in another
moment would have been in the street, if I had not stepped after him.

"You are a Moore and live in or near that old house?" I asked.

The surprise with which he met this question daunted me a little.

"How long have you been in Washington, I should like to ask?" was
his acrid retort.

"Oh, some five months."

His good nature, or what passed for such in this irascible old man,
returned in an instant; and he curtly but not unkindly remarked:

"You haven't learned much in that time." Then, with a nod more
ceremonious than many another man's bow, he added, with sudden
dignity: "I am of the elder branch an live in the cottage fronting
the old place. I am the only resident on the block. When you have
lived here longer you will know why that especial neighborhood is
not a favorite one with those who can not boast of the Moore blood.
For the present, let us attribute the bad name that it holds
to--malaria." And with a significant hitch of his lean shoulders
which set in undulating motion every fold of the old-fashioned
cloak he wore, he started again for the door.

But my curiosity was by this time roused to fever heat. I knew
more about this house than he gave me credit for. No one who had
read the papers of late, much less a man connected with the police,
could help being well informed in all the details of its remarkable
history. What I had failed to know was his close relationship to
the family whose name for the last two weeks had been in every mouth.

"Wait!" I called out. "You say that you live opposite the Moore
house. You can then tell me--"

But he had no mind to stop for any gossip.

"It was all in the papers," he called back. "Read them. But first
be sure to find out who has struck a light in the house that we all
know has not even a caretaker in it."

It was good advice. My duty and my curiosity both led me to follow
it.

Perhaps you have heard of the distinguishing feature of this house;
if so, you do not need my explanations. But if, for any reason,
you are ignorant of the facts which within a very short time have
set a final seal of horror upon this old, historic dwelling, then
you will be glad to read what has made and will continue to make the
Moore house in Washington one to be pointed at in daylight and
shunned after dark, not only by superstitious colored folk, but by
all who are susceptible to the most ordinary emotions of fear and
dread.

It was standing when Was