Temple Daily Telegram (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 241, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 17, 1921 Page: 16 of 20
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Abilene Library Consortium.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
I
OVERLOOK HOUSE
By WILL PAYNE
t=5=S==
D OMANCE, adventure, a sinis-
** ter mystery, detectives work-
ing at cross purposes, a first-lass
villain or two, love menaced by hid-
den peril^ devoted married lovers
•—fdbtf more can you ask of good
fiction? You will find them all in
the Blue Ribbon serial, never be-
fore published, which begins here-
with. It is a capital yarn by one of
the best American story tellers, and
will keep you guessing to the end
of the final chapter. Start reading
it now.
OVERLOOK House stands two hundred
feet above the sea—as though a giant
had carried out his domiciliary Ideas
In the renaissance style of architecture. Un-
familiar passengers In the little yachts and
launches which ply those waters In the sum-
mer season sometimes mistake It for a hotel,
or at lefl't. a country club, for It seems absurd
that a mere family should require so much
epace as those gray stuoco walls inclose. A
battery of artillery might maneuver handily
on the paved terrace in front of the house.
From its hilltop the house looks down to
the sea across an unobstructed space, but
elxty acres of carefully tended woods screen
It from other points of view—running down
.to the asphalt public road and trolley line
which skirt the western boundaries of the
grounds. Passengers on that side see only
a wall of dressed stone, six feet high, with
the woods beyond.
" I want plenty of room," Judge Tillman
Crane had said to the architect; and, having
made that one stipulation, he left the other
details to his wife and the architect. When
he finally surveyed the result—contemplat-
ing tho broad reach of gray wall and the
6pacious apartments within—he expressed
his satisfaction in an amused chuckle. On
the opposite rim of the continent there Is an
erid region—sere, barren, and forbidding, as
though nature had spoiled It In the making,
and set a match to it and gone off and left
jt—which nevertheless teems with human
ectivity. Gaunt derricks arise over it as
though a colossal child had been repeating
one pattern with a set of rude building
blocks. There are many clusters of huge
Iron tanks, cylindrical in form, painted red
cr gray. Big Iron pipes run Interminably
ever the dun ground. Tho summer sun is ^
fierce; sand bloWs, cutting the face like bits
of metal thrown from a gun. And evety-
where there Is the strong reek of oil. It
flows black and pitchy into the pipe, but at
a far off other end It comes out in a deluge
of shiny gold. Six weeks' income from that
oily desert settled the bill for Overlook Houso.
Judge Tillman Crane gave an amused
chuckle ovfer that, too.
The servants' quarters on the third 8oor
are as roomy as the master's apartments in
most houses—even houses that make very
considerable pretensions to opulence. A stair-
way at either end of the house leads up to
them, but the stairway Is shut off from tho
main hall by a blank door. Only one wl o
has some business In the servants' quarters
opens that door.
About 11 o'clock of a Thursday morning
In the latter part of June Mrs. Lester Hilton
glided northward In the main hall of the sec-
ond story, approaching the door which gave .
to the stairway leading up to the third story.
She moved quickly, her feet falling without
a sound on the thick rug, her dark eyes turn-
ing nervously from side to side of the hall as
though, perhaps, she feared a door might
open and somebody step out to witness hnr
movements. The blank door was straight
ahead of her, but a cross hali ran to the
right there. Mrs. Hilton threw an apprehen-
Blve glance behind her, but the big main hall
lay empty at her back. As she looked around
again a rather formidable figure strode out of
the cross hall, confronting her.
It was the figure of Lena, a maid. In a
maid's black gown and little white apion—
tall and strongly made, but not uncomely.
It was, of course, a perfectly familiar figure
to Mrs. Hilton; but Just now Mrs. Hilton's
nerves were taut and tingling and Lena'#
blonde face was puckered In a scowl of
wrath. The light of battle gleamed In her
pale blue eyes, her lower lip protruded, her
ample breast labored, her capable fists weie
balled-—all as though she might Immediately
fall upon Mrs. Hilton like an enraged Vall.jr.
Very naturally, then, Mrs. Hilton's nerves
Jumped and she drew back. But Lena herself
was no less disconcerted. A look of alarm
arwlftly succeeded the scowl upon her face.
Bhe, too. drew back and began stammering
an apology the exact purport of which Mrs.
Hilton did not catch. After one disconcerted
moment Lena turned on her heels and lied
down the cross hall. Evidently It had not
been Mn. Hilton whom she had expected to
meet there.
j Looking in the direction whence L*na ho 4
disappeared, Mrs. Hilton waited a moment to
compose her nerves and to consider, mechan-
ically putting a finger up to her lips, which
trembled slightly. Then she closed her Upe
resolutely, opened the blank door, and went
( -upstairs. The door she sought up there was
closed. She listened at the crack a moment,
turned the knob, and entered the room, shut-
ting the door behind her. It was a servant's
bedroom, roomy like all the apartments In
Utat house, with two windows, simply but
tuAolently furnished. If lira. Hilton's pur-
pee had been housewifely shs might have
noted with disapproval that the room was
not In order and the bed lay tumbled Just as
ita occupant had climbed out of It that morn-
ing. But her purpose was not housewifely. ■
Bbe stepped across to the open closet and at
once saw what she wanted—a saffron cloak
and a black straw hat. with a military air,
adorned with a Jaunty red feather.
Bhe took them both, throwing the cloak
over her arm and holding the hat in her
crossed the room swiftly, and stepped
into the hall—and there encountered a seo-
to know what girl he wants to go with! That
beeg horse Lena get her clutch on Louis
Uke he's all made of gold and only man in
the world. She declare she punch my hea«l,
Meesus Heelton. She not punch my head:"
Katey stamped her trim foot In outrage oyer
the Intolerable idea. "I"know what I do,"
she plunged on darkly, palpitating with
wrath. " I get me a good gun! I fix that
Lena, she come fooling round me any more.
Mr. Ted got a good gun. I borrow It of him."
Screwing up her pretty face In the darkest
that hat and cloak, Meesus Heelton. You
got the figure for 'em and you know how to
wear your clothes. Maybe you get you a hat
and cloak like 'em, so? " A childlike Inability
to " keep her proper place " as a servant was
one reason why Katey would never make an
Ideal maid.
" perhapa," said Mrs. Hilton with a laugh.
'"I'll bring them back before long."
" O, keep them long as you like—till night
•—Meesus Heelton," Katey replied handsome-
ly, dimpling.
she stood against the wall, waiting for the
trolley car.
Her Journey from the house had been ac-
complished safely: she had met no one; but
hef nerves hurt cruelly. The tension showed
In her restless eyes and a little mechanical
moistening of her dry lips. AH the while she
was wondering, with a kind of despair,
whether she had chosen the best way of
going; whether, after all. It wouldn't have
been better to have asked for a ear and
chauffeur and gone In her own proper dress
f
r,t mtrr
<r
f iT -V >,
I#!
.1
Oh*
'
4
i
She itood against the wall waiting for the trolley car. All the time the Wat wondering, with a hind of despair,
whether the had chosen the best uxty of going.
end figure almost as disconcerting as the first.
Perhaps a male observer would not have
been much disconcerted by this figure In any
case. It was tho figure of a maid, In the
maid's badge of black gown and white apron,
but round and lissom, with wavy dark hair,
full, deep blue eyes, bowed red lips, a straight
nose, and a dimple In either cheek when she
laughed. Bhe was not laughing now, how-
ever. Her blue eyes sparkled with anger, her
breast heaved, her plump hands were
clinched. Dashing toward the retreat of her
bedroom and encountering Mrs. Hilton, as-
tonishment swiftly overlay these signs of
wrath.
" Or' she cried, checking her headlong rush.
Then, as soon as she had caught her breath,
she asked with a pretty touch of foreign
accent: " Tou want me, Meesus Heelton?"
With the plunder in her hands, Mrs. Hil-
ton could only carry It through; so she said.
" Why, Katey, what's the matter?"
Katey seemed to pay no attention at all to
the plunder in Mrs. Hilton's hands, ller
wrongs rose upon her afresh, and with the
prospect of a sympathetic listener she gave
Vent to them, her eyes sparkling, her breast
heaving, her hands clenched.
" It's that meesfrabls Lena, Meesus Heel-
ton) She think she do me up because she Is
beeg Uke a horse! I go away from hcrol I
leave light offl I'm not goln' be used like a
dog all the while. Can I help It if those fool-
ish fellows come all the while honeying
around?" She tossed her wavy head in high
dledain. " I don't ask 'em oome around me.
1 tell 'em go way and mind their own
bvcalne*. Much I oar*. Not eo much like
thatl" Bhe snapped her thin fingers In scorn.
"It's that Louis. I didn't ask him come
along. All the while he comes himself. My
goodness, I guess that Louis eee old enough
scowl of which It was capable and usin? the
most sinister tone she could command, Katey
afitrmed tragically, " I shoot one great beeg
hole in that horse Lena!"
Mrs. Hilton—In spite of her preoccupation
•—was trying hard not to laugh. She didn't
think that anybody ever need stand In much
fear of pretty, good natured, careless Katey's
wrath—fleeting as a little cloud over the sun.
The girl had been employed In Judge Crane's
household for several months. Under other
conditions her tenure might have been
shorter, for she was not a very good maid—
being incorrigibly heedless and unamenable
to discipline; not because she was Impudent
cr laxy but because of a gay and childlike
irresponsibility. In spite of her good nature
and although she seemed never to intend It,
she was always stirring up trouble—a sort
of disorganizing element below stairs, like a
sprightly, adventurous bluejay in a cote of
sedate, orderly birds. But satisfactory house-
hold servants were hard to get, and notwith-
standing her failings as a maid everybody
above stairs had a liking for the sparkling,
amiable, pretty creature. So Katey re-
mained; and Mrs. Hilton now perceived that
she had stumbled upon a downstairs triangle
with Louis, one of the gardeners, as one
angle and Katey and Lena as the other two.
So she gave Katey some soothing advice
and assurances, and concluded—since the
plunder was in her hajids in plain view—
with the statement, " I want to use your hat
and cloak a little while. I thought you
wouldn't mind."
"O, I not mind at all, Meesus Heelton!"
Katey assured her heartily, and—her wrath
already forgotten—shs showed her dimples
as a new Idea delighted her. " I be proud
for you to take 'em. Tou look very swell In
So Mrs. Hilton went downstairs carrying
the yellow cloak and the black straw hat that
had a military air, with its Jaunty red feath-
er. And as she left Katey, care agsln took
undisputed possession of her mind. The
adventure had not started well. Lena had
seen her, and then Katey. She had a despair-
ing sense that she was bungling It, and she
mustn't bungle It!
She was sbout Katey's height and build,
but older—32, in fact. Her hair was darker
than the maid's—dark fairly to blackness.
With dark eyes and a complexion of dusky
olive, faintly touched with color, she looked
as though her veins might carry a strain of
Jewish blood, although her nose was as
straight as Katey's. Without pausing at the
second story she sped on down to the ground
floor. At that hour the big central hall was
empty; spaciously open doors at right and left
showed no glimpse or sound of occupancy.
Mrs. Hilton threw the saffron cloak over
ber shoulders, turning up Its collar, paused
an instant before a mirror to settle the Jaunty
bat on her Bark head, and fled through the
back door.
This was the latter part of June, with trees
and shrubs In full leaf under a bright sun;
but the wind was in the north, off the cold
sea, tingling one's cheeks like an icy bath.
Stepping out of the house, Mrs. Hilton saw
no one. The garage and stables, where men
might be loitering at any hour of tne day,
were some distance away. She bent her
head and fled toward the avenue of slim ever-
greens that led through the formal garden
on that side of the house. At the further side
if the garden she took a bridle path which
wound down through the beautifully kept
woods and so gained a wrought Iron gate In
the stone wall along the public road. There
Instead of masquerading in Katey's clothes
and going by trolley. She couldn't tell
whether or not that would have been better.
At any rate, she was committed to the mas-
querade, and she stood-restlessly against the
wall, waiting for the trolley, fearing that at
any moment an automobile containing some
one who knew her might appear, or a horse-
back party or a pedestrian. She kept her
face down and toward the wall.
Windham lay two miles down the coast—
south—from Overlook House. But the branch
railroad which served that coast region ran
on five miles to the village of Stony Cove,
and a trolley line connected the two towns.
It was to Stony Cove, at the end of the
branch railroad, that she was going.
She heard, to the south, the welcome grind-
ing of the trolley car wheels against the rails
and the thin toot of the whistle for the cross-
road and stepped forward to signal the car.
It was most unlikely'that any one she knew
would be traveling by that public convey-
ance; her acquaintances had pieasanter
means of locomotion. The public road and
trolley line ran along a little valley there,
with bold wooded hills on either side. The
scene* therefore, had a pleasant effect of
remote, primitive forest; but that effect was
preserved, at great expense, by skilled land-
scape gardeners.
When the trolley stopped Mrs. Hilton took
In Its occupants at a swift glance without •
seeing a familiar face, and climbed into a seat
in the middle of the vehicle where her up-
turned cloak collar would protect her In case
acquaintances should pass In an automobile.
The three mile trolley ride was a matter of a
dozen minutes, and she alighted on the main
street «f Stony Cove. There was a granite
quanv sear by. Salt} mud flats at the edge
of the village, through which a tidal creeK
meandered, provided rare clams. In summer '
time the lobster fishermen yfound brisk de>
for their catches from rammer cot*
tagers and from the resort hotels along the
coast. These small and partly seasonal Indus-:
tries were Stony Cove's only reasons for]
being. The main street of the village had a
weatherbeaten, bedraggled air. Mrs. Hilton
had never viewed It before except from th«
seat of an automobile. „
She remembered the sign, however, It*
definitely, and saw It again as the trolley cat
rolled away. The sign said "Stony Cov<
Hotel," and was attached to the wooden awni
lng of a narrow, sad looking three story
frame structure almoet Innocent of paint*;
No one wanted to stay at this village hotelj
every one wanted to stay on the shore oil
back In the country; tho hotel had a dejecteil
look of finding favor with nobody. Mrs. Hl»
ton crossed the street, passed under the sa|*
glng wooden awning, opened the dingy doo\
and found herself in a dim, narrow hall, witl(
a closed door on either side and stairs leading
steeply up. i
" Up here," Bald a masculine voice from th<
top of the stairs, and she ascended swlft!y-<
understanding that he had been looking oul
of tho window and had seen her alight front
the trolley.
The man who awaited her at the top of thi
dim stairs wore his hat and a light overcoat
for It was chilly in the heatless hotel. H^
did not bother to remove his hat as sh(
ascended; In fact, he did not bother to wall
for her, but moved down the hall and entered
a room, leaving the door open for her to fol<
low. A glance showed that this room wa*
the little parlor of the hotel, with a thread*
bare ingrain carpet and old fashioned walnut
chairs and sofa upholstered In black hors^
hair. It occupied a corner of tho building,
however, and was quite light. Mrs. Hilton
shut the door after her, and In the good light
the man and woman silently looked at each
other—a tremulous, questioning, fearing looK
on her face; a frown on his.
He was a handsome man, smartly dressed,
but a keen Judge might have guessed some-
thing unstable and undependabio In his good
looks. Too many nerves; flighty nerves,
other Judge might have said. Ills face was
long and thin, with sloping brow and a bold-
ly sculptured profile; his eyes were proml*
nent—thrust forward. Altogether, In fact«
his face was thrust forward;overeager, even
avid. If he had'removed his hat his durH
hair would have showed a neat part througtt
the middle—a vivid sort of man; one might
have got the impression that it would havt
been somehow better If he had been a worn/
an. There was something sullen In the frown
with which he (frected her; hut he was palt
today, with dark circles under his eyes; and
she instantly caught, behind the frown, a
look of suffering. It did not occm to either
of them to say "Good morning" or shake
hands. Tho situation was too exigent fo(
that.
She spoke first, saying: "What Is It, I,es»"
ter?" It was the look of suffering In his fad
that softened her tone.
He motioned to the sofa, and when she sat
down she kept her hands In her lap. It
would have been very natural for him to
have wished to hold her hand and for her to
have wished him to. But she had come up
there with some forbidding things in he»
mind, and she kept her hands In her lap<
He understood It well enough. There were
some things In his mind, too. So he let he*
keep her hands to herself, and in addressing
her he used her full nam*, like any friend,
Instead of the pet nickname which had onot
been current on his Hps.
" I'm in an awful hole, Edith," ho said; anj
then, referring to his talk with her over tht
telephone when ho had summoned her tl
- meet him there, ho askod anxiously: " Tht
next mall comes at 3 o'clock?"
"About I—along In the middle of th(
afternoon," she replied.
" You've seenMho Judge since the mornln(
mall came In?" Ho had asked that, too, ovel
the telephone, but ho seemed to need a reas-
surance.
"Yes; we were walking up and down th4
terrace together- the Judge and Mrs. Crans
and Teddy and I—for half an hour or so*
We were walking there when I was called to
tho phono and you spoke to mo."
His restless eyes questioned her a moment
and he asked plumply: " You noticed noth«
lng? Ho seemed as usual?"
She repeated what she had said over th«
wire: "Why, nothing at all. He seemed
Just as usual."
This was in the main mere repetition—a
prologue. Ho must say, now, why be had
summoned her there In that strange, peremp
tory fashion. She waited tho explajjatlor
and felt the beats of her heart. He glow
ered at the worn carpet a moment, hating
tho plunge, and turned whiter; but It had t<
come. Obscurely and Irrationally he blamec
her for the necessity of having to tell her
They seemed quits safe from Intrusion li
that musty, dingy little parlor; completely
aafo from eavesdropping, since there wai
no place for an eavesdropper; yet he spok
very low, and the words slipping out In tha
bodiless way had their sinister effect:
" A letter to the Judge from our odlce wen
Into the mall last night. If he gets It It's al
up with me."
He gave a glance around tho empty roor
and from tho breast pocket of his overcoa
produced a long, creamy yellow envelopf
[Continued on fallowing pagaj <
■Xi
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View 19 places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Ingram, Charles W. Temple Daily Telegram (Temple, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 241, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 17, 1921, newspaper, July 17, 1921; Temple, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth467010/m1/16/?q=j+w+gardner: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.