He clapped his
hands upon my shoulders.
"If I assure you that your presence is necessary to my safety," he
said, "that if you fail me I must seek another companion--will you
come?"
Intuitively, I knew that he was keeping something back, and I was
conscious of some resentment, but, nevertheless, my reply was a
foregone conclusion, and--with the borrowed appearance of an extremely
untidy old man--I crept guiltily out of my house that evening and into
the cab which Smith had waiting.
The Gables was a roomy and rambling place lying back a considerable
distance from the road. A semi-circular drive gave access to the door,
and so densely wooded was the ground, that for the most part the drive
was practically a tunnel--a verdant tunnel. A high brick wall
concealed the building from the point of view of any one on the
roadway, but either horn of the crescent drive terminated at a heavy,
wrought-iron gateway.
Smith discharged the cab at the corner of the narrow and winding road
upon which The Gables fronted. It was walled in on both sides; on the
left the wall being broken by tradesmen's entrances to the houses
fronting upon another street, and on the right following,
uninterruptedly, the grounds of The Gables. As we came to the gate--
"Nothing now," said Smith, pointing into the darkness of the road
before us, "except a couple of studios, until one comes to the Heath."
He inserted the key in the lock of the gate and swung it creakingly
open.
Pages:
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223