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Home My WebLink AboutThe Brussels Post, 1926-7-21, Page 7Ont....01,06d0 0044' sae "0-10, ea ea The Red L (Copyright) e, 1 kleetete,tei teaa' iby MARY ROBERTS RINEHART aef.„an islet 1/41eiet t 1..441 .011,%. Yet the eollects early American ing brighter. And thus doeMan furniture. 1 write to -night at an ut- Mee himeelfl Only three daye ago terly inadequate early American desk1 was filled with vague yearnings ana because of this taste of hers: Jock aepirations; I recorded here that my has at this morneut curled hie long little rut was comfortable, but that length on the hard seat of a Wind 1 feared it. I wrote: "Was my sor elude, became of it! And yet she greatest adventure to be to dvag a will have none of Uncle Horace'a fish out of water, and watch it drown really iltie collection. memanouthed, in the air'?" Nor die she of the type to listen to And yet, at the mere thought of Annie Cochran's story that the old not going to Twin Hollows, of being portion of the house is haunted by thrown on the mercies of some the man killed there. - (Note: An old story an (Mot anam. enticated, of the shooting of a man many years ago as he hid to escape the Exviee. As a matter of fact, none of our after experiences in the house bore out this particular tradi- tion at all.) If she has a distaste for it, it may poesibly relate to the occupancy cif the house by the Riggs woman before Uncle Herace bought it. But even here I am doubtful, for Mrs. Riggs wee caught in most unblushing fraud and entirely discredited ns a medium. June 21.st. Edith is back. , She came in this morning, kissed Jock, Jane and my- self, Jack first, demanded an enor- mous breakfast and all the hot water in the house, and descended gaily a half hour later to the table, in her usual aura of bath salts, bath pow- der and sunshine. "Well," she said, ntlacking ber melon, "and when do WO go to the /taunted house?" "Ask your Aunt." She glanced at me and then shrewdly at Jane. "Good heavens!" she said. "Don't tell me there's any question about it?" "It isn't decided yet," Jane said, uneasily. "It's a big house, Edith. and—" "All the more reason for taking it," said Edith, and having finished her melon flung out her pretty arms. "Grass," she said, "and Rowers, and the sea. I shall swim," she went on, "And old Father William shall fish, and Jane shall sew a fine seam. And at night the ghosts shall walk. And everything will be lovely." She turned to me. "You do 'believe in ghosts, don't you, Father William?" . And somehow eien Jane caught some of the infection of her gaiety. "Ask him abont the triangle in a circle," she said. "What's that?" Edith ittqctirede "The triangle in a circle, drawa around you, will keep off deinons," I explained gravely.-- "Surely you know that'?" "How—convenient!" "And that the skins of four froge killed on a moonless night, will maka. one invisible if worn as a cap? And that the spirits obey solomon's seal —not the plant, of course! And if you eat a stew of the eyes of a vul- ture, and the ear -tufts of an owl, you will be wise beyond all dreads of wisdom?" • "Who wants to be wise?" said Ed- ith. "But go on. I love to hear you." • s "Very well," I agreed, with an eye on Sane, "now take the figure firl, Five is the magic number, net sev- en. We have five fingers, five tees, 'five senses. There are five points to O star. Perhaps you noticed my wild excitement when my automobilelic- ense this year was 555." Jane got up, and I saw that my nonsense had had its effect. She was •smiling, for the first time in days, "If you care to go out and look at the house to -morrow, William," she saki, "I will go." And perhaps Edith had sensed a situation she did not understand, for she kissed her, and at I left the room I heard her requesting Jane to bring baek with, her marketing some frog slcins and the .ear -tufts of an .ow3. So this afternoon things are look- eneneesemeeeeessesunseassnsseeeeneeres_snnesse — Mountain Hrituto, of iiet r.,n a horse in the l'er ,ves, I have been friihten. into a panic. " The water-beette indeed. . • • • The town is very quiet to -night. The annual student exodus is abneet over, tai1011gh still an occasional truck goes by piled high with trunks. The Lean intend to stay. Sulzer and Mackintyre are off for the Scottith Lakes, and Cameron, I hear, is going soon to the Adieonclacks, where he spends his summer in a boat, and minus ghosts, I dare say. I have mailed him the picture to- day, and can only hope Jane does not miss it. One wonder about men like Cam- eron. Slight, almost negligible, as is my acquaintanie with him -.---1 would not knew him in a crowd, even now—there is something of Scottish dourness in him. He neither smokes nor drinks; he lives austerely and Id - ono. He has a reputation as a re- lentless investigatoe; it wa, he who exp,osed the hauntings at the house on Sabbathclay Lake, in Massachu- setts. But he is a believer. That is, he believes in conscious survival after death, and I suspect that he has his oWn mall group here. Among them little Pettingill. It would be a ham - Mating thought, for me, to feer that after I passed over, as they say, little Pettingill might hale me to him in the light of a red lamp, and 00- queet me to lift a tablet.... Warren Halliday is on the ,veran- dah with Edith. I can hear hee bub- bling laughter, and his quiet, deep voice. After ale, I dare say we must make up our minds to lose her some- time, but it hurts. And it will not be soon. He has not a penny t� bless himself with, nor has she. I think, if I were very rich, I wouldeprovide an endowment fund for lovers. But something is wrong with 'our university system. It takes too long to put a man on a wife -supporting basis. Halliday is twenty-six; he lost two years in the war, and he has another year of law. Truly, Edith will need the eyes of a vul- ture and the ear -tufts of an owl. • June 22nd. "All houses in which men- have lived and suffered and died are haunted houses:" But then, all hous- es are haunted. Why, then, clid joek refuse to enter the house at Twin Hollows to -day, but crawled under the automobile and remained there, a picture of =yen terror, until our departure? This, old house where I am writing to -night, undoubtedly it has zeen the passing of more than ono human soul. Yet jock moves through ht: un- concernedly, his stump of a tail proudly upraised, his head unboWed. His attitude to -night„ too, is even more flamboyant than usual, as though to testify that although lt may have given the impression of terror daring the day, we are labor- ing under a misammehensiore He but sought the shelter of the car for coolness. "He may see furthee into the speetrum than I do," I said to Hel- ena Lear the other day, and she countered: "Yes. But what does he see?" Old Thome niet us in Oakville with the keys,- and we drove. out to the house. 1 sensed M Jane a, re- luctance to enter, but she fought it back bravely; and we, examined it With a view to our occupancy. It is in excellent condition and repair, al- though the white covees over the library furnitute and in the den be- hind gave those roofs a rather ghost- ly appearance, Jane, I saw, gave only a cursory glance into those i:Ooms, and sloop after, pleading the chill inside, moved out into the sun- light. Edith, however, Was enchanted with it all, and said So. Sbe. danced through the house, shamelessly courtf ing old Thomas, selecting bedrooms for lig En end peering into elosetg, end I caught up with bet at last no ,the second Boot, looking at the boat- house on the beach beyond the marsh. "What's above it," she asleect. "Roonie?" "When the old sloopwas in tont- Wise-ion the captain slept there," I told her. IXow many mete! Letterheads Envelopes Billheacis And all kinds of Business Stationery printed at The Post Publishing House. W e vitt do a job that will do craft to your businessa. L04114 over your stock of Office Stationery, and it it requires replomshing cail us by telephone 31. 'Or Post filishing Bow THE BRUSSELS POST "Two, I think, and a sort of kit cher:caw," "Are they furniehed?" Ohl Thomas, being appiteled to, seta they were, and Edith's fare as- sumed that air of mysterious micas lation wilier I have learned to asso- ciate with what she calls "an idea." Whatever it waft, however, he }rept it to herself, and I left her selecting a bedroom for hereell, and putting into it sufficient thought to have serv- ed a better purpose. Her surroundings and belonging: - ere very important to her; and yet I believe she is in love with young Halliday, who can, so far as I see. gate her neither. It is a curious thing, to, go into a house left as Twin Hollows has been, without change since old Horace died, and not to find him there; his big arm chair near the fireplace in the library, his vary pens still on the flat-topped .desk which is the only modern piece in the room, the books he was reading still in the desk rack. 111011 a.curious feeling to -day that if I raised my voice, I would hear the little cough which was so often his preliminary to speech, from the den beyond, The den too is unchanged: (Note: From an ugly room, the original kit- chen of the old house, he had made it a sort of treasure house, of early American old pewter, brought over perhaps in ships which had anchored in the very bay outside; of early framed charters and deeds of land, signed by English kings and hung on It was written •all over her yesterday, the walls above the old panelling, and there is sun an ominous set look which he himself had found eome- about hea mouth. Between them I where and installed; of quaint chairs am more or less trimming skiff. a settle and an old chest, hooked rugs • H Jane would be more open it on the floor, and old glass candle_ would be easier; if she would only sticks.) come to me and say she is afraid of T threw back the covering which the house I think I could reassure protected the deek top, and sat down her. It may be that that silly photo - at it Just there, in all probability, graph is still in her mind. But why he had been sitting when the fatal would she not even stay in the house ettnek took place. He may have felt -Yesterday? She went out into the it coming on, but there was no one garden and picked, sotne of It; 'te- te call, poor old chap. We had not glected flowers instead. - been overly close, but the thought of "It's a pity not to use them," she him, writing perbaps, or reading, the said, and then looked at me with such sudden consciousness that all was a white and pitiful f ace that I put not well, an instant of comprehen- my arm around her, sion, and then the end—it ea me, , "I must have been tnyary bad hus- rather. band," 1 saki., "if you think I am I think he had been reading. Am- going to force you to live here. Who ong the other books on the desk was em 1," I added, "against you and the one with a scrap of paper thrust Jack?" • in it to mark the place, and a pene.11 But she did not smile. line drawn on the margin of a page ,'If you want to come here," she to mark a paragraph. But it gives said, making what I thought was a me rather a new line on him. I had painful concession, "why couldn't we always thought that his purchase of live at the Lodge? It is really quite O house locally reputed to be haunt- sweet. And we could rent thin" ed, a reputation considerably en- "Would that be quite moral, under 'lanced by the Riggs woman's tenan- the circumstances," I added hastily. cy, was a rather rnagnificient ges- "I'm simply putting the question." ture of pure Calvinism. "We could ask a lower rent." But to -night I am wondering. The There is, I sometimes think, a fun - marked paragraph is in a book en- damental difference in the ethical titled "Eugenia Riggs and the Oak- views of men and women. To Sane ville Phenomena" and I have brought it is quite proper to let a house with it home with me. It is a creepy what she believes is a most undesir- sort of thing, and I find myself look- able quality, if she lowers the price. ing back over my shoulder as I copy She does not suggest advertising: it into this record, "One house, furnished, reputed to be "It is to be borne in mind that the haunted." On the contrary, the pro - room was always subjected to the poses to entice tenants with a hewer most carefel preliminary examine, rent, and once having got them tion. Its walls were plastered, and there, to be able to say, in effect: no doors or windows (see photo- "What would you? The house is geaph) wee° near the cabinet. As cheap. True, it has certaie, disad- an additional precaution strings of vantages; I am sonry you have been small bells were placed aeross all bothered. But you have saved mon- possible entrances and exits, whieh W." were aso closed and locked. .Aside from this viewpoint the idea , "It is also to be remembered that. is sound enough. We can be com- the medium herself was always will- fortable at the Lodge. And—let me ing to be seaeched; and this was fre- always be frank in this Journal—I queetly done by Madame B—. This may have my occasional yeatnings had been 'clone on the night when the fOr adventure, but they have their hand was distinctly seen by all pies- 'limitations, and the talk Edith has mete reaching out and touching those reported as taking place between old nearest on the shoulder, and later Thomas and herself yesterday after I left them has revealed them to my- tnalchig the impression in the pan of soft putty left in the cabinet. self. "It is to be borne in mind too Edith, Olt the contrary, finds the that, except when the controls rap. situation "really thrilling." ped for no light, there wet/ always "It's a good house, yes'm," said sufficient hl1ununatio for us to see 1Veneas. For them eos likeit. the medium clearly. A small red wouldn't be caught dead in at night lamp was found to offer least resis- Myself." tance and was customarily ueed. "I hope you never will ye," %aid "These was occasioeal fraud, but Edith. there was also genuine phenomena." "It ain't nothing you can put your The last few words are itelicized, finger on," said Thomas. "It's just So to -night I am wondering. Doe4 knocks and raps, and doors opening one find, as life goes on, that the and e/osing. But I say that's enough," lonely human spirit revolts at the . "It sounds like plenty," said Edith, thought of 'eternal peace, and crime "Of course it may be rats." a relief in action in the life beyond? "It's a right husky rat that'll opett Would I not myself, for instance, a dosed -400n, and I ain't Yet seen a prefer even coming beet: and lifting rat that could inoye a chair, Be- little Pettingilla table to the unsaitne sides, T ain't ever heard that rats iterated society of the saints? • are partial to a, red light." June 25rd. "Now see here, Thorriao," Edith The " adalyolthein air says,— Waterman's Ink adds to the efficiency otj Water. man's Fountain Pens and Waterman's Pen adds to the efficiency of Waterman's Ink... To perfectly function, foun- tain pen ink must be free from sediment, it must flow freely and never clog, Water - man's Ink will do this. It's packed in neat boxes, so that you =Ay keep one bottle at the office and one at home. We recommend Waterman's Ink far use in any fountain pen. 3. 1 emit J ew el er Wroxeter her bed." "flow—ehamelessr said Edith. "Marc then that," he went on stol- idly, "the furniture was moving through the house all night, and the next morning she fouticl the tea- kettle sitting in the pantry, and tea juid been mede In the tea-pot." . • "But surely she did not begrudge the poor things their 'Oa, Thomas? It must be thirsty .work, movingfurni- ture and chasing about rapping on things." "She'd left the kettle on the stove, and there it Was," he said, dog- gedly. Like the lady of rotor who said to the judge that she had "just sort of Met her taste!' for her husband, I begin to lose, my, taste for this lamp. But one wonders whether It, civil re- putation. is not a survival from the days of 'Mrs. Riggs, when "a small red lamp was found to offer least disturbance, and was customarily used." Tune 24th. Edith has lost and lane has won. We shall spend the summer at the Lodge. But I feel that Jene'e victory brings her no particular pleasare, that even to go to the Lodge is a concession- She is making against some hidden .apprehension. Yet to show just how baseless are most of these things, this morning Clara has been in a very ileas mood, and I heard Jane •inquire the reason. "I dreamed last night that rd lost a tooth," said Clara. "That's a sign of death, sure, Mrs. Porter." Edith however, has won in one There is a division In my family, reports herself as saying, "either Edith has come out with her plan, You've said too much or you'pe said which is to "spread out," no she puts tot little, What about a red lamp? in the main house At Twin Ho).- Nothing scandalous, T Impel" lows, and to lot Warren Halliday Stripped of further trimining, it spend, his vcation at the boat -house. appears that some two years ago a "Renting it to him, I suppose?" / small rod lamp was installed in the inquired over my breakfast bacon, den at Twin Hollows, and is now still "Renting it?" she Paid indignant. there, Thomas haying declined. to ate- weeithat have she none, stray it ler fear of 201110 dire and to ask money for that turnble-down ThY8to03o1l8 vollgotraeo, place, would you/ And anyhow, you "Not for light, as far as I could can't get blood met of a stone.'" see, miss," he said. "I never tOe11 There is a terrible frankness about him read by it. But put in it was, Alith at timos, , and the _night it first cm' e Annie But Ann is as equally determinod Cochran said something came into not to occupy the housc 4 any coot, ' her room and pulled the tevcp';O off nervousneee coneerning it., "Of coarse," he said, ''it' a all nen- sense. But a eurprieing number of people are going bugs on it," "Latrued uncomfortable nonsense, too." "It's not may that, tar. It'e dan- gerous. Imagine what a general reyne viction of this sort would do. Think of the mimes it would emeat. And take Wgra. Nobody would care whether he lived or net. Talk about civilization going! Why, the nhel darned populace would go!" In view -of that eonvereation, it was interesting later that da', 11 ti"n Lodge, to have old Thomas intimate. that Uncle Berme had not died •a natural death, but had "even eome- thing" which had caused ite As a matter of limn he brought nut certain rather curious filets, whieh appear to have been somehow overlooked, or nt least considered un- important, et the inquest. For instance, he had been writing at his desk when the attaels came on. His pen Wali found on the floor. But theee eves no sign of what he had been writing, eave for a mark on the fresh blotter, as if he had blotted something there. The TflOst curious thing, however, according to old Thomas, was the matter of fields. When Annie Cochran found him the following moaning, on the floor beside hie desk, all the lights werct out, 'minding his desk lamp. "But the red lamp was going in the den," said old Thomae. "It didn't make much light, $o nobody noticed it until the 'doctor came. He saw it right off. I leave it to you, way, Warren Halliday is to have the what shut off that desk lamp?" .boat -house. We motored out together to -day, I to look over the Lodge more care- fully, and Halliday to inspect his pro- spective quarters. He is thoroughly likeable, a nice clean-cut young fol- low, not too handsome but manly ancl with a good war record, red“ a stur,4' 1 tity poor outlook ee for OS badly cut up at his failure to find a job for the summer. "I'd do anything,” he said. "Sell neckties if necessary! But I can't even land that. Although—" he forc- ed a grin"—I have a nice taste in neckties!" On the way out I told hint some- thing o fthe history of the house, and a little—very little—of Jane's I rether gather from Thomas that the ill -repute of the red lamp has spread over the country -side. The house had a bad reputation to etart, with, which Mrs. Riggs' tenancy did nothing to redeem, and now comes Annie Cochran and her ved lentn, WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1921 the best light for so-called psyehie phenomena. The Lodge proves to be weather- proof and in good condition, and the boat -house quite liveablo with the tid.- (Mien of a few things from the main house. It will need thorough screening, however, on aecount of the mosqults OB. (To lie tiontinued). renting the property is Concerned. There has been, according. to Thomas, considerable interest as to whether we will inhabit the house or not, and if ever I saw relief in a man's face it was in hi swhen I an- nounced the decision. As Halliday observes, it would be interesting to know if either Annie Cochran or Thomas has ever heard that. red is BUSINESS CARDS -0-1E fool ustr Ica Marrgage and g Savings Corn party, of Sn.rnia Ontario, are prepared to advance money on Mortgages eas lewd Much, Parties desiring ineney rel/ ferns neat -gears will pi anviy to James comm. sreforth. Ont., svho will fur nish rates end ether pas timilers. Teo Industrial Mortgage and Savings Company dzkam a. kaotexr AGENT FOR fire, Automobile and Wind Ins, COMPANIES Por Brussels and vicinity Phone 647 JAMES FADZEAN Agent Hoick Mutual fire Insurance Company Moo Hartford Windstorm and Tornado Insurance Phone 42 Box 1 Turnberry Street, Brussels MO, SUTHERLAND So SON LIMITED INSFIEWAVE Vrozrz eixraisio Ar.% 1117.• SCOTT • leiczwssa grarzo.vssfi PRICES MODERATE For references consult any person whose sale* I have officiated at. Phone 2222 T. T. 1W'R4E 81. 0. IL, Village of Bt ussels. Physician, Surgeon, Accomheur OiliCe at residence. opposite 1401.1 ille Church, William street. Tr. N. Shvagazie BARRISTER, SOLICITOR, CONVEYANCER, NOTARY PUBLIC LECKIE BLOCK - oBRUsSELS OR. WARDLAW Honor graduate Of the Ontario Veterinary 14:,laerg;i1litigad. night calls, Ogles opmedte telans.,,,P77c) :0747011EiTIMOriKiNtiV 1.1 01J t"-----seeeseeensen • ... , e Time's Value Modern methods and appliances have set a new standard for a day's work. Time is one big factor. This is true in the factory, on the farm, in the home or what not. Time is money to -day. And anything that mul- tiplies the value of an hour is increasingly valuable. Advertising is an annihilator of time. It pro- vides a short cut between , a manufacturer or mer- chant and you. It makes it possible to tell in a few minutes all you want to know about the services or articles you need. A quick glance through THE .BRIJ$SELS POST en- ables you to sift the things that interest you, and in a min - uta you tan know just where and Cum to go far what you want. Figure out bow much valuable time advertising saves you if you use it properly. Think how much needless walk- ing and talking it saves you and neighbors. Yes, Advertising has a Big Value to You—Don't Fail to " Read It ! THE PHOSSELS POST 183 ')')'Y'O 4100o*;1o1 ,10) l2ihl890ibdb9H4» 'NEAVOSy , *4,01N% fatC16:M. )1.,irsilfanagi MA,CCI.AirAtf.m.fv,t1E;sviti,,