s would resent my intrusion if
they ever happened to hear of it."

"Indeed!" I laughed, sounding my whistle; then, soberly enough, for
I was more than a little struck by the oddity of his behavior and
thought him as well worth investigation as the house in which he
showed such an interest: "You shouldn't let that count. Come and
see what's up in the house you are so ready to call yours."

But he only drew farther into the shade.

"I have no business over there," he objected. "Veronica and I have
never been on good terms. I was not even invited to her wedding
though I live within a stone's throw of the door. No; I have done
my duty in calling attention to that light, and whether it's the
bull's-eye of a burglar--perhaps you don't know that there are
rare treasures on the book shelves of the great library--or whether
it is the fantastic illumination which frightens fool-folks and some
fool-dogs, I'm done with it and done with you, too, for to-night."

As he said this, he mounted to his door and disappeared under the
vines, hanging like a shroud over the front of the house. In another
moment the rich peal of an organ sounded from within, followed by
the prolonged howling of Rudge, who, either from a too keen
appreciation of his master's music or in utter disapproval of
it,--no one, I believe, has ever been able to make out which,--was
accustomed to add this undesirable accompaniment to every strain
from the old man's hand. The playing did not cease because of these
outrageous discords. On the contrary, it increased in force and
volume, causing Rudge's expression of pain or pleasure to increase
also. The result can be imagined. As I listened to the intolerable
howls of the dog cutting clean through the exquisite harmonies of
his master, I wondered if the shadows cast by the frowning structure
of the great Moore house were alone to blame for Uncle David's lack
of neighbors.

Meantime, Hibbard, who was the first to hear my signal, came running
down the block. As he joined me, the light, or what we chose to
call a light, appeared again in the window toward which my attention
had been directed.

"Some one's in the Moore house!" I declared, in as matter of-fact
tones as I could command.

Hibbard is a big fellow, the biggest fellow on the force, and so far
as my own experience with him had gone, as stolid and imperturbable
as the best of us. But after a quick glance at the towering walls
of the lonely buildi