The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Door, by Dorothy Quick

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Title: The Lost Door

Author: Dorothy Quick

Release Date: June 16, 2010 [EBook #32831]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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The Lost Door

By DOROTHY QUICK

[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Weird Tales October
1936. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.]

[Sidenote: _An alluring but deadly horror out of past centuries menaced
the life of the young American--a fascinating tale of a strange and eery
love_]

I have often wondered whether I would have urged Wrexler to come with me
if I had known what Rougemont would do to him. I think--looking
back--that even if I could have glimpsed the future, I would have acted
in the same way, and that I would have brought him to Rougemont to
fulfill his destiny.

As the boat cut its swift way through the waters on its journey to
France, I had no thought of this. Nor had Wrexler. He was happier than I
had ever seen him. He had never been abroad before, and the boat was a
source of wonder and enjoyment to him.

I myself was full of an eager anticipation of happy months to come. It
hardly seemed possible that only a week had elapsed since I received the
cable that had made such a change in my fortunes:

Your father died yesterday. You are sole heir, provided you
comply with conditions of his will, the principal one being
that you spend six months of each year at Rougemont. If
satisfactory, come at once.

It was signed by my father's lawyer.

I had no sorrow over my father's passing, except a deep regret that we
could not have known the true relationship of father and son. At the
death of my mother, my father had grown bitter and refused to see the
innocent cause of her untimely passing. As a baby I had been brought up
in the lodge of Rougemont, my father's magnificent chateau near Vichy.
When I r