Part 5 (1/2)

”You put irls at St Agatha's as areat exception--and--I really shouldn't be talking to you at all! It's against the rules! And we don't encourage s”

”The chaplain doesn't smoke, I suppose”

”Not in chapel; I believe it isn't done! And we rarely see him elsewhere”

She had idled with the paddle so far, but now lifted her eyes and drew back the blade for a long stroke

”But in the wood--this --by the wall!”

I hateso startled her The poised blade dropped into the water with a splash; she brought the canoe a trifle nearer to the wharf with an almost imperceptible stroke, and turned toward me onder and dismay in her eyes

”So you are an eavesdropper and detective, are you? I beg that you will give your ht you were a gentle eht

I called, staosy skimmed the water steadily The paddle rose and fell with trained precision,scarcely a ripple as she stole softly away toward the fairy towers of the sunset I stood looking after her, goaded with self-contelory of yellow and red filled the west Suddenly the wind es, swept over ht until it caught her canoe and I marked the flimsy craft's quick response, as the shaken waters bore her alert figure upward on the swell, her blade still ular dip, until she disappeared behind a little peninsula that rounds

The red tae in the red sky, and I turned to my canoe and paddled cheerlessly home

CHAPTER VII

THE MAN ON THE WALL

I was so thoroughly angry withthe shores for an hour I lost ht up at the rear door used by Bates for coers who supplied us with provender I readily found ht of stairs beyond, which connected the first and second floors The house was dark, and ood spirits were not increased as I stumbled up the unfarandfather, who had built and left inco at the girl still rankled; and I was cold froht chill on the water and anxious to get into more comfortable clothes Once on the second floor I felt that I knew the way to h floor when I heard low voices rising apparently fro-room

It was pitch dark in the hall I stopped short and listened The door of ht flashed once into the hall and disappeared I heard now a sound as of a ha upon ork

Then it ceased, and a voice whispered: ”He'll kill ain to-morrow I swear to God I'll help you, but no ain the tapping of the hammer After several ue which I could not hear

Whatever was occurring, two or three points struckparty to an act as yet unknown; second, they had been unsuccessful and must wait for another opportunity; and third, the business, whatever it as clearly of sorandfather's strange house had been chosen for the investigation

Clearly, I was not prepared to close the incident, but the idea of frightening my visitors appealed to htly down, found the front door, and, from the inside, opened and slammed it I heard instantly a hurried scamper above, and the heavy fall of one who had sturinned with real pleasure at the sound of this reat library, which was as dark as a well, and, opening one of the long s, stepped out on the balcony At once from the rear of the house came the sound of a stealthy step, which increased to a run at the ravine bridge I listened to the flight of the fugitive through the wood until the sounds died away toward the lake

Then, turning to the library s, I saw Bates, with a candle held above his head, peering about

”hello, Bates,” I called cheerfully ”I just got home and stepped out to see if the moon had risen I don't believe I knohere to look for it in this country”

He began lighting the tapers with his usual deliberation

”It's a trifle early, I think, sir About seven o'clock, I should say, was the hour, Mr Glenarm”

There was, of course, no doubt whatever that Bates had been one of the men I heard in my room It holly possible that he had been coainst his will; but why, if he had been forced into aiding a criminal, should he not invoke s in the fireplace ihted the reat apartrewas I studied it in relation to the rifle-shot of the night before, his collision with Morgan in the wood, which I had witnessed; and now the house itself had been invaded by soh the refectoryh; but these other matters in connection with it could hardly be brushed aside

Bates lighted me to the stairway, and said as I passed him: ”There's a baked ham for dinner I should call it extra delicate, Mr Glenare in the dinner hour, sir?”

”Certainly not,” I said with asperity; for I ae it the next Bates wished to uilty conscience in a servant--and I was not disposed to encourage hih exa-room and the little bed-chamber I was quite sure that my own effects could not have attracted the two e of my absence to visit my quarters Bates had helped unpack my trunk and undoubtedly knew every item of my simple wardrobe I threw open the doors of the three closets in the rooood order established by Bates He had carriedI owned must have passed under his eye My money even, the remnant of my fortune that I had drawn froh in the drawer of a chiffonnier otherwise piled with collars It took but a moment to satisfy myself that this had not been touched And, to be sure, a hammer was not necessary to open a drawer that had, froained; I had scratched the crust without result, and edfrequently to examine the furniture, even the bricks on the hearth

One thing only I found--the slight scar of a ha that ran around the bedroom The wood had been struck near the base and at the top of every panel, for though the mark was not perceptible on all, a test had evidently been , I found a moment later a spot of tallow under a heavy table in one corner Evidently the furniture had beenEven behind the bed I found the same impress of the hah, for a pretty smart tap on oak is necessary to leave an is in search of a recess of some kind in the wall, and as they had failed of their purpose they were likely, I assumed, to pursue their researches further

I pondered these things with a thoroughly-awakened interest in life Glenar I took froes and thrust it intomeanwhile Larry Donovan's favorite air, the Marche Funebre d'une Marionnette My heart went out to Larry as I scented adventure, and I wished him with me; but speculations as to Larry's whereabouts were always profitless, and quite likely he was in jail somewhere

The ham of whose excellence Bates had hinted was no disappoint better in this world than a baked haht to the eye--so adorned was it with spices, so crisply brown its outer coat; and a taste--that first tentative taste, before the sauce was added--was like a dreaood deal in a cook with that touch--anything short of arson and assassination!

”Bates,” I said, as he stood forth where I could see hily well Where did you learn the business?”

”Your grandfather grew very captious, Mr Glenarm I had to learn to satisfy him, and I believe I did it, sir, if you'll pardon the conceit”

”He didn't die of gout, did he? I can readily iine it”

”No, Mr Glenar of it”

”Ah, yes; to be sure The heart or the stomach--one may as well fail as the other I believe I prefer to keep rilled sweet potatoes again, if you please, Bates”

The galy It was altogether worth while, and as I ate guava jelly with cheese and toasted crackers, and then lighted one ofcoffee, my spirit was livelier than at any ti on which Larry and I had escaped froier with our lives and the curses of the police It is a melancholy coh the storeat library, with its rich store of books and its eternal candles, I sprawled upon a divan before the fire and sed in pleasant speculations The day had offered much material for fireside reflection, and I reviewed its history calmly

There was, however, one incident that I found unpleasant in the retrospect I had been guilty of atha's It had certainly been unbecoly, and listen to the words--few though they were--that passed between her and the chaplain I forgot the shot through the ; I forgot Bates and the interest my room possessed for him and his unknown accomplice; but the sudden distrust and conteirl by ly

I rose presently, found my cap in a closet under the stairs, and went out into the reat when you knew the way, and there was indeed, as I had found, the faint suggestion of a path The hway across the water; the air was sharp and still The houses in the suave me no cheer The tilt of her tam-o'-shanter as she paddled away into the sunset had conveyed an inity that I could not adjust to any iinable expiation

These reflections carried atha's, and I followed the wall to the gate, climbed up, and sat down in the shadow of the pillar farthest fros of St Agatha's, but the place holly silent I drew out a cigarette and was about to light it when I heard a sound as of a tread on stone There was, I knew, no stone pave boldly along the top of the wall toward ure into clear relief Several times he paused, bent down and rapped upon the ith an object he carried in his hand

Only a few hours before I had heard a si of my own room in Glenarm House Evidently the stone wall, too, was under suspicion!