Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
[Illustration: "Whatever is the matter?"]
THE STRANGE HOUSE;
OR,
A MOMENT'S MISTAKE.
BY
CATHARINE SHAW
AUTHOR OF "DICKIE'S SECRET," "THE GABLED FARM," "ALICK'S HERO,"
"NOBODY'S NEIGHBOUR," "SOMEBODY'S DARLING," ETC.
New Edition.
_LONDON:_
JOHN F. SHAW AND CO.
48, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
CONTENTS
————
CHAPTER
I. NEXT DOOR
II. POVERTY KNOCKS AT THE DOOR
III. LOVE DOES NOT FLY OUT OF THE WINDOW
IV. GONE
V. MOLLIE'S WELCOME
VI. ALL SIX!
VII. CONWAY'S DISCOVERIES
VIII. DAISY'S "CHUM"
IX. A CHAMPION
X. A SONG
XI. A SCRIMMAGE
XII. MARMALADE
XIII. THE OVERTURNED BASKET
XIV. "X. Y. Z."
XV. LITTLE LESTER
XVI. A LATE VISITOR
XVII. BEFORE DAWN
XVIII. SUNRISE
XIX. ROSE GUESSES SOMETHING
XX. UP THE CHIMNEY
XXI. BY THE NURSERY FIRE
XXII. NO THOROUGHFARE
XXIII. A HINDRANCE
XXIV. AT THE GRAVE
XXV. JOHNNIE'S JOKE
XXVI. FLIGHT
XXVII. A DARK RIDE
XXVIII. ALMOST
XXIX. AT LAST
XXX. WRAPPED IN A CLOAK
XXXI. ANOTHER PROMISE
XXXII. A VIGIL
XXXIII. "FRITZ IS COMING"
XXXIV. SET TO WORK
XXXV. OUTSIDE THE GREAT NORTHERN
XXXVI. BY AND BY
XXXVII. A NEW THOUGHT
XXXVIII. IN THE MUSEUM
XXXIX. HIDING
XL. RANDALL'S MISCHIEF
XLI. TWO SIDES OF A STORY
XLII. CLOUDS
XLIII. "WAITING FOR YOU!"
XLIV. A SHORT DRIVE
XLV. TILL WEDNESDAY
XLVI. NURSE'S PLAN
XLVII. THE STRANGE HOUSE AGAIN
XLVIII. RANDALL'S REQUEST
XLIX. WEDNESDAY
L. IN THE CABINET
LI. AT LANRIFFE
LII. RANDALL'S RETURN
[Illustration]
THE STRANGE HOUSE.
————
CHAPTER I.
NEXT DOOR.
"HARK! What's that, Ned?"
"Nothing!"
"It isn't nothing! Do hush, Ned; there is something wrong outside!"
It was a still night at the end of September, unusually mild for the
time of year, and the boys were just in bed, having left their window
thrown wide-open, so that every noise in the road came up distinctly.
Conway, having just laid his head on his pillow, heard some one say in
a clear, abrupt undertone—
"I've got you!" followed by a scuffle, in which, now that Ned was
quiet, holding his breath too, there were words exchanged of angry
expostulation.
The boys were out of bed in a trice, and were leaning out of the window
breathlessly.
"Let go, I say," said the second voice angrily.
"Not I! I've got you, now! I've been watching you for this half-hour."
"Let go, I say! What do you want with me? I'm in my own garden, I tell
you."
"A likely story," answered the gruffer voice, which the boys took to
be a policeman's. "And if you stir till I can get help, you'll feel my
truncheon."
"I say," said Conway, "don't you think we ought to go down, Ned?"
He was getting into his garments in breathless haste, followed by Ned.
And just as they rushed down-stairs, two or three heads were put out at
various doors, and their mother asked—
"Whatever is the matter?"
The boys did not wait to explain much, but called out, "There's
something going on in the next garden; tell father to come," and rushed
off.
"What is it, mother?" asked Mollie, peeping from her room.
Mrs. Shaddock shivered, her teeth chattering with nervousness. "I don't
know," she answered, "only I heard a noise in the road."
"Why have the boys gone down?" asked Mollie. "And oh, here's father
going too!"
Meanwhile the boys had reached the garden, and had sprung over the
hedge which separated them from their neighbour's grass-plot, and were
already standing by the policeman, who was grimly holding on to a
crouching figure under the front hedge.
As the policeman's lantern was turned on the boys' faces, the
imprisoned man looked up and exclaimed—
"Speak for me, young sirs; you know me, don't you? These young
gentlemen live next door to me, and they know I live here!"
"I don't believe you," said the policeman; "you're here for no good,
that I do know. Get up and come along with me."
"I'm not going to," said the man stoutly. "I live here. And if I like
to be in my garden at this time of night, I shall please myself."
"We'll go and rouse the house and see if you belong there. Who else
lives here?" asked the constable suspiciously.
"No one else," said the man, springing to his feet, and releasing
himself, though he did not attempt to move away. "I live alone, and
it's no business of any one's if I do. What sort of a policeman can you
be not to know me who has lived here for this past year, and worked in
my garden day and night?"
"Yes, it 'is' our neighbour," broke in Conway, while Mr. Shaddock, who
had now come out, assured the officer of the law that this was the case.
"Well, I'm new on this beat," said the man, letting go unwillingly.
"But when I see a feller poking along by a hedge, and hiding down
beneath it when he hears a footstep, I sez to myself, 'He ain't up to
no good.' And no more he isn't, be he neighbour or no neighbour to
respectable folks!"
He stood aside angrily, while the man, with curt thanks to his
releasers, strode up the garden path and let himself into the house
with a latch-key.
"Rum," remarked the policeman; "for when I first took hold of him, I
could swear I saw a light in the bottom room. And how should it go out
and all be black and dark now, I should like to know?"
He moved off, shaking his head, while Mr. Shaddock and his sons made
their way back to their home.
On the doorstep stood Mrs. Shaddock and her eldest daughter, Mollie,
who had been looking on in great excitement, fearing, or perhaps
hoping, that a veritable thief had been caught.
The disturbed household gathered in the deserted dining-room, a motley
group in their quickly-donned costumes.
Ned could not help laughing as he pulled Mollie's long hair, and asked
her if she were sure her head was not chopped off?
"After that tug, I 'am,'" she answered. "But, father, what did he say?
We could not hear."
"Yes," said Mrs. Shaddock, "do tell us."
"I've nothing to tell," answered her husband. "Our strange neighbour,
it seems, was meandering about outside, and a new policeman took him up
in mistake for a thief; that's all!"
"All!" echoed Mrs. Shaddock. "Suppose you had been taken up when you
were smoking a cigar."
"Well, he wasn't smoking," said Conway; "he was hiding apparently.
Besides, he says there is no one living in the house with him, and yet
the 'Bobby' saw a light put out."
Mrs. Shaddock turned white. "'I' saw a light put out," she said, "just
after your father went out. We were standing on the doorstep when a
light was slowly moved a few yards, and then it went out."
"That can't be, my dear, if nobody besides lives there," said Mr.
Shaddock.
"It is very queer though," she said, turning to Mollie, "for we both
thought it was strange the person did not come to the door."
"What a good thing it is we had been up so late!" said Ned, yawning.
"If we had not been at that concert, this would not have happened!"
Conway laughed. "Or we should have slept through it," he said.
"I feel scared," remarked Mollie. "I wonder if Daisy is awake?"
"There is nothing to be scared at," said Ned, "and father is next door
to you. Anyway, I love excitements. We will watch the Strange House,
Conway, and see what comes of this."
"Yes," assented his brother, "if it is worth while. That feller next
door has told a lie, anyway!"
"Oh, that's nothing," said Ned carelessly. "It's more than that, I
think. I shall keep my eyes open."
"And I shall shut mine," said Conway, "if they aren't shut already!"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]