THE HOUSE IN THE MIST
I
II
III
IV
THE RUBY AND THE CALDRON
THE HERMIT OF —— STREET
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
FAMOUS AUTHORS AND THEIR BOOKS INCLUDED IN THIS SERIES
THE
HOUSE IN THE MIST
By
ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
Author of
The Millionaire Baby
The Amethyst Box
The Filigree Ball, etc., etc.
NEW YORK
THE NEW YORK BOOK CO.
1913
Copyright 1905
The Bobbs-Merrill Company
April
THE HOUSE IN THE MIST
I
AN OPEN DOOR
It was a night to drive any man indoors. Not only was the darknessimpenetrable, but the raw mist enveloping hill and valley made the openroad anything but desirable to a belated wayfarer like myself.
Being young, untrammeled, and naturally indifferent to danger, I was notaverse to adventure; and having my fortune to make, was always on thelookout for El Dorado, which, to ardent souls, lies ever beyond the nextturning. Consequently, when I saw a light shimmering through the mist atmy right, I resolved to make for it and the shelter it so opportunelyoffered.
But I did not realize then, as I do now, that shelter does not[Pg 4]necessarily imply refuge, or I might not have undertaken this adventurewith so light a heart. Yet, who knows? The impulses of an unfetteredspirit lean toward daring, and youth, as I have said, seeks the strange,the unknown and, sometimes, the terrible.
My path toward this light was by no means an easy one. After confusedwanderings through tangled hedges, and a struggle with obstacles ofwhose nature I received the most curious impression in the surroundingmurk, I arrived in front of a long, low building which, to myastonishment, I found standing with doors and windows open to thepervading mist, save for one square casement through which the lightshone from a row of candles placed on a long mahogany table.
The quiet and seeming emptiness of this odd and picturesque buildingmade me pause. I am not much affected by visible danger, but this silentroom, with its air of sinister expectancy, struck me most unpleasantly,an