THE INDISPENSABLE HUSBAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 226, 24 September 1927, Page 34

THE INDISPENSABLE HUSBAND.

(By MILDRED BARBOUR.)

CHAPTER XLII. The Night Prowler. Aileen wakened with a etart and lay staring into the darkness. Had she heard a noise, or. was it the climax of some unpleasant dream that had wakened her from deep slumber? She listened, straining her ears in the darkness. It was an actual sound she heard. Something like the guarded shuffle of slippered feet; a sinister sound that failed, for some inexplicable reason to suggest a servant going softly on some legitimate errand. A tiny, cold prickle chased up Aileen's spine. She held her, breath and listened with all her might. It seemed to her that the footsteps— or whatever the noise was—paused at her door. Did she ■ actually hear the knob turn gently, or was it the product of her excited imagination? " ' At any rate, the door was locked and bolted — a comforting thought — but though she listened and waited with eyes fixed upon the darkness, she failed to hear the footsteps go on down the silent corridor. She had an uncanny sense that whatever and whoever was ouiteide her door was waiting too; that an invisible something might have entered through the heavy panel and perhaps stood there regarding her with Heaven knew what ghastly expression on its phantom face. With a desperate gesture, she flung out her arm, grasped the metal cord of the bedside lamp and switched it on. The room was empty, the door closed and bolted. She, managed a shaky little chuckle. "There, Aileen, that's what nerves do!" she told herself. "You're getting to be a silly little fool! Anyway, suppose it was the family ghost. Every respectable old house in France must have one!" But nevertheless she shivered, and springing out of bed, went to close one of the windows through which came a ehill wind. . Her eye was caught suddenly by tiny pin-pricks of light that danced oddly in the blackness of the garden. For an instant she would see a flash, then there was darkness and again further long, the small yellow beam would stab the blackness. She realised suddenly that what she saw was the reflection in the garden of a light being carried through the upper corridor of the house. It flashed only when the mysterious medium, candle or lamp, passed the uncurtained windows. The intermittent periods of darkness were the spaces between the windows. '

, Presently the garden was again in darkness. The last flash of light had vanished near the tower wings—the wing occupied by her husband! ASle'en went back to bed and lay wide awake in the .darkness. Her racing brain formed a theory to account for the midnight prowler—a theory instantly rejected. ~ - The logical explanation by the standards of fictiondom would be to suppose that Dubois was spending the night* searching for his uncle's mislaid will, Aileen reflected. But there was a good reason why she rejected this theory. It was that she believed that her husband knew very well where the missing wilt had been secreted, that his uncle bad told him without witnesses on his deathbed, and that he had secured it and destroyed it, because it had deprived him of the inheritance he coveted. With* that theory disposed of to her satisfaction, there was but one other explanation for the tfight prowler that occurred to Aileen. The mere thought made her shiver. . . , She recalled Dr. Gilbert's guarded warning: "Persons with minds unbalanced by : 'w<jrry, or some other factor, have, been known to take peculiar aversions and do physical harm." - 'Wd« it through insane hatred of her, a desire to harm her, that Dubois came steathily to her door in the middle of the night t Was that what his silence, his avoidance of her, signified? She felt wan and listless when she awoke in bright sunlight the .following morning. Her apprehensions of the previous night seemed childish and groundless,' but depress/ion persisted. She wondered if.she had better confide in Dr. Gilbert after all. With her mind still not fully made .up, she nevertheless walked over to ..the Gilberts after . breakfast. She walked bravely through the woods and entered their garden from the side. Before she came jn full view of the house she heard voices on the gaUery—Madeline's and her husband's. ■ • ■ % "I know why you are going," Madeline was saying with a new note of agony in her • tones. - "Why do you try to deceive me? Don't you realise that I've known for. a long time, and that it's torturing me?" •>■ • • "Commend me to a woman for fantastic imaginings!" the doctor replied with a short, sharp laugh. . There . was . the staccato, bark of a motor engine starting and the Gilbert's car came into Aileen's range of vision with the doctor behind, the wheel. It sped away down the. drive and the ensuing silence was out 'with a woman's choking sobs. Aileen made her way silently back into the woods. She dared not intrude on Madeline Gilbert's grief, whatever it's cause. W!ith the whole day before her—« day that had started*- distressingly—she decided suddenly to go to Saint Gaudene for a few trifling errands. There was a train at eleven o'clock. The change would do Bier good. Divert her morbid thoughts.

CHAPTER XLni. A Puzzling Encounter. The town of Saint Gaudens cannot be conceived of as a shopping centre by the widest stretch of imagination, but its neat, orderly, little shops are outfitted with a modest assortment of essentials. • Aileen's trip to Saint Gaudens was, really only an ecxuse for a brief reprieve from the crowding mysteries of Beau Reve. She felt that if she once got away from the magnetic presence of Dubois and the sinister atmosphere of tne jiandßOme. old mansion she would be able to think more logically—to discard many of her fantastic imaginings. ' She lunched *t * little tea shop around the corner from the inn where she had stopped during her -first visit to- Saint Gaudens. Her purchases were completed .within an hour- -or two and at five o'clock she was again on the train speeding toward, home, and ready to laugh at her fears of the previous night. Two stations before her destination the train pulled on to a siding to wait

for the passage of the down train, which was just then sliding into the murky glare of the station lights. Passengers were hurrying from the tiny waiting room to the carriages, swathed ana muffled against the cold. twilight. . • ! Out of the surrounding dusk a motor car suddenly materialised, driven at a smart speed. Two people, a man and a woman occupied tne front seat. .One of these, the woman, smartly turned out with furs and fashionably scant skirt, sprang out of the car without assistance, and ran quickly to the waiting train. She climbed into the first open carriage just as the guard was ready to slam the door. : ! As the train pulled slowly out of the station, she leaned from the window and waved a.gloved hand in the direction of the car, which was already turning to leave the depot. Aileen could not see her face, which was veiled, but every line of her slim figure, every gesture, bespoke of extreme youth. .As her own train resumed its journey, Aileen leaned back in her corner of the carriage, her brows drawn thoughtfully. .She had recognised the car which had conveyed the unknown girl to the depot—and its driver. It was Gilbert's car, and Dr. Gilbert was behind the wheel. Who, then, was the young woman that he took to the train two stations above his- own? If she bad been a visitor at the house, why did he not take her to the village station. Aileen recalled ■ suddenly Madeline Gilbert's tears that morning, the chance words she had overheard:' "Why do you try to deceive me ? Don't you realise that I've known for a long time?" Had they any connection with the incident she had just witnessed? When the lights of her own station came into view, she gathered together her parcels and felt once more the grip of uncertainty arid depression. To her surprise, her husband was waiting on the platform with the car close at hand. "How nice of you to comie," she murmured as he relieved her of her parcels. "I didn't know you contemplated a trip to Saint Gaudens," he said, "otherwise I should have driven you in the car. It is pleasanter than the train. Aileen drew in a deep breath of the crisp, chill air. "It was stuffy in the carriage," she confessed, "but I could have motored back from nearly half the distance, if I'd been quick. He lifted inquiring brows. "I saw Dr. Gilbert in his car two stations down the line," she explained. "He brought someone to the train. Dubois frowned, but he showed no surprise. Neither did he have any simple explanation of the doctor's presence there. Aileen decided that his ■ calm acceptance of every curious exigency, his perpetual, cool detachment, were maddening qualities. At the same time, they piqued her interest mightily. At the turn in the road which led to the Gilbert's estate, they saw the headlights of another car, and Dubois drew up at a shout through the darkness. It was Dr. Gilbert, smiling suavely above the wheel in the light from the dash.. "What about a game of bridge at my house after dinner?" he called. Dubois looked inquiringly at Aileen, who hesitated perceptibly. 1 j£> "Try and corned , the"' doctor urged. was feeling rather low when I left her this morning. I think it would do her good to play to-night, change her thoughts a little." It was arranged that Aileen and Dubois should drive over directly after dinner. ———

CHAPTER XLrV. The Playful Ghost. For nearly a week Aileen's sleep was undisturbed. She was awakened by no strange noises, beset by no intangible depression. She began to ltrugh at her gloomy imaginings, and, except for her young husband's avoidance of her, she was ready to, believe that Dr. Gilbert's fears concerning his disordered brain were groundless. But her respite was brief. Again she was awakened in the dark, shivery, wee hours by the sound of stealthy footsteps that approached her door. Again she fancied she. heard the door knob turned, and recalled with a panicky sensation that she had forgotten to lock it, so lulled were her apprehensions by the security of the past week. But, though she lay rigid in bed and listened with straining ears, the door did not open. The fact that it did not.was more puzzling and disconcerting than the event that it had. For no matter what terrifying things should have entered the room, she would at least know the nature of the danger which threatened—and her groping hand reached out through the darkness and closed around a small revolver that had been one of her recent purchases in Saint audens, and now rested each night in the drawer of her bedside table. With the revolver levelled at the black wall that framed the door, she waited, alert and breathless. But nothing happened. There was no further noise, not even the sound of the footsteps—if they were really- footsteps —retreating along the corridor. *Why, she asked herself, should someone, or something, seek her room, turn the knob 1 , find the door unbolted, and yet not enter? Was it the family ghost playing pranks, trying to frighten the interloper from England, who had usurped the Dubois name under such extraordinary circumstances. Aileen laughed silently, a little shakily, then, with an access of boldness, grasping the revolver firmly she switched on the lights and, approaching the closed door stealthily, placed her ear against the- panels. All was silence. She waited a long while tense, then, shielding herself behind the door, she opened it with a, quick rush. There was nothing outside her door. The corridor was dark and empty as far as she see in the radius of light from her room. Summoning her courage, she lit one of the' candles .on the mantlepiece, and, taking it in her hand, stepped into the corridor, and, walking slowly, lifted it high above her head until its feeble beams traversed the entire length. There was no doubt that the chill hall was. empty. But suddenly she heard footsteps, quick, soft, coming up the stairs from the left wing, as if the unseen thing took three stair treads' at a jump. . , . . Her courage almost forsook her then". The candle began to wobble in her hand. It seemed a million miles back to the sanctuary of her room—and the black shadows were clustering close behind her. . - An involuntary cry was on her lips when the waVering beams of her candle revealed Dubois taking the top stairs in one leap. He wore a dressing gown and slippers,' and his handsome face showed surprise and anxiety.

"What!" he exclaimed in apparent amazement, "What has happened! Why are you here? I heard a noise " Aileen's relief at seeing him instead of a terrifying visitant quickly gave place to an acute consciousness of her deshabille. She had not stopped to , don either dressing gown or slippers. She shivered and retreated, colouring furiously. ~•'■;.',. ' Dubois, snatched off his own dressing gown and offered it to her. , "You' will_ be cold,' , he said quietly. "Tell me what has disturbed you." ? She realised, to her surprise, that he was still dressed. He had removed only his dinner jacket and his shoes. She heard a clock in tlie. depths of the house strike three timesl ' Why was he up so late and dressed? "I heard a- ,noise in -the corridor," she told him calmly, wrapping his dressing robe around her. "Someone turned the knob of my door, but, though I had forgotten to lock it, no. one tried to enter. When I came out, the corridor, was empty. "I, too, heard a noise," he said frowning. "It seemed to come from the foot of the tower stairs, but I saw nothing. When I opened the door into this wing to listen, I saw the glimmer of your light, and came on a run." They stared at each other silently in the feeble glow of, the candle. Aileen wondered if her suspicion was evident in her face.

CHAPTER XLV. A Broken Lock. Dubois T»ro*te the silence abruptly. "I should advise, you hereafter to be sure that your door is bolted at night." "Rather!" Aileen smiled fieetingly. She added pointedly: "You have no idea what it pould have been that made the noise which disturbed me—er —both of us ?" He shrugged. . "I'll make a tour of the house before turning in. You'd better go back to bed before you become chilled. I trust you won't be disturbed again." "Wait a moment," she said, matter of factly. "I'll get my own dressing gown and give you back yours." "No matter. My man will fetch it to-morrow. Good-night." Aileen snuggled again under, the warm comforter in her bed, heard his footsteps in the corridor above, heard them descend the stairs into the closed right wing of the house, followed their sound through the lower corridor and finally there came a faint bang as the door to the tower wing closed. Apparently he had discovered nothing. She smiled wryly into the darkness. There was no doubt whatever in her mind that it had been he who had crept so stealthily to her door. Was he not still dressed for no apparent reason, at that hour of the morning. But why did he come to her door merely to turn the knob without entering, she asked herself. Why was he so rash as to make his presence known at that hour of the night? Why did he advise her to be careful about bolting her door.? Was it only a blind to detract suspicion from himslf ? Or —a tiny prickle of fear chased up her spine—was his form of dementia

such that in his normal moments he realised his potential impulse to harm her, and was warning her against his nocturnal prowlings? Aileen climbed out of bed again and assured herself that she had securely bolted her.door. Then, with the little revolver at hand, she lay down and courted sleep. The following morning, with the clear sunlight pouring through her windows, she was ready to laugh at her gloomy forebodings of the previous night. The bedroom with its pretty furnishings, her sitting room, gay with chintz and a crackling fire, the garden outside sparkling with hoarfrost, presented such a normal, jolly appearance that ehe could almost believe she had dreamed mysterious nocturnal footsteps and unseen hands that turned door knobs futilely—almost, except for the reminder of Duboie' dressing gown across the back of a chair. Her spirits completely restored, an impish caprice prompted her to seize the little vial of perfume on her dressing table and scatter a few drops of its fragrant contents on the heavy silk of Dubois' robe. "There!" she announced to herself. "That should remind him of me and make him furious." When the maid came in with her breakfast tray, Aileen told her to return the dressing robe to M'sieur. She spoke with studied carelessness, but her colour heightened in spite of herself under the woman's sharp glance. The weather turned bad in mid-after-noon, and Aileen's spirits drooped proportionately. Dubois was not home. She had seen him drive away in the car shortly after luncheon, which she had in her own sitting room, as usual. When Dr. Gilbert came in for a moment, Aileen was half minded to relate her two nocturnal experiences, but an inexplicable impulse restrained her. Whether it was due to her own personal dislike for the doctor, unfounded as it seemed to be, or whether a latent loyalty to the man whose name she had accepted without question held back her confession, she could not say. . To her amazement, trie doctor himself said that Dubois had told him that morning of a disturbance in the house the previous night: "Better keep your door locked," he advised her in a tone of veiled warning. Again she said "Rather!" "How's the baby?" he inquired. "I haven't seen him for some time." "Would you like to go up to the nursery?" Aileen suggested. He acquiesced and, waving aside her half-hearted offer to accompany him, made his way upstairs. When he came down his face was grave. "He's got a touch of cold. I shouldn't wonder if he were a trifle croupy to-night. Be sure that your girl keeps him well covered. Before she went to her room that night, Ajleen visited the nursery. The baby seemed to be sleeping peacefully, though nhe thought his breathing a trifle irregular. Reflecting on this, she went to her room and closed her door. It was then that she saw that some one had tampered with the lock. (To be continued Saturday next.)