his thumbWhats the use The worm is dead by this time and God knowsI prefer to let him rest in peace The quickest way to untangle aline is to do it like thisHe severed it with his pocketknifeA line like that costs twentyfive cents said the old man atrace of dismay in his voiceThats what it cost when it was new drawled the other Youforget its been a secondhand article since eight oclock thismorningand whats a secondhand fishline worthtell me thatHow much would you give in the open market or at an auction salefor a secondhand fishlineI guess wed better be gittin back to the house said the otherignoring the question Got to clean these fish if were expectinto have em for dinneror lunch as you fellers call it Illbet your grandfather never called it lunch And as for him callinsupper DINNERwhy by crickey he NEVER got drunk enough forthatMore than that said the young man calmly he never saw a cigaretteor a telephone or a Ford or a safetyrazoror a lot of otherthings that have sprung up since he cashed in his checks To besure he did see a few things Ive never seensuch as claypipescanal boats horsehair sofas topboots and ragcarpetsand heprobably saw Abraham Lincolnbut for all that Id rather bewhere I am today than where he isand Im not saying he isnt inheaven eitherThe older mans eyes twinkled I dont think hes any nearer heaventhan he was forty years agoand hes been dead just about thatlong He wasnt what youd call a farseeing manand youve gotto look a long ways ahead if you want to see heaven Your grandmasin heaven all rightand Ill bet she was the most surprised mortalthat ever got inside the pearly gates if she found him there aheadof her Like as not she would have backed out thinking shed gotinto the wrong place by mistake And if he IS up there I bet hesmaking the place an everlastin hell for her Yep your grandpa wasabout as mean as they make em As you say he didnt know anythingabout cigarettes but he made up for it by runnin after women andfast horsesor maybe it was hosses and fast womenand cheatinthe eye teeth out of everybody he had any dealings withI dont understand how he happened to die young If all these thingswere true about him said the other lighting a fresh cigaretteand drawing in a deep full breath of the pungent smoke The oldman waited a few seconds