The House in the Mist

The House in the Mist, by Anna
Katharine Green

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The House in the Mist, by Anna
Katharine Green This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no
cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give
it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The House in the Mist
Author: Anna Katharine Green
Release Date: August 30, 2006 [EBook #19147]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
HOUSE IN THE MIST ***

Produced by Sam Whitehead, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

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 darkness
impenetrable, but the raw mist enveloping hill and valley made the
open road anything but desirable to a belated wayfarer like myself.
Being young, untrammeled, and naturally indifferent to danger, I was
not averse to adventure; and having my fortune to make, was always on
the lookout for El Dorado, which, to ardent souls, lies ever beyond the
next turning. Consequently, when I saw a light shimmering through the
mist at my right, I resolved to make for it and the shelter it so
opportunely offered.
But I did not realize then, as I do now, that shelter does not necessarily
imply refuge, or I might not have undertaken this adventure with so
light a heart. Yet, who knows? The impulses of an unfettered spirit 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 confused

wanderings through tangled hedges, and a struggle with obstacles of
whose nature I received the most curious impression in the surrounding
murk, I arrived in front of a long, low building which, to my
astonishment, I found standing with doors and windows open to the
pervading mist, save for one square casement through which the light
shone from a row of candles placed on a long mahogany table.
The quiet and seeming emptiness of this odd and picturesque building
made me pause. I am not much affected by visible danger, but this
silent room, with its air of sinister expectancy, struck me most
unpleasantly, and I was about to reconsider my first impulse and
withdraw again to the road, when a second look, thrown back upon the
comfortable interior I was leaving, convinced me of my folly and sent
me straight toward the door which stood so invitingly open.
But half-way up the path, my progress was again stayed by the sight of
a man issuing from the house I had so rashly looked upon as devoid of
all human presence. He seemed in haste and, at the moment my eye
first fell on him, was engaged in replacing his watch in his pocket.
But he did not shut the door behind him, which I thought odd,
especially as his final glance had been a backward one, and seemed to
take in all the appointments of the place he was so hurriedly leaving.
As we met, he raised his hat. This likewise struck me as peculiar, for
the deference he displayed was more marked than that usually
bestowed on strangers, while his lack of surprise at an encounter more
or less startling in such a mist was calculated to puzzle an ordinary man
like myself. Indeed, he was so little impressed by my presence there
that he was for passing me without a word or any other hint of good
fellowship, save the bow of which I have spoken. But this did not suit
me. I was hungry, cold, and eager for creature comforts, and the house
before me gave forth not only heat, but a savory odor which in itself
was an invitation hard to ignore. I therefore accosted the man.
"Will bed and supper be provided me here?" I asked. "I am tired out
with a long tramp over the hills, and hungry enough to pay anything in
reason--"

I stopped, for the man had disappeared. He had not paused at my appeal
and the mist had swallowed him. But at the break in my sentence, his
voice came back in good-natured tones and I heard:
"Supper will be ready at nine, and there are beds for all. Enter, sir; you
are the first to arrive, but the others