The House of a Thousand Candles, Meredith Nicholson [13 inch ebook reader TXT] 📗
- Author: Meredith Nicholson
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When we went into Bates’ room on our tour of the
house, Larry scanned the books on a little shelf with
something more than a casual eye. There were exactly
four volumes—Shakespeare’s Comedies, The Faerie
Queen, Sterne’s Sentimental Journey and Yeats’ Land
of Heart’s Desire.
“A queer customer, Larry. Nobody but my grandfather
could ever have discovered him—he found him
up in Vermont.”
“I suppose his being a bloomin’ Yankee naturally accounts
for this,” remarked Larry, taking from under the
pillow of the narrow iron bed a copy of the Dublin
Freeman’s Journal.
“It is a little odd,” I said. “But if you found a Yiddish
newspaper or an Egyptian papyrus under his pillow
I should not be surprised.”
“Nor I,” said Larry. “I’ll wager that not another
shelf in this part of the world contains exactly that collection
of books, and nothing else. You will notice that
there was once a book-plate in each of these volumes and
that it’s been scratched out with care.”
On a small table were pen and ink and a curious
much-worn portfolio.
“He always gets the mail first, doesn’t he?” asked
Larry.
“Yes, I believe he does.”
“I thought so; and I’ll swear he never got a letter
from Vermont in his life.”
When we went down Bates was limping about the
library, endeavoring to restore order.
“Bates,” I said to him, “you are a very curious person.
I have had a thousand and one opinions about you
since I came here, and I still don’t make you out.”
He turned from the shelves, a defaced volume in his
hands.
“Yes, sir. It was a good deal that way with your lamented
grandfather. He always said I puzzled him.”
Larry, safe behind the fellow’s back, made no attempt
to conceal a smile.
“I want to thank you for your heroic efforts to protect
the house last night. You acted nobly, and I must
confess, Bates, that I didn’t think it was in you. You’ve
got the right stuff in you; I’m only sorry that there are
black pages in your record that I can’t reconcile with
your manly conduct of last night. But we’ve got to
come to an understanding.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The most outrageous attacks have been made on me
since I came here. You know what I mean well enough.
Mr. Glenarm never intended that I should sit down in
his house and be killed or robbed. He was the gentlest
being that ever lived, and I’m going to fight for his
memory and to protect his property from the scoundrels
who have plotted against me. I hope you follow me.”
“Yes, Mr. Glenarm.” He was regarding me attentively.
His lips quavered, perhaps from weakness, for
he certainly looked ill.
“Now I offer you your choice—either to stand loyally
by me and my grandfather’s house or to join these
scoundrels Arthur Pickering has hired to drive me out.
I’m not going to bribe you—I don’t offer you a cent for
standing by me, but I won’t have a traitor in the house,
and if you don’t like me or my terms I want you to go
and go now.”
He straightened quickly—his eyes lighted and the
color crept into his face. I had never before seen him
appear so like a human being.
“Mr. Glenarm, you have been hard on me; there have
been times when you have been very unjust—”
“Unjust—my God, what do you expect me to
take from you! Haven’t I known that you were in
league with Pickering? I’m not as dull as I look, and
after your interview with Pickering in the chapel porch
you can’t convince me that you were faithful to my interests
at that time.”
He started and gazed at me wonderingly. I had had
no intention of using the chapel porch interview at this
time, but it leaped out of me uncontrollably.
“I suppose, sir,” he began brokenly, “that I can hardly
persuade you that I meant no wrong on that occasion.”
“You certainly can not—and it’s safer for you not
to try. But I’m willing to let all that go as a reward
for your work last night. Make your choice now; stay
here and stop your spying or clear out of Annandale
within an hour.”
He took a step toward me; the table was between us
and he drew quite near but stood clear of it, erect until
there was something almost soldierly and commanding
in his figure.
“By God, I will stand by you, John Glenarm!” he
said, and struck the table smartly with his clenched
hand.
He flushed instantly, and I felt the blood mounting
into my own face as we gazed at each other—he, Bates,
the servant, and I, his master! He had always addressed
me so punctiliously with the “sir” of respect that his
declaration of fealty, spoken with so sincere and vigorous
an air of independence, and with the bold emphasis
of the oath, held me spellbound, staring at him. The
silence was broken by Larry, who sprang forward and
grasped Bates’ hand.
“I, too, Bates,” I said, feeling my heart leap with
liking, even with admiration for the real manhood that
seemed to transfigure this hireling—this fellow whom I
had charged with most infamous treachery, this servant
who had cared for my needs in so humble a spirit of
subjection.
The knocker on the front door sounded peremptorily,
and Bates turned away without another word, and admitted
Stoddard, who came in hurriedly.
“Merry Christmas!” in his big hearty tones was
hardly consonant with the troubled look on his face. I
introduced him to Larry and asked him to sit down.
“Pray excuse our disorder—we didn’t do it for fun;
it was one of Santa Claus’ tricks.”
He stared about wonderingly.
“So you caught it, too, did you?”
“To be sure. You don’t mean to say that they raided
the chapel?”
“That’s exactly what I mean to say. When I went
into the church for my early service I found that some
one had ripped off the wainscoting in a half a dozen
places and even pried up the altar. It’s the most outrageous
thing I ever knew. You’ve heard of the proverbial
poverty of the church mouse—what do you suppose
anybody could want to raid a simple little country
chapel for? And more curious yet, the church plate
was untouched, though the closet where it’s kept was
upset, as though the miscreants had been looking for
something they didn’t find.”
Stoddard was greatly disturbed, and gazed about the
topsy-turvy library with growing indignation.
We drew together for a council of war. Here was an
opportunity to enlist a new recruit on my side. I already
felt stronger by reason of Larry’s accession; as to
Bates, my mind was still numb and bewildered.
“Larry, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t join forces
with Mr. Stoddard, as he seems to be affected by this
struggle. We owe it to him and the school to put him
on guard, particularly since we know that Ferguson’s
with the enemy.”
“Yes, certainly,” said Larry.
He always liked or disliked new people unequivocally,
and I was glad to see that he surveyed the big clergyman
with approval.
“I’ll begin at the beginning,” I said, “and tell you
the whole story.”
He listened quietly to the end while I told him of my
experience with Morgan, of the tunnel into the chapel
crypt, and finally of the affair in the night and our interview
with Bates.
“I feel like rubbing my eyes and accusing you of
reading penny-horrors,” he said. “That doesn’t sound
like the twentieth century in Indiana.”
“But Ferguson—you’d better have a care in his direction.
Sister Theresa—”
“Bless your heart! Ferguson’s gone—without notice.
He got his traps and skipped without saying a word to
any one.”
“We’ll hear from him again, no doubt. Now, gentlemen,
I believe we understand one another. I don’t like
to draw you, either one of you, into my private affairs—”
The big chaplain laughed.
“Glenarm,”—prefixes went out of commission quickly
that morning—“if you hadn’t let me in on this I
should never have got over it. Why, this is a page out
of the good old times! Bless me! I never appreciated
your grandfather! I must run—I have another service.
But I hope you gentlemen will call on me, day or night,
for anything I can do to help you. Please don’t forget
me. I had the record once for putting the shot.”
“Why not give our friend escort through the tunnel?”
asked Larry. “I’ll not hesitate to say that I’m dying
to see it.”
“To be sure!” We went down into the cellar, and
poked over the lantern and candlestick collections, and
I pointed out the exact spot where Morgan and I had
indulged in our revolver duel. It was fortunate that
the plastered walls of the cellar showed clearly the cuts
and scars of the pistol-balls or I fear my story would
have fallen on incredulous ears.
The debris I had piled upon the false block of stone
in the cellar lay as I had left it, but the three of us
quickly freed the trap. The humor of the thing took
strong hold of my new allies, and while I was getting a
lantern to light us through the passage Larry sat on the
edge of the trap and howled a few bars of a wild Irish
jig. We set forth at once and found the passage unchanged.
When the cold air blew in upon us I paused.
“Have you gentlemen the slightest idea of where
you are?”
“We must be under the school-grounds, I should say,”
replied Stoddard.
“We’re exactly under the stone wall. Those tall posts
at the gate are a scheme for keeping fresh air in the
passage.”
“You certainly have all the modern improvements,”
observed Larry, and I heard him chuckling all the way
to the crypt door.
When I pushed the panel open and we stepped out
into the crypt Stoddard whistled and Larry swore
softly.
“It must be for something!” exclaimed the chaplain.
“You don’t suppose Mr. Glenarm built a secret passage
just for the fun of it, do you? He must have had some
purpose. Why, I sleep out here within forty yards of
where we stand and I never had the slightest idea of
this.”
“But other people seem to know of it,” observed
Larry.
“To be sure; the curiosity of the whole countryside
was undoubtedly piqued by the building of Glenarm
House. The fact that workmen were brought from a
distance was in itself enough to arouse interest. Morgan
seems to have discovered the passage without any
trouble.”
“More likely it was Ferguson. He was the sexton of
the church and had a chance to investigate,” said Stoddard.
“And now, gentlemen, I must go to my service.
I’ll see you again before the day is over.”
“And we make no confidences!” I admonished.
“‘Sdeath!—I believe that is the proper expression under
all the circumstances.” And the Reverend Paul
Stoddard laughed, clasped my hand and went up into
the chapel vestry.
I closed the door in the wainscoting and hung the
map back in place.
We went up into the little chapel and found a small
company of worshipers assembled—a few people from
the surrounding farms, half a dozen Sisters sitting somberly
near the chancel and the school servants.
Stoddard came out into the chancel, lighted the altar
tapers and began the Anglican communion office. I had
forgotten what a church service was like;
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