"Good morning, Jack," he said; and his gaze swept
the room.
"God help us!"
It was Morgan, I think, who screamed these words as
he bolted for the broken door, but Stoddard caught and
held him.
"Thank God, you're here, sir!" boomed forth in Bates'
sepulchral voice.
It seemed to me that I saw all that happened with a
weird, unnatural distinctness, as one sees, before a
storm, vivid outlines of far headlands that the usual
light of day scarce discloses.
I was myself dazed and spellbound; but I do not like
to think, even now, of the effect of my grandfather's
appearance on Arthur Pickering; of the shock that
seemed verily to break him in two, so that he staggered,
then collapsed, his head falling as though to strike his
knees. Larry caught him by the collar and dragged him
to a seat, where he huddled, his twitching hands at his
throat.
"Gentlemen," said my grandfather, "you seem to have
been enjoying yourselves. Who is this person?"
He pointed with his stick to the sheriff, who was endeavoring
to crawl out from under the mass of broken
crystals.
"That, sir, is the sheriff," answered Bates.
"A very disorderly man, I must say. Jack, what
have you been doing to cause the sheriff so much inconvenience?
Didn't you know that that chandelier was
likely to kill him? That thing cost a thousand dollars,
gentlemen. You are expensive visitors. Ah, Morgan,-
and Ferguson, too! Well, well! I thought better of both
of you. Good morning, Stoddard! A little work for
the Church militant! And this gentleman?"-he indicated
Larry, who was, for once in his life, without anything
to say.
"Mr. Donovan,-a friend of the house," explained
Bates.
"Pleased, I'm sure," said the old gentleman. "Glad
the house had a friend. It seems to have had enemies
enough," he added dolefully; and he eyed the wreck of
the room ruefully. The good humor in his face reassured
me; but still I stood in tongue-tied wonder, staring
at him.
"And Pickering!" John Marshall Glenarm's voice
broke with a quiet mirth that I remembered as the preface
usually of something unpleasant. "Well, Arthur,
I'm glad to find you on guard, defending the interests
of my estate. At the risk of your life, too! Bates!"
"Yes, Mr. Glenarm."
"You ought to have called me earlier. I really prized
that chandelier immensely. And this furniture wasn't
so bad!"
His tone changed abruptly. He pointed to the
sheriff's deputies one after the other with his stick.
There was, I remembered, always something insinuating,
disagreeable and final about my grandfather's staff.
"Clear out!" he commanded. "Bates, see these fellows
through the wall. Mr. Sheriff, if I were you I'd
be very careful, indeed, what I said of this affair. I'm
a dead man come to life again, and I know a great deal
that I didn't know before I died. Nothing, gentlemen,
fits a man for life like a temporary absence from this
cheerful and pleasant world. I recommend you to try
it."