There was a tone of resentment in his voice, and I
hastened to say: "I'm sure you're mistaken about the purposes of that
wall. My grandfather was a student of architecture. It
was a hobby of his. The house and wall were in the line
of his experiments, and to please his whims. I hope the
people of the village won't hold any hard feelings
against his memory or against me. Why, the labor there
must have been a good thing for the people hereabouts."
"It ought to have been," said the man gruffly; "but
that's where the trouble comes in. He brought a lot of
queer fellows here under contract to work for him,
Italians, or Greeks, or some sort of foreigners. They
built the wall, and he had them at work inside for half
a year. He didn't even let them out for air; and when
they finished his job he loaded 'em on to a train one
day and hauled 'em away."
"That was quite like him, I'm sure," I said, remembering
with amusement my grandfather's secretive
ways.
"I guess he was a crank all right," said the man conclusively.
It was evident that he did not care to establish friendly
relations with the resident of Glenarm. He was about
forty, light, with a yellow beard and pale blue eyes. He
was dressed roughly and wore a shabby soft hat.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to assume responsibility
for him and his acts," I remarked, piqued by the fellow's
surliness.
We had reached the center of the village, and he left
me abruptly, crossing the street to one of the shops. I
continued on to the railway station, where I wrote and
paid for my message. The station-master inspected me
carefully as I searched my pockets for change.
"You want your telegrams delivered at the house?"
he asked.
"Yes, please," I answered, and he turned away to
his desk of clicking instruments without looking at me
again.
It seemed wise to establish relations with the post-office,
so I made myself known to the girl who stood at
the delivery window.
"You already have a box," she advised me. "There's
a boy carries the mail to your house; Mr. Bates hires
him."
Bates had himself given me this information, but the
girl seemed to find pleasure in imparting it with a certain
severity. I then bought a cake of soap at the principal
drug store and purchased a package of smoking-tobacco,
which I did not need, at a grocery.
News of my arrival had evidently reached the villagers;
I was conceited enough to imagine that my presence
was probably of interest to them; but the station-master,
the girl at the post-office and the clerks in the
shops treated me with an unmistakable cold reserve.
There was a certain evenness of the chill which they
visited upon me, as though a particular degree of frigidity
had been determined in advance.