The Deep Lake Mystery

tinted California poppies gave the place a colourful effect that pleased my aesthetic tastes. A perfectly appointed bathro

while a quiet vacation would do him good, I was certain he was already itching t

ng gown, for the lake breezes were chil

give you that feeling, just as some others

, and its shimmering light across the lake made me turn

t had been selected for the site of the house. On the right of this placid little piece of shore was the boathouse, a large one, with canoes, rowboats and motor boats. Under th

the edge of the lake was greatly diversified a

t was now and then blotted out as the sw

the darkness, for the

, and as a background, dense black growth of trees,

a height almost to be called a hill, while a

e became clearer and I discerned a few f

nly because it was the next house, but because I could dim

sober senses construct

etween the Boston State

see the thing at closer range. I decided

d from view. Looking at my watch I saw it was just one o'clock and con

tlines of Pleasure Dome, and it looked infinitely more attractive in th

my spirits. It was like a cold, clammy hand resting on my forehead. I even shook my head impatiently, as if to fli

pressionableness, I sprang up from my chair

mity or whatever it was that had been jarred, and I found m

the lake lured me back to a last

es, with deep hollows here and there, the waving, soughing trees, with thick underbrush beneath them, all seemed possessed of

elf then a fear, a foreboding of some intangible, ghastly horror. Then would come the moonl

ows of those black trees into the lake that it seemed to people the lak

istorted in the moonlight, I was none the less weak-minded

y utter imbecility, I declared to mysel

m my chair, I saw something

t, translucent cloud, that cau

r I saw a canoe come

t was no ghostly craft, but an ordinary

ut to rout all my feelings of fear

to see who might be out at that t

t and its occupant. To my surprise it was a girl, a young-appearing girl, and

, but I realized the light was deceptive and

ainly, but I could distinguish little more. She had no hat on, and

p at our house at all; indeed, she seemed like an enchanted princess, doomed to paddle for her life, so ear

thought so, yet I watched carefully

e craft straight to the great house ne

e. Pleasure Dome had a cove or inlet behind it, Moore had told me, but that was not visible from my window. The front of the house was, h

her as plainly in retrospect as I had in reality. That lissome, slender figure, that graceful springy walk-but she had

old me of no young girl living in the Tracy

er uncle's for a visit and coming home late from a party? But she would

she was high-handed, and might she not

ests at Pleasure Dome besides the morose and glum-looking Ames. This, then, might be another house guest,

ng atmosphere of the lake scene, and I felt more cheerful. And as there was no sign of the girl's

rs, and an occasional note from a bird or from some small animal scurrying through the woo

just as I was about to fall asleep,

her the same girl or some one else, the boat and whoever paddled it, were out of sight, and though I hea

d in front of Pleasure Dome, but the moon was unfriendl

ror of tragedy, and I resolutely went back to bed with a determination to

e, singing birds, blooming flowers and a smiling lake, I forgot all the

and was served on an enclosed

s ungodly hour," Lora said, as she smiled

. "I've no love for the feathers

, but both times I suddenly decided not to do so. I couldn't tell why, but some

ing. Somehow it drifted roun

ll I shall never attain, is to do something I want to do

think you a veritable slave! What are these onerous duties

there is much to do in a house where the

s," Maud Merrill smiled

r friend out, Mrs. Merrill, but, being a mere ma

seriously. I do as I please most of the time, but-w

a form of vanity. One wants to do right, so one can pat o

on't make that blackberry shortcake you're so fond of this morning, I'll read a nov

far. Make the shortcake, dear girl, not so much for me, as fo

that the shortcake would materialize,

he proposed that I should have a surv

ty," he said, and I could easily believe that, as we continually

be duly impressed, Gray, for they are really wonderful. You know Wisconsin is the oldest state of all, I mean as to its birth. Geologists say that this whole continent was an

l these lakes

fields of ice plowed down through this section they scooped out the Mississippi valley, the beds of the Great Lakes and

y the way you rattle off this information as b

ned, unabashed. "Most interesting read

his Pleasure Dome

er house, you know. We'll be invited there to dine or

he background of dark trees, and with a foreground

te, too elaborate, but he would

ue, its proportions vast and noble, and save for the gilded d

o lesser type of architecture could have stood it, but this semi-barbaric pile pr

ared among the trees in a fascinating way. White pergolas bore masses of beautiful flowers

he Sunless Sea," Kee said, and I almo

lmost square, as an arm of the lake, and this, st

so looked deep and treacherous. A slight breeze was blowing but this proved

e!" I cried, and

e into you. It's really devilish. A sudden wave can suck y

but it's pesky frightensom

scene on the lake the night before, and again I

, but I evaded the issue by saying, "

e turned away fr

land," he said, "and then

on down the lake, past Moore's own place,

he said. "When the wind's a certain way, and it's quie

places," I said. "And who live

on Tracy I told you about last night. You c

ared at the dense black mass. "Why

believe. Thinks it's mor

d to death to

ntoward ever happens up her

a place. How do they get

canoes or motor boats. See, there's the boathouse. Some day w

e she's a

his island, you see, is a big one. About two or three acres, say. That gives Miss Remsen room for tennis courts and gardens and pr

off toward the spot where Ke

moved on, "there's Alma

d of Whistling Reeds. I looked, to see a girl come down to the fl

elf I said it was the girl I had

seemed to me to be the same clothes, a white skirt and white sweater. She had on a small white felt hat, and I noticed

our eyes!" exclaimed Moore, an

ing her before, but the chaffing tone he

ed over by the Lady of the L

manages it so perfectly, she seems like a part of it. Of course, wherever she goes,

an awful

ikes it better than a motor. Look a

me to have paddled even more beautifully the night before. But, I said to myself, that

her beach her canoe and follow her with our eyes for a fe

d I saw in Keeley Moore for the time b

nial companion. And we were that. Though not friends of such very long standi

chose the same times. Often we would sit for half an hour in a soc

s glad, for I wanted to think things out; to learn, if possible, why I wa

ht before and again this morning, was that enough to make me feel

o it couldn't be that I had fallen for a prett

not to. A strange, vague instinct held m

e way, and not unnaturally I thought he had

ther evident preparations for bringing our fishing par

," he said, lik

at

t means come home at once. Lora only uses it i