Page:Weird Tales Volume 5 Number 6 (1925-06).djvu/27

 times all the mystery of his wild appearance seemed to slip from him and he seemed as rational and calm as anyone else. And yet in the late evenings he would continue his wild dashes into the forest like a frightened, hunted thing.

permitted Stark Laurier to wander wherever he wished over the house, with the exception of one room. This room opened off the library and was always kept locked.

"If you enter that room without my permission," he said gravely, "I shall not be responsible for what happens thereafter."

This peculiar warning only served to make Stark Laurier's curiosity more acute. He wondered if there were some living thing in that room, some living horror too awful to gaze upon, but he soon abandoned this theory because Cass Ledyard never entered the room. If there were any living thing there it would be necessary to feed it. As the days dragged on his curiosity grew.

Sig, also, seemed rather mysterious in his actions. He crept about the house, utterly soundless. Occasionally Stark Laurier would look up from his book with a start to find Sig standing over him, his grotesque, gorillalike face looking more formidable than ever. Although Sig was always polite and servile, Stark Laurier realized that in his manner there was a hidden note of hatred. He resented Stark's presence there.

It was not always gloomy, however, for as time wore on, Nona's fascination increased. Her loveliness wove a spell about him, a net from which he did not wish to escape. At last he told her how much she meant to him, and to his surprize and joy she confessed that she cared equally as much for him. So they became engaged.

Cass Ledyard made no objection to their marriage, although he became immediately quiet and grave and went to his room right after supper. That night Sig disappeared without a word of explanation. His life was shattered as completely as that of the Persian in Cass Ledyard's story, who had unfortunately sat in the direct path of the clashing colors. Although no one even suspected it, Sig had begun to think of Nona as his own. He imagined that she too, like him, was a social outcast. He believed eventually she would consent to become his wife. He did not realize the absurdity of the thought, nor did he realize that he was a loathsome monstrosity. It is fortunate that we see only the most pleasing aspect of our faces when we gaze into mirrors. Sig had studied Cass Ledyard every moment they had been together and he had arrived at the conclusion that Cass Ledyard was a far more notorious criminal than even he himself. The thought increased his own egotism. He was less in fear of the law than his employer, who evidently lived in constant dread of it.

next night Cass Ledyard was just as cordial as usual to Stark Laurier. He had not appeared at breakfast or lunch. He had remained in his room, and Nona, knowing her father's eccentricities, did not disturb him. But at supper he was quite talkative. He recounted many interesting anecdotes and proved himself in truth a charming host. After supper he and Stark Laurier went into the library and seated themselves before the hearth while Nona went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, for now that Sig had disappeared they were entirely without servants.

Most of Cass Ledyard's talk that evening was about the Orient, odd little tales whose settings were in the fabulous romance countries of the East. He talked of India and southern China so vividly that the cities