Part 9 (1/2)

The walls at the end of the passage were as solid as rock, and they responded dully to the stroke of the hamore and more impatient at my ill-luck or stupidity There was every reason why I should know h it with a

After an hour's idle search I returned to the end of the corridor, repeated all e unbecoer, I found what patient search had not disclosed

I threw the hae square in the ceave forth a hollow sound I was onthe cracks, and drawing down close I could feel a current of air, slight but unh exactly like the others in the cellar floor, was evidently only a wooden i beneath

The block was fitted into its place with a nicety that certified to the skill of the hand that had adjusted it I broke a blade ofto pry it up, but in a moment I succeeded, and found it to be in reality a trap-door, hinged to the substantial part of the floor

A current of cool fresh air, the saht, struckThe lower passage was as black as pitch, and I lighted a lantern I had brought with ave safe conduct below and went down

I stood erect in the passage and had several inches to spare It extended both ways, running back under the foundations of the house This lower passage cut squarely under the park before the house and toward the school wall No wonder n laborers who could speak no English to work on his house! There was soeness of his scheh the tunnel with a hundred questions torrew steadily fresher, until, after I had gone about two hundred yards, I reached a point where the wind seemed to beat down on s about two yards apart, through which the air sucked steadily I rin on ate in the school-wall, and I knehy the piers that held it had been built so high--they were hollow and were thefresh air into the tunnel

I had traversed about twenty yards ht vibration accompanied by a muffled roar, and almost immediately cae I had nodirections, but I assurounds

I cli still the vibration, and found a door that yielded readily to pressure In a hted, floored rooan explained the treatha's chapel The inside of the door by which I had entered was a part of the wainscoting of the roo holly covered with a map of the Holy Land

In my absorption I had lost the sense of time, and I was ao into the chapel before going hoh, and I was soon in the vestibule I opened the door, expecting to find a service in progress; but the little church was eanist was filling the church with the notes of a triumphant march Cap in hand I stole forward and sank down in one of the pews

A laht in the chapel, and made an aureole about her head-- about the uncovered head of Olivia Gladys Arnized her and sht to the music, the happiness in her face as she raised it in the minor harainst the dark background of the choir-- these things touched and moved me, and I bent forward,with a kind of aonder Here was a refuge of peace and lulling harmony after the disturbed life at Glenarm, and I yielded myself to its solace with an inclination my life had rarely known

There was no pause in the outpouring of the ers and passed froust hy Song leaped forth exultant in the dark chapel

She ceased suddenly with a little sigh and struck her hands together, for the place was cold As she reached up to put out the lights I stepped forward to the chancel steps

”Please allowa cape about her

”Oh, it's you, is it?” she asked, looking about quickly ”I don't remember--I don't seem to remember--that you were invited”

”I didn't knoas co my hand to the lamp

”That is my opinion of you--that you're a rather unexpected person But thank you, verythe interview, but hurried toward the door, and reached the vestibule before I cao any further, Mr Glenarh to h the wood and beyond the school-buildings the sunset faded sullenly The night was following fast upon the gray twilight and already the bolder planets were aflaht ahead beneath the black boughs

”I ht perhaps walk to the dormitory, or whatever you call it,” I said

”Thank you, no! I'ainst the rules, you know, for us to receive visitors”

She stepped out into the path

”But I'hbor And I owe you several calls, anyhow”

She laughed, but did not pause, and I followed a pace behind her

”I hope you don't think for a minute that I chased a rabbit on your side of the fence just to meet you; do you, Mr Glenarh, for I liked your music immensely I'”

She paid no heed to me

”And I hope Iyou often”

”You are positively flattering, Mr Glenar away--”

I feltaway She was the only a her gave a darker note to the bleak landscape

”That's really too bad! And just ere getting acquainted! And I was co to church every Sunday to hear you play and to pray for snow, so you'd coht, softened her heart At any rate her tone changed

”I don't play for services; they're afraid to let me for fear I'd run co!”

”Do you know, Mr Glenarm,”--her tone became confidential and her pace slackened--”we call you the squire, at St Agatha's, and the lord of the irls are perfectly crazy about you They'd be wild if they thought I talked with you, clandestinely--is that the way you pronounce it?”

”Anything you say and any way you say it satisfies me,” I replied

”That's ever so nice of you,” she said, uilty She would probably get roundly scolded if the grave Sisters learned of her talks with me, and very likely I should win their hearty contempt But I did not turn back

”I hope the reason you're leaving isn't--” I hesitated

”Ill conduct? Oh, yes; I' me off”

”But I suppose they're awfully strict, the Sisters”

”They're hideous--perfectly hideous”

”Where is your hoo, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, perhaps?”

”Huht to know froo And I hope I haven't a Kentucky girl's air of waiting to be flattered to death And no Indianapolis girl would talk to a strange ht of a winter day--that's froirl is without my elan, esprit--whatever you please to call it She has more Teutonic repose--more of Gretchen-of-the-Rhine-Valley about her Don't you adore French, Squire Glenarm?” she concluded breathlessly, and with no pause in her quick step

”I adore yours, Miss Arin themoods of her talk I did not make her out; indeed, I preferred not to! I was not then--and I am not now, thank God--of an analytical turn of row older I prefer, even after ood deal as I find theift of resolving them into elements As well carry a spray of arbutus to the laboratory or subject the enchant water to the flairl--particularly a girl who paddles a canoe with a sure stroke and puts up a good race with a rabbit

A lamp shone ahead of us at the entrance of one of the houses, and lights appeared in all the buildings

”If I knew yourI should certainly sing under it--except that you're going ho you”