The House of a Thousand Candles

e place, sir. Mr. Glenarm

ch pulp brought a surprise of joy to my palate. Bates watched me with respectful satisfaction. His gravity was in no degree diminis

ishing to give him an opportunity to

As your grandfather used to

at you through a w

eman," he replied, "but not likely to happen m

here was a case, I reasoned, where, if Bates were disloyal to the duties Pickering had imposed upon him, the fact of his perfidy was bound to disclose itse

ted, then put his h

ing, sir. The hickory's very tough, sir

ympathy. "You'd better r

mall matter,-only, you might

t as I crossed the threshold of the library I formulated this note: "Bates is a

yself on a comfortable divan to smoke and reflect before continuing my explorations. As

ng arrival rece

ours dreaming, and counted the candles in the great crystal chandelier until my

dropped a canoe into the water and paddled off toward the summer colony

hung over the edge of the lake, while beneath, on the water-side, was a boat-house. I had from this point a fine view of the lake, and I took advantage of it to fix in my mind the topography of the region. I could see

e as my own, but painted dark maroon. I was sure the canoe had not been there when I landed. Possibly it belonged to Morgan, the caretaker. I walked over and examined it. I even

f you don

to face with the girl i

" I said, stepping

eks, so eloquent of companionship with the outdoor world-a certificate indeed of the favor of Heaven. Show me, in October, a girl with a face of tan, whose hands have plied a paddle or driven a golf-ball or cast a fly beneath the blue arches of summer, and I will suffer her sc

as enjoying, I felt sure, my disc

t admit, a trifle guilty at being caught in the unwarrantable inspection of

don't need that

t I held it in my hand,-was in fact leaning

pardon," I said.

xpected or had not expected, and she manifested no intention of helping me to explain. Her short skirt suggested fifteen or sixteen-not more-and such being the

watched the pipe bound fr

pon it; "but if you hurry you m

he idea of kneeling on the dock to fish for a pipe before a st

d the line by which h

low

she said; and the laughter tha

of man," I observed, twitching vainly at the ro

t that she was probably laughing at my clum

a woman. This knot must come in the post-graduate course

t more and more hopeless, and my efforts to make light of the situation awakened no res

fraid. A truly Gordian kno

t!" she exclaimed. "

shed my shoulder-seized an end that I had ignored, gave it

a little laugh; "I might hav

ination," I said, steadying the canoe caref

le. It was growing late. The shadows in the wood were deepening; a chill crept over the w

t her little craft beside my pipe, pi

ne upon it," she said, dip

ons," I declared. "Are all the g

eally shouldn't be talking to you at all! It's ag

doesn't smok

e it isn't done! And we

ar, but now lifted her eyes and dr

od-this mornin

the water with a splash; she brought the canoe a trifle nearer to the wharf with an

r master my compliments! I really owe you an apology; I thought you were a gentl

g after her, goaded with self-contempt. A glory of yellow and red filled the west. Suddenly the wind moaned in the wood behind the line of cottages, swept over me and rippled the surface of the lake. I watched its flight until it caught her canoe

o merge in the red sky, and I turned to