Part 1 (1/2)
The Oakdale Affair
by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Chapter One [And only chapter ED]
The house on the hill showed lights only upon the first floor--in the spacious reception hall, the dining room, and those more or less reeable odors and agreeable foods
From behind a low bush across the wide lawn a pair of eyes transferred to an alert brain these simple perceptions from which the brain deduced with Sherlockian accuracy and Raffleian purpose that the family of the president of The First National Bank of--Oh, let's call it Oakdale--was at dinner, that the servants were below stairs and the second floor deserted
The owner of the eyes had but recently descended froe which he had entered as a thief in the night and quitted apparelled in a perfectly good suit of clothes belonging to the gentlemanly chauffeur and a soft, checked cap which was now pulled well down over a pair of large brown eyes in which a rather strained expression ested to an alienist a certain neophytism which even the stern set of well shaped lips could not effectually belie
Apparently this was a youth steeling hierous profession he had espoused; and when, a ht and crossed the laard the house, the slender, graceful lines which the ill-fitting clothes could not entirely conceal carried the conviction of youth if not of innocence
The brazen assurance hich the lad crossed the lawn and ested a familiarity with the habits and customs of the in and careful study of the contereater confidence No detail seeh the door leading fro wide to the bal the prowler passed this blatant invitation to the hospitality of the House of Prih he knew that from his place at the head of the table, with his back toward the great fire place which is the pride of the Pri hall, Jonas Prim commands a view of thelow the youth passed along the verandah to aof the darkened library--a French hich swung open without noise to his light touch Stepping within he crossed the room to a door which opened at the foot of a narrow stairway--a convenient little stairhich had often let the Hon Jonas Prim pass from his library to his second floor bed-roo the feminine elite of Oakdale across the hall A convenient little stairway for retiring husbands and diffident burglars--yes, indeed!
The darkness of the upper hallway offered no obstacle to this fa luxury of Mrs Priance of Jonas Priotten wallets and negotiable papers, setting his course straight for the aparthter of the First National Bank of Oakdale Or should we utilize a more charitable and at the same time more truthful word than spinster? I think we should, since Abigail was but nineteen and quite huail reposed ht by clever artisans into articles of great beauty and solar passed theht across the room to a small wall safe cleverly hidden by a bit of tapestry
How, Oh how, this suggestive fain's sacred apartments upon the part of one so obviously of the , a denizen of that underworld of which no Abigail should have intie? Yet, truly and with scarce a faint indication of groping, though the room was dark, theback the tapestry in its frame, turned the knob of the combination and in abox
A fat roll of bills and a handful of jewelry he transferred to the pockets of his coat Some papers which his hand brushed within the safe he pushed aside as though preadvised of their inutility to one of his calling Then he closed the safe door, closed the tapestry upon it and turned toward a dainty dressing table Frolar took a small, nickel plated automatic, which he slipped into an inside breast pocket of his coat, nor did he touch another article therein or thereon, nor hesitate an instant in the selection of the drawer to be rifled His knowledge of the aparthter of the house of Prim was little short of uncanny Doubtless the felloas soood use of an opportunity to study the lay of the land against a contemplated invasion of these holy precincts
But even the most expert of second story reased rails a careless elbow raked a silver candle-stick fro table to the floor where it crashed with a resounding din that sent cold shi+vers up the youth's spine and conjured in his ators fro candlestick sounded to the taut nerved house-breaker asprayer in ahouse That all Oakdale had heard it seemed quite possible, while that those below stairs were already turning questioning ears, and probably inquisitive footsteps, upas al Miss Pri from the one to the other was a cretonne covered screen behind which the burglar now concealed hiid apprehension for the approach of the enemy; but the only sound that cah of Jonas Prih of relief escaped the beardless lips; for that laugh assured the youth that, after all, the noise of the fallen candlestick had not alarmed the household
With knees that still trembled a bit he crossed the room and passed out into the hallway, descended the stairs, and stood again in the library
Here he paused arooail,” she was saying ”I believe that at last she sees the wisdoes of an alliance with Mr Benham, and it was al to visit his sister I am positive that a week or two of companionshi+p with him will impress upon her the fine qualities of his nature We are to be congratulated, Jonas, upon settling our daughter so advantageously both in the runted ”Sarowled ”If she wants hi a bald-headed husband with rheuy, to find her own e”
”The child is not old enough to judge wisely for herself,” replied Mrs
Prie a proper alliance; and, Jonas, I will thank you not to call e--and position”
The burglar did not hear Mr Prim's reply for he had moved across the library and passed out onto the verandah Once again he crossed the lawn, taking advantage of the several trees and shrubs which dotted it, scaled the low stone wall at the side and was in the concealing shadows of the unlighted side street which bounds the Prim estate upon the south The streets of Oakdale are flanked by i battalions of elhfares; and now, following an early Spring, their foliage eclipsed the infrequent arclights to the eminent satisfaction of those nocturnal wayfarers who prefer neither publicity nor the spot light Of such there are feithin the well ordered precincts of law abiding Oakdale; but to-night there was at least one and this one was deeply grateful for the gloo which he hurried toward the limits of the city
At last he found hi in his nostrils and the world before hiely upon his ears accentuating rather than relieving the myriad noted silence of Nature Familiar sounds becas took on an uncanny huh the slender fra over hi effects of this seeh which he moved; but there remained with hie, neorld peopled by invisible and unfa behind each tree and shrub
He ceased his whistling and arily upon the balls of his feet, lest he unnecessarily call attention to his presence If the truth were to be told it would chronicle the fact that a very nervous and frightened burglar sneaked along the quiet and peaceful country road outside of Oakdale A lonesolar, this, who so craved the companionshi+p ofhand of the law had it fallen upon hiuise of a flesh and blood police officer froiven little thought to the practicalities of the open road He had thought, rather vaguely, of sleeping in a bed of new clover in some hospitable fence corner; but the fence corners looked very dark and the wide expanse of fields beyond suggested abut hus
At a fare of entering and asking for a night's lodging when a savage voiced dog shattered the peace of the universe and sent the burglar along the road at a rapid run
A half e within a fenced enclosure The youth wormed his way between the barbed wires deter a cozy bed in the deep straw beside the stack With courage radiating from every pore he strode toward the stack His as aler, for thus does youth dissemble the bravery it yearns for but does not possess He alain; but not quite, since it seemed an unnecessary provocation to disaster to call particular attention to hilad that he had refrained, for as he approached the stack a huge bulk slowly looainst the y bull The burglar tore the inside of one trousers' leg and the back of his coat in his haste to pass through the barbed wire fence onto the open road There he paused to ht was now far froed house-breaker plodded, heavy footed, the unending road Did vain coret the safe respectability of the plumber's apprentice? Or, if he had not been a pluain assu had been his before he bent his steps upon the broad boulevard of sin?