judge at midnight! An' the poultry-oh-h, my!'
Here his feelings overcame him. He fairly doubled up with mirth.
All this was very puzzling to O'Hara. Had not Reed distinctly stated that his farm was not for the purpose of breeding ordinary domestic animals?
'And what do you think of his taste in monkeys?' he suggested tentatively.
Both his informants seemed to take this query as delightfully facetious. The agent had appeared inclined to defend Reed, but he, too, laughed saying: 'That bleached out man of his is the limit, isn't he? I always said he was more like a white rat than a human being, but I guess an albino monkey does come nearer the mark.'
Colin stared. Could it be possible that Genghis Khan was unknown in the neighborhood?
'You don't take my meaning,' he said frankly. 'I'm not referring to Marco, but to the real monkey, the one he calls Genghis Khan.'
The agent shook his head. Both men looked blank.
'Didn't know he had one, mister. Must be some pet that came in one of the small boxes. Well, I've got my bills of lading to check over. If you want to go out to Reed's place, Jimmy here will show you the way. Won't you, Jimmy? That is, unless you've been there before.'
'I know the way,' nodded O'Hara, 'and thanks for the time you've given me!'
As he started up the road the lounger called after him.
'Say, mister, don't be surprised at nothing you hear there. That Miss Reed, his girl that lives there with him, is loony! I never seen her, but I've heard she takes on somethin' awful every wunst in a while. An' say, don't buy none of his imitation fancies, neither. I c'n put you next to some real good — '
But with an impatient wave of the arm O'Hara strode out of hearing. Without reason he resented intensely the man's reference to the girl. And to follow it up with advice about live stock! Had the fool no sense of what was fitting?
Though he resolutely declined to face the fact, O'Hara was taking an astonishing amount of interest in this mad girl, to whom he had never spoken, whom he had seen for a scant three minutes. He might refer to her as a 'blessed and miraculous memory' all he pleased, but it was not so much memory as a faint hope of seeing her again that made this present visit the most exciting he had ever planned paying in his life.
The day had begun fine and sunny, but a high wind had arisen. Now, at four in the afternoon, masses of dark cloud were surging across the sky, threatening rain before nightfall. Dust and dry, brown leaves swirled around and past him, and he had to cling to his hat lest it follow the leaves. The branches of the trees whipped and writhed in a wind that was stripping away the last of their October splendors.
Colin walked slowly, for he wished to think over the things he had just learned.
'Sheep, calves, poultry, and hares. Now which of those four could groan like an-earthquake? Faith, it sounds like a riddle! Something did moan last night, and 'twas no cage dragged over a floor, either. It frightened the poor little Dusk Lady upstairs. But if the people about here know nothing of Genghis Khan, why may it not be that Reed has other secrets-for museums, says he, and menageries?
'Now, what sort of beasts would those be? I never did hear of a man that could breed the larger carnivora with any success at all in captivity-or not in these latitudes. Freaks, then. Maybe. Now, what is this queer 'science' of Reed's? Does he cut the poor brutes up alive and hang the fore part of one on the hind part of another?'
O'Hara had been reading 'The Island of Dr. Moreau,' and its vivisectionary horrors had stirred his imagination.
'If there's anything like that going on here,' he thought, ''tis high time it was put a stop to. I did not like that man Reed at first, and now, after thinking him over, I do not at all. He's too smooth and too polite, and behind it he hides a nasty temper. And his glasses are too big and ridiculous. I'd like to see the lad with them off, and his beard off too. A man might as well wear a mask as all that adornment. I may have seen him before, and I may not, but if I could see him shaved it would help me decide.'
Here he postponed further reflection, for he had come up to the wrought-iron gates. He sought the button of the electric bell and pressed it. It rang in the gate-lodge, as before, but since it seemed unlikely that the entire time of Reed's one servant was spent in that sepulchral refuge, Colin assumed that the button had two connections, one of them at the house.
It was in that lodge, the agent had said, that the last owner had hanged himself. Recalling his experience of last night, a doubt flashed through Colin's mind like a flying spark. It was gone in an instant. He had his superstitious side, but seldom allowed it to get the better of him. That pale oval in the gate-lodge doorway had been Marco's face. Ghosts do not push doors open, nor close them to, and, anyway, it would be a very inefficient 'haunt' that showed itself only to disappear so instantly. Colin smiled at the thought and looked beyond the lodge.
Within, the grounds seemed more desolate, though less mysterious, than on the previous night. Through the trees, which had shed so many of their leaves that afternoon, he caught glimpses of gray granite walls, and above them the roofs of the old, many-gabled house-and yet above them, like a misplaced reminiscence of the Orient-a strange, round, domed affair.
The dome form is one of the glories of architecture, but this one was not beautiful at all. It somehow suggested that an incredibly large, white fungus had sprouted there in the night and not yet been discovered and removed by the outraged dwelling's owner. Somewhere, some time-where and when, thought Colin, had he once before received that impression of a dome?
A fugitive memory that he could not place-and now Marco came rustling down through the leaves on the unswept drive. He met O'Hara with that same frightened stealthy look which seemed his habitual expression, and opened the gate with the air of a conspirator.
'What ails you, man?' demanded O'Hara as he entered. 'You're shivering like a wet poodle dog. Is it the ague you have?'
The man shook his head and replied in his mumbled toothless voice:
'Last night-you made great noise last night. Too much noise! Silence-silence!'
Colin stared. He had supposed the man normal save in appearance, but it appeared he was only half- witted.
'All right, my lad,' he said soothingly. 'Since noise troubles you so I'll try and make less of it today. Will I find Mr. Reed at the house?'
Again Marco shook his head and, putting a hand in the pocket of his worn corduroys, pulled out a crumpled envelope. 'Here,' he mumbled, extending it to O'Hara. 'There are words on the white paper inside!'
'A note, eh? Now, what — '
Colin tore open the envelope. As the albino had phrased it, there were indeed words on the white paper inside, and words, moreover, which he read with considerable disappointment. The letter ran:
My dear Mr. O'Hara: I am writing this in case you should honor me with a visit this afternoon, as you spoke of doing. It is with great regret that I am obliged to postpone the pleasure of showing you about my little place, but imperative business calls me away. I cannot set the exact time of my return, but probably it will be in the course of a few days. I will then drop you a line, and sincerely hope that your visit may be repeated. Again regretting this involuntary rudeness to an invited guest, believe me, Most sincerely yours, Chester T. Reed.
Colin glanced from Reed's note to find the albino's eyes fixed on his face, but, as usual, not with the least appearance of seeing him. One could hardly believe that those black, pointlike pupils were designed to look outward.
'So, your master has left you in charge here?' queried Colin thoughtfully.
'I am here-yes.'
'But I mean, is it alone you are? No one to look after-Miss Reed?'
Marco frowned and pointed, first to the note, then to the gate.
'The master said-after reading, go!'
'Faith, you've a polite way of dismissing his guests, friend Marco!'
Colin hesitated. Could it be possible that Reed had actually gone away and left his pitifully lovely daughter in the charge of this red-eyed and possibly degenerate creature?
If so, what had been none of his business became his business or that of any other decent man. There must be some law of the State to cover such a situation. He decided to consult his brother-in-law. That clever lawyer could surely advise him. In the meantime —
