The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, November 04, 1915, Image 3
DAI
-A1
CHAPTER I.
The House of Mystery.
A high and narrow gate of carefully
joined boards, standing ajar in a fence
of the same construction! What is
-there in this to rouse a whole neigh
borhood and collect before it a group
4 ~ 'of eager, anxious, hesitating people?
This is Judge Ostrander's place, and
-anyone who knows Shelby or the gos
sip of its suburbs knows that this
house of his has not opened its doors
to any outsider, man or woman, for
over a dozen years; nor have his gates
been seen in all that time to gape at
-anyone's instance or to stand unclosed
to public intrusion. The seclusion
sought was absolute. The men and
women who passed and repassed this
-corner many times a day were as igno
rant as the townspeople in general of
what lay behind the gray, monotonous
exterior of the weatherbeaten boards
they so frequently brushed against.
The house was there, of course-they
.all knew the house, or did once-but
there were rumors of another fence, a
second barrier, standing a few feet in
side the first and similar to it in all
respects, even to the gates which cor
responded exactly with these outer
-and visible ones and probably were
.just an fully provided with bolts and
bars.
4. And now! in the freshness of this
-summer morning, without warning or
-any seeming reason for the change,
the strict habit of years has been
broken into and this gate of gates is
not only standing unlocked before
their eyes, but a woman-a stranger
to the town as her very act showe
has been seen to enter there!-to en
ter. but pot come out; which means
,that she must still be inside, and pos.
-eibly in the very presence of the
judge.
Where is Bela? Why does he allow
his errands--Dut it was Bela, or so
they have been told, who left this
gate ajar . . . he, the awe and
terror of the town, the enormous, re
doubtable, close-mouthed negro, trust
ed as man is seldom trusted, and
faithful to his trust, yes, up to this
very hour, as all must acknowledge.
in spite of every temptation (and they
had been many and alluring) to dis
close the secret of this home of which
he was not the least interesting fac
tor.- What has made him thus sud
denly careless, he who has never been
careless before? Money? A bribe
from the woman who had entered
there?
What else was there to believe?
TLtmre stood the gate with the pebble
holding it away from the post; and
here stood half the neighborhood, in
a rascination which had for- its motif
the( knowledge that they, themselves
If they had courage enough, might go
'in, just as this woman had gone in,
and see-why, what ehe is seeing
now-the unknowvn, unguessed reason
for all these mysterles--the hidden
treasure or the hIdden sorrow which
would explain why lie, their fir-st citi
zen, the respected, even revered judge
of their highest eourt, should make use
of such precautions and show such un
varying determination to bar out all
comers from the place he called his
home.
It had not always been so. Within
the memory of many there it had been
an abode of cheer and good fellowship.
Not a few of the men and women now
hesitating before its portals could
boast of meals taken at the judge's
ample board, and of evenings spent In
animated conversation In the great
room where he kept his books and did
his wvriting.
But that was beforo his son left him
in so unaccountable a manner; be
fore-yes, all wvere agreed on this
point-before that other hitter ordeal
of his middle age, the trial andl con
demnation of the man who had way
laid and murdlered his best friend.
Though the effect of these combined
sorr-ows hadl not seemed to be immedi
ate (one month had seen both);
though a half-year had elapsed before
amli socIability was lost ini extreme self
absorptio~n, and a full one before he
? took dowvn the picket fence which had
hitherto been considered a sufficient
protection to his simple grounds, and
put up those boards which had so com
pletely isolated him from the rest of
-the world, it was evident enough to
the friends who recalled his look and
step as he walked the streets with Al
gernon Etheridge on one side and his
brilliant, ever-successful son on the
other, that the change now observable
in him was due to thie violent sunder
ing 'of t hese two ties, Grief slowly
settled into confirmed melancholy, and
- melancholy into eccentricities,
Judge Ostrander' was a recluse of
the most uncompromising type; but he
was such for only half his time, F'rom
ten in the morning till five in the after
noon, he came and went like any other
citizen, fulfilling his judicial duties
with the same scrupulous care as for
nerly and with more affability. In
deed, he showed at times, and often
when it was least expectedl, a mellow
anos of temper quite foreign to him in
- is early days. The admiration
/ wakened by his fine appearance on
the bench was never marred now by
those quick and raspittg tones of an
KE
By ANNA KATH
(Copyright, 1914, by Di
easily disturbed temper which had
given edge to his invective when he
stood as pleader in the very court
where he now presided as judge. But
away from the bench, once quit of the
courthouse and the town, the man who
attempted to accost him on his way to
his carriage or sought to waylay him
at his owii gate had need of all his
courage to sustain the rebuff his pre
sumption incurred.
The son, a man of great ability who
was making his way as a journalist in
another city, had no explanation to
give of his father's peculiarities.
Though he never came to Shelby-the
rupture between the two. if rupture
it were, seeming to be complete
there were many who had visited him
in his own place of business and put
such questions concerning the judge
and his eccentric manner of living as
must have provoked response had the
young man had any response to give.
But he appeared to have none. Either
he was as ignorant as themselves of
the causes which had led to his fa
ther's habit of extreme isolation, or
he showed powers of dissimulation
hardly in accordance with the other
traits of his admirable character.
All of which closed inquiry in this
direction, but left the maw of curt
osity unsatisfied.
And unsatisfied it had remained up
to this hour, when through accident
or was it treachery-the barrier to
knowledge was down and the question
of years seemed at last upon the point
of being answered.
Meantime a fussy, talkative msan was
endeavoring to impress the rapidly col
lecting crowd with the advisability of
their entering all together and ap
proaching the judge in a body.
"We can say that we felt it to be
our dooty to follow this woman in,"
he argued. "Didn't you say she had a
child with her, Miss Weeks?"
"Yes, and-"
"Tell us the whole story, Miss Weeks.
Some of us haven't heard it. 'T'hen if
it seems our duty as his neighbors and
well wishers to go in, we'll just go in."
The little woman towards whom this
appeal was directed immediately be
gan her ingenuous tale. She was sit
ting in her front window sewing lEv
erybody knew that this window faced
~The B rstTruhN h eon ae
theen o te an i Qwic theywer
the end ohe leye intiaewe
Bela, prompt to the mnhutec as lhe al
ways was, issuled forth on his morning
walk to town for the (lay's supplies
Always exact, always in a hurry
knowing as ho (lid that the judge
wouldl not leave for court till his re
turn--he had never, in all the eight
years she had been sitting in that
window making buttonholes, shown
any hesitation in his methodical re
locking of the gate and subsequent
quick departure.
But this morning he had lingered in
the gateway peering to right and left
in a way so unlike himself that the mo
ment he was out of sight she could not
help running down the lane to see If
her suspicions were correct. And they
were. Not only had he left the gate
unlocked, but he had done so -pur
posely.
She had about decided that it was
only proper for her to enter and make
mure that all was right with the judge
when she saw a woman looking at her
from the road--a woman all in purple
even to the veil which hid her fea
tures. A little child was with her, and
the two must have stepped into the
road from behind some of the bushes,
as neither of them wvere anywhere in
sight when she herself came running
dlown from the corner.
It was enough to startle anyone, es
pecially as the woman did not speak.
but just stood silent and watching her
through a veil the like of which was
not to be found in Shelby, andt which
LOLT
ARINE GREEN
idd, Mead & Conpany)
in itself was enough to rouse a decen1
woman's suspicions.
She was so amazed at this that shi
stepped back and attempted to addres
the stranger. But before she had gol
much further than a timid and hest
tating "Madam," the wonany rouse(
into action possibly by her interior
ence, made a quick gesture suggestive
of impatience if not rebuke, and mov
ing resolutely towards the gate Miss
Weeks had so indiscreetly left un
guarded, pushed it open and disap
peared within, dragging the little chilc
after her.
"And she's in there still?"
"I haven't seen her come out."
"Then what's the matter with you?'
called a burly, high-otrung woman
stepping hastily from the group and
laying her hand upon the gate stil
standing temptingly ajar. "It's nc
time for nonsense," she announced, at
she pushed it open and stepped
promptly in, followed by the motley
group of men and women who, if they
lacked courage to lead, certainly
showed willingness to follow.
One glance and they felt their cour
age rewarded.
Rumor, which so often deceives
proved itself correct in this case. A
second gate confronted them exactly
like the first, even to the point oi
being held open by a pebble placed
against the post. And a second fence
also! built upon the same pattern aE
the one they had just passed through;
the two forming a double barrier as
mysterious to contemplate in fact a
it had ever been in fancy. In gazing
at these fences and the eanyonlikr
walk stretching between them the
band of curious invaders forgot ther
prime errand for a moment.
But whatever the mysteries of the
place, a greater one awaited them be
yond, and presently realizing this, they
burst with one accord through the sec
end gate Into the mass of greenery
which, either from neglect or inten
tion, masked this side of the Ostrander
homestead.
Never before had they beheld so law
less a growth or a house so completelr
lost amid vines and shrubbery. Two
solemn fir trees, which were all tha
remained of an old-time and famou
group, DIept guard over the untendlt
lawn, adding their suggestion of ag
and brooding melancholy to the al
of desolation infesting the whole piace
One might be approaching a tomb, fo
all token that appeared of human pret
ence. Even sound was lacking. I
was like a painted scene-a dream o
human extinction.
Instinctively the women faltered ant
the men drew back; then the ver:
silence caused a sudden reaction, an
with one simultaneous rush they mad<
for the only entrance they sa1w an<
burst without further ceremony intu
the house.
A common hall and common fur
nishings confronted them. More the)
could not gather; for llocked ae thi
doorway was by their crowding fig
ures, the little light which sifted ir
over their heads was not enough tt
show up details. Halting with one ac
cord in what seemed to be the middk1
of the uncarpeted floor, they waitec
for some indication of a clear passage
way to the great room where the judgc
would undoubtedly be found In conver
sation with his strange guest.
The woman of the hard voice and
self-satisfied demeanor who had 'start
ed them upon this adventure was still
ahead; but even she quatled wheni shc
found herself face to race with
heavy curtain instead uf a yie'ding
door.
"Look at this!" she whispered, push
lng the curtain inward with a quiet
mo veminent.
Sunshine! A stream of it, dlazzling
thenm almost to blindness and sending
them, one and all, pell melt back u pon
each other! Hlowever dismal the ap
p~roach, here all was in brilliant lighi
with every evidence before them of
busy life.
Th~e rcoom was not only fillied, butl
crammed, with furniture. This was
the first thing they noticed; then, ne
their blinking eyes became accus
tomedh to the glare and to the unex.
pected confusion of tables and chairs
and screens and standing recepta'lel
for books and pamphlets and bo~xes
labeled and padlocked, they beheld
something else.
The judge was there, but in what a
con di tion.
Firom the end of the forty-foot roonm
his seated figure confronted them, at
lent, staring and unmoving. With
clenched fingers gripping the arms of
his greet chair and head held forward,
he looked like one frozen at the me.
ment of doom, such the expression of
features usually so noble, and now
almost unrecognizable were it not for
A he snow white of his locks and blar
nm istakab)le brow.
Frozen! Not an eyelash quivered,
nor was there any perceptible move
ment in his sturdy chest. Ils eyes
were on their eyes, but he saw no one;
and down upon his head and over hie
whole form tihe sunshine ploured fromt
a large window let into tihe ceiling dl
rectly abovo :lim, lighting up the
strained and unnatural aspect of his
remarkable countenance and bringing
into sharp nrominanna the com.o
0ow,
O
place objects cluttering the table at
his elbow.
Inarticulate murmurs swelled and
ebbed, now louder, now more faintly
as the crowd surged forward or drew
back, appalled by that moveless,
breathless, awe-compelling figure.
A breathless moment; then the hor
rifled murmur rose here, there and
everywhere: "I-i's dead! lie's dead!"
when quietly and convincingly a bluff
masculine voice spoke from the door
way behind them:
"You needn't be frightened. In an
hour or a half-hour he will be the
same as ever. My aunt' has such at
tacks. They call it catalepsy."
Imperceptibly the crowd dwindled;
the most discreet among them quite
content to leave the house; a few, and
these the most thoughtful, devoted all
their energies to a serious quest for
the woman and child whom they con
tinued to believe to be in hiding some
where inside the walls she had so au
daciously entered.
The small party decided to start
their search by a hasty inspection of
the front hall, ' when a shout and
scramble in the passages beyond cut
short their intent and held them pant
ing and eager, each to his place.
Frightened, they drew their gaze
from the rigid figure in the chair, and,
with bated breaths and rapidly paling
cheeks, listened to the distant mur
mur on the far-off road.
What was it? They could not guess.
and it was with unbounded relief they
pressed forward to greet the shadowy
form of a young girl hurrying toward
them from the rear, with news in heat
face. She spoke quickly.
"The woman is gone. Harry Doane
saw her sliding out behind us just
after we came In. She was hiding in
some of the corners here and slipped
out by the kitchen way when we were
not looking. lie has gone to see-"
Breathlessly Mis Weeks cut the
gvzl's story short; breathlessly she
- rushed to the nearest window, and.
helped by willing hands,- succeeded in
forcing it up and tearing a hole in the
- vines, through which they one and
all looked out in eager excitement.
t A motley throng of people were
crowding in through the double gate.
:1 way. Some one was in their grasp.
e It was Bela! Bela, the giant! Bela,
r the terror of the town, no longer a
. terror but a struggling. half-fainting
r figure, fighting to free himself and get
- in advance, despite some awful hurt
t which blanched his coal-black features
f and made his great limbs falter, while
still keeping his own and making his
way, by sheer force of will, up the
path and the two steps of entrance
his body alter-ntel- y sinuking hack or
p1ltnging. foriwarid as those in the i-ear
or there In fron t g:>t the u Ipper hanad
Wha'c Sought Liberty.
'Thr-ills ar-e by3 no mneamt out of dlat~e
in the New Zealand of today, and tz,
few weeks back thle wvorkers in a
sa wmdil at Wha ngaparaleara were giv
en an exlhit ion of the vigor that lies
ini a thwarted whale. One of these
monsters of the deep, many of wvhomn
are seen about the coasts of the D)o
minion. where whaling was once a
ver-y profitable industry, recently
found its way- up one of the small
harbors, andl finally got inside the
booms where the logs are kept for
the saw mills. It seemed happy
enough there for a while, till it sud
denlly discovered itself in enclosed
water, and then the fight began. It
lashed round and round in blind1( fury,
sending lhugo bauri logs tumbling
about like walking sticks, and then
clearedl a passage andi made off full
speed ahead for the open sea. Uinfor
tunately for itself, it drove head on
against a pile0, and the blo0w stunne'd
It so that it was stranded on the
beach.
Worth, the Dressmaker.
The noted Parisian dr2essmnaker,
Worth, owed his ear-ly success to the
patronage of that famous Ipersonaige
of the third eimpir-e, Princess Pauline
(10 Metternich. the wife of thle Austi
an ambassador to France. Biy her wit
and( nuiinrous vagaries of dress and
manner she created a sensation at the
court of Napoleon Ill and Eugenic.
Therefore it was easy for Worth to
become the most sought of the world's
dresmakers when the princess ap
provedl his styles. Charles Worth,
while so long the creator of French
fashion. was an Englishman, born in
lourne, Engiandl, in 1825i, and died in
Pais in 1895.-Blaltimore Star.
Carbon From Gas.
Engineers have long been trying to
discover an economicai w~ay of produc
ing carbon from natural gas Unader
the methods now in use there Is such
an enormous waste of gas that the
process is too expensive. Harry lt('a
com of Wilsonburg, Harrison County,
WV. Va., has been studying thi.; mnatter
scienitifically and experimentally for
miany years, and now lie anoil nce1sl~O
that lie has found a method wherebey
he plroduces a black without any ash
and far superior to that made uinder
the older pr-ocesses, and whereby the
waste of gas t9 elmost entirely eimzA
aated.
Acceptable Toys
for the Children.
Doll's House of Cardboard
A hat box of strong cardboard and
some red, white and green water-color
paints are required to make this doll's
house. A view of it :s given in the
picture above, also a picture of the
roof and of the front and one side.
The roof and chimneys are to be made
separately.
Two large, square openings are cut
out at the front and above them an
oblong is cut on three sides. Bent
outward this forms an awning that is
painted in red and white stripes. A
door is cut in the side and panels and
door knobs painted on it. Openings
are cut in the roof to hold the chim
neys and it is painted in green squares
to simulate shingles '
The house and chimneys are paint
ed red lined with white to simulate
bricks. White paper pasted over the
windows will look like a shade. After
the parts are made they are fas
tened together with paper fasteners.
Easily Made Animal Toys
Animals, that please the little ones,
are nmade ot caniton flannel or plush.
and stuled with sawdturt. Pmus with
biackc n.Oris, beatis, or regu lat10ni a rti
licial eyes arec used, and bits of
lamb's wool or fur p~rovidhe the re
quir-ed nair. A dog and ponty arec pic
tured here, mlade of white cainton flan
nel, also outlines or patternas for c-ut
ting tnemn. F0achi animal is miade of
three pieces: the two sides a:A a
piece to be seweal undernieath. This
iast has a slit in it for tur-nmng the
figure right side out after- the pieces
arec macine stitched together. A fter
it is stutiedl this openlinig is sewed up.
Almost any animal may be made in
this way.
Bungalow Made of Cardboard
Hungalows and other toy houses are
miade ot heavy cardibeard boxes The
nicture shows the roof, chimney, tront
md one side of the bungalow before
they are put togetbler, aiso the tin
tshed house.
The windows are cut out and plain
white writing paper pasted over the
openings on the inside, The window
panes and sashes are painted oln this.
Doors are cut on three sides and
paneis and knobs pamnted on them.
Doorsteps, window boxes and flowers,
shinigies, etc., are all painted on the
tiat surface, ismd
i'hie chimney smaeseparately,
onind red, an l ined wmt wt..
Christmas Gifts for
A Group of Baby Belongings
'S
The baby inspires the greatest num
ber of dainty gifts at Christmas time,
nearly all of them the handwork of
those who welcome him.
A book in which the inportant af
fairs of the new arrival are to be
put on record, a hanger for safety
pins of several sizes, a pair of arm
lets, and some brightly colored toys
suspended by gay ribbons, are pi
tured above in the group of baby be
longings.
The record book is made by cover
ing cardboard with white moire silk.
A stork Is painted on the front cover,
and plain heavy white paper provides
tne leaves. Satin ribbon in light blue
or pink is sewed to each cover to fas
ten them together.
Pink satin ribbon and white cellu
loid rings, in three sizes, are used for
the safety-pin hangers One long and
three short ends hang from a pretty
bow, each terminating in a ring. The
pins are fastened over the rings.
Narrow satin ribbon shirred over
fiat elastic cord forms the armlets.
10ach is finished with a full rosette.
Bootees and a Coat Hanger
Th'le warm looking and dainty
bootees shiown in i the p~ictur e will be
easy to make by those0 who under
standl crocheting. They are crocheted
of white zep~hyr and shaped to ft
over the knees. A beading is worked
in near the top) and narrow pink satin
ribbon run through it makes it pos
811b10 to tie the boots so that they
will net slip down
A novel and very pretty touch is
given these bootees by the tiny pink
rose buds that are embroidered on
them with silk floss.
tittle wooden hangers are covered
with cotton for a padding and over
this light satin ribbon is shirred. The
hook Is wound with the ribbon and
the hanger finmshed with a pretty bow.
Topsy Doll Made of a Stocking
The rag baby has the reputation of
being the best beloved of its 4ittle
owner's possessions. Here is a Topsy
doll madle ot a black stocking with
mouth and nose outlined with yarn
and glass beads for eyes. By raveling
an oid knitted mitten or any knitted
article, its head of kinky hair Is as
sured.
Trho figure is cut out in two Dieces,
whicn are machine-stitched together,
with an openin~g left at one side for
turning it right Bide out. It Is etuffed
with cotton. Rompers and a cap of
gayly striped gingham add to the taw
cination of this Topnn,