The Vacant Lot

When it becamegenerally known in Townsend Centre that the Townsends
were going to move to the city, there was great excitement anddismay.
For the Townsends to move was about equivalent to the town'smoving.
The Townsend ancestors had founded the village a hundred yearsago. The
first Townsend had kept a wayside hostelry for man and beast,known as
the "Sign of the Leopard." The sign-board, on which theleopard was
painted a bright blue, was still extant, and prominently so,being
nailed over the present Townsend's front door. This Townsend, byname
David, kept the village store. There had been no tavern since the
railroad was built through Townsend Centre in his father's day.
Therefore the family, being ousted by the march of progress fromtheir
chosen employment, took up with a general country store as beingthe
next thing to a country tavern, the principal differenceconsisting in
the fact that all the guests were transients, never requiring
bedchambers, securing their rest on the tops of sugar and flourbarrels
and codfish boxes, and their refreshment from stray nibblings atthe
stock in trade, to the profitless deplenishment of raisins andloaf
sugar and crackers and cheese.

The flitting of the Townsends from the home of their ancestorswas due
to a sudden access of wealth from the death of a relative and thedesire
of Mrs. Townsend to secure better advantages for her son George,sixteen
years old, in the way of education, and for her daughterAdrianna, ten
years older, better matrimonial opportunities. However, this last
inducement for leaving Townsend Centre was not openly stated,only
ingeniously surmised by the neighbours.

"Sarah Townsend don't think there's anybody in TownsendCentre fit for
her Adrianna to marry, and so she's goin' to take her to Bostonto see
if she can't pick up somebody there," they said. Then theywondered
what Abel Lyons would do. He had been a humble suitor forAdrianna for
years, but her mother had not approved, and Adrianna, who wasdutiful,
had repulsed him delicately and rather sadly. He was the onlylover
whom she had ever had, and she felt sorry and grateful; she was aplain,
awkward girl, and had a patient recognition of the fact.

But her mother was ambitious, more so than her father, who wasrather
pugnaciously satisfied with what he had, and not easily disposedto
change. However, he yielded to his wife and consented to sell outhis
business and purchase a house in Boston and move there.

David Townsend was curiously unlike the line of ancestors fromwhom he
had come. He had either retrograded or advanced, as one mightlook at
it. His moral character was certainly better, but he had not thefiery
spirit and eager grasp at advantage which had distinguished them.
Indeed, the old Townsends, though prominent and respected as menof
property and influence, had reputations not above suspicions.There was
more than one dark whisper regarding them handed down from motherto son
in the village, and especially was this true of the firstTownsend, he
who built the tavern bearing the Sign of the Blue Leopard. His
portrait, a hideous effort of contemporary art, hung in thegarret of
David Townsend's home. There was many a tale of wild roistering,if no
worse, in that old roadhouse, and high stakes, and quarreling incups,
and blows, and money gotten in evil fashion, and the matterhushed up
with a high hand for inquirers by the imperious Townsends whoterrorized
everybody. David Townsend terrorized nobody. He had gotten hislittle
competence from his store by honest methods--the exchanging ofsterling
goods and true weights for country produce and country shillings.He
was sober and reliable, with intense self-respect and a decidedtalent
for the management of money. It was principally for this reasonthat he
took great delight in his sudden wealth by legacy. He had thereby
greater opportunities for the exercise of his native shrewdnessin a
bargain. This he evinced in his purchase of a house in Boston.

One day in spring the old Townsend house was shut up, the BlueLeopard
was taken carefully down from his lair over the front door, thefamily
chattels were loaded on the train, and the Townsends departed. Itwas a
sad and eventful day for Townsend Centre. A man from Barre hadrented
the store--David had decided at the last not to sell--and the old
familiars congregated in melancholy fashion and talked over the
situation. An enormous pride over their departed townsman became
evident. They paraded him, flaunting him like a banner in theeyes of
the new man. "David is awful smart," they said; "therewon't nobody get
the better of him in the city if he has lived in Townsend Centreall his
life. He's got his eyes open. Know what he paid for his house in
Boston? Well, sir, that house cost twenty-five thousand dollars,and
David he bought it for five. Yes, sir, he did."

"Must have been some out about it," remarked the newman, scowling over
his counter. He was beginning to feel his disparaging situation.

"Not an out, sir. David he made sure on't. Catch him gettin'bit.
Everythin' was in apple-pie order, hot an' cold water and all,and in
one of the best locations of the city--real high-up street. Davidhe
said the rent in that street was never under a thousand. Yes,sir, David
he got a bargain--five thousand dollars for a
twenty-five-thousand-dollar house."

"Some out about it!" growled the new man over thecounter.

However, as his fellow townsmen and allies stated, there seemedto be no
doubt about the desirableness of the city house which DavidTownsend had
purchased and the fact that he had secured it for an absurdly lowprice.
The whole family were at first suspicious. It was ascertainedthat the
house had cost a round sum only a few years ago; it was inperfect
repair; nothing whatever was amiss with plumbing, furnace,anything.
There was not even a soap factory within smelling distance, asMrs.
Townsend had vaguely surmised. She was sure that she had heard of
houses being undesirable for such reasons, but there was no soap
factory. They all sniffed and peeked; when the first rainfallcame they
looked at the ceiling, confidently expecting to see dark spotswhere the
leaks had commenced, but there were none. They were forced toconfess
that their suspicions were allayed, that the house was perfect,even
overshadowed with the mystery of a lower price than it was worth.That,
however, was an additional perfection in the opinion of theTownsends,
who had their share of New England thrift. They had lived justone
month in their new house, and were happy, although at timessomewhat
lonely from missing the society of Townsend Centre, when thetrouble
began. The Townsends, although they lived in a fine house in agenteel,
almost fashionable, part of the city, were true to theirantecedents and
kept, as they had been accustomed, only one maid. She was thedaughter
of a farmer on the outskirts of their native village, was middle-aged,
and had lived with them for the last ten years. One pleasantMonday
morning she rose early and did the family washing beforebreakfast,
which had been prepared by Mrs. Townsend and Adrianna, as wastheir
habit on washing-days. The family were seated at the breakfasttable in
their basement dining-room, and this maid, whose name wasCordelia, was
hanging out the clothes in the vacant lot. This vacant lot seemeda
valuable one, being on a corner. It was rather singular that ithad not
been built upon. The Townsends had wondered at it and agreed thatthey
would have preferred their own house to be there. They had,however,
utilized it as far as possible with their innocent, ruraldisregard of
property rights in unoccupied land.

"We might just as well hang out our washing in that vacantlot," Mrs.
Townsend had told Cordelia the first Monday of their stay in thehouse.
"Our little yard ain't half big enough for all our clothes,and it is
sunnier there, too."

So Cordelia had hung out the wash there for four Mondays, andthis was
the fifth. The breakfast was about half finished--they hadreached the
buckwheat cakes--when this maid came rushing into the dining-roomand
stood regarding them, speechless, with a countenance indicativeof the
utmost horror. She was deadly pale. Her hands, sodden withsoapsuds,
hung twitching at her sides in the folds of her calico gown; hervery
hair, which was light and sparse, seemed to bristle with fear.All the
Townsends turned and looked at her. David and George rose with a
half-defined idea of burglars.

"Cordelia Battles, what is the matter?" cried Mrs.Townsend. Adrianna
gasped for breath and turned as white as the maid. "What isthe
matter?" repeated Mrs. Townsend, but the maid was unable tospeak. Mrs.
Townsend, who could be peremptory, sprang up, ran to thefrightened
woman and shook her violently. "Cordelia Battles, you speak,"said she,
"and not stand there staring that way, as if you were struckdumb! What
is the matter with you?"

Then Cordelia spoke in a fainting voice.

"There's--somebody else--hanging out clothes--in the vacantlot," she
gasped, and clutched at a chair for support.

"Who?" cried Mrs. Townsend, rousing to indignation, foralready she had
assumed a proprietorship in the vacant lot. "Is it the folksin the
next house? I'd like to know what right they have! We are next tothat
vacant lot."

"I--dunno--who it is," gasped Cordelia. "Why,we've seen that girl next
door go to mass every morning," said Mrs. Townsend. "She'sgot a fiery
red head. Seems as if you might know her by this time, Cordelia."

"It ain't that girl," gasped Cordelia. Then she addedin a horror-
stricken voice, "I couldn't see who 'twas."

They all stared.

"Why couldn't you see?" demanded her mistress. "Areyou struck blind?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then why couldn't you see?"

"All I could see was--" Cordelia hesitated, with anexpression of the
utmost horror.

"Go on," said Mrs. Townsend, impatiently.

"All I could see was the shadow of somebody, very slim,hanging out the
clothes, and--"

"What?"

"I could see the shadows of the things flappin' on theirline."

"You couldn't see the clothes?"

"Only the shadow on the ground."

"What kind of clothes were they?"

"Queer," replied Cordelia, with a shudder.

"If I didn't know you so well, I should think you had beendrinking,"
said Mrs. Townsend. "Now, Cordelia Battles, I'm going out inthat
vacant lot and see myself what you're talking about."

"I can't go," gasped the woman.

With that Mrs. Townsend and all the others, except Adrianna, who
remained to tremble with the maid, sallied forth into the vacantlot.
They had to go out the area gate into the street to reach it. Itwas
nothing unusual in the way of vacant lots. One large poplar tree,the
relic of the old forest which had once flourished there, twinkledin one
corner; for the rest, it was overgrown with coarse weeds and afew dusty
flowers. The Townsends stood just inside the rude board fencewhich
divided the lot from the street and stared with wonder andhorror, for
Cordelia had told the truth. They all saw what she had described--the
shadow of an exceedingly slim woman moving along the ground with
up-stretched arms, the shadows of strange, nondescript garmentsflapping
from a shadowy line, but when they looked up for the substance ofthe
shadows nothing was to be seen except the clear, blue October air.

"My goodness!" gasped Mrs. Townsend. Her face assumed astrange
gathering of wrath in the midst of her terror. Suddenly she madea
determined move forward, although her husband strove to hold herback.

"You let me be," said she. She moved forward. Then sherecoiled and
gave a loud shriek. "The wet sheet flapped in my face,"she cried.
"Take me away, take me away!" Then she fainted. Betweenthem they got
her back to the house. "It was awful," she moaned whenshe came to
herself, with the family all around her where she lay on thedining-room
floor. "Oh, David, what do you suppose it is?"

"Nothing at all," replied David Townsend stoutly. Hewas remarkable for
courage and staunch belief in actualities. He was now denying to
himself that he had seen anything unusual.

"Oh, there was," moaned his wife.

"I saw something," said George, in a sullen, boyishbass.

The maid sobbed convulsively and so did Adrianna for sympathy.

"We won't talk any about it," said David. "Here,Jane, you drink this
hot tea--it will do you good; and Cordelia, you hang out theclothes in
our own yard. George, you go and put up the line for her."

"The line is out there," said George, with a jerk ofhis shoulder.

"Are you afraid?"

"No, I ain't," replied the boy resentfully, and wentout with a pale
face.

After that Cordelia hung the Townsend wash in the yard of theirown
house, standing always with her back to the vacant lot. As forDavid
Townsend, he spent a good deal of his time in the lot watchingthe
shadows, but he came to no explanation, although he strove tosatisfy
himself with many.

"I guess the shadows come from the smoke from our chimneys,or else the
poplar tree," he said.

"Why do the shadows come on Monday mornings, and no other?"demanded his
wife.

David was silent.

Very soon new mysteries arose. One day Cordelia rang the dinner-bell
at their usual dinner hour, the same as in Townsend Centre, highnoon,
and the family assembled. With amazement Adrianna looked at thedishes
on the table.

"Why, that's queer!" she said.

"What's queer?" asked her mother.

Cordelia stopped short as she was about setting a tumbler ofwater
beside a plate, and the water slopped over.

"Why," said Adrianna, her face paling, "I--thoughtthere was boiled
dinner. I--smelt cabbage cooking."

"I knew there would something else come up," gaspedCordelia, leaning
hard on the back of Adrianna's chair.

"What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Townsend sharply, buther own face began
to assume the shocked pallour which it was so easy nowadays forall
their faces to assume at the merest suggestion of anything out ofthe
common.

"I smelt cabbage cooking all the morning up in my room,"Adrianna said
faintly, "and here's codfish and potatoes for dinner."

The Townsends all looked at one another. David rose with anexclamation
and rushed out of the room. The others waited tremblingly. Whenhe
came back his face was lowering.

"What did you--" Mrs. Townsend asked hesitatingly.

"There's some smell of cabbage out there," he admittedreluctantly. Then
he looked at her with a challenge. "It comes from the nexthouse," he
said. "Blows over our house."

"Our house is higher."

"I don't care; you can never account for such things."

"Cordelia," said Mrs. Townsend, "you go over tothe next house and you
ask if they've got cabbage for dinner."

Cordelia switched out of the room, her mouth set hard. She cameback
promptly.

"Says they never have cabbage," she announced withgloomy triumph and a
conclusive glance at Mr. Townsend. "Their girl was realsassy."

"Oh, father, let's move away; let's sell the house,"cried Adrianna in a
panic-stricken tone.

"If you think I'm going to sell a house that I got as cheapas this one
because we smell cabbage in a vacant lot, you're mistaken,"replied
David firmly.

"It isn't the cabbage alone," said Mrs. Townsend.

"And a few shadows," added David. "I am tired ofsuch nonsense. I
thought you had more sense, Jane."

"One of the boys at school asked me if we lived in the housenext to the
vacant lot on Wells Street and whistled when I said 'Yes,'"remarked
George.

"Let him whistle," said Mr. Townsend.

After a few hours the family, stimulated by Mr. Townsend's calm,common
sense, agreed that it was exceedingly foolish to be disturbed bya
mysterious odour of cabbage. They even laughed at themselves.

"I suppose we have got so nervous over those shadows hangingout clothes
that we notice every little thing," conceded Mrs. Townsend.

"You will find out some day that that is no more to beregarded than the
cabbage," said her husband.

"You can't account for that wet sheet hitting my face,"said Mrs.
Townsend, doubtfully.

"You imagined it."

"I FELT it."

That afternoon things went on as usual in the household untilnearly
four o'clock. Adrianna went downtown to do some shopping. Mrs.Townsend
sat sewing beside the bay window in her room, which was a frontone in
the third story. George had not got home. Mr. Townsend waswriting a
letter in the library. Cordelia was busy in the basement; thetwilight,
which was coming earlier and earlier every night, was beginningto
gather, when suddenly there was a loud crash which shook thehouse from
its foundations. Even the dishes on the sideboard rattled, andthe
glasses rang like bells. The pictures on the walls of Mrs.Townsend's
room swung out from the walls. But that was not all: every
looking-glass in the house cracked simultaneously--as nearly asthey
could judge--from top to bottom, then shivered into fragmentsover the
floors. Mrs. Townsend was too frightened to scream. She sathuddled in
her chair, gasping for breath, her eyes, rolling from side toside in
incredulous terror, turned toward the street. She saw a greatblack
group of people crossing it just in front of the vacant lot.There was
something inexpressibly strange and gloomy about this movinggroup;
there was an effect of sweeping, wavings and foldings of sabledraperies
and gleams of deadly white faces; then they passed. She twistedher
head to see, and they disappeared in the vacant lot. Mr. Townsendcame
hurrying into the room; he was pale, and looked at once angry and
alarmed.

"Did you fall?" he asked inconsequently, as if hiswife, who was small,
could have produced such a manifestation by a fall.

"Oh, David, what is it?" whispered Mrs. Townsend.

"Darned if I know!" said David.

"Don't swear. It's too awful. Oh, see the looking-glass,David!"

"I see it. The one over the library mantel is broken, too."

"Oh, it is a sign of death!"

Cordelia's feet were heard as she staggered on the stairs. Shealmost
fell into the room. She reeled over to Mr. Townsend and clutchedhis
arm. He cast a sidewise glance, half furious, half commiseratingat
her.

"Well, what is it all about?" he asked.

"I don't know. What is it? Oh, what is it? The looking-glassin the
kitchen is broken. All over the floor. Oh, oh! What is it?"

"I don't know any more than you do. I didn't do it."

"Lookin'-glasses broken is a sign of death in the house,"said Cordelia.
"If it's me, I hope I'm ready; but I'd rather die than be soscared as
I've been lately."

Mr. Townsend shook himself loose and eyed the two trembling womenwith
gathering resolution.

"Now, look here, both of you," he said. "This isnonsense. You'll die
sure enough of fright if you keep on this way. I was a foolmyself to
be startled. Everything it is is an earthquake."

"Oh, David!" gasped his wife, not much reassured.

"It is nothing but an earthquake," persisted Mr.Townsend. "It acted
just like that. Things always are broken on the walls, and themiddle
of the room isn't affected. I've read about it."

Suddenly Mrs. Townsend gave a loud shriek and pointed.

"How do you account for that," she cried, "if it'san earthquake? Oh,
oh, oh!"

She was on the verge of hysterics. Her husband held her firmly bythe
arm as his eyes followed the direction of her rigid pointingfinger.
Cordelia looked also, her eyes seeming converged to a brightpoint of
fear. On the floor in front of the broken looking- glass lay amass of
black stuff in a grewsome long ridge.

"It's something you dropped there," almost shouted Mr.Townsend.

"It ain't. Oh!"

Mr. Townsend dropped his wife's arm and took one stride towardthe
object. It was a very long crape veil. He lifted it, and itfloated
out from his arm as if imbued with electricity.

"It's yours," he said to his wife.

"Oh, David, I never had one. You know, oh, you know I--shouldn't--
unless you died. How came it there?"

"I'm darned if I know," said David, regarding it. Hewas deadly pale,
but still resentful rather than afraid.

"Don't hold it; don't!"

"I'd like to know what in thunder all this means?" saidDavid. He gave
the thing an angry toss and it fell on the floor in exactly thesame
long heap as before.

Cordelia began to weep with racking sobs. Mrs. Townsend reachedout and
caught her husband's hand, clutching it hard with ice-coldfingers.

"What's got into this house, anyhow?" he growled.

"You'll have to sell it. Oh, David, we can't live here."

"As for my selling a house I paid only five thousand forwhen it's worth
twenty-five, for any such nonsense as this, I won't!"

David gave one stride toward the black veil, but it rose from thefloor
and moved away before him across the room at exactly the sameheight as
if suspended from a woman's head. He pursued it, clutchingvainly, all
around the room, then he swung himself on his heel with anexclamation
and the thing fell to the floor again in the long heap. Then wereheard
hurrying feet on the stairs and Adrianna burst into the room. Sheran
straight to her father and clutched his arm; she tried to speak,but she
chattered unintelligibly; her face was blue. Her father shook her
violently.

"Adrianna, do have more sense!" he cried.

"Oh, David, how can you talk so?" sobbed her mother.

"I can't help it. I'm mad!" said he with emphasis."What has got into
this house and you all, anyhow?"

"What is it, Adrianna, poor child," asked her mother."Only look what
has happened here."

"It's an earthquake," said her father staunchly; "nothingto be afraid
of."

"How do you account for THAT?" said Mrs. Townsend in anawful voice,
pointing to the veil.

Adrianna did not look--she was too engrossed with her own terrors.She
began to speak in a breathless voice.

"I--was--coming--by the vacant lot," she panted, "and--I--I--hadmy new
hat in a paper bag and--a parcel of blue ribbon, and--I saw acrowd, an
awful--oh! a whole crowd of people with white faces, as if--theywere
dressed all in black."

"Where are they now?"

"I don't know. Oh!" Adrianna sank gasping feebly into achair.

"Get her some water, David," sobbed her mother.

David rushed with an impatient exclamation out of the room andreturned
with a glass of water which he held to his daughter's lips.

"Here, drink this!" he said roughly.

"Oh, David, how can you speak so?" sobbed his wife.

"I can't help it. I'm mad clean through," said David.

Then there was a hard bound upstairs, and George entered. He wasvery
white, but he grinned at them with an appearance of unconcern.

"Hullo!" he said in a shaking voice, which he tried tocontrol. "What on
earth's to pay in that vacant lot now?"

"Well, what is it?" demanded his father.

"Oh, nothing, only--well, there are lights over it exactlyas if there
was a house there, just about where the windows would be. Itlooked as
if you could walk right in, but when you look close there arethose old
dried-up weeds rattling away on the ground the same as ever. Ilooked
at it and couldn't believe my eyes. A woman saw it, too. She came
along just as I did. She gave one look, then she screeched andran. I
waited for some one else, but nobody came."

Mr. Townsend rushed out of the room.

"I daresay it'll be gone when he gets there," beganGeorge, then he
stared round the room. "What's to pay here?" he cried.

"Oh, George, the whole house shook all at once, and all the
looking-glasses broke," wailed his mother, and Adrianna andCordelia
joined.

George whistled with pale lips. Then Mr. Townsend entered.

"Well," asked George, "see anything?"

"I don't want to talk," said his father. "I'vestood just about
enough."

"We've got to sell out and go back to Townsend Centre,"cried his wife
in a wild voice. "Oh, David, say you'll go back."

"I won't go back for any such nonsense as this, and sell atwenty- five
thousand dollar house for five thousand," said he firmly.

But that very night his resolution was shaken. The whole familywatched
together in the dining-room. They were all afraid to go to bed--that
is, all except possibly Mr. Townsend. Mrs. Townsend declaredfirmly
that she for one would leave that awful house and go back toTownsend
Centre whether he came or not, unless they all stayed togetherand
watched, and Mr. Townsend yielded. They chose the dining-room forthe
reason that it was nearer the street should they wish to maketheir
egress hurriedly, and they took up their station around thedining-table
on which Cordelia had placed a luncheon.

"It looks exactly as if we were watching with a corpse,"she said in a
horror-stricken whisper.

"Hold your tongue if you can't talk sense," said Mr.Townsend.

The dining-room was very large, finished in oak, with a dark bluepaper
above the wainscotting. The old sign of the tavern, the BlueLeopard,
hung over the mantel-shelf. Mr. Townsend had insisted on hangingit
there. He had a curious pride in it. The family sat togetheruntil
after midnight and nothing unusual happened. Mrs. Townsend beganto
nod; Mr. Townsend read the paper ostentatiously. Adrianna andCordelia
stared with roving eyes about the room, then at each other as if
comparing notes on terror. George had a book which he studied
furtively. All at once Adrianna gave a startled exclamation and
Cordelia echoed her. George whistled faintly. Mrs. Townsend awokewith
a start and Mr. Townsend's paper rattled to the floor.

"Look!" gasped Adrianna.

The sign of the Blue Leopard over the shelf glowed as if alantern hung
over it. The radiance was thrown from above. It grew brighter and
brighter as they watched. The Blue Leopard seemed to crouch andspring
with life. Then the door into the front hall opened--the outerdoor,
which had been carefully locked. It squeaked and they allrecognized
it. They sat staring. Mr. Townsend was as transfixed as the rest.
They heard the outer door shut, then the door into the room swungopen
and slowly that awful black group of people which they had seenin the
afternoon entered. The Townsends with one accord rose and huddled
together in a far corner; they all held to each other and stared.The
people, their faces gleaming with a whiteness of death, theirblack
robes waving and folding, crossed the room. They were a trifleabove
mortal height, or seemed so to the terrified eyes which saw them.They
reached the mantel-shelf where the sign-board hung, then a black-draped
long arm was seen to rise and make a motion, as if plying aknocker.
Then the whole company passed out of sight, as if through thewall, and
the room was as before. Mrs. Townsend was shaking in a nervouschill,
Adrianna was almost fainting, Cordelia was in hysterics. DavidTownsend
stood glaring in a curious way at the sign of the Blue Leopard.George
stared at him with a look of horror. There was something in his
father's face which made him forget everything else. At last hetouched
his arm timidly.

"Father," he whispered.

David turned and regarded him with a look of rage and fury, thenhis
face cleared; he passed his hand over his forehead.

"Good Lord! What DID come to me?" he muttered.

"You looked like that awful picture of old Tom Townsend inthe garret in
Townsend Centre, father," whimpered the boy, shuddering.

"Should think I might look like 'most any old cuss aftersuch darned
work as this," growled David, but his face was white. "Goand pour out
some hot tea for your mother," he ordered the boy sharply.He himself
shook Cordelia violently. "Stop such actions!" heshouted in her ears,
and shook her again. "Ain't you a church member?" hedemanded; "what be
you afraid of? You ain't done nothin' wrong, have ye?"

Then Cordelia quoted Scripture in a burst of sobs and laughter.

"Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my motherconceive
me," she cried out. "If I ain't done wrong, mebbe themthat's come
before me did, and when the Evil One and the Powers of Darknessis
abroad I'm liable, I'm liable!" Then she laughed loud andlong and
shrill.

"If you don't hush up," said David, but still with thatwhite terror and
horror on his own face, "I'll bundle you out in that vacantlot whether
or no. I mean it."

Then Cordelia was quiet, after one wild roll of her eyes at him.The
colour was returning to Adrianna's cheeks; her mother wasdrinking hot
tea in spasmodic gulps.

"It's after midnight," she gasped, "and I don'tbelieve they'll come
again to-night. Do you, David?"

"No, I don't," said David conclusively.

"Oh, David, we mustn't stay another night in this awfulhouse."

"We won't. To-morrow we'll pack off bag and baggage toTownsend Centre,
if it takes all the fire department to move us," said David.

Adrianna smiled in the midst of her terror. She thought of AbelLyons.

The next day Mr. Townsend went to the real estate agent who hadsold him
the house.

"It's no use," he said, "I can't stand it. Sellthe house for what you
can get. I'll give it away rather than keep it."

Then he added a few strong words as to his opinion of parties whosold
him such an establishment. But the agent pleaded innocent for themost
part.

"I'll own I suspected something wrong when the owner, whopledged me to
secrecy as to his name, told me to sell that place for what Icould get,
and did not limit me. I had never heard anything, but I began to
suspect something was wrong. Then I made a few inquiries andfound out
that there was a rumour in the neighbourhood that there wassomething
out of the usual about that vacant lot. I had wondered myself whyit
wasn't built upon. There was a story about it's being undertakenonce,
and the contract made, and the contractor dying; then another mantook
it and one of the workmen was killed on his way to dig thecellar, and
the others struck. I didn't pay much attention to it. I neverbelieved
much in that sort of thing anyhow, and then, too, I couldn't findout
that there had ever been anything wrong about the house itself,except
as the people who had lived there were said to have seen andheard queer
things in the vacant lot, so I thought you might be able to getalong,
especially as you didn't look like a man who was timid, and thehouse
was such a bargain as I never handled before. But this you tellme is
beyond belief."

"Do you know the names of the people who formerly owned thevacant lot?"
asked Mr. Townsend.

"I don't know for certain," replied the agent, "forthe original owners
flourished long before your or my day, but I do know that the lotgoes
by the name of the old Gaston lot. What's the matter? Are youill?"

"No; it is nothing," replied Mr. Townsend. "Getwhat you can for the
house; perhaps another family might not be as troubled as we havebeen."

"I hope you are not going to leave the city?" said theagent, urbanely.

"I am going back to Townsend Centre as fast as steam cancarry me after
we get packed up and out of that cursed house," replied Mr.David
Townsend.

He did not tell the agent nor any of his family what had causedhim to
start when told the name of the former owners of the lot. Heremembered
all at once the story of a ghastly murder which had taken placein the
Blue Leopard. The victim's name was Gaston and the murderer hadnever
been discovered.